Page 53 of The Finding Series: Vol. 1

“Jax,” he began.

“How did this happen?” Jax asked as he turned Dane’s hand over. Dane stiffened when he realized Jax was examining the injury Dane had caused to himself when he’d slammed his hand into the bathroom mirror out at the CB Bar Ranch the day before.

“I told you it was a nail,” Dane stammered.

“I didn’t believe you then and I don’t believe you now,” Jax said simply, his hard eyes pinning Dane’s. “Tell me the truth.”

Dane snatched his hand away and stood. “You know, I’m not really hungry. I think I’m just going to go lay down.” He turned to leave but stopped at Jax’s next words.

“We can do this here or we can this in your room, Dane. But I guarantee if we do it in your room it will be after I’ve fucked you into that nice, soft mattress of yours.”

Dane bristled at the threat but he had no doubt Jax would follow through on it. But he’d also spent most of his life being walked on by others and he wasn’t about to let that happen again. It had been too heavy a price to pay.

“You think shit like that works on me, Jax? I’m not some random guy you picked up in a bar who will put up with your alpha male bullshit in the hopes he’ll get laid. I don’t owe you a goddamn thing!” He managed to make it to the stairs before Jax was on him.

Jax shoved him against the wall at the base of the stairs and snarled, “Stop assuming I’m like all the other piece of shit men in your life.”

At Dane’s look of surprise, Jax said, “Yeah, I can tell that someone or a lot of someones did a number on you. I’m not trying to control you or bring you down.” Even in his anger Jax kept his voice low, probably so he wouldn’t wake Emma up since her room was right at the top of the stairs. “What do I have to do to prove you can trust me?” he asked Dane softly, his grip loosening on Dane’s shoulders.

“You can start by not asking me about my hand,” Dane said stubbornly. It was unnerving how well Jax could read him and he needed to try and get back on equal footing with this man.

“And what happened upstairs was a one-time thing.” Dane knew he was being an ass but he was feeling vulnerable and exposed, something he’d promised himself he wouldn’t feel after what had happened between him and Isaac.

“Fine,” Jax said as he released him. Jax disappeared back into the kitchen and Dane heard the screen door leading out back slam closed. Dane went into the kitchen and began pulling a couple of plates from the cabinets. Jax reappeared with the steaks and wordlessly put them on the table before going to the oven and pulling out a couple of baked potatoes. The silence continued until they were well into the meal.

“We need to talk about what happened today,” Jax said. Dane looked at him sharply and Jax put his hand up. “I meant this morning at the garage.”

Dane swallowed his food and put his silverware down. He studied Jax for a long moment and then finally said, “You don’t think it was just an attempted carjacking, do you?”

Jax also stopped eating and leaned back in his chair. “The same guy that attacked you was following you the day before. He was behind you on the sidewalk when you left the garage to come ask me for a ride. He took off when he saw me.”

A chill went through Dane. It was one thing to be the victim of a random act of violence, but to be targeted? Jesus, what if Jax hadn’t been there yesterday? A stunning realization hit him as he remembered Jax asking him about the people in town knowing he was gay. “You think it was someone from town?”

“Maybe. I heard you made quite a big show of coming out at the hardware store a couple weeks ago.”

Dane swallowed hard. “How did you hear about that?”

“One of the guys at the barn raising told me. He said the clerk was giving Rhys and Finn a hard time and you stepped in.”

Dane nodded.

“Gutsy,” Jax observed.

Dane shook his head. “It wasn’t right what they’d been doing to Finn. What they were going to do to Rhys. I just wanted to even the playing field so maybe they’d start realizing things needed to change. I’ve never hid from being who I was and I don’t plan to now, either.”

He lifted his eyes to watch Jax watching him intently. The man seemed to realize what he was doing because he seemed to shake himself loose of whatever thought was going through him and said, “Well, might be that you’re on their radar now and not everyone’s going to be as accepting as you hoped.”

Dane hadn’t even considered that when he’d spoken up. Not that it would have changed anything necessarily, though he did need to think of Emma. Looking over his shoulder wasn’t appealing, but it wasn’t something entirely new to him either. “I guess I’ll just have to get better at keeping my eyes open.”

“I wish it were that simple,” Jax commented.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you ever find the phone bill that went missing?”

Dane tensed. He hadn’t even given it much thought after that first night. He glanced at the desk and started to rise.

“Don’t bother, I already checked behind the desk. It’s not there. I checked all the drawers too as well as your desk in the study.”

---