“It’s one of the ways he makes sure you don’t burn the resort down, man,” Cash jeers.
Maddox sets the platter of sandwiches on the table. “Probably the same reason Papa Axe doesn’t cook.”
It’s most apparent that Axel is more of a father than a brother when the younger ones ban together like this. It makes me miss Rena.
Axel whips off his glasses and grunts, “Not the time.”
“La Lune Noire is fine.” Jax sighs, blowing that off. “It was just me.”
Ryker freezes while setting the table. “What the hell did you do?”
“Set myself on fire,” Jax answers.
There is a chorus of unhappy responses to that, which Jax breezes on past.
He picks up Remy, shaking his head at him. “It was pretend. Fire is dangerous.” Then he leers at Axel and Ryker. “I studied with those stunt guys for, like, three years. I’m fine. She overreacted. It wasfreakingsick.”
Maddox mumbles something about the Underground to Cash that I don’t catch, and a second later, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen blares from Cash’s pocket, which has Maddox and me chuckling and Ryker scowling. I never even saw Cash’s phone in his hands.
“But why?” Axel growls, ignoring the theme music and pinching the bridge of his nose, like he’s going to explode, though he’s still fairly composed. “The poor woman was scared to death.”
Jax’s jaw sharpens, and his dark blue hazels teem with bone-deep pain I recognize. “She insisted on early appointments … even though I’d told her repeatedly everything was too fresh in the morning. Didn’t freaking matter. She wanted to know what I felt like when I woke up … so I showed her.”
Not much can render this group mute, but that did it.
Jax moseys toward the table with Remy still in his arms and gives me a hug, whispering in my ear, “It always hurts most after a great night, huh?”
I’m as stunned speechless as the rest of them now. Because that is exactly how it is for me. The shards are always sharper after walking on a plush blanket of bliss.
He plops down with Remy in his lap, grabs a sandwich, and grins at me, as if nothing out of the ordinary transpired. “Can I dye his hair blue?”
MERCY
Ryker asked me to go to dinner with him tonight, but I declined because my head was so fucked up. One second, I feel him touching me. His tongue, his fingers, his strong arms coiled around me, and his scruffy face between my thighs. The next, I’m mowed over by all the reasons this terrifies me, all the ways it keeps the past alive, all the secrets whispering between us.
So, after Remy passed out at seven, Axel assured me he’d be working in the penthouse all night, so I was free to do whatever. Instead of having dinner with Ryker, I let Jax drag me away to hang out in his private lounge. It has an eclectic, vintage vibe with brick walls, blue leather furniture, vibrant art, and one-way windows that show the tattoo shop, the piercing boutique, and another entrance to Noire Underground.
While the employees can’t see us, we have a view of them hustling. Even the hushed areas are hopping with life.
Jax just got done telling me that he comes alive at night. He’s got clients this evening and apparently a waiting list that’s at least six months long. Members book here for the unique tattoos he and his staff offer.
“Here.” He passes me a joint, the pungent stench wafting around us. “You’ll like this. Sativa. Energizes. Increases creativity.”
I take it. Why not? Nothing else is working to bring me clarity.
“You happy to be back?” he asks while I’m sucking in a hit.
After blowing out a plume of smoke, I return it to him. “In some ways. I missed you all, but it’s confusing. And complicated.”
“Shit here is always fucking complicated,” he murmurs.
The buttery leather cushion hugs me as I relax into it, my gaze jumping to Tessa and Maddox near a piercing chair, having a spirited discussion—or argument—before I turn back to Jax. “I can see that.”
His lips part as if he’s readying himself to share something. Jax often has a slight delay before he speaks or between his words, like he’s processing.
“Ryker … he’s … intense. Hebulldozesbecause he cares.” He pauses, but when I don’t interject anything regarding the bulldozing reference, he continues, “Would it feel as complicated if he hadn’t been called away to deal with the fight between the cheaters?”
“Cheaters?”
