Page 135 of Meet Me in the Dark: The Complete Series

"Where's my little man?" he asks loudly.

"Law, if you wake him up, I will skin you alive," Sophie hisses.

"Sorry, sorry." He smiles at her as he walks toward her. "You're so damn sexy when you're mad."

Sophie narrows her eyes at him, but her smile still comes before his lips meet hers. Lexa fake gags beside them.

"Ah, I thought it was a little cold in here," Law teases. "But now, I see it was just Lexa's heart."

"Just call me the ice queen," she sing-songs.

"Yeah, till Jeremiah and Ezekiel warm you up." Sophie smirks. "With you right between them."

Lexa glares at her. "Do not even start about them. Focus on..." She points her thumb at me and I'm quick to stop her.

"Don't," I sharply whisper. Because here he is. Jackson's coming through the door.

His eyes immediately land on me, and I wince at the anger burning in them. It’s worse than when he looked at me in mybedroom. Worse than when he said goodbye. It's setting my skin on fire and scorching what's left of my heart to ashes at his feet.

"Hey, Char," Law says, thankfully giving me a reason to look away from Jackson.

"Hey, Law. How did your meeting go?"

"Same old, same old. Discussing the hospital's yearly charity event that Lexa will be planning."

Lexa goes utterly still. "Are you kidding me right now? Because if you are, Shawn is about to be short a father. You got me the charity event?"

"Yup. You've got nine months to plan it. Every single thing is on you to pull off a flawless event."

"Ah!" she screams.

"Lexa," we all whisper at her. But it's too late.

Shawn is moving, and then a cry is bellowing out of him.

"I am going to kill you," Sophie seethes.

"I take it the chances of seeing that smile have not improved for me," I joke. Shawn is not amused because he begins crying louder. "Okay, cutie. I'll give you to your mommy."

I carefully stand and walk him over to Sophie, placing him in her arms.

"Are you hungry, little man?" Sophie coos.

"You haven't been around," Lexa says as she stands too. "So I'll let you know that that means Sophie's about to whip out a boob, so we should go downstairs."

"Got ya."

I turn toward the door and find Jackson still staring at me, or more like glaring. He hasn't even said a single word to anyone. Iswallow as we approach him, wondering what to say, wondering if I should say anything at all. When we're just about to reach him, he finally moves, turning around and leaving the doorway empty. But because things can never be that easy, he steps back into the hallway, instead of walking in front of us, so he's behind us as we leave the room. I can feel him at my back, silently watching me as we all head down the hallway. With effort, I stop my head from turning around, from seeing if that look in his eyes has changed at all. But I can feel it hasn't. His eyes practically burn into me with his rage.

"So... Jackson..." Lexa begins as we start down the stairs.

My eyes widen because if I know Lexa, she's about to say something she really shouldn't.

"Since I know you book months in advance, I'm hoping if I ask you now, you'll be about to cater the charity event."

I release a relieved breath, but then my chest feels like it's constricting at the sound of his voice for the first time.

"I'll make sure I'm available for it."

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