“Kind of?” He raised a brow.
“The whole parent thing sucks, but…” I shrugged. “Why are you being so nice to me? Not even three months ago, you hated me.”
“I didn’t hate you, Chloe. Not then, and definitely not now.”
“You scowl and threaten and lie to everyone you like? I’d hate to see how you treat people you don’t like.” My appetite vanished. I wrapped up what was left of my sandwich and tossed it on the tray.
He sighed. “You’re the first girl to seriously come into our lives since Hannah.” His voice dipped low at the mention of her. “I was only trying to save my brother the same heartache I’ve had to live with.”
My posture softened. I reached across the table and placed my hand over his. “I’m really sorry about Hannah. Everything that happened to her was bad enough, but what Isach did… that was just cruel. I never had a chance to tell you that before, so I just wanted you to know.”
“Thank you.”
I’d never heard his voice so sincere, and it made me pause.
He pulled his hand from beneath mine, then proceeded to draw circles on the back of my hand, his touch featherlight. Goose bumps spread like hives up my arm. Every instinct I had screamed at me to pull my hand away, but I couldn’t. Instead, I watched his fingers, mesmerized.
“You’ll find someone else, Jax,” I whispered.
“We can’t just forget and move on. It’s not that easy for us.”
I remembered him telling me that, or rather, shouting it at me one of the times he’d tried to convince me to leave Trent.
“I know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t love again, right? Just because you find someone new doesn’t diminish what you had with Hannah,” I said.
Shaking his head, he jerked his hand away from mine. “You still don’t get it, do you?” He narrowed his eyes, and they darkened several shades right in front of me. “How can I possibly give my heart away when it already belongs to someone else?”
I was no longer sure if he was still talking about Hannah or someone else entirely. “Have you even tried?” I asked.
“What’s the point?” He laughed bitterly. “We’re cursed, remember? I won’t put anyone else through what Hannah went through.”
I frowned. Now was my chance. I could tell him that the curse could be broken, that I could give him a chance at happiness again, at love. But the words wouldn’t come, and I wasn’t exactly upset about that.
“You love Trent, right?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
“Good. Think about how much you love him and multiply it by a million. Throw in some heightened emotions, and then imagine having him ripped away from you.” Jax folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “And you have to live with that pain every single day for an eternity. It never lessens. It never goes away. It’s just always there.”
I mimicked his position so our faces were inches apart. “I don’t have to imagine that. I did have Trent ripped away from me, remember?”
“It’s not the same thing. You didn’t even remember him. But Trent?” He shook his head. “He never forgot you, and he was unbearable the entire time you were gone. He barely slept, rarely ate. He was a shell of himself. But that’s nothing compared to what we feel when we lose the person we love more than anything. And it’s even worse when we lose our soulmate.”
I gritted my teeth. It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him that none of this would have happened if he hadn’t hunted down my father and dragged him back into my life. Instead, I leaned back and crossed my arms.
“I get it, okay?” Tears burned my eyes, and I blinked them back.
Everything would be so much simpler if I just came clean and had Trent change me. He and I could be together, and Jax would be free to find someone new, if he wanted.
“C’mon. We should get back on the road.” He stood, gathered our trash, and dumped it into the nearest can.
I followed him out of the building and across the parking lot. I hated the grumpy, pessimistic Jax. But the fun Jax who laughed and joked, the Jax from the bookstore? I liked him. A lot.
“Told ya you wouldn’t eat all that food,” I said.
He rested his arms on the roof of the car and shook his head, laughing.
“What?” I said. “You really think I’m going to pass up an opportunity to tell you I was right?”
He laughed harder, the sound echoing through the quiet night air. “Get in the car,” he said. His voice was all playful humor.
I climbed in and hooked my seat belt.
Trent was still sound asleep in the back seat. I took a moment to study him. His long lashes rested peacefully against his cheeks. His dark hair was mussed from moving around. The hem of his shirt was lifted just enough to show a thin strip of skin. The memory of running my hands over his stomach while he kissed me flashed in my mind, heating me from the inside out. My heart beat triple time.
“I love that sound,” Trent said, his voice husky from sleep.
“What sound?”
In a flash, he was upright and leaning between the seats. He swept his hand alongside my face and drew me toward him. “The sound of your heart racing.” Then, his lips were on mine in a searing kiss.
I barely registered the sound of the car door opening, but then Jax said, “Get a room.”
All the humor I’d heard a moment ago was gone. Was it hard for him to see me and Trent together? Did it remind him too much of what he’d lost, of what he claimed he’d never have again?
Trent released my lips and moved back so Jax could get in the
