He wasn’t going to meet me there. He was going to take me. I stared at my mom, who was watching me with a pleased grin on her face. I couldn’t think like her. It would get me hurt. I had to remember who this was I was talking to. He wasn’t permanent.
“Six,” I finally told him.
“I’ll see you at six,” he replied. “Have a good day, Jess.”
“Uh, yeah, um, you too,” I stammered, before hanging up the phone and letting it fall to the table.
“So, he invited himself to the game. Guess he ain’t so outta your league after all. But he’s just for fun. Enjoy him, baby girl, but remember he’s just a man. He’ll marry a girl with a trust fund. Watch your heart.”
I looked up at her, suddenly confused. “I thought you were all for me landing a wealthy man.”
She frowned. “There’s wealthy and there’s filthy rich. He’s just your Logan. Don’t forget that.”
Who was Logan? I started to ask and changed my mind. Listening to my mother’s logic could confuse anyone. Momma didn’t trust men.
JASON
There were things you expected from a girl like Jess. Her waiting on me outside when I pulled in the driveway and not giving me a chance to get out and open her car door before she jerked it open was one of them. Her wearing a tight-ass pair of jeans hugging every curve she had was another. But I hadn’t been expecting to see Jess bend down and open her arms for a little girl to run into.
It made her softer. The walls she had built up around her seemed to vanish the moment the girl called out her name and wrapped her small arms around Jess’s neck.
“You came to see me!” the little girl exclaimed happily.
Jess laughed and pulled back so she could look into the little girl’s eyes. “I just saw you a few days ago, Daisy May. You act like we haven’t seen each other in a month,” Jess teased her.
Daisy May was Preston’s little sister—I knew that much from my time with Amanda. Daisy had been the flower girl in Marcus and Willow’s wedding. Rock had adopted Daisy May and her brothers when Preston’s mother passed away. Which meant that Amanda and Preston were going to be here. Shit. I hadn’t thought about that when Jess had said “my cousin’s kid.”
“Manda and Preston are here. Come see,” Daisy May said. Jess, apparently, was unaware of my past with Amanda. I was relieved by that. I didn’t want it to be awkward. Seeing Amanda and Preston the other night at Sadie’s dinner party had been our first real encounter in a long time. The dinner hadn’t been hard. It wasn’t like I was hung up on Amanda. I just didn’t think Jess was the kind of girl who would get along well with girls like Amanda. Even if Amanda had been the one openly defending Jess the other night when everyone was discussing her antics.
That was just Amanda. She was sweet and accepting of everyone.
“Lead the way,” Jess told her, and she glanced back at me. “Rock’s little girl,” Jess explained.
I started to tell her I knew who Daisy was because of the wedding and then again at Sadie’s dinner party the other night, but I closed my mouth. Bad idea. I just nodded. “She’s cute,” I replied instead.
“Yeah, she looks like Preston. Rock and Trisha couldn’t have kids, so they adopted Preston’s younger siblings when their momma died.”
I nodded again, feeling guilty for not admitting I already knew all this. It was strange that Jess hadn’t been at the wedding. I would have remembered her. She was hard to miss.
“Have you met Amanda? Marcus’s sister?” Jess asked as we reached the bleachers.
Here it was. My time to lie or tell the truth and explain.
“He was her friend at Marcus’s weddin’,” Daisy May informed her for me. I was surprised the kid remembered me.
Jess stopped walking and looked up at me. “You were at Marcus Hardy’s wedding?”
This was not where I wanted to discuss this.
“Yeah,” I replied, not able to lie to her.
She frowned. “I wasn’t even invited to their wedding. How did you get an invite?”
I glanced up at the people in the stands and saw Amanda watching us. Preston wasn’t there, but I knew he was here at the game. “I, uh . . .” Glancing back down at Jess, I forced a smile. “I was Amanda’s date.”
Jess’s eyes went wide. “What? And you walked away from that without Preston Drake beating the shit outta you?”
She didn’t seem mad. Maybe she liked Amanda. They couldn’t be friends . . . could they? The two of them couldn’t be any more opposite.
“Yeah, he wasn’t a fan, but it all ended well. For everyone,” I replied.
“Come see Manda,” Daisy May said, tugging on Jess’s hand. Jess glanced down at the girl, then back at me.
“Sadie fixed y’all up, didn’t she?”
I just nodded. No need to tell her I had been the one to pursue Amanda. I’d had Sadie help me, but it had been my idea.
Jess laughed and shook her head, then turned to walk up the steps.
What was so funny? I didn’t get a chance to ask before Jess’s ass in those jeans caught my attention and completely distracted me. I followed her up the stairs, and she led us straight to Amanda.
