Major Love

Chapter 33

Sunday

Jason puts the truck into park in the small Pine Hills lot, barely glancing out of the windshield toward the country bar before dismounting the vehicle.

He rounds the hood to the passenger side and opens my door as I undo my seatbelt, his eyes dipping slowly down my dress while he smooths back his hair with one large palm.

He’s staring at me like he’s never seen a woman before, and I can’t deny it – I love it.

I’m wearing a short baby blue dress – the kind that I would have worn for a night out in Nashville – and I’ve paired it with strappy matching heels that criss-cross seductively up my ankles. They’re totally not okay for this kind of weather but, from the way that Jason is looking at me, I’m pretty sure that he’ll be up for carrying me to and from his truck.

I’ve left my hair down, which is pretty rare for me, but I’ve brushed it out so that it’s soft and fluffy. And seeing as I have no pockets Jason’s got my phone, so it’s probably smashed into a million pieces after spending the entire ride under his quads.

He exhales heavily as he holds his hand out to me, his eyes on my toes as I carefully step down from his truck, and then he tucks me safely against his side as he closes up the door and shakes out a flannel.

“What are you doing?” I ask, eyeing him with amusement, even though I’ve known Jason since high school so I know exactly what he’s doing.

When he starts ranging his giant shirt over my bare shoulders, I can’t help but laugh, rolling my eyes at how traditional he is.

“You know, the point of this dress is to be seen,” I tell him teasingly, but I don’t stop him as he fixes me up, making sure that he protects my arms from the late winter chill.

“It’s just until we get inside,” Jason rumbles, leaning back an inch to check that he’s placed it evenly on both sides.

And I bite back my smile as he fusses with me, low-key loving this protective military side of him.

I’m guessing that after over a decade in the Army, it’s a hard habit to shake.

I trail my eyes down Jason’s shoulders, over the fitted grey shirt that’s digging into his biceps, and down to the jeans hugging his quads, the hard denim soft after years of use.

So understated, and yet I know that Jason will be the hottest guy in the bar.

I also love the fact that Jason didn’t tell me to dress down tonight, because he knows the lifestyle that I’m used to and he’s rolling with it, rather than fighting it.

I’d made him wait downstairs while I got dressed in the master bedroom, and the second that he saw me I was in his arms, his palms squeezing my waist while he kissed my neck and rumbled, “You’re beautiful.”

I could meet every guy in the whole state and I’d still never find a man who makes me feel as loved as Jason Coleson.

He locks the truck, pockets his keys, and then laces his warm fingers through mine, kicking the snow out of the way with his boots so that he can create a safe path for my stilettos to walk through.

He glances down at them every couple of seconds, making sure that my little toes haven’t frozen off, and then he turns his attention back to the bar, which has a more diner-style feel – especially seeing as they’ve got a small menu on a board outside, offering grits and other small-town foods that are served at red booths flanking the bar.

“Is he here?” Jason asks gruffly, pulling the door open and stepping back so that I can walk in ahead of him.

And I’m immediately hit with a surprisingly comforting wave of nostalgia, suddenly feeling like I’m back in Nashville at Cash’s Bar.

The soft country music, the cinnamon-scented air, and the red string-lights and cowboy hat décor…

The laughter, the neon… it’s like a second home to me.

And warmth suddenly caresses my shoulders as Jason eases his shirt from over my chest, tucking it comfortably in his back pocket before settling his palms on either side of my dress.

He tucked it in his back pocket. He isn’t wearing it.

Which means…

I blink up at him for a moment and my lips part, realising that he only brought the shirt so that he could keep me warm if I needed it.

Jason gives me a gentle squeeze as he steps up behind me, the warmth from his hard chest blanketing my exposed back.

“It’s not usually this busy,” he admits, as we slowly make our way toward the bar, my eyes flicking to the women watching us as Jason walks past them.

If he notices them, he doesn’t say anything, but he clutches me tighter against his chest, suggesting that maybe he can sense my brewing possessiveness.

By the time that we reach the bar I’m ready to leave kiss-prints all over his neck.

And he can tell.

Jason leans down, setting his elbows on the counter on either side of me, and he brushes a gentle kiss to the side of my temple, chuckling quietly.

I shoot a sharp glance at him over my shoulder and he shakes his head, trying not to smirk.

