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Brad had teased him when they’d first announced their relationship. There was a real reason for that. Jaxon didn’t catch feelings that lasted longer than the relationship. He never had.
It wasn’t him.
And he likely wasn’t trying to hurt her. But she had to look out for herself.
The door chimed, and it shook Teagan out of her thoughts. She donned her best customer service smile that fell just as soon as she saw Brad and Jaxon walk through the door.
What was he doing here?
Things had been strange at home for sure. He was still living there, sleeping on her couch, and she’d done her very best to act like nothing was wrong. But he wasn’t stupid. She’d caught him watching her more than once. Obviously worried.
She wished she could just hug him and assure him that nothing bad was going to happen as a result of what they’d done. It was fine. A slip-up. It wouldn’t happen again. But every time she tried, the words wouldn’t come. She’d think about exactly what it was that they’d done and she’d get flustered and have to leave for fear of jumping him.
She replaced her customer service smile with a more genuine one. “Hey there.”
“Teags,” Brad said with a nod. “Britt around?”
“No, I chopped her up for fertilizer,” she replied, getting a smirk out of Jaxon and a glare from Brad. “She’s in the greenhouse. I’ll go get her.”
She walked to the swinging doors and thrust her head in. “Britt! Brad’s here.”
Her friend grinned and rose to wipe the dirt off her hands, walking to the sink to rinse them off before scurrying up to the front of the store. Teagan smiled warmly while she watched Britt and her brother embrace briefly before she was tugging him back to the office. Which left Teagan and Jaxon alone together.
The tension was thick enough to make her cough, so she moved to stand behind the counter again. Jaxon followed, leaning over the countertop and looking like he was going to touch her hand, but thought better of it.
“I told Brad we had a fight. You and me. Had to come up with something. He wouldn’t stop asking me what was wrong.”
“A fight? What about?”
He shrugged. “I don’t fucking know. I just didn’t know what else to say.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve been weird,” she said softly.
“If?” he asked, laughing dryly.
“ThatI’ve been weird. I’m sorry.”
“We need to talk…” He was dragging his fingers through the condensation on the counter as well, blurring the paths her fingers had taken. “I don’t want to leave things where we did.”
“Oh… okay…” She didn’t have time to respond or dissect his statement any further because Brad and Britt came back into the room.
“Hey, I had a brilliant idea just now,” Brad exclaimed.
“Congratulations,” Teagan deadpanned. “Is that your first one?” She heard Jaxon snicker at that. She was very good at covering her discomfort with sarcasm.
“You think you’re funny, but he’s only laughing because you fuck him.” Brad teased. “Britt says it’s been a shit day for you two, so how about we go out?”
Teagan’s eyebrows rose. “What are you asking?”
“We’ll go dancing or something.”
“Dancing,” Teagan replied. “Is Jaxon taking me, or are you?”
Brad made a noise. “Jaxon. Weirdo.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. Didn’t know Jaxon could throw his voice like that…”
Jaxon chuckled. “Teags, it’s up to you. If you feel like going out tonight, we will.”
