He laughed, reached over, and squeezed her hand. "Anything you want, baby."
Admittedly, she liked that term of endearment even though this was only their first date. They'd texted a bit over the last two days, but she had always been more of the type to get to know someone in person rather than through her phone.
"You're really going to let me drive this?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car while he did the same. "I could be a terrible driver. I could crash and kill us both."
"Life is dangerous," Jax replied. "Better to be inside the car then standing in front of it."
Simone laughed, tossing her head back slightly. "That's super dramatic. I like it."
She climbed into the driver's seat, re-buckling herself in as Jax did the same in the passenger seat. Carefully, she checked out all the controls and mirrors.
"Ready?" he asked.
She nodded quickly, but the butterflies in her stomach were swirling a million miles per hour. "I think so."
"The track is yours," he replied, gesturing toward the open track in front of them. "Go crazy."
Gripping the steering wheel tightly, she pushed the stuck shift into first, easing up on the clutch as she gently pressed her foot against the gas pedal, testing out the car's response. It slammed forward, intensely sensitive to the slightest pressure.
"Oh my God!"
Jax chuckled. "Relax. You've got this."
She swallowed, pushing down the nerves overwhelming her. She had this. Something about his confidence in her filled her with the same. If he knew she could do it…she could, she would do it. Not as gently this time, she pressed down on the gas and the car shot forward as she clutched and shifted through the gears as the engine revved to the correct sounds and speeds for each shift. She pushed down more, racing along the track at one of the fastest speeds she'd ever driven.
They started coming up on the first turn.
"Speed up around the turn. Really lean into it," Jax instructed.
"Faster?" Her eyes widened, already worried she'd go flying right off the track into the wall.
He nodded. "The curve will automatically slow you down. Speed up not to lose your momentum. The car will grip the track, so don't worry. Just go with it."
She turned the wheel as they maneuvered around the turn, pressing harder on the gas and shifting gears as they flew around the bend.
"Holy shit!" She gasped as they flew back onto the straightaway.
This was by far the biggest high she'd ever felt. All this power at her fingertips. Speed, energy, fuel…all of it in her control. The tiniest twitch of her hands could send the car veering off to the side, or the smallest push of her foot could bring them to a crashing halt. Everything was her choice…her decision.
"Ahh!" As they went around the second bend, Simone shrieked with excitement, overwhelmed at everything she was feeling.
Jax laughed, gripping the handle above his seat.
When they finally came to a stop at the beginning of the track, she just sat still for a moment, catching her breath.
"That. Was. Amazing," she panted. "Literally the most exciting thing I've ever done."
"And you didn't kill us," Jax added, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Come on. Let's go grab some dinner."
Her stomach growled. "Oh, that actually sounds perfect. I'm starving."
"I know a great place a couple miles from here, right on the beach." He climbed out of the car and she handed him back the keys as they walked toward the garage. "I think you'll like it."
Thirty minutes later, they were walking across the sand to a beachfront restaurant directly on the water's edge. The tide literally lapped at the guests’ feet while they ate. How the entire place didn't just wash away, she didn't know.
"This is beautiful," she admitted, leaning down to pick up a pink seashell with stripes across the back.
"The shell?" he asked, leading her to their table and pulling out her seat.
"Well, that, too," she replied, taking her seat. "But I meant the restaurant. I've never been here before, but I love anything to do with the water."
"Sometimes living here, you don't get out and do the touristy things as often as you should." Jax took his own seat across from her. "Always be a stranger everywhere you go. You experience more from every place if you see it from foreign eyes."
Simone's lips lifted into a small smile, her elbows leaning against the table. "I like the way you talk. It's all philosophical quotes about life and living. Like you're one of the deepest thinkers I've ever met. You're not running or hiding from anything. You're just…living."
Jax reached his hand across the table, tangling his fingers through hers. "You sound like you have some experience with hiding."
She shrugged lightly. "Maybe a little bit. But it's not just me. Sometimes it's the people I meet." An image of Grant crossed her mind, and she felt a lump begin to swell in her throat at the thought. "Sometimes the people I meet are running, and I'm the one left behind."
He was quiet for a moment, then he squeezed her hand. "Anyone who'd leave you behind is a stupid son-of-a-bitch."
Simone laughed, covering up the small sob that almost choked through her. She took a deep breath and pushed away every thought of Grant and his stupid, beautiful blond hair and green eyes, or the way that he made her stomach tighten and her body ache. He was gone. He liked his freedom. He'd said so himself. Despite the fact that he'd still occasionally text her, she knew that she had to let go of this fantasy about him coming back for her.
He'd chosen not to be with her. He'd made his wants clear. She needed to respect that and stop holding out hope for something that wasn't in the cards.
Grant was gone, but Jax? Jax was here, and he wasn't going anywhere.
Chapter Eighteen
"Honestly, what kind of bullshit is this?" Grant said into the phone.
Andrew let out a deep sigh from the other end. "I don't know what to tell you, Grant. We can't find her anywhere. The authorities are refusing to drop the charges against you until they speak with her and assess her involvement."
