Free Part of Me (Jessa & Paxton #1) by Haven Francis Page A

the end of her rant.
    “What is she doing ?” I seethe, assuming Jessa is the reason for her Oh shit.
    “Billy’s there, he’s getting her out of there.”
    “Out of where, Vi?”
    “Out of h is claws, Paxton. What the hell do you think? He had her nailed up against the wall and his mouth buried inside of her, okay? And she looked happy about it. So if you need her on a tight leash, you’re going to have to do some explaining. She thinks you’re her friend, Paxton – her best friend . If she’s something else to you, you need to tell her. I’m not doing this anymore.”
    I take the phone away from my mouth to scream a big, long fuck, and to ram my fist through the drywall.
    “You need to do better, Vi. Elijah? Fucking Elijah? Come on.”
    “You’re lucky I like her so much, ‘cause I’m kind of starting to despise you. Here they come. She’s alone. Thank God.”
    Vi hangs up the phone then and I squeeze mine so hard I think it’s gonna combust. “ Fuuuccck,” I yell again, putting another hole in the wall.
    My head is spinning and I try to tell myself that it doesn’t matter. That she doesn’t matter.
    The blonde from outside comes walking in the n, my bottle of beer in her hand. I look at her insane body, at her long, blonde hair, at her pretty face and I want absolutely nothing to do with her. In fact, I don’t even want her in the same room as me. I’m totally fucked.
     
    #
     
    “Your skills are sketchy today, man. What’s up?” Santos asks me.
    “I think I hit it too hard last night,” I tell him.
    We took a break from the streets to bust out a session at the park, but I’m not feeling it. It ain’t because I hit it too hard though, it’s because the call I got from Violet. After the blonde walked into Gabriel’s, I high tailed it out the door and got in my car, driving through the dark streets, hitting redial on Violet until she finally picked up and told me that they had delivered Jessa safely back to the dorms. I thought I had my hands full when she told me Dylan was stalking her and how they were having a hard time keeping the guys off her at The bottle, but she got some last night, and from Elijah.
    “Nah, that’s bull , Pax. You were piss poor last night too. That Betty was all over your ass and you didn’t do nothin’ about it. You’re on the hook, dude. What’s up?”
    “Shit,” I mutter because Santos is right. My head isn’t in any of my games. My head is in Chicago with Jessa. “I don’t know man, I think I might head back to Chi-town for a little while.”
    “Aw, hell, Pax. It’s that girl isn’t it? The one you been sneaking out of rooms and callin’, isn’t it?”
    “ Yeah. She’s getting comfortable with some sheep that used to ride my tails. It’s messing with my head.”
    “If you’ re going back to that hole for a girl then you ain’t coming back,” he tells me, shaking his head.
    “ You know that’s not how shit’s gonna work out. There are no fairytale endings for me- not in that town. I just need to go see her, clear my head, set some shit straight. I’ll be back.”
    “You’re sounding suspect , man. What’s the old man gonna do without you?”
    “He just needs my bank. He’ll survive until I get back. He’s got you and Emilio and the res t of his vatos. He don’t need me to live.”
    “You already made up your damn mind.”
    “Yeah,” I agree. I guess I have. I can’t keep living in this headspace I’ve created. I don’t know why this situation is messing with me like it is, but I need to figure shit out and the only way to do that is to look in Jessa’s eyes. 
    “You at least gonna try to redeem your ass in the bowl one last time before you leave the sun and head back to that gloom ‘n doom town?”
    “You weren’t so smooth yourself, asshole,” I tell him , throwing down my board and preparing to pull out my trictionary on his ass.
    “That’s my boy,” he yells, but I’m already in the bowl, feeling the concrete