“If I knew that your claws were this sharp, I’d have brought you somewhere like this way sooner,” he murmurs, groaning out a laugh when I give him a nice shove in the abs.

“Shut up,” I whisper back to him, feeling my cheeks grow an even deeper shade of pink.

But he just squeezes me again, rubbing his thumb gently up and down the column of my throat.

He catches my eyes in the mirror behind the bar and rumbles huskily, “You’re so hot when you’re jealous.”

I roll my eyes like I don’t care but he gets a tiny smile out of me anyway, and then he’s fighting back a grin as he stands upright again, towering over me from behind as he signals for the server to grab us a drink.

And in the next second I’m hearing my name being called out from the other side of the bar, immediately snapping my attention back to reality and making me stand on my tip-toes to see where the sound came from.

Riley, in a brown cowboy jacket and pale denim jeans, gives me a lazy smile as he jogs over to us, weaving his way across the packed dancefloor.

I think that Jason was right about Riley having an inkling about our situation – which I assume is why he declined Jason’s offer to pick him up on the way here. Riley texted to say that he’d just grab a cab, which is probably the best option anyway seeing as he’ll no doubt be drinking.

And, as busy as this place is, Jason was right about another thing, too – no matter how famous Riley is in Nashville, in a small-town like this, people don’t care.

“Hey,” Riley says, his deep voice breathless as he finally reaches us, looking handsome and happy to see us as we share a quick smile.

Then he glances at Jason’s hands which are gripped firmly around my hips and he hesitates before leaning forward, giving me a quick one-armed hug. He pulls quickly away, flicking another glance up at Jason.

Back in Nashville, Riley was always the tallest guy in the room, so being towered over by Jason must be an unusual feeling for him.

Which is probably why Jason removes one hand from my waist, holding it out in front of me so that Riley can take it.

And after a cautious glance at me, Riley accepts, giving Jason his gravelly laugh.

“Hey,” Jason rumbles, gripping Riley’s hand like he’s trying to turn it into a diamond, and then he lets him go after a couple of seconds, glancing away from him, totally impassive.

“Nice place,” Riley drawls, turning on his country-boy smile as he looks down at me. “Giving you any ideas about the new bar, or will I just have to wait and see?”

I laugh nervously at that because, right now, I’ve got a couple of bars on my plate – the one that I’m being offered back in Nashville, and Casey’s place in the town square at Phoenix Falls.

Jason’s body shifts slightly behind me and I glance up at him just as he passes me a drink.

“Lemonade,” he murmurs quietly, and I sigh with relief, suddenly parched. Then he glances over at Riley as I sip on the straw and asks, “You know about the bar?”

I instantly choke on the soda, so not ready to have this conversation with the both of them.

“He’s talking about another bar,” I tell Jason raspily, my voice hoarse after coughing on the lemonade.

“Another bar?” Jason asks, flicking his eyes down to me, his brow creasing.

I shake my head, trying to dissipate his worry, and I say gently, “It’s a long story. And it’s not actually my bar. It just… it could be… if I wanted it to be.”

“You should go for it,” Riley tells me, having to shout a little over the loud music. Then he smiles up at Jason, his expression sincere as he says, “If Sunday takes it over, next year it’ll be the go-to bar in Nashville. Just wait.”

I peek up at Jason over my shoulder, loving that he’s still holding me protectively against his chest, and his eyes lock with mine, a secret dialogue passing between us.

One where he’s asking, you never told me about this, right?

And I’m saying, okay, maybe not, but you have nothing to worry about, I promise.

He searches my eyes, unsure, but then he nods and hunches down, pressing a light kiss against my jaw that has heat flickering in my stomach.

And to my surprise when I look up, Riley is watching us, but he doesn’t look irritated.

If anything, he looks curious, his head tilted slightly to the side, and then he gives me a small smile, his eyes warming as he moves slightly closer.

I smile back at him and squeeze his forearm, a tiny gesture to say, thank you for being here for me.

Real friends were hard to come by when I was living in Tennessee, so my bond with Riley is one that I’ve always appreciated.

“Jason?” a voice calls out, and we all glance at the woman behind us, her smile bright as she sidles into our circle, her fingers already trailing up his muscular arm.

And my eyebrows hit my hairline.

Did she have to be tall, blonde, and freaking gorgeous?

