Before You(42)

Jax shivered. He didn’t understand Cam’s fascination with her. Anna couldn’t compare to Bre. Where Bre was natural and beautiful, Anna was fake and whiny. In truth, Jax thought Cam only kept her around because of her family connections, and Jax knew from experience that connections didn’t make a relationship. No matter how good a person looked on paper, if they sucked, nothing else mattered.

“What? You’re really here?” Bre said.

“The gallery was my idea. I couldn’t miss the opening.”

Bre laughed. “Give me five minutes to lock up and I’ll be there. Order me a vodka martini.”

“I’m on it.”

Just as the bartender placed a martini on a napkin next to him, Jax felt arms encircle his waist, and he turned his head to see Bre smiling down at him.

“I still can’t believe you’re here,” Bre said, looking at him fondly.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her into the seat next to him. Instead of releasing her hand, he held on, rubbing his thumb against her wrist. “So, is everything ready to go?”

Bre twisted the stem of her martini glass with her free hand. “For the most part. Michael has a surprise artist that he won’t share with me. Other than that, we’re ready.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“Yep,” Bre said, pulling her hand out of his and biting her lower lip.

“Then, why don’t you look happy?” Jax tilted her chin up so he could see her face.

“Cam and I broke up.”

Jax didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t lie to himself, he didn’t want her to be with Cam, but he didn’t want her to be unhappy, either. “I guess that means you talked to Cam.”

Bre took a sip of her martini, shivering from the contrast in taste from the sweet champagne she drank earlier. “I guess I don’t need to tell you he flaked again.”

Jax ran his hand through his hair. “No. I knew he wasn’t coming.”

Bre shrugged. “At least he told me himself rather than letting you do it again, even if he did it by text message.”

Cam could be such an asshole. He couldn’t understand why Cam insisted he was going to marry Bre at some point, when he could dismiss her feelings so easily. “How are you holding up?”

“Honestly? I’m more shocked than anything. In the back of my mind, I knew our relationship wasn’t working, but I didn’t want to lose him after losing my grandmother, so I ignored our problems. Cam and his family are the only constants in my life, and I held onto Cam because I’m scared to feel alone. Does that make me weak?”

“No. It makes you human.”

“Maybe.” Bre exhaled loudly. “I wish I’d had the strength to end our relationship earlier instead of holding onto something that wasn’t right. He can’t be the person I need, and in truth, I don’t want to be the person he needs, either.”

Jax leaned in toward her, putting his hand on her leg. “What do you need?”

Bre pushed her empty glass toward him. “Another drink. Are you buying?”

Jax studied her face and he noticed her eyes were a little glassy, and he couldn’t tell whether she’d had too much to drink or if she’d been crying earlier. Maybe both. “Another martini? That seems a little risky.”

“I’m feeling a little risky tonight. This is the start of my new life. I have a new career and, you know what? I’m single, for the first time in forever.”

“Another martini it is.” Jax signaled the bartender for another drink.

When the bartender delivered her drink, she said, “Where’s your drink?”

“I think I’ll hold off for a while. One of us has to be responsible.”

“Absolutely not. You’re not going to sit there like some saintly designated driver while I drink alone. I refuse to celebrate the start of a new era drinking alone. That sounds way too pathetic. If you’re any kind of friend at all, you’ll have another drink. I can take a cab home.”

“And I thought peer pressure ended in high school. I was so wrong.” Jax waved for the bartender again. “Another bourbon for me.”

When the bartender handed him his glass, he raised it in the air. “To a new era.”

Bre smiled. “To the beginning of the best part of my life.”

Their glasses collided, making a loud noise. “Careful,” Jax said. “It’s unlucky to break the glass before you drink.”

“Says who?” Bre asked.

“Me.”

Bre lifted her martini glass to her lips and took a sip. Jax felt her staring at him as he turned his glass in circles at the bar. “Jax, thanks for coming this weekend. It means a lot to me, especially since you knew Cam wasn’t going to show up again.”