Page 26 of The Compass Series

JAX

“ T ime out, rewind. Deep breaths. You’re telling me, we are diving into the world of landscaping?” Connor asked as he sat at my table eating the pizza I ordered for us. He didn’t know the pizza was a bribe yet. Normally, I would’ve made him kale chips and a protein shake.

He shoved the pizza into his mouth, unaware of where this conversation was about to go. “Holy shit?—”

“Language,” I order.

“Holy balls!”

“Not much better.”

“No, don’t you see, Jax? This is great! Everyone knows my lucky number is three, which is exactly what this next business venture will be for me! I’ll have three businesses before I’m even eighteen. How many businesses did Bill Gates have at seventeen? I bet you it wasn’t three, that’s for sure.”

“Seeing how you only have one business up and running, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Yeah, okay, partner. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge,” he said, bumping me in the shoulder. “Do you want me to come up with a name for the business? Maybe have me make up some business cards and taglines? How about this? We trim your bushes and fertilize your soil? Oh! Oh! Or Two Men and a Hoe?”

“Connor. Hold your hustle. We’re not starting a landscaping company. We are just helping out a woman who fired Lars.”

“Lars,” he grumbled. “Our competition.”

I wasn’t even going to dive deeper into why Lars wasn’t our competition, seeing how we didn’t have a landscaping company.

It wasn’t even worth talking about. “One job, and then we are done, you got it? I called you over to look at the blueprints I drew up. I picked up some layouts of the property, and we have pretty much free rein on what we can do with it.”

Kennedy’s only request? Daisies, and blue flowers.

I couldn’t help but smirk at the blue flowers request—it was for sure a request to drive the nosy, judgmental neighbors insane. That seemed very much like the old Kennedy I knew. She never put up with people’s opinions.

Connor rubbed his hands together. “Let’s use the most expensive material to drive up costs.

Also, speaking of costs, how much are we charging for this project?

Because knowing you, you’re probably lowballing us.

You really need to up your plumbing prices sooner than later.

You are an artist when it comes to those pipes, Jax, and if you undervalue yourself, so will the rest of the world. ”

I never rolled my eyes harder. “We’re not charging for this project.”

His eyes widened, and he tilted his head in disbelief. “Uh, come again?”

“We’re doing it as a favor.”

He laughed. Connor laughed so hard that he bent over and grabbed his sides as he fell into a complete snickering fit. “Oh my gosh, my mom always says I need to clean the wax out of my ears. So, forgive me for hearing you wrong, so can you repeat how much I’m getting paid for this gig?”

“Nada. Nichts. Nothing. It’s a passion project.”

“My passion, Jax, is money.”

I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can’t take it all on by myself, Connor. I’m going to need your help.”

“And I’m going to need funds. Since when do you even do favors for anyone outside of Joy? Whose yard are we doing?”

“Kennedy Lost. The new girl in town.”

“Oh my gosh.” Connor grew a sinister smirk and began nudging me in the arm. “Is this a booty call type thing? Are you two bumping uglies?”

“Never say bumping uglies again…like…never.”

“Listen, if you two are bumping uglies, then that’s something I can get behind.

I’m all about my bro getting laid, and if you need me to plant a few seeds as your wingman, I’m all in.

Are you doing her yard to get into her garden?

Are you trying to lay down some cucumbers next to her peach tree? Is there an oversized eggplant?—”

“Connor!” I shouted. “Shut up.”

He couldn’t stop snickering to himself. Even if he wasn’t amusing me, he was highly entertained. I swore, that kid was his own biggest fan.

“I’m not sleeping with her,” I said, hoping to shut that idea down.

He raised an eyebrow. “No sex?”

“No sex.”

“Maybe foreplay?”

“Nope.”

“A little tongue twister?”

“Not at all.”

I’d never seen him look so disappointed. He pushed his hands against the countertop edge, shaking his head in utter disbelief. “All right, Imma head out.”

“Connor, come on.” I grimaced and sighed. “Please.”

He turned to me as if I’d grown another head. “Did you…did you just say please?” he asked, placing his hands against his chest in shock. “Never in my life have I heard you say the word please to me!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic. You have never said please to me. Ever.”

“It’s that important to me.”

I couldn’t believe I was pretty much begging a seventeen-year-old to help me on this project. Desperate didn’t even begin to cover it.

“Okay, but I have some guidelines.”

“Shoot.”

“Three times a week, we get to eat shitty food for lunch.”

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. “Two times a week.”

“Four times a week and we’ll have a deal.”

“No chance in”—he began to walk away, and I groaned—“fine, three times a week.”

“Okay, cool. And! You have to come to my banging birthday bash that you missed last year because you said you were busy, which—by the way—I know you weren’t busy because you don’t have any friends, therefore there was nothing to be busy with.

I’m turning the big one-eight, so the turn up is going to be huge Jax!

My mom’s throwing the biggest party yet, and I have the biggest news in the world to announce at the party, and I need my partner in crime to be there, So, you have to come. ”

“Fine. Deal.”

“It’s a twenty-five-dollar entry fee, but for you, it’s going to have to be a hundred.”

This punk was really putting it on heavy.

I cocked an eyebrow. “All right. You done?”

He held his hand out toward me. “You got a deal, partner.”

“Boss,” I corrected as I shook his hand.