“Halle, hey,” Jason says gruffly, before subtly shoving me between them and taking the lemonade from my fist. And he gives her a what-can-you-do? look because both of his hands are now full.

Halle laughs, rolling her eyes playfully, before dropping her gaze down to me.

She stares at Jason’s possessive palm on my hip and the way that my little heels are between his boots, and then she lifts her eyes back to mine, cocking her head in the same way that Riley did.

“Do we know each other?” she asks casually, smiling down at me with slightly raised brows.

The kind of look that subtly says, and who the fuck are you?

“Nope,” Jason says simply, swallowing a mouthful of lemonade before passing it back to me.

And even though I’d been drinking from the striped paper straw to start with, this time I decide to sip from the same place that Jason did.

“She doesn’t live around here,” he says, which has Halle perking up a bit.

“Oh?” she asks, her eyes meeting mine again. “Where do you live?”

“Nashville,” I tell her reluctantly.

“Oh my goodness, that’s amazing!” she exclaims happily, her eyes sparkling with joy, at the fact that that puts me over one-point-seven-thousand miles away from Jason.

“But I might be moving,” I add quickly.

Jason arches an eyebrow.

Oh, you bet your ass that I’m jealous right now.

“Oh,” she says again, still looking between us. “Where to?”

“Here.”

“No way,” she breathes out slowly, laughing again as she glances at Jason. “Well, okay then! I’m gonna head over there. It was really good to see you again, though.”

And then she leans up to kiss his cheek, right there while I’m standing here, making Jason’s entire body tense as he grips me tighter.

The air practically freezes in my lungs.

“Right,” he says gruffly, giving Halle a quick nod, but he’s genuinely frowning now, his body language completely uncomfortable.

And I realise that I may not have liked seeing that but, way more importantly, Jason didn’t like it either.

He looks ready to rip off his own skin when Halle finally makes her way back to the dancefloor, his cheeks red with embarrassment as he searches for something on the counter.

I give Riley a one minute look and turn around to face Jason.

And his hands instantly grip my hips, his chest heaving as he looks down at me.

“I’m sorry,” he says roughly, still looking frantically around on the counter.

“It’s okay,” I rasp softly. Then I glance at the bar. “What are you looking for?”

“Napkin,” he replies quickly. “Didn’t think she’d… try and do something like that.” And then he’s dropping his gaze to mine, his irises burning with a million different emotions. “I mean it, Sunday. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have entertained that conversation for a minute if I thought that she was gonna–”

But before he can finish his sentence I dip my hand beneath my dress, gently slipping out the tiny emergency tissue that I usually keep tucked inside my bra.

And then I tap it carefully in the remaining lemonade, making sure that it’s wet enough to use.

Jason’s neck flames with heat, his hands tightening on my hips, and a low growl rumbles through his chest as I discreetly wipe the lipstick stain off his cheek.

Once it’s off, I toss the tissue into a bin behind the counter, and Jason’s palms splay over my lower back, pulling me tight against his chest.

“Maybe I should have used my claws,” I whisper teasingly, and he huffs out a laugh, a little more at ease now.

And he lowers his mouth to my ear, his stubble rasping against my cheek as he murmurs, “Save them for when I get you back in the truck.”

I pull back laughing breathlessly, and Jason releases a quiet chuckle of his own, and he tucks me against his chest as I face Riley again.

Whose charming smile is still in place, but there’s a new curiosity behind his sharp eyes.

I swipe my palms over my flushed cheeks, laughing nervously as I signal the bartender again.

I mean, the least that I can do right now is buy the guy who travelled all this way to make sure that I’m okay a drink, right?

“Sorry,” I say to Riley, swallowing nervously as I try to calm my emotions.

It’s such a weird thing when people from different parts of your life come together, and it’s been so long since I was in this environment that I’m a little overwhelmed.

“No problem,” Riley drawls out, but when I look up he’s watching me curiously.

And something about his expression… it just puts me on edge.

“Hey, so what you said to that chick back there,” Riley starts, that gravelly voice of his coming closer as he leans beside me on the counter.

“Which part?” I ask warily.

“The part about you moving away from Nashville.”

And my eyes fly up to his as my stomach flips.

