Page 36

"I think you, me, and the trees are going to be able to keep it to ourselves."

He rolls his eyes, but resists the opportunity to give me shit, so he really must be turning over a new leaf. "Yes, I liked you even then. But Cayden did, too, and he was the first one to get up the balls to admit it. So I had to sit on how I felt, and holy hell, Hayley. You were so fucking cute back then. So smart."

"I was a dweeb."

"You were an angel." He says it with conviction. The only way I could keep a lid on how I felt was to push you away. Keep it to myself."

He gazes at me expectantly. Part of me is convinced he's messing with me. Is there a hidden camera around here somewhere? I can't find one, and besides. If he is setting me up, he's a hell of an actor.

And it's weird, because I can see the old Jax and the new one, too. They overlap in these strange ways. He's still got this twist to his lips that I've been interpreting as a nasty sneer for years, but what if that's just my own prejudice?

I shake my head. Even if it is, I've had good reason to assume the worst.

"Sorry, this is taking me a minute to get my head around. Am I just supposed to be forgiving and forgetting that you were a total jerk to me when we were kids now?"

He huffs out a breath, gritting his teeth as he faces the window again. "Cayden warned me you might see it that way."

"How else am I supposed to see it? So you liked me. Okay. But you made me miserable in seventh grade."

"I didn't mean to."

"But you did."

"I'm sorry. God. Can't you see that? I am so fucking sorry. For all of it."

Crap. My eyes sting, but I refuse to let him see me getting emotional about this.

Just… I don't think I knew how badly I needed to hear that until right now.

"I appreciate the apology. Like, a lot. But…I still don't know if I can forgive you that easily."

He shifts, directing the full power of his piercing gray eyes on me. "Can you try?"

"I…" I swallow hard, but my throat is desert dry. "I don't know."

Can I? His teasing haunted me, and it inspired others to be jerks as well. He ran with a popular crowd, and the fact that he was mean to me gave a whole bunch of kids license to do likewise. Cayden kept it from getting too out of hand, but that doesn't change what Jax did.

Just because he did it for a good reason doesn't change things.

Except…

Does it? He's looking at me now with real regret in his eyes. His gaze bores into me, and he's always had a way of looking at me. He made me feel small and stupid and sometimes dirty, but he also got my blood pumping and my temper up. We clearly have chemistry. The things that happened between us happened ages ago.

And Cayden vouches for him.

If the story he's telling is true, Cayden wants me to be with him.

Cayden wants me to be withallthe men who live in this house.

My head hurts. "Can we back up a minute? Not that I don't want to keep rehashing our entire middle school feud, but…"

"Be my guest."

"You guys. Everyone who lives in this house. You really share women like that?"

He rolls his eyes. "Not women, Haley. Woman. You. We want to share you."

"I only just met most of you."