Jax gave me a sincere smile and squeezed my arms before letting her hands drop away. “I only speak the truth. Never forget that.”
The truth.The truth was, Jax only kissed me to help me make Marcie jealous, because she saw me as a friend.Onlya friend. It didn’t matter how good it felt to have her lips againstmine, because she clearly didn’t have the same reaction. She was just being Jax and doing whatever she needed to do to help me.
We spent the next two hours eating and participating in post-run activities. We were having such a good time that I was able to push my anxiety about the kiss and my reaction to it to the back of my mind. I was able to avoid thinking about it throughout our walk home and even as I was getting myself cleaned up to meet my brother and his wife for dinner.
When we arrived at the restaurant, Ronan and Mallory were waiting outside for us. As soon as we reached them, Ronan pulled me into a tight hug. “How was the 5k?”
“It was… fun.” I knew there was no way my brother was going to miss my hesitation since he always caught on to things like that.
“You don’t seem so sure about that,” he said with a laugh.
“Marcie was there.” I had never lied to my siblings before, so there was no reason to start now.
Ronan stopped laughing and his eyes went wide. “Oh shit. No way! Did you two talk?”
“Um, briefly.” I worried this was when Jax would cut in and let everyone know that we kissed to make her jealous and everyone would laugh at the thought of me and Jax doing something like that.
Luckily, Olivia cut in before Jax could. “I can’t believe I’m just hearing about this now! I would have thought that’d be the first thing you’d tell me. Isn’t this the first time you’ve seen her in years?”
I nodded, then opened the door to the restaurant with the hope that somehow going inside would make everyone forget about the current conversation.
We gave the hostess our name and started heading toward our table. Olivia walked backward so she was facing me.“Well… how was it? What did you talk about?” She brought her hands up in a praying motion. “Give me something.Please.”
I shrugged. “We said hi. That was it.”
An arm wrapped around my shoulder, and even though I knew who it was without even looking, my eyes still drifted over to Jax, who was now close beside me.
“She’s not telling you the best part,” Jax said, her voice so loud, I was worried the whole restaurant might hear her. I wanted to tell her not to share what she was inevitably about to, but instead, I held my breath while I waited for her to tell them about ourhilarious fake kiss.“Marcietotallyisn’t over her. It was so obvious.”
“Seriously?” Olivia screamed, her tone a mixture of annoyance and excitement.
I looked toward my feet, because I could feel my face turning red. “Jax is just being nice. She’s been over me since we broke up. I think she was just surprised to see me.”
Even though I wasn’t looking at her, I could tell by her movements that Jax was shaking her head. “Carteris being modest. It was written all over Marcie’s face that she realized she fucked up.”
“Hell yeah, she did,” Olivia said with a laugh. “A girl would have to be a huge idiot to give upmy sister.”
“That’s exactly what I said!” Jax dropped her arm from my shoulder and took the seat next to mine at the table the hostess had just led us to.
“So, how do you feel about that?” Ronan asked as he took his seat as well. “Now that you know, would you consider reaching out to her? You never really seemed interested in dating anyone else, so I wasn’t sure if you would be into the idea of ever giving her a second chance.”
I shrugged in response to his question because I honestly didn’t know how I felt about it. The thought of reaching out toher had never crossed my mind. I was way too focused onnottelling the girl beside me just how much I enjoyed kissing her. “I feel fine I guess. I have no interest in reaching out to her. It’s been years. I don’t even know what she’s like at this point. She could be a completely different person. It’s not like I’m the same person I was at twenty-two.”
“No.” Olivia wiggled her eyebrows. “Now you have a tattoo.”
Olivia broke into laughter and the rest of the table followed. The conversation switched to my tattoo and the list I was working on and then moved on to other things.Thank god.
After dinner, we went to a bar down the street, where everyone, except Mallory, had a few more drinks. Since she was still breastfeeding anyway, she had volunteered to be the designated driver for my brother.
With the alcohol in my system, I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to my kiss with Jax earlier. My eyes kept finding her lips, and I couldn’t look away. My body heated up when I thought about how good it felt to kiss her. It had been a really long time since I kissed anyone, but I didn’t remember it beingthat good.
I swayed over toward Jax and leaned close to her to whisper in her ear, trying my best to ignore the warmth our proximity elicited in my body. “Why didn’t you tell my siblings about the kiss?” Normally, I wouldn’t have even asked, but the alcohol had given me some confidence I usually didn’t have.
Jax turned to face me, and I could have sworn her eyes landed on my lips before moving upward toward my eyes.
Wishful thinking.
Jax smirked at me before leaning in and placing the lightest kiss just below my ear. It was so light, I couldn’t even be positive that’s what happened, but the way my body heated up in response told me it was. “I don’t kiss and tell,” she whispered.