Shit. I’d been so focused on deterring Halle that I’d practically forgotten that Riley was right here, listening to the whole conversation. And seeing as Riley is one of my closest friends, I feel guilty as hell about not having been more open with him about my living situation earlier.

Because even if I don’t end up relocating back home to Phoenix Falls, I should have mentioned it to him earlier, seeing as he’s had my back through everything.

I brush a loose curl away from my cheek, feeling like the worst friend ever.

“Riley, look, nothing’s set in stone, okay? And I’m sorry that I didn’t mention it before, but it’s only because I haven’t finalised a decision yet.”

I swallow a little anxiously at the expression on Riley’s face, and I feel Jason shift behind me, his broad chest brushing reassuringly against my back.

“Is this about the article?” Riley asks suddenly. “The headline that sent you away?”

When I don’t respond, he blinks down at me and his eyes widen.

“You’re shitting me,” Riley rasps. “It hurt you so bad that you’d fucking move ?”

“Watch it.”

Jason’s voice, deep and gruff, snaps Riley’s attention over my head, and I watch nervously as they stare at each other, the room around us becoming a neon blur.

But Riley heeds the silent warning and rakes a hand through his hair, jaw ticking in irritation as he lowers his tone for me.

“Sunday,” he says quietly, desperately, “it was just a stupid article!”

“Yeah,” I breathe back to him, “but it had a different effect on you than it did on me.”

And, also, the article isn’t the reason why I’d be moving.

The reason is six-foot-four and standing right behind me.

“Listen to me. We can fix this. We’ll make another article if we have to.”

“We?” I ask in confusion, before breathing out a laugh and smiling up at him. “Riley, first of all, the last thing that I want to do is find myself in another headline. It’s blown over now, and I’m grateful for that, but it made me reevaluate the kind of life that I want to live.”

And I thought that my rationale would work to calm him but, if anything, it has the opposite effect. A patron knocks into Riley’s broad shoulders, splashing half a tumbler of whiskey down the back of his designer boots, and Riley whips around in a haze of fury, making the guy stumble in shock and back away.

And then Riley groans, running a hand over his face, before looking down at me with those stunning platinum-album-selling eyes.

“You’re the closest person to me in that city, Sunday,” he says frantically. “Fuck my team, fuck my manager. You’re the only real person that I’ve got!”

“And I’ll still be here,” I say reassuringly, “playing your songs over the speakers, only a phone-call away. And your tour will come near these parts, so it isn’t as though you’ll never see me again.”

We’ve got history, sure, but it’s only the platonic kind, so I have no idea why he’s feeling so invested in our friendship all of a sudden.

Riley shakes his head, all of his carefully constructed charm quickly dissipating, and he shoves his hair back from over his forehead, his cheekbones darkening as he gets more flustered.

“We can fix this,” he says roughly. “I can fix this, Sunday, I swear.”

“Fix this?” I repeat gently. “You don’t need to fix anything, Riley. There’s no problem.”

“I’ve known you for an entire decade, Sunday! And you’re going to throw all of that away?”

I blink up at Riley in shock, grateful for Jason’s arms around my chest, because I place my fingers over his large hands and feel his warmth sinking into me.

Throw it all away? What on earth is he talking about?

“The article was nothing, Sunday, and it was never meant to push you away. Fuck the Observer , and fuck the Times . They don’t mean anything. This ” – he grabs my wrists, making me rear back into Jason’s hard chest – “this means something. I know you fucking feel it.”

“Riley, what the hell are you talking about?” I ask breathlessly, but then my heart suddenly stops as his words finally penetrate my mind, the colour draining from my cheeks as I slowly look up into his eyes.

He searches my face frantically, not understanding what I’ve just picked up on.

And my breathing hitches in my chest.

Oh my God.

“What is it?” he rasps quietly, mistaking my silence for something good, but I’m too numb to shake off his hands, my eyes unblinking as I stare up at him.

“Riley,” I say slowly, my voice so quiet that I barely hear it. “They never printed the article in The Nashville Times .”

Riley’s chest pauses on an inhale, his brow flickering in confusion.

“ The Nashville Times contacted me before they ran the piece,” I rasp slowly, “and when I told them that it wasn’t true, they dropped the article. The headline was only printed in The Nashville Observer. ”

But if Riley thought that The Nashville Times had printed the article…

I stumble back a step, away from Riley, my heart hammering in my chest.

