by Simone Elise
“This is the first time I’ve been shot,” I said, gripping the metal bars of my headboard behind me, cringing as the water burnt my leg. “I thought it would hurt more.”
Jax didn’t say anything; he was focused on my leg.
My eyes began to droop, and a wave of fatigue washed over me. “Amber?” Jax’s voice heightened in panic. “Amber, open your eyes!”
“Jax, you should call an ambulance,” I muttered. My eyes were tiny slits, but I could see the blood pumping out through the small wound, and smell the rancid odor of blood.
It was funny how things could change so quickly. It was true, life could be here one second and gone the next.
Chapter 39
Amber
The dryness in my throat had me struggling to swallow. My eyes opened and I automatically looked for water. Throwing the blankets back, I stumbled to the ground; a sharp pain ran up my right leg, and I hopped to the bathroom. My right leg gave out from under me, and I crashed to the ground. Hissing in pain, I slowly crawled my way into my bathroom, and pulled myself up to the basin.
Turning the cold water on, I gulped it down fast, not getting enough. The water was claiming the desert in my throat. I glanced in the mirror and I noticed his figure behind me.
“What?” I croaked.
Jax’s eyes were solid, and I couldn’t see one emotion, although his crossed arms and posture were screaming anger towards me.
“Feeling better?”
Pulling my head out from under the tap “No,” I said and turned around slowly. “How bad is my leg?” My body was beginning to look like a battlefield.
“It was a flesh wound,” he announced, and pushed himself off the doorframe, his leather jacket crackling. “Guessing you passed out from having drunk too much, and not from the wound.”
“Oh.” Well that was embarrassing, Let’s face it - it was cooler to pass out from a gun wound than passing out from alcohol.
“Why were you drinking so hard?” Jax didn’t move further into the bathroom. He just stood there, radiating anger.
“Dad spoke to me,” I said, the memory now becoming clear and the thought of it made me want to go look for a bottle of vodka. “Well, I guess you could say he gave me a choice.”
“It being?’
“You should know.” Bitterness entered my voice. “He did say you helped him decide.”
“I didn’t help him do anything,” he snapped at me, getting overly defensive. “Whatever it is, the credit is all his.”
I eyed him carefully. Was he telling the truth, or was he lying? Sighing and pulling myself up to sit on the basin, I realized it didn’t matter if he had or hadn’t.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, I guess,” I played with my fingers in my lap, “His mind is made up.”
“Want to fill me in?” Jax pretended like he didn’t care, but I caught the eagerness and emergency in his voice.
“I’m being sent away.” I looked up from my hands, “To live with my batty aunt.”
Jax scoffed loudly and the corner of his lips twitched upwards. I was expecting him to be angry or something, not happy. “As if you are going to let that happen,” he added.
“I don’t get a choice.”
Hearing that changed his attitude.
“You aren’t really going to go?”
“Like I said, I don’t get a choice, and dad reminded me of something else. I don’t have anything to stay here for.” My eyes were locked with Jax’s. If you have ever imagined a girl pleading for a man to say he loved her, this would be it. I just needed a reason to stay, couldn’t he be it?
“If that’s how you feel,” he shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t change your mind.”
My mouth fell slightly open. Was he bloody serious? How thick could he get! Snapping my mouth closed, I began to grind my teeth and glare into the tiled floor. For a smart guy, he sure could act dumb.
“Amber?”
I didn’t know when but Jax had made his way to me, his big black buckled boots now blocking my view of the white tiles.
“What?” I didn’t look up at him. Stupid dumb male.
“Want to go get some food?”
Was he serious? I snapped my head up and glared at him. “No.”
“Fuck, you are hormonal,” he ran a hand through his hair, like he didn’t know what to do.
“Well, piss off then.” If he didn’t want to be here, he didn’t have to be. The stubbornness that ran thick through my veins was beginning to surface.
Jax was standing still, staring at me while grinding his teeth. What was he thinking?
“Fuck it,” he finally said, and then searched his jeans pocket and pulled his phone out.
“What are you doing?” I watched him search his phone for something, with a determined expression on his face.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he raised the phone to his ear, dialing someone. I kind of felt bad for whoever was about to receive his phone call.
“Troy?” he snapped into the phone. “Yeah, she is fine,” he said, glancing at me briefly. I arched an eyebrow at him; what was he doing?
“Yeah that’s fine, whatever.” Jax said quickly into the phone, not seeming to really care about whatever Troy had just asked him. “I’m dating your sister.”
My mouth dropped. He did not just say that, did he?
I couldn’t hear what Troy was yelling at him, but I was sure it would be a long string of threats.
Jax was rubbing the side of his temple, glaring at the ground, while just letting Troy yell at him. I lowered my feet to the ground, and walked towards him; slowly, not wanting my right leg to cave under me again.
I took Jax’s fingers from his temple, drawing his eyes to me. Holding his hand, I could hear Troy’s muffled yells from the speaker.
