I wiped my hands on the dish towel and grabbed it, expecting to see her name. Maybe a text saying she was running late.
Jax.
“Hey, man. What’s up? How’s fatherhood treating you?”
Silence.
The kind of silence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Jax?”
“Are you fucking Harlow?” Anger radiated through the phone.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Nothing came out. My brain had apparently decided to flatline, leaving me standing in the middle of my kitchen with a spatula in one hand and my entire life crumbling around me.
“I… What… Where did you…”
“Someone sent me a video.” His voice was ice. “You and Harlow were making out at some party. Your hands were all over her.”
The frat party.
Fuck.
“Jax, listen…”
“No, you listen.” He cut me off, his voice rising. “I trusted you. I trusted you with her. When she called scared in the middle of the night, I was relieved it was you who went to help her.When she said she was staying at your apartment, I thought, Good. Owen will keep her safe. Because you’re my best friend. Because you’re supposed to be the one person I don’t have to worry about.”
“I know, but…”
“You couldn’t keep your hands off the one person you were supposed to leave alone.”
The chicken was burning. I could smell it, could hear the butter popping and hissing in the pan, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything except stand there and absorb every word like a boxer taking punches he deserved.
“Jax…”
“How long has this been going on?” A bitter laugh.
“I tried to stay away from her.” The words came tumbling out. “I fought it. For weeks, I told myself all the reasons it was a terrible idea. I made rules. I drew lines. I did everything I was supposed to do, but…”
The front door burst open.
Harlow stood in the doorway, her eyes wide, her chest heaving like she had run all the way from campus. Her gaze swept the room, the candles, the table, me standing frozen with the phone pressed to my ear, and I watched understanding crash over her face.
“Jax, I need you to hear me out. Please. Just... give me that.”
Silence on the other end. Not agreement, but not a hang-up either.
I took a breath. Then another.
“You want to know what Harlow is to me? She’s my best friend. She’s the person I can’t wait to talk to at the end of every day. When something good happens, she’s the first person I want to tell. When something pisses me off or makes me want to punch a wall, she’s the one I want to call. Not to fix it. Just to hear her voice. Just to have her there.”
I looked at Harlow standing in the doorway, tears already streaming down her cheeks, and felt my heart crack wide open.
“When she’s not with me, I miss her. Every single minute. I find myself checking my phone just to see if she’s texted. I catch myself smiling at nothing because I’m thinking about something she said three days ago, and when I know I’m about to see her again, it’s like... like I can finally breathe. Like everything that felt off suddenly clicks into place.”
My voice cracked, but I kept going.
“She’s not just someone I want, Jax. She’s someone I need. In a way, I’ve never needed anyone. She makes me laugh harder than anyone I know. She calls me out on my bullshit. She makes me want to be a better man and not because she asks me to, but because she makes me believe I actually could be.”
