Chapter 19

Jax

Holly and her sister looked exhausted. They’d had a hellish night, and so had Luke, who was hiding behind Holly’s legs and peering up at me with wide green eyes. He looked just like her. It was unreal.

Holly reached around behind her and rested a hand on Luke’s head. “Luke, you don’t have to be shy. This is my friend, Jax. I’ve known him since I was really young.”

Luke shrank back further. I couldn’t blame the kid. I’d just dragged his father out of the house in a not so friendly manner and then kicked his ass out on the front lawn. It wasn’t the way I had been hoping to meet him.

I crouched down, ignoring the tightness in my side from where Kent’s knuckles had hammered into my ribs. I didn’t get any closer, and I was mostly speaking to Holly’s thighs, but that didn’t matter. Luke needed time to feel comfortable. All I needed to do right now was make the introductions.

“Hey, Luke,” I said, “you don’t have to come out, but I just wanted to say hello. Your mom told me you really like Legos, and you’re pretty good at building stuff. Maybe one time you and I could build something together?”

Luke peered at me, and his fingers tightened in Holly’s jeans.

“You just let me know when you want to play,” I said, rising back to my feet. Holly was smiling at me.

“Can you give me a minute?” she asked. “I want to get him something to eat and see if he might be able to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, no problem,” I said and watched her and Luke disappear into the kitchen.

Kim nudged me with her elbow. “Want to sit for a minute?” She pointed her chin to the sofa.

I followed her to the couch and took a seat at the opposite end from her. She pulled her legs up under herself and held her ankles as she regarded me with an unreadable expression. “This would have been a disaster if you hadn’t shown up, you know.”

I had no idea how to respond to her statement, so I shrugged slightly and broke eye contact.

“No, seriously Jax. Kent scares the hell out of Holly. He always has. Thanks for coming and making sure she was safe.”

I still couldn’t think of a damn thing to say, so I sat there like an idiot waiting for her to say something besides thank you. I wasn’t good with thank-yous.

“How do you feel about her?”

I met Kim’s eyes. That was a question I could answer. “The same way I’ve always felt. I care more than is good for me. Holly is and always has been my Achilles’ heel. You know that as well as everyone else.”

Kim smiled and pulled at a loose thread at the hem of her shirt. “Yeah. I think I just wanted to hear you say it out loud. You’re a lot different than the young guy who was always following my sister like a lost puppy dog.”

“I did not—”

She arched an eyebrow.

“All right. Fine.” I conceded.

Kim chuckled. “She feels the same way about you, you know. Are you free tomorrow night?”

“Sorry?”

“Tomorrow night. Are you free?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, wondering where the hell this was going.

“Take Holly out again. Don’t bring her home this time. Luke and I will hold down the fort, and if you two decide, you can go back to your place. You both deserve some quality alone time I think. Yes?”

“If you let me fix your door, it’s a deal.”

Kim blinked. “Right. I don’t have a front door.”

“No. Sorry about that.”

She surprised me by laughing. She laughed so hard she was holding her ribs and blinking tears from the corners of her eyes. She dabbed the wetness away with her thumbs and got herself under control. “Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry. No, I’m tired. I’m really, really tired. I think I’m losing it a bit.”

“It’s all good. You should go to bed. I’ll call some guys and have them fix your door.”

“Some MC guys?”

“Does it matter?”

“Not even a little bit,” Kim said as she stood and walked around the sofa. She stopped behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. “Thanks again and not just for the whole Kent thing.” She gave my shoulder a squeeze and then slipped away, vanishing behind the door to her bedroom.

I was left alone in the living room with an aching side and made a quick call to Sabian. He answered almost right away, his voice thick with sleep. “Dude. What do you want? It’s not even eight.”

“I know. Sorry. Had a bit of an altercation at Holly’s apartment, and I was hoping you could swing by with a new door. I can text you the dimensions.”

There was a brief pause on the other end. “An altercation, hey?”

“I can give you the details when you get here, all right?”

“Fine. Fuck, man, it’s so fucking early.”

“Just get your ass out of bed. I’ll text you the dimensions and give you the cash when you get here. By the way, did Ryder call you yet?”

“No, was he supposed to?”

“Yeah, but he knows you like your beauty sleep. I’ll fill you in on more Black Hearts developments when you get here. Dani has new information.”

“All right. I’ll head out after I shower. Send me her address too.”

I hung up the phone just as Holly came out of the kitchen. She was wiping what appeared to be peanut butter from the corners of Luke’s mouth as he padded along beside her wiping sleep from his eyes.

She caught my gaze and smiled. “Luke is just going to get into bed, and then I’ll be right back, okay?”

I nodded. “See ya around, Luke.”

He waved at me. Progress was progress.

I got up and searched through the kitchen drawers for a measuring tape. I found one, measured the door, and then sent a text to Sabian.

I returned to the living room at the same time as Holly. “What were you doing?” She asked, dropping down on the couch and curling up into a ball, similar to how her sister had been sitting.

“Measuring the door. I have a buddy on the way with a new one that we’ll put in for your sister.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did,” I said, sliding closer to her. “It’s nothing. Besides, Kim and I made a deal.”