Betrayal spreads like ice in my veins as I look up at the guy who I thought was my friend.

Because if Riley knew that the Times almost printed the article, then there’s only one reason why.

Riley was the leak.

He moves toward me to grab my hands the second that he realises what I’ve finally worked out, but Jason instantly intercepts, placing his large body in front of mine.

“Not gonna happen,” Jason grunts.

And I grip my fists in the back of Jason’s shirt, tears stinging in my eyes but I refuse to let them fall.

Because I freaking trusted Riley and, in his own words, we were friends for over a decade .

And he sold private photos to the press so that he could make up a headline about an affair ?

What was even the point? Why the hell would he sell me out like that?

He was already in the press, because his new album was just about to come out, so why would he bother making up a fake story?

And then my jaw is dropping open as I suddenly realise why.

His new album was just about to come out.

His new album was about to come out so he–

I move around Jason but he locks me firmly against his side with his forearm, clearly sensing the fact that I’m about to slap Riley all the way to South Dakota.

“Your album was about to drop, so you decided to use me as click-bait ?!” I exclaim, no longer buying that innocent boy-next-door look on Riley’s face as he tries to move toward me.

“I didn’t want you to get hate,” he says desperately. “We just needed the PR and, you know, you’d just sold the bar for a fuck-tonne so–”

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

“You used the sale of my bar,” I rasp, my voice breathless with shock, “the bar that I bought in memory of my step-father… as a way to drive sales for your fucking country album?!”

An album that already had over a hundred thousand pre-orders, considering the fact that Riley has millions of fans who have been anticipating this release for the past two years.

And then the tears slip out without me meaning for them to, falling silently down my cheeks as I stare up at him in shock.

“I can’t believe that I freaking trusted you,” I breathe out, feeling my heart break at the blindsiding betrayal.

Because platonic break-ups can hurt just as much as romantic ones, sometimes.

“It was meant to be a good thing,” Riley says as he tries to reach me, but Jason gives him a look that says don’t even think about it, man. “You were meant to see the headline, and it was meant to be funny to us, and I thought that you’d finally see the light and, you know… give us a chance!”

I stare at him in disbelief for a moment before screaming, “ What ?!”

“Ten years, Sunday! Everyone on the team thought that we were endgame.”

“Ten years of friendship , you freaking psychopath! We did business together!”

“Because we were building our relationship!”

“Our business relationship!”

“Don’t be like this,” Riley chides. “You know that I’ve always liked you.”

“Oh yeah, I just bet you did,” I say drily, rolling my eyes as I laugh in disbelief. “You slept with over fifty girls last year, Riley! A fact that you told me because we are just friends !”

Jason clears his throat, grimacing in disbelief as he glances down at Riley.

“Fifty?” Jason asks. “Really, man?”

“Sunday, I mean it, I’ve always been into you,” Riley starts, but then his cell phone is buzzing and he’s wincing as he looks down at the screen.

“If that’s your manager, you can let her know that Sunday Wells will be sending you back to Nashville in a million little pieces,” I rasp. My voice is husky with anger and my eyes are seething as I look up at him.

“Sunday,” he groans.

I shake my head at him. “You freaking traitor.”

“Babe–” Riley says, and Jason shoves me behind him, out of Riley’s reach.

And then Jason’s big fingers are leashing through mine as he looms over Riley, his rough voice gravelly and deadly calm.

“You should take that call,” Jason rumbles. “And take it outside.”

And after a tense ten-second stand-off Riley shoots me a look before pushing his way to the front door.

“Good call,” I say breathlessly. “If I murder him outside there’ll be less witnesses.”

But without missing a beat Jason instantly hauls me back from the war-path, breathing heavily as I crash into his chest and locking his forearms around my waist.

“Nice try,” he murmurs, grunting hard when I struggle against him, but then my tears are falling in full-force and, the second that he sees, he turns me toward him.

“Hey, hey,” he says gently, wrapping his palms around the back of my head, and then I’m burying my face in his warm chest as I’m overcome with sobs of sadness. “That’s it,” he murmurs softly, hiding me against him. “Let it all out.”

I shake my head, completely distraught, and deep down it isn’t because of the article. It isn’t even because of Riley.

