The Last Second Chance: A Small Town Love Story (Blue Moon Book 3) (30 page)

Mrs. Penskee and Waffles happily trotted off into the crowd.

“I am going to murder you,” Joey hissed at him.

“Then you’ll be cuffed to my rotting body,” Jax said amicably as he weaved a path through the crowd.

Joey accepted the congratulations with less enthusiasm than Jax, who was waving and shaking hands left and right like he was Beckett.

He dragged her into a relatively quiet corner behind the goat milk soap booth.

“What’s the plan here, Jax?” She held up their cuffed hands. “Kinky sex in public to win me back?”

The slow, knowing smile that spread across his face had her mouth going dry and her underwear going damp. She smacked him in the chest with her free hand. “Very funny. Why the hell am I handcuffed to you? There’s a town-wide vote that picks the ‘lucky’ couple. And we’re not even a couple.”

“Congratulations, you guys,” Ellery waved cheerfully from the front of the soap stand.

It hit Joey like a bolt of lightning. “You!” She pointed at Ellery, dragging Jax’s hand up with hers. “This was all you!”

Ellery’s purple lipstick spread into a wide grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She skipped away before Joey could find anything to throw at her.

“Oh, my God. Moon Beam,” Joey paced, bringing Jax with her. “All of this ‘you two are a huge mistake’ crap was all a set up.”

“Diabolical, right?” Jax laughed.

“What about Facebook? No one ever mentioned us in the group.”

“Not in the Blue Moon group, but in the secret Jax and Joey Forever group there were a few mentions.”

“I hate everything. I hate this town. I hate these cuffs. I hate your face.”

“God, I love you, Jojo,” Jax swiveled in front of her in mid-stride and brought his mouth to hers.

“I hate kissing,” Joey muttered against his lips.

Jax brought his hands up to frame her face and succeeded in slapping her in the face with her own limp hand. “Oops. Sorry.”

“You can’t kiss me. We’re broken up.”

“We’re fighting. That’s different from breaking up,” he corrected. “Tell me you read it,” he said suddenly serious.

Joey raised her chin. “I read it.”

“And?”

“How do you feel?”

“Pissed off and hungry.”

“I’ll feed you in a minute, but Joey, we have to start talking sooner or later. Our entire relationship can’t happen in bed.”

“You’ve been talking to your mother.”

Jax grimaced. “I don’t want to know what that segue is about. Focus on us right here, right now. Tell me why you’re mad, right now.”

“Besides the cuffs?” she asked, sarcastically jiggling the metal around her wrist.

“Besides the cuffs.”

“I’m furious because you and my father made stupid decisions about my future without bothering to consult me.”

“Let’s talk about that,” Jax said. “Put yourself in my shoes. If I do the only thing that I want to do, which is stay by your side, I’d be opening my family up to a lawsuit and forcing you to kiss your dreams at Centenary good-bye. Imagine how that felt. You’d lose everything you’d been working toward. My family would lose their home and their livelihood. And it was all because of me.”

She shook her head, started to deny him.

“Just picture it, Jojo. How long had you spent researching schools, applying for scholarships, plotting out your courses? I knew what that school, that program meant to you. There’s no way you could have afforded it on your own if your dad had cut you off.”

“He wouldn’t have actually done it—”

“And then imagine how scared I was thinking about my parents having to say good-bye to the land they’d worked for years. The house they’d raised their family in. Carter wouldn’t have had a home to come back to. Would Beckett have stayed in Blue Moon if it wasn’t for the farm? I saw all of that vanishing. Because of me. And I thought it would be selfish if I stayed.”

Joey’s eye was starting to twitch.

“When the father of the girl you love—a man she loves and respects—tells you that you’re not good enough, a truth you’re already wrestling with?” Jax shook his head. “It makes you want to be better. To be good enough. I never intended to leave permanently. I knew I would come back when I was good enough to be with you.”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Joey snapped. “You were always good enough.”

