He glanced up at her with an inscrutable expression, and then looked back down at her wrist again. He gently traced the edges of the four-leaf clover, pulling her wrist closer to his face. “It has always, and a key, hidden in the design.”
Of course he saw that. No one who’d seen it had ever noticed it, but Jax saw it immediately. “I told you, the tattoo was a mistake. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“If it doesn’t, why do you keep it hidden away where no one can see it?”
“Maybe for the same reason you keep that song hidden away,” she shot back. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. That wasn’t what she meant to say. She just as much admitted that the ink had meaning for her. Yanking her arm back, she said, “Play the song, Jax. Let someone else hear it.”
Studying her thoughtfully, he finally nodded, heading to his old guitar, the same one he’d played when they were still together. Perching on the edge of the bed as he sat on a stool, she crossed her arms tightly as she waited. If he wanted to poke at her old wounds, she’d poke at his.
He strummed the opening chords on his guitar and then began singing.
“When I saw you for the first time,
I could imagine that our love, would be so divine.
Knowing as the years passed, our lives forever entwined,
You, my dear, are never far from my mind.”
Body stilling, she listened as his beautiful smoky voice wrapped around the words, and she swore she felt them like a caress on her skin. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea, but for the life of her, she couldn’t ask him to stop.
“I told you, right from the start. That you hold the key, the key to my heart.
Together we can gaze upon the highest star. Together forever, love will always be ours.”
Locking his eyes on her, he sang from the heart, every word infused with so much emotion, and there was no way she could pretend he didn’t mean every single word. She felt mesmerized, her emotions rising and falling as she felt the meaning behind the words.
“Twenty years have gone so fast, where does the time go?
But nevertheless knowing you still have a lifetime to go.
Never knowing what lies ahead, your heart will always show.
Every time I see your smile, I see your angelic glow.”
Listening as he sang, it was clear that every word, every emotion he put into it, he genuinely felt. She wanted to tell herself he was just an accomplished performer and was only acting, but she knew down to her soul, this was the most truthful performance she’d ever heard.
“I told you, right from the start. That you hold the key, the key to my heart.
Together we can gaze upon the highest star. Together forever, love will always be ours.”
The final chord echoed through the air long after Jax played it, and Piper struggled to control the emotions rioting through her. To her dismay, she felt her nose sting as tears pressed against her eyes. Suddenly furious, she dashed her hands across her eyes and shot up from the bed.
“If that’s how you felt, why the fuck did you end things with me like you did? You stomped my heart to bits and crushed my soul to dust. Why the hell would you do that if you loved me then? Why would you never find me to make things right, if you still had feelings for me? You’ve had eight motherfucking years, Jackson Brody St. James. Eight. Years.”
Looking torn, he hesitated. “There was a good reason. I promise you that, Piper. But there are things I couldn’t tell you, things you don’t know—”
“If you’re talking about the fact that you’re not quite human, that’s not exactly news to me, Jax. You’re going to have to do better than that.”
Jax froze in the act of putting his guitar down, mind racing. She knew he was different this whole time? She’d never let on, not once. Turning, he studied her where she was standing by his bed glaring at him. She was pissed off and defiant, but he could see the hurt simmering below the surface.
Fix it. Mix mate, his eagle begged, clawing at Jax’s chest.
“You know I’m different? This whole time?” he asked cautiously.
“Oh please,” she retorted, rolling her eyes. “We’ve known each other for twenty years, and were best friends for most of that. Did you really think you were that good at hiding shit? You’re too fast sometimes, too strong. You’d get hurt, sometimes seriously, and be fine hours later. And your vision is even better than mine, and mine’s perfect. Nobody—nobody can find thirty-six four-leaf-clovers in one lifetime! I might not know what you are, but of course I know you’re different. I knew that by the time I was ten.”
Feeling a little shell-shocked, he made his way past her and sank down on the bed, thinking hard. Remaining standing, she crossed her arms, foot tapping as she waited.