“Avery? Is that you?”
Every drop of blood drains from my face and my heart stops beating. Standing in front of me is Rob. My one-night stand. The guy I cheated on Jax with.
“Rob?” I can’t be sure it’s him. I could be having a bad dream.
“How are you?” he asks as if he’s an old dear friend.
“I’m…. I’m fine,” I stammer out. “What are you doing here?”
“I've just finished meeting with a business associate. I’m only in town until the morning.” His eyes look me up and down.
I feel Jax squeeze my hand “This is my husband, Jax,” I introduce him, praying that he’ll just leave.
“I'm Rob, nice to meet you.” He sticks his hand out to shake it. I’m paralyzed as I watch Jax shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Jax says smoothly. “I don’t think we’ve met before. Did you work with Avery?”
He must think Rob is a doctor or possibly a nurse. I need to get him away from him before he figures it out. “Jax, I think I had too much wine, could we please go?” I try to push him to the car, but I’m not able to move.
“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t work with Avery.” Rob’s British accent is thick. “I met her last month when she was on vacation.”
I gasp. That fucker just told Jax.
In an instant, I feel Jax’s body tense up. He’s figured it out. He turns to me and, in a gaze I never want to see in my life, Jax’s face turns cold and hard. He isn’t even this angry on the ice.
“He’s the guy? I just shook the hand of the man you cheated on me with and you let me?” Jax turns to Rob. “What the hell kind of man are you?” His voice is loud, and people are looking.
Rob gives him an evil smirk. It makes my skin crawl. “I guess I would be the real man who your wife was looking for because apparently you weren’t good enough.”
My mouth drops at his words and before I can react, Jax yells, “You son of a bitch!” and decks Rob in the jaw.
I scream out, “Jax!” but he’s already to the driver’s side of the car. I quickly jump into the passenger side, and he spins off. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I should do. I do know that I hang on because Jax is driving like a mad man. I’m thankful we make it home in one piece.
He opens the door to the house and heads straight to the small bar next to the kitchen. I can see his knuckles are swollen.
“Jax, let me look at your hand. Please, I think you're bleeding.” I try to reach for him, but he jerks away.
“No. You’re not touching me. Get the hell away from me. I can’t believe you couldn’t find some way to say something before I said, ‘Nice to meet you’ to the guy you fucked!” He stares at me. As I open my mouth to say I’m sorry, his eyes go wide. “Are you still seeing him? Was one night not enough for you and you had to find him again?” he yells at me in horror.
“I swear I haven’t seen him since that night,” I explain to him. “I thought he was from England. I had no clue that I would ever run into him again. I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do. Please, Jax, we’ve done so well tonight. This was supposed to be the night you said you loved me,” I beg him.
“There’s not a chance in hell of that happening now.” He grits his teeth at me, and I feel like he’s stabbing my heart over and over. “Since I’ve met him, I have to agree about how fucking much of a nice guy he is. I know why you so easily did it now.”
I try to say something, but he cuts me off again.
“This isn’t ever going to go away, Avery! Every time I turn around, what you did is right there and now, I get to put a face on the man you risked our marriage for! I don’t know how you can stand here. I feel filthy, and all I did was shake his hand.”
I feel the bile in my throat. “Jax, stop it. You know he means nothing to me. You know that I only love you. Don’t do this, please. I’m begging you. Please don’t push me away again.” Tears are about to spill over. This can’t be happening. I can’t go through it again.
“I don’t know if I should be grateful that he means nothing to you or even more fucking pissed because someone who meant nothing ruined everything!” he yells right in my face, making me jump.
Jax’s never scared me before. This time, it’s different. This time, there’s no going back. I’ve broken him. I’ve ruined it all. I watch him walk away from me, again. I can’t deal with this anymore. I grab my keys and head to out the door.
Regina doesn’t say a word when I knock on her door. She holds out her arms and lets me cry on her shoulder.
~ ~ ~
I don’t sleep. I lay on the couch, listening to the sounds outside. Regina lives in the city where there is constant traffic and people out and about. I miss Jax and our house. The quiet subdivision we live in would never be this noisy. I send a text to Jax, letting him know I’m at Regina’s and what his schedule is for tomorrow. I only do it because I don’t want him to think I'm out with Rob. I know that he would. In addition, I want him to know what is scheduled. I would never mess up his career.