“I need to go back to that motel–”

“Motel is dangerous. Your car got stolen for fuck’s sake.”

“How do you know that it was stolen there?”

He sneered. “Where else would it have been taken than in that part of town?”

“Stop the car, please.” When he didn’t, I opened the passenger door and he immediately pressed down on the brakes, halting us right there on the spot. Car has good breaks, I idly thought.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?” He looked solemnly at me, bunching his eyebrows up in frustration. “You gonna hop out of a moving car? Is that what you do when you don’t get your way now?”

Ignoring his dig, I muttered, “I’ll just walk to the stop. Good night.”

I took a step out when he grabbed me tightly by the arm. “Fine, I’ll take you to your fucking motel.”

Staring down at the physical contact he was giving me for the first time in five years, I felt a strange euphoria wash over me. Yeah, it was tight and there was absolutely no affection behind it, but it was his touch, and I suddenly wished my jacket wasn’t in the way of his bare skin. I gulped, and shut the door again, buckling up my seat belt as he let go of me and made another U-turn in the right direction.

We were quiet for a few minutes, and it was an incredibly uncomfortable few minutes at that. I peeked over at him several times, hardly able to believe this solemn, fuming man was Jaxon. But not your Jaxon.

“So what do you do for yourself now?” I kindly asked. I just wanted to break the ice, find a middle ground where we could be amicable with one another without the constant death glares.

“I’m in business,” he answered gruffly. This was good. He was talking, albeit like I was the biggest inconvenience in the world, but talking nonetheless.

“What sort of business?”

“Nothing illegal if that’s what you’re getting at.” Now that sounded defensive as hell.

“That’s not what I meant at all.”

“Yeah, sure,” he sceptically replied.

“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression.”

He flashed me an odd look then. “I bet you are.”

I sighed in hopelessness. “You know, I’m just trying to be nice–”

“I don’t give a fuck. I didn’t ask you to be nice. I don’t even want to fucking talk to you. So how about you sit there and shut up so I can concentrate on the fucking road and not you yammering away like we’re the best of fucking buds, huh?”

My jaw dropped. Did I really deserve that kind of backlash? “If I’m such an irritation to you, then why’d you come after me?” I responded tightly. I refused to let the anger set in, though. “I didn’t ask you to drive me back.”

“Believe me, I didn’t fucking want to.”

“Then why did you?”

“My girlfriend thinks you deserved a lift.”

“Why didn’t she give me the lift then?”

“What the fuck are you trying to get at right now?” He looked over at me as he spoke, flaring his nostrils as if I smelled vile to him.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

He scoffed, smiling cruelly at me. “You can stop this charade of being all nice. You can go back to being your normal self now.”

“This is me,” I said quietly, looking away from the hardness of his eyes. I would never get my Jaxon back; that was for certain now. “I’m not putting on a charade. Why would I bother when I know perfectly what you think of me?”

He pressed his lips together. He knew exactly what I was referring to.

“In any case,” I continued on, casually, “tell your girlfriend I said thanks. She seems like a very lovely woman.”

He couldn’t look more disinterested if he tried.

My phone rang in my purse. I quickly retrieved it. A phone call was exactly what I needed right now to diffuse my negative emotions because it was most likely from Lexi or Daniel.

“Hey Daniel,” I answered, smiling brightly as I nibbled the skin around my thumb.

“Hey booty call, I haven’t heard from you. I’ve texted you a few times now.” The sound of his concerned voice mellowed my irritated mood immediately.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy today.”

“Did you get a rental car?”

“No. What if that one gets stolen too? The last thing I need is two stolen cars in under two days.”

“You’re still at the motel? I told you to check in somewhere else.”

“Yeah, I know. I will. It’s just there’s no other place as close to my mother’s house.”

He sighed, clearly unhappy. “Please be careful.”

“I am careful. Don’t worry about me.” From my peripheral I saw a tense movement from Jaxon, but when I snuck a glance at him, he looked motionless and blank faced.

“I worry about you because I need you. Who else keeps my bed warm at night?”

“Haven’t replaced me yet, have you?” I teased, though half of me wondered if he might have gotten tempted.

“Can’t get enough of you. How about you? Not tempted by anyone?” There was a strange tightness in his tone, and I detected that’s where his concern stemmed from.

“There’s just you,” I whispered, not wanting to sour the intimate moment all because Jaxon was sitting next to me.

“I like that. Call me before bed, okay?”

“Okay.”

“See ya, babe.”

“See you…” I paused and glanced again at Jaxon, “babe.”  I hung up the phone and stuffed it back into my purse. If I wanted Jaxon to be bothered by my “babe” reference to Daniel, it was mission unaccomplished. By a long shot. In fact, I think a statue held more emotion than him.

“So tell me,” he suddenly said, and there was an edge in his voice as he glimpsed at me, “if your guy’s so serious about you, why’d he leave you to take care of all your personal shit on your own all the way out here?”

“He offered to come with me. I said no.”

“Always getting your way, huh? Is this guy some passive pussy or something?”

“What?”

“I mean, he must be, right? Those are the only fuckers that can hack your bullshit.”