Misbehaving(12)

I’d know soon enough. If Jess began acting like one of Jax’s crazy fans and getting clingy, I was out of here. This would be our test. I really didn’t want this night to end. I had hopes Jess wasn’t a Jax Stone fan.





Chapter Four





JESS

How did he do it? One sexy, amused grin from Jason and I was completely over being ready to bitch slap Tiff. I wanted to thread my fingers through his, but I didn’t want to scare him off. He seemed to be waiting on me to do something stupid. Or mess up. He didn’t have to say anything—I could see it in his eyes.

“That’s my cousin Rock and one of his best friends, Dewayne,” I told him, not wanting him to think I only had guy friends. Even if that was true, it didn’t sound good. In reality they were Rock’s friends. I had flirted with most of them and pissed off all their women. Except for Rock’s wife, Trisha. She loved me. And then, of course, Amanda. She had never judged me or looked down on me. At school she had always gone out of her way to speak to me and act as if we were good friends. Then a little over a year ago she had decided to take a trip on the wild side and came to me for guidance. Our friendship had been cemented then.

Rock’s eyes met mine and he smiled, and then they shifted to Jason and his smile faded. Was it because he was so obviously not from around here? I would have thought he’d be happy to see me with someone so clean-cut. Actually, anyone other than Hank should have made him smile.

Rock stood up, and I wondered if I should step in front of Jason. Before I could decide what to do, Jason stepped up beside me. “Rock, Dewayne, good to see you both again,” Jason said with a familiar ease. I froze.

This didn’t make sense.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dewayne said with a loud laugh.

Rock’s frown turned to a scowl. “Want to explain this?” he asked Jason.

“I’m the Porsche,” he replied simply.

Rock’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked at me, then back at Jason. He ran a hand over his shaved head. “Why didn’t I think of that?” he muttered.

I opened my mouth and was about to ask what the hell was going on, when Dewayne let out another hoot of laughter. “Motherfucker! That’s priceless. And you didn’t say a word about it the other night.”

The other night? I turned to Jason, and he gave me an apologetic smile. He knew who I was? He was with Rock the other night? How?

“I should be pissed that you didn’t say anything, but I’m kinda glad you didn’t,” Rock said. “The Porsche has been the only thing in that story that makes Jess look innocent.” He sat back down on his stool.

Finally I found my voice. “What are y’all talking about?” I asked, slamming my hand down on the table to get their attention.

Rock stared at me like I was crazy, then looked back at Jason. The question in his eyes only confused me more.

“She left the bat in my car. I took it back to her tonight. We ended up here. We haven’t really talked about much else. We haven’t even gotten as far as last names yet,” Jason explained to Rock, then glanced back at me as if he was waiting on something to click with me.

“So you didn’t know she was my cousin until the other night?” Rock asked.

“Didn’t have a clue,” Jason replied.

Rock sighed and nodded at me. “Dude, she’s not gonna take this well. You should have told her before she waltzed in here with you.”

I was done trying to read between the lines. “Who are you?” I demanded.

Jason opened his mouth, then closed it. How hard was it for him to tell me how he knew Rock?

“Meet Jason Stone, the only brother of Jax Stone, sweetheart,” Dewayne announced loudly.

“Seriously?” Rock said, glaring over at Dewayne.

“What? He was taking for-fucking-ever to say it. The suspense was killing me,” Dewayne replied.

Me, on the other hand—I just stood there and stared at Jason. How had I not seen it? He looked so much like Jax. I had seen Jason in tabloids and on television with Jax. He’d been seen with Star at the music awards. Everyone had talked about Star moving from one Stone brother to the next. Before that, I’d seen him in some tabloids with a girl from one of Jax’s newest music videos. They had been pretty hot and heavy at a club. I couldn’t believe this.

“I should’ve recognized you,” I said.

Jason shrugged. “I’m not Jax.”

Although his tone was void of any emotion, I could see it in his eyes. He was testing me. He hadn’t told me who he was because he assumed I would treat him differently. Truth was . . . he was probably right.