Page 34 of Anyone But Me
Jax: I’m going to be really disappointed if I find out you DIDN’T skinny dip in a puddle in Times Square…
Instead of responding, I put my phone back in my pocket and continued the trek back to my apartment with my dog.My dog. Holy shit. What was I thinking?
Once I was outside of the apartment building, I hoisted Speck into my arms and carried him inside. We rode up the elevator with him in my arms, and when we arrived at my floor, I situated him somewhat behind my back. I used my foot to knock on the door, and when Jax opened it, I pulled out Speck from behind my back.
Jax’s eyes went wide as soon as they landed on Speck. “Holy shit! You got a dog?” She threw her head back in laughter. “Out of all the things I thought you might have done, I can honestly say this one never crossed my mind.” She reached out her arms and grabbed Speck away from me, immediately hugging him tightly against her chest. “Is he ours?”
Ours.That word had my heart practically beating out of my chest. “Well, I technically own him and will be taking responsibility for him, but yes, he will be living with us. That is, if it’s okay with you. I know this was a pretty stupid thing to do to fulfillbuying something on a whim, but when I saw his cute little face, I couldn’t help myself. Ireallyhope I didn’t piss you off.”
The way Jax laughed as Speck placed kisses all over her face told me she most likely wasn’t pissed off, but I had to make sure.
“Pissed? No way. He’s adorable. Sucks that the apartment doesn’t allow pets, though.”
Fuck. Now my heart was beating fast for a completely different reason. Why didn’t I think of that? I was sure Jax would say we should keep him and hide him away, but we couldn’t do that. What if they found out? What if…
Jax interrupted my internal freakout when she broke into a boisterous laugh. “Carter… I was kidding. There is a dog like two doors down from us. Don’t you hear it barking all the time?”
Of course I did. I also saw dogs in the lobby on multiple occasions, but my anxiety didn’t allow me to think rationally when I was worried. I took a deep breath, and while I was blowing it out, I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. “I hope you know how much I hate you,” I said between laughter.
Jax held Speck up so their faces were touching and pushed out her bottom lip. “You can’t hate us. We’re so cute.”
“One of you is,” I joked. It was hard to even say those words since they were so completely untrue though. Both Jax and Speck were unfairly adorable.
Jax pretended to cover Speck’s ears and glared at me. “Don’t be mean to my baby. He’s super cute.”
I shook my head at Jax and walked past her into the apartment. Once I was inside, I took Speck back from her and held him up against me the same way she had been. “I couldneverbe mean to this guy. He’s the best.”
Jax crossed her arms and smiled at the two of us. “Can I just say how proud I am? I can’t believe you not only bought something on a whim without me pushing you to do it, but youalsobought a living creature. Did you make a pros and cons list at the rescue?” Jax lifted an eyebrow at me. “Please tell me he’s a rescue.”
“He is. Don’t worry.” I put Speck down, and he immediately ran across the room and jumped onto the couch, spinning in circles until he found the perfect spot. “And no. I didn’t make a pros and cons list. Thank you very much.” I pointed to where he had made himself at home on the couch. “Plus, there are no cons with him.”
There probably were and I was sure I would find out what those were eventually, but right now, I was completely smitten. The look on Jax’s face as she stared over at Speck told me that she was too.
When she looked back at me, her eyes and smile were shimmering. “We should FaceTime your sister. She needs to meet our baby.”
I swallowed hard. There was that word again. It really shouldn’t affect me as much as it was, especially since the whole point of getting him was to help get rid of these feelings, not make them worse.
“Unless you don’t want to,” she said when I didn’t answer. “If you want this moment to just be between us, I completely understand that.”
Of course Jax took my silence as me being offended by her bringing up my sister. It hadn’t escaped me that she had been very careful about not bringing up Olivia a ton after I talked to her about my insecurities. It wasn’t necessary since I loved my family, but I really appreciated the sentiment. Plus, right now, it was definitely for the best to talk to Olivia, rather than have the moment bejust between us.
“We should definitely call her. She’ll never believe it,” I said with a laugh. It was only a matter of time before I called my siblings since that’s what I always did when I underwent a big life change. It was nice to have someone else in my life who also saw how special my family was.
We both sat on the couch with Speck, but Jax pointed her phone away from him, so we were the only two who could be seen when Olivia picked up the phone. It only took a few rings for Olivia’s face to pop up on the screen.
She grinned widely when she saw me and Jax. “My two favorite people. How did I get so lucky to hear frombothof you on this Friday night?”
Jax snorted. “You better hope your boyfriend doesn’t hear you talking like that.”
Quinton’s face suddenly peeked onto the screen as well. “It’s okay. I know where I rank, and I accept it.”
“Just to warn you, you might rank even lower after this phone call.” Jax smiled over at me then back at the phone screen, before turning the camera to show Speck.
Olivia gasped when Speck came into view. “Oh my god, Jax! Did you get a dog?”
Jax shook her head and smirked. “It was your sister. She got him at a rescue on a whim when walking home from work today.”
“No! Hand me over to my sister.”
