Page 29 of Jax

He hadn’t said a word to me beyond Max’s training and my household chores. He brought me groceries on Mondays, and it just made it harder when I saw he remembered all my favorite things.

According to Jax, my truck was still in the shop, so I had to be content to stay here and let him see to my every need like some kept woman. The idea made me restless and anxious, but there was little I could do when it’d be an hour walk into town from the ranch.

I sighed as I sat tucked into the soft, well-worn arm chair in the family room retying my Honda knot. My aching leg rested out on the matching ottoman, adorned with a ruffled skirt, as I waited for Jax to arrive, so training could start.

He always came at midday when the sun was at his hottest and when Max would be lethargic, meaning she was lethargic and agreeable. Our sessions never lasted more than an hour since he didn’t want any of us with heat stroke or dehydration.

As I worked the lasso, untying the rope after another failed attempt, the distant drum of a motorcycle sounded, growing louder and louder until the man of the hour pulled to a stop on the drive.

I slipped on my boots, ignoring the dull ache of my leg and walked out onto the porch. Sunlight was hot against my skin and bright in my eyes as I looked down the steps to see a dark head turning to face me. He had his jeans, shirt, and of course his leather cut, and the way he leaned back on his bike to look at me had the shirt riding up the few inches to reveal a smooth, hard stomach and a trail of dark curls leading under his jeans. I tried my best not to follow it, but the girl who had crushed on Jackson for so many years felt no different when she saw his darker counterpart. Even if he didn’t share the affection.

“On time as usual,” I commented, my boots creaking against the steps, my bad leg heavier than the other. I’d slipped a pain pill as I waited for Jax and praised myself for having the foresight to refill the bottle from the pharmacy outside of town my second night after my work at the bar. It was a twenty-four hour one and I would soon have to make a trip out there somehow. Whether by taxi, or hopefully my truck if it was fixed in time, before I hit the bottom of the bottle.

Jax grunted, rising from his seat and removing his Stetson from the saddle bag, moving the black helmet aside.

“Why do you have a bike helmet but don’t wear it?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

“It’s for bitches to wear,” he replied, fitting his hat on his head as if he hadn’t called me a bitch.

“Excuse me?”

Sensing the annoyance in my tone, I saw the flicker of surprise on his face and then understanding. “Ah, I meant women. I often end up giving them a lift back from the bar when they’re too shit-faced to walk home.”

“So you put them on the back on your bike, take them to your club, and fuck them?”

“I never said that,” Jax replied, his dark, neat eyebrows wrinkling, the sun casting a shadow over his eyes. “But if they’re willing, why the hell shouldn’t I?”

I gagged. “I didn’t need to know.”

“You asked.” Jax turned on his heels and moved over to the pasture where I let Max out that morning.

It was the only thing I could do without supervision. I was back to being a twelve-year-old again, forced to sneak in the stallion’s pen because I was barred from going near it, unlike Jackson. He was allowed to go in with them when he was that age. It was something that I didn’t think about on regular occasions and wasn’t holding a grudge over whatsoever.

Despite not being allowed in the pen with Max on my own, it wasn’t all bad. Since she let me get closer to her now, I was able to get into her pen or stall enough to open the door without spooking her.

She never moved toward me or walked anywhere when I was with her, but she didn’t seem to mind when I walked near her. She just waited until I was gone before she moved.

Jax, on the other hand had managed to get her used to having a rope around her neck, and although he didn’t pet her, she didn’t mind brushing up against him when he was near.

Something that made me insane with jealously.

“Whatever,” I grumbled to him, stomping after him and waiting until he’d gracefully leapt up onto the top bar of the fence while I went around and through the gate instead of painstakingly climbing up over it with my leg and having him frown at me the entire time.

I used to launch myself up and over them back in the day and I could see the question in his eyes every time I did something with less vigor than in my teen years. I hoped he just blamed it on my age.

“You’ll need this,” Jax called out to me. He held out an outstretched rope with a Honda Knot tied with perfection on one end.

I stared at it. I knew exactly what it meant as he handed it to me. Knew there were a few other things that could be done with a rope and all but one of those Jax wouldn’t want to be doing with me.

“I get to try?” I whispered, taking the rope from his hands. The coarse feeling of it was like home and heaven all in one, light as a wisp in my hands.

“I think it’s time,” Jax replied, the confidence in his voice rippling through the air and into me. Somehow, the surety he possessed made me feel praised.

I swallowed. “Okay.”

Turning so the sun was at my back, the warmth pushed me forward, my skin sticking to the long sleeves of my shirt. I was breathing harder the closer I grew to her, trying my best not to show my nerves and spook her.

Max raised her head, her deep brown eyes lit like a fire under the sun as she watched me get closer. Her ears stayed forefront, but she didn’t shy away from my approach.

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