Blossom Beach: Perfectly Wrong

Chapter 12

Hailey

I walk into my uncle's home, on the hunt for my cousin. "Harvey?" I yell when I don't find him anywhere downstairs. He screams my name in return, and I almost laugh because his voice cracked and made him sound like a fourteen-year-old who just hit puberty. "Where are you?" I ask, and he comes downstairs.

"What's up?" He walks past me and into the kitchen to get himself a bottle of water. I follow him because I'm bored and hope he wants to hang out. It's my day off from everything, work, training, and seeing anyone. It does get quite boring when you're used to being around someone all the time. Well, boring and lonely.

"I just thought you might want to hang out." Harvey takes a sip of his water and looks at me. His arms look absurdly muscular in his tank top, and his hair is more than tousled. I can't believe the tall, skinny kid I used to know turned into this man.

"Sure. We can go for a run down at the beach." I frown at the thought of running for a long time, which makes him laugh. "Okay, okay, how about we go play some volleyball?" I'm thrilled at the idea of playing volleyball. I used to love going to the beach with Jessie to play. It feels like years ago now.

We go to the beach to one of the volleyball nets, which are all surprisingly available. Harvey throws the ball at me without a warning, and I quickly catch it.

"Nice reflexes," he says, and I smile.

"I'm gonna beat you so hard, you'll cry." He starts laughing, and I join him. He has no idea what he's agreed to. I'm very competitive when it comes to volleyball, and I never, ever lose. It was the one thing that always bothered Jess. In her eyes, it was my only flaw.

We play for about an hour. Harvey can't keep up with me, but he says he wants to try again after every game I win. Every now and then there is a shooting pain in my leg, but it's nothing I can't handle. I always feel it, but this time it is even easier to ignore it. I'm winning after all.

"Hey, Spencer, you need some help? Looks like she's destroying you, man." Ryder's voice is surprisingly easy for me to identify, even though I've only met him once. However, Harvey and I are both startled by him coming out of nowhere.

My eyes move into the direction of his voice, and I forget how to breathe when I spot him. Jax is with him, shirtless and wearing only a pair of blue bathing shorts and no shoes. I stare, probably not very subtly, at his defined upper body and force my mouth to stay shut. The ripples in his stomach stand out, and I'm convinced he must have just worked out to get them to look like this. The smirk on his face makes my knees weak. My body aches for him, and I have to turn around to hide how his body affects me. To hide how much I want him. The thoughts running through my mind are only making things worse. I'm more than turned on. I take a sip of my water to not make it seem like I just turned around so I don't have to look at him.

Suddenly, I feel two big hands on my elbows. Goosebumps spread across my entire body, and my heart beats faster. I know that they belong to Jax.

"Hi," he says and places a kiss on my cheek when I turn around.

I clear my throat before saying, "Hey." He smiles briefly and lets go of my arms.

I wish he didn't. I wish his hands would stay on me forever. Jax is wearing sunglasses, but I still have a strong feeling he's looking me up and down. Panic overwhelms me when I realize he might see my scar. I quickly look down my body and relief washes over me. I'm wearing knee-length yoga pants, which hide my scar perfectly.

I look over at Harvey to make sure he doesn't see how close Jax and I are. I don't know what it is, but my cousin doesn't seem to like my new friend. Maybe it is Jax's reputation and Harvey is simply worried, but I have a strange feeling there's more. Harvey is distracted, talking to Ryder about something. I bring my attention back to Jax, and he lifts his hand to his sunglasses to remove them. His green-purple eyes look stunning in the sun, and for a moment, all of my attention is caught by them. His eyes travel up and down my body in the same way mine were doing with him minutes earlier. I can't blame him either. I'm only wearing a bikini top and yoga pants, pretty much showing off exactly what I have. I take a step back to put some distance between us and hopefully break the sexual tension.

"Can we join?" Jax eventually asks, and I nod, not even caring what Harvey has to say about it. I want to keep looking at Jax's hot body...

