17. Felicity
felicity
“I’m so sorry. I’m so embarrassed,” Juniper says to me quietly, concern written all over her face. “I didn’t know it wasn’t public knowledge.”
I calm my racing heart and put a smile on my face, hoping to ease her anxiety. “It’s really okay,” I say, referencing the fact that right before we went on stage, Juniper handed me water and asked if I was feeling up to performing.
Questioning what she meant, I’d given her a look, and she nodded with a smile to my stomach. Where a more prominent than yesterday bump is now. I’d looked at her, horrified, and she immediately knew that no one was supposed to know.
“You saved my ass, actually,” I say, gesturing to her oversized knit sweater that she lent to me before I went on. “I didn’t realize how obvious it was.”
“I feel horrible, though. I mean, that could have been a food baby,” she whispers very discreetly, given our setting. Mitch was our security and watched our every move, but he kept a respectable distance, even though there was a time I would have called him my brother.
“Really, it’s okay.” I place a hand on her arm and smile. “Just do me a favor and keep it to yourself, for a while at least.”
“Of course.” Her brows knit together. “I won’t breathe a word, I swear.”
“Thanks, June.” I nod and sigh, letting the worry roll off of me. Because really, what was I going to do if it got out? Not much, honestly. “So…that was amazing, though.” I point to the stage, and she blushes.
“You definitely helped it be that way,” Juniper says, and I see Mitch shake his head out of the corner of my eye. He looks at me, and I lift a brow before he looks away, a slight pinkishness to his cheeks.
I look to Juniper and say, “You need to stop selling yourself short. Your voice is absolutely magical, and your sound is beautiful.”
Juniper smiles and sighs. “Thanks. I really appreciate that.”
I shrug. “It’s just the truth,” I say, snapping my fingers. “Hey, next week I’m heading down into the city to meet some people. We’re working on my next album. Why don’t you come with and sit in?”
Her eyes widen, and she opens her mouth to reply when Mitch says, “She will.”
Juniper glances behind her, concern written all over her face. “Oh, I don’t know. I have the restaurant.”
“Well, think about it, okay?” I squeeze her arm and sigh. “I need to go take five somewhere before I try to go walk around.”
“Mitch, you should go with her,” Juniper says, nodding at me.
He stands to do as he’s told, but before he can, a voice from behind us says, “I got her.”
I spin, my heart launching to my throat as I take in the sight before me. Jax.
“It’s really okay,” I hurry to say. “It’s not a big deal.”
“People know you’re here now, Felicity,” Mitch interjects. “You need someone with you.”
I nod, knowing they’re right. Knowing that the moment my manager finds out I performed for a big festival with no input from them, with no security, with no payment, I am going to get reamed.
Jax reaches out and takes my hand, and I let him, all the while knowing that the moment our fingers interlace, my heart is going to be telling me things that I don’t want or need to hear.
He does exactly what he used to, tucking my arm underneath his and sliding his fingers between mine, shielding me from view and from the world.
I feel safe instantaneously, like nothing in the world could possibly touch me in this moment, and I know that it was a reckless way to feel. I know that if he knew the truth of my current predicament, he would…
Well, I don’t know what he would do. But I don’t imagine that every man’s dream ends with his girl having another man’s baby.
This was so fucked.
He leads me to a trailer behind the stage, and we walk into the living quarters area. There’s no one inside, but I slide into the seat by the table, accepting the water he finds for me, and watch him down one of his own.
“So that was scary to watch,” I admit, referencing the bullfighting he finished minutes before my set.
He smirks and shrugs. “It’s what I do.”
“I didn’t hear that you were performing today,” I say, wondering if that information was kept from me on purpose. It’s not as if the whole town, or at least the people who lived here while we were growing up, didn’t know our history.
“It was a spontaneous event,” he replies, shrugging. “I missed it.”
“You’re very good at it.”
He quirks a brow at me, probably not expecting the compliment given that I’ve been giving him nothing but a cold shoulder for the last couple of weeks.
He walks over and sits on the seat next to me, leaving no room between us as he stares at the bottle of water in his hand. “City…” He starts and then pauses, letting out a sigh of frustration. “I said some shitty things to you in that house.”
“Jax, you already apologized?—”
“No, I know.” He nods his head, turning to face me, his left arm reaching across the back of the seat and his eyes imploring mine.
I didn’t know how to look away, and a larger part of me didn’t want to.
“I know I apologized, but the more I think on it, the more I realize how young and dumb I was, how inexperienced we were, the more I want to hash everything out with you.”
I frown, looking for a hidden meaning behind his words. “What does that mean?”
“Felicity.” He pauses, his hair falling over his forehead when he dips it down, and he licks his lips. “I want to take you on a date.”
The air in my lungs seems to freeze, and I blink at Jax for a minute. “A date?”
He nods, nerves written all over his face. “Yes. A date. I want to take you out, to buy you a meal, to catch up on everything we’ve missed. Because, if I’m being honest, I’ve missed the hell out of you, City Girl.”
The words, the actions, the whole thing is so unexpected that before I can think rationally, before I can tell myself what a horrible idea this is, given my current state, the word “yes” escapes me.
I have never been immune to Jax Cash, and it seems that still holds true.