“I didn’t feel like I was,” Jax countered. “And neither did your father. I felt like a teenage screw up compared to my brothers, to my dad. They were out doing things, trying to make the world and Blue Moon a better place. And I was skipping school and fantasizing about a certain brunette knockout who would come over and swim in our pond in a tiny red bikini.”

“All teenagers feel that way. It’s part of puberty. It could have been different. It should have been different,” Joey argued.

“But, Jojo, it wasn’t. And we can waste the next eight years of our lives arguing about what could have been done differently, but that still won’t change it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for everything, but I think I’ve been punished enough. It’s time for us to start over.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” Joey admitted. “Do you feel good enough now?”

Jax grinned. “Nope. But my plan is to spend the rest of my life showering you with love and presents so you forget how not good enough I am. What else are you mad about?”

“I’m a steaming hot ball of rage because you still didn’t tell me when you came home. You said you came back for me, yet you still had no plans to tell me why you left in the first place.”

“That’s fair.”

“I don’t give a crap if it’s fair,” Joey shot back. “If you came back to rebuild this relationship, you should have started with the truth.”

“Hear me out. Please,” he added. “When I left, I didn’t tell you because I was afraid it would force the choice of me or your father. And I didn’t think I’d win. You looked up to him, trusted him, respected him. I worried that he’d pressure you to give me up. I didn’t think you’d choose me over him.”

“And when you came back?”

“When I came back and things started up again between us, I was so happy. Everything was falling into place, but I realized there was a chance that if I told you why I left you’d face that choice again. Me or your father. And I worried you’d choose me.”

Joey shook her head in confusion. “So I should choose neither?”

“Jojo, I know what it’s like to live without a dad. I don’t want you to ever face that. Especially not while Forrest is alive and well.”

“He hurt me just as badly as you did,” Joey said stubbornly.

“Baby, I know,” Jax brushed the fingers of his uncuffed hand over her cheek. “But now that you know the whole truth, you have to choose both of us or neither of us.”

“You screwed up so bad.”

“Oh, Joey, don’t I know it,” he said, wrapping his arm around her in an awkward one-armed hug. “I did it all for you.”

“Do you think maybe in the future you could do less stupid things for me?” she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

“That depends, are you saying we have a future?”

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Carter asked, leading Summer between the soap booth and the gluten-free funnel cake stand.

“I’m handcuffed, how do you think it’s going?” Joey muttered.

“If it makes you feel better, the vote was unanimous for you two to be the Cuffed Lovers,” Summer said, undeterred by Joey’s general mood. “It was pretty cool. The B.C. posted a live video of their meeting and everyone got to post their votes online.”

“I’ve been betrayed by everyone,” Joey said, bringing her hands—and one of Jax’s—to her face. She’d been conspired against by an entire town for months and had neatly fallen into their trap.

The elementary school kazoo band took the stage and began a horrific rendition of “What a Wonderful World.”

Beckett and Gia approached, hands over their ears to block out the racket.

“You guys back together yet?” Beckett bellowed over the noise.

“I hate all of you,” Joey yelled back.

“I can’t hear what they’re yelling about,” Summer shouted in Carter’s ear.

Jax took matters into his own hands and dragging Joey, led the way down a hallway. The first doorknob he tried turned and he pulled her inside and flicked the light switch. The others piled in behind them.

“A janitor’s closet. Seems appropriate for cleaning up messes,” Beckett said shutting the door behind him.

“Sooo, are you getting back together?” Summer asked.

“You mean, are they going to go back to just casually seeing each other,” Gia corrected her with a wink at Joey.

At least she had one friend in the crowd.

“What’s that smell?” Carter asked. “It’s like old vomit and sawdust.”

“Gross!”

“Can you guys just shut the hell up for a minute?” Jax said at a kazoo concert level.

A chorus of “sorries” sounded.

“Look, guys. I’m sorry. I can’t just bounce back like the rest of you. I can’t be like Carter and tell Summer it’s fine that she ran away when it ripped his heart out. I can’t be like Gia and just forget that Beckett tried to throw her at her ex-husband. I need time to process stuff like that.”

