Sleeping wasn’t going to happen for me tonight. I had too many thoughts in my head. Then, of course, there was fear. This was too good to be true. Jason was sweet, kind, smart, wealthy, and beautiful. He had shown me that sex could be soul shattering. Nothing with him was cheap. Especially not that.
But I wasn’t the kind of girl who caught and held someone like Jason’s attention. I wasn’t a Sadie White. She was pure and sweet. Everyone loved her—even Marcus Hardy had. It was no wonder Jax Stone fell madly in love with her when he’d come to Sea Breeze. I had never lived in a fairy tale, and there was no sense in starting to now.
I eased out of Jason’s arms and slipped quietly from the bed. Finding the bathroom we had used to take our shower was a little more difficult, but I eventually found it. Once I located my clothes, I put them on and then headed for the front door.
“If you open it, the silent alarm will go off,” Jason’s sleepy voice said from the dark staircase behind me.
I turned around just as his foot hit the bottom step. He was wearing a pair of shorts that hung off his lean hips, making it hard to concentrate on why it was I needed to leave.
“You don’t have a car here,” he pointed out.
I nodded. He was right. I hadn’t really thought that through yet.
“If you wanted to go, all you had to do was tell me,” Jason said.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” I lied. That hadn’t really been it at all.
Jason smirked as if he knew I was lying. “I’ve called my driver, or the driver I use while I’m in residence here when needed. He’s bringing the car around now. He can take you home.”
I didn’t respond. Jason walked toward me and stopped just a foot away from me. “Can I call you?”
Could he call me? Telling him I needed to think or that I needed time was probably best. Reminding myself just where I stood in this situation was important.
“Yes,” I replied before I could stop myself. I wanted him to call me. This thing, whatever it was, would mark me for life. Yet I couldn’t seem to let it go.
Jason cupped my face and pressed a simple kiss to my lips. “Later, then,” he whispered against my lips before stepping around me and opening the front door.
I fought to control my breathing. Just feeling him touch me was now making my heart do crazy things. “Okay,” I managed to reply.
He didn’t say anything else as I walked outside and toward the waiting car. The driver stood beside the car door and opened it for me as I approached. One more thing to remind me just how out of my depth I was.
Once I was inside the car, I looked up at the door to the house, but it was closed and Jason was gone.
* * *
The porch light was off, which meant my mother wasn’t home yet to notice I was missing. Every light in the house would be on if she had been here. The driver opened my door and I stepped out.
I thanked him for the ride, and he nodded but didn’t speak. With a smile I walked toward the house. There was no telling what the guy was thinking, about where he had dropped me off. No doubt this would be the gossip of the Stone employees’ mealtime. Jason Stone slumming it in Sea Breeze.
“Jess.” A hoarse whisper startled me and I jumped, searching the dark porch for the voice. Movement caught my eye, and I found Hank sitting on the floor, leaning up against the side of the house.
“What’re you doing here?” I snapped. I was so sick of this. Why couldn’t he just go away?
He shuffled his feet but couldn’t manage to get up, which meant he was trashed. Again. “I came to see you. You were with him, weren’t you?” he slurred before slamming his hand down on the porch.
“Where I was isn’t your business. I’m not your business anymore. Please stop coming here. Just leave.” I reached for the hidden key over the door and unlocked the door before he could figure out how to stand up.
“What happened to us, Jess? Used to be me and you against the world. We had each other. Didn’t need anyone else. You were my reason for laughing. For smiling. I can’t smile without you, Jess.”
I squeezed the door handle tightly and fought back the need to scream. Once this had worked with me. Once I had wanted nothing but Hank. Now his words were too late. Years too late. “You happened to us. You used me one too many times. I’m done with that. And I’m done with us. Go home,” I said with no emotion. Not because I was dead inside, but because he no longer touched my heart. He’d cut himself out. Or maybe I had finally cut him out.
“I won’t let you go. I’ll fight for you. He can’t have you. He doesn’t understand you.”