AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She winces. “I’m supposed to be more put together than that. But yeah, Fox held my hair.”
She calls Barrett by his last name, Fox. That’s freaking adorable. I find myself loosening up around her, leaning in to prop my chin on my fist when the music swells.
“I’m nicer than I seem in the news,” I explain, hinting that there’s more to my story.
“I’m nicer than I seem, period.” She smiles. “I didn’t mean to have my guard up when I walked in. I avoided the gossip about you after Barrett said we’d be meeting for drinks tonight so that an opinion wouldn’t form ahead of time, but it wasn’t easy. You’re everywhere.”
Tell me about it.I nod solemnly. To think that I used to dream about being “everywhere.”
“That must be hard,” she says in sympathy. Most people believe that I should take the criticism with my chin up, since this was the job I pursued. It’s like they forget I’m an actual human being with feelings.
“It can be.” It is hard. It’s hard to not be liked, and I worry there’ll never come a day when I’ll be able to stomach the idea of someone thinking ill of me.
“Have you given anyone your exclusive side of the story yet?” Catarina asks. “It’s not typically something I write, but my editor would eat up the chance at an exclusive. She’d pay you, too. Handsomely.”
I’ve been thinking about that lately. My efforts at script writing shifted to journaling, and I’d toyed with the idea of writing a column or a blog to share my point of view. Sadly, I’m not great at it. But Catarina is—this is what she does for a living.
“That’s…I’d love that,” I tell her. “It’s not easy to find someone to trust in your business. No offense.”
“Trust me. I know.” Her eyebrow lifts subtly like there’s a story there, but I don’t have the chance to ferret it out before the boys return with Catarina’s drink.
Barrett and Jax start talking about football, each eating giant cookies. It’s so adorable I can’t stand it. Catarina and I return to our respective beverages and turn our attention to the guy playing acoustic onstage. At one point, she leans over the table and says to me so that Jax can hear, “Guess you should be glad there’s no alcohol around or your guy would steal that spotlight.”
Jax polishes off his cookie and dusts his hands on his jeans. “Fox would steal the spotlight from me unless I went up there alone. Why are you so fucking great at everything anyway?” he asks Barrett, then his gaze snags on mine.
I warm inside when he holds my eyes for a beat longer than necessary. I have the passing thought that maybe Jax has always been perfect for me since I’m a spotlight hog and he doesn’t mind sharing it. Rather than quash it, I let it be, easing against him. He wraps an arm around me.
Fox whispers something to Catarina that makes her throw her head back and laugh. It’s a sight, watching her turn to jelly with him.
Those two opposites happy together make me believe anything is possible.
Even a seemingly impossible second chance.
