“That really is her go-to move, isn’t it?”
I grinned. “Yeah. It got to the point where I just assumed she was lying and sneaking off to bang Brent in a broom closet every time she said she had a stomachache or headache.”
“To be fair… we didn’t exactly have the greatest start to our relationship either, did we?” Jax said, arching a brow.
I tapped a finger on my chin and pretended to think deeply. “You mean you don’t think actively threatening me in a trailer was romantic at all?”
He chuckled and ruffled my hair. “If you aren’t careful, I might have to threaten you again.”
“Oh yeah? With what?”
His hand moved down between my legs. “Another orgasm.”
I feigned shock and dismay. “Oh, no! Not that!”
Jax slid down the bed so that his head was between my thighs, looking up at me with a mischievous smirk. I spread my legs as wide as possible and let him have his way, raking my hands through his hair and sighing with bliss as he worked his magic with his tongue. He always made me feel so fucking good. So amazinglyalive.
It was a wonderful feeling; being alive and feeling my heart race. When I went up on that cliff five months ago, I genuinely thought I was going to die. I wanted to fight until my last breath, but in the end I was still certain it would be the last—out there in the freezing rain as I plummeted to the jagged rocks at the bottom.
Thanks to Jax, that didn’t happen. I survived the harrowing experience, and the only scars I was left with were mental ones. I wasn’t going to let them destroy me, and I planned on being there for Jax just as much as he’d been there for me when I needed him.
There were still a couple of dark clouds hanging over our lives—mostly because everyone knew who we were and what had happened, leading to usstillbeing the number one gossip topic in the country all these months later—but the storm had passed. We could easily get through the rest together.
We could get throughanythingtogether.
I arrived in Crown Point last September with a heavy heart, scared that I’d never fit in because I wasn’t rich like everyone else in town. Now, my heart was still heavy, but not with fear or regret. With love.
Meeting Jax and being with him was more than I ever could’ve wished for. He loved me and looked out for me even when I was barely capable of loving myself, and I knew that was going to last forever. He was my rock. My savior and protector.
I was the luckiest girl in the whole damn world.
Epilogue
Jax
“Kinsey Holland!”
Pride swelled in my chest as I watched Kinsey step across the stage to accept her diploma. I cheered my lungs out along with Erin, who was sitting a few spots down from me as we waited for our own names to be called.
Kinsey looked over her shoulder and flashed me a sassy smile before turning back to face the camera for her graduation photo with the principal of Woodsen’s Bay High. Then she stepped off the stage and ran over to the edge of the audience to greet her mom and Paul.
My phone vibrated in my pocket a minute later. It was her.
Kinsey:You look really hot up there…
Me:Not as hot as you strutting across that stage a minute ago. Even in that robe, I couldn’t stop staring at your ass.
Kinsey:Wow, pervert! I meant you look hot temperature-wise. It’s a billion degrees outside today. I’m sweating so much under this robe.
Me:Liar. I know what you really meant. PS. If you’re sweating so much, just take the robe off ;)
Kinsey:Probably not a good idea. With the robe off, people are more likely to notice that I didn’t wear any underwear today.
Me:I know you’re still lying but holy fuck…. You little tease. Just wait until I’m off this stage…
My name was finally called a moment later. Kinsey clapped and whooped down in the audience as I headed over to the principal to grab my diploma and pose for the photo. When I reached the other side of the stage a few seconds later, she was there to greet me, gorgeous green eyes gleaming with pride.
“We did it!” she said. “We actually managed to graduate!”