Page 57 of Jax

Jax’s lips curve up. “Trust me, I’m excited to have your blood dripping from my hands. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Though I appreciate your bloodlust, your word means nothing to me.”

“That’s not my problem.”

We wait while they stare each other down for a few moments before Finn moves closer. He claps his brother on the back and beckons me closer. Jax reaches down for my hand and steers me toward the exit. With my heart in my throat, I count the steps all the way through until the sunshine hits my face. It’s midday. Jesus Christ. I hate living in that hole in the wall. I could’ve sworn it was nighttime.

“Steady,” Jax warns as I start to pick up the pace. “He won’t come for us. He’s scared.”

“A scared Psycho makes him a problem. You don’t know how he’ll react.”

“Don’t be late!” Psycho’s voice booms from behind us.

Jax snickers. He turns toward me to whisper, “We have our own surprises up our sleeve.”

A few blocks down, I spy Leenie’s car stashed beside a building. It isn’t until we get in and are heading back to the Heights that I breathe a sigh of relief. I start to take stock of myself, wincing when I can see my bruising with my own eyes. He really did a number on me this time, and the fight didn’t help either.

“You hungry?” Jax asks as he wraps his hand around my own on the seat.

I nod. “Very.”

Something black and shiny catches my eye out the rear window, so I turn to look. A lump sticks in my throat.

“Don’t worry,” Leenie says from the driver’s seat. “It’s my brother’s guys.”

If I squint through the swollen bulge on my eye, I can just make out the figure behind the wheel. It’s Ninja.

“Speaking of, you better call my brother,” Leenie says.

Finn raises his brows at her. “You wantmeto call Cole? I thought you wanted him to like me?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m driving, so one of you have to do it.”

“I’ll do it,” Jax grumbles. “This was my idea anyway.”

“Yeah, he really hates you now,” Leenie points out. In the rearview mirror, I see the slight darkening of her skin where she got caught in her own fight. Overall, though, she looks good.

Jax holds out his hand, and Finn slips a cell phone into his palm. The older brother presses the screen where it says Cole and holds it up to his ear. A dark voice sounds over the line even though I can’t quite make out what it says.

“No, it’s Jax. We’re out. Leenie’s fine.” He frowns into the phone. “Well, I’ll have to take my chances when you see her because she has a bruise.”

“I’m fine,” Leenie calls out. “Seriously, Cole.”

Jax takes the phone away from his ear and glances at the screen. “He hung up on me...after threatening to rip my balls off if you had so much as a bruise.”

Leenie rolls her eyes. “I’ll talk to him. Your balls will be safe.”

“He’s probably already on the way to the house,” Finn remarks.

“Actually, I thought we’d head to the tower,” Leenie tells them. “We can’t be too safe, and we still need to talk to my cousin.”

“Cousin?” I ask, wondering who else she has up her sleeve that could help with this.

“He’s an FBI agent.”

“Ex-FBI,” Jax corrects.

“Yeah, only because he wanted the girl more than anything. Sound familiar?”

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