Page 56 of Jax

Thunder crashed louder above us, and the sunlight was swallowed by freak clouds, dark with rain. It started as a light pitter, but soon I could feel the hard pellets of water beating down on my skin, drenching me in seconds and irritating the pain rushing down my side.

Flashes burst after the rolls of thunder as Jax helped me to my feet, and my already racing heartbeat thudded against my chest, sending painful waves down my sides as it beat out its panicked melody on the inside of my ribs. “Shit,” I huffed, struggling to catch my breath between the waves of nearly incapacitating pain.

“Come on,” Jax urged, lifting my arm and stretching my muscles, causing a disembodied shriek to push through my gritted teeth. “Shit, sorry, Ronnie,” Jax apologized as I felt his body dip and his arm slide underneath my wet thighs.

“Wait, what about Max?” I yelled through the rush of the rain water.

I could hear her wailing and through the thick downpour of rain, I could barely keep my eyes open to spot her. Not knowing where she was, but hearing her panic only made my anxiety worsen. I gripped tightly onto Jax’s shoulder, my muscles tensing and causing the pain to rise. The adrenaline coursing through my veins seemed to only be inviting more pain into my consciousness rather than blacking out. As we got further away, it was as if Max’s distress only got louder.

“Jax!” I cried. “We need to go back for Max!”

He didn’t listen, his body continuing to jog through the rain.

“JAX!” I called his name over and over, but with each pound of the ground, my pain only grew worse and time seemed to drag on, never ending before the downpour of rain went from drowning to an echoing crashing.

I looked up, water pouring from my face, and the tinned roof that stretched high above me let me know exactly where we were

“The barn?” I grumbled, feeling disorientated and dizzy.

“It’s closer than the house,” Jax whispered, his face distorted and darkened in the unlit barn.

For a moment, he leaned forward and I felt gravity pulling me back. The sensation of near falling jolted my body upright and I hissed in pain.

“Don’t jerk like that,” Jax chastised. “I’m going to lay you down now, okay?”

I forced myself to relax and couldn’t help the groan as I felt the bed of hay numbly prodding and poking into my sides. Whoever thought hay was a suitable bed was an idiot.

“…Max?” I heaved in a heavy, gasping breath.

“I’m going to get her now, stay there.”

“Trust me,” I huffed, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Jax shook his head. “Smartass.”

My head began to loll. I was aware I was dancing on the edge of consciousness, the pain wanting to push me down underneath the surface, but my mind fought to stay awake.

I can’t fall asleep.

I need to help Max.

I need….

I ne….

* * *

“Come on, Max.”I laughed, pressing my heels into her side. Encouragement wasn’t needed, however, as Max took off from her slow canter into her powerful gallop. The evening breeze brushed through my hair, the cool mountains sending a whipping wind across my skin. I clung with my chilled fingers to Max’s warm mane, my hips moving in rhythm with the roll of her body.

The reins that jingled by Max’s side, and the stirrups that held my feet at her waist and the casual saddle were all we had between us, and it felt as thin as tissue paper in moments like this.

The sense of freedom that surged through me had my heartbeat racing but not in fear or anxiety.

I leaned forward, feeling the soft whip of her mane against my skin and took in the deep breath of wet iron mud.

Wait. What?

I looked up to the pouring sky, dark, beaded raindrops falling from the black clouds, darker than any storm I’d seen before.

---