Jax’s eyes were melting with desire. “I fucking love her, so get used to it Troy.” He hung up, determination in his eyes. “You are mine now.”
“I’m not property,” I gulped, running my fingers down the middle of his chest and stepping closer into him, hoping I wasn’t making the worse decision of my life.But, I suppose if it was, I could just add it to my long list.
“Is your dad really shipping you off?” his voice was low, and he pulled me in closer to him. My neck bent right back to meet his eyes.
“Going off what he said, yes.”
“Are you going to go?”
I saw the concern on his face and I felt him clench me tighter.
“Not if I don’t have to.”
“I’m not letting you go,” Jax’s voice confirmed, and he gently pushed the stray hair from the side of my face so he could see my eyes clearly. “Which means we need to find somewhere else for you to live.”
“What? The clubhouse?” I asked, raising both my eyebrows. “Really don’t see that working.”
“It won’t be permanent,” he reassured me. “Once this parole is done with, I can get access to my money.”
“Then what?” I wanted to laugh “We get a white house with a picket fence?’
The corner of his mouth twisted up, and his eyes narrowed playfully. “I’m more of a barb wired fence sort of guy.”
Laughing and shaking my head, I realized this didn’t really sound like a bad idea.
“Amber, there is one more thing?” Jax’s face was still playful, but I noticed a hint of seriousness. “No more games, I don’t do well with jealousy.”
“Neither do I,” I replied
Lightly, he guided his hand up my body and cupped the side of my cheek, “I don’t play games.”
“Neither do I,” I snapped back, pushing up against him harder and moving my head slightly closer to his. “Looks like we both have nothing to worry about.”
“Looks that way,” he whispered before driving his head forward and locking his lips with mine. An uncontrollable desire fired through my veins at his touch, and I wanted more.
As he stepped out of the bathroom and into my room with me clinging to him, it was easy to come
to the conclusion I was most definitely going to get more, and, as he kissed me with such passion, I had to wonder, how the hell did I live without this for so long?
Chapter 40
Jax
“Do you have any idea what you are doing?” Troy yelled in my face. The veins running up his neck were bulging, and his eyes were narrowed, the rage on his face would send any man running scared but I wasn’t a man who was easily intimidated.
Cole was glaring at me from the bar, his lips curled with disgust. Adam was the only one who hadn’t attacked me with threats when I’d walked into the clubhouse. Tyler, however, couldn’t even stand being in the same room, and left out the back when I came in.
“Get out of my face,” I growled at Troy, and pushed him back, hard, so he was out of my personal space. “How about you stop questioning me, and start debriefing.”
There had been a run that night; it wasn’t major, and Troy being President should have handled it easy. Still, he had to tell me how it went.
Cole scoffed loudly from the bar, wanting my attention. “Dating her is only going to bring trouble,” he snorted.
“What I do in my personal life is not your business.” My voice dropped into a deadly growl, “I think you both better remember your place and who you are talking to.”
“Putting Amber in trouble makes it our business,” Troy said as he slammed a closed fist down on the bar, finally getting the hint and staying out of my personal space.
“She isn’t in trouble,” I gritted my teeth; this was why I didn’t want to tell them, their protective instincts were sickening. “Anyway, before I came along, she had the ability to bring trouble all by herself without my help.”
“You said you loved her.” Troy looked disgusted. “Did you say that so she heard you? If you think you are using my sister as a root rag…”
“I’m dating her. Now fucking drop it before I drop you,” I roared at both of them. “Now get back to fucking business and remember I’m the one in charge.”
I stormed out of the clubhouse; the heat and anger in the room was suffocating. I couldn’t let them think they had a right to tell me what to do. The Shield boys had to be brought back in line and it was going to be a challenge.
I let the clubhouse door slam shut. We had more important things to worry about than my dating life, like finding the fuckwit that tried to kill us the other night.
I straddled the black beast and kicked her to life. Nothing like a long ride to clear the mind, although knowing Amber was sleeping, half-naked, made me want to make a detour.
Amber
Ever wanted to just hide from the world? Pull the covers up and pretend that you have disappeared from the world? I don’t usually, but today that was exactly what I wanted to do, because I didn’t want to have to face today.
Did I think something would happen today? Well, no, not really. I just simply did not want to get up because, right now, everything was how I liked it. One could say it was perfect.
I finally had Jax, and although I would never admit it to a living soul, I really had deep feelings for the guy. It was an overwhelming, gut wrenching, bring me to my knees sort of love.
“Amber, get out of bed alright?” Jax said as he pushed me again, and I clenched the blankets around me tighter.
“NO!” my voice was muffled under the blankets “Just come back to bed.”
“Don’t make me pull you out!” I heard the snigger in his voice.
“Do it and you’re dead.”
Jax went silent and I knew that only meant one thing - trouble for me. “Jax?” A few more minutes passed and I tried to listen for movement, but there was nothing.