Despite Jax's objections, Harvey and I are on one team, and he and Ryder are on the opposite. Harvey doesn't seem to be having any fun, which might also be because we are losing badly. I'm trying to make jokes to bring everyone together, but he isn't having it. Jax keeps targeting me when he hits the ball over the net, and Harvey seems bored out of his mind.

"Come on, Lewis, I know you can do better than that," Jax teases, and I shake my head, a dry laugh escaping me.

"I could, but I don't really want to be responsible for making Ryder cry," I counter, which makes Ryder frown.

"Now, no need to involve me in this," Ryder complains and waves his finger between Jax and me.

After a little while longer, I start to get tired and my leg hurts. I know I shouldn't push myself any further, and I won't. I walk over to where my water bottle stands and take a big swig of it. Harvey walks up to me, and I give him a small smile, hoping to remove the frown on his face.

"What's going on with you and Jaxon?" he asks, and I almost choke on my water.

"Nothing, we've been hanging out." His eyes grow darker, and I continue my explanation. "We're just friends, I promise." Harvey doesn't say anything more before he kisses the top of my head and leaves. He gives me some stupid excuse about having forgotten about an appointment, but we both know I don't believe him. I don't understand what the big deal is. I know he doesn't like Jax, but there must be another reason for it.

Jax and Ryder move to where I'm standing while I take another sip of my water. "Did he just leave you here?" Jax asks when he's close enough for me to hear him.

"Yeah, he doesn't exactly like you, to be completely honest." I let out a nervous laugh, and Ryder chuckles loudly.

"Well, you did fuck his girlfriend in the bathroom, senior year." Ryder is still laughing, but my smile fades, and I'm completely serious. Jealousy and anger both consume me. I don't know why I'm angry, but it feels like Jax should have told me. This explains so much!

"I have to go," I simply say and bend down to get my bag. I pat off the sand before I fling it over my shoulder and stand up again.

"Hailey," Jax says, but I don't bother looking at him. I'm upset, even if it's not justified. We're not dating, we're friends, and not even for a long time. I have to sort out my own feelings first. Especially this jealousy inside of me. Jax reaches his hand out for me to take, but I simply walk past him. "Fuck," I hear him swear. "Hailey," he repeats, and something inside of me tells me to stop. I have no right to be this upset. "Listen, I was young, and Beth got dared to make out with me. We got so lost in the heat of the moment, we ended up in the bathroom of her best friend's house. She begged me not to tell Harvey afterward, but he saw us walk out of the bathroom together. It was unfortunate and got me a broken nose. I learned from my mistakes," he says, and I finally turn around to look at him. His eyes are pleading with me, and I can tell how guilty he feels.

"It's none of my business, Jax, I just didn't think you would do something like that," I reply, which makes him frown. "You're not a relationship kind of guy, and that's fine, we're just friends anyway," I go on and instantly regret it. Jax takes a step back and looks away.

"I used to not be like that, but people can change you. We're just friends, Hailey, but you know I would give you whatever you want," he informs me, and I feel the butterflies in my stomach storming around. "Do you want to get dinner tomorrow?" he asks when I don't respond, and I smile at him. I no longer feel anger or jealousy. I feel giddy because he pretty much just admitted how much he cares for me.
"Yes, I do," I reply and close the distance between us to place a kiss on his cheek. This man is causing me a lot of trouble, but as much as I would want to, I can't deny my feelings for him. Jaxon Hickley drives me crazy.

"Fantastic, I-" His phone starts ringing, and he stops talking. He looks down at his screen, and I give him a comforting smile.

"Work?" I ask, and he nods, a defeated look on his face. "It's okay, I will meet you at 'Hallewell's' at seven tomorrow," I assure him. If there is one thing I've learned about Jaxon, it's the fact that his work always comes first. It's a good thing I'm not open to a relationship because it would probably cause many problems.