Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) (15 page)

I move towards Jax.
“You really have nothing to say to me?”

He doesn’t take his
eyes off the black bag.

“Fine!” I shout as
I move in front of him, right as his clenched fist flies toward me.

His fist freezes a
breath away from my face. His gaze finally meets mine. I kind of wish
he wasn’t looking at me anymore. He’s pissed. He grinds his teeth
together. Logan and Connor are yelling at my stupidity, but I ignore
them. I knew Jax would stop, he wouldn’t hurt me physically, no he
saves his torture for the emotional games he plays with me.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS A
MATTER WITH YOU! I could have hit you!” he spits out as he pushes
me out of the way.

I shrug. “I got your
attention.

“Whatever,” he says
under his breath and moves to do pull-ups.

I hate that I have to
force myself to be aloof around him. His muscles tighten with each
lift, beckoning my eyes to follow the movement. I shake my head and
march over to Connor and Logan who are doing crunches on the red mat.

“I’m leaving.” I
hover over them.

Connor nods. “Jax has
been in a weird mood all day, ignore him.”

“Fully intend to.”

Logan stands and hugs
me. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

I look at him,
confused. “Eight?”

He and Connor sigh.
“The ball.”

“Right. Okay I’ll
meet you in the lobby.”

Crap, the stupid ball .
. . the ball that I don’t have a dress for yet. The same ball that
Jax will be attending. I swallow the uneasiness that is starting to
take over. I do not want to see him tonight.

I flip Jax off as I
fling open the door. Just because I have to be nice to him tonight
doesn’t mean I can’t get out all of my hostility now.

“Wait, Ads,” he
says as he rushes to his discarded bag. I ignore him.

I stride out of the
penthouse and towards the elevator, hoping that he doesn’t follow.
He does. The doors slide open. I hit the ‘L’ button then
repeatedly hit the ‘Close doors’ button. I sigh in relief when
they shut in Jax’s stunned face. It isn’t until I’m outside,
breathing fresh air, that I realize he was bearing a white box in his
hand. Whoops, I hope that wasn’t an apology. Too late to find out.

“Ads! Wait!” he
shouts, out of breath, as he storms outside where I’m trying to
hail a cab.

Crap!

“What do you want?”
I ask without turning around.

He steps around me.
“This is for you.”

By the time I glance up
from the white box in my hands to Jax, he’s gone, running back
inside. Leaving me. Typical. I shake my head as I open it. I gasp
when I see the most beautiful mask I’ve ever seen, in the most
vibrant turquoise I have laid eyes on. Shades of gold, blues, and
green twirl around the entire mask with a gold trim. Satin ribbon of
the same shades weave together along the top of the mask. The deep
blue feathers above the right eye remind me of the ocean. Without
even putting it on, I know how well it will complement my complexion.

It’s absolutely
perfect.

I close the lid, cradle the box in
my arm, and I lift my free hand. A cab stops in front of me. As the
taxi waits in New York traffic, I send a thank you via text to Jax.
He doesn’t respond. For some reason, I open the lid again. It isn’t
until I take the mask out that I see the note.

You’re so full of crap. Good thing I think ahead and knew you
wouldn’t remember the ball tonight to save your life.

Leave it to Jax to give
me such a romantic gift and ruin it with a simple note. I can picture
him in his office writing the note with a smug smile.

As soon as the car
pulls up to the curb, I sprint into my building and jump in the cold
shower, with only one thought: finding the perfect dress to match the
more than perfect mask Jax bought me.

I dry off then wrap a
towel in my hair and make my way to my dresser to fetch a pair of
leggings and an oversized shirt. Comfy is always best when I’m on a
shopping mission. I’m slipping on a pair of La Perla panties when I
hear my front door open. I don’t remember locking it before making
a mad dash to the shower. I freeze mid step and wait . . .

I know the rational
response would be to finish dressing to see who just walked in here,
or better yet, lock my bedroom door and hide. I choose neither and
decide to wait, naked with one leg in my panties, unable to do
anything but close my eyes and stand as still as the Mary and Dickon
statue in The Secret Garden in Central Park. Someone turns the door
handle.

