Instead, I would have to appear calm and collected while I felt the presence of his molten heat burn over my skin as he sauntered toward me.
Formal and polite had been ingrained into me in the most brutal way growing up. My father’s insistence that I remain a quiet, well-mannered girl cloaked me like a blanket would on a cold night. The feeling that I was a coward, unable to express myself, made that blanket scratchy and uncomfortable. But it also allowed me to blend in, never cause a stir, and rarely get noticed. It allowed me to survive. So, I snuggled in and resorted back to the formalities like the coward I was.
Avoiding eye contact and looking on at his family, I breathed deeply before I said to him, “Good to see you’re all doing well. I’m sure Jay will be happy to see you could make it.”
From afar, Jax’s presence weakened me. Up close, it just about destroyed me. I tried to ignore the pull to look at him and crossed my arms over my chest. Like a plague, I’d known this greeting was coming and that it had the ability to annihilate me. I’d prepared to just barely make it through, to survive. Instead of getting a quick, polite response from Jax that basically would have amounted to him brushing off the whole greeting like I’d hoped, he stayed silent.
I waited longer.
I watched the Stonewoods talking to my friends, seemingly engaged enough to not be concerned with my turmoil. Or maybe they were pretending to be engaged and hoping I could make it through this.
Probably the latter.
The silence, or maybe just his presence, willed me. No, it taunted me, forced me to look at him. My eyes shifted, slow as molasses dripping from a spoon, toward him. I felt my eyes widen without my permission, betraying me.
He towered over me, even in my heels, and had a smirk on his face that made me weak all over. The wind blew through his dark hair, tousling it just a bit. A dimple stood out while sunglasses hid the blue eyes I remembered so well.
I glanced at Rome and Vick, who were both suddenly by my side, as if sensing my panic, or as if they’d been watching the whole time.
Vick popped forward. “I’m Vick,” she practically yelled and stuck her hand out for Jax to shake.
“Always good to meet a friend of yours, Whitfield.” He shook her hand but addressed me. Both my knees, and it looked like Vick’s too, practically buckled at the sound of his voice. It rumbled out soft and smooth, like a rolling hill meeting the horizon. This voice that made women literally throw their panties on a damn stage.
Jax continued, “I’m sure you’ve heard a little about me ...”
“Yup. I know who you are.” Vick’s back straightened and she snapped her hand back as if trying to steel herself. “I’ve heard all about you.”
Jax’s eyebrows raised for just a second before he smiled. “I hope all good things.”
“Not a single good thing, actually.” Vick crossed her arms. I smiled at how quickly she’d recovered and dropped her formalities for me.
Rome cleared his throat and introduced himself. “I’m Roman.”
Jax slid off his glasses to stare at Rome by my side. I thought I saw jealousy behind those piercing blue eyes that matched the color of the Caribbean Sea. They pulled me in, mesmerizing me like waves on the beach. I blinked to look away, knowing that when anyone basked in the blue sea, reveling in the beauty, those eyes turned ice cold, drowning those locked on them.
When I heard Vick gasp at seeing Jax without glasses, I glared at her. As I turned back, I realized I’d imagined Jax’s jealousy. His eyes were calm, light blue, and beautiful.
“Another of Aubrey’s friends?”
Rome let loose one of his devilish smiles and I saw the mischief in his eyes like he’d been ready to unleash it all day. “Something like that.”
Jax’s gaze shifted over to me, and I definitely didn’t miss the warning there that time.
I lifted my chin a little, ready for a snide remark.
He ran a hand through his hair, as if knowing now wasn’t the place. “You all going to Jay’s premiere in a couple days?”
Rome’s arm snaked around my shoulder and he pulled me into him. My support and my comfort. I sank into him, knowing he was my anchor, the one who would keep me grounded through this. “Whatever Brey wants, I give her.” I don’t think the innuendo was lost on any of us as he paused. “She wants Jay happy for the night,” he shrugged his shoulders like it was no skin off his nose. “They’ve been talking about this premiere night for a year. They’ll kill us if we don’t show. Right, babe?”
Jax’s eyes were glued to Rome’s arm until Rome called me babe. He looked at me. The relaxing Caribbean Sea turned into the Arctic Ocean. Cold, relentless, hard.
He started backing away toward his family. “And dinner tonight?”
We all nodded.
“We’ll talk more then,” he remarked flippantly. Then he was back to zeroing in on me. “Peaches, you and I have a lot to catch up on.” He slid his sunglasses back on and turned to join his family.
Throughout the graduation ceremony, everyone watched the Stonewoods who sat near us. We watched Jay accepting his diploma.
The only eyes that seemed to roam were Jax’s and mine. Every now and then, mine would ignore the chant in my head that was supposed to will them not to look at him. Every now and then, I would see Jax’s eyes roam over to mine, and then stare at Rome’s arm wrapped around my shoulder.
It was the first time I contemplated shrugging out of Rome’s hold.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I snuggled in closer.