Bradford Brawler (Bradford Bastard 2)

“Alright, ladies,” she says, watching as he swims to the side and hoists himself out of the pool, water rushing off his sculpted body as though he’s in some kind of underwear commercial. “You’re about to witness something incredible.”

Arizona makes her move, taking a few steps toward the pool when a girl swims out of the cave, struggling to hold her bikini together. She meets Jax at the side and he bends down, scooping her effortlessly out of the water, bringing Arizona to a standstill.

The girl stands chest to chest with Jax, and he reaches around to help her do up her bikini top, fastening it before dropping his hands to her ass. His fingers slip into the wet material and squeeze as she giggles and presses in even closer.

Arizona’s face falls, and just when I think she’s holding herself together, Jax kisses the girl, deep and passionately.

Arizona backs up a step, looking as though something inside of her is breaking. “I’m such a fucking idiot,” she says before turning and rushing back toward the house.

“Shit,” Tanner mutters, having seen the whole exchange and being able to read Arizona just as well as I can.

I go to get up when Ilaria holds out a hand. “I’ll go,” she says, her heart breaking for her long-time friend.

I quickly nod and Ilaria takes off, but not before Jax and his new toy start making their way toward us. “Yo,” Jax says, a cocky smirk playing on his lips as he stands behind the fire pit, his toy under his arm. “Was that Ari running inside?”

“Mmmhmm,” I say, unable to meet his eye, wanting to hate him for breaking Arizona’s heart. Though she has been incredible at hiding her feelings from all of us, maybe Jax never realized she wanted more than casual sex or that he even had the power to break her heart the way he has.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, his brows furrowing, watching after her with real concern on his handsome face. “She sick or something?”

“Or something,” Hudson murmurs. “I’m sure she’s fine. She’ll be back. There are still shots and chick drinks to be had. I doubt she’ll skip out on those.”

Jax laughs and rubs his chest as his new friend pushes her tits up against him. “Where’s Logan at?” Jax asks.

“Shacked up,” Riley says, “The fucker finally grew a pair of balls and asked Chanel out. They’re probably upstairs fucking as we speak.”

“No way,” Jax laughs. “You’re fucking with me.”

“I swear it on my goldfish’s grave.”

Jax grumbles something under his breath, and while I can’t hear it, I get the distinct feeling he’s not exactly over the moon about this new revelation. “What’s the matter?” I question. “You don’t like Chanel?”

“Nah, that’s not it,” he says. “Chanel’s probably one of the only chicks around here who’ll actually be good for his oversized ego. I just … worry about him. He goes too hard too fast sometimes. Don’t want the fucker getting hurt.”

I nod just as the girl lifts up onto her tippy toes and nuzzles her face into Jax’s neck before raising her chin and whispering something into his ear. He glances down at her, his brows arching high. “Already?” he questions, making her eyes sparkle with excitement, our conversation already long forgotten.

The girl nods and Jax looks back at his boys. “Duty calls,” he grins stupidly before saluting us all and letting the girl drag him away. “Hey,” he calls back to us over the music when he’s a few feet away, that same stupid smirk still playing on his lips. “When Ari gets back, remind her that she promised me something and I’ll be coming to collect. Don’t let her run off again.”

My scoff is far too loud, and for the first time since meeting Jax, I want to pulverize him. I bet the asshole thinks he’s being secretive by wording it like that. It’s one thing to have a healthy fuck buddy relationship, but this almost feels … wrong, especially now that it’s obvious she feels something more for him. Screwing one girl only to jump to Arizona a few hours later is tacky. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all done ridiculous things to earn a guy’s attention, to be the apple of his eye if only for a few minutes, but this isn’t okay. I can’t stand the idea of him using her like that.

“Hey,” Tanner says, his hand squeezing mine. “He doesn’t know how she feels. I’m sure if he did, he wouldn’t be rubbing it in her face like that. He cares about Arizona. He wouldn’t want her getting hurt. You know Jax, he has a big heart, even though he doesn’t like to show it.”

“Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s literally about to fuck the pool chick again and then still wants to screw Arizona in the same night,” I murmur, keeping my tone lower so that Riley can’t overhear this one. “I’m not down with that. I mean, how would you feel if I screwed around with some random guy at a party and then crawled into your bed expecting to fuck?”