Page 73 of Surge

Jax glared at both of us before storming off. He was the moodiest man I'd ever seen. One minute he seemed like he might be warming up to me, and the next he was looking at me like I had tentacles. I didn't even know why I cared, but the feeling in my stomach told me I cared too much.

"Why does he hate me?" I ran my hands over the water, trying to get them as close as possible to the surface without disturbing the water.

"Not my story to tell, vixen." He tilted my chin up. "He's a moody bastard normally, but a lot has happened."

Morgan looked up as the light in Jax's room turned on. He took off under the water again.

After swimming, I rinsed off in the downstairs bathroom and wrapped a towel around myself. Morgan was supposed to have left me a pair of his sweatpants and shirt to change into since my bra and panties were wet and my tank and pants weren't warm enough.

I loved the weather on the central coast of California, but it got chilly at night, especially if a storm had just rolled through.

I opened the bathroom door and found no clothes. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and went to the living room to grab my pants and shirt, but they weren't where I had left them. I eyed the stairs and decided I would just take some from Blake, who wasn't home.

All the doors upstairs were shut, and when I tried Blake's door, it was locked. I heard music coming from inside and raised my hand to knock, but then decided against it. He was home and just didn't want to be bothered.

I turned to Morgan's door and knocked before turning the knob. Locked. Damn him. I looked down the hall at the two double doors.

Fuck it.

I walked to Jax's door and knocked. No answer came, so I turned the knob and the door opened. I peeked in, seeing him lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Jax?" I opened the door further and stepped so I was just inside the door. "I need something to change into."

He didn't respond or even blink. The room was dark besides the glow from the pool lights below. I took another step in. "Jax?"

"Shut the door." His voice was gravelly and made my core stir.

The last thing I needed was to be even more attracted to them. They were assholes and I was walking a fine line by even being at their house.

I shut the door and stayed by it, unsure of what to do since he was still lying on the bed. His face was hidden in shadows, so I couldn't get a good read on him.

"Top right dresser drawer in the closet."

I had no clue where his closet was but figured it was by the bathroom, or maybe even through the bathroom. As I got closer to the glass walls that took up half the wall on that side of the room, I saw the small handle embedded in the wall.

The door was a pocket door and I slid it open, stepping inside the walk-in closet. It was neat and organized by type and in order by color. Light to dark. His shoes were neatly lined up on the floor, not one poking out too far.

Jax was a control freak and it made me smile as I went to the dresser and pulled open the right drawer. Inside were neatly arranged t-shirts. I picked a dark blue one and was tempted to mess up the neatly arranged drawer.

I shut the closet door before dropping the towel and pulling the shirt over my head. Unlike in the movies and all the books I read, I wasn't a twig and Jax wasn't some monster of a man, so it didn't even fall to my knees. Instead, it barely covered my ass and left nothing to the imagination in the front.

I pulled open a few more drawers until I found his basketball shorts and pulled on a pair. I pulled the inner drawstring and rolled the waistband. I stepped out of the closet, the wet towel draped over my forearm.

"Well, thanks." I got to the door and stared at the doorknob before turning toward Jax. "Why do you hate me so much?"

I walked to the bed and looked down at him. He turned his head away from me, but not before I saw the tears on his cheeks. I wasn't prepared to see him crying.

"Get out." His words lacked any authority and my heart clenched in my chest for some unknown reason.

I dropped the towel and climbed onto the bed, lying down next to him. He rolled back onto his back again.

"Answer my question first." I put my hand under my cheek on his pillow and waited.

He rolled to face me, wiping his hand across his cheeks. "I don't hate you."

"Yes, you do. You look at me like you want to throw me off your cliff."

He put his hand on my cheek. "You're a job. We're supposed to be getting to your father through any means possible. The shit we've done to you is child's play compared to what we should be doing."

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