Page 3 of Jax

I step back a couple of times with the force of seeing him again. My memory, and the torn photograph I have of the two of us from years ago, don’t do him justice.

He’s hardened now. The light that was in his eyes before has all but faded to blue-black ash, a shell of the man I knew before. That doesn’t make him any less attractive though. To me, he’s even more so. Standing there with his ripped biceps bulging out of his Elite Boxing t-shirt and tats highlighting his already perfect, muscular form, he’s everything I wanted. If it’s even possible, he’s bigger than the man I remember, toned in a way bodybuilders are jealous of.

He's sex on a fucking stick.

He has new ink, too, but I don’t let myself fall into the trap of inspecting every inch of him. That won’t help. He’ll see through that bullshit from a mile away.

I meet his gaze, and my heart thunders in my chest the same way it did when he took my real virginity by being the only man I ever wanted to give it to. Sure, there’d been others, but they took pieces of me for sport. Whittling me down until I was almost nothing when I met the soft spoken, shaggy, black-haired Jax. He built me up, planted the roots that are so strong inside me today, until I could willingly give him that piece of me. I fed it to him on a goddamn platter because I was in love.

And if I’m honest with myself, I still am.

Speechless, I stare into his gaze. His hair is shorter now, cropped close to his skull. Searching for any remnants of the man who used to worship me, I come up empty. The traces I find are decayed and buried, and something tells me he wants them to stay that way.

“You can put your phone away, Leenie,” he tells Finn’s girl. His rich voice envelops my body, ensnaring me until I can’t look away even if I wanted. He steps in front of her until he’s in line with Finn, shoulder-to-shoulder. It isn’t until then that I realize Finn outgrew him. Finn’s a little taller while Jax still surpasses him in width. One looks as if he was made for modeling, the other like he was made for brawling, no holds-barred, to the death.

That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? To the death?

I straighten my shoulders and face them.If there’s a God, please save me because I’m about to traverse into the unthinkable. Again.

2

For whole minutes, no one talks. It’s as if the world needs to catch up to this defining moment. I have no right to see him again. No claim on his time, but fate—or at least the pretentious bullshit of a maniacal, powerful con man—had other plans.

This go-around, though, Jax and I aren’t going to be on the same side. No Bonnie and Clyde. Or Johnny and June. Or Beyonce and Jay-Z. It won’t be us against everyone else. It will be me against them.

As if he already knows, Jax regards me with a malicious look. Dark eyes, creased forehead. Hate practically wafts off him in waves. He never could hide his emotions well, and that’s still the case.

Confliction tears at me. I’d rather stand here and shoot the shit with him but I can’t do that. Not this Sadie. Not the girl who turned out to be his nightmare.

I open my mouth to speak but Jax rushes ahead. “Finn’s right. There’s nothing for you here.”

The growl in his words spark something to life inside me. Something I’d all but forgotten was there because I’ve taken every precaution to tamp it down. A hot flash of need warms my neck. “I have no intention of making this a happy reunion,” I sneer back, hiding the bubbling up of emotions. He’s not the only one who has more darkness in him now. The Heights ruined me. It flattened me into a shell of a girl and even more of a skeleton of a woman. My only instinct is to survive.

“Why?” Finn asks, glaring at me. “Why are you here?”

“It doesn’t fucking matter,” Jax intercedes. “She’s fucking trash and a liar.”

His whole body vibrates with unsaid words. It’s not like him to hold back, so my being here must have truly surprised him. In truth, I don’t envy his next sparring partner. That guy’s fucked. “Well, this trashy liar is here on business,” I say, sticking to the plan as best I can. The scorned look in Jax’s gaze ratchets higher but I trudge on with my story. “I have a proposal from colleagues of mine.”

I may as well be spitting tar out of my mouth but he did just call me a liar, and he’s spot on. This is my show though. Psycho doesn’t care how I get the job done as long as I do.

“Not interested,” Jax deadpans.

The longer we’re out here, the angrier he’s getting. The shock is wearing off incrementally. I’m trying to read him to see how this more mature Jax operates but in my estimation, all he sees is blind fury. He certainly hates me, a fact I knew coming in.

“Listen, I know you despise me, and you have every reason to, but don’t be dumb. I work with some influential people, and they’re interested in something you have. They’ll pay handsomely for it.”

Finn narrows his gaze cautiously. At this point, Jax can’t see past his own wounds to hear what I’m saying. I never expected the initial meeting to go anywhere. It had to be done only to get Jax used to seeing me again. I can’t back out of this no matter how badly I want to. Psycho always gets what he wants. By any means.

“The only thing we have—” Finn starts.

“—is the Ring,” I end for him, laying it out there.

“Not for sale,” Jax growls. “Tell your colleagues to go fuck themselves.”

I certainly will not be doing that. I have to pretend I at least got somewhere today or my ass is on the line. A bead of sweat starts at my hairline, prickling my skin.

“And while you’re at it…” Jax crosses his arms. “…you can go fuck yourself too, Sadie.”

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