I watch them get seated, hoping they won’t be in view, but luck is not on our side tonight, so I flag down the waitress and pay before Belle gets back.
God, I hate that fucking prick.
I promised Belle and John I wouldn’t let him get to me anymore, so we need to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible.
Of course, Belle times it perfectly, walking back to the table just as I’m settling up.
Her brow furrows. “We’re leaving?”
I stand and take her hand, pulling her toward the exit. “Yes, sweetheart. It’s getting late. We can grab dessert at the jazz club.”
She narrows her eyes and pulls me to a stop. “What’s the real reason? I can tell when you’re worried. Your eyebrows always dip down when you are.”
Do they?
I nod toward the corner. Her body tenses for a brief second before she pulls back her shoulders and stands tall, getting into character.
This is the Annabelle the world sees, completely different frommy Belle.
“We can stay.” She looks back at me. “We should. Why does he get to be here?”
I shake my head, not agreeing. “Honestly, B, I don’t want to be here. If you want to stay, we can, of course. But I’d rather leave.”
“Jackson?” I turn and am shocked to see Anna, a girl I’ve occasionally hooked up with, walking into the restaurant.
Someone who Belle hates with a passion.
9
Jackson
Fuck.
Belle grips my hand, cutting off my circulation as she stands as tall and still as a statue.
What I thought started out as the perfect date is slowly turning into a nightmare.
It takes a lot for Annabelle Hughes to get rattled, but Anna has always gotten under Belle’s skin.
It all started when we were younger.
Annabelle’s nickname used to actually beAnna, only sometimes using Belle. But the day I kissed this Anna for the first time in the pool was the last time we were ever allowed to call Belle by that name.
I only realized it because I overheard my sister talking about it, which of course made me feel like a piece of shit. I brushed it off as a small crush from my sister’s best friend.
What the hell did I know back then?
I barely realized I had a crush on Belle myself until I got older, and it was then that I realized Belle’s never went away.
It didn’t help that my kiss with Anna didn’t stop there either. It became an every-summer occurrence when she came to the Hamptons from Italy.
She was an easy hookup, and as a teenage boy who only wanted to fuck around, it was perfect.
Then when I moved to London, she lived there as well, and we quickly realized we ran in the same circles.
I never wanted monogamy or a commitment; she was happy with that for a while.
Until she wasn’t, and that was the end of it.
