Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) (9 page)

Jax looked back, he couldn’t stop himself, and he saw Grace looking over her shoulder at him. She closed her eyes and turned away, and Jax felt a punch right in his stomach.

“Yeah, nothing going on my ass.”

Jax turned around and didn’t even look at Shep as he walked into the restaurant. It wasn’t crowded so the hostess showed them to a table immediately. Shep waited until after they ordered before he started the third degree.

“What the hell happened? And don’t say nothing. Something is going on between you and Grace. Between that incident at the bar and what just happened out there, you can’t honestly think I’m going to believe you when you say nothing. You two could barely look at each other, and I thought you were going to crack a molar you were grinding your teeth so hard.”

Jax leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the table.

“Grace and I kissed.”

“At the café? I figured as much. But that was over a week ago.”

Jax checked to make sure no one was in hearing distance before he continued.

“No. Well, yes, we did kiss at the café, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Last night I went over to her house to talk to her, and we did a little bit more than talking.”

Shep raised his eyebrows.

“It didn’t go that far,” Jax said, shaking his head. “I stopped it before it did. Told her we can’t be together.”

“Why the hell not?” Shep said loudly. The couple a few tables over looked up at them for a moment before they went back to their ribs.

“Can you not be so loud?” Jax asked as the waitress came over and gave them their beers.

“Fine, why the hell not?” Shep whispered as she walked away.

“She can do better than what I can offer her.”

“You’re serious? With who? Preston? He’s a good guy, but he isn’t for Grace.”

“No, not Preston,” Jax said, grabbing his beer and taking a long pull.

“Then who? Because as far as I can remember you’ve never approved of any guy Grace has brought home. And that’s saying something considering the fact that Brendan hasn’t shown as much dislike to the guys as you have. So tell me, who’s she supposed to be with?”

“I don’t know, all right, but it isn’t me.”

“Look, I’m not going to bust your ass about this the rest of the night, because I’m sure we’ll both get tired of it. But I hope for your sake that you figure things out before it’s too late. If you lose that girl you’re never going to forgive yourself. And you want to know how I know this, Jax? Because I did. I lost the girl I was supposed to be with.”

“Hannah,” Jax said knowingly.

“Hannah.” Shep nodded. “You never forget,” he said, grabbing his beer and downing half of it.

Hannah Sterling had come to Mirabelle the summer after Jax, Shep, and Brendan graduated from high school. She was a year younger than them, with strawberry blond hair and eyes the color of green sea glass. Shep had fallen for her the moment he’d seen her.

But Hannah’s dreams had extended much further than a boy in a small Southern town. She’d left at the end of those three months, and Shep had let her.

“Would you change it? If you could go back, would you do things differently?”

“No,” Shep said, shaking his head. “I had to let her go. If I hadn’t she would’ve never followed her dreams. I couldn’t hold her back.”

“How is that any different from this?”

“Because you think you’re not good enough for Grace. But the thing is, you’re the only one who
is
good enough for her. Her life is here and she wants to spend it with you. You’re holding her back from her dreams by doing what you’re doing.”

Jax didn’t say anything. He just sat there and drank his beer in silence. Shep was quiet, too, now in his own head, haunted by his own memories of the girl he couldn’t have.

W
hen Jax walked into the Sleepy Sheep on Wednesday night it was pouring. Sheets of rain fell from the sky. Lightning danced in the background, and thunder boomed overhead. Jax had another long day, but it wasn’t because he’d been busy with work. He’d woken up at four that morning, another nightmare about Grace making him feel like he was dying.

In this one, she’d been trapped in the funeral home. The entire downstairs was in flames and she was in a room on the second floor, banging on a window and screaming, as the smoke got thicker around her. He woke up choking on air that felt like fire.

He needed to see Grace,
had
to see her. But he couldn’t. It wasn’t an option. Nope, the only thing he could do was try to stay busy. Too bad work had moved at a sloth’s pace. All he’d been able to do was think of Grace, and he was so damn twitchy he thought he was going to go crazy. He was now running on three hours of sleep and more cups of coffee than he could count.

He really wasn’t in a socializing mood, but the idea of going back to his house and sitting alone with his thoughts sounded like torture. Besides, he needed to go over the new plans for the kitchen with Bennett and Shep, so they’d decided to meet at the Sheep for a drink.

Bennett wasn’t there when Jax walked in, but Shep was working behind the counter.

“Hey, what do you want? More Jack?” He grinned.

“No, just a beer. And only the one,” Jax said, taking an empty seat.

“No more late-night benders for you?” Shep asked as he grabbed a frosted mug.

“Nope.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

“What?”

“Your friend’s here,” Shep said, looking past Jax as he placed the full mug of beer down on the counter.

Jax turned to see Preston walking up to the bar, and he took the empty seat right next to Jax.

The guy was wearing pressed black slacks, probably some designer brand that cost more than Jax’s rent, and a blue button-down, still wrinkle-free from the day’s work. But he had rolled up the sleeves to the elbows and taken off his tie. Somehow he’d managed to stay completely dry. How the hell was that even possible with the lakes that had formed in the parking lot?

