Page 33 of First in Line

He caused all this. He stepped into a room he had no business being in. He touched me, pressed his lips on me, drove me to lose myself with his hands…

I never wanted this. All I’ve ever wanted is for him to sign the papers. For him to leave me alone and give me back my freedom.

Overwhelmed and ashamed, I twist around and avoid looking at him. When I pass by on my way to the door, he firmly grabs my arm.

“Don’t marry him,” he repeats.

“You have no say in who I decide to marry, Jackson. No matter what’s convincing you otherwise. I’m not yours. I haven’t been for a long time.”

The iron grip slowly loosens, and as soon as I’m free, I rush to the door and unlatch it before throwing myself outside. The buzzing activity of the restaurant is like a harsh reality slap, and the fact that I almost had sex with my ex right there…

Though I want to stay a moment and gather myself, I don’t want to be here when Jackson exits the restroom. So, hoping I’m not as red as I feel, I return to our table with quick, precise steps.

“There you are,” Nathan welcomes me with a gentle smile. “I was about to send a search party after you.”

“Sorry, I decided to fix my makeup a little,” I lie.

“You missed a spot.” Carefully, he runs a delicate thumb in the outer corner of my eye where my mascara must have smudged during my interaction with Jackson.

“What do you say we eat fast and hit the road right after?” I suggest, doing my hardest to sound normal despite the emotional turmoil in my mind.

“No dessert?”

“No.”

“But you love dessert.”

“I know, but this place is too expensive. We can stop at the good bakery tomorrow and have a dessert buffet instead.”

“I guess that also works. Are you okay? This is going well, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. Of course.” My smile doesn’t reach my eyes, even I can feel it, but I’m unsure if Nathan notices. Not with Jackson returning to the table.

The rest of the dinner is far more silent than before. I wasn’t talking much then, but Jax is barely saying a thing now. Nathan does his best to keep the conversation going, but when he doesn’t get more than monosyllabic answers from either of us, he gives up.

As I suggested, we decide to leave as soon as we’re done with the main course. Jax doesn’t seem to want to linger either, and when the check comes, he doesn’t insist on paying for everything. What happened in the bathroom must have been a wake-up call for him. We’re over, and there’s nothing he can do to change that.

The weather has taken a turn while we were inside, and rain welcomes us as we step out. “I’ll go get the car, honey,” Nathan offers. “Jackson, do you mind keeping her company?”

“Sure.”

Once he has lifted the collar of his coat to protect his neck from the bad weather, my fiancé launches himself into his quest. I stand by Jackson’s side, stiff and uncomfortable.

Tonight didn’t go as I planned at all. I should never have agreed to this.

Next to me, I hear Jax light a cigarette, then comes the smoky scent of tobacco.

“There,” his low, tight voice says next to me.

When I look, he’s extending a thick envelope, which must have come from his inside coat pocket since it’s folded in half.

“Did you sign them?”

“Yes. But this isn’t the divorce agreement you gave me.”

“What?”

“I had my lawyers draft a new one.”