Maybe
if I don’t see them, they won’t see me?
Man, why can’t
I still be as naive as a child?

My body breaks out in
goosebumps and not from the cold. I can feel his gaze on me; I know
who I will see. I take a deep breath before opening my eyes to
confirm Jax standing in my doorway with a similar white box on
steroids in his hands.

As he slowly scans my
body, the box drop to the ground. I feel as if its his hands roaming
my body instead of his eyes. My body hums with need, need for Jax. In
a trance, I drop my arms to my side and welcome the fact that Jax is
blatantly staring at me. If he wasn’t so sexy I would laugh. His
eyes can’t seem to find a spot to look at, they keep jumping from
my boobs, to my flat stomach, to my legs, and finally to my bare
pussy.

“Why are you here?”
I ask breathlessly.

“I wanted to see your
face when you open this,” he says as his gaze roams over me.

I love every second his
attention is solely focused on me. I feel like I’m on fire just
from him devouring me with his eyes. I feel sexy because of him. When
he runs his tongue over his bottom lip, I stare at his mouth. I want
to run my tongue over his lips. Who am I kidding, I want to run my
tongue over his entire body. I want to trace every line on him with
my tongue.

My heart pounds so hard
I’m sure it’s going to stop working. I’m positive that he can
hear my heart from across the room. I force myself to drag my eyes
away from his more than welcoming lips. His gym clothes cling to his
sweaty body. Yum, Jax and sweat. I bite my lip as I remember when I
licked him clean after practice when I surprised him at NYU. I pause
over his rock-hard abs, visible through his wet white shirt. I force
my eyes to keep traveling, only to have them stop again at the huge
bulge.

Transfixed I continue
to stare at his hard on, imagining what it would feel like to have
him between my legs again. I gasp at the same time that he steps
towards me. I stand here, waiting to see what he will do. After a few
more seconds, which feels like hours, he takes the last two steps so
that he’s standing right in front of me. I lean my head back so I
can look up at his handsome face. The exact second our irises meet, I
know he feels it too. And just as suddenly, Jax turns around and
walks out of my bedroom without uttering a single word.

Stunned, I stand here
like an idiot and listen to my front door open, close, and him
locking it with his key. I don’t know how long I wait in my room
with one leg still in my panties, but eventually I pull them into
place. Reluctantly I saunter over to the gigantic box that Jax
carelessly dropped.
So much for
seeing my face while I open it.
Sitting Indian-style, I
stare at the box as if it’s a bomb. I think I know what’s in it,
and if I’m right, then I don’t want to open it.

Manning up, I slowly
lift the lid and peel the tissue paper away. My breath catches at the
exquisite Monique Lhuillier gown. I hold the dress up to reveal an
embroidered cap sleeve gown in the exact shade of turquoise as my
mask and with gold embroidery on the entire dress. It has a tiered
train with tiny green flecks on the bottom. It matches my mask
perfectly!

Carefully I lay the dress down
across the bed before returning to the box on the floor. Shuffling
around the tissue paper, I find what I knew would be there. Another
notecard in Jax’s handwriting.

This dress will not do you justice . . . I still look forward to
seeing how beautiful you make this dress look tonight though.

I almost melt at his
words, but then I remember the little incident that just took place.
I hate this hot and cold game Jax always plays with me. I’m tempted
to wear another dress just to spite him, but this one is so amazing
that it deserves a night out. And okay, I kinda want to see Jax’s
face when he sees me in it tonight.

I rummage through my
dresser and grab the first oversized shirt I see, realizing it’s
one of Jax’s old soccer jerseys that I’ve collected over the
years. I contemplate switching it out for another one, but quickly
dismiss that idea. There’s something about wearing his clothing
that relaxes me; however, tonight it does the exact opposite. Instead
of feeling the calm that his presence brings me, even if it’s via
an old shirt, I feel anxious.

Two hours later, I
French braid my bangs back, and use bobby pins to make a bun. I leave
a few curls down to frame my face and I’m happy with the end
result. It’s a chic updo that doesn’t take much effort. After
spraying my hair into place, I work on my makeup. I use a dark
eyeshadow and do smokey eyes, then add a little gold glitter, and
finish up with eyeliner and mascara. I add a little blush and lastly
I paint my lips a deep crimson.

