Even against his best friend, he took my side.
My head is on his chest as the sun sets, and his fingers are gingerly running up and down my back.
“How high do I rank on the crazy scale for girls you’ve been with?” I ask to break the silence, smiling when a rumble of laughter vibrates through his chest.
“Believe or not, it isn’t that high.”
I pull my head up to see his face, and love the amusement I see in his eyes. He’s not blaming me for the fallout between him and Cody. No resentment. No hesitation.
I’m definitely in slick territory. One wrong step, and I’ll be falling without any chance of climbing back up.
“Elaborate,” I say, feeling curious.
He continues to run his fingers up and down my back, while pulling his other hand behind his head.
“One girl was a klepto, and she got me arrested twice when she couldn’t stop shoplifting on dates.”
I raise my eyebrows and he shrugs.
“You stayed with her?” I ask.
“Until it got cold, yeah. Hell, she even stole random things from my house. Another girl had to sing the ABCs every time someone used A in a sentence. You have any idea how hard it is to never use ‘A’ in a conversation?”
I choke back a laugh, and he grins at me.
“I met one girl because she was sleeping in my car. That’s what I get for leaving it unlocked. We dated for a month or so. She had a sleepwalking disorder, and there was no telling where she’d end up. Once she was stuck on the roof of my apartment building for half the day because that door is a one-way access. She was actually pissed at me for not coming to find her. As if I’d think to check the roof.”
I laugh because it
really does sound like he has a habit of collecting crazy relationships.
“Were any of those relationships serious?” I ask before I can stop myself.
He won’t label us, but maybe because he’s been burned.
“Nah. Never. I’ve always been too laidback for the drama a serious relationship usually involves.”
Not going to lie and say that doesn’t sting a little. I also try to backpedal away from the edge of that slippery slope.
“And none of them really ever cared about me,” he adds. “Hell, I honestly think you’re the first girl to ever know how I take my coffee, or my choice in beer brands, or what side of the bed I prefer… You know a hell of a lot more about me than some of my friends even do. Most of the girls were too busy talking about themselves to ever ask anything about me, considering I had a type. And since I’m usually not one to just tell things openly, none of them ever learned anything other than my body.”
I really don’t like thinking about anyone else ever learning his body the way I have, but it’s a little stupid to be jealous of them. Especially since they missed out on a whole other level of Jax that has nothing to do with the physical.
“What about you?” he asks. “Any relationships more bizarre than this one?”
“I dated a guy who once hated for his socks to match. He would wear one black and one brown sock all the time.” I immediately realize how sad and pathetic that sounds by comparison to his stories, especially when his lips twitch. “This is the most bizarre,” I confess.
He snickers softly, still tracing lines on my bare back.
“What about serious?” he asks, the amusement falling from his face.
Is that… jealousy?
No. Can’t be.
“Nothing serious. They… I’ve never met anyone I had that connection with. You know? The one you just can’t deny?” Until you, I silently add. “And I also never found anyone I could trust. I was always ready when they let me down.”
He frowns.