I shook my head, tabling her attitude and getting back to the real matter. “He can’t worry about that this summer. If he can’t concentrate on acting in this new movie ...”
“He’ll concentrate on that movie. Jay might play hard—”
I finished for her. “But he also works hard. I know, Whitfield. You don’t have to tell me about my brother. But for his sake, we should make this work.”
She glared at me, brows furrowing. Some part of her wanted to throw it in my face that she knew him better than me and dredge up all the past. She waged a war with herself. I saw her trying not to bring it all up, and I hoped that part of her won. I didn’t want to dive back into that time in my life.
The green in her eyes turned mossy as she sat up straighter. The part of her ready for answers danced with a victory sign in her eyes. “Make what work exactly? Make you being an ass work? You think you can guilt me into making shit work with you for Jay’s sake after all these years?”
I’d trained myself to look unaffected when it came to dealing with people’s emotions face-to-face. It was part of the Stonewood Enterprises business. If someone approached with emotion, you sidelined it with apathy. If someone hit you with more money for a deal, you stayed neutral. Someone could have bled out and begged for their life and I wouldn’t have blinked any type of emotion their way.
For her though, I caved almost every time.
“That mouth of yours is a lot filthier than I remember.”
Some stupid part of me wanted to bend more and talk about just how much I remembered her mouth.
I knew it shouldn’t matter. I wasn’t a part of her life anymore. She’d wiped me out of it like a weed that had terrorized her garden.
“This isn’t a guilt trip, Peaches. It is simply two people agreeing to get along for the benefit of a person they care about. We can work our shit out for him.”
She chewed on her lip, then closed her eyes as she breathed in deep. When her eyes opened again, I saw the mask that Aubrey had created better than even I could. “Jaydon is and always has been the biggest part of my family. I would never jeopardize that, especially not for you. Friends?” Her tone was cold.
I smiled and shook her hand. The shock jackhammered through me so fast I almost jerked back.
Our chemistry should have faded by now. It should have fallen apart when I shattered that little glass house we’d built for ourselves so many years ago.
Yet, it was stronger than ever.
At least for me.
From where I sat, it looked like she hadn’t felt the effect at all.
I didn’t let go of her hand when she started to pull back. “Just friends?”
“What else could we possibly be, Jax?”
“Well, once upon a time, we weren’t just friends.” I shouldn’t have goaded her.
“Once upon a time is for fairy tales, and that’s not what this is.”
“Peaches.” I emphasized the nickname to reprimand her.
“L.P.” She brought that stupid nickname back in the same tone.
“I wonder, do all your friends know how you sound when you’re coming?” The question was a low blow, meant to shake her from that cold, hardened tone she used with me.
Her pupils dilated as she froze, and a flush surfaced on her skin.
Good.
If I couldn’t forget about being with her, I needed to make sure she thought about it too.
She snatched her hand back. “Fuck you, Jax.”
I crossed my arms, wanting to smile at the fact that she was swearing. “Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten that far lately, Peaches.”
“Thank God for that.” She pushed away from the table, making the chair screech. “For someone who never wants to discuss the past, you sure as hell like to bring up specific parts of it.”