They looked disappointed. “I’m sorry you’re disappointed. But I’m just trying to be honest here. A pair of handcuffs and a screenplay isn’t going to make me suddenly forgive. Maybe I’m starting to understand now. But it’s going to take some time.”

“Your honesty is appreciated,” Gia said graciously.

“It’s this new thing we’re trying,” Joey said, looking at Jax.

Carter shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’d like to make a motion that from this point on, we all come clean on any past lies or withheld truths and in the future we don’t bullshit each other.”

Beckett looked guilty. Joey knew he had only recently revealed how close Phoebe had come to losing the farm after their father’s death. It had been a shock to both Jax and Carter, who had been off busy living their lives. If it hadn’t been for Blue Moon Bank President Rainbow Berkowicz giving Beckett a personal loan, the Pierces would be spending their family Christmas in Phoebe’s cramped townhouse instead of the farmhouse Carter had lovingly renovated.

“I agree,” Jax announced. “Just so we’re all on the same page, I left town all those years ago because I thought Joey’s dad was going to scrap Joey’s college plans to keep her away from me and sue our family for the accident. I decided to stay away until I thought I was good enough for her.”

“I am scared shitless about having twins,” Carter said.

“I know the genders,” Summer confessed.

“I freaking knew it!” Joey pointed victoriously at Summer.

“You lied to my face,” Carter said.

“I know! I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t stand not knowing. It was driving me insane so I called the doctor and made her tell me. Please don’t be mad!”

“Well, then in the bid for honesty let me correct my statement,” Carter said. “I’m scared shitless about having twins so I thought maybe knowing what to expect would make me feel better so I called the doctor—”

Summer brought her hands to her mouth. “You didn’t! I was supposed to be the one to crack!”

“Sorry, honey. We both cracked under the pressure.”

“So you know we’re having—”

Carter nodded, a sweet smile spreading across his face. He pulled Summer in for a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Summer sighed against him.

“I pay Phoebe under the table to do the books for the studio so Beckett doesn’t judge me,” Gia continued the truth train with her confession.

Beckett snorted.

All eyes turned to Joey. “I may have trained Clementine to attack Jax.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Jax said, baffled. “How in the hell did you do that?”

“Mostly by stuffing your old clothes with cookies. She figured it out pretty fast. That’s why she always goes for your pants.”

“I made out with Joey once,” Beckett said.

Jax was on Beckett in less time than it took for the words to sink in to everyone else.

Joey was dragged right along into the fray. Jax tried to hit with his left hand, but Joey’s weight stalled the blow. He fired off a quick jab with his right, catching Beckett in the face. They grappled and went to the floor, sending Gia and Summer jumping for cover.

“You made out with the woman I love?”

Jax slapped at Beckett with his cuffed hand. “Ow! You left. You were broken up. She was sad.”

“So you shoved your tongue down her throat?” Two long handled mops rained down on them and a jug of organic multi-surface cleaner tumbled from a shelf.

Beckett snuck in a gut shot. “It wasn’t like that. Get off of me!” His foot lashed out, denting a plastic bucket.

Jax made a grab for his brother’s throat and dragged Joey down on top of them. “If one of you punches me I am going to knee you both in the balls so hard you’ll never have kids,” she yelled.

Carter pried them apart with one of the mops. “Stop it. Both of you.”

Jax grudgingly accepted Beckett’s hand and let his brother pull him to his feet. “Not cool, man.”

Beckett looked contrite. “I know. I’m sorry. It was a big mistake and we both knew it right away.”

“Well maybe by the third or fourth kiss,” Joey put it. She enjoyed the sparks of rage she saw in Jax’s eyes when he turned to look at her.

“Don’t think you’re not in trouble. We’ll talk about this later,” Jax decided.

“Does anyone else have anything to confess before we leave this closet of truth?” Carter asked.

Summer raised her hand. “I think I’m in labor.”