“Hey, I’m so glad you’re here. I haven’t seen you in weeks.” Amanda’s voice distracted me from being fascinated by Jess’s body in those jeans, and I jerked my gaze up to see Amanda standing up, smiling at Jess. She was shorter than Jess and thinner. Jess had curves that went on for miles. Amanda had the girl-next-door look.
“Drake’s got you all wrapped up. Wouldn’t be surprised if his possessive crazy ass wasn’t keeping you as far away from me as possible,” Jess drawled.
“Got that damn right,” Preston said as he stepped over the seat in front of us and went directly to Amanda’s side as if she needed guarding from someone.
Amanda slapped his chest. “Stop it. Jess is my friend and you know that.”
Really? Interesting.
Preston scowled and pulled Amanda closer to him before shifting his scowl to me. Then slowly, understanding lit his eyes as he glanced between the two of us. A smirk touched his lips. “So that shit was true? Dewayne said the two of you showed up together at Live Bay. I didn’t believe him,” Preston said, looking more than amused.
“Shut up, Drake,” Jess snapped, sitting down beside Amanda and then glancing up at me. “I’d introduce you, but seeing as how you dated his woman, Jason, I assume y’all have met.”
“They didn’t fucking date,” Preston growled.
Amanda turned to whisper something to him, and I looked away. Let her deal with his insane ass.
“Ignore him,” Jess said. “He goes apeshit whenever he thinks someone unworthy gets near her. Irony in its best form.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. I leaned down to her ear and asked, “How is it that you two are friends?”
Jess leaned back and cocked an eyebrow at me like she was offended. A slow smile finally took its place. “Because Amanda Hardy is hard to resist, even for females. She’s always been good to me, from the time we were kids. And then, of course, there was the time she wanted to get Preston’s attention and decided getting trashed and dancing at bars was the way to do it. So she of course came to see me for guidance.”
What? That didn’t sound like the Amanda I knew. Jess threw her head back and laughed. “If you could see the disbelief on your face,” she said, grinning.
“She really did that?”
Jess nodded. “Yep. But remember, I like Amanda. So I made sure her bad-girl performance was monitored and she was safe. Besides, it didn’t take long for her to figure out that that wasn’t the life she wanted to lead. After that, we really became friends.”
I knew that Jess didn’t tell me this to impress me. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the game. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She really was special and she didn’t have a clue.
Chapter Seven
JESS
Amanda was the type of girl I could see Jason with. She made more sense. She was the kind he would have made it work with. She would have brought him back to Sea Breeze over and over again.
I wasn’t.
I was the fling. I spent most of the game cheering Rock’s boy Brent on and pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind. Amanda was the only one of the elite Sea Breeze crowd who gave me a chance. The rest of them stuck their noses in the air and treated me like . . . a stripper’s daughter.
Amanda was different. Just like her brother, Marcus. They accepted everyone. So I refused to get jealous over Jason having dated Amanda. We were just hanging out, anyway. He would be gone soon.
Brent caught a pass, and I forgot my problems and jumped up to cheer. Rock was standing down on the field beside the coach. When Brent came running to the sidelines, he ran straight for Rock and threw his arms around him. I felt a lump form in my throat, and my eyes watered. Preston’s younger siblings had suffered a lot when their mother was alive. The only reason they had survived was because Preston made sure to take care of them. He did things he would probably never forgive himself for in order to supply them with what they needed.
Preston had taken off running down the stands toward the field as he hooted and yelled. Somehow they made this all work, and seeing the happy smiles on the kids’ faces would make anyone tear up. Rock and Trisha made excellent parents.
I reached up and wiped away the one tear that got loose, before sitting back down beside Jason. I could feel his eyes on me, and I glanced over at him and smiled. The curious expression on his face confused me. I turned my attention back to the field.
“When this is over, you want to go get something to eat?” Jason asked.
Looking back at him, I decided there was nothing I would rather do. Getting too attached to this guy wasn’t something I could do, but I liked spending time with him. He wasn’t constantly trying to grope me, and he didn’t talk to me like I was beneath him. He was just as sweet in public as he was in private. And he seemed to like me. He actually laughed at my sarcasm and he got when I was kidding. He didn’t roll his eyes at me or ignore me.
It was a unique experience.
“Yeah, sounds good,” I replied.
He grinned and turned his attention back to the field.
“Uh-oh, Jess. You might want to go get Rock,” Amanda said in a worried tone.
I glanced over at her. “What?” I asked. Her frown was focused on something or someone else. I followed her gaze to see Hank walking across the parking lot beside Carrie, who was holding the hand of their little boy. He was just barely walking now. Hank hardly ever went anywhere with Carrie and their kid. Normally, I just saw him with the little boy. Me being here with Jason and him being here with Carrie was drama I didn’t want tonight.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
I tore my gaze off my ex and his little family. “You ready to go eat now?” I asked. It was the beginning of the third quarter, but staying was a bad idea. I didn’t want to explain Hank to Jason.