Page 90 of Somewhere Only We Know
I smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. My hand reaches out to her ex’s other arm and I squeeze. His eyes meet mine, wide and terrified. “You now have five seconds to let go of my wife or I will not hesitate to lay you out on this floor.”
I start my countdown. The crowd around us has their eyes and phones pointed at us. It’s a good thing my publicist is here.
“...2.”
His grip tightens on Jax and she whimpers.
“...1.”
I don’t even have a chance to raise a fist before he’s sprawled on the floor. Looking over I see Bryce shaking out his hand. Security barrels through the crowd and picks her ex up off the floor and carts him out. I still want to know how he got in.
“What the hell?” I question my teammate.
“He should’ve taken his hands off your wife when you first told him to.” Bryce looks at me and then to Jax all thewhile flexing his hand. In a breath he pushes through the crowd and Sophie and Chance follow him.
What was that?I ask myself.
“Nate, can we go?” Jax asks from next to me.
I gently place my hands on her shoulder and look her over. Then I take her arm into my hand and note the fingerprints that have already left a mark and I know it’ll bruise. We’ll ice it when we get home.
“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” I murmur.
“Don’t.” Jax says and steps closer. “I just wanna go home. Or maybe find Bryce?”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her on the top of the head. Her arm goes around my waist and I make sure the others are in range and ready to go. We push through the crowd and head to the coat check.
“Hi, I’m Donovan, the manager. I want to express my deepest apologies for what happened. Trent has been let go effective immediately.”
“Thank you.” I tell him and help Jax get in her coat.
He hands me his card. “If you ever come back, it’s on the house.”
“Thank you.” I tell him again and pocket his card, doubtful that we’ll ever come back because if they can hire my wife’s ex, then who knows who they’ll hire. Are background checks not a thing anymore? I pull out my phone on a whim and see a text from Chance.
Chance: Turn right and we’re at the end of the block.
With my arm wrapped around Jax’s shoulder, we head outside and turn to the right. The line to get in is long and I don’t miss all of the whispers about seeing us out and about. It’s not unusual to see athletes around town. But we do tendto hibernate when it gets closer to getting ready for spring training. And when we’re all in season, you won’t catch any of us dead out on the town.
“Chance,” I call out when we reach the corner.
He untangles himself from Sophie and heads our way. Behind him I can see Bryce shaking out his hand and Sophie trying to talk him down.
“I don’t–” Chance begins, but loses his words.
“Can I talk to him?” Jax pipes up. She’s not said more than a handful of words since we zoomed out.
“Are you sure?”
Jax nods and pulls herself away from me. I watch them with furrowed brows as she approaches him. Bryce stops pacing, his face relaxes, and whatever Jax says to him has my friend blinking back tears. He tells her something that has her head tilting in what looks like understanding. Everything in me wants to join her. Join them. To also tell him that his actions were justified. When his head drops, my wife steps forward and wraps her small arms around him. Jax has always been a master at comforting people, it’s just who she is. They must still be talking in their embrace because I see each of their heads nodding. Her presence and the way she is with her words has people opening up to her. It’s what makes Jax so special. It’s what makes her, her.
Later that night,Jax and I are laying in bed.The OCis playing on a loop and the light from the TV bathes her in a blue light. After the incident at the club, we all decided that it was time to call it. I haven’t wanted to push her for what she talked about with Bryce, but the not knowing is killing me. I’ve never been a nosy person. But seeing my wife andfriend bond in a way I didn’t think they would, has me wanting to know everything.
“I know you wanna ask,” Jax says. Her fingers have been tracing over my tattoos, focusing mainly on the bees.
“Is Bryce okay?”
She lets out a deep sigh, pausing her tracing before starting up again. “Yes and no. He has a twin sister.”
