I choke on my spit. “Are you kidding me?”

His eyebrows collapse. “What?”

“Just like that? After the past month of hell, you suddenly decide you believe me?”

Jaxon leans back in his chair and runs his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, okay? I haven’t been thinking straight. My grandmother passed away. Then I got this job. When the ring went missing, I was so angry I blamed the first person I could.” He blows a stream of air through his lips. “I’m sorry, Raegan.”

I toss the card onto his desk. “You’re full of shit. I can see right through your little plan. I’m not as gullible as you think.”

He stands and tugs on my wrist as I turn to leave. “Raegan, please. Wait.” His hands trail up my arms and cup my shoulders. “The night we met, you read me and my friends in two seconds flat. I know you can tell when someone’s bullshitting you. I mean it when I say I’m done with this war we’ve been having. It’s over.”

Staring up into his eyes, I don’t know what to believe. He seems sincere, but after everything that’s happened, I don’t want to trust him. I don’t know if I can.

Still, he’s my boss and I’m tired of the drama at my place of work. If this is what it will take for things to go back to normal, then maybe I have to try.

I sigh. “Did you really think a bouquet of flowers was going to fix this?”

His hands drop to his sides, shoulders slumping forward. “No. I have to start somewhere though.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Tangible items mean nothing to me. Hence me telling you over and over again that I didn’t steal the ring.”

“Then what matters to you? What do I have to do to gain your trust?”

“Just be nice, Jaxon. Be a good human. Do good for our school. That’s all I want from you.”

“What about this?” He bends down behind his desk and comes back up with my long-lost shoe in his hand.

Before I can say anything, the bell rings. So I snatch my shoe out of his grip and walk out of his office.

During my lunch break, I hit up the Starbucks drive-thru.

I’ve been thinking about Jaxon’s truce all morning. I tried putting myself in his shoes. He invites a stranger into his home, and then his grandmother’s ring goes missing. Any logical person would assume the stranger took it. Then said stranger turns out to be his employee … of course he’d go crazy trying to get the ring back.

Jaxon doesn’t know me. The real me. Why should he take my word when I say I didn’t steal from him?