“Come on, Jase, you know I can’t—”
“I like you, J, but it’s either serve me the damn liquor or I’ll go get it elsewhere.”
He let out a resigned sigh and shook his head. “You remind me of him, you know. Back in the day.”
“Spare me the ‘you’re just like your old man’ crap.” I nursed my empty bottle, waiting for Jerry to pour my new drink.
“Even sound like him too,” his chest rumbled with laughter. “I’m cutting you off after two.”
“Three.” I rose a brow.
“Fine, three and you’re done.” He pushed a glass of whiskey toward me. It wasn’t exactly the drink of champions, but I’d acquired the taste when me and the guys used to raid my dad’s liquor cabinet back when we were kids.
Just like my old man, the words made me shudder. He was everything I was trying not to be. The prime example of someone letting it all go to their head. It didn’t matter that Dad had me and Mom at home. Some skirt only had to bat her eyes in his direction and he’d be foaming at the mouth. My mom, now there was an example of a strong woman. She’d stuck by Dad through it all: the depression, the melancholy, the endless string of faceless women. But everyone had a breaking point, and Dad had found hers. Mom finally walked away and I had to choose—a new life, new school, and new team, or Rixon. A decision I would never forgive him for.
A decision my mom had never forgiven me for.
“There you are.” A familiar hand slid over my shoulder.
“Jenna,” my voice was clipped but it didn’t deter her from sliding into the stool beside me.
“Drinking all alone?”
“Just catching my breath. You know how it is after a game.”
“I know how it can be.” She walked her fingers over my arm. “You look tense.”
Tense was the fucking understatement of the year.
“I can help with that.”
My eyes slid to hers in question. Of course I knew where this was going, the only way it ever went between us. But my dick wasn’t in it, not tonight.
Unperturbed, Jenna leaned in, brushing her lips against the shell of my ear. “Meet me in the storeroom in five.”
“Oh yeah, you going to make it worth my while?”
She pulled back, running her tongue across her bottom lip, a slow seductive sweep. “I think we both know that when we’re done, you’re gonna be feeling a whole lot better.” She stood up, making a show of flicking her long blonde hair off her shoulder and letting me get a front row seat to her impressive rack.
“Five minutes.” She mouthed before sauntering away, heading straight for the back of the bar.
“That one has trouble written all over her.”
“Maybe I like trouble, old man.”
“I knew another guy who said exactly the same thing once.” Jerry gave me a knowing look, whipped the towel off his shoulder and began wiping the counter.
I hadn’t wanted Marissa. She was new. All shiny and eager. Probably hoping she could impress me enough to want to stick around. But Jenna knew the score. She knew it was nothing more than sex between us. A way to burn off some steam and relax.
And given how tense I was, I knew I’d be a fool to resist what she was offering. Decision made, I downed the rest of my whiskey and made my way to the back. But before I disappeared down the hall, I glanced back, searching for my friends. For Felicity. She was still laughing at Asher, her eyes alight and lips curved. She looked happy. My chest tightened, Jerry’s words rattling around my head. He was wrong. I wasn’t my father.
I would never let myself become my father.
But I was no saint either.
Chapter Nine
Felicity
“Are you sure he won’t come back here?” I asked Hailee for the millionth time since we left Bell’s.
“He rarely comes home Friday night, either crashing at Asher’s or…” she trailed off, giving me a sympathetic smile.
Jason had barely looked twice at me at Bell’s, and every time he did, it was with a scowl painted on his face. As if that wasn’t enough, I’d watched him follow Jenna Jarvis into the back and return a while later with a lazy smirk and fresh wrinkles in his Henley.
“It is what it is.” My lips pursed.
She shook away her grim expression. “Anyway, we didn’t come back here to mope over stupid boys; it’s girls’ night. Are we going with Scott Eastwood in The Longest Ride or shall we go old school with a bit of R Patz in Breaking Dawn?”
Smothering a giggle, I shot her an incredulous look. “I still can’t believe, you, Hailee Raine, are a closet Twihard.”
“What?” She shrugged with no sign of remorse. “He’s hot.”
“If you say so. I’m more of Tim Riggins kinda gal. You can keep your sparkly vampires; I’ll take Friday Night Lights any day of the week.”
“Maybe that’s your problem,” she quipped, setting up the film.
“Says the girl dating her very own football star.” I rolled onto my stomach and grabbed another handful of popcorn.
“I’m dating Cameron, the person. Who just so happens to play football.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that.” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. Hailee caught it and settled down on her bed, hitting the light switch and plunging the room into darkness.
“This is nice,” she said through a yawn. “You, me, just like old times.”
“Uh-hmm.” I wondered if she’d still be saying that if she knew what I’d been doing with her step-brother less than a few hours ago.
Dear God, what had I done? Letting him touch me like that. But it was like I became someone else around him; someone who thrived on his cruel words and cocky charm.
It was unlike me. But maybe that was the problem. Maybe I liked the fact I felt different around Jason. Powerful and sexy. Instead of the wallflower I’d been for most of my life.
Hailee was immersed in the film, oohing and ahhing to all her favorite parts, until my eyes grew heavy and the moving images started to blur.
I woke with a start. “Hailee?” I whispered, but she was out cold, her muffled breaths steady and shallow. The glare from the television illuminated the room, guiding my path as I climbed to my feet, stretching out the kinks in my neck. The digital clock on her nightstand read one in the morning. We must have been sleeping awhile.
Deciding to pee before I tried to get comfy again, I ducked into Hailee’s bathroom. Not bothering to turn on the light, I left the bedroom door ajar instead. Once I was done, I washed my hands, catching my reflection in the small wall mirror. I looked the same. Same green eyes, same brown hair, and beauty spot on my upper left cheek. But I felt different. Something inside me was changing.
I was changing.
And I didn’t know how to make it stop, whether I even wanted to.
“You gonna stand there all day or are you done?” The low growl catapulted my heart into my throat.
“Jason, what the—” He closed the distance, brushing past me to pull the door separating Hailee’s side of the bathroom and her bedroom closed. “Let me out.” My eyes narrowed as I took in his disheveled appearance; the bitter scent of whisky lingering on his breath.