22. Chapter 19
Jax
Me: Hey, want to grab some dinner?
Me: I was thinking I’d head over to the Rookie Roll, the new sushi restaurant at the pier.
My Brilliant Girl: Rough day at work. Can I have a raincheck?
Me: Of course.
Igrab my phone and keys and head out the door.
Our sushi date can wait, but I still want to make sure she eats tonight. If she’s anything like me, eating will be the last thing on her mind.
“Hey, It’s Jax. Can I place an order to go?” I ask Ruby when she answers the phone.
“Hi, sweet boy. Of course you can. I prefer to see that smile of yours in person when you’re enjoying my cooking, but I’ll save that for another day.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“You’re the best, Ruby. I’ll take two Bay breakfasts.”
“Oh, I love breakfast for dinner,” she coos.
“Me too, it’s the best.”
“It’s like a warm hug,” she says before whispering it back to herself as she writes it down.
“I hope so,” I respond.
“Is my Sloaney having a bad day?” She’s intuitive. Nothing gets past her.
I love how much Ruby loves everyone in town. You can spend a few hours at her place and automatically become ?part of her family.
“I think so.” I sigh.
“I’ll have it ready for you in a jiffy,” she reassures me. “Head over now. It will be waiting for you at the bar.”
“Thanks, Ruby.”
It doesn’t take me long to pick up the order. She was right. It was on the bar when I got there. I decide to leave my car in the lot at Ruby’s and walk over to Sloan’s, it feels like more of a hassle to find parking by her house than to just walk.
When I walk up to her front door, I sit down on the small rocking chair on her porch as I fumble through the bag and pull out one of the boxes, some napkins, and one of the chocolate chip cookies Ruby threw in the bag.
I rearrange the bag and tuck my food back inside and set her food inside the small milk crate by the door to keep warm until I can get to the top of the street and text her to let her know it’s out here.
“You really shouldn’t crawl around in the dark outside the homes of single women,” she teases. Her voice makes me jump. I didn’t even hear the door open.
“Shit! You scared me,” I say with a heavy breath.
“Oh, I scared you?” she asks sarcastically.
I open the milk crate and hand her the food container. “I hope you like breakfast for dinner,” I say with a smile.
She just looks at me with a slight tilt of her head and watery eyes.
“Thank you.”
Her words are low and lack their usual punch—and I hate it.
“Will you come in, and eat with me?”
“No, no,” I say, waving my hand. “You asked for a raincheck. I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat.”
“Jax. Get your ass inside and eat your food before it gets cold.”
There’s my girl.
We eat mostly in silence. She picks at her nails in between bites and stares off into space, like the answer to all the questions swirling around in her mind will appear in thin air.
I don’t say much. I let her be, watching and relaxing a little more with each bite she takes.
After about 45 minutes, her food is mostly gone, and she places her napkin onto her plate.
She sits for a few more minutes staring at nothing, and just when I think she forgot I was here, she opens her mouth to speak in broken sentences.
“I’m going to lose it.”
She’s still staring past me.
“Everything I’ve worked for.”
This time there is a long pause, and tears start to well in her eyes. Her hands are shaking, and it kills me.
“He’s been playing me.”
This causes me to interrupt her silence and seek answers. I move to her and crouch down next to her chair.
“Sloan, what happened?”
My voice snaps her out of the fog and into the present.
“I think Tanner is trying to get me fired so he can initiate my clawback clause.”
This makes me perk up, “Why does Tanner have a clawback clause in your production contract?”
“He doesn’t. When I got hurt, we were dating. He was my manager when we were together. When my contract ended, it automatically transferred from the Moonshines to him.” She sniffles, wiping her nose with her sleeve. “It was supposed to protect me and keep control with us— us.”
She repeats the word like it was stuck in her throat.
She laughs, but it’s not a cheerful laugh. It’s dark, melodic, and makes my stomach roll.
“He was my boyfriend. We lived together. I thought we’d get married.”
“Sloan, you don’t have to justify your decision to me,” I reassure her.
“I’m not. I’m justifying it to myself. He pretty much just copied my Moonshine contract and kept the clawback cause in there. Now, I think he’s trying to create fights between us so he can enact it and keep all the money from my settlement.”
“Babe, most clawbacks only reverse bonus—” I pause as her eyes meet mine and the silent conversation that passes between us hits me.
She signed the settlement over to him, and he paid it back to her as a bonus.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say.
I’m not sure how she figured this out, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not information I need to be able to help her.
“Tomorrow morning, you should call your lawyer.” She knows this, but the suggestion makes me feel a little less helpless.
“I can’t. She already said there was nothing she could do.” She drops her head.
I use my hand to lift her chin so her eyes are on mine. “Tomorrow morning, we will call my lawyer—get fresh eyes on it.”
“Ok.”
“I think you need some rest.” It takes a few minutes for her to agree, but she’s tired.
I walk her into her room and tuck her into bed.
When I climb in next to her, and roll her head onto my chest, she snuggles in a little closer.
I rub her head until her breaths become slow and heavy, and sleep consumes her.
I wait a few minutes before I slide my arm out from under her and go clean up the kitchen and make a bed on the couch.
I don’t sleep much, only stealing a few seconds here and there between all the current thoughts consuming my brain.
He won’t get one penny of her money, and he will never fucking hurt her like this again.