Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Ari stops, more than ready to beat his ass to a pulp, but as she glances back over her shoulder, tears already staining her cheeks, she sees Jax on his feet. Her eyes bulge out of her head. “What the fuck are you doing?” she spits, racing back to him and grabbing his waist, certain he’s about to fall flat on his face and tear his brand-new stitches. “Go and sit your stupid ass back down.”
“Fine,” he mutters. “But only if you come and sit with me and talk. I’m done with this bullshit between us.”
Ari clenches her jaw as everyone seems to watch with bated breath, more than ready for them to just kiss and make up, but it’s really not that simple. There’s hesitation in her eyes and I see the exact moment she’s about to cut and run when Jax grunts, exaggerating his pain and making a show of needing her help, not only pulling at her heart strings, but successfully pulling off the best guilt trip known to man.
She lets out a huff before rolling her eyes and giving in. “Fine,” she mutters, tightening her grip on Jax and helping him back to the fire pit. She holds onto him so he can sit slowly, but the second his ass is in the chair, he locks his arms around her waist and pulls her down onto his lap.
Ari squeals and tries to scramble off him, but he holds on to her legs, keeping them hooked over his knee so she can’t get too far. “Are you a fucking idiot?” she demands as he rests his hands on her thigh. “Are you trying to break your stitches?”
“Maybe I am an idiot, or maybe I just miss having you close.”
Ari shakes her head as Logan rolls his eyes. “Don’t,” she warns him. “I’m happy to talk, but don’t lead me on and make me think there’s a chance when we both know there’s not.”
“I’m not trying to lead you on, Ari. I’m trying to be honest,” he says. “You’ve been one of my best friends for the past … I don’t even know how fucking long, but I miss you. I hate not having you around, and I hate seeing you at school every day and not being able to drag you into the stairwell. Not to mention, watching you try to chat up random fucking losers at parties is driving me insane. It’s a fucking miserable life without you in it, Ari. I want you back.”
“You can’t have something you never had, Jax,” she says. “You want the easy fuck, someone to drop to her knees every time you glance her way without the worry of a stage ten clinger, but you don’t want me. You’re too fucking scared of your own heart to want anything that could potentially be real.”
He shakes his head. “But maybe I do want something real.”
Ari narrows her eyes on him, anger burning within them. “Really?” she challenges. “I. Am. In. Love. With. You. Do you understand that, Jax? I’m in love with you. You have my whole fucking heart, every last piece of it. Are you ready for that? Because that’s what it means to have something real.”
Jax clenches his jaw and reaches across to her, gripping her waist and hoisting her toward him until she’s straddled on his lap, the two of them facing off in the greatest war this town will ever see. “I. Want. You,” he says, articulating every damn word so she understands him clearly. “I don’t want some other bitch on her knees for me. I want you, and only you. Am I in love with you? I don’t know,” he says honestly. “Maybe I am, but I’m fucking willing to find out. The question is, are you?”
Arizona hesitates, everything she wants sitting on a silver platter, just waiting for her to grab it with both hands. “You’re going to hurt me, Jax,” she says, her voice soft and filled with pain. “You’ve already destroyed me so much. How can I just willingly offer myself up to you like that again?”
“Because I was a fucking idiot then,” he insists. “I didn’t know how much you meant to me until I didn’t have you there, and I don’t ever want to feel that way again. But you’re right, I am fucking scared. I’m terrified. The thought of hurting you kills me, which is what I meant before. I’d rather deal with this fucking stab wound than deal with the fact I’ve been hurting you.”
Ari cries as she takes Jax’s face and leans forward. She kisses him, and watching it almost kills me. This isn’t the holy shit, we’re about to be the happiest couple in the world kind of kiss. This is something else.
Bri grips my hand, glancing at me for a moment, the look in her eyes telling me she’s seeing what I’m seeing, and as I look around at our group, I see nothing but sadness for our two friends. “I’m sorry, Jax,” Ari whispers, gently pulling back from him as he grips her waist tighter, silently begging her not to say what she’s about to say. “I have to think about this. You might be scared to let yourself feel something real, but I’m terrified of handing myself over for you to break me. I wouldn’t survive it, Jax. These past few weeks have taught me that much.”