Page 86 of Undeniable Love
Honestly, she thought he’d be a bit more excited—hell, even appreciative. But right now, he was giving her nothing.
“Don’t you see? It’s the ideal solution! No pausing, no distractions. We can be like a normal couple!”
Still nothing.
And it didn’t take a genius to figure out that his solution was the only one that he was willing to accept. She just didn’t know why.
Swallowing hard, she asked him. “This all makes sense, Jax. I thought it would make you happy.”
“You have no idea how much I want to say yes,” he replied gruffly. “But I can’t ask that of you.”
“But you’re not. I’m offering.”
“If you did this—if you give up everything and move to Wichita—you’ll always have that niggling of doubt and worry that people are going to think you’re doing with me what you did with Blake.”
If he had slapped her, it would have hurt less.
“I don’t want that for you, and I know I’ll be worried about it for you, so…trust me. This is for the best. And once the season is over, we can…we can see where we’re at.”
Normally, speaking her mind and arguing were two of her favorite things, but right now, words simply escaped her. “And the suitcase?”
“For all your stuff that you’ve had here.” His words were barely audible. She saw him swallow hard before simply giving her a curt nod. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. I don’t want to be late.”
Lucy let him go all of three steps before she reached out and stopped him. And before he could say anything, she launched herself into his arms and kissed him like her life depended on it.
Thankfully, he kissed her back the exact same way.
In the end, though, he still left.
Alone in his bedroom, she refused to cry. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she would later, when she was home, but for now, she’d focus on just…packing. After that, she’d focus on showering and getting dressed, then putting on makeup.
And facing his family.
Ugh…facing his family.
Did they know? Had he told them of his plan to hit pause on their relationship?
“Stupid pause,” she murmured. “Who even says that?”
An hour later, she dragged her new—and completely unwanted—suitcase out of the bedroom, along with her weekender bag, and found Simon and Juliette sitting and having coffee.
“Good morning!” Juliette called out. “Did Jax leave on time?”
She nodded, walking over and pouring herself a cup of coffee.
“Is everything okay, Lucy?” she asked. “You seem upset?”
Why deny it? With her mug in hand, she joined the two of them at the table and told them what had happened before Jax left earlier. “I don’t get it,” she said miserably. “Like…I understand that he needs to be fully present for the team and for the season, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a life! We just did this whole big announcement about being a couple and sharing all those goofy pictures and reels and for what? I can’t imagine that anyone with the Warriors told him he wasn’t allowed to have a personal life for the next three months.”
“I can’t imagine that either,” Juliette agreed. “But maybe Jax just feels like he doesn’t know how to balance it all?”
“He doesn’t,” Simon chimed in. “Jax is…um…” He sighed. “Okay, please don’t take this the wrong way, but things come easy to him. They always have. Especially with his athletic career. From the time he started playing pee wee football, he was a natural and everyone praised him. He was always a reliable player, gifted and skilled too. I think this is possibly the first time in his entire career that things didn’t go his way and he got talked to like…you know…every other player on the team.”
“He can’t be that uptight, Simon,” Juliette reasoned. “No one enjoys getting yelled at by their boss, but we’re all mature enough to know that if we do our jobs properly, that’s all that typically matters. You know…to your boss. He doesn’t have to go to this kind of dramatic extreme.”
“Who’s going to a dramatic extreme?” Noah asked as he and Lily walked into the kitchen to join them.
Simon gave them the abbreviated version of this morning’s events, and Lucy hated the look of pity on their faces.