“What? No. We aren’t—we don’t—we’re not…we don’t date. We’re just…” My words faded away. “We’re not seeing each other.”

“Oh good!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Well, I know this might be too forward of me to ask, but as I’m sure you know, Peter and I recently broke up, and Lord knows I’m heartbroken over it. So, I was just hoping maybe you could put in a good word for me? I just feel like if I got a chance with the fixer, I might be able to get Peter back into my life.”

What a screwy little town we lived in.

“Oh, uh, well, I don’t know, Mary Sue. I think maybe that’s something you should do for yourself.”

“Oh, please, Grace! You know how shy I get. I just couldn’t face him and ask him to hang out with me for a little while.”

“Well, okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

Not a chance in hell will I help her.

“Thank you! You’re such a sweet little peach! It truly means a lot to me. Also, do you think maybe we could keep this between us girls? I don’t want to be a part of any rumors.”

“Trust me, Mary Sue, your secret is safe with me.”

She thanked me again then handed me the two sundaes. I walked over to an available table and sat down.

It might’ve been the most uncomfortable conversation I’d ever had in all my time in Chester, Georgia. Mary Sue was asking me to be her wing-woman to help her snag the man I was sleeping with.

“Why the weird expression?” Jackson asked, walking over to me.

“Mary Sue wants to sleep with you,” I told him flatly.

“Who the hell is Mary Sue?”

I gestured toward the cashier, who was staring our way, smiling brightly. She gave Jackson a nervous wave before blushing and turning away.

“Why does she want to sleep with me?”

“To fix her relationship.”

“Oh,” he said, sitting down. He began to eat his ice cream. “Not interested.”

Those two words brought me more comfort than I’d thought they would. “But why not? She’s pretty, and well, I’ll be heading back to Atlanta soon enough.”

“So?”

“So, you’re free to do whatever you want when I’m gone.” Just saying that made me want to vomit. The truth was, lately, I’d been coming up with hypothetical situations where Jackson and I somehow found a way to make something real work between us.

But that was just my silly mind messing around with my heart.

There were a million reasons Jackson and I couldn’t work…but my heart kept telling me I only needed one good one to give it a try.

He grimaced. “You want me to sleep with Mary Sue?”

“What? No. I’m just saying, there’s a line of women waiting for you once I leave.”

His brows knitted. “I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to just hook up with random women.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why not? Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?”

He lowered his spoon. “Come on, princess…” He gave me a look. “You don’t really believe that’s all we’ve been doing, do you?”

“I know we just had it yesterday, but it’s a craving,” a voice said as someone walked into the ice cream parlor. As I looked up, I saw Autumn walking in as Finn held the door open for her. The moment they saw me, their faces went pale, almost as if they’d walked straight into a ghost.

“Grace,” Autumn muttered, her voice shaky.

My eyes fell to her stomach where a small bump was forming, and nausea overtook me.

Finn was quick to drop his hand from her lower back, which he had been massaging as they entered. His eyes darted back and forth between Jackson and me then he cleared his throat, but he didn’t say a word.

Autumn’s eyes watered over, but I groaned. “Don’t do it.”

“Don’t do what?” she asked.

“Cry.”

“I…I won’t. It’s just…” She began crying, and she was still beautiful.

That made me want to cry.

“I’m just going to run to the restroom,” she said, hurrying away.

Finn kept standing there, and he awkwardly stuffed his hands in his pockets. “So, you two are like…buddies now?” he asked, his voice deeper than it had ever been, which was odd.

“Finley, don’t do this,” I warned. “Just go.”

“It’s just a question,” he said, moving in closer. He tilted his head my way. “I’ve been calling you.”

“I blocked your number, remember?”

“We should talk.”

“I think you should go,” I said sternly. The wave of comfort that washed over me as Jackson placed a hand on my knee and squeezed it under the table was shocking. I needed that. I needed him there.

“Yeah, but—” Finn started.

“You should do as she said,” Jackson said harshly.

“Or maybe you should mind your own business,” Finn shot back. He looked at me, then toward my ice cream. “Since when do you like peanut butter ice cream? You always get strawberry.”

“I’m trying something new.”

“Yeah?” he huffed, glancing at Jackson once more. “Is that what you’re doing?”

“All right, on that note, we’re leaving. Enjoy your date with Autumn,” I said, standing up from the table.

“It’s not a date. It’s just…ice cream. She’s been having cravings.”

“I don’t care.”

“What’s that on your back?” he inquired, seeing the plastic covering my new tattoo. “Jesus, did you get a tattoo? Your mom’s going to flip out.”

“Finn, can we stop this? We aren’t having conversations anymore, okay? Come on, Jackson. Let’s go.”

As we began to walk away, Finn quickly grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me closer to him. “This isn’t you, Grace. Whatever’s going on between you and this guy…this isn’t you.”

“You have no clue who I am,” I told him.

“Maybe not, but you have no clue who he is.”

“Let me go, Finley.”

“No. I can’t let you go with this guy,” he insisted as I tried to twist out of his grip.

Jackson stepped forward and lowered his voice as his gaze pierced Finn. “You have five seconds to let her go before I rip your arm from the socket.”

For a moment, Finn debated, uncertain if he should believe the threat or not.

“You better listen to him,” I warned. “Last time a guy stepped out of line, he snapped his cell phone in half.”

Finn dropped his hold on me and took a step back. “It’s only a matter of time before he hurts you, Grace. People like him always snap.”

“And people like you always let people like me down.”

“You’re acting like a fool,” he barked, but I didn’t even give him a reply.

I was so tired of being in his presence.

I took Jackson’s hand in mine and we walked out, my stomach in knots and my mind spinning. I hated how Finn still had that effect on me, how he could make me feel so small and na?ve.

That was the biggest difference between the two men standing in front of me.

Finley always caged me.

Jackson allowed me to fly.

34

Jackson

After the run-in with Finn and Autumn, we went back to my place where I had a night of watching Game of Thrones planned. I had everything ready—popcorn, cherry cola, and her favorite candy: Reese’s peanut butter cups.

It amazed me that I knew her favorite candy.

I’d never let anyone close enough to learn their favorite things.

I hoped the distractions would help get Grace’s mind off the interaction with the two people who’d hurt her the most.

After I set everything up on the coffee table, I went to grab the cola from the fridge, and I stopped when I saw Grace glancing at the tattoo in the mirror. There was a small smile that looked more like a frown upon her lips.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s just…” She turned to me and lightly shrugged. “Today’s my anniversary.”

“Oh, I didn’t know…” A knot formed in my gut at the thought. I’d been pretty stupid lately—letting my feelings for her grow. There was no real point, really. She was still a married woman, and she could go back to her husband at any moment when she got sick of doing whatever it was she and I were doing. Plus, it wouldn’t be long before our summer fling came to an end, and she went back to her reality in Atlanta.

We’d made a deal, and it was perfectly clear that come the end of August, she’d go her way and I’d go mine.

She owed me nothing.

Still…I wanted all of her.

“Seeing Finn in town with Autumn must’ve been hard for you,” I remarked.

“No, Jackson.” She shook her head, placing her hand on my forearm. “Not that anniversary. It’s the anniversary of my first miscarriage.”

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”

I felt like such a dumbass.

“No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not, but it is, you know? That’s why I wanted to get the tattoos today, to honor them. I’m not gonna lie, though—running into Autumn and seeing her pregnant today of all days really hit me hard.”