Reclaim Me (The Jaded Series Book 2) (12 page)

Mia closes her eyes and slightly shakes her head, dislodging my hand from her chin. I take a step back when she stands. I want to hit something when I watch Mia put her mask back on.

“Thank you for telling me, Mac. I need to get going,” she says and puts more space between us. I want to rant and rave and close the distance back up, but I don’t. I lost that right long ago.

I walk her to the door, Loafer trailing behind us. She bends down and places a light kiss on top of her head while petting her back affectionately. Jealously hits again and I grip the door handle tightly and glare daggers at my dog. Ridiculous? Maybe, but I still do it.

Mia gets back up and faces me. “Thanks for dinner.”

“Anytime, Pix. Thanks for listening to me.”

She nods her head and steps out the door. She walks to her car and gets inside without looking back. A minute later, I’m still standing there watching the dust settle that her car left behind
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Chapter Eleven

Mia

Her thoughtfulness…

“Shit,” I mutter for the umpteenth time. I grab the rag off the counter and squat down to pick up the mess I just made. Reaching over, I swipe the trashcan over to me and carefully pick up the pieces of glass from the beer bottle I just dropped.

Damn Mac!

I can’t stop thinking about what he told me a couple of days ago. For ten years, I blamed Mac for what happened. While I still blame him to an extent, there’s no way I can continue to put the full blame on him. Yes, he slept with her, but it was, essentially, against his will. I’m so fucking confused. I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know what to do anymore.

For years I guarded myself because of what happened. The pain of it is something I never wanted to go through again. I hardened my heart and turned cold. I was no longer the sweet, pliable girl I was back then. I was quiet and kept to myself; never letting anyone get too close, except for family and the very few select people I let in my inner circle. My world turned upside down the night of my birthday, and then Mac had to flip it again two nights ago. What the fuck am I supposed to do with what he said? What I thought was a careless act on his part turned out to be a violation on both our parts.

My actions after I saw Mac with Tessa, while they were already a mistake I realized before the deed was finished, became even more of a colossal fucked up mess with Mac’s words. I cringe and grit my teeth at what happened once I left Mac and Tessa. It was my stupid choice to do what I did, and I’ve lived to regret it every single day. The pain of that night, not just from seeing Mac with another woman but with what happened afterwards, is something I live with on a daily basis. I brought it on myself. I instigated it. I was asking for it. I just wanted to wipe the visions from my head and make the pain to go away. Most of all, I wanted to pay Mac back for what he did. He so carelessly threw away something that was only supposed to be mine. Why shouldn’t I do the same thing? Little did I know that the pain of what I was doing would be much more than I anticipated.

“Son of a bitch!” I yell, stand up, and move to a drawer that has clean washcloths. Snatching one out of the drawer, I wrap it around the palm of my hand and apply pressure.
Fuck, that hurt like a bitch!

“Let me see,” Jaxon says from behind me. I turn around and face him.

“It’s nothing,” I mutter. “Just a nick.”

“Mia, just let me see your damn hand,” he says again, sounding agitated.

“Fine!” I know I’m acting childish, but I don’t care. I puff out a breath and shove my wrapped hand in his face.

He unwraps it slowly. He lifts his eyes to mine, and his lips quirk up. “Just a nick, huh? Any deeper and you would need stitches.”

“Whatever,” I mumble.

“Get to the kitchen, and I’ll grab the first aid kit,” he says and walks off. I stick my tongue out at his back.

“I saw that, you little shit,” he calls out.

Of course he saw it. There’s a huge fucking mirror behind the bar. I lift my hand and salute him with my middle finger. “Did you see that as well?” I yell.

“Kitchen, Mia. Now,” he yells back without stopping.

Grumbling and cursing, I walk into the kitchen and over to the sink. I pass Hoot, our cook, on the way.

“Hey, Mia,” he says in his gravelly voice. Hoot is a big grizzly of a man, but he has a heart of gold and wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“Hey, Hoot.”

When he notices the bloody rag, he walks over to me. “What in the hell did you do?”

“Dropped a beer bottle and cut myself when I was picking it up. It’s no big deal, just a little scratch.”

“It’s not just a scratch,” Jaxon says, walking up to us carrying the first aid kit. He sets it down on the counter and opens it. Pulling out a couple of items, he places them on the counter, too.

“Hoot, could you go clean up the rest of the mess behind the bar?” Jaxon asks him.

“Sure, boss,” he says, and walks out the kitchen door.

I turn the spigot on and run my hand under the water. It stings, but I hold in my hiss of pain. Okay, so maybe it’s more than a small scratch. Jaxon’s right. Any deeper and I’d be on my way to get stitches.

Jaxon takes my hand and pulls it towards him. Picking up a pair of tweezers, he starts poking and prodding.

“Ow!” I say and try to pull my hand away.

“Oh, hold still and stop being a baby.”

“It fucking hurts, you dick,” I snap at him.

He snickers at me before saying, “I bet it does. Now stop wiggling around and let me get this last piece out.” He bends his head down and digs around some more until he gets the sliver out. He puts the tweezers down and picks up some peroxide. Holding my hand over the sink, he pours the cool liquid over the cut.

“What’s going on with you lately, Mia?” He asks while he applies triple antibiotic ointment on my palm. “It’s not like you to be so distracted.”

“I just have a lot on my mind lately. Don’t worry about it.” The last thing I need is to have Jaxon in my business.

