Chapter 30: New Chances

The rest of our vacation wasn’t quite the same. After we had shared our kiss, Dax had avoided trying to kiss me or do anything remotely romantic. It was like a switch had completely changed inside of him, and he was back to professional Dax.

We were back to square one. I wondered why he had stopped our kiss from getting farther. Dax had seemed really interested in me the day before. I thought he was possibly feeling something stronger than a friendship for me. I guess I was wrong.

That kiss replayed in my mind. I could still feel his lips pressing against me in phantom memory. I touched my lips as if the kiss had just happened again.

I tried to push those thoughts away, as I packed up my belongings for our trip back to the mansion. Dax had wanted the trip to be one day longer, but I couldn’t stand being around him. It was too awkward after we had kissed like that. I could barely stop looking at his lips.

I’d be happy when we got back to the mansion, and I could leave any of my new feelings behind. I wasn’t going to deal with Dax and him messing with my emotions like that.

It was too hard to continue getting pushed away from him. I didn’t know how many more times I could give Dax more chances.

After I was done packing, Dax came over to me and asked, “Are you really ready to go back to the mansion?”

“Yeah, this has been enough for me.”

Dax looked disappointed and didn’t speak for a moment. He seemed as if he needed time to think of what to say to me next.

“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay one more day? We still haven’t done everything you wanted to do.”

He was making this more difficult than it needed to be. Why couldn’t he just stop?

Dax was making everything worse. I just wanted to leave before we spent additional time with each other. There was nothing he could do to fix the night before.

“I just really want to go back. I’m good on vacationing for a while.”

Dax almost said something else but stopped before he opened his mouth to speak. He didn’t seem to understand why I truly wanted to leave.

It was his fault that I wanted to go. But he didn’t have the right to know. I wanted to try to make it seem like it really was about just missing the mansion.

We got our luggage into the car before Dax drove us back to the hanger that housed his jet. After we got into the jet, I didn’t even attempt to talk to him.

I was done interacting with Dax for a while. My heart still hadn’t been able to handle being around him. It was betraying me by racing fast every time that Dax glanced over at me.

I should’ve known that he’d fail me again. Why didn’t I learn to just stay away from Dax? I kept making the same mistake, because I wanted to trust him.

The rest of the day flew by, and the next day came. I needed to get away from Dax and asked the chauffeur to take me into the city.

I needed to clear my head and try to push what happened between Dax and me away. It wasn’t good to keep thinking about Dax and his letting me down.

When I walked into one store, it was full of clothes that I didn’t need. But I really wanted to just forget about my troubles. Dax had given his chauffeur one of his credit cards in case I saw something I liked.

Was he trying to make up for going cold on me after our kiss? If this was his way of saying sorry, then I should forget him. This wasn’t the way to win over my heart and make me forgive him. I wouldn’t let Dax play with my emotions.

As I browsed, I didn’t see anything that stood out to me. It was just clothes with giant price tags that I had no need for.

After a few minutes, I bumped into someone. I was shocked to see it was Jason.

He seemed very excited to see me and said, “Hey, Danica. I’m glad I ran into you.”

“Actually, I ran into you. Literally.”

Thankfully, Jason laughed and said, “We seem to be making this a habit. But it’s not a bad one.”

I hoped my face wasn’t flushing at his words. He shouldn’t have said such things to me. He had a girlfriend already. That was too much to hear.

Why had I bumped into him of all people? I didn’t want to keep going back to my past. For such a large city, we sure found each other often.

I calmly told him, “I’m glad you don’t think it’s a bad habit.”

Jason kept looking at me with interest and said, “No, seeing you is never a bad thing.” He added, “You’re still looking beautiful.”

Why did he have to compliment me? I was trying to get over my feelings for him, but it seemed he could reignite old feelings. I had to attempt to resist his charming ways that he always had. I wouldn’t go through this again with him. Moving on was the best for me.

“Thank you. That’s kind of you to say,” I told him back after seconds went by.

Jason glanced around quickly before turning back to face me. I was wondering why he was looking around, but I’m sure it was for nothing. Maybe he had seen someone that he knew and was double checking.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” Jason said suddenly.

What did he want to ask me? Was he trying to get back together with me? A big siren went off in my mind. But I had to know what he wanted to ask. It wouldn’t hurt.

I replied, “Ask away.”

Jason smiled and asked, “Would you like to go somewhere privately with me?”

What was Jason playing at? I felt very hesitant about being alone with an ex. He also was dating Addison who was insanely jealous. It was such a bad idea.

But a harmless hangout didn’t seem terrible. I would avoid flirting with him if he started anything. No way would I go back to him. He had really hurt me before. I just needed to remind myself that things hadn’t ended well before.

Finally, I said, “Okay. Let’s meet up.”

Jason’s face lit up as he said, “Great. I’ll text you the address and meet you there.”

“Sounds good.”

I walked back to my car and saw Jason speed off in his car to where we were meeting. Then I headed to the address Jason gave me and felt knots in my stomach as I got closer to our meeting place.