Page 66 of Jax

A deep growl filled the room, and only one massive man could make that noise and he was sitting right in front of me.

I kept my head down, my own hand winding down the back of my neck, brushing aside the clinging strands of hair.

A tense moment passed, and Prez was looking at me when I turned my gaze back to him. Not Mint, nor Pretty. To me. “Do you think it’s the Black Jacks?”

I returned his stare, my brain going back to the state of the house when Pretty and I had snuck in.

“I—”

“Anatoli Ivanov?” Anna added as she wandered back in. “Can’t be sure. We still haven’t managed to track him. Been getting pings around the state, but that’s as close as we can get.”

Anna dropped her ass on Wolf’s armchair, his arm going around her waist until she gave it a sharp pinch with her nails. He hissed but otherwise refused to move it.

Some things just don’t change.

“I’ve got my feelers out and Charon’s also keeping tabs, but we can’t be sure. The mafia is getting angsty as well, but it’s open ears between us. We’ve been sharing any intel we’ve got.” Wolf jostled closer to his woman, and his gaze at me dropped. I had a feeling we’d be talking later.

“Still not going to be good if it turns out to be a Black Jack that dropped their man. They’re not gonna be happy it was one of our enemies, not theirs,” I added, rubbing a hand across the back of my neck, glad to be getting some feeling back into my skin. I was barely stopping myself from shivering like a little bitch in front of my brothers. “Not to mention, I’m not sure how I feel about Charon being involved in this.”

I didn’t like Charon. He was a slimy bastard and we never knew what he was thinking. With an unpredictable man like him who had all the power he wanted, it was damn sure there was a disaster waiting to happen.

“He’s not doing this as a favor,” Wolf growled, the look of disgust mirroring the one on my own face. I wasn’t the top of the list when it came to distaste for Charon. “He’s doing this because he wants to get his hands on the remaining Black Jack to get their bosses’ info. Or he’s just sticking his nose in our business to piss me off. Either way, this is off his own back.”

“I don’t trust the fucker as far as I can throw him. Off his own back or not,” I grumbled, unsure whether the unnerving sticky feeling I had was from my wet clothes clinging to me, or Charon’s delightful effect on my body.

Being taught to read animals was one thing. Humans were more complicated, but when it came down to it, they were animals too.

“I’m not president because I always agree with you, Jax. Suck it up.” Prez chided and I bit my tongue. I may have the same club seniority as Hunter or Lamb, but it still didn’t sit well being told off. I wasn’t a child.

I glared at my president, but instead of ignoring it, or dismissing me, he held my glare. And just in the corner of my eye, I saw his lip quirk.

I shook my head. “Bastard.” I rolled my eyes, tugging on my wet shirt. “I’m gonna go get changed.”

With a growl, I walked past the chair without a backward glance.

“Neanderthals, the lot of you,” Anna scoffed before hopping up off the chair and sashaying her ass right up behind mine. “He bites your head off and then you just leave. Just because he’s President? I’d have fried his balls. Sell them, buy one, get one free,” she grumbled, tracing my wet footprints with her own shoes all the way to my door.

“What?” I peeked at her over my shoulder as I headed down the hallway. I could see her petite figure frowning at my sopping clothes.

“Don’t mind me.” She waved at me, catching my glare. “I just think you smell like a wet dog… or rather wet horse.”

“Stop prying,” I grumbled, coming to my door. I heard the click of her tongue at my jibe, but she didn’t take much mind. I must’ve hit the nail on the head. I loved her to hell and back, but she loved to poke her nose into my business way too much.

I swung it open and walked in, not bothering to shut it behind me.

Anna walked in without pausing, pushing through my dirty room with only a sneer or two in the direction of shirts and jeans dumped across the floor. She did pause, however, at the lacey panties hanging on my lamp. “When was the last time you cleaned your room?” she sneered. “I know for a fact you haven’t had girls in here in a while.”

I grabbed clothes from the dresser, giving them a sniff to check they were clean as I heard Anna’s pleased chirp. “I found the matching bra!”

“I haven’t been here in a while,” I answered her question as I opened the door only to find her using a pen to lift a pink bra up that had been peeking out from under the rug. She shrugged. “Girl’s got good taste. Wait… this is a different shade of pink.” Anna faked a disgusted gasp. “You dog!”

The only reason I knew it was faked was because she shuffled toward me and held up her palm. I rolled my eyes and gave her a light high five. “You’re weird as shit.”

“Tell me about it.” A deep, sarcastic growl came from the doorway.

Wolf’s brown eyes, worn deep into the grooves of his face, were unreadable as he rolled over the mess on the floor before his eyes landed on the firecracker he had been to war and back to make his. Although some could argue being with Anna was a new kind of war. I would agree with them.

“Woman,” Wolf growled, as Anna stopped stiff in the middle of the room. “Go check on my son.”

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