Page 89 of Kiss Marry Kill
Jax ran into the bathroom. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” She tossed her brush on the vanity.
Taking her hands in his, he turned her around. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“Orientation starts at noon, which means I have to leave here at eleven because I can’t be late to my first day of law school. I don’t think any of the clothes I bought at Walmart work and my hair sucks this morning and . . .” Her eyes watered and her bottom lip quivered.
He pulled her close to him. “I’m going to miss you too, Meg.” Because that was the root of the problem. He’d felt it too. She didn’t give a shit about her hair or her clothes. In the four days they’d spent together she hadn’t worn any makeup, she had done nothing but wash her hair and let it air dry, and she hadn’t given a shit what she looked like, as far as he could tell.
And as soon as the words left his mouth she sagged into him and a ragged sob left her throat. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”
“I know.”
“I wish . . .”
He pushed her away slightly and wiped the tears from her face. “Finish up, I’ll drive you to your house so that you can get your car, then I have to come back and finish locking up. My plane leaves at six.”
She felt like she was going to throw up. The ball that sat in the pit of her stomach was making her nauseous. “Okay, I’m ready.”
He nodded, took his keys from his pocket, and led them to his bike after giving him directions to her house.
“You passed it, Jax.” She tapped his shoulder when she saw her parents’ house on her left, but he kept going and parked his bike at the corner of the dead-end street. It was early in the day, but where he parked, there was no one around. He climbed off his bike and helped her down.
“I just wanted to say that these last days with you were amazing, Megan.”
She had a lump in her throat and it was hard to voice all the emotions she was feeling. She didn’t want him to leave and the thought of going to law school or going back to her boring unfulfilled life where she was pushed around by her parents was making her head spin. She didn’t say any of these things, though, because the ability to talk had left her and she was crying freely now, unable to control the tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t stop singing, Megan. Promise me that.”
“I promise,” she croaked.
“Don’t settle for a douche that your parents pick out. Promise me that.”
With a whimpering sob, she said, “I promise.”
“Don’t stop having fun, Megan.”
“I promise.”
“And promise me that with any decision you make, you’ll always ask yourself whether it’ll make you happy. It puts things into perspective. Life isn’t that hard. If it makes you happy, do it. If not, then don’t.”
“I promise, Jax.”
“It was the best four days of my life, Megan.”
Her sobs were louder now and she wrapped her arms around his waist, smelling him, feeling him, wanting to remember this moment for eternity. “Best four days of my life, Jax.” She wiped away the tears. “Thank you for giving me that.”
They hopped back on the bike and he left her at the gate of her parents’ ostentatious Coral Gables home. “I’ll see you around, sweetheart.”
“Be safe, Jackson.”
“Be happy, Megan.” He winked, kissed her one last time on the lips, and rode off, leaving her in front of her empty house, sobbing.
Chapter 16
PRESENT DAY
“I can’t believe he didn’t come,” Taylor huffed from the seat behind Megan on the plane.
