Before You(78)

“Miss, I need you to pay for the fare,” the driver said, turning toward the back seat of the taxi.

“I left my wallet at my boyfriend’s—no I mean ex-boyfriend’s house.”

“I can take you back there.”

Feeling the driver’s exasperated heated glare boring into her, she decided Jax was the better option. She just prayed he answered his phone. “No, let me call a friend first.”

After three rings and no answer, her stomach rolled. She couldn’t imagine crawling back to Cam’s house. If she spent one more minute with him, she would probably scratch his eyes out.

“Bre?” Jax’s sultry voice tickled her senses. She loved listening to his voice. Even with her insides ripped to shreds, she felt comforted by the sound.

“Jax. Can I come over?” The words came out so fast they blurred into each other.

“What? Why?”

She didn’t want to revisit the entire fight with Cam, but she knew she owed him an explanation after the way they parted earlier. “I… I broke up with Cam again, for good this time. Can I stay with you tonight?”

“Bre,” her name came out long and exaggerated. “I don’t want to be in the middle of the drama between you and Cam anymore. I can’t take it. The back and forth is too hard. Can you get a hotel?”

She let out a shaky, incoherent sob. “Jax, I don’t have any money. I left my wallet at Cam’s house, and I… I can’t go back there. I can’t pay the taxi fare. I don’t have anyone else.” She shut her eyes in a wave of pain. “Please, let me come to your place. You don’t even have to talk to me if you don’t want to. I can sleep on the couch and I’ll leave in the morning. I know you hate me now…” Just saying those last words made her cry harder.

“Relax, Bre,” he said in a ragged whisper. “Of course, you can come here. I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.”

“Okay,” she choked out, staring out the window into the hazy night.

“Are you in the taxi now?”

“Yes,” she mumbled.

“Okay. Give your phone to the driver and I’ll give him directions. I’ll meet you out front—and Bre?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Love you, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Jax. Love you, too.”

When the taxi started driving again, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’ll be at your friend’s house in twenty minutes.”

Bre nodded her head, and when she realized the driver probably couldn’t see her, she mumbled thanks.

The idea of seeing Jax calmed her. Weariness from everything that had happened that night settled into her body, making her eyes heavy and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

Earlier, Jax had cursed Cam for interrupting his descent into drunkenness, but now that Bre had called, he was happy that he was too angry to keep drinking after Cam left.

He had been standing outside the front of his building since the minute he hung up the phone with the taxi driver. When he spotted two headlights turning into the parking lot, he ran toward the car.

The taxi stopped and the driver stepped out of his car door. “She’s asleep.”

“I’ll grab her,” Jax replied, handing the driver a hundred dollar bill. “Keep the change. Can you carry her luggage?”

“No problem. It seems like she had a rough night.”

Jax opened the back door of the car. Bre was stretched out across the back seat. The street lamps spilled into of the car, highlighting her features. His breath caught when he saw how beautiful and fragile she looked. Her thick lashes dusted her cheekbones and her long chestnut hair draped over the side of the backseat. Every time he saw her, he loved her more.

“Bre?” Jax whispered into her ear as he bent to pick her up.

“Mm… Jax?” she questioned with confused eyes.

“You were asleep. I’ll carry you into my house. Close your eyes.”

She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, she tensed and her eyes flew open. “Did you pay the driver?”

He smiled. “I did. Now go to sleep.”

“I need my things.”

“It’s taken care of.”

She placed her hand on the side of his face. “We need to talk, Jax, I’m so sorry for what happened tonight at the hotel. I didn’t mean to push you away. I was scared.”

“Shh. We can talk in the morning,” Jax replied as he balanced her with one hand and opened and then closed his front door with the other after the driver dropped Bre’s luggage in the entryway.

“No. I broke up with Cam for good. I told him about us.”