I think I’m closing the distance when my foot hits something loose. By the time I look up again, he’s gone. I slow down, my heart pounding for a whole other fucking reason.Forget Dean, I just made myself the new target.I reach down and grab the first solid thing my hand finds, hoping the rock is heavy enough.
I move slower now, listening. “Dean,” I call again, lower this time. “This isn’t funny.”
I turn around just as a shadow swings hard. Pain detonates, white light explodes across my vision, and my knees buckle. I try to turn, but another hit sends the world tilting sideways before everything goes black.
Forty-Six
NOW | SISK
Ican tell Jax is still exhausted by the way his breathing keeps hitching, his body jerking every now and then like he’s still fighting something in his sleep. He’s huge. Powerful. A man who could probably level this entire city if he wanted to, but right now, half-passed-out on my chest, he feels… fragile. And fully human.
I run my fingers through his thick hair, and he melts into me like he’s been waiting for my permission to rest.It should be illegal to have hair this good.
“You know I love you, right?” I whisper.
He’s so far gone he barely forms the words. “Monster and all?”
A smile spreads across my lips as I keep stroking his hair. “Monster and all.”
He drifts off again and I hold him tighter. As much as he hates himself for what he is, I know some part of this is on me. Maybe all of it. And if I could go back—back to that night—I would have never asked him to come with me.
At some point, exhaustion wins. My eyes slip closed with Jax still curled against me.
The sound of a fist hammering the door wakes me up. Jax is already swearing against my chest.
O’s voice booms through the door. “This isn’t a damn hotel! Either start helping or go home!”
Jax groans, voice rough with sleep. “Five minutes, old man. Some of us almost died yesterday.”
“If you’re alive enough to complain, you’re alive enough to work.” O barks back, footsteps stomping away.
I laugh, and Jax lifts his head to glare at me before his mouth finds mine. Lazy at first, then not lazy at all.
One second, I’m lost in the kiss. The next, my brain just screams one word. “Scotch!”
Jax pulls back with a gasp. “You okay? What did I do?”
“What? No!” I blink. “The dog.”
He stares at me. “…the dog?”
“Who’s watching him?”
He drops his forehead to my shoulder and groans. “Fuuuck. We need a new safe word.”
I laugh. “I forgot!”
“He’s fine,” Jax mutters. “Matt watches him when I disappear.”
“Disappear? As in magic disappear?”
He snorts. “No. As in gone too long. Happens sometimes.”
“…right.”
He moves to kiss my neck, his breath warm on my skin, but then curiosity wins.
“So what else can you do?” I ask.
