Page 22 of Hot Girls Read Book Club

Noah straightens slowly. Sean looks between us like he’s suddenly realizing they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, which they are.

I take a step forward without thinking, then stop myself halfway there because I don’t know what version of me she’s looking at right now. The one she’s gotten to know over the last two months, or the one everyone else keeps insisting I am.

“Lily,” I say, and my voice comes out rougher than I expect. She doesn’t move closer. She just stands there in the doorway, rain still dripping onto the floor beneath her.

I can’t tell if she came here to understand me, or to confirm everything she’s heard about me.

She might be here to say goodbye.

“WELL, LOOKS LIKE we’re suddenly very busy,” a younger guy with sandy blond hair and big, blue eyes says. Based on everything Jax has told me, this has to be Sean.

“Extremely busy,” the other man agrees. I assume this one is Noah. He’s tall like Jax, with dark hair and eyes. They almost look like they could be related. Not similar enough to be brothers, but they could easily pass for cousins.

Both men beeline for the door at the back of the garage that leads deeper into the building. Sean places a hand on Jax’s shoulder as he passes, the simple gesture threatening to thaw some of the ice that’s formed around my heart after a week of silence.

Jax nods at each of them, and they disappear through the door without another word.

The man I’ve been trying to reach for days stands across the lane from me, and I can’t figure out if I want to hug him or scream at him. I choose neither, folding my arms and stepping forward.

“You left.”

“Lily—”

I jerk a hand through the air, cutting him off.

“You left,” I repeat.

Jax shifts on his feet, but his expression is unreadable. I thought over the past couple of months, I was learning to figure him out, but he’s giving me nothing right now, and I hate it.

“You saw me wave and you drove away.”

My voice cracks on the last word, and a flicker of emotion crosses Jax’s face, the first crack in his stoic demeanor. I stare at him, trying to reconcile everything I experienced of him against everything I’ve heard.

Jax flexes his hands at his sides, knuckles cracking from the tension. He lets out a low sigh, shaking his head before moving closer to me.

“I saw you talking with Becca and Rachel,” he says as if that is explanation enough. And while I understand what he means, I’m not letting him off the hook that easily.

“I wasn’t standing there agreeing with them.”

“It looked like—”

“I don’t care what it looked like.”

“Lily…”

“I was defending you, Jax!”

He pauses at that, letting my words sink in. I lean on one hip, exasperated, and gesture for him to continue.

“I’m sure you heard some things.” His voice is low, a little unsure. He rubs the back of his neck anxiously.

“I heard some rumors, yeah.”

“Some of them are true.”

“Okay.” I shrug, casual and unbothered.

He steps back at my words, furrowing his brow and pulling a disbelieving face as if this was the last response he expected from me, which is probably true.