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Ugh. Jaxson.
He promised to be nice.
He would be.
When he walked into the living room and saw Gabriella—his Gabriella—sitting next to Jaxson, laughing and smiling, he almost snapped. Yelled for him to get the hell away from her.
But he forced the impulse down and smiled.
Because he promised to be nicer.
“You okay? Bad day at work?”
Well, damn. His smile wasn’t bright enough. Although Gabriella was very observant, especially about his moods. He had to give her credit for that.
“My brother stopped me on the way out. He always dampens my mood.” He turned his gaze to Jaxson.Play nice.“Hello.”
Unfortunately, his tone of voice didn’t portray nice.
“Hi.” Jaxson’s voice sounded just as strained.
“Are we all eating in tonight?” There. That came out rather nicely if he did say so himself.
But by the stern look on Gabriella, he failed. Miserably.
“Mia’s coming over, too. Is that okay? I know it’s sudden, but I thought it’d be nice.” Gabriella’s lips split into a wide grin.
He could never resist her smiles. Although he wanted her to himself tonight, especially since he wanted to ask her to join him this weekend, he couldn’t dampen her spirits. He refused to let her smile disappear.
“I don’t mind.” To his delight, her smile brightened even more, which told him he held no irritation in his tone. Finally, doing something right.
“Let me go check the supper. I’ll be right back.”
He almost followed her out of the living room. But enough was enough. He had to have a word with Jaxson.
Except the asshole beat him to it.
“I don’t want to hate you, Dane, but I kind of do. You think I’m taking Gabby from you, and I think the same thing. If you two don’t work out, I’ll still be here.” He stood up. “But, I’d rather see her happy than sad, so I want it to work out. How about we try to get along? For her sake?”
Well, he couldn’t argue with any of that—especially the part where Jaxson would still be a part of her life if Gabriella decided to end it with him. He couldn't let that happen, which meant he needed to shape up his attitude toward one of her best friends.
But damn it.
He still didn’t want to share.
Jaxson continued before he could think of something nice to say. Because everything swirling in his mind would have Gabriella washing his mouth out with soap. She had threatened that once when he said the wrong thing concerning Jaxson. Lesson noted. It had made him laugh—even though she hadn’t been kidding—but he tucked it into his brain for future reference and promised to be nicer.
“You’re hating the fact we’re here tonight. I know you are, so don’t even deny it. You haven’t known her as long as I have.” Jaxson’s expression fell as he ran a hand down his face. “It was a bad night. Very bad. She likes to be surrounded by people when we have nights like this. She doesn’t like to be alone. It bothers her. Not that she’d admit it, but I know it. I just thought I’d tell you why I’m here and why Mia is coming over.”
His heart started to beat rapidly. Like he was standing on train tracks, his feet frozen, his legs immobile. A train heading straight for him. He hadn’t gotten any kind of signal from her that she had a bad day.
That tore a hole in his heart that Jaxson knew, and he hadn’t picked up on the vibes. How pathetic. She could read him so well, but apparently, he couldn’t read her.
What did that say about him?
“What happened?”
Jaxson looked away as his hand shook a little. “This guy killed his girlfriend—at least, we found promising evidence that he had. We knocked on the door just to have a chat, not necessarily going to arrest him yet. Instead of answering the door with a friendly hello, he answered by shooting.”
