Page 14 of Prey Tell
I’m not a good person, despite Jax’s insistence that I am. A small part of me often wonders if I inherited my father’s ruthlessness. If our blood was tainted. Corrupted.Cursed.My other brothers were the same. Single, and dealing with their own fucked up bullshit, never settling down. We all had our personal… preferences. For me, I liked control.
Order.
Domination.
Honesty.
Raw instinct.
The tabloids certainly think we’re all fucked up in the head, so they must be onto something.
“You’ve always thought too highly of me, Jax.”
He leans back and bobs his head. “No, I just see the real you behind the brooding asshole.”
“I’m not brooding.”
He laughs out loud. “Right.” He stands up and stretches. “All right, time to go change the world.”
I snort. “You sure do think highly of yourself.”
“Teaching is the most important job in the world,” he replies, holding a hand over his heart as if I’ve physically wounded him.
“Whatever. You know the offer to work with me still stands.”
“I’d rather choke on my own vomit before working in your corporate hellhole.” He gives me a sardonic smile. “But I do promise to be out of your perfectly coiffed hair soon. Thanks for letting me live here for a bit.”
“You know you can stay as long as you want.Mi casa es su casa.”
Jackson is the only reason I’m a halfway decent person. He latched on to me in ninth grade at Saint Helena and refused to let go, and we’d been best friends ever since.
Jackson rolls his eyes. “Thanks. I’m glad I gave Juliet some space. I definitely don’t need to hear my baby sister having sex,” he grimaces.
If silver could shatter, the fork in my hand would be dust on the floor right now.
Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
“Didn’t think the dude had it in him,” I say carefully. I’m gritting my teeth together so hard that my jaw aches. “Dylan, right?”
I knew his name. I’d done my research years ago. An aspiring psychologist. He was “nice” and respected—my opposite in every way.
Parker deserved “nice.”
“Yeah. You met him at the—”
“I remember,” I growl.
How the fuck could I possibly forget last Thanksgiving? Giving into Jackson’s demands, I’d invited Miles and Liam to the Parker’s annual Thanksgiving potluck. We’d all crammed inside that tiny house, and I’d barely spoken a word to Juliet—or her boyfriend at the time.
I hadn’t seen her in years.
And I couldn’t get enough.
I had to get through dinner, watching as some other man touched her for all the world to see. As some other mankissedher. It turned me into something ugly and jealous.
I know I didn’t deserve to feel like I had any claim to her, but I did.
Ialwayswould.
