The Real Me (How to Tame a Heartbreaker Book 4) (23 page)

Jax said
no
at the exact time that Cam said
yes
, and they looked at each other with teasing scowls.

"I'd listen to Jax," Jeremy said. "She can throw a knife."

"Oh really?" Cam asked with interest.

Jeremy laughed and
made the motion like he was aiming for a target and releasing a knife. "She's excellent at it. I'm talking
right at the bull's eye
excellent. Don't ever believe her if she tells you she can't throw a knife. You'll lose money on that in a heartbeat."

"She told me she could handle a knife," Cam said cutting
his eyes at her before looking back at Jeremy, "but she didn't mention being a sharp-shooter."

"She's good," Jeremy said. "
Right down the middle every time. Like
win a talent show
good."

Cam looked at Jax. "You
didn't tell me you could throw a knife so well you could win a
talent show
."

Jax laughed.

"That's because I've never entered a talent show for it. I didn't even know that was a category in talent shows."

"Well
, if it was she could win," Jeremy said.

"
I for one would like to see some of these skills."

Chapter 24

"And then her sister's boyfriend told me she could throw a knife so good she should be on America's Got Talent," Cam said.

He and Jax were sitting
across the table from Jason and Hannah in their private dining room. Hannah and Jason both looked at Jax like they couldn't believer their ears.

"You know how to
throw a knife
?"

Jax looked embarrassed.
"My dad has knives. He's collected them since before I was born. I guess throwing knives is the equivalent to playing catch to my family."

Hannah's eyes widened as she regarded the steak knife on their place settings. "Can you throw
that
knife?"

Jax looked down at the knife in front of her and then smiled back up
at Hannah and Jason. "I mean, theoretically I
could
throw it, yeah."

"Do it," Hannah said. "It'll just make a tiny little hole won't it?"

"She can't do that," Jason said, looking at Hannah like she was crazy. "What if she misses the target and breaks something?"

"I wouldn't miss," Jax said without the slightest hint of doubt, "but I still hate to throw it in case someone walks in here right when I
let it go."

"See?" Hannah said. "She said she won't miss."

"She also said she doesn't want to get caught," Jason said.

Cam just watched the conversation unfold.

"What if one of you looks out and warns her if someone's coming around the corner?" Hannah asked.

"You're hilarious," Jason said. "She's not throwing a knife in a restaurant."

"The window frame," Jax said. "It's solid wood and it wont hurt anything if I hit the middle. It'll just leave a sliver of a hole. They won't even notice."

Hannah's eyes lit up. "Do it!"

Jax smiled and looked at the door before looking down at her place setting. She picked up the small steak knife and tossed it gently a few times to test the weight of it in her hand. She stood up, looked at the window that was positioned directly to her right.

T
hen in one quick, graceful motion, she let the knife fly. It went end over end four or five times before sticking into the window frame at eye level. Her target area was no wider than two inches, and she hit right in the middle of it.

"Holy shit," Jason said.
"You could be in a Quentin Tarantino movie."

Hannah put her hands over her mouth in utter shock.

Just then, five other people rounded the corner. It was the two other couples they'd been expecting to join them along with the hostess from the restaurant. Jax was still standing when they walked in, but none of them seemed to notice what she'd just done. She sat quietly making sure to put her napkin in her lap like a lady.

The room was dimly lit and the window was far enough to the side
that none of them thought to look that way. The hostess waited for the two couples to take their seats before asking if there was anything she could get them before their server arrived.

"I think we're missing a steak knife," Cam said.

The hostess looked at him and he pointed to Jax's place setting. Jax looked at Cam with a fake smile that made Hannah let out an uncontrollable little laugh. She tried to stifle it and it came out more like a weird sounding squeak, which made everyone's gaze shift to Hannah.

"That's what her sneezes sound like," Jason explained to the hostess.
"Bless you," he said, turning to Hannah.

Th
e hostess smiled even though that was the weirdest sounding sneeze she'd ever heard. Her gaze shifted back to Cam. "I'll grab a steak knife for you and your server will be here in just a second."

"Thanks," he said.

"What was that?" Molly asked when the hostess left. She'd been friends with Hannah since they were kids and knew that was
not
a sneeze.

"
I was trying not to laugh because Jax threw her steak knife like it was a freaking ninja star about three seconds before y'all walked in!"

Everyone in the room including Cam looked at Jax. She looked stunned for a split second, but then shrugged and smiled.

"It's like playing catch at my house," she said.

"Where'd you throw it?" Taylor asked, looking around.

Hannah pointed to the window near the back of the room. The knife was buried in the wood just deep enough to keep it suspended. It was at a perfect 90-degree angle with the wall, and everyone looked at Jax again.

"Somebody needs to go to the door to make sure nobody's coming
so I can get it," she said.

"I will," Cam said. He patted her thigh from under the table as he stood to cross to the door. She was already standing when he gave her the thumbs up that she could go get it, and she went to the window as fast as her feet could take her. She and Cam got back to the table at the same time, and they paused for a quick kiss before sitting down.

"Oh my God, they're the cutest ever," Taylor said.

"I know," Molly agreed. "I'm so glad she forgave him after that
shit he pulled with the beard."

"I know right?" Jax said. She looked around the table with a teasing grumpy face. "
And I'm mad at all you guys too for going along with it."

"We had no idea he was going to meet you," Hannah said.

Jax smiled. "It's all right. I'm not sure that we would have ever met each other if it hadn't been for the beard," she said, looking up at him sweetly. She reached out and touched his jaw. There was a little bit of stubble but nothing like the thick beard she'd met him with. "I'm not sure I would've ever given you the time of day if I'd known you looked like this." He smiled down at her as his friends gave her noises of approval for the insult.

