“You don’tknow?” Flynn snaps. “If you’d been paying more attention instead ofstealingfrom me, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess!” He stops, looking over at me.
“Who the fuckisthis?” Scott bellows. “Nobody has told me a goddamn thing, but suddenly he’s paid the debt to Monroe. What are you, a fucking millionaire or something?”
“Something like that,” I retort.
Scott hasn’t uttered a word of thanks for what I did, just rage and accusations. As much as I know Jax loves her brothers, it’s starting to piss me off.
“And how does she even know you?” Scott demands.
“I’m her fucking boyfriend,” I say decisively, and Flynn’s head whips around to me.
What the hell am I doing?
“The fuck you are.”
“If you think I did this for anyone else but your sister, then you’re more stupid than you look.”
“You just want to own my club; this has nothing to do with Jax,” Flynn says bitterly.
“I saved yourass, you idiot,” I grind out. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and do some damage control.”
“You stay the fuck away from my sister,” Flynn says, rising from his chair.
“Make me,” I bite back, and he hesitates, glancing at Scott.
Finally, Flynn scoffs. “She’s not going to want anything to do with you, anyway.”
“We’ll see about that,” I say as I stride up the stairs after her, my heart thumping in my chest as I pray that he’s wrong.
I walk up the rickety stairs, past the peeling wallpaper, and the clothes piled high in the hallway in front of a stackable washer and dryer that looks like it’s seen better days.
I can hear Ben and Seb talking to one another in a room to my left. There’s a purple door with a dream catcher on it further down the hall, and I head for it, opening it without knocking and striding inside.
“Hey!”
Jax spins around from the window, half undressed, and she attempts to cover herself with her hands.
I close the door behind me as she advances. Her eyes are flashing fire, her right hook coming back instinctively, but I’m ready for it this time as I grab her fist in mine, flipping her around and pulling her back against my chest in one motion.
“Calm down,” I say in a low voice, holding her steady as she claws at me.
“Get. The fuck. Off me.”
“I will when you calm down,” I whisper into her ear.
I feel her shiver before she shoves back against me, slamming me into the wall as the breath is forced from my lungs.
I cling to her as she uses my arms as leverage to lift her legs up and starts kicking out, trying to break my hold. It takes all my strength, but I manage not to let go. I’m mindful of what she’s been through, and I don’t want to hurt her, but I’m terrified that if I let go, it will be the end between us.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she spits, wrenching at my arms, but after the initial explosion, the tension in her muscles slowly dissipates as exhaustion takes over. Very slowly, I release her.
She immediately steps away from me, glancing down self-consciously at her state of undress. She quickly moves to the bed, pulling on a fluffy black cardigan that had been draped over one of the pillows.
“What do you want?” she says, tugging it around her body. Now that I’m closer to her, I can see the bruising on her legs from where they threw her into the van.
“Are you hurt?” I ask, berating myself for manhandling her that way.
“Would you fuck off? I need to shower.”
