“Yes. He always was. Turns out my worry-wart older brother had already told him a million different ways to get back if the ground shifted too much for plan A.”
“You’re being a dick.”
“I know. It’s my coping mechanism. Sound familiar?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Just be okay, Tanner. We love you.”
“We?”
“Yeah. Me. Eve. Jax. That crazy chick with the curly hair who keeps wiping her eyes on my favorite shirt.”
Molly. A laugh bubbles somewhere inside me. It can’t get out just yet, but I cling to the feeling until Gabi’s bitching sends me back to sleep.
* * *
Jax
Tanner is so fucking strong. He handles every debilitating symptom his injuries throw at him, and even the concussion that made him so sick when he first woke up doesn’t keep him down for long. After four days of sketchy consciousness, I come to the hospital at the arsecrack of dawn to find him sitting up in bed, wide awake and waiting for me.
“Hey.” I slip through the door and cross the room in two strides. “You’re awake.”
“I am,” he agrees. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
I almost choke on the words, and he hears me. He reaches his good arm for me and pulls me into the closest thing to a hug he can manage right now. He doesn’t tell me everything’s okay, thathe’sokay, he just holds me as long as he can, which isn’t all that long.
He wavers. I help him ease back against the pillows and take a seat on his bed. It’s a far better view than the one I’ve had from the uncomfortable chairs beside him. Fuck those bastards.
I stroke Tanner’s face, enjoying the alertness in his hooded eyes. “How long have you been up?”
“Dunno.” He leans into my touch. “I was thinking about you and here you are.”
He doesn’t make as much sense as his bright gaze has led me to hope, but it’s cute as fuck, and I’ve never thought of Tanner as cute. Beautiful, kind, funny, and hotter than the earth’s core. But never cute.
I like it.
“What are you grinning about?” Tanner’s hand is on my face too. He’s rubbing my cheekbone with his rough thumb, and it feels so fucking amazing I close my eyes to it. I’ve missed his voice, and his arms around me, but perhaps it’s moments like these that I’ve missed the most. Tanner might not make a habit of being cute, but he’s tactile and sweet, and I’ve grown way too dependent on his touch.
“Hey.” Tanner’s thumb stops moving. “Whatever you’re thinking, try and flip it, okay? Nothing else bad is going to happen.”
“What? Like, ever?”
“Can’t promise that, but everything about this, about you and me? Yeah. It’s all good, Jax. I love you.”
I already knew it. Gabriel blew the whistle four days ago—fourlongdays that have felt like a year. But hearing Tanner say it is something else. It blasts through the angst, making my eyes feel scratchy, and I take a sharp breath to catch it. “You love me?”
“Yeah. Does that scare you?”
“No.” I shake my head slowly. “It didn’t scare me when I realized I love you too. Then this happened, and I had to think about what it would be like if I never got the chance to tell you…properly, I mean, not in a garbled text message I was too dumb to say in person before I left.”
“You’re not dumb.”
“I am sometimes. Maybe if I wasn’t, we’d have had this conversation a month ago, and I wouldn’t have to live with the fact that I’ve pushed you away so many times.”
“You never pushed me away. There’s no shame in needing space, Jax. Fuck, man, I know that feeling.”
