I glanced toward his car and hesitated. "Actually, would you mind if I walked instead?"
He glanced in the general direction of my apartment. "Why?"
"Because I want time to think, and I always think better when I'm walking." This was true, but it wasn't my only reason. Knowing Jax, he'd coax me out to dinner, or maybe to his place, and I'd lose control over everything.
"Alright," he said. "But I'm walking with you."
"Why?"
"Because you're upset, and I don't want you going alone."
I sighed. "I'm not upset. I'm confused."
"You're both." He gave me the ghost of a smile. "And I'm coming with you, so deal with it."
In spite of everything, I almost laughed. This was vintage Jax, and I loved him all the more for it.
I even loved how he wasn't mentioning that my own car was parked just a few car lengths away, making my decision to walk sound doubly stupid.
I couldn’t help but smile. "Actually, that would be really nice."
And itwas, especially when he started telling me some things that Ididn'tknow – even if I should've.
Chapter 71
Our walk began in silence, with each of us lost in our own thoughts, or maybe that was just me.
We were halfway to my place when Jax said, "I saw you, you know."
I wasn't sure what he was talking about. "You mean in the parking lot?"
"No. On the street, the night we met. I sawyoubefore you sawme."
I gave an embarrassed laugh. "Well, obviously, since I was playing in traffic."
"No." His voice was quiet. "You were running. And you were scared."
"I wasn'treallyrunning," I tried to make a joke of it. "High heels and all."
"Yeah. But you bolted anyway."
This was true, but only because I'd been so desperate. Between my mom and the limo driver, I'd felt incredibly trapped and yes, maybe a little frightened, especially when the driver had refused to pull over. In the end, feigning sickness was all I had.
At the memory, I stifled a shiver. "That was quite a night, huh?"
"Best night of my life."
At this, I stopped walking. And so did Jax.
I turned to face him and said, "It couldn't've beenthatgood, with the accident and all."
He gave a slow shake of his head. "It was no accident."
"Sorry, what?"
"The crash," he said. "It wasn't by accident."
This made no sense. "So, what was it?"
