I know he’s right, but guys are so damn weird.
Maddox bends over to get Dane off the ground. “He can sleep it off in the back until Ryder and I leave,” he tells me.
I send him a silent thanks then turn my attention back to Zane. “Thank you for not fighting back,” I tell him with sincerity.
He drops his head with a laugh. “I did that for you, Tori.”
“I know. That’s why I’m saying thank you, but Zane it doesn’t change my mind. Whatever this attraction we have may be, it won’t – can’t go anywhere.”
“What can I do to change your mind?” he asks shoving his hands into his pockets. His normal cocky posture seems to be a little deflated. “You’re trying with Zoey. What makes this different?”
I laugh. Genuinely laugh because he really doesn’t see the difference. “Because it’s two different types of relationships, Zane. One requires intimacy and connections that you can’t have through text and phone calls. Like I said, I don’t really do relationships. I’m absolutely horrible at them. I like space. I like freedom to do what I want. I'm inconsiderate and selfish. I have the tendency to look for flaws when things seem too good or perfect. So, I know it would be so much worse trying a long-distance thing. Trust me in six months, you won’t even remember my name.”
He looks to the ground again like it might have the answer he’s looking for. Then he looks at me with a determination that sends shockwaves through me. “Alright, Tori, six months.” I give him a confused look. “In six months, I’ll prove that you aren’t that easy to forget and neither is whatever this attraction is between us. And I won’t text or call you during the entire six months, so that you can’t use the excuse that I didn’t give either of us the chance to forget.”
My mouth goes slack. “That’s not -.”
But his mouth finds mine again. His hands grip my face as his tongue slides over the seam of my mouth. I open on a gasp as my head begins to spin. His tongue probes my mouth with an expertise I didn’t know was possible sending shivers down to my toes before he lets go. “That will be the kiss you measure all others by for the next six months, Tori. If you find someone to make you forget about that kiss, then I don’t deserve a shot anyway.”
Then he turns and begins walking in the rain down the sidewalk. I watch until he disappears through the rain and the darkness, leaving me completely dumbfounded and thunderstruck.
Zane
Jax laughs so hard he is doubling over. I can’t stop the grin that forms on my lips.
“You really told her that?” Zoey looks at me dumbfounded. “Why would you tell her that?”
Jax just laughs harder at Zoey’s obvious obliviousness. “Because it will work,” he says with a huff as he tries to compose himself.
“In six months, she might have found someone else.” She scrunches her nose with doubt. I feel a little insulted at her lack of faith in me. “How can you be so full of yourself?”
I lean back with a grin as the waitress comes to take our order. I give her a smile and a wink as she walks away blushing. Zoey is scowling at me when I turn back to her. “What?” I ask confused about what I’ve done.
My question makes Jax start laughing again causing him to draw Zoey’s ire as well. She elbows him but her little elbow does little more than tickle him making him laugh harder.
She turns from him in a huff as the waitress returns with our drinks. She sets my Jack and coke in front of me, and Jax and Zoey’s iced tea in front of them. “Thank you, Darlin’,” I say with another wink. This time she giggles.
“How can you, after you went all the way to New York to convince Tori to go out with you, flirt with another girl?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. That’s what the scowl is about? “Zoey, I do like her, but I’m not dead. And I never said anything about being celibate. Fuck, she won’t be.”
“You’re such a whore, Zane,” she shakes her head.
I bite my tongue to stop myself from reminding her that she and Jax aren’t perfect little angels who abstained while they were pining for each other. I don’t want to trigger anything, but damn it’s irritating when she says crap like that.
“Come on, Angel. That’s not being a whore. The whole part of the deal is that they are still thinking about each other in six months.”
“I just don’t get how he can say he wants her, but flirt with someone else,” she says.
“Pot meet fucking kettle,” I mutter quietly but she hears me anyway.
She stiffens as her cheeks turn red. “Zoey, I’m sorry,” I say as Jax glares at me.
“No.” Her spine straightens and she squares her shoulders. Every day she is more and more like my sister. My other half. The yin to my yang. We shared a womb, a room, and everything in between. The year she was gone was fucking torture. “You shouldn’t be sorry,” she continues. “You’re right, and it’s not my place to tell you how to live your life or what’s right or wrong for your circumstances.”
Jax places his arm over her as he leans back in the booth. He is practically oozing pride right now, but, fuck, so am I.
“So, what makes you think she will still be thinking of you in six months?” Zoey asks.