"Cam said you're not at Bing's anymore," Taylor said.

"No, I have this other job I really love at a women's shelter."

"I don't see how you do that. It takes a special kind of person."

"It's not really a shelter. It's more of a halfway house. It's fun. The women who pass through are getting on their feet and finding their way."

"That's cool," Hannah said. "You'll have to let us know how we can get involved.
"

"We have a fundraiser coming up in about a week. It's the one big event we do every
year. We have a few regular donors, but Mary tries to raise about fifty-thousand in that one weekend to help us get through the year."

"We'll give for sure," Jason said.

"Us too," Nick said.

"Just send us an email with the information and we'll all do what we can," Taylor said.

Jax didn't really know what to say. She smiled at them and said some words about how thankful she and Mary would be for that, but she was sort of preoccupied with wondering how she'd ended up surrounded by such good people. She wondered if they would follow through and if so, how much they would donate. She couldn't help but be excited at the thought that they might be able to have more resources for the women.

The server came in and introduced herself as Jade.
It wasn't uncommon for celebrities to use the private room, but she still seemed nervous when she glanced in Cam's direction. Jax took note of the way the server noticed him and told herself to get used to it since she'd have to deal with that on a regular basis. She took their drink orders and said she'd be right back to tell them about the specials. Before she left, she held out the knife she'd been hanging onto.

"Did someone need a knife?" she asked. She looked down at their place settings a bit confused.

"I did," Jax said.

Jade's gaze went to the table in front of Jax.

"I like to have two," she said with a deadpan expression. Hannah coughed to stifle her laugh this time as Jade leaned over to set the knife in front of Jax.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome. I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Can you do it again?" Molly asked when Jade left the room.

Jax smiled. "No, but I'll throw for you guys sometime."

"So, you know a lot about knives?"
Ben asked. He had specialized Army training and could also accurately throw a knife, but neither he nor his girlfriend Taylor brought that up.

"She carries one in her back pocket at all times," Cam said, "and she's not afraid to pull it."

She gave him a pleading expression like h
e really shouldn't say anymore, and then she looked back at their friends. Most of them knew the story, but they hadn't heard it from her, so they did their best to look surprised. "I had to teach him a lesson for lying to me," she said, shrugging.

"I'm glad she carries it," Cam said.

"Just so she doesn't use it on you, right?" Hannah said.

Cam looked at Jax and smiled before he spoke again. "
Her dad threw one at me." "

Yeah, but you
let
him."

"Are you serious?" Jason asked laughing.

"He told me he could hit a playing card if I held it in front of this big piece of wood they have set up in the back yard."

"And you stood there and
held it
?" Jason asked.

"Sure I did. What else was I supposed to do?
Act like I didn't trust him? He seemed perfectly confident that he'd hit the card."

"I actually got scared for a second that he was going to
nick him as a warning not to mistreat me," Jax said.

"Are you serious?" Cam asked, looking at her.

She gave him a smile that said she was just messing around.

"I guess all went well since you'r
e sitting here with no bandages," Jason said.

Cam laughed.
"The card was a Queen, and he split the damn thing right down the middle of her face. I watched it go in."

They all murmured and laughed at the description.

"So there's just a big chunk of wood set up in your backyard?" Taylor asked.

"It's basically
a cross section of a tree that's set up on its side—like a round log that's a foot or so thick. We've always had a few of them set up back there. My dad can throw anything—axes, stars, knives—I've always been partial to knives."

"You think you could teach me?" Hannah asked.

Jason, along with everybody else at the table looked at her.

"I'd like to try it too," Molly
said.

"Me too," Taylor added. All of the men at the table were looking at their respective girlfriends as if they were trying to figure out how they felt about that.

"I think we should start a knife throwing girls club," Jax said. She ran her hand in front of her face in what she meant to be a mysterious, ninja-like motion that made them all laugh.

"I'm serious we should," Hannah said. "We could set up one of those logs out at Jason's house."

"Let's do it," Jax said. "It'll be fun."

"I think it'd be hot if we all learned how to do that," Taylor said.

That reminded Cam how hot his baby girl was, and he shifted his leg to touch hers under the table. Their chairs were close, and she'd been accidently-on purpose brushing up against him the whole time, but now their thighs were officially touching. The other couples continued to talk about knife throwing skills as Cam slipped his hand under the table to touch her. His hand gripped her thigh tightly. Neither of them chimed in on the conversation because they were preoccupied with the secret under-the-table action. She kept her hands above the table but leaned into his touch. He gave her a look that clearly stated his intentions for later that evening, and they smiled at each other before reentering the conversation as smoothly as possible.

Jax
spoke when Molly asked her a direct question about her little sister, but was otherwise distracted by the hand that was ever so slowly inching it's way to the inside of her thigh. She kept thinking people would notice what they were doing, but the conversation went on without a hitch. She laughed to herself, thinking that the other couples were probably doing the same thing.

"I think we're gonna get married," Jason said casually, shocking them all.

"Who? You and Hannah?" Cam asked.

Hannah was staring at Jason with a look of
utter befuddlement.

"Obviously, this is the first she's hearing about it. But I'm just letting all of you know—" He looked at Hannah. "Including you—that I'm probably gonna be asking you to marry me soon."

Hannah continued to stare at him with a stunned expression, but then she smiled and cocked her head at him. "I'll probably be saying yes to that," she said smiling.

The girls at the table made various sounds
of approval, and Jason smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

The serv
er entered carrying their drinks. She'd heard the very last piece of the conversation as she came in. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."