Page 1 of The Last Second Chance
Prologue
Eight years ago
Joey Greer letthe night wind from the open car window whip over her bare arm. She was three days away from turning eighteen and five from graduation. The freedom looming on the horizon burned like embers inside her. Or maybe that smolder came from the driver whose hand rested possessively on her bare thigh just below her ragged cutoffs.
She shot a look at him in the dark. He looked like one of the gods in the Greek mythology section of her World Cultures book.
Jackson Pierce’s profile was just as fine as the rest of him. The perfect blade of a nose over lips that were either spread wide in a mischievous grin or attached to Joey’s mouth. His square jaw and high cheekbones gave him the same warrior-like look his older brothers shared. He was leaner than his brothers, and his gray eyes had a hint of icy blue to them. But there was no mistaking him for anything but a Pierce.
Jax was six months older and miles more experienced than Joey. But it wasn’t his fault he hadn’t fallen for her in kindergarten as she had for him. He was making up for it now.
In the end, all it had taken was for Joey to accept Bannon Bullock’s invitation to Homecoming last year. One look at the basketball captain’s wandering hands on the dance floor and Jax had finally laid claim. Joey’s virginity had lasted all of a week after that.
She loved him completely, simply, unconditionally, and knew that, as surely as her heart beat, he felt the same about her.
She felt the purr of the engine ride up her spine as Jax accelerated toward her home to meet curfew. The ’68 Camaro had been Jax’s first love, until Joey.
Everything about him—about them—was fast, dangerous. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m serious, Jojo. Think about it,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “Forget college. Let’s see what’s out there.”
Joey laughed as she always did when Jax pitched his see-the-world quest. “Collegeisseeing what’s out there. I’ve got plans. You’ve got plans.”
Those plans included partial rides to Centenary where Joey couldn’t wait to try for a spot on the equestrian team. Jax was already guaranteed to start on the Cyclone’s lacrosse team.
He gripped her thigh tighter and she felt the thrill she always did at his touch. “Come on. There’s got to be more to the world than Blue Moon and college.”
Joey rolled her eyes and calculated how far they were from home. Her curfew was non-negotiable, set in stone. Her father didn’t like Jax. Thought he was too smooth, too charming, too rebellious. Joey’s mother, on the other hand, adored him…and had insisted on scheduling a doctor’s appointment for birth control as soon as Joey told her they were dating.
“Okay, where would we go?” Joey said, spreading her fingers as if to caress the night air. His answer was always different. One night they’d build a cabin in the hills of Montana. Another and they’d backpack their way down to Florida where they’d set sail for the Caribbean.
“West,” Jax decided. “We’ll just drive west. Pick up odd jobs wherever we stop.”
“And then what?” Joey asked, hiding her smile. A chorus of frogs serenaded them as they sped past Diller’s pond.
“L.A.”
Joey shot him an incredulous look. “You want to live in Los Angeles?” As far as she was concerned, L.A. was a horse-less wasteland of boob jobs and overpriced real estate.
“Why not, Jojo? I wanna be someone. I’m not going to be anyone but John Pierce’s son or Carter and Beckett’s brother here.”
Joey reached out and put her hand over his t-shirt. She could feel his heartbeat strong and steady under her palm. “Jax, you’re neverjustgoing to be a Pierce.”
“That’s all that’s here for me.” He said the words quietly, heavily.
Her mood shifted from quiet amusement to pissed off like the flip of a switch. She dug her nails into his chest. “That’sallthat’s here for you? What the hell am I, jackass? Some high school distraction for you until you can start living your real life?”
Jax was used to her flares of temper, and was practically immune to them by now. He squeezed her thigh, hard enough to leave fingerprints until she quit stabbing him in the chest.
“Joey.” Her name on his lips had the effect it always did, goose bumps on her skin and a warm, melty feeling in her stomach...like drinking hot chocolate on a cold night.
She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hold on to her mad.
“You’re everything to me. There’s no future without you.”
“You know I’m not going to throw away college and all my dreams to live out of a car with you and take showers in gas station restrooms, right?”
Eyes on the road, Jax grinned. “I know. And I’ll be right there with you.”
