The laugh that broke out of Jax was bitter and shocked him a bit. “Turns out he never even told them he was seeing someone. Here I thought—and he never even told his parents.” Jax wrapped his arms around himself.
Hobbes scowled. “Well. That’s… shitty.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What an ass. He met your sister.”
“I know,” Jax said.
“So.” Hobbes poured some coffee and sat down at the table. “Where does that leave you?”
“Fuck if I know. Mad and hurt and waiting to see what Ari does?”
Hobbes made a noise of neutral consideration. Jax’s phone chirped.
A message from Ari. He took a deep breath and looked at it.I am an idiot. Can we talk? I would like to apologize and explain and apologize.
Jax swallowed. If Ari wanted to apologize—badly enough he’d mentioned it twice—that was a good sign, right? Maybe Ari wasn’t a total loss.
Not today. I’m busy before work. Maybe tomorrow.
Okay. Until then know I never meant or wanted to hurt you.
Okay.
Tomorrow then.
“So?” Hobbes asked.
Jax exhaled. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I have shit that needs doing today.” He stood and cleaned up his breakfast things.
“For what it’s worth, kid,” Hobbes called as Jax was about to leave the kitchen, “I didn’t think you were alone in this.”
“Thanks, Hobbes.”
Jax had to visit three different shops, but by the time he made his way to work, he’d found and bought replacements for everything. At least as he was running around the city, trying guitars and looking for the best deals, he couldn’t think about Ari and his bruised heart.
Much.
ARI SEThis phone aside and stared into space. So, he’d fucked up badly enough that Jax didn’t want to see him today, but not so bad that Jax was denying him the chance to apologize. So that was good.
Maybe.
God. Why was he so bad at this?
He stood ruminating in his kitchen for he didn’t know how long before Afra arrived.
She kicked off her shoes and marched up to him. “Well. You’re alive, I see. You know you scared the shit out of Theo. He said you looked miserable.”
Ari made a face. Hefeltmiserable. And he didn’t exactly want to tell his sister what happened, but she wouldn’t let him escape the conversation. “Jax and I had a fight.”
“What about?”
Figuring he’d better pull the bandage off quickly, Ari confessed, “About the fact that Baba and Maman do not know about him. And that I did not tell Jax this fact or that they attempted to set me up with someone a few weeks ago.”
Afra raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth, but it was another moment before she found the words to come out of it. “Wow,” she said. “I should slap you myself. I had no idea you were such an asshole.”
Ari winced. He deserved that. “Yes, well. Neither did Jax, and now he does. Which is the problem.”
