“Took me years,” I say, before realizing I’m whispering. “Time for muscle relaxers?”
“Yeah. It is,” she says, then kisses over my heart again, making my whole body vibrate violently.
“You’re a vixen, you know that? Got me all worked up. My poor cock is going to fall off if you keep this up.”
She chuckles. “You have a hand.”
“It’s not as good as even kissing you, Hope. You’ve got to know that. I love having you here, living with you, and I’m being patient the best way I can, but I’m not going to pretend I don’t want you in every way,” I say.
She looks at me over her shoulder. “You hump me in your sleep, Jax. I’m very aware of what you want.”
“That explains the dreams,” I say with a smirk, refusing to elaborate, which makes her blush even more.
She manages to get me settled with my pills and gets food in me before I pass out. The drugs are no joke. I know they’re supposed to help with inflammation and the pain, but damn, they’re brutal. There’s no fighting them either. I just end up asleep either way.
I almost think it’s Hope’s plan to keep me manageable, but I’ll tolerate it. I’ll tolerate plenty, although I think she should start feeding me the pills from her tongue. That would make them taste a hell of a lot better.
But something drags me from my groggy dream of Hope riding my face and moaning my name. My whole body feels primed for a fight and for some reason, the scent of too much cologne in the air and a specific laugh help me to the surface of my consciousness just for me to want to dive back under… because I know exactly what this shit is going to cause.
I’ve been tempted by violence to the point that I’m about to tip.
And all it takes is seeing a certain very punchable face for me to be on the brink again.
HOPE
I stare at the stranger in our apartment. My mouth opens and closes as I watch Dimitri and Knox welcome him, offer him a beer, and chuckle along when he makes jokes.
I remember reaching out to some people about Jax when he was in the hospital, but it was mainly the guys, Coach Carpenter, and Jax’s parents. I start noticing some similarities. They have the same eyes, the same color hair, the same ears.
Oh shit.
Jax blinks himself awake and narrows his eyes at his brother for a long moment, then snorts. I walk over to him as I catch the end of a conversation.
“Yeah, it’s been too long. I figured you guys would have come back to town with Coach missing. A lot of us are looking for him, you know. The idea of him being missing is insane,” Gauge says solemnly.
My back stiffens, but I sit right next to Jax. “Hey. Are you awake?”
“Hopefully fucking not.” His eyes flick to his brother, to Knox nodding along as if Knox doesn’t know exactly where my dad is, then to me.
His hand works across my lower back, then he wraps his arm around me. “Stay right here.”
“Jax, it’s—”
His eyes scorch through me. “Right. Here. Do not go further than I can reach, Hope.”
The way his voice deepens, how he searches my eyes, how pale he is… I gently press my wrist to his forehead and rub his arm. “I’m not going anywhere with anyone else.”
“You want a beer, bro?” Gauge calls. “A good way to start our reunion, right?”
“He can’t drink with the meds he’s on.” I squeeze Jaxon’s wrist.
I don’t know what’s going on. The guys always said that Jax and Gauge were close until some point in high school. I figured it was theother thingsgoing on between us or Gauge going off to college.
“Well, I heard you’re out for a bit and wanted to stop by,” Gauge continues, moving closer. His eyes dance over me and Dimitri rolls his eyes. “You look familiar.”
“Come on, Gauge. Keep looking at our girl too long and you’ll end up out on your ass. Some shitty hotel might put you up,” Knox says with a playful tone.
“Oh, aren’t you the lucky one. Three guys all to yourself,” Gauge chuckles. “Anyway, Jax. How are you? Your head all rattled?”
