The Dangerous Curves Series

Chapter 59

One week later

Jax slammed the shot glass on the bar and nodded at Aidan. “Another.”

Aidan exchanged glances with King and Mac, and Jax saw it.

“Cut it out, you assholes,” he growled. “It’s my place and my whiskey. Gimme another shot. Now.”

“You’ve already had six,” King said.

“You can count. Congratulations, motherfucker.”

“Come on, man,” Mac said. “Call it a night, OK? Aidan can call you a cab, and you can go home and sleep it off.”

“f**k yourself and then f**k off,” Jax said. “I’m staying right here.”

The men looked at each other again and now Jax lost it.

“Give me the f*****g shot, Carter!” he roared. “Or you can find yourself another job!”

“Sure thing, boss,” Aidan said. “Every man goes to the devil in his own way, huh?”

“Damn right.”

Jax stared around Dangerous Curves. f**k, he hated being here now… everywhere he looked, he saw Sarah, and everything reminded him of her. The pool tables, the stool she’d sat on at the bar, the booth where she’d had her victory fruity drink. But still, it was a damn sight better here at Curves than at his house. That was f*****g torture.

His bed sheets still smelled like her. She’d dumped his pathetic ass almost a week ago, and he couldn’t bring himself to wash the sheets yet. He couldn’t stand to even look at the pool, and had covered it up a few nights before. He wanted to chop down his rose bushes, burn the sofa, take an ax to the kitchen. Her toothbrush and shampoo were still in his bathroom, and he harbored an insane fantasy that she’d want them back one day soon, and drop by to pick them up. So far, that day hadn’t come.

A man can only hope, Red.

“Well, hey there, Jax.”

He glanced up blearily, focused on the woman in front of him. Blonde, gorgeous. Too much make-up, but those breasts and legs were something else.

“Hey, Raylene.”

“So.” She reached out and ran a finger down his chest. “I heard that your little fling crashed and burned. Just like I said, huh?”

“Yep.” He drank the shot that Aidan had finally seen fit to pour. “You called it.”

“I did.” Her tongue came out, touched her top lip. “So maybe you want to take me up on my offer from before?”

I don’t want your mouth on me. I want Sarah’s – just Sarah’s.

“Yeah, OK.”

“Crash room or your office, babe?” she purred.

“Crash room,” Jax said. No way he’d have Raylene suck him off on that sofa. That was the place where he’d watched Sarah sleep, and realized that he loved her; where he’d confessed his most awful thing to her, and been forgiven. That sofa was f*****g sacred, and no way he was letting anything dirty near it. Jax would keep his dirt in the back, where it belonged.

“OK,” she said. “I’ll meet you there in five minutes.”

“Fine.”

She walked away, and Jax watched her go. Yeah, Raylene continued to be scorching hot, and every guy in the place had his eye on her as she sauntered past. But she wasn’t what Jax wanted, and his d**k knew it.

“Jax.”

“Yeah?” He turned to Mac.

“Call her, man.”

“f**k off.”

“OK, that’s enough.” King’s exasperated words were a snarl from deep in his chest. “You’ve been an insufferable prick ever since you and Red went your separate ways a week ago, and we’re all pretty f*****g done with it. What’s the deal?”

“The deal?” Jax snorted loudly through his nose. Maybe he was getting a bit drunk after all. “No deal.”

“Come on, Jax,” Aidan said. “Call her.”

“Why the f**k would I do that? Huh? She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“She was upset and scared about Noah, and you were both wiped out after driving around all night, and she’d had Joker Kane throttling her just a few hours earlier,” Aidan pointed out. “Not the best set of circumstances to make important decisions, really.”

“Well, she made the decision, and she hasn’t called me, you may have noticed. Which tells me that she’s perfectly happy with the decision.” He blinked. “That she made.”

“You drunk?” Mac said. “You’re talking in circles.”

“f**k off.”

Mac sighed. “I’m getting really tired of being told to f**k off.”

“Well, if you’d just go and do it already, then I could stop.” Jax got to his feet. “OK, I’m going down the hall. I want a whiskey shot on the bar when I get back.”

“Jax,” King said. “Don’t do this, man.”

“You mean let Raylene suck me off?”

The other men flinched.

“You don’t want to be with anyone but Sarah, and you know it,” Mac said. “Go home, sober up, call her tomorrow.”

“You are unbelievable, Mac.” Jax swayed on his feet, and glared at him.

“Why?” Mac said.

“I clearly recall when I came here after my first date with Sarah, you told me that I didn’t do dating, and I for-damn-sure didn’t do exclusive, and you assumed that I had f****d Sarah, and when I said that I hadn’t, you then assumed that I was here to f**k someone else. Remember all of that?”

“Yeah,” Mac said. “But –”

“But nothing. You all told me in your own ways that I wasn’t up for anything real or lasting with her. This is all I’m good for in the end, right? Getting sucked and f****d in the back rooms?” He scowled. “I’d think you’d be f*****g thrilled to see me get back to who I really am.”

“Jax –” King was actually distressed, which never happened. "Wait, man."

“Nope, gotta go. I have someone waiting for me.”