Page 113 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

Jax: Don’t ever do that again.

Me: Chill the fuck down dude.

Jax: Jess... this is your life. Someone needs to take it seriously.

Me: I’m fine. See. I didn't go missing or end up unalived.I added a few skull emojis for good measure.

Jax: Not. Funny.

Me: Jax I’m fine. I’ll call you in the morning. I’m exhausted. I need to go to bed.

Jax: Hi, Jess. It’s Lily. We’re both so happy you’re all right. We miss you and love you. Jaxon was incredibly freaked out that something could have happened to you and instead of saying he’s happy you’re safe he’s being an ass.

I was pretty sure Lily had stepped in because Jax was too angry to deal with me.

Me: Hey Lil. I’ll call tomorrow. Please remind him I’m safe. I’m with Alden. I can’t get any safer than that. I love you both. xo

Jax/Lily: I will. We love you too. xo

The shower turning on in the bathroom caught my attention, and I looked up from my phone. I easily picked out the sounds of him moving around the room. The one benefit from such a tiny space. This new apartment was only slightly bigger than the one in Rhode Island.

When he stopped in the doorway and stared at me, my breath caught in my throat. He was so fucking handsome. Even the way he was scowling at me was enough to make me swoon like I was in one of those damn romance novels.

His broad frame filled the doorway, giving me so many ideas. Most of them had to do with me tearing his clothes off. Ideas he was clearly not thinking if the stiff set of his jaw and clenched hands were any indication.

“Hey,” I said, trying to get a read from him.

“I’m going to take a shower. Do you need anything?” he said, with barely disguised anger in his voice.

“For you to talk to me.” I stood up and made my way over to stand in front of him.

“Not now, Jess.” His curt voice lashed out at me.

“Yes, now. James, you didn’t speak to me the whole way back. And then you’ve been in the living room for the past few hours and not once have you spoken to me.”

“I needed to help Gage dig into your parents’ activities.” With the last word he turned away.

I grabbed his arm. “No, you don’t get to walk away from me.”

He shrugged off my arm. “Jess, I’m far too pissed off that you disregarded your safety and took off without me. So back off before I say something I’ll regret.”

He took a step toward the bathroom.

I leaped in front of him and placed my palms against his chest. “No, we promised to communicate. This isnotcommunicating.”

“You want to communicate?” he growled, his eyes narrowing.

I slid my hands down to rest at his waist. “Yes.” I needed to push him. James had bottled all of his anger up. He needed to get it out so we could move past this.

He stepped away from me again. Before I could stop him, he started to pace the hallway in short jerky steps.

“James, please,” I pleaded.

He stopped abruptly, swinging around to face me. His eyes burned with the anger and hurt that festered from within. “Are you even sorry? Do you even feel bad for taking off and doing the one thing I asked you not to?”

I bit my bottom lip. I wasn’t sure how to say what I felt and get him to understand. “I hate that I betrayed your trust and did the one thing I told you I wouldn’t, but the reality is I would make the same choice again.”

He pinned me with his glare. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You put yourself in danger all because you thought you knew better,” he roared.

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