Jax clenched his fists and bit out, “I’m guessing, from your reaction, you haven’t told your parents about us.”
“They’ve probably seen the video, so—” Jax shot Ari a look. “No. They don’t know I’m seeing someone.”
Even though Jax had been expecting it, it was a blow to the ribs that left him breathless. He shut his eyes and forced himself to inhale deeply, but when he opened them again, it still hurt. “What the fuck, Ari,” he said, his voice rising. He turned to get into his face. “You’ve met my sister.I’ve metyoursister. Why the hell don’t your parents even know I exist?” He was yelling now.
Ari looked stricken, his mouth tight and his eyes wide. “Jax. It was never my intention to hide you.”
“Then whatwasit!”
“They’re….” He cast about as though searching for words. “They’re judgmental and nosy! They have ideas about what my life should look like, and they would want to see if you measured up.”
“So what? You don’t think I would?” Jax snapped. He wrapped his arms around his chest, feeling the cold for the first time.
“No!” Ari shouted. “Of course that’s not what I think. But they would want to meet you immediately. They’ve chased men off before.”
A reasonable-sounding fear, but— “So your parents will hate me. That’s great. What the fuck?”
“I didn’t say—”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Would you let me finish?”
“Why? So you can spout more bullshit? God, I’m starting to wonder what the fuck we’re even doing here.”
Ari flinched. “Don’t say—”
“What? How I feel?” Jax scrubbed his hands over his face and hair. “Fuck this.” He turned and started to walk.
“Jax!”
“I need some fucking air, Ari. Just… go home.”
Jax strode through the parking lot and out onto the street. It was too cold to be out without his jacket, but he didn’t want to turn back. He needed space from Ari, from the bar, from the date he had worked so hard to make perfect and which had ended so disastrously.
His eyes burned. Fuck, fuck, fuck. For the first time in Jax’s life he’d felt in sync with someone, and Ari hadn’t thought Jax was good enough to take home to Mom and Dad.
He stalked aimlessly around central town, dodging pedestrians and doing his best to avoid crowds. He had no desire to interact with anyone else, and he probably looked like a dangerous tough guy, wandering around wearing a scowl instead of a jacket.
Sometime later he dragged himself back to the bar. Thank God he’d left the keys in his pants pocket. Otherwise he’d also be locked out in the cold without a way of getting home.
He trudged across the parking lot toward the back door and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted it. Standing open.
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me.Jax hustled across the lot and slowed as he approached the door. He took a deep breath and stepped into the building to look around. There was no one else in the break room, and the locked door into the restaurant was still shut. Jax breathed a sigh of relief. Then he took another look and groaned.
There were no people… and no guitars either.
Could this night get any worse?
Chapter Sixteen
ARI STOODdazed in the Rock’s back parking lot for several long minutes, trying to process what had happened. The evening had started out so promisingly. Jax had seemed happy to see him. And then… everything went horribly wrong.
Ari shut his eyes and breathed deeply. The memory of Jax’s face in the bar and outside as he processed what Ari had done—or rather what hehadn’tdone—flashed before him. He had really fucked up.
The problem was, Ari thought miserably as he left the parking lot in a different direction from Jax, that Ari wasn’t sure not telling his parents about Jax wasn’t the right call. His parents’ brand of meddling leaned toward actual action on their part. As soon as he told them about Jax, they would want to meet him, and if Ari didn’t bring Jax to them fast enough, they would go to Jax in the only place they could be sure to find him. And no matter how lovely Jax was, doing the meet-the-parents thing at the Rock would end disastrously.
But not tellingJaxthat… that was inexcusable. If Ari was going to keep his parents in the dark for Jax’s sake, he should have told Jax ages ago, explained that he couldn’t throw Jax to the wolves during the early stages of a relationship.