I slide my window open as quietly as I can because Charlie is staying in the guest bedroom on the other side of my bedroom wall. “Hey, handsome.”
“Now that nickname I could get used to.” He smirks. “Can you help me? I’m getting too old for this sneaking around stuff.”
“You’re only twenty-five.”
“I hear that’s when things go downhill. You wouldn’t understand. You’re still so young.”
“I’m barely a year younger than you.” I giggle, offering him a hand.
“Oh, what I’d give to be twenty-three again.” He gives an exaggerated groan as he pulls himself through my window.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Talk to me when you’re my age. Then you’ll get it.” Once he’s through the window, he wraps me in his arms, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head before drawing back to look me in the eyes. “How’s my girl doing?”
“Better now that you’re here.”
I settle into the warmth of his touch, releasing a breath. I’m so grateful for Jax and his gentle comfort. Being in his arms relieves the weight of everything that was plaguing me moments ago. It’s as if I no longer have a single responsibility except to be cared for by him.
“I missed you.”
“We were with each other all day.” He squeezes me tight.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know. I missed you too.”
In an instant, his lips are on mine. In our frenzy to showeach other how much we mean to each other, I bump against my dresser, a surprised squeak escaping me. Jax chuckles as he maneuvers me to safety, but then there’s a knock on the door.
“Is everything okay in there?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jax
“What’s all that noise?”Charlie asks.
Lauren moves quickly, shoving me into her closet and closing the door. As I’m thrust into the darkness, I trip over her shoes, unfortunately adding to the noise.
On the other side of the door, I can still make out slightly muffled voices.
“What’s up?” Lauren sounds guilty as hell as she swings her door open. I can already picture Charlie narrowing his brows at her in suspicion.Come on, Freckles! This is not how I want him to find out.
“I heard something. Thought I’d check on you.”
“You still don’t trust that I’m okay, huh?”
“No, that’s not it. I just could’ve sworn I heard someone else.” Charlie’s voice grows louder like he’s stepped into her room. “It sounded like you were hurt.”
“Oh, I was just going through my to-do list for tomorrow. I like to say it all out loud. Then I stubbed my dang toe on my dresser.”
There’s prolonged silence. I can only assume Charlie is staring her down, trying to determine whether he should believe her.
“You said you don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying to you. The noise you heard was me bumping into my dresser. I’m fine.”
“You’ve been acting a little weird since I got home. Is there something in the water here?”
