Page 77 of Never Started
"Our friend Izzy is here, too; she just wasn't feeling well," Dessa, the short brunette, cuts me off, clueless.
I scoff, feeling immediately angry, raising an eyebrow at her. "Oh, is that so?"
Not feeling well? Not feeling well, my ass. She's clearly trying to avoid me. Why even come here if she's not woman enough to face me?
Abbie huffs out an uncomfortable laugh, rolling her eyes. "Jett, don't be a moody prick."
With that, I chuckle, taking a swig of my beer and kicking my feet up onto the fire pit.
She wants to avoid me, but our paths will cross, and I will get the conversation that I'm after.
Chapter thirty-four
Maverick
November 2023
"Iz—"
"No, I fucking told you I didn't want to come, Maverick. You didn't listen."
Something isn't right with her. She says she doesn't feel well, but it's more than that. I can feel it. It’s obvious in the way she’s nervously biting at her nails, staying quiet when she’d usually be chatting up a storm, and constantly looking over her shoulder. She may think because I don't force her to talk about things, I don't notice, but it's quite the opposite. I notice everything. I just let her set the pace to respect her boundaries.
Quite frankly, her boundaries suck, and I'm ready to knock those fuckers down with a wrecking ball. I’m ready to be let infully… I think I deserve that much.
"I'm just asking a question..." I say softly with a sigh.
"Asking a question? Or questioning me? There's a huge difference." Her tone is harsh. Harsher than she's ever been with me before.
"I'm just asking if there's more with him that I don't know about. That's all. The interaction last night was... tense. It was weird."
She crosses her arms. "I wasn't even there. What does that have to do with me?"
I scoff, annoyed that she's deflecting instead of just answering the question. It causes my nerves to rise, as if she's hiding something, and I don't like the feeling at all.
Over the course of time that I have been with Izzy, I've come to know her well. She may have been all about sex in the beginning, but she doesn't sleep around with multiple men at once. I've never felt like I had to worry about that being an issue, but something about this situation doesn't sit right with me.
It was how the guy looked at me, sizing me up, as if I were in his way. It's in the way that my bubbly, outgoing, always-down-for-a-good-time girlfriend didn't want to come. It's in how she's hiding out in this cabin like she's afraid to face what will meet her outside these walls.
I let out a sigh before speaking. "Can you just answer the question?"
"If the question is if there is more history there, then the answer would be yes. Yes, there's more. Is it something I'm willing to talk with you about right now? Absolutely fucking not."
I don't speak, just shake my head. The anger is rolling off of her in waves, and she's coming apart at the seams. I've never seen her like this. I didn't intend to start this war. I just wanted to have a conversation. On the blind date with Via and Ander, I had asked her if Jett was going to be a problem. I thought she didn’t answer because I wasn’t being serious. Now, it’s obvious it was because she’s hiding something—themoreto their history.
“That’s fine, Izzy. History is history for a reason. Butwill youeventually talk to me about it?” I ask.
"Tell you what, exactly, Maverick?"Oof—she never calls me by my full first name. The sound of it coming out of her mouth almost stings. "Am I sleeping with Jett? Am I sneaking around with him? What am I hiding? Does that about sum it up?" She scoffs, annoyed.
"No, I don't think—"
"That's the problem. You don't think. You go around speaking and acting before thinking. If you seriously have any of those questions, then I suggest you question yourself. You need to question how well you know me because, apparently…" She scoffs again, looking me over with disgust. "Apparently, you don't know me at all."
"Babe, I just want to talk." I forcefully keep my voice small to seem nonthreatening.
"No, Maverick. You want to question. Why don't I ask some of my own, shall I?"
She clears her throat dramatically, stepping up to me. Her short stature, compared to mine, is cute. Her head barely meets my chest, but she's fierce in every inch that she stands.
