Misbehaving(19)

We sat there in silence as she sank down into the chair across from me. “You’re beautiful. You’ve always been a looker. Use those looks, baby. Use them to get the hell out of this life. Don’t waste them on the likes of Hank. This ain’t a life I want for you.”

“I went out with Jax Stone’s brother last night,” I blurted out. I hadn’t been going to tell her that. I doubted I would ever hear from Jason again. I had tried hard to get him to make a move on me and he’d turned me down over and over. He had been so polite about it too. Like he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Which had only made it that much worse.

“Jax Stone, the rock star? His brother?” Momma asked, to clarify.

I nodded.

“So that’s who you were skinny-dipping with last night?”

Rolling my eyes, I took a drink of coffee. Figures Momma would have already heard about that. “Walt come to Jugs last night?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. Told me he gave you another warning. I made it go away, though. He’s forgiven you.”

I didn’t want to think about how Momma made it go away. I tried not to think about that part of her life.

“So he wasn’t here when Hank’s stupid ass showed up?” she asked.

No, Jason wasn’t here. He had dropped me off and run. I shook my head.

“You invite him in?”

I could hear the unasked questions in her voice. She was wondering if I had slept with him. I stood up and walked over to the sink, then rinsed my cup before setting it down.

“Did you?” she repeated.

“Outta my league,” I replied, wishing I hadn’t told her about him. She would expect him to call me. She would question how I had messed that up. Momma didn’t understand that I couldn’t just make all men fall at my feet. Jason wouldn’t be my ticket out of this life. She didn’t need to get her hopes up.

“No one is out of your league,” she replied angrily.

I started to argue, when my phone rang. Holding my breath, I picked it up from the table and looked down at it. I had texted myself from Jason’s phone last night so I would have his number too. Not that I ever intended to use it.

His name lit up my screen. He was calling me. He had said he would call, but I hadn’t believed he ever would. Why was he calling?

“Is it him?” Momma’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I glanced up at her curious expression. I simply nodded.

“Well, you gonna answer it or stare at it?”

She was right. I needed to answer it. I wanted to answer it. Didn’t I? Nervously, I slid my finger across the screen and lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello.”

A pause. One just long enough to cause my stomach to drop. I had waited too long to answer.

“Jess?” Jason’s voice replied on the other end. It was him.

“Yes.”

“Hey, it’s Jason. Seems you left your bat in my car again,” he said in an amused tone.

My small amount of joy plummeted. Of course. He was calling about the bat. It was why he had come back yesterday. “Oh. I’m . . . Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“What are you doing today?” he asked.

“I have a class. I’m taking some summer courses,” I replied.

He didn’t reply right away. It was almost as if he was surprised. “What about later? Tonight?”

I knew I should tell him he could drop the bat off and that my mom would be here. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to see him again. “I have to go to my cousin’s kid’s football game. He’s eleven and he asked me to come. Rock would also come get me and drag me there by my hair if he thought I was going to let his boy down. But . . .” I stopped myself. Should I invite him? Was that stupid? It was a youth football league game.

“I like football,” Jason said.

“Oh, well, then would you like to come . . . with me?” I had never been this nervous with a guy in my life. But then, I had never asked a guy to something that didn’t involve me ending up in the back of his truck later.

“Love to. What time should I pick you up?”

He wasn’t going to meet me there. He was going to take me. I stared at my mom, who was watching me with a pleased grin on her face. I couldn’t think like her. It would get me hurt. I had to remember who this was I was talking to. He wasn’t permanent.

“Six,” I finally told him.

“I’ll see you at six,” he replied. “Have a good day, Jess.”

“Uh, yeah, um, you too,” I stammered, before hanging up the phone and letting it fall to the table.

“So, he invited himself to the game. Guess he ain’t so outta your league after all. But he’s just for fun. Enjoy him, baby girl, but remember he’s just a man. He’ll marry a girl with a trust fund. Watch your heart.”