Page 33 of Jax
Bootsteps echoing across the floor reached us before either of them could answer. Kane headed straight for his wife, bending low to give her a quick kiss and ruffle their son’s hair. The way the club president’s fierce expression softened when he looked at them made my chest ache with envy. I wasn’t in a place where I could plan a future with Jaxton, but I was quickly realizing that was what I wanted—time to fall deeply in love with each other and build a family.
Savannah grinned like she’d been waiting for him. “Perfect timing. Lark wants to know how Jax got his name.”
Heat flared in my cheeks. “I was just curious?—”
Kane cut his gaze to me, one brow lifting, then sat on the floor next to his family like he had all the time in the world. “You want the short version or the real one?”
“The real one,” Savannah said before I could answer, eyes sparkling with mischief.
A faint smirk tugged at Kane’s mouth. “In the pits, a jax is what lifts the car, keeps it stable, lets the crew do their work. Without it, the machine doesn’t move.” He paused, like he wanted the words to sink in. “Same with him. Whenever the Redline Kings needed stability, eyes in the wires, someone who could lift the weight—Jax was that guy. The one with skills nobody else could touch.”
My breath caught, but Kane wasn’t finished.
“Difference is, unlike the pit gear, he isn’t just holding cars steady. He is jacking entire systems—traffic grids, police scanners, bank accounts. You name it. Whatever it takes to keep the club safe. He’s the jax under the car and the jax in the code—the thing holding us up while breaking everyone else down. And he’s the only one who can do it for us.”
Silence stretched in the room, broken only by the lazy whir of the ceiling fan. Kane’s tone had been matter-of-fact, but underneath it, I heard something fiercer. Pride. And the unspoken truth that without Jax, the Redline Kings wouldn’t have been able to build what they had in Crossbend.
I sat frozen, my coffee cooling in my hands. Suddenly, the quiet intensity that always clung to Jaxton made sense. The shrewdness. How he always seemed to be ten steps ahead. He wasn’t just the man at a keyboard—he was the foundation they all leaned on.
Callie nudged me with her foot, grinning. “Makes sense now, doesn’t it?”
Savannah’s smile softened. “You picked one of the good ones, Lark. Scary as heck when he wants to be, but good.”
The knot in my chest tightened again. Pride curled through me, fierce and startling, but so did fear. Because if he was the piece holding everything up…what happened if he broke?
Kane slid his hands under Savannah’s butt and lifted her onto his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her. “Who’re you calling scary?”
“Not you, that’s for sure.” She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “You lost any chance of intimidating me when you rubbed my feet while I was pregnant.”
Kane leaned back and patted the officer patch on his cut. “I wouldn’t have this if I wasn’t a scary motherfucker.”
“To everyone else but Kylan and me, sure,” she quickly agreed.
He nuzzled his face in her neck with a growl that caught their son’s attention. Climbing onto Savannah’s lap with a giggle, he copied his daddy, growling and burying his face between his mom’s breasts.
“Hey, little man.” Kane lifted Kylan over their heads, earning himself another giggle. Those are mine now.”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Only because your kid’s appetite was too much for me to keep up with.”
Callie nudged me with her foot again, smirking. “You’re in trouble, you know.”
“Why?” I blinked.
“Because a man like that?” She tipped her chin toward Kane. “He doesn’t let go once he’s claimed something. And from the look of it, Jax is the same.”
I hoped she was right because for the first time in years, I let myself lean into the warmth of it all and felt like I belonged here too.
13
JAX
Engines thundered across the track, the smell of burnt rubber and exhaust thick in the late morning heat. Break Point was chaos—techs shouting, wrenches clattering against asphalt, and radios buzzing in half a dozen pockets. Races didn’t start for another hour, but the place always felt like it ran on high gear, adrenaline bleeding into everything.
I had my eyes everywhere. Or at least I thought I did.
Lark had insisted on helping with some of the last-minute prep—even after we explained that these races were…less than legal. Sorting paperwork at the pit tables, double-checking that the ushers knew where to stand once the crowd rolled in. She was competent as hell, focused and sweet at the same time, like the calm in a storm I didn’t realize I’d been craving until I had it.
And then a roar split the air.