W
hen the hospital
staff hauled Summer away in a wheelchair, Carter running behind them clutching their perfectly packed and organized overnight bag, Summer was still shouting instructions to Gia and Joey. “Call Audrey and make sure she still has all the logins for the website. And call my parents! And make sure the posts are all scheduled for the next two days. And—” The automatic doors closed behind them cutting off Summer’s to do list.

Gia sagged against Beckett. “You’re going to be an uncle,” she smiled.

“Aunt Gia,” Beckett said, brushing a red curl back from her face. “Our kids are going to have playmates.”

“Finally. Then maybe they’ll leave us alone,” Gia laughed.

Joey looked down at her still-cuffed hand and then at the man she was attached to. He was smiling at the closed doors like it was Christmas morning. “Carter’s gonna be a dad,” he said, his voice ripe with pride.

“Where’s your mom?” Joey asked.

“Right behind you,” Phoebe said, half-jogging through the automatic doors. “The sheriff was kind enough to give me a ride. Franklin took the kids home to let the dogs out.”

“You’re like the best mother-in-law in the world,” Gia said, hugging her. “You ready for two more grandkids?”

“I’m going to wear a hole in the waiting room carpet,” Phoebe promised.

“Figured you two would need these,” Donovan said, twirling the handcuff keys on his finger.

“Oh, thank God,” Joey said, holding up their joined hands. She rubbed her wrist when the cuff slid off. “I’m still mad at you for that,” she told Donovan.

“Yeah, well I’m still not happy about you and Beckett making out,” Jax said.

“Really? Exactly when did this make-out session happen?” Donovan asked.

“Oh man, don’t start that shit again,” Beckett said.

The nurse behind the desk shot Beckett a look.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Geez, what happened to your face?” Donovan asked looking at the bruise Beckett was sporting on his cheekbone.

“This ass—guy here goes off on me for a kiss that happened eight years ago.”

Gia bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

“It doesn’t matter if it was eighteen years ago,” Jax snapped.

Joey stepped in front of him and put her newly freed hand on his chest. “Not that I owe you an explanation since you’d left and we weren’t together anymore, but it happened one night when Beckett drove me home from dinner. We knew it was a mistake immediately.”

“And why was it a mistake?” Donovan wondered.

“Because Beckett wasn’t Jax.”

Beckett looked down at his wife. “And Joey wasn’t you,” he told her.

“You didn’t even know me then.”

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t waiting for you.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, get a room,” Joey muttered.

F
our hours later
, Jonathan and Meadow Pierce arrived within two minutes of each other. They were tiny pink bundles of health and dubbed the most perfect set of twins in the world by their parents. Joey thought they were pretty okay. Meadow looked at her with indigo eyes and the slightest frown as if she was trying to figure everything out. “You’ve got time, kid. Don’t try to figure it all out at once,” Joey whispered.

She glanced over at Jax who was holding Jonathan with Carter leaning over his shoulder. The looks of absolute adoration on their faces as they looked at the newborn did something funny to Joey’s gut. She caught Summer’s soft smile and wandered over to her bed to hand over her daughter.

“How do you feel?” Summer asked her.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you?” Joey asked depositing Meadow carefully in Summer’s arms.

“I feel tired, and pained, and exhausted, and completely in love right now. Now your turn.”

“I feel most of those things, too.”

“It’s going to be fine, Joey. You’ll find your way through. You’ll be able to forgive. And you’ll be as nauseatingly happy as I am right now.”

Joey shot another glance in Jax’s direction. He was promising Jonathan that he’d teach him and his sister to ride their bikes off the dock into the pond. Summer rolled her eyes. “Can you wait until they’re at least a day or two old before you start teaching them to drive me insane?”

“Sorry, Sis.” Jax handed Jonathan over and kissed Summer on the forehead.

Phoebe snapped yet another picture on her phone. “Mom, enough already,” Carter sighed sliding onto the bed next to Summer. “They’re too young for paparazzi.”

“I can’t help it,” Phoebe sighed. “They’re just so perfect! And I need just the right picture for Facebook and we promised Evan and Aurora we’d bring them pictures of their cousins.”

“When will your parents be here?” Joey asked Summer.

