Page 131 of The Last Second Chance
It was at that point that Carter told her that she was taking the night off from lessons so she didn’t “drop kick any paying students” and open them up to a lawsuit.
She didn’t think that lawsuit jokes were remotely funny. Carter, on the other hand, found it hilarious.
Just what the hell was she supposed to do with an evening to herself? An evening alone.
She’d effectively shut down every attempt by Summer and Gia to talk it out or commiserate or whatever else girls wanted to do when their feelings were hurt by idiots with penises.
The sense of betrayal she felt toward her father and Jax was so overwhelming she worried that it would swamp her. The nights since the day the truth had been revealed held little sleep and still so many questions. The main question being: What in the hell was wrong with them?
But there were no easy answers, just disappointment. And hurt. Some rage. And a rawness that just kept getting rawer. What made it worse was the radio silence on Jax’s end. She’d become so used to his relentless onslaught of sneaky, manipulative affection that his absence was noticeable.
She’d tucked his toothbrush in a drawer just so she didn’t have to stare at it every night and every morning. The small pile of dirty laundry he left in the corner of her room that Waffles had used as a bed? She shoved it under the guest room bed because she certainly wasn’t going to wash it for him and coolly return it. That’s what adults did. She preferred to fantasize about setting it on fire in his driveway.
Of course it was time for another Meat of the Month delivery. And she couldn’t even bring herself to open the teriyaki Kobe beef jerky. Of course, she couldn’t just throw it out either. So that went to the back of her pantry until such a time that she could enjoy it hate-free.
Joey felt like her life had spiraled completely out of control in that one moment, standing in front of the stables she’d practically built and between the two men she’d loved. What in the hell was she supposed to do now? There was no way she was just going to sit here and stew all night long.
She looked at the clock on the mantel. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
The lights were on in Gia’s yoga studio and the windows were steamy from the last class, hot power yoga. Joey wasn’t desperate enough to suffer through one of those. But restorative yoga? She could handle that.
She darted past Gia who was deep in conversation with Maizie, the server at Peace of Pizza, and Rob, co-founder of OJ’s by Julia.
Relieved that there was no bikini bottom-clad Fitz, Joey unrolled a mat in the back row and pretended to stare at her phone to discourage anyone from trying to talk to her. It worked until Donovan Cardona flopped down on a mat next to her.
Blue Moon’s most popular sheriff to date, he was also brazenly single and Joey had a feeling he’d avoided the efforts of the Beautification Committee long enough. Once they had hooked Jax and Moon Beam up, they’d probably have Donovan marching down the aisle before Memorial Day.
And now she was back to pissed off.
“Hey, haven’t seen much of you lately,” Donovan said, stretching his legs straight and reaching desperately for his toes.
“I’ve been busy,” Joey grumbled.
“So I hear.”
“What do you hear? That I’ve been busy being betrayed by Jax and my father?”
“Uh. No?” Donovan peaked at her with concerned blue eyes under a muscular bicep. “I was talking about the whole partnership thing. I figured you’ve been busy with the breeding program and all that. I didn’t know anything about any betrayal.”
Joey felt like a jerk. “I’m sorry. I’m just…”
“Hungry?”
She shook her head.
“Bloated?”
“No!”
“Murderous?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Cantankerous?”
That brought the corners of her lips up a little bit. Cardona was a funny guy. In the years between Jax’s disappearance and reappearance, Joey had been invited to the poker table more than once and she’d enjoyed kicking the sheriff’s ass when she had the opportunity. He was a decent poker player, had a smile like a Ken doll, and a master’s in organizational leadership. Why couldn’t she have fallen for a guy like him?
Why did her heart have to belong to Jackson “Love ‘Em and Crush ‘Em Like Bugs” Pierce?
