“Good. He needs some fun in his life, and so do you.”
I roll my eyes because it’s what she expects of me, but her words stick. If Jax needs fun in his life, he’s not going to get it hanging out in my living room with me. And Eve knows that. She knowsme.
Or at least, she knows my story. Is that enough to truly know a person? Does the sum total of their life events make them who they are? And why the hell am I thinking about it right now? Or ever, actually, because who the fuck cares?
I spend the day doing the heavy lifting for Eve’s apartment move. I carry boxes, build furniture, and fix the refrigerator in her new house. The swarm of yoga chicks haven’t arrived yet. I’m less disappointed than I might’ve been a couple of weeks ago. Hooking up has been the last thing on my mind for months, but now I have a head full of Jax, I think about it even less.
At six o’clock, Eve offers me a plate of her famous mac and cheese. I’m hungry enough that my stomach growls hard enough to hurt, but I’m in a hurry to get home. It’s open-mic night at the bar and I need to check on my guys.Liar. Rainn handles mic night just fine every month. You want to find Jax.
True story, but it’s not one I’m prepared to share with Eve, so I bullshit her, and even then, she doesn’t let me leave right away. She disappears into her new bedroom and comes back with yet another box. “It’s Jax’s. I know he hasn’t found a place yet, but he seems to like keeping this stuff around. Don’t know why, it’s morbid if you ask me.”
“What is it?”
“His wetsuit from the shark attack—what’s left of it, anyway—and a chunk of his board.”
I blink. “What?”
“He didn’t tell you? Oh shit. I thought he might’ve. He’s pretty hilarious about it if you get him drunk.”
I stare at her for a full minute, at least it feels that way, with Jax’s lilting quip playing on a loop in my head.“…an old injury takes a while to warm up in the mornings. Or if I get super cold.”
“Was it serious?”
“As a shark attack.”
It never occurred to me for a fucking millisecond that he wasn’t yanking my chain. “He mentioned it,” I say slowly. “But I thought he was kidding.”
Eve gives me the same look she treats me to when I put Gabi in a bad mood. “He’s chill about it, to be fair, but don’t let him fool you. He died that day. He’s only still here because an army medic on the beach plugged his artery.”
A full body shudder passes through me. I’m no doctor, but I’m well versed enough in horrible accidents to compute the gravity of a severed artery. That it happened to Jax? Man, I feel sick.
I shudder again, and Eve lays a soft hand on my arm. “Sorry. I forget you probably don’t like talking about stuff like that anymore.”
“Don’t baby me, girl. I don’t deserve it.”
“I know. But Gabriel’s not here to do it, so you’re stuck with me.”
“He shouldn’t do it either. I’m older than him.”
“By eighteen months. You’re practically twins.”
I roll my eyes and plaster a grouchy grin on my face. It’s convincing enough for Eve to let me go, and I make my escape. My phone rings as I’m parking my car. It’s Gabriel.
“You’re too late,” I say instead of hello. “I just left her.”
Gabriel grunts. “Don’t start. I’ll call her after. It’s you I want to talk to.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
He has me there. But I hate these check-in phone calls. We’re both horrible at it and I’d rather he sent me dirty memes like he used to. “I fixed the refrigerator in Eve’s new place. She’s on her own there right now, but the other girls start moving in tomorrow.”
“What about the plumbing?”
“It was fine. Kitchen sink leaked a bit, but I fixed that up too.”
“Thanks.”
