Page 12 of Jax

Jax pulled on the large wooden front door. It swung open with unexpected ease.

“No. Sometimes I help out up here for old man Pete when he needs it.” Jax reached for the screen next. “He let me open one of the fields for Max.”

“That’s nice,” I mumbled, waiting as he stepped inside a small hallway and leaving me to follow him. He didn’t even hold the door for me…not that I cared.

The house was just as I expected. The second I stepped over the threshold, it was like stepping back into an early 19thcentury house. I smelled the light, musty perfume of the natural oak floors, a warm and welcoming scent. Aged, black-and-white photos decorated the walls in an abundance of different photo frames of varying sizes. Floral wallpaper lined the walls and the wooden staircase was adorned in a faded, pale blue wash with small hand-painted petals and leaves decorating the banister. I was so enamored by the character that I hadn’t realized I paused at the entry way until I heard Jax’s harsh cough.

I followed him into the kitchen.

“Sit.” He gestured to the wooden table, then positioned himself in front of the small kitchen window, and I pulled out a shabby chic wooden chair and sank on the plump, floral cushion.

He hooked one foot behind his ankle and crossed his arm over his chest, revealing his forearm wrapped in a white bandage. I moved my gaze down to my hands, resting interlocked on the table and waited for him to join me. He didn’t.

“I need you here,” Jax said, and I felt my whole existence stutter.

“W- what?” My heart jumped.

“As much as I don’t want to be around you,” he explained, and my mind caught up with rapid speed, “if I’m going to help Max, you need to be here too.”

“I see,” I whispered, pretending I didn’t feel that pathetic squeeze in my chest. Jax’s help was only until Max got better, and once she was better we had to leave. I’d seen Jackson pull the riders into the recovery process time and time again, and I’m not sure why I expected anything different. He’d put our difference aside to help Max. “That’s fine.”

“I also need you to tell me what happened.”

I faltered. Images rushed past my vision and in an instant I was there. I could hear the rain, and Max’s terrified cries. My hand rubbed against my right thigh, trying to rub away the ache that began to radiate inside it.

I took a minute to wait for the anxiety to subside and my breath to calm. I knew this would happen. Knew he’d want to know what happened to Max. But facing this moment was a lot more stressful than I anticipated as I tried to organize my thoughts. All I had to say was what I needed to…nothing more, nothing less.

I’m not sure how long I sat there, trying to dig my way out of the emotions, but when I did, I found my eyes moving to Jax’s. His body language had done a complete one-eighty. He was no longer leaning against the window, calm and observant. He was now straight as a board, eyes dark and watching every single inch of movement. There was a pulse of energy radiating from him and into me and I couldn’t face it, turning my head back to the reclusive neutrality of the white table.

“It was raining when I found her…,” I said, the sound of thunder and lightning rumbling in a distant place in my mind. “She was near River Tree Bay on the outskirts of the property. There was so much blood in the rain, on the grass, and on her body. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it was just…everywhere.” My head shook down at the white table, hands shaking into fists. “She was just standing there… so quiet and still. It’s like she had just disappeared inside herself. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just took her by the reins, and I managed to get her back to the farm, and that’s when my father found us, and everything was a blur after that.”

I wiped against my eyes, trying to smother the tears that wanted to escape. No matter how many times I recounted the story, it didn’t get any easier.

I didn’t want to go into too much detail, and it was true that I didn’t remember much more of that night, though the reason hadn’t been shock.

“How did it get in?” he growled.

I startled in my seat as I was reminded of his presence.

“What?” I gawked, looking up at him, now only a few inches from where I sat. I didn’t hear him move, but his folded arms tucked his tight fists and his eyes were bearing down at me.

“How. Did. The. Animal. Get. In?” Jax repeated, punctuating each one of his words with a low growl.

“They told me they’d found a hole in the fence a couple feet up from where we—” I stumbled over my slip. “—where Max was. The animal must have chewed through it or—”

“They’reelectricfences, Ronnie,” Jax growled back, the timber of his voice raising my heart rate as I looked into his silent, bubbling eyes. The brown was almost black as they looked down at me, his lips pulling back, baring his clenched white teeth. “Animals don’t just chew through them.”

“Maybe it broke when the storm came in, or the power went out, or—”

Jax hissed, cutting me off. He let out a huge sigh, turning his body away from mine with remarkable speed as he threw his head to look up at the ceiling, muttering only a last, and obviously sarcastic, scoff under his breath. “Sure. Maybe.”

Some things didn’t change, and as I caught the dark glare in my direction, I held my breath. Jax looked beyond pissed and I wasn’t going to provoke him. Opening my mouth anymore would do just that.

I sat in silence for what felt like ten years before the creak of the floor made me jump.

“I got some shit to do,” Jax snapped, turning and power-walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway so abruptly that I wasted a precious few seconds of time before I threw myself out of my chair.

My leg jerked at the sudden movement, and I stumbled slightly into the doorframe. Jax paused and looked back at me.

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