“Where did you meet Tor?”
I took a sip of my water, hating how far away she seemed, so I stood, pulling my chair close enough that I could kiss her.
“Jax,” she whispered as she looked around the room. “People are looking.”
I kissed her quickly. “Who cares? I want to sit closer to my date.”
Stroking my hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face, I spoke. “We lived together for a while. Dad and I moved to Kent when we left town. We lived there until the day I turned eighteen when I moved to Manchester. Managed to get a shitty room in a house share, which was where I met Tor.” I shuddered. “God, that place was disgusting. Single bed, tiny room, no cooker, no heat. I lived there for two years while I worked three jobs and if I wasn’t at work, I was in the gym, training like my life depended on it, because really, I guess, it did.
“I transformed my skinny teenage body into what it needed to be to become a firefighter, and when I was twenty, I applied to join. I cried when I found out I'd made it; I finally had a family, a place I belonged, a purpose. I told myself that I couldn’t be the monster my dad told me I was if I was helping people. It took a long time to feel like I was worth something.”
The truth of my leaving town and what happened after sat on my tongue like a bomb waiting to explode and blow up my life for a second time.
“And now?” Helen’s eyes widened but stayed locked on mine and I forgot we were in a public place, surrounded by other people.
“I guess I still hear his voice some days. Some scars run deep.”
“I’m so sorry, Jax. Do you think you’d ever want him back in your life? I mean, would you want him at your wedding or to meet your kids in the future?”
I tried to reply, but the words got stuck in my throat, so instead, I stood up. “Dance with me, beautiful?”
Helen glanced at the few couples who were dancing near the musicians before shaking her head. “I don’t dance.”
I took her hands in mine, pulling her to stand. “Let me show you that you absolutely do.”
Chapter 18
Helen
Jax pressed his hand to my lower back and walked me toward where the other people were dancing. “This is the thing I wanted to come here for. I wanted to dance with you.”
Turning me, he took my hand and pulled me against him. He winked and suddenly I was dancing, my feet moving around the dancefloor, his body guiding me with ease. Excitement lit up my face as we moved. I’d never danced before, but he led me with such confidence it was like my feet knew what they were doing.
He eased me away from him, twirling me under his arm and then snapping me back into his hold.
“You’re so good,” I told him, unable to hide my surprise. “Have you had lessons?”
Jax’s thumb circled on my back as we moved around the small space, somehow managing to avoid the other couples.
“No. My mum loved to dance, but Dad hated it, so I used to practise with her in the kitchen. It used to make her smile so much. It’s one of my best memories of her before she got ill.”
I could see the hint of sadness in his expression.
“She’d be so proud of you, you know. The man you’ve become, Jax, it’s pretty impressive.” He turned us and I felt like we were gliding around the space. “What else do you remember about her?”
“She used to tell me that I had an old soul. She thought I’d been here before.”
“I can see why she’d say that.”
He shook his head, and I wasn’t sure if he was disagreeing or trying to shake off his memories. “Enough about my sad past. Are you enjoying our date?”
I giggled as he spun me again, and when the music slowed in tempo, he pulled me closer to his chest, his lips ghosting my ear. “I was going for aBeauty and the Beastvibe. Did I pull it off?” He buried his fingers in the hair at the nape of my neck, making my skin prickle with anticipation.
I glanced up at him. “You are not calling yourself the beast, are you… although, I have to be honest. He was my favourite Disney prince, and I much preferred him before he turned back human.”
Jax chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t thinking you were the beast, beautiful. And I like that you have a thing for the beast because when we get home, I plan to do beastly things to you.”
I rolled my eyes, loving his cheesy lines, but then he pushed his hips to mine, letting me feel the outline of his thick erection, and my eye roll stopped as my lids fluttered closed and a silent moan fell from my lips.