Page 129 of Jax

“I was right beside you for most of your life. You were just a blind dumbass.”

“I was.” I nodded in agreement. No point in trying to pretend like I wasn’t anymore. The young, inexperienced dumbass that I was couldn’t tell that the stubborn, foul-mouthed brat beside me would be my perfect woman.

“I shouldn’t be too hard on my past self,” I grumbled, thinking back. “How was I supposed to know you were a diamond in the rough when you were so….”

I howled, flinging my head back and my body jerking away from the devilish woman. My arm throbbed with a hot burn, and I wanted to wrap my hand around it and squeeze away the pain, but that would just rub the disinfecting alcohol in more.

Ronnie glared at me, upside down bottle in hand, without the slightest bit of regret in her eyes. “I faced the devil himself to get you; don’t make me regret it.”

I smiled, watching her grumble as she began searching for paper towels to clean up the puddle on the floor. She turned her back to me, the short length of hair swiping her shoulders as she looked down the top of the empty towel dispenser.

The jerk of her sides vibrated through my hands, her stiff spine going from rigid to relaxed against my chest, the slight thrum of her pulse under the softest graze of my lips over her nape. “Thank you,” I whispered, my breath rolling over her skin. Small goose bumps appeared over the surface, “for being here.” I pressed a gentle kiss on top of them. “And for letting me apologize for being so late. Both for waking up for you, and for us making up.”

“I suppose it’s better late than never.” Ronnie sighed, turning in my arms until I was forced to pull back my head and stare down at her face. Bandages peeked from under her shirt. The beating Jacob had given her left her with three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a cracked collarbone, and dislocated elbow. Her hair had singed all the way up to her shoulders. For what had happened, it could have been worse. But to even see a single hair out of place on her brought forth a heavy weight on my shoulders that I’d never felt before. That I’d never be able to describe. I wouldn’t have known what it was, if I hadn’t seen that same weight on the shoulders of my brothers before. On Hunter’s. On Wolf’s.

“Jax,” Ronnie’s soft, warm palm pressed against the bone of my cheek. “You’re cold.” She frowned, reaching up with her other hand and pressing it against my other cheek. She cupped my face in her small hands, one rough with callouses, the other covered by a squishy burn patch.

“Don’t worry,” I replied, reaching up to brush a short strand that had gotten caught on her lip.

“About what?” Ronnie tilted her head to one side. “If it’s about Jaco—”

“I said don’t worry,” I persisted, my fingers catching her chin. I could see the slightest tension that swelled when his name began to cross her lips, and if I had the power, I would quash those feelings inside of her. I would erase that very name from her mind. And erase everything that came along with it from her memories.

But I didn’t have that kind of power.

“Jax!” Ronnie snapped, the sharp pinch of my cheek making jolt from the depth of my mind.

“Why must you keep hurting me, woman?” I hissed, jerking away from her.

“You stopped listening to me!” she snapped back, stomping her foot on the ground with the bare minimum force she could.

“Why can’t you just kiss me to get my attention like any other woman?”

“Because you may be my sleeping beauty, but you should listen to me even when I’m not kissing you.” Ronnie’s lips grew into a full pout, her hands thrown over her chest.

“How long are you going to keep calling me your princess?” I grumbled, mimicking her stance. It wasn’t that I felt like my masculinity was threatened, but it also wasn’t playing to my ego as much as being hermanwould be. “Call me your old man like everyone else.”

“I would if he didn’t act like a princess all the time!”

“Okay, okay!” A sweet, high-pitched voice broke through our bickering. I turned to see the parade of women marching their way into the hospital suite. “I think that’s enough.” Anna turned, her hands propped on her hips, eyes daring us to start up again, just to see what would happen.

If I were any normal man, I would be turned on by that gaze, even with my woman right next to me. However, I wasn’t a normal man, and my woman was right next to me. And this was Anna.

“All right, that’s my cue to get out of here then,” I grumbled, reaching for my shirt that had been abandoned on the bed. I taped the fresh gauze pad around my wrists, without causing myself too much pain before I jerked on my shirt.

I grabbed my cut and swung it over my shoulders. I marched my way back over to my woman, who had long since forgotten about me and was fawning over what I could guess was photos of Max from the nearby veterinarian clinic. I had sent the girls over there earlier hoping to give myself a little bit more time with her before they invaded like they no doubt would—and did.

“Woman, I’m leaving,” I announced, pulling my jacket tight around myself, even having the audacity to lower my head for her.

“Okay, bye.” Ronnie flapped a waving hand at me, not breaking her gaze from Anna’s phone.

Anna snickered.

“Woman!” I snapped, the heat of annoyance burning in my chest. I stomped right up toward her until I was pushing into her side. “Kiss your man, goodbye.”

“You can have one later,” Ronnie huffed, cutting her vision to give me a glare for interrupting her fawning over the fat mare. In the three weeks she’d been at the clinic getting treated for the tiniest of burns when the fire had spread to the barn, she had gained several pounds and grown plump in her ass. She had slammed me when I was giving her a damn check a couple days ago when I’d snuck out of the hospital! If I’d had my way, I’d be eating BBQ horse right about now.

“How about I have one now and another one later?” I compromised, reminding myself that Max had saved Ronnie’s life once before, and that Ronnie had been incredibly worried about her. Apparently, she had been mumbling about her and me all the way to the hospital. My brothers had managed to get to the barn before the flames got too good a hold on it and had tried to round up the crazy beast. Half of them ended up accompanying us to the hospital afterward.

---