Page 139 of One Good Crash

I crossed my arms. "Do you want to talkhere? Or inside?"

He turned to scan the street. "How'd you get here?"

The question felt like an accusation, and suddenly, I couldn’t help but wonder if helikedthe fact that I had no car. After all, girls with no cars seldom made pesky little visits like this.

I lifted my chin. "I got a ride."

His expression darkened. "From who?"

I really didn't want to say. It was, after all, pretty pathetic that I'd had to bribe a stranger to bring me here. On top ofthat, I had only twenty more minutes until the guy left me stranded – assuming that he hadn't ditched me already.

I tried to think positive. While sitting on the steps, I'd been keeping an eye on the street. I hadn't seen the guy drive by, so that was good, right?

When Jax repeated his question, I finally said, "I did the ride-share thing, that's all."

His frown deepened. "You mean with some stranger?"

Yes. Actually.But not the way Jax made it sound.

"Oh come on," I said. "It's not 'some stranger.' The guy's a professional."Even if he hadn't really acted like it.

"From now on," Jax said, "if you need a ride, you callme, alright?"

I stared up at him. "Why would I call you?"

He stiffened. "Why wouldn’t you?"

I gave a bark of laughter. "Youdoremember how last night ended, right?"

And then, you didn't call.

It's not that hehadto call, but after the way he'd stormed off, it would've been nice to getsomesort of explanation.

When he made no reply, I made a sigh of impatience. "You remember what you said, right?"

"I remember."

When he didn't elaborate, I figured, what the heck, I'd dressed this way for a reason. I might as well make the point and be done with it.

I lifted my arms and said, "Well, I'm not 'beautiful' now. So, what do you think of that?"

He looked at me for a long moment. "I think you're wrong."

I dropped my arms. "What?"

"Youarebeautiful." His voice hardened. "And if you don't believe me, look in a mirror."

I had no mirror, and yet I couldn't resist looking down to study my clothes. My sweatpants were lime-green, and my flip flops were pink. My shirt was all kinds of crazy colors, but only because I'd worn the thing when Allie and I had repainted our last apartment.

None of the clothes even fit, not great, anyway, and I'd barely bothered to comb my hair. Even the driver had been suitably repulsed. So what was I missing?

I looked up to study Jax's face. As our gazes locked, I couldn’t help but recall Morgan's words from a half-hour earlier. She'd claimed that Jax was looking for someone who wasn't, as she'd put it, "too pretty."

For the first time, I seriously considered that she might've been telling me the truth.

If so, it made no sense.

If Jax were any other guy, I might've chalked it up to insecurity. But he wasn't insecure. That much was obvious. He exuded raw confidence – not just with me, but with everyone I'd seen him interacting with.