Page 68 of Forever Home

“Oh… already?”

His smile widens as he nods. “Yep…let’s go.”

Slipping on my shoes, I follow him out of my apartment and down the stairs to the back door of the bakery. My mind is buzzing with what places he could possibly be looking to rent. There aren’t tons of places in Willowcreek, but there is a decent amount. Though, I don’t take him for someone wanting to rent a house, and apartments aren’t as widely found. At least not many that would probably be to his standards.

The moment we step outside, I stop in my place as I see Tracy, the local realtor standing by her black BMW with a smile on her face and her platinum blonde hair styled perfectly without a strand out of place. The moment she spots Jaxson, she comes marching over. A woman on a mission and from what I remember back in high school, one with a thing for Jaxson Rivers.

“Jaxson!” She all but fawns the moment she reaches him, pulling him in for a hug that rubs me the wrong way. Yeah, I slept with him last night… but it doesn’t mean we’re together. Does it? I mean… I don’t get jealous.

“Hey Tracy," he replies quickly, taking a step back from her to stand by my side. “I’m glad you were able to fit me into your schedule.”

“Oh, honestly," she protests with laughter and a wave of her hand, “I have no problem making time for you. It’s been so long…I’ve missed you.”

I bet you have.

“I’m sure you know Madi,” he replies, gesturing to me.

Her eyes cut quickly to me as she forces a smile onto her face. “Yes, I do.”

Before I have the chance to open my mouth, Jaxson drops a bombshell on the woman that makes my mouth snap shut and a smirk falls upon my face. “We’re actually doing the TV show together. Madi is an amazing baker.”

Bet that hurts, doesn’t it?

The moment he says “we,” her eyes shift to me. The sudden irritation isn’t missed in her gaze as her brow twitches, and she re-adjusts her smile so that it’s incredibly more forced than before. Tracy and I never got along. In fact, she’d gone after Asher and Jaxson a few times in high school. And when they moved away, she tried her luck with Knox. Only to have that turn into one big embarrassment when she realized he didn’t bat for our team.

I’ll never forget the day she showed up to his house while he and I were working on a table for my mom in his garage, practically flaunting her cleavage. Only to be let down in the end.

“That’s… cool,” she musters out slowly. “So, are you two… together?”

We glance at each other before looking back at her. Laughter escapes me as I open my mouth, only for Jaxson to beat me to it. “Not exactly. No.”

Huh? Not exactly… What the hell does that mean? Does he want to be?

My mind whirls with questions from his statement as I stand quietly, listening to them change the subject as they discuss properties in the area.What did he honestly mean by saying that? We weren’t together. I mean, we did fuck last night… quite a few times. And then again this morning.

But we aren’t together. At one point I’d considered what it would be like for us to be together like Asher and Sam, but that was years ago. And this with him now, well, it’s all rather sudden. We’d not actually had a conversation yet about what happened between us.

“Madi…” his voice pulls me from my thoughts as I glance at him with a smile.

“Yes?”

He raises his brow slightly, “are you coming?”

“Coming?” I repeat his words, trying to understand what I missed. Tracy’s face furrows with what looks like irritation and confusion at the interaction between us. “Oh… yeah sure. Where to?”

He smiles, shaking his head before taking my wrist in his hand, leading me to the white, unrented building next door to mom’s bakery. The same building I’d considered opening for my cake shop multiple times. “What do you think?”

Staring at the building, my brows furrow as I glance up to him. “About what?”

“About the apartment,” he laughs, gesturing to the building in front of us. “I’m thinking about renting this one.”

“This one?” Both Tracy and I say at the same time. Her shock overwhelms my own as her voice squeaks at the end.

“But this is so… not your style,” she comments, Jaxson glancing at her before turning back to me.

“What do you think, Madi? Think you can handle me living next door?”

I take a moment to consider if he’s serious before my brows raise and my eyes widen. He really wants to live right next door to me? The thought of having him so close stirs something inside me. Is it excitement? Nervousness, maybe?

---