JAXON
We’re moving in this weekend, tomorrow, and I’m worried about her snapping again or slipping into an attack.
So when we’re done with the day and I see her cleaning things and double checking her records, I walk over. I make sure she hears me, my footsteps echoing. I clear my throat too and she turns around.
“Hi, Jax.”
I wrap my arms around her and kiss her cheek. “You went a whole day without panicking.”
She winces, then shakes her head. “Coach Carpenter scared me and I had to do the box-breathing exercise thing that Jo taught me, which made me mad. I guess mad is a good way to deal with anxiety.”
“That’s still better, right?”
She pauses. “I don’t know. I’m focusing on the good. That’s what I’m supposed to do, I think. We’re moving into a new place that I’m excited for. I’m actually hungry lately. I don’t scream when people touch me.”
“All good things,” I say, despite that continued whisper in my head,Not yours to protect.
I shake it off and offer to go home with Hope. She’s still not driving, but she’s stayed firm on not being squished in the backseat. I see her hesitate since we both know that Dimitri and Knox aren’t thrilled with each other, but Coach has them going over plays.
“They’ll be a while.”
“Could we start moving stuff early?” she asks. “We’re not doing the furniture, so just what we can fit in the car?”
I know she’s eager. Something about leaving the apartment has her thrilled, so I nod. I’d do anything to keep her smiling. And to notice her nightmares starting to lessen. It’s not a huge improvement, but she’s stopped fighting me. She still screams, but she doesn’t fight as hard. She hasn’t been bruising me or scratching me open. I’ve even been tempted to put my piercings back in.
We go home, get her a snack, then start packing the car. When she bends over to put a box in, I stare shamelessly at her ass in the leggings. I have a feeling having sex in this position is out, but the view is so good.
She wiggles a little and grunts while trying to get all the boxes to fit the way she wants and I groan. She pauses, then looks at me over her shoulder. “Really, Jax?”
“I like what I like. I like your ass and the sounds you make,” I say with a shrug.
“Just… stuff the car,” she orders.
“Stuffing is definitely on my mind,” I say with a wink.
Her face goes scarlet, then she points at me. “Stop that.”
“You’ve felt me hard against you and didn’t say a word. Keep teasing me and I’ll start thinking you want it again,” I tease.
Teasing is better than half the shit on my mind lately, so I’m happy to lean into it. I pinch her ass playfully, pushing her limits just to see how far I can go.
She doesn’t end up going back up to the apartment, because I just keep bringing boxes down to watch her shimmy and get them into the car. She finally hits me with a pillow. “You’re being an ass!”
“Am I?”“I’m doing half the heavy lifting and the pushing and pulling and everything! Why aren’t you helping!”
“I handled the stairs. I might need a whole-body massage. You are a physical therapist, right? I might have pulled something in my lower back, maybe my upper thigh.”
She keeps bickering with me, finding other reasons to argue as we drive to the new apartment. We grab some boxes, then she holds the elevator as I nearly brick her into place with boxes.
“Jax!” she yells as I pick her up in my arms and toss her over my shoulder.
“You’re the only important thing to get into the apartment,” I say.
She swats my ass hard, making me groan, and my cock twitches in my pants.
“Stop torturing me, sweetheart,” I banter and step into the new apartment.
She grumbles something under her breath and I slide her down my body. Her body goes rigid, but I don’t stop, not until I know she feels how hard I am for her again.