“Is it Mac?” He asks and looks up at me.

Well, so much for him not being in my business.

“What? Why in the hell would you ask that? You know I don’t have anything to do with him.” I feign innocence. Maybe if he thinks his suggestion is way out of the ballpark he’ll let it go.

Nope, no way I could be so lucky.

“I talked to Ethan yesterday…” he says and looks into my eyes, trying to see the truth there.

I’m going fucking kill Ethan. He just can’t keep his damn mouth shut.

“Jesus fucking Christ! Does everybody in this town know? I swear that man is worse than a group of old ladies at their weekly book club meeting,” I spit out.

Jaxon doesn’t say anything while he puts a bandage on my hand. After it’s done, he cleans his mess and turns to me, and I know what’s coming. I brace and prepare.

“What’s going on between you two?” He asks.

“Absolutely nothing. We kissed in the hallway at Mom’s and that’s it. It was a stupid mistake. A mistake that won’t be happening again.”

“Mia, I never pushed back then because I knew you were in pain. Both of you were and I didn’t want to make it worse by butting into your business, but I need to know. Did he hurt you?” I know the expression on his face. He’s in big brother protective mode. While I love that side of him most of the time, right now it is not something I need. I don’t need him trying to wiggle his way in. The less he knows the better. If he knew that Mac cheated on me, there’s no telling what his reaction would be. Even if it wasn’t really Mac’s fault. Jaxon would overlook that and instead focus on the cheating part.

I take a step closer to him and grab his hand with my good one. “He didn’t hurt me, Jaxon. It just wasn’t working between us. We decided to go our separate ways.”

He pulls me in his arms and rests his chin on top of my head. I lay my head on his chest. He really is the best big brother a girl could have.

“I know you’re lying. I know something more happened between you two. He’s my friend, Mia, but if I find out he hurt you in any way, I’m going to beat his ass.”

I pull back and look up into his eyes. Eyes that are so unique and beautiful. Eyes that have an edge to them right now.

“Please, Jaxon, just leave it alone, okay? It happened a long time ago. There’s no need for you to go all alpha big brother. I’m fine. He’s fine. Everybody is fine.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” he mutters before kissing the top of my head and letting me go. He picks up the first aid kit and walks away, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

My feet are killing me and I’m exhausted. I’ve been ready for this day to be over since I walked in the door. It’s ten minutes to closing, and it couldn’t come fast enough. I’m doing as much of my end-of-shift duties as I can, hoping to get out of here quickly.

Once the last straggler walks out, I breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally.

I quickly finish up and yell through the kitchen door to let Hoot know I’m leaving. It’s just after two in the morning, and I’m really looking forward to a hot shower and my bed. I grab my purse and walk down the hallway to the back exit. Walking out into the slightly humid air, I turn and lock the door behind me. I dig my keys out of my purse and make my way to my car. I’m two steps away when I look up and see I have a flat.

That’s just fanfuckintastic! Can today get any worse?

I bend down to inspect my tire and don’t see anything embedded in it. Probably a nail. Lucky for me, Jaxon showed me how to do minor repairs to cars when we were younger, including how to change tires. But I sure as shit am not doing it tonight. I can barely keep my eyes open as it is. I debate with myself to go in and ask Hoot to give me a ride, but I decide against it. He does most of his creative cooking at night after the bar closes. That means he’ll be here for at least another hour, and I don’t want to wait. I just want to go home. I know he would stop what he’s doing to take me home, but I don’t want him to have to go through that. I can walk, as I don’t live too far from here. I throw my keys back in my purse and start my trek towards home.

Even though I’m wearing a tube top, the humid air is causing my shirt to stick to me and sweat trails down between by boobs. I feel nasty, and I’m sure I don’t smell too good either. I speed my steps and promise myself I’m never wearing my combat boots to work again. Yeah, that’s a promise I won’t keep. I love my combat boots.

Jaded is a small community and relatively quiet most of the time, but it’s amazing how quiet it is in the dead of night. All the houses and businesses are dark, except for an occasional porch light. The streetlights are on, and there’s not a running car in sight. I’m just passing Davey’s Bait and Tackle when I hear something behind me. I turn quickly and see a tall figure just outside of the glare of the street lamp. I try to shield my eyes so I can see better, but it does nothing to help.

“Alright asshole, just show yourself,” I snap out. I am really not in the mood for this shit.

“Well, well, if it isn’t little miss Mia,” comes a voice I despise. “What are you doing outside this time of night?”

“I should be asking you the same thing, Shady. What trouble are you causing?” This guy gives me the creeps. There is something way off about him. Of course, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that he was the guy that I gave my virginity to. I use the word ‘gave’ very loosely. I don’t even know if he remembers it. He’s never brought it up.

Shady starts stalking towards me with an unnatural glint in his eye. “I’m just out for a leisurely stroll. What’s your excuse? You must know it’s not safe for little girls to be out this late at night.”

I start walking backwards the closer he gets to me. I don’t want him anywhere near me. Not paying attention, my dumb ass walks myself backwards until I bump into a hard surface behind me. Shady doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of me.

“Back up, Shady,” I tell him firmly. I may sound brave on the outside, but I’m quaking in my damn combat boots. No way will I show him I’m scared shitless, but that’s exactly what I am: scared out of my mind. Shady is a huge man, and I know if he wanted to hurt me he would have no problem at all. I may be able to hold my own in many situations, but I’m no fool to think I can take on a guy like Shady.