It’s because of the bar in Nashville that meant so much to me – so much to my family – and the fact that someone close to me was so freaking selfish that they tried to taint that. To use it to their advantage for some fleeting financial gain.

“He’s such an asshole,” I whisper weakly, and Jason kisses my temple, rumbling, “Yeah.”

And we stay like that for endless minutes, Jason holding me in his strong arms, until my tears have all been shed and reality starts seeping back to me.

The fact that we’re in this adorable country-bar-diner, and there’s a gorgeous song playing through the speakers. And Jason is looking down at me with so much affection that I’ve never felt more valued in my entire life.

“I’m sorry for crying,” I whisper up to him. “That’s…” I laugh shakily. “Really embarrassing.”

He shakes his head but doesn’t say anything, slowly brushing the large pad of his thumb carefully beneath each of my eyes. And then he takes my shaking hand firmly in his, tugging me behind him as he starts moving us away from the counter.

“Where are we going?” I rasp, casting a nervous glance toward the front doors.

I don’t want to go out there and see Riley right now.

But when Jason finally stops walking and I notice all of the couples that are laughing around us, I realise where he’s taken us.

We’re standing in the middle of the dancefloor.

“Jason,” I laugh wearily, brushing my fingers over the short hem of my dress. My heels sparkle under the warm lighting and I toe the floor, feeling nervous.

“Dance with me,” he murmurs, bringing me in close with one palm on my lower back.

“You don’t dance,” I whisper teasingly, peeking up at him under my lashes.

“I did once before,” he reminds me, and my heart squeezes tight in my chest.

Because he’s right. He did.

On the night of our prom.

I couldn’t face going to the school hall, so Jason drove endlessly through the mountainous roads of Phoenix Falls, until he finally pulled up in a clearing in the lower forest and helped me out of his car.

And then we swayed for what felt like hours, his arms holding me so firm because he knew that it was the last time that we’d get to do this – that once the night was over, our relationship wouldn’t be the same again. Because after losing Cash during his deployment, I wouldn’t be able to handle the worry of having the same thing happen to Jason.

So he wrapped me in his arms all night long, dancing under the dappled light of the moon while I clung to his chest, wishing that I wouldn’t ever have to let him go.

Only now things are different, and that part of our lives is over.

And now I don’t have to let him go.

I nod up at him and brush away the last of my rogue tears, and then he’s hauling me against his chest, his big hands gripping my waist.

I laugh quietly and lace my fingers through his hair as he lowers his head, gently kissing my neck.

“This is how we did it back then, remember?” he murmurs roughly, and I smile and nod because, yeah, this is exactly how we did it.

He’d positioned my ballet flats between his boots just to make me forget about my tears as we swayed.

And it still has the exact same effect on me now.

I rub my pink cheek against his coarse stubble, my lashes fluttering closed at the deep growl that rumbles through his chest, and then his large palms are sliding lower down my back, until they’re resting just above the curves of my behind.

“I like this song,” I whisper, listening to the intimate words being drawled through the speakers, and when Jason’s lower body rocks steadily against mine I start to feel a little lightheaded.

“That fucker out there didn’t sing it, did he?” Jason murmurs, and I bury my face in his tan neck, laughing uncontrollably. Jason chuckles with me and kneads my butt in his large hands.

“No,” I whisper back, inhaling quicker when his grip becomes rough, and then he’s brushing his stubble up my jaw, making my body ignite as he teases me.

“Then it’s a great song, baby,” he rumbles quietly, gathering me closer as he sways us on the low-lit dancefloor. His breathing is deep and steady as he threads his fingers through my hair.

Then he lifts our joined hands and gently spins me out, just so that he can tug my shoulders against his chest, nestling his groin between my thighs.

He groans at the contact and I look back at him over my shoulder, the heavy rise and fall of his chest telling me everything that I need to know.

He presses a soft kiss against my bare collarbone and rolls his lower body more firmly against mine.

“One more song and then we should get out of here,” Jason murmurs, his deep voice making my body ache with heat. But I just bite back my smile and spin around, draping my arms over his shoulders.

He breathes hard as he glances down at me, one hand gently squeezing my waist, and he rubs a soft curl between his fingers before closing his eyes and kissing my jaw.

“Why wait that long?” I whisper back to him, with a little smile.

A low growl rumbles through his chest.

And in less than ten seconds we’re out the door.