Page 21 of Jax

I looked down at the beast at my feet, pocketing my hair tie in my jeans. “Where in the hell do I put my feet?”

Jax snorted and I shot him a glare. “Sit your ass down first, Ronnie.”

“Veronica.” I snapped but did as instructed, lifting my leg and swinging it over the bike. I had tried to do it with amazing balance, but I didn’t have such a thing and ended up having to grab Jax’s shoulder to steady myself before dropping my ass hard onto the saddle—or whatever the biking equivalent of a saddle was.

As soon as I was on, I realized how little room the seat had. Sitting as far back as possible, there was only an inch of room between the crotch of my jeans and Jax’s ass.

Too busy staring at his ass, I jumped a little when I saw Jax lean and his arms reach back to the side of the bike. Near where my feet were planted either side of the vehicle, he reached in and tugged two little metal pegs from out of each side.

So that’s where my feet went.

I propped them up one by one, my leg protesting at the movement on my right side, but not enough that I wasn’t able to ignore it.

“Hold on.”

“To what?” I scoffed. “There ain’t no reins on this thing.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a scoff or a sigh, but when Jax’s huge hands caught mine, his harsher callouses rubbing along the back of my hands, it made my breath hitch. He tugged me forward, the distance between my crotch and his ass disappearing as I was plastered to his back and my arms were wrapped around his stomach.

Heat from his back spread over every inch of me, and I could swear to God he felt my shudder at the sensation because his body went still. Very still. He was tense and my boobs pressing against his back, my skin sticking to the back of his leather, didn’t help the situation.

The tension was only growing higher until all of a sudden, the roar of the engine cut through the night and I almost screamed in surprise. Vibrations rose up from beneath me, and my hands were now clinging to Jax’s stomach, his hard muscles only inches from my hands tensing beneath my touch. If I could get any closer to him I would, because this was so different from riding a horse. Way different.

“Hold on tight,” Jax yelled over the roaring sound and backed out of the lot.

That was the only thing I was planning to do.

Jax turned the handles and with it, we leaned to one side before rolling out of the exit and out onto the road.

For a few seconds, I hadn’t thought it was that bad. Even when we started to pick up speed and the wind began to tug at my hair, I thought I might enjoy it.

Until we didn’t stop gaining speed.

“Jax!” I screamed over the engine’s howl as the open highway flew beneath my feet. I was practically wrapped all around him and my leg was aching hard as I pushed my feet harder into the pegs, keeping me pinned between the metal and Jax as much as I could. “Slow down!”

He sped up.

We jolted forward, and I caught a glimpse of the speedometer. I saw the little red dial passing one-hundred and thought it best not to look again.

“Lean!” Jax yelled, and I didn’t have a chance to argue with him when I saw the huge bend coming up fast in front of us.

We hit it going faster than we should and Jax’s body flung to one side, dragging me along with him as the bike nearly fell flat to the left, my arm so close to the pavement that I could feel the slight heat of the tarmac. I felt the scream welling up inside me, but I didn’t have the breath to let it out. Instead the fear just shuddered through me as my grip became akin to a death grip on his sides.

I should never have gotten on this death trap!

We pulled up almost abruptly as the corner finished, and I couldn’t even bring myself to breathe, traumatized by what he was doing. All I could manage was to bury my nose into his leather and pray that I wouldn’t fall off.

But the ride was over just as quickly when we pulled into the motel parking lot and screeched to a stop, burning rubber filling my nose. I realized I was panting but hadn’t quite the courage to move yet from my position, wrapping like a monkey around the only sturdy thing on this contraption. I wasn’t even entirely sure I could feel my legs enough to move them.

When I did gain any kind of energy, I made sure I had my priorities sorted. “You’re a bastard.” My frown firmly fixed on my face and pointed at his back, I was ready to give him all the scoldings his mother never did.

Said bastard ignored me, which I realized was starting to become a habit of his.

He took breath and released it in an audible huff before he peeled my hands from around him. I was stiff and didn’t want to move, but I doubted Jax would appreciate a human backpack, especially coming from me, and, despite my reluctance, I let go.

He was up off the seat fast and swift, clearly unaffected by his frightening driving, and waited while I slowly unhooked my boots from the pegs, and stood up, my muscles protesting as they were stretched beyond their tensed state.

“Thanks,” I grumbled, damning my southern manners my pa had drilled into me with a firm hand, even though I was feeling everything but thankful for the ride. Not for the attitude.

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