“Dad said they’ll be here before eight tonight. He has the pedal to the metal in the RV.”

Jax glanced at his watch. “We should probably get going. The dogs are going to need let out soon.”

“Yeah, Waffles is probably ready for his dinner soon.”

“How about you? Hungry?” Jax asked.

Joey raised an eyebrow. “Is that really a question you ever have to ask?”

“I’m thinking steaks and baked potatoes.”

Joey’s mouth watered at the thought. “Where is this magical dinner you speak of?”

“Your house. We’ll hit the grocery store on the way.”

“Inviting yourself over?”

“The way to a Joey’s heart is through her stomach.”

They said their good-byes to the exhausted new parents and enthusiastic grandparents. Joey led the way to her truck in the dusk. The visitors lot had cleared out considerably since they arrived and her cherry red pick-up sat by itself against a fence. Driving home would be easier without the handcuffs, she mused.

“I’m still mad at you, by the way,” she said, shutting her door.

“I appreciate your honesty. I’m still not thrilled about you making out with my brother and not telling me about it.”

“Well, it never came up in the eight years that you were living on the other side of the country.”

“Touché,” Jax sighed. “I’m better though, right?”

“Better?”

“You like making out with me better than Beckett.”

“Beckett is like a big brother to me. He could be very good at making out and I wouldn’t know it because I couldn’t get past the brother thing.”

“You’ve never thought of me as a brother, have you?” Jax asked grabbing her hand.

Joey thought about lying, but figured they’d both had enough of that. “No,” she sighed. “I never thought of you like a brother.”

“Good, because if you did that would make what I’m about to do very wrong.”

Before she could ask what it was that he was about to do, Jax grabbed her by the sweater and yanked her to him. The kiss was frantic, unforgiving. Joey forgot about the division between them and together they scaled the slick cliff side of need.

His hands were under her sweater, skimming over her stomach. “I thought about doing this all day,” he murmured against her. “You are never out of my mind.”

Joey kissed him just to shut him up and only stopped when he yanked her sweater over her head.

“Here?” she whispered. A parking lot seemed reminiscent of their teenage trysts.

“Here.” His fingers shoved her bra straps off her shoulders and her bared nipples tightened at the cold. Any argument she’d planned disappeared the moment his mouth brushed the first aching bud. He pressed her down on the seat, his lips and tongue busy teasing her while his palm stroked her other breast.

“God I love bench seats,” he groaned.

Joey levered her hips against him and Jax shifted so he could press his erection against her.

“Too many layers,” Joey muttered. While he sampled her other nipple, sucking it into the heat of his mouth, her fingers worked her jeans open before moving to his. With the zipper under the pressure of his erection, Joey cautioned herself to go slowly. But the second he sprang free, she gripped his shaft in her fist.

“Fuck,” he moaned, releasing her nipple and dropping his head to her shoulder. He let her stroke him, let her grip him like a vice and she felt the first bead of moisture when she dragged her fingers over his crown.

“Baby, this isn’t going to be slow and sweet,” he said, dragging her jeans down until he could free one of her legs.

“Good.” She ground the word out.

When he saw the sheer lace of the red thong she wore, his eyes went glassy and then curious.

“Jesus, Jojo. What the hell is that?”

Joey, expecting a tarantula or something even worse tried to sit up. Jax was staring at the hoof print bruise on her thigh.

“Oh, that. That’s Calypso being a shithead.”

Jax forced her non-imprinted leg up against the back of the seat and yanked her underwear to the side. He inserted two fingers in his mouth and Joey stopped breathing when she watched him pull them out between his lips and bring them down to her exposed flesh.

“Everything about you gets me,” he said, sliding his wet fingers inside her. “I just look at you and need to be inside you.”

Joey cried out as he brushed his thumb over that tiny bundle of nerves that demanded his attention. She braced her free leg against the dashboard, her foot touching the window.

“Every time. You get so wet for me, Joey,” he murmured, leaning down to bite at her neck.

