Page 11 of Fine, Dork

When I saw Jaxon’s sleeping face on my camera display, my gut reaction was to rip the camera from his hands and make some lame excuse, but I held my head high. “Last night. You looked peaceful like nothing was dragging you down, and it was beautiful. I capture beauty, J.”

He narrowed his bright blue eyes at me. “Right.” Jaxon nodded with a grin. “I’m hearing that you’re in love with me, and you have mild stalker tendencies. Is that more or less what you just said to me?”

I rolled my eyes and yanked my camera from his grasp. “Your photo viewing privileges have been revoked.”

Jaxon laughed and nudged me with his elbow. “I appreciate that you saw beauty when you looked at me. Can I see the rest of your pics now?”

“Nope.” I shook my head and packed my camera back in its case. “We have a cliff to jump off of right now, J.” I stood and tugged off my tank top and jean shorts. Jaxon’s eyes weren’t lingering on my breasts, right? I was only imagining it. He told me I was beautiful all the time, but he’d never been attracted to me. I wasn’t his type.

Jaxon sighed and stood up, pulling off his gray t-shirt. I stared a little bit on purpose to see if it would get a reaction out of him. There was an almost imperceptible bob of his Adam’s apple before he smiled and said, “Fine, but after we jump off this cliff, I get to see more pics, yeah?”

“If you’re like, really good the rest of the day.” I turned to Selena, who had adamantly refused to jump off the cliff with the rest of us. “Hey, Selena, would you mind keeping an eye on my camera bag?”

“Sure.” Selena gave me a sweet, slightly fake smile and then stared back down at her fingernails. She didn’t want to be on this hike, and Preston would pay for it later. Poor kid.

I grabbed Jaxon’s hand and pulled him to the edge of the cliff. I laughed and teased. “You scared, J? You look scared.”

“I’m not scared. You’re scared.” Jaxon grinned at me and gripped my hand a little tighter.

He was terrified of heights. I still remembered that time when we were seven, and he got stuck in a neighbor kid’s treehouse. It was my fault. I knew he didn’t like climbing, but I pushed and begged and convinced him to climb the rickety little rope ladder with me. When it was time to go home, I couldn’t get him to come down.

Eventually, I had to get Jaxon’s dad to help. Bradley had marched over with fury in his eyes and all the sensitivity of a rock. He dragged Jaxon out of the treehouse and then straight home.

“What are we waiting for, K?” Jaxon smiled at me now.

“Count of three?” I smiled back and searched his eyes for fear. I couldn’t find it.

“One, two, three!” Jaxon called, and then we were sailing off the edge of the cliff. The wind whipped my hair around, and the free-fall feeling tickled my stomach. We splashed into the water together, and Jaxon’s hand stayed clasped around mine. He pulled us both to the surface and laughed. “Whoo!” he yelled and then slid his arms around my waist.

The free-fall feeling increased instead of going away. “J!” I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Who are you? You jumped off a cliff with me!”

Jaxon smiled and rolled his eyes. “It was a small cliff, and I’m not a scared little kid anymore.”

“I know you’re not, baby.” I gave him a soft smile and glanced over his shoulder at the waterfall. I spotted Lyla and Beckett sitting on a rock near it. Lyla watched us with a smirk and smacked Beckett’s arm to make him look at us too. He gave me a big, goofy grin and wiggled his eyebrows.

Jaxon tenderly pushed the wet hair from my forehead, unaware of our audience. My heart raced out of control. Then Beckett let out a deafening whistle.

Jaxon startled and pulled away from me. I immediately missed his touch.

Fuck you, Beckett. I made a mental note to put salt instead of sugar in his coffee tomorrow morning.

Jaxon laughed and swam over to the rock where Lyla and Beckett sat. He pulled himself up to sit, and I admired the lean muscle in his back.

Shiiiit. I was catching big old deep feelings for my best friend. Should I do something crazy about it?

7

Jaxon

Don’t fall in love with Kinley. Don’t fucking fall in love with Kinley. Don’t. Do. It. Jaxon.

“Here.” Kinley pressed a cold bottle of Sam Adam’s into my hand and sat in the camp chair beside me.

“Thanks.” I bounced my knee and stared at the bonfire. I could feel Kinley’s eyes on me, but I didn’t turn to meet her gaze. I’d almost fucking kissed her at the waterfall today. I’d looked at her gorgeous brown eyes and the soft smile on her lips and almost lost my mind. For a second, it felt like we were the only ones on the planet.

Then Beckett whistled and saved me from humiliating myself. What a friend.

“You stressed, J?” I could hear the smile in Kinley’s voice, but I still didn’t turn to look at her.

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