Page 127 of Jax

I braced my free hand on the side of the bed as Mallory pulled my hair back over my shoulder. Leaning in, I smelled the fresh sheets and antiseptic of the burn patches. The absence of his scent, the crisp summer grass, oil, and leather, made my heart wane.

I leaned further down, my lips just an inch from his. I took a moment to look at his closed eyes, and even if it was childish, even if it was stupid, I couldn’t help the little wish from inside of me.

Please…Please let this work….

My eyes fluttered closed, and with a soft breath, I pressed my lips against his. They were as soft as I remembered, and as I tasted his skin on my lips, a part of my heart fluttered. But when they didn’t move back, when they didn’t return my kiss, I felt my heart begin to sink.

This was stup—

I jerked back from the bed. My neck cried in pain at the sudden movement, but the hot heat and fury burning in my chest couldn’t be contained. I didn’t even think as I broke my arm from Mallory’s hold and swung.

I slapped him.

The sharp noise had the chair in the corner of the room screeching back as Hunter lurched from his chair.

“V!” Mallory squeaked in surprise.

Hunter took one look at me, and I’m sure my face was flushed bright red.

“What’s going—”

“You bastard!” I cried, glaring at the sick fucker laying in the bed.

Jax broke. His weak wheezing vibrated out of his chest as his body began to curl in hysteria.

“I hate you!” I cried, my fist coming down hard on his chest. Jax tried to fend against my fists, but his laughter took all his strength away from him. “I hate you! You’re a fucking bastard!” I cried, the tears streaming down my face.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, okay?” Jax laughed. “I woke up halfway through your conversation and I just… I couldn’t resist?”

He offered an innocent shrug.

“You’re a dick,” Hunter growled, turning and storming out of Jax’s hospital room without a second thought.

I’m sure he was off to make some call to his brothers about Jax’s marvelous recovery, but they’d be disappointed when they got back here to find out I suffocated his ass with a pillow.

Jax’s laugh dropped to a deep chuckle as his beautiful brown eyes turned sympathetic. “I’m sorry, okay?” He opened his arms as if expecting me to jump right into them. “Come here.”

“No,” I hissed. “I hate you. For real.”

His arm reached out despite my protest to his touch, and I tried to slap it away. It was pointless, however, as Mallory’s light shove on my back had my chest tipping forward.

I landed face-first into his chest and Jax’s arms locked like a vase around my back. He squeezed me tight, his laugh turning into a meek chuckle in my ear. “I’m sorry, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe,” I growled into his hospital gown, unable to stop my hands from curling up in the sheets. I buried my nose deeper into his chest, the rippling uneven vibration of his chest sending flushes of warm and relief down to my toes.

“Haven’t we made up now, though?” Jax mumbled into my ear, his cheek nuzzling into the side of my hair as he took a deep long breath. “I mean you’ve kissed me and slapped me. Isn’t that how couples normally make up?”

“Well I certainly don’t feel like apologizing to you anymore,” I mumbled into his chest, rubbing all sorts of snot and tears onto his gown.

Jax chuckled, a hand coming up to the back of my head as his fingers sifted through my hair.

“You’ve had a haircut,” Jax mused, pulling at the soft short ends of my hair. It fell to the back of my neck, the bob being my own scar left from the fire.

“My hair got singed from the fire, so Anna cut it off,” I answered.

“I see…,” Jax muttered, his voice dry and crackling. He probably had a dry throat. I had a coughing fit the second I woke up and chugged nearly three jugs of water before the urge to throw up my lungs had subsided. I should have offered him a glass of water, but I couldn’t bear to let go. Couldn’t bear to give up feeling his breaths and rumbling voice through the bones of his chest. To give up the one thing I had almost lost. All because of me….

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I felt Jax still beneath me. I wasn’t deterred. “I shouldn’t have blamed you for all of my problems. You didn’t deserve it.”

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