“Now, Jax. Now. I need you.” She begged him for it and thank God he didn’t make her beg long. The second his fingers withdrew, Jax lined up his cock with her opening and surged into her. Joey groaned as she stretched to accommodate his girth. This felt good. This felt right. No matter what else was going on between them, she could always be sure that this was right. It was where they both belonged.

There was no time to get used to it, he was already moving in her. She wrapped her free leg around him, urging him deeper and when he accommodated her, she bit into his shoulder.

Her breasts crushed against his chest as he thrust into her with a demand that bordered on violence. Jax buried his face in her neck and Joey let him take her as he wanted. Fast, fierce, aggressive. The separation had made them both jagged and shaky with need.

He slammed into her again and Joey was dimly aware that the truck was probably rocking on its tires, but she didn’t care. Her entire world had shrunk to the cab of her pick-up. There was nowhere else she wanted to be.

“Fuck. Baby, I can’t hold on much longer.” It was the rawness in his voice that set her off. Joey reared up to capture his mouth just as he drove inside her again and she felt that delicious tightening of release. It hit her like an explosion.

“Come, Jax,” she gritted the words out. And on his next thrust she felt him lose himself in her. She felt him come buried inside her to the hilt. His shout—her name—rang in her ears as she came around him in fitful waves of dark pleasure.

They owned each other in the moment, in the night.

B
y the time
Joey found her sweater in the dark and they defrosted the windows, the promise of steak had lost out to more immediate need. They settled on drive-thru tacos and Joey ate two of them while Jax drove home.

Exhaustion settled over her like a cloud and she fell asleep with a bag of nachos on her lap. She didn’t wake until Jax pulled up in front of her house. She could see Waffles’ silhouette frantically pawing at the glass of the sidelight next to the door.

“I should get in there,” she yawned.

“Yeah, I need to go let Valentina and Meatball out,” Jax said, scrubbing his hands over his face.

She could have asked him to come back, was going to, but something stopped her. Things still felt unsettled between them and spending the night together probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Bring the truck back tomorrow and I can run into town with you to pick up your car,” Joey decided.

She felt his gaze on her and didn’t turn to meet it. After a few seconds of silence he sighed.

“If that works for you.”

“Yeah, after feeding,” Joey nodded. She waited another beat, but still the invitation to spend the night wouldn’t come.

So she grabbed her nachos and opened the passenger door. “Congratulations on the whole uncle thing,” she said sliding out of the truck.

“Thanks, Joey.”

“There’s another taco in the bag for you,” she told him before shutting the door.

He waited until she walked into the house and shut the front door before driving away.

T
he next afternoon
, Jax pulled his Nova up to the painted brick ranch on the corner. It had navy trim and bright green ferns hanging from the rafters of the front porch. The postage stamp yard was neatly trimmed. He followed the concrete walkway up to the porch, planted his feet on the welcome mat, and stabbed his finger in the bell.

If last night in his lonely bed with his sad taco had told him anything, it was that as much as he and Joey wanted each other, there needed to be some kind of closure for her before they could move forward. And damnit, he was going to get it for her.

Forrest Greer answered the cheery yellow door wearing a New York Giants sweatshirt and a fierce frown. When he opened his mouth, Jax pushed the six-pack of beer he held into the man’s hands.

“You’ve had more than your say. It’s my turn. I’m going to marry your daughter and you need to fix things with her.”

Forrest turned a shade of fuchsia not often seen in nature.

“Before you say it, no. I’m not good enough for her. But no one is. I know that and you know that. I’d hate for her to end up with someone who thinks he is good enough for her. You and I have had a shitty ass relationship before now, but I love your daughter more than anything on this planet and I plan to spend the rest of my life earning my place next to her. That should count for something. You love her too, otherwise you wouldn’t act like such an overprotective ass all the time.”

The vein in Forrest’s forehead was throbbing, but Jax pressed on.

“Now, I haven’t asked her to marry me yet. I wanted to come to you first.”

He saw the triumphant gleam in Forrest’s eyes and laughed. “No. I’m not asking you for your permission. It’s not my style and right now Joey is more inclined to marry me just to piss you off more.”