Page 6 of A Little Crush
JAXON
Idon’t like him. It’s not personal, but it’s true. Besides, he’s way too old for her.
My gaze falls to Rory at the edge of the pool all over again. Tatum’s on one side, Dodger’s on the other, and Raine completes the Rory-Dodger sandwich as she chats with her brother.
I don’t know much about him. I’ve never bothered to learn. He’s a rockstar. Likes to travel. Fuck girls. Never had a serious relationship, or at least, not any I know of. And Rory? My brows knit as I search my memory for anything I should’ve picked up on over the years, but I come up empty. I’m not surprised. After our families found out about Rory attempting to kiss me when she was still a kid, everyone walked on eggshells around me when it came to all things Rory. I’m still not sure if she asked them to keep me in the dark, or if they decided some distance was needed on their own, but I never questioned it. Never felt like I had any right to. She’s their daughter. Their sister.
I shove the memory aside as Maverick sidles up to me.
“Hey, man,” he says.
Tearing my attention from Rory, I look one of my best friends in the eye. “Hey.”
“Where’s Poppy?”
“She’s with her mom.”
“I thought Lia said you were bringing her?” Mav questions.
“I was planning to, but it’s Iris’s week, so…” I let my words hang in the air, knowing Mav doesn’t need any further explanation. Not when he had a front-row seat to the fallout of my marriage. And it’s strange. How much a person can change. How little you can know someone despite being married to them for years. The woman I thought I loved—I thought existed—vanished into a wisp of smoke after Poppy was born. And when I finally caught her cheating on me and suggested we go our separate ways because of it? She flipped a switch and never looked back, choosing to paint me as the villain despite my best attempts to keep things civil for Poppy’s benefit.
“Fuck,” Mav grunts. “That sucks.”
I give him a half-assed shrug, my gaze wandering to Rory all over again. “Yeah.”
“How’s all that going, anyway?”
Focus, I remind myself.
Folding my arms, I mutter, “About as good as can be expected.”
“Did Chris move in with her yet?” he prods.
The name alone is enough to make my stomach curdle, but I keep my expression on lockdown. “A few weeks ago, yeah.”
“Jax!” someone calls.
Twisting in the water, I find Reeves with his arm half-cocked and a rubber football in his hand. It flies through the air, and I open my palms to catch it. We spend the next twenty minutes tossing the ball across the pool. Each of ustakes turns passing to Reeves’ oldest, Eli. He’s seven and the cutest little shit I’ve ever met.
Before I know it, everyone slowly trickles out for naptime, a shower, or dinner with the in-laws, leaving me in the fading sun with my dad, Colt, and Maverick’s dad, Uncle Henry.
“You stayin’ for dinner?” Uncle Henry asks.
“Of course,” my dad returns. “You really think Ash is gonna let Rory out of her sight now that she finally gets to see her for a few minutes?” he challenges, mentioning my mom.
He’s not wrong. My mom loves Rory. Everyone loves Rory. Maybe it’s because she’s the baby of the family. Maybe it’s because she’s always been sweet as honey. Actually, that’s a lie. When she was little, she hated everyone but her parents. Well, her parents and me, but that ship sailed a long time ago.
Uncle Henry smiles. “Yeah, we’ve missed my baby girl, too. How ‘bout you, Jax? You staying for dinner?”
For more reasons than one, I shake my head. “Probably not. Iris needs me to drop off another bottle.”
The same sheen of understanding hits their faces, mirroring Maverick’s from earlier.
My dad scratches his jaw. “Is she, uh, still giving you trouble?”
“Depends on the day,” I return, despite how hard it is to take the high road after all the shit we’ve been through. Long story short? Yeah. She's giving me trouble. Hell, I’m not even sure she knowshowto be pleasant anymore. At least, not when I’m around.
“Really wish she’d take Eleanor’s route,” my dad mutters, mentioning my birth mom. Yeah, I was quite the surprise when my dad found out about me after falling in love with Ashlyn. By some miracle, Ashlyn took it in stride, accepting a baby boy with his father’s eyes and treating me like herown. And now that I’m in a similar situation, I’m finally starting to grasp how much of a miracle it really is. I wonder if Poppy will ever have that. A loving step-mom who treats her as her own. I wonder if I’ll ever have that, too. Another chance with someone who accepts my past. The good, the bad, and a pretty fucking adorable little girl who will always come first.
