“I can’t help feeling responsible. How about we meet at an out-of-the-way place and talk?” he asked.
She glanced down at the towel and then in the mirror at her wet hair. “I need about an hour,” she said, figuring that included travel time. “Text me where and I’ll see you there.”
“Sounds good. And Macy?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to drag you into my mess.”
She smiled at that. “As I recall, I went willingly.”
He was laughing as he ended the call.
Chapter Four
Jaxon waited for Macy at Central Ave., a bar and grill he frequented but one that was dark, with a bartender who’d kick anyone’s ass if they bothered a customer. Famous or otherwise.
“Hey, Beckett. I’ll have a Bud Light.” Jaxon spoke to the owner and bartender he’d known for years.
“You got it.” Beckett reached for a beer and popped the top, sliding the bottle across the counter.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“You already know, don’t you? You watch TNZ along with the rest of America.” That photo of him and Macy hadn’t just gone viral, every entertainment, social media, and television show had picked it up, probably because she was a fresh face and someone to speculate about.
“True but it’s my job to get you talking,” said the man who was as much a friend as a bartender.
About a decade older than Jaxon, Beckett Halstead had inherited the bar from his father and knew every customer who came through the door.
Jaxon didn’t want to go through a woe-is-me story. He’d already dragged a good person down with him. Hearing that Macy had a serious custody issue on her hands had him feeling extra guilty. He had no doubt that photo had provided the ammunition her stepmother needed to go ahead with her threat. “I really don’t feel like talking.”
Beckett nodded as he wiped down the bar with a rag. “Okay, well, just know this. As soon as the next big story hits, you’ll be yesterday’s news. You just need to ride it out.”
If only it were that simple.
Jaxon scrolled through the social media on his phone, getting lost in other people’s curated lives, when he sensed someone slide into the chair beside him, looking exhausted. No less pretty but pale, tired, and wiped out.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m just going to eat a quiet meal, head back home, and crash until Hannah gets home from school.” She let out a tired sigh that sounded exactly like how he felt.
“Well, you need to have something.” He gestured to Beckett. “Get the lady a…”
“Club soda,” she said. “I really can’t drink. The last thing I need is to have a problem driving home or for my sister to smell alcohol on my breath.”
“Club soda and your lunch on me,” Jaxon confirmed with the bartender.
She propped an arm on the bar. “Is this you being charming?” She swung her legs around to his side of the stool, turning toward him.
He grinned. “It’s me being a friend.” It was his way of reaffirming their status.
Beckett slid her glass across the bar and she took a sip. “So we’re friends now?” An amused grin lifted the corners of her mouth. A mouth he wanted to kiss again.
“I think we qualify.” He lifted his bottle and touched her glass. “To friends.”
“To friends.”
Friends who’d made out on his kitchen counter and had the hottest sex of his life in his bed. He shifted in his seat, his cock stiff at the memories.
He stared at the bottle in his hand, letting the condensation cool him off.
“So what’s got you down today? I know Bri said Austin gave you a hard time.”
He nodded. “I also had a call with my manager. That brawl isn’t going to be forgotten any time soon. I hate disappointing my team, management, and my family,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry.” She wrinkled her nose as if in thought. “If it’s any consolation, everything passes in time.”
Same thing Beckett had said, and he appreciated her attempt at making him feel better. “But in the meantime, things suck. And Austin’s solution was to tell me to settle down and get married.” He let out a half laugh, still certain that was the worst idea he’d ever heard.
She grinned. “Not ready to give up the bachelor lifestyle?” Her half smile made him chuckle.
“Not in this lifetime.”
She swirled the ice in her glass with the straw. “You know, getting married would help me, too. Hannah’s mother has got a lot of strikes against her, but she’s still her biological parent, while my current reputation has me branded as a groupie. But if I could offer her a stable home with two parents, the judge would look at me a lot more favorably.” She took a sip of her drink, eyeing him over the top of the glass.
“Jesus. I am so sorry for causing you problems,” he said, well aware she wasn’t teasing nor was she hinting.
She shrugged. “It’s not your fault paparazzi follow you around. It just sucks for both of us.”
He didn’t sense any guile. Just an honest statement in response to his mention of marriage as a solution. But the wheels in his brain began to turn.
“No prospective male friend in your life willing to step up?” he asked, unsure if he wanted her to say yes or no.
“Nope.” Her shoulders dropped dejectedly.
He studied her delicate profile, and something twisted in his chest as he felt a shift inside him. Not that he wanted to get married. He didn’t. He valued his independence and the life he lived, but the fact was that he’d helped cause her dilemma with Hannah. True, her stepmother had been making custody threats before they’d been caught making out on his driveway, but she certainly looked a lot less parental thanks to him.
And there were even more reasons the action made sense. She stood to lose custody of her sister. He stood to lose, well, everything. Austin had made it