"Her involvement? She's the entire situation. I'm the one who isn't involved. Or at least, I shouldn't be."
"You can keep should-ing all over yourself, but that doesn't change the fact that without her confession, or a money trail, there's nothing we can do," his lawyer said. "You look guilty as sin."
"And the private investigator doesn't have anything yet?"
"Not yet. He says she's in America somewhere, so he's tailing her there. Now we just wait to find out what he uncovers. Maybe she'll come look you up because he did report that it doesn't seem like she's traveling with her partner anymore."
"Her partner? More like my ex-best-friend."
"Right, well…maybe they've parted ways," Andrew surmised. "Infidelity never was the best foundation for a relationship."
Grant scoffed, because hell if that wasn't the goddamn truth. He wanted to wish her every misery in the world, but that would mean he'd still care about her, and truthfully, he didn't. He just wanted his name cleared and to be able to move on with his life without the threat of jail tailing him around the globe.
"When do you head back to Los Angeles?" the lawyer asked. "I have some paperwork to forward to your hotel."
"Two days." Grant hooked the phone between his ear and shoulder, freeing his hands to pour himself a glass of whiskey. His hotel room was a lot smaller in the middle of London, but he was still enjoying his time here. "Just for the live stream and an interview or two, then back here to London to complete this project."
"Where next after that?"
"New York." Grant took a sip from his glass. "It looks like I've got about six months on a Broadway show there. Might be nice to have some steady work and stay in one place for a while."
"You've got to be tired of all that jet setting at some point," Andrew mused. "I know I couldn't do it. I'd miss my wife too
much."
"Not really a problem I have anymore," Grant replied.
"Right. Well…true."
"I'll call you when I'm back in the states, Wilson," Grant said, then took another sip from his glass. "In the meantime, send the paperwork to my London address."
"You've got it, Mercer." With that, the two men hung up the phone.
Grant sighed as he sat down in the leather armchair in one corner of his room. The last two months had been an insane amount of work between his legal battle and his current project. Now he was scheduled to go back to Los Angeles for the Kiss Me, Kate debut, and he was already feeling all sorts of apprehension about the prospect.
There was no doubt that he'd run into Simone again. Multiple times, probably. It was inevitable, and while a big part of him was looking forward to it, there was part of him dreading it as well. It was like ripping off a Band-Aid just to poke at the wound underneath. It was going to fucking hurt to see her and not be able to have her. Plain and simple.
Picking his phone back up, he typed her name in to his web browser's search bar. They hadn't spoken in almost two weeks, and even then, it had been sparse. The first month he'd been gone, they'd talked a lot more often. Phone calls, text messages, but then it had faded away. She'd stopped replying as often, and he got the hint. He stopped initiating, and when he did that, the conversation mostly faded away to nothing.
He didn't want to be upset about it, because technically that was the best thing for both of them. She needed to move on with her life as much as he did. But he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt, if he said he didn't miss her…if he said he didn't still think about her every day.
Now here he was trolling the tabloids for any mention of her.
"What the fuck?" Grant suddenly sat up in his chair and scrolled through the web page he was on. There were at least five pictures of Simone on the beach in a skimpy bathing suit, her arms wrapped around the neck of a heavily tattooed, dark-haired man.
He knew he shouldn't look. Shouldn't torture himself. But he couldn't stop. He studied each photograph carefully—the way she smiled at him, the light in her eyes, the crooked way he grinned back at her. They were a fucking couple, and, damn it…they looked good together. They looked like they matched. Her tattoos complimented his, and the new blue streak in her hair even matched his eyes.
His stomach flip-flopped and churned as he exited out of the browser and tried to push the images out of his mind. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. Hell, he'd keep repeating it to himself until it was true, and yet, he wasn't sure it ever would be.
Grant stood up and paced back and forth across his hotel room. He was going to be in Los Angeles and wound probably see the two of them together. No doubt, her boyfriend would accompany her to after parties and events related to the show's release. It didn't feel right.
She shouldn't be with him. Whoever this him was.
He swallowed hard as he realized that there was nothing more he really wanted than…her. And he'd already let her go.
Fuck.
Chapter Nineteen
"I'm not nervous!" Simone finished pinning her necklace around the back of her neck as she stared in the mirror in her dressing room.
Jax chuckled, leaning in behind her and kissing her shoulder. "That's my girl."
She warmed at his affection, melting backward into his touch. "Okay, I might be a little nervous. But not a lot. I've rehearsed a ton for today. I can't afford to be nervous."
They were only an hour away from the live performance of Kiss Me, Kate broadcast onto every television in the entire damn world. Nerves were to be expected, but she was a professional. She was trained and ready, and that was what she was going to depend on. She knew all her lines. She knew all her moves. She knew exactly what to do when.
Now she just had to do it.
Live.
In front of millions of people.
No big deal.
"I have no doubt that you'll blow them away," Jax said, taking a seat on the couch to the far side of her dressing room. "I mean, you've already impressed the fuck out of me."