Carefully I slip Jax’s
jersey off of my head and toss it onto the bed besides the dress. I
admire the gown for a few seconds before putting it on. The corset
top fits like a glove and makes my boobs pop up with the perfect
amount of cleavage and then some more, but luckily the embroidery
still makes me look classy. I slip on my nude peep toe Louboutin
heels and the gold clutch that I laid out earlier that matches my
dress perfectly. I have five minutes before I have to be downstairs
for the car. Quickly, I put on the earrings that Logan bought me from
Paris last year, grab my mask, and head towards the elevators.

As soon as the elevator
arrives at the lobby, my heart skips a beat . . . I don’t think
I’ve ever seen anything as breathtaking as the sight before me.
Holy moses, I’m afraid to blink because I don’t want The God
before me to evaporate if I do. I’ve seen Jax in a tux several
times, more than I can count actually, and each time he looks like
The God, but this time it’s just too much. It almost hurts to look
at how beautiful he is. Almost is the keyword.

His back is to me as he
talks on the phone. I’ve only seen his side profile and I know when
he turns around I won’t be able to keep my eyes off him. When I see
two passing guys stare at me, I blush and slowly step to Jax.

Noticing the two
unblinking men in front of him, Jax slowly turns around and pauses
mid-sentence. I stop and beam in awe. I can’t believe someone can
possibly look this good. It’s truly unfair Jax doesn’t even
notice the effect he causes me when he’s in a tux; heck even
breathing, this man affects me. Blinking, as if coming out of a daze,
he walks my way while I continue to gawk at him, wishing that he was
mine again.

He stops in front of me
and I have to work hard at keeping my distance. All I want to do is
launch myself at him and rip his shirt apart to reveal that chiseled
body he’s hiding underneath his tux. Tonight will be impossible if
he’s going to look this good.

Slowly, painfully
slowly, he twirls one of the loose curls that frame my face. With his
other hand, he strokes from my cheek to my jaw with the tip of his
index finger. I bite my lip, forcing myself not to take his finger in
my mouth and suck it . . . hard.

He groans so quietly I
almost don’t hear him. “I have no words to adequately describe
how heart-stopping beautiful you look, Adalynn.”

Blushing scarlet red, I
smile up at him. “You clean up pretty nicely, too.”

He offers me his elbow
and I eagerly wrap my arm around his. Without another word to each
other, we exit my apartment building to the waiting car. When I sit
down, Jax helps gather the small train of the dress before closing
the door and going around to the other side.

Noticing the empty limo
I ask, “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you or anything, but
where’s my brother?”

Jax ignores me and
reaches into his pocket to retrieve his vibrating phone. “Hmmm . .
. well this should be fun. Yeah I already got her. Yeah, see you in a
bit, we’re just leaving.”

I give him my
no-nonsense stare when he hangs up.

Sighing dramatically he
says, “Logan has some last minute things to take care of so I
offered to take you.”

I laugh. “So you’re
my knight in shining armor, Jax?”

He rolls his eyes.

I’m debating what to
say now since we’re sitting in traffic in awkward silence when a
thought hits me. “Wait, what last minute things? Logan didn’t
mention anything today.”

Jax looks momentarily
panicked for a whole half a second, but he quickly masks it with the
unreadable expression that he uses when he’s trying to hide
something from me. “Guess he doesn’t tell you everything. You
know, kind of the same way you withhold information from him.”

For a second I think
he’s referring to us, though his sudden hostility baffles me. Then
he adds, “You know how you told him about your date with the good
doctor and all.”

And the lightbulb
finally comes on. So that’s why he is so cold with me all of a
sudden. “You wouldn’t be jealous, would you?” I ask, knowing
full well that he is, even though he won’t admit it.

“Hardly,” Jax says.

Jaxon Chandler is
jealous. There’s a first for everything I guess. If only he knew
that he has nothing to envy. It’s him; no matter what, he will
always be it for me. Too bad I can’t tell him, I have my own demons
and I know Jax will never have the courage to take this further. He’s
never been able to. That’s why we sneaked around when we were
teenagers, because of idea of making our relationship public freaked
him out.