Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)
“Yeah. Right.” Like he forgot too, he moved around wherever he was. “I’m trying them on, but I’m not sure which one. You’re a girl so you know shit like this. I think I’ve gotten
too used to shorts and flip-flops.”
Yeah, and he looked like Hades himself had decided to walk the earth in a beautiful man suit rocking them. It was really ridiculous how pretty my stepbrother was and even worse when he did dress down to nothing but beachwear.
I thought guys in suits looked good.
Casual, or just fucked, I’d seen Jax dressed down as well as he could be. I hadn’t seen him in a suit yet, but I had a feeling I’d be nowhere close to disappointed.
“What do you think?” he asked, gratefully focusing my attention. “Green or black? You need to look at the photo again?”
I didn’t. I was well aware of how heavenly he looked in both, but I did, playing along. I smiled at both pictures. “What are they for?”
“Eh, uh. Royal. You remember him from the weekend?”
Um, yeah. He’d been the one giving all those intense stares. Anyone could tell the guys all looked up to him. He moved, and they did too. “I do. But for him?’
“Well, not for him. Per se. It’s for me. His bachelor party is coming up so I’m trying to figure out what to wear.”
Oh, yeah. December had mentioned she and Royal were engaged. I nodded, though he couldn’t see. “I’d go with the black then. I like the way the green one hits your eyes, but the black is just…” Perfect? Ridiculous hot? I scrubbed into my hair. “Better.”
“Better?”
“Yes, just better.” My face hot from my own thoughts, I rubbed my cheek. “Yes. Go with the black. It is better.”
“Black it is then. Oh, and uh, thanks for the pretty eye compliment.” Laughter on the end there, and I totally didn’t say that.
Even though it was true.
I grinned, but rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
I got his chuckle in response, which I loved more than I definitely should. It literally shot goosebumps over my arms. I shook my head. “When is his bachelor party?”
“Next weekend actually. The guys are all coming back down here because, you know, Miami?” Another laugh. “It’s also the only other weekend we could nail down to make the time. We could have done it last weekend, but…”
He didn’t need to say anything about that. He and my adoptive father were supposed to be spending the time together, but things had gone sour.
Silence between the pair of us, and I was ninety percent sure Jaxen was mulling over the same thoughts. There was a lot unspoken there, a lot that needed to be said. I mean, Kit was right. We needed to talk about some stuff.
“Anyway, December’s party is going to be down here too,” he ended up saying, and I was grateful he’d moved the conversation on for now. Especially when he mentioned his friend since I liked her. A smile in his voice. “They’re going to be separate events, but she told me to invite you too if you’re free.”
Floored beyond belief. Mostly because we’d gone from what we were talking about… that more than tense weekend to this.
He’d spoken to his friends about me. His friends that he obviously cared about. I’d seen that, how much they did care about each other, and not only had he spoken with them, he wanted me to hang with them more.
If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have said anything about the invite.
No words on my end, a harsh breath into the line on his.
“But no pressure, you know,” he started, nerves in his deep voice I hadn’t heard before. “You’re probably busy so—”
“No, I’m not. I mean…” Stumbling over my words, I fought to get them back. “I mean, I’d love to go. Which day?”
“Uh, Saturday. Should be a good time. You all seemed to have gotten along.”
We really had, and that’d be perfect. I smiled. “That’s actually perfect timing. I’ll already be home Friday for Dad’s birthday and can just drive over…”
I stopped myself.