“Whatever. As far as I’m concerned, we are in a fifty-fifty partnership from this point on.

” He closed the box of pizza and took it as if I offered him the whole thing.

“I gotta get home to search what it takes to be a landscaper so I’m a professional by morning.

Send me an email with your blueprints, and I’ll make them better. ”

“Thanks, Con.”

His eyes widened. “Please and thank you in one conversation? I better tell my mom to play the lottery tonight because I’m feeling lucky.

By the way, if we don’t use Two Men and a Hoe for our landscaping company, we should highly consider Two Men and a Wrench for our plumbing business. It has a nice ring to it.”

“Good night, Connor.”

“Night, Jax.”

Connor wasn’t kidding about going home to research the ins and outs of landscaping. When we met up again to pick up supplies, he was well equipped with his knowledge on tools, plants, and soil.

No one could ever say that he wasn’t a hard worker. He put his all into every project he took on. After we got to Kennedy’s property to start digging up the land, Connor tackled the backyard while I took on the front.

After offering both Connor and me water, Kennedy returned to her porch and picked up her reading material.

I couldn’t stop myself from glancing her way whenever she’d laugh out loud.

Her laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard.

Truthfully, even when she wasn’t laughing, I was still looking her way.

Sometimes she’d catch me, and I’d turn away fast. Other times, I’d give her a halfway grin before getting back to work.

When a little girl came riding past the front yard on her bicycle, with her father holding her steady, Kennedy’s eyes snapped up from the book and fell to the father and daughter duo.

I saw the light in her eyes vanish from watching the two of them interacting. It was the same way when she saw the little girl eating ice cream. Was it always like that for her? Whenever she saw children, did her mind freeze in a daze of confusion and hurt?

“Sun,” I called out, breaking Kennedy from her own thoughts.

She turned my way and tilted her head. “Yes?”

“Who do you talk to?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who do you talk to about everything you’ve been through?”

She gave me a broken smile and shrugged. “No one. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“You should talk to a therapist, or something. They can help.” True, I wasn’t one hundred percent fixed, but I liked to think that no human being on this Earth was one hundred percent healed from past tragedies.

Yet I did think talking to Eddie throughout the years did help me.

Sometimes it was nice to have a professional person to reach out to for a hand.

“I’m okay, Jax.” She pressed on a fake smile. “Don’t worry about me.”

She went back to her book, and I did the exact opposite of what she said, I worried. As she kept reading, I kept shoving and overthinking.

“Uh, hello? Earth to Jax?” Connor said, walking in front of me and waving his hands around. “Dude, are you deaf? I’ve been calling you for the past two minutes and you’ve been in some like weird daze staring at Kennedy like a psychopath.”

I shook my head. “What? I wasn’t staring at her.”

“Yes, you were.” He narrowed his eyes as Kennedy stood to head into the house. He snatched the shovel out of my hands. “I thought you said you two weren’t screwing each other.”

“We aren’t.”

“Then why are you eye-fucking her in public?”

“Don’t say eye-fucking,” I groaned.

“And don’t avoid my question.”

“You don’t get it. Kennedy and I have…history.”

He wiggled his eyebrows, pleased.

“Not that kind of history, dork. Don’t get excited,” I explained. “We used to be best friends when we were kids. It was a long time ago, but she was a big part of my life.”

“Wait. Time out. Smoking hot Kennedy used to be your best friend?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you guys now?”

“Nothing. We’re just two people who live in the same neighborhood.”

Connor laughed. “But you want more. Does she want more? Does she want to be your friend or something?”

“No, I mean, I don’t know.” Damn, was it really that hot outside? Was I sweating? Why was Connor asking me so many questions? “I mean, she mentioned being friends a while back in the woods, but I figured it was just because she felt bad for me.”

“Orrr,” he dragged out. “She wanted to be your friend.”

I paused.

I thought.

I denied.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Connor laughed and rolled his eyes. “For a big strong guy who runs his own business, you sure are stupid sometimes. If this isn’t a Disney movie in the making, I don’t know what is.

You’re Elsa and she’s Anna, and you need to hang out with her.

Don’t make her beg you to build a snowman. Just do it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you often reference the movie Frozen for your pep talks?”

“It seems you knew exactly what my reference meant, so it worked. I mean, hell, Jax. Look, you have this woman, this insanely beautiful woman, who is asking to be friends with you and share her company with you, and you declined? Are you insane?”

“I offered to help with her yard.”

“What does that have to do with hanging out with her? Dude. I know I can be annoying and dramatic, but you should be her friend. You need more friends than me.”

“Since when are we friends?” I joked.

“Don’t play with my feelings, Jax. You know I’m emotional. Seriously. Just hang out with her. What was the worst that could happen?”

I shrugged. She could realize I wasn’t worthy of her friendship. I didn’t say that, though. It seemed too emo, even for me.

“Just find something she likes and hang out with her doing that stuff. Then, it can get even better than that, because do you know what’s the best thing this could happen?” Connor asked.

“What’s that?”

“Friends-with-benefits.” He started humping the air.

“And that’s the end of this conversation.”

“Ask her out, Jax.”

“No.”

“Ask her out on a friendship-date.”

“No.”

“Just ask her?—”

“Okay!” I hollered, tossing my hands up in the air. “If I asked her to hang out will that get you to shut up about it?”

“Obviously. Don’t worry, you can thank me later.”