Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 1)

t she’s always needed you? You’re no better than my brother, you know that? Shane takes care of everything, so you don’t have to.”

For the first time, Alex felt true anger take him over. He spun away from her and paced into the living room. Then back. He scrubbed his hands over his scalp and squeezed his eyes shut. “That is not my fault,” he growled. “I can’t be responsible for what Shane does with his life. I can’t be responsible for what you do with your life.”

She stared him down.

“We were kids, Sophie. They were adults. All of them. We don’t have to carry them or pay for their sins or clean up the mess they made.”

“They’re family,” she said.

“And saying that over and over again isn’t a fucking life! Do you get that? Do either of you get that? Saying that someone is family isn’t a magic spell. It doesn’t make anything better. It doesn’t make things right, damn it!”

“Well, what else do we have, then?”

“A goddamn life, Sophie. Anything you want. You can have everything.”

She stared at him with that infuriating cool. “As long as I’m like you and don’t care about a home.”

Did she think he didn’t care? That he didn’t want? “Sophie—”

“You need to leave, Alex.”

He shook his head.

“I’m never going to be like you. I’ll never walk away from everything just so I can hope for something else.”

Right. Sure. Alex nodded. He knew what she was saying. He saw it in Shane’s eyes every time. “I’m glad you feel like you have something here, then. Because I never had even that.”

Every nerve in his body pulled back as he walked away. He wanted another shot. Wanted Sophie to stop him. But as he reached her front door, he told himself he was relieved. After all, what would he do with another shot? Hang around for a day or two before he moved on to the next job? He’d tried that already. It hadn’t worked with Andrea. It wouldn’t work with Sophie. She was right about that, at least. She wasn’t like him.

So he walked out. “Call me when you get to California,” he said from the doorway. “I’ll show you a cove that no one else knows.”

When his foot hit the first step, she closed the door. Alex walked on.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ALEX CRACKED HIS eyes open, then squeezed them tightly shut at the piercing light that greeted him. His mouth felt dry as dirt and his head ached. He was hungover. Great. This town continued to bring out the best in him.

He tried again, easing his husk-dry eyes open and focusing on an unfamiliar wall. Where the hell was he? He remembered going back to that dive bar. He remembered ordering Scotch. Several times. That same blond bartender had been there, giving him the same friendly once-over.

Shit. He hadn’t ended up at her place, had he? Surely he’d remember something of the sex, if not the ugly reasoning for it.

He rolled over and lifted his head from the pillow. No. Not her place. Just a different room in the same motel. He remembered now. He’d checked out that afternoon and when he’d come back last night, his old room had been rented out already.

“Fuck,” he breathed, letting his head drop. Even if he’d never see Sophie again, he was glad he hadn’t ruined their affair by ending it with someone else. It wouldn’t have been a high note after what he’d had with Sophie. With her, it was something...different. Intense and brutal, yet still sweet. He hadn’t thought those things went together. Thank God he hadn’t fucked it up.

Well. He’d screwed it up in all kinds of ways, but at least he hadn’t gotten drunk and fallen into bed with someone else. That would’ve tainted everything. And if Sophie had ever heard about it, it would’ve hurt her. Alex dared a glance at the clock and cursed. He was supposed to meet Shane at their mom’s house in fifteen minutes. He needed a long, scalding shower and several cups of good coffee before he’d be fit company. Neither of those were going to happen, but he forced himself out of bed anyway and fired up the pitiful one-cup coffeemaker.

The shower was scalding, at least, but it only lasted two minutes. The almost-hot, high-acid coffee was waiting for him when he got out. Alex downed it in three gulps. He was out the door five minutes later.

Clouds greeted him and he felt the occasional drop of rain hit his neck as he drove. It was a shitty day to leave town, but that seemed like the appropriate way to go at this point.

He gave the door a perfunctory knock before letting himself in, moving quickly to avoid staring toward Sophie’s house like a kicked puppy.

“Hello?”

Shane walked out from the kitchen. “Thank God you’re here. I’m starving and the only thing around is stale bread and a bunch of leftovers that do not look recent. Mom seems good. She’s in the bathroom. We’ll leave as soon as she’s ready.”

Alex glanced toward the kitchen. “I don’t smell coffee and I could damn sure use another cup.”