Forbidden Love

12

Jaxon

Luna and Olivia hop out of the truck, and I can't help but feel relieved. If Luna's here maybe that means she changed her mind on the whole tutoring thing. I hope she did. School is even more miserable when I can't look forward to going to football practice after. Paxton didn't tell me anything yesterday after we ate at Ty's, he only said to meet him at the beach. Seeing Luna is a surprise.

"Hey," She nods to me and turns to Paxton who just rounded the truck. Her greeting is such a normal thing for a person to do, but I don't think she's ever said hi to me before.

"Jaxon!" Paxton and I do our handshake and then he throws an arm over his sister. Liv gives me a smile before grabbing her phone to take a call and trying to maneuver out of her brother's grip.

"Alright," Paxton gives up on her and throws his arms over me and Luna. "First, we find a spot. Then, we talk." He waggles his eyebrows and opens the back of his truck getting seats and towels. He ends up carrying them all. Two chairs on one arm, a backpack on his back, and towels around his neck.

He looks like a tourist.

I roll my eyes. I didn't know we were really going to the beach. I thought we'd just hang out around the beach or something. But Paxton's wearing his bathing suit and so is his sister—only she's wearing shorts too. Luna is dressed exactly like Liv. Her top has writing on it but I'm not sure what it says and I'm not about to stare at her chest to figure it out like a creep.

"I'm gonna go meet up with JJ and Kalani. We'll meet you back here later, yeah?" Liv looks to Paxton who nods in response. "Try not to make a mess of things, and don't cat call girls. It's disgusting. You have a sister, show some respect for women."

"Oh, trust me. I have a lot of respect for women." Paxton winks and Liv grabs him by the ear.

"I'm serious, Pax." She looks over to Luna and I. "Make sure this idiot doesn't flirt. I'm tired of girls coming to me asking if he talks about them. It's irritating."

Luna nods trying to suppress a smile, but she's failing miserably. I only shrug. "Paxton's his own person."

"Thank you, Jaxon!" My best friend grins widely.

"I hate men." Liv groans before walking away.

"That's not what you said last night when you-know-who came by!" Paxton calls after her and then glances between Luna and I. "Did either of you pack snacks? I'm starving."

He frowns when we both shake our head. While walking, Luna stays by Paxton's side. Clearly, she's uncomfortable being next to me because every time I end up beside her, she moves to the other side of Paxton. Maybe she likes him. Paxton does have a way with girls that I'll never understand.

He ends up leading the way and talking to everyone he passes, even if he doesn't know them. I don't know how the guy does it. When he deems a spot on the sand worthy enough to sit at, he lays down the towels and chairs. "Sit," He motions down and throws his backpack on a chair before sitting on it.

Luna lays on a towel and I sit on the chair next to her. I hope Stone happens to walk by and see us. He'd be furious. Maybe I'll take a picture and send it to him just for fun, or post on social media and tag him. My options are endless.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Paxton sighs happily.

I let out a breath. "No. I'm sweating."

Paxton pushes his shades down a bit and looks at me. "It's not my fault you didn't dress for the occasion."

I shake my head and fold my arms waiting for the girl on my left to speak up. To say something about tutoring. I've already tried and I'm not about to look like a fool and bring it up again.

But she doesn't say anything. Paxton does.

"Anyway, let's talk about our problem, because if we're being honest, you need each other." He folds his arms and looks between the two of us.

"Need each other?" Luna raises her eyebrows.

Paxton looks like he's weighing his words in his head. "Well, I guess you don't actually need Jaxon, but he needs someone to help him." He looks over to me. "Sorry, man, she has the upper hand here. She also agreed to help but she has conditions or whatever. Talk amongst yourselves now. I'm starving and neither of you were kind enough to bring food." He jumps up and walks away before we can stop him. Only instead of walking to get food like he said, he walks to a group of girls who have been staring at us the entire time.

I'm so relieved that Luna agreed to help that I'm not annoyed at Paxton for stating the obvious—Luna doesn't have anything to gain by helping me. Even so, playing football with the team will happen in no time.

Luna's gaze is trained on the ocean. "I think he was dropped on his head a little too much as a baby."

"He skipped Pre-K."

"Ah, that must be why." She smiles briefly before clearing her throat. "Sunday mornings are a no-go."

"What?"

She meets my eyes. "Pick a day, once or twice a week. Sunday mornings don't work for me, I have church."

"I know, we go to the same one."

"You go to church?"

I blink. What does that mean? Is it so hard to believe? The implication in her tone makes me uncomfortable.

"I used to go with Paxton sometimes. I'm thinking of going tomorrow." Honestly, I wasn't thinking about it at all, but she doesn't need to know that. Proving her wrong just happens to be high on my list as of right now.

"Oh yeah, you did go before you moved. I remember."

Yes. Every Sunday. Paxton brought me with him. I used to go with my family, but when everything happened a couple years ago, we stopped attending. I went with Allison in Canada a few times if I didn't sleep in.

"You remember?"

"Yeah," The thought of her watching me back then makes me feel strange until she adds, "Corey would complain that you were blocking his view with your big head."

"My big head—" I blink at her. "I don't have a big head."

She pops her lips. "Calm down, I'm just the messenger."

"Whatever," I mutter and turn to the ocean. It's nice and serene here. I can tell why Mason loves surfing so much. I'd be here every day if I liked sand too. Unfortunately, I hate sand.

It's silent for a few minutes and I start thinking she fell asleep until she shifts to face me again. "Did you pick a day yet? Or are you just going to sit there and brood the entire time?"

"Sunday after church and Wednesday."

"How's Monday and Wednesday?"

I give her a look. "Why not Sundays? You just said I could pick and it's after church."

"I grocery shop after church."

"It takes you all day?" I frown. "Just pawn the grocery shopping off on your mom or dad."

I glimpse a flash on pain in her eyes and wonder if it was something I said. "What was that?"

"Nothing," She responds quickly. Her tone takes a defensive edge. "Sunday is fine."

I decide to let it slide, mostly because Stone family problems are none of my concern. "Is that all of your conditions?"

She shakes her head. "Corey can't ever find out. I'm serious about this one. Never." Her eyes find mine again. "Deal?"

I nod. "Fine, we have a deal." Although, I'm bummed that rubbing it in Corey Stone's face that I'm with his sister isn't an option, I understand her reasoning. She's the one who has to live with the guy. Plus, I really need this. If hiding from Stone is what it takes to get her to help, then so be it.