Page 8 of Kiss Marry Kill
“Um . . .”
“Wait! I thought you were one of the cops. What are you . . . how did you . . . ? I’m confused,” Nelly confessed. Megan took a huge spoonful of Nutella and stuck it in her mouth, the hazelnut sticking to the roof of her mouth. She would have stuck her entire head inside the container if it fit. She was that embarrassed and would have done anything to avoid looking his way.
“I saw it play out on television and came right over.” Jax explained, then looked over at Megan. “You talked about me?” The cocky grin on his face made her embarrassment that much greater and she felt her face redden.
Nelly clapped excitedly. “Oh, how cute!”
“Shut it, girlfriend.” Megan glared at Nelly, who just continued smiling in return.
“Oh, you just came here to stir things up some more?” Her mother hissed. Luckily, her mother cut right through the awkwardness and once again made things unintentionally harder for Megan.
Megan shoved the spoon into the container and pushed it aside. “Mom, stop. That was a long time ago.”
Her mother, tiny thing that she was, stood and walked over to Jax, transforming into the cutthroat intimidating attorney who annihilated her opponents in court. Except Jax wasn’t intimidated, and may have been incapable of it.
“I blame you for this mess,” she said, jabbing a finger into his shoulder.
“Pardon?” Jax said, eyes on her finger.
“Mother!” Megan shrieked. This night just kept getting worse and worse. The debacle in her closet was one thing, the embarrassing string of events afterward was another.
“I’ve been waiting five years to meet the man who caused my daughter to stop speaking to her father and me for three years. The man who derailed my daughter’s life. This wouldn’t have happened to her if she were living a normal life outside of the media. This is all your fault.”
“Mother!” Megan didn’t want to relive those years again, nor rehash all the reasons why she didn’t want a “normal life outside of the media.” No, right now an argument with her mother was the last thing she needed. She looked at Jax apologetically and then back at her mother. “This isn’t the time for this conversation. Actually I take that back, this conversation never has a time or place because we’ve done this already and you know I’m not changing careers. You have to deal with it, Mom.”
“With all due respect, Ms. Cruz, I don’t know what you’re talking about but I don’t like that you’re upsetting Megan.”
Oh. My. God.
Her heart fluttered so fiercely she had to literally put her hand over her chest. It felt like it would come right out of her body. He was standing up for her, in the middle of her kitchen, against her bullheaded mother. Protecting her. Caring whether she was upset. She wasn’t the kind that needed protecting, not anymore at least, but damn . . . it felt good.
“Excuse me? I’m her mother.”
Still as a statue, he replied, “Don’t care.”
Rose stood with her arms crossed glaring at Jax, but Jax just glared right back. Nelly’s head bounced from Jax to Rose like a ping-pong ball, unable to look away from the trainwreck happening in her kitchen.
Even though Megan appreciated Jax having her back, he needed to cool it. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to start a big argument with her mother right after the night she’d had.
“Jax . . .” She reached for his forearm, trying to get him to focus on her. But he didn’t. “Just let it go. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. You’re upset.”
“It’s none of your concern what she is or isn’t,” her mother said.
Megan pushed her chair back, causing it to screech against the marble floor. “I can’t deal with this right now. Both of you, just stop it!”
Her mother’s shoulders relaxed a little as she narrowed her stare one final time at Jax. “Come on, Megan, grab a bag and come stay with me for a little while until this is all sorted. Your father took a late flight back from New York and should be here soon. He cancelled his depositions for the next few days.” Even though her relationship with her father had improved in the last year and a half, Megan was still surprised to see him worried to the point of putting her ahead of his work.
“That’s not happening,” Jax replied before Megan had a chance to respond.
Living with her parents was not a great idea, Megan agreed, even if only for a few days. She loved how they’d recently grown close, but being in the same space for a prolonged period of time would surely jeopardize whatever progress they’d made. But still, it wasn’t Jax’s call to make.
“Excuse me?” Megan turned to Jax.
“You’re not staying anywhere that I haven’t had a chance to secure.” His jaw twitched with every word.
“So what do you propose I do?” Megan asked, incredulously.
