Then again, maybe he just had an ironic sense of humor and wrote stuff like that for fun. If I was ever going to make friends in Crown Point, I really needed to stop pre-judging all the people there.
I chewed on my bottom lip as I scrolled through Jax’s photos. The first few were all distant group shots, as was his profile pic, so it was hard to figure out which one he was or what he looked like.
When I finally found a solo photo of him, taken last year on his birthday, I lost my breath.
Wow.
Jax was so attractive that it was hard to look directly at his face without feeling embarrassed, even though it was just a photo. He had olive skin, chocolate-brown eyes, strong, angular features, and big arms that suggested he worked out regularly.
On top of his good looks, his relaxed demeanor and casual smirk gave him the appearance of someone who’d known from birth that he’d own everything one day. Someone who’d never heard the word ‘no’.
In other words, he looked like the exact sort of person I was afraid Crown Point was riddled with.
And now I had to go and live with him.
At the mere thought of it, a flush settled over my skin and a swarm of butterflies exploded in my stomach.
“Kinsey? Are you okay? You look like you just touched a live wire.”
I glanced up from my phone to see my mom returning to her seat, forehead wrinkled with concern.
“I’m fine,” I said, forcing a smile. “Just checking my messages.”
I knew I sounded a little breathless, but Mom didn’t seem to notice. I sneaked another look at Jax before sliding my phone back into my purse, heart banging on my ribcage the whole time.
I took a deep breath and dug my nails into my palms in an attempt to steady myself.Dammit.
I hadn’t even met this guy yet, and I was already in serious trouble.
2
Jax
“Jax? Is that you?”
Dad’s voice floated out from the sitting room. I dropped my keys and trudged down the hall. “I just got home,” I called back.
“Come here, please,” he said.
When I arrived at the sitting room entrance, I saw Dad standing by the window, swirling a half-empty glass of whiskey and ice. He turned when he heard me enter and flashed me a pleasant smile. “How was your day? Did you get your fall schedule sorted out?”
“Not yet. There’s a clash between two of my classes, but the online student portal thing is fucked up right now. I’ll talk to Ms. Hendry about it when school starts up again.”
“All right.” He nodded slowly. “Anyway, I wanted to remind you that Anna and Kinsey will be arriving tomorrow afternoon.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Then I suppose it’s my duty to remindyouthat it’s not too late to change your mind and cancel this whole thing.”
Dad sighed. “Look, I know you’re not too thrilled about having to share your space with a new girl, but—”
“It’s got nothing to do with that,” I said, cutting him off. We lived in a 15,000 square foot mansion in Crown Point’s most exclusive neighborhood, so space wasn’t an issue at all. “You know what my problem is.”
“Ah. Your wild conspiracy theory.” He rolled his eyes upward. “I thought we were past this.”
My upper lip curled. “It’s not a conspiracy theory. Kinsey is James Holland’s daughter. That’s a literal fact,” I said. “Now you’re just letting her move in here like nothing ever happened.”
“Well, technically, nothing ever happened between me and Kinsey. The problem was between me and James, and it’s all in the past,” Dad said, lifting his brows. “Besides, James is no longer with us. So it’s not just in the past. It’s dead and buried, quite literally.”
“Him being dead makes this whole thing even worse,” I countered. “It makes it ten times more likely that Kinsey is out for your blood now. Retribution for what she thinks you did to James. I mean, you told me what he was like. He probably spun her some crazy story about what happened between you two, and I bet it’s the polar opposite of the truth.”