“Can I get one of those?” Preston asked, pointing to the beer in front of Jax.

“Coming right up,” Shep said. He put a beer down in front of Preston a minute later and went down to the other end of the bar to get some drinks for a group of guys.

“Those the plans for the house?” Preston asked.

“Yup,” Jax said looking straight ahead. Maybe if he didn’t have to see the prick he would be okay.

“You decide on the plan yourself?”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to be the case. The guy’s smooth,
I’m too cool
voice grated on Jax’s nerves.

“Yup.” Jax took a drink from his beer.

“Can I take a look at them?”

“Nope,” Jax said, putting his mug down with a little bit too much force. The beer frothed and spilled over the side.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?”

“Nope.”

“That’s rich,” Preston said.

“And why’s that?” Jax asked, unable to stop himself from looking at the guy.

“You have absolutely no reason to dislike me, whereas I have every reason in the world to despise you.”

“Really, what did I ever do to you?”

“It’s not what you did to me, it’s what you’ve done to Grace. What you’re continuing to do to her,” Preston said.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“Actually, asshole, it is.”

“Excuse me?” Jax said, turning in the stool so that his whole body faced Preston.

“You heard me,” Preston said, looking a tad-bit aggressive himself. His ability to stand his ground, and not look the least bit intimidated, made Jax respect him just a little. “I’ve watched Grace cry over you since she was fourteen years old. Now, that’s not really an accurate span of time as to how long you’ve messed with her mind and her emotions; I didn’t witness it from the beginning. But I’ve been around for ten years of it, and nothing has been as bad as the last couple of weeks. So, since you’re too chicken-shit to do anything about it, why don’t you just do her a favor and leave her the hell alone. Did you hear that? Was I clear enough?”

“You going to make your own move on Grace now? Is that what this is about? I’ve seen you. Hanging all over her, laughing, and carrying on. So how about this you self-righteous prick, you hurt her and you’ll get a lot more than a threat from me.”

Preston laughed and grabbed his beer. “God, if you weren’t so stupid, we could be friends.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

“And why’s that?” Preston asked.

“I could never be friends with someone Grace was with.”

“Then there might be hope for us yet.”

“How’s that?” Jax asked skeptically.

“Because Jax, I’ve never had feelings for Grace. Well, romantic ones that is. I’ve never had romantic feelings for
any
woman actually.”

“You mean…” Jax trailed off, looking at Preston.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “And Grace knows. I came out to her in high school.”

“Oh,” Jax said, still trying to process that little piece of information. “I, uh, I had no idea.”

“Really, is that why you thought I was trying to make a move on her? Look, Jax, she’s one of my best friends, and I’ll always try to protect her.”

“You don’t think I’m trying to do that?”

“No, I think you’re trying to protect yourself,” Preston said, shaking his head. “I know what that’s like, the whole self-preservation thing. Denying yourself what you want because you’re too scared of what might happen. But all you do is lose out and it’s such a waste of time. You want to be with her, she wants to be with you.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Yeah, it is. You’re the one making it so complicated.”

Jax and Preston sat for a minute in silence, drinking their beers.

Jax was still reeling from the information he’d just gotten. Preston was gay? Yeah, Jax hadn’t seen that one coming. Not from a mile away. And Preston wasn’t interested in Grace romantically. Relief had washed through Jax at the news, and he felt oddly buoyant.

“You take any of your own advice into action?” Jax asked, looking over at him.

“I’m working on it.” Preston nodded. “I’m actually meeting someone tonight. I just thought I’d set you straight first.”

Jax choked on his beer. “You know,” he said when he could breathe again, “you aren’t half-bad after all.”

“You’re just saying that because now you know I’m not trying to mack on your girl.”

“True.” Jax nodded.

“So, you going to let me see those plans?” Preston asked, pointing to the blueprints again.

“Sure.” Jax handed them over.

Preston grabbed some napkins from the corner of the bar and wiped the bar down. He put the plans down on the now dry counter and unrolled them.

“So you completely gutted it, right?”

“Yeah.” Jax nodded.

“How many rooms was it originally?”

“Four, but I knocked down a wall that was here.” He reached over, tracing a spot. “I’m only going to rebuild three rooms, because this is going to be used for the kitchen.”

“What’s the kitchen going to look like?”

“This,” Jax said, pulling out another plan from the stack.

The room was going to be massive, with granite counters, hardwood floors, glass cabinets, new appliances, and two islands—one in the center, the other at the edge of the kitchen where bar stools would make it a good breakfast table.

“Huh,” Preston said, looking at the plan. “It’s a pretty elaborate kitchen.”

 “Yeah, kind of more than a guy who has zero culinary skills needs,” Shep said, coming up to them and taking a look at the plans himself. “It kind of looks like something that a chef or baker would dream of, doesn’t it?”

“Sure does,” Preston said, looking back up at Jax. “Plenty of counter space for cooling pies and cookies.”

“It’s just a kitchen,” Jax said, turning from the men and taking a long pull from his beer.

