Misbehaving(6)

JASON

Two days later, I was still thinking about the truck-bashing blonde. She was something else. Hard to forget. I had her baseball bat standing in the corner of my room, and I was trying to decide what to do with it. I figured right now she didn’t need the evidence on her.

Chuckling, I shook my head. I was helping a girl get away with vandalism. That so wasn’t me. But it made me smile. Guess I needed a little action in my life. I intended to give it a few more days, then go see if I could catch her at home. I needed to give her back that bat, and I wanted to see her again. It was a good excuse.

I walked down the stairs in my brother’s summer house just as the front door opened and Jax and his girlfriend, Sadie, walked in. I had known they were coming down for the weekend, and I’d been expecting them.

Jax looked up at me and grinned. “Crashing your party.”

“You know me, it’s a wild one. Hope you can handle it,” I replied.

Jax shook his head and laughed. “Yeah, is it sad that I wish there was some truth to that.”

Sadie pinched Jax’s arm playfully before walking over to give me a hug. “Ignore him. I think you’re perfect just like you are. No need for wild parties.”

My brother’s girlfriend was beautiful in the head-turning kind of way. She had the kind of body and face you saw plastered on magazine covers. But Sadie was a small-town Sea Breeze girl and wanted nothing to do with the spotlight. She loved Jax and had learned to get over people splashing her face everywhere in the media, but before Jax she didn’t like drawing attention to herself. Which was impossible to avoid. The girl drew attention everywhere she went.

“Thanks, Sadie. You can drop the rock-star life anytime you want and come live the simple, ordinary one with me,” I told her, and winked at Jax, who was now scowling.

“Hands off, bro,” he said, reaching for Sadie’s arm. “Not funny.”

That never ceased to entertain me. Jax had never had insecurities. Even before he became famous, he was the most confident kid I knew. But let a guy look at Sadie, and he went all territorial. It cracked me up.

“Stop it, Jax. You’re being silly,” Sadie said, frowning at him and making him immediately look regretful. That was even funnier.

“Don’t be mad,” he said.

Sadie looked back at me. “You up for some company? I thought we’d have a little get-together tonight. I want to see everyone, and since we’re only here two days, it would be easier if we just had the gang here.” She beamed up at me.

Hell, Sadie wasn’t mine, but she was hard to say no to. I was pretty sure if she smiled at anyone, they’d do whatever it was she was asking. “Sure,” I replied.

Jax rolled his eyes at me, like he wasn’t a complete sucker when it came to her. What did he expect? I was a man. “I’ll go make sure the kitchen staff is prepared for the extra guests,” Jax told Sadie as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and started toward the kitchen.

“I already called and talked to Ms. Mary. She’s prepared,” Sadie called after him. Ms. Mary ran the staff and the kitchen here. Once, Sadie had worked for Ms. Mary, so she knew her well. That was how Jax had met Sadie. She served him dinner one night, and I’m pretty sure he was sunk then. Even though he fought it hard.

Jax stopped and turned around to give her the smile that magazines everywhere labeled as lethally sexy. “Then why don’t you help me to my room to unpack?”

I saw Sadie’s cheeks turn red, and she pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. “Okay, if you need help.”

Jax walked back over to her. “Lots of help. You have no idea how much help I need.”

“Either you two go to your room, or I’m going to throw ice water on you both,” I told them.

Sadie ducked her head, and Jax just grinned at me. “See you later,” he said as he held Sadie’s hand and led her up the stairs.

I decided going out to the beach and out of this house for a while was the best idea. Not sure how much “unpacking” those two planned on doing.

* * *

Five hours later, voices were getting louder downstairs as I stood in my bedroom, looking out over the front yard. I knew I needed to go downstairs. Jax would want me there. But those weren’t my friends. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them—I did. I just didn’t really know them. Then there was the matter of Preston Drake.

The dude was not a fan of mine. I had tried my hardest to get Amanda Hardy’s attention, only to lose her to Preston in the end. It’s hard to compete with bad boys with blond surfer hair. It wasn’t like I was in love with Amanda. Love wasn’t something I was looking for. Ever. She was just pretty and sweet. I liked that. It was easy with her.