She and Jax had been dating for a couple weeks, but they'd been taking it pretty slow. While things with Grant had been hot and heavy out of the gate, she'd made sure to take her time with Jax. Honestly, she wasn't ready to jump into anything that fast right now. He was wonderful to her though, and somehow, he continued to be incredibly patient despite the fact that she'd barely done more than kiss him.
She checked her makeup again, even though her makeup artist had done an impeccable job and used a setter that would keep her makeup perfect for the entire performance.
"Ten minutes to set," a production assistant knocked on her door and announced.
Simone turned to face Jax. "This is it."
Jax stood back up and walked over to her, taking both her hands in his. "I'm going to be watching from the sides, baby. You're going to kill it."
She smiled, nerves scattering through her stomach. "Thank you, Jax."
They said their goodbyes as he began walking her back to set. When they were rounding the final corner toward the main stage, she ran directly into someone else walking the opposite direction.
She jumped back, nearly stumbling if not for Jax grabbing her arm to steady her. "Oh! Sorry!"
A startled Grant Mercer and his deep green eyes were staring back at her. His gaze darted to her left, scanning Jax, then back to her. "Simone…"
"Grant." She swallowed hard, suddenly more than aware of the awkward triangle she was in the middle of. "Uh, I didn't expect to see you here."
"They wanted me here for the performance," he replied, then he reached out a hand toward Jax. "Grant Mercer. Musical Director."
The two men shook hands.
"Jax Walker, Simone's boyfriend," Jax said with all the confidence she didn't have.
Simone coughed, surprised by the label he'd just given them. "Uh, right…well, I mean, we haven't discussed it. Uh, yes. So, there's that."
She closed her mouth, already wishing she could rewind her nervous ramblings. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Grant's eyes looked like they were pure fire, narrow and angry. "Yes. So, there's that." He turned back to Jax. "It was good meeting you, Mr. Walker. Simone, break a leg tonight.”
With that, he walked past them down the hallway.
"Thank you," she called after his retreating figure.
Jax gave her a puzzled look. "What was that?"
She had zero idea how to answer that one, but oh, that was just my ex-lover who I still think about all the time seemed like a bad response. "Um, nothing? Come on. Let's go before we're late."
He nodded and followed her around the corner, but he still looked skeptical.
A few minutes later, they said their final goodbyes and she met with the rest of the cast on stage. As big as her final performance had been on American Voice—which was also broadcast on live television for millions to see—somehow this still felt bigger. It was a huge moment in her career, and if she pulled it off without a hitch, a lot of doors could open for her.
Her agent had been trying to land her the Broadway role, but without seeing the success rate of Kiss Me, Kate, the producers were reluctant. Tonight could be the final thing she needed to convince them that she could do the part—she could be Anastasia. The music in that play alone made her heart soar. She wanted to sing it on stage every night.
With only a few minutes left before the cameras started rolling, she slipped off to the side and grabbed a bottle of water, taking a few sips.
"Simone," a familiar voice at a near whisper came behind her.
She whirled around to see Grant only a few inches from her. God, he smelled so fucking good. All clean linen and something sweet she couldn't quite identify. His hair wasn't pulled back in a bun this time, falling down the sides of his face instead. She wanted to run her fingers through it and pull him to her, kissing him like they hadn’t done when they’d said goodbye.
How she'
d regretted never kissing him goodbye.
"Grant," she replied, barely above a whisper as well.
He bit his bottom lip, pulling at it slightly as his eyes grazed over her. "I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it. You're amazing, Simone. You're going to be amazing."
He leaned in closer, his lips mere centimeters from hers.
She felt her cheeks heating, a blush crossing her face that she couldn't hold back. "Grant…"
"Tell me not to kiss you, Simone." His green eyes pierced through her, daring her.
A shiver ran through her, but she said nothing.
He closed the distance between them slowly, taking his time as his lips brushed hers. When they finally kissed, he lingered, and when they pulled apart, he sighed. Everything around them fell away for those few moments, and nothing existed but the way they breathed together.
"Grant," she whispered against his lips, though she didn't know what to say after that. Sadness hung over her like a thick blanket, and she could tell that he felt it too. "I have to go."
He stepped back, and with a small nod, walked back into the wings of the stage.
She stood there for another moment, trying to process what had just happened. But she didn't have the time. Pushing away the memories, the feelings, the stirring in her core, she returned to the stage ready to give the performance of a lifetime.
Tonight wasn't about Grant. It wasn't about Jax. It was about her.
Chapter Twenty
"Congratulations!" Her sister, Aria, threw her arms around Simone the moment she stepped off stage at the end of the broadcast. "Oh my God, Simone. You killed it! That was spectacular!"
Simone couldn't stop smiling. The entire last two hours had been the high of her life, and she was still riding every thrill of it. "Thank you!"
"I know you told us not to come, but you also know we wouldn't listen." Aria pulled back to reveal the rest of her family behind her. Ben was holding Tillie, Teagan and Reed were there with Piper, and, of course, her mother was at the front of the pack. She never should have doubted that her mother would come, but with how little she'd been out since Jack's death, it had seemed unlikely.