“Riiight,” Preston said, leaning to the side and pulling out his ringing phone. He looked at the display and his mouth split into a grin. “And if it isn’t someone who could put that counter space to use.” He pressed a button and put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Grace, what’s up?”

A moment of silence as she said something.

“Where are you?” The concern in Preston’s voice brought Jax to the edge of his seat. “All right, I’m at the Sleepy Sheep. I’m leaving right now.” His eyebrows lowered and pulled together as he listened to something Grace said. “Are you crazy? You’re not walking in this storm. I’m coming to pick you up. Just wait for me.”

Jax was on his feet before Preston hung up the phone.

“Where are you going?” Preston asked, getting to his own feet.

“To go get her. What happened? Where is she?”

“Her car wouldn’t start. And she didn’t call you, Jax. She called me.”

“Well, she should’ve called me. Tell me where she is so I can go get her.”

“You might as well tell him,” Shep said. “Otherwise he’s just going to follow you there.”

“Yeah, and you have plans, remember?” Jax said.

“Oh, I didn’t forget,” Preston said, studying Jax. “Fine.” He sat down at his stool again. “She’s at the café. But if she gets mad I’m telling her it was all your doing.”

“Can you give those to Bennett?” Jax asked Shep, pointing to the blueprints. He didn’t even wait for an answer before he turned around and made his way to the door.

Grace was cold, wet, and miserable. She’d stayed late at the café, experimenting with a new cookie recipe, and by the time she’d finished it had been almost nine. It had been a good use of her time, because staying busy was the only way to keep her mind off her hurting heart.

She’d forgotten to bring her umbrella from her apartment, so there was no hope in staying dry. The second she’d stepped out from under the overhang she was soaked. And then, to top it all off, her car wouldn’t start. The engine didn’t do anything besides make a clicking noise.

Dead battery most likely.

Her first instinct was to call Jax. He’d always been the first person she’d called. But she shoved that stupid impulse into a corner. Jax wasn’t her rescuer. She would’ve called Brendan, not that he could’ve done anything to fix her car in the storm, but he and Paige were currently on their way back from Tallahassee. Paige’s best friend Abby was flying in from Washington, D.C., for the baby shower.

Shep was working, so he was a no-go. Mel was in Tampa for a math tournament with her students, and Harper was in Georgia visiting family. Grace would’ve called her grandparents but neither of them drove really well at night anymore and the storm would make it ten times worse.

Her only option was Preston. She felt genuinely awful about it, too, because he had a date. Well, not a date so much as a “let’s get a drink” with Baxter McCoy. Apparently after the whole bar incident with Jax on Saturday night, the two had struck up a conversation, and Preston had picked up a vibe from Baxter.

She would’ve smiled at the thought of Preston finally meeting a guy, but at the moment her lips were numb and her teeth were chattering. It might be April, but she was soaked and freezing. She just wanted to go home and take a hot shower.

Yeah, she was going to owe Preston big time.

 But a moment later, every warm feeling Grace had ever had for Preston went out the window as Jax’s big red pickup pulled in next to her dead car.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, staring at it for a second. “Oh, whatever,” she said, shaking her head as she got out of her car and bolted for the passenger door.

She was literally in the rain for less than ten seconds, but it was like she’d just stepped out of a pool. Jax’s truck was blessedly warm as she slammed the door behind her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, shivering inside of her freshly soaked clothes. “I called Preston.”

“I know,” Jax said, turning the heat up. “I was sitting right next to him when you did.”

“What?” Grace asked, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

“We were having a friendly chat,” Jax said as he put his truck in gear and backed out of the spot.

“You? Friendly? Right.”

“I’d give you something to dry off with but I don’t have anything.”

“I’m fine,” she said, waving off his words.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, her body temperature slowly going up. Her mind and heart were playing tug-of-war with her emotions. Her mind was pissed. She was mad that she was in the same car as Jax. Furious that he was sitting next to her and acting like everything was just fine, like nothing had happened.

But her heart? Her heart was rejoicing that he was so close to her. Just goes to show how stupid a person’s heart could be. Because the second he left her, it was going to feel like he’d ripped said heart out of her chest again.

“Why did you come?” she asked.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he countered.

She turned and looked out the window into the darkness.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You can’t be the person I call, not anymore,” she said quietly, but her words echoed in the cab of the truck.

“Grace...”

“Just take me home, Jax,” she said, keeping her back turned to him.

Jax pulled into the parking lot of Grace’s apartment and put his truck in park. They sat there for a second, the rain pounding against every inch of his truck, the pings echoing in the silence.

He wanted to reach across the distance and touch her, to gather her up in his arms and kiss her, but his hands stayed firmly on the steering wheel.

“Thanks, Jax,” she said before she opened the door and went out into the rain.

He watched her sprint away from him, up the stairs and to the second floor. She fumbled with her keys before she got them in the lock of her door and then she disappeared from his view.

Jax stared at that empty landing for about ten seconds before he let go of the wheel and opened the door. He stepped outside and was soaked instantly. But he didn’t care; he had other way more important things on his mind.