Chapter 8
He peered inside. She didn’t appear to be home.
The squawk of a seagull made him turn his head. There, just a few hundred feet away, was the public beach access point, and he was drawn to it — whether to look for Jessa or for his own peace of mind, he didn’t know.
The first thing he saw as he crested the dunes was her long black hair blowing in the breeze.
His gut clenched.
Even from this distance he knew it was her.
The surf grew louder as he approached its boundaries, the smell of the ocean heavy on the cool air.
A smattering of people roamed the edge of the water, but his eyes were trained on Jessa as she stretched toward the sky with languid grace.
She was a goddess, Venus herself, and he was drawn to her even as he hated himself for it.
He was close enough now to touch her and he reached out, the tendrils of her hair whipping his fingers. He let his hand drop. “Jessa.”
She spun around and a look of pure horror came over her face. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?” She took a step back.
“I saw the morgue scandal on the news.”
“What are you talking about?”
A group of teenagers walked by them, talking loudly, and Jax waited for them to pass. “Can we go inside?” he asked.
“No.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Jax moved in close to her. “I’m the same person you’ve known for years, no matter what happened between us in that hotel room. So don’t go acting like you’re afraid of me, or I’m some big terrible person you can’t stand.”
“I don’t want you here.”
“I got that. But you’re in trouble, and I came anyway.” They’d attracted the attention of several people on the beach. “Now let’s go inside. We need to talk.”
“We can talk here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “The things we need to talk about are better said indoors.”
She stared at him for a moment and he could tell she wanted to say no, but instead she walked past him and picked up a blanket and book, then led the way back to her cottage.
He walked behind her, watching her round bottom sway from side-to-side within her white dress. The fabric was nearly see-through, and he could just make out her white underwear beneath it. Hard to believe the last time they’d seen each other, he’d been deep inside of her there.
She unlocked the door and he followed her into a tiny living room decorated in bright, bold colors and Mexican tile. She moved into the small but open kitchen, leaned against the counter, and crossed her arms. “What do you want?”
He followed her into the kitchen. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”
“You’re the one who’s being difficult. Just say what you came here to say.”
He took in the shadows under her eyes, the paleness of her skin. She didn’t look well, though he still had the same reaction to her nearness he’d had two months before. “The police busted the identity theft ring where you got your fake ID.”
“And?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You know your cousin worked in the morgue?”
She shrugged. “Sure. His parole officer got him the job last year.”
“He was stealing the identities of unclaimed bodies, then burying the people as Jane or John Does.”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“I can see Ricky left that part out.”
“Of course he did. I never would have knowingly participated in something like that.”
“But if Maria Elena wasn’t a real person, that would have been okay?”
She sucked her cheeks in. “Why are you here?”
He closed the distance between them. “It wouldn’t have been okay with you. I know you better than that. You did it because you were desperate. What I don’t understand is why.”
“You don’t know me at all.” She ducked around him. “Get the hell out of here.”
“What happened, Jessa?”
She turned on him. “What does it take to get away from you?”
“To get away from me?”
“I don’t want you in my life. I don’t want you to call me or follow me or contact me or look me up a year or five years down the road just to say hello.”
“You got the message I left you in Savannah.”
“Of course I got it, but I didn’t want to talk to you. Yet here you are, chasing me across a dozen states despite that.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” He followed her across the room. “Tell me why you would do such a stupid, crazy, illegal thing.”
“You don’t get to demand an explanation from me.
We are nothing to each other. Nothing! Just because I got lonely and slept with you doesn’t mean you matter to me.
You are a mean-spirited, pompous asshole with no use for other people.
Linda adored you, and even she couldn’t stand to be around you for long.
You couldn’t truly care about a woman if your life depended on it. ”
The warmth he’d felt shining from her when they’d made love had defrosted some of the bitterness from his heart, but listening to her now made every fiber freeze solid. He’d been pining over a lost opportunity for love, but it was clear to him now she hated him.
Maybe she always had.
Then why the hell did she sleep with me?
She stormed past him, opening a door and taking a step inside. He could see it was a bedroom, and she was about to slam the door to separate them.
But she froze, standing unmoving for several seconds before she fell sideways in a dead faint.