“Oh?”

“I replace the door, and she babysits Luke all night long tomorrow. If you’re comfortable with it, of course. Dinner and then my place? It was her idea.”

Holly beamed at me. “I would love that. As long as Luke is okay, count me in.”

“Great,” I said, running my fingers over her shoulder.

We sat quietly together for a moment.

“Jax?” she said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Is something bothering you?”

She could read me like a fucking book. She’d always been able to for as long as I could remember. I don’t know how she did it, but she could see things in me that I didn’t even know were there.

“No, I’m good.”

“I don’t believe you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

I scratched the back of my neck and sighed. “I just didn’t want you to have to see me like that. I’m sorry. That part of me, the angry part, that’s not who I am anymore. That’s just—”

“Jax,” she said sternly, “stop it. I’m not afraid of you. You did what you had to do, and I’m grateful for it. Don’t convince yourself that you’re the bad guy. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Good,” she said, stifling a yawn and reaching her arms over her head in a dramatic stretch. “How long until your friend is here?”

“I don’t know. An hour or so. He’s kind of a flake, so he might make a couple of stops on the way.”

“Have a nap with me?”

I hadn’t slept all night either, and I was beat. I nodded, and Holly slid across the sofa cushions to cuddle up beside me.

The warmth of her body was comforting, and her cheek on my chest reminded me of the good old days.

Then a strange thought struck me. I had everything that I’d had in the “good old days” back again. I didn’t need to keep thinking of Holly as someone I was going to inevitably lose. Maybe our time had finally come, and I could stop believing that I was only going to have her for a moment.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and we both stretched out on the couch and promptly fell asleep.

I woke to someone shaking me with their hand on my shoulder. I blinked a couple times, adjusting to the bright sunlight streaming in through all the windows, and found myself staring up at Sabian.

His mouth was twisted in a smile, and he looked at Holly. “Well, don’t you look cozy?”

“Shut up,” I groaned, struggling to extract myself from behind Holly, who was still fast asleep.

I ended up having to climb over the back of the sofa so as not to wake her. Then, Sabian and I went down the hall to the front door.

“She’s gonna wake up when we start putting the new one in,” Sabian noted.

“I know, just give her another half hour or so. I’ll fill you in on everything that happened.”

“Start with this shit first,” Sabian said, gesturing at the door lying across Kim’s entryway. “I definitely want to know what the fuck went down here.”

I told him everything. Sabian listened intently, eyes widening at the most dramatic parts of the story. When I was done telling him everything about Kent, I shifted gears and told him about the Zenvo trying to run me off the road the previous afternoon.

“You’re lucky the bastard didn’t kill you,” Sabian snarled. “What’s his name? Spencer?”

“Spencer McKay. Sound familiar?”

“No.” Sabian shook his head.

“Dani is working on finding him and bringing him in. She thinks she’ll be able to get some information out of him about the murders at the Black Hearts clubhouse.”

“Knowing Dani, she won’t have a problem making him talk.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Sabian looked back down at the busted door at our feet. “I’d hate to be the other guy.”

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “You would.”

After shooting the shit for another twenty minutes or so, I went back into the living room to wake Holly up. I told her we were going to make some noise with the door, and she said that was fine and promptly fell back asleep. Then Sabian and I went to work, and within twenty minutes or so Kim’s apartment was private again.

As we worked, some of the neighbors came back out into the hall and asked me all about what happened earlier in the morning. I didn’t give them many details but told them enough to get rid of them. The red-headed woman who had given me a hard time when I was trying to find Kim’s apartment showed up with iced teas for both Sabian and me and apologized for judging me.

I sipped the tea and shook my head at her. “You were protecting your neighbors. I can appreciate that.”

“And you stood up to this ugly bastard.” Sabian chuckled as he leaned against the new door. “I’m impressed.”

“Shut up,” I scowled.

The woman laughed. “Those are good girls in there. I’ll keep my eye out for any trouble. If that man shows his face again, should I call you?”

I nodded and gave her my phone number. “Thanks. I doubt he’ll come back, but you never know.”

She grinned. “Oh, I doubt he’ll come back too. You cleaned the grass with him.” She winked and turned on her heel to head back to her apartment.

Sabian nudged me in the ribs. I winced as he got me in the same spot Kent’s fist had landed. Sabian shook his head. “Dude. You let him land one on you? That’s a rookie mistake.”

“I got distracted,” I said defensively.

“Excuses.”

“Hey. You weren’t there. Fuck off.”

“Well, if I was there, I would have told you to pay attention to the big angry drunk guy, and stop staring at the pretty blonde.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Thanks for your help.” I fished enough cash out of my wallet to cover the price of the door and then some. “I’ll see you around.”

Sabian nodded and turned to go down the hall. “Keep your wits about you, Jax. If someone blatantly just tried to kill you by running you off the road, you can’t risk being distracted by a pretty girl with nice eyes. She’ll be the death of you.”

I ignored my friend and slipped back inside Kim’s apartment with the intention of curling up beside Holly to sleep for just a little while longer.