Page 55 of Forever Home

Hearing that he has plans with Callum, I feel slightly guilty for calling. I keep forgetting that both my friends have moved on with their lives and are set within their own relationships, while I’m over here trying to figure out what I want.

“Oh right. No worries.”

“No, no.” Knox laughs, “you can join us if you want. It’s nothing serious, just dinner.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course," he replies. “We’re just going over to the bar and grill for wings and beer.”

Wings and beer. Hell, if I think about it, it’s been at least a year since I’ve had something as simple as wings and beer. Most of the food I’ve been consuming was on the more extravagant side. Usually because I made extra while working and decided to enjoy it.

“That’d be great. I’ll see you there.”

***

By the time I arrive at Pop's Bar and Grill, I’m starving in a way I never really noticed before. As if I haven’t eaten anything all day and now my stomach, tight with knots, growls at me, demanding to be fed.

I’m starving, but the last thing I want to do is eat right now. But then again, maybe it will help ease the tension I’m feeling… or possibly bloat me. Then I’ll be pissed off and bloated.

“Jaxson!” Knox’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts of food as I enter the bar and grill. His familiar face is seated at a high-top table in the dark wooden bar area off the main dining floor. Sports news is playing on the televisions above, as he turns towards a dirty blonde-haired man sitting next to him.

“Hey Knox,” I reply, taking a seat across from him while extending my hand.

“Hey, about time you made it.” He shakes my hand quickly and then turns to the man at his side. “I don’t think you two have been properly introduced. This is Callum.”

I’ve heard about Callum from everyone in our group, but unlike the others, I haven’t had the pleasure of actually meeting the man who stole my best friend's heart. With a smile, I extend my hand to him. Taking in his deep blue eyes that seem to calculate everything around him while also being a man of few words.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say to him, his smile spreading across his face in an almost excited manner.

“You as well. It’s about time I get to meet the famous Jaxson Rivers.”

“So, what brings you here?” Knox asks me, his eyes shifting from the TV overhead towards me. “You sounded… off on the phone. What’s wrong?”

Jesus, am I that obvious?

Taking a moment, I try to collect my thoughts. “Madison is mad at me.”

Knox and Callum both glance at each other, smiling before the laughter begins to flow from the two of them. “Jaxson… if Madi’s upset with you, I don’t know what you expect me to do.”

“I don’t need you to do anything…” I reply, “I just don’t know how to make her not mad at me.”

Knox stares at me for a moment, as if considering what I’m asking him. I’ve never been the type of person to put my problems on other people, but since I don’t really know the new her very well, it only makes sense to go to the person who does.

The waitress comes over, bringing a round of beer and a huge platter of wings, placing it in front of us. The variation from plain, to barbeque, to hot is a welcoming sight. My stomach agrees with me as I lift my drink to my lips.

“What did you do to her, Jaxson?”

My shoulders sag slightly in defeat as I clear my throat. “Well, I made her a promise for one… got busy and broke that. And then I tried to go and see her tonight, to make things right. But…”

The thought of how she looked drives a knife into my stomach. She was so fucking gorgeous, and the thought of her with that man pisses me off once again.

“But what?” Callum asks, my eyes darting towards him.

“She was meeting with some dickhead.”

Both Knox and Callum’s eyes go wide as Callum lifts his beer to his lips and quickly glances away as if to say that Knox can take over the rest of our conversation.

“Alright then… and I take it you didn’t like that she was meeting with this guy?”

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