I squealed when the blankets were suddenly ripped off, my grip not having a chance against his.
“I hate you!” I flipped over onto my back and glared up at him.
“School; leaving in ten minutes.” Smirking, his eyes raked my body. “Better put some more clothes on too.”
“PERV!” I threw a pillow in his direction. He easily walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
I groaned loudly. Looks like I would be facing the day after all.
***
I always believed that whatever I did didn’t really matter. Like no-one really cared; boy had I been wrong.
“That’s it.” I slammed my locker shut. “Get away from me.”
Jax rolled his eyes at me, and took the books from my hand. “Amber, get over it.”
“I’ll get over it when people stop staring at us!” I shot a dirty look at the girls across the hall that were eyeballing us. “Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Who said they are staring at you?” Jax smirked at me, “They are just checking me out.”
“Yeah, couldn’t get a tight enough t-shirt?” I glanced up and down his body again. I swear that black t-shirt was just designed to define each of his rather well-crafted abnormal muscles, and to tease the hell out of me.
Jax moved in closer, his lips just touching my ear lobe. “Don’t worry Amber, you can take it off tonight.”
I whacked his arm immediately. “Please! As if your body is all I think about.”
“So, what were you enjoying last night?”
“Just shut it,” I hissed under my breath. “They will hear you, and that won’t help anything, will it?”
Jax sniggered. “Come on, give me your hand.”
I pulled it quickly behind my back, away from him “No.” I was sick of people staring at us. For God’s sake, had they never seen a couple before?
Ever since I got off Jax’s bike this morning and held his hand, we had become the school’s only source of entertainment. Or maybe someone had plastered a ‘stare at me sign’ on me, and I hadn’t seen it.
“Give me your hand!” He went to reach around me, and just missed it. “Amber…”
“No, and while we are at it, hand my books over.”
“Why do you care about what others think?” Jax held my books behind his back. “Embarrassed of me?”
My eyes narrowed instantly; I knew what he was playing at. I didn’t care what others thought of us, I just didn’t like being stared at like a zoo animal. “You know that isn’t it.”
“Whatever you say,” Jax said, handing my books over to me as he shrugged; but his job was done. He had already stirred the demon inside of me.
Grinding my teeth, my eyes flickered to the circle of girls who were hovering across from us, still staring. The anger was boiling inside of, and I felt myself ready to explode. Didn’t they know who they were staring at for Heaven’s sake? They had once feared me! I shot an annoyed look at Jax.
It was his fault for being so damn popular.
A glance from a passing football player sent me off the edge.
“STOP FUCKING LOOKING AT US!” I roared through the hall. Everyone in the hall stopped and looked at me; each one of the stupid twits had a stunned expression. “Jax and I are together, now get the heck over it! If I see one more person even glance in our direction, I can PROMISE you it will be the last thing you DO!”
The threat in my voice was deadly, and it would scare anyone in their right mind. Let’s be honest, any crazy woman screaming in the middle of the hall would scare someone.
“Smooth,” Jax muttered behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at him. He was holding his laughter in.
“Someone has to be the man in this relationship,” I hissed back at him, before noticing that everyone was still frozen. “What the heck are you waiting for?” I snapped at them. “Move on!”
Students’ eyes snapped to the ground as they walked past me, and, slowly, conversation began to rebuild.
“Way to strike fear in the hearts of our peers, Amber.” Jax reached out and grabbed my hand. “Come on babe; let me get you to class before you scare anyone else.”
Chapter 41
“Stop glaring at her,” Jax hissed from beside me. I gave him a dry expression, while rolling my eyes. Did he really expect me to li
sten to him?
“Tell her we’re dating then,” I said and leaned into him, and then shot another filthy look in Linda’s direction. “Now.”
“I’m not standing up in the middle of class to tell her that. Anyway, she would know by now,” he reassured me.
“You don’t know that.”
I tapped my foot under the table, and my eyes traveled back in her direction. I knew it was under me to even care about what she thought, but I will admit the evil side of me wanted to see her face when she realized Jax is mine.
I always thought Linda had a crush on him and this was only proved right when Jax just happened to mention that she liked him. Well that just created a beast inside me, who wanted to rub my new relationship in her face.
“Amber, just drop it.” Jax’s voice was serious, and he placed his hand under the table on my leg “Please.”
I looked into his haunting eyes, which always seemed to draw me into him. Not being able to fight it, I surrendered. So much for not doing what he told me to.
***
“Noticed how people get out of our way?” I hummed happily to Jax as we walked up the corridor; not one person got in our way.
“What do you expect when you are with me?” He smirked at me and naturally I gave him a crabby look.
“Don’t go all high and mighty on me.”
“Ok babe.”
“I’m not a pig,” I huffed, and reached into my bag to look for my buzzing phone.
“You should clean that thing out,” Jax said as he pointed at my bag. “The crap you have in there…” he shook his head disapproving.
“Please! Everything in here is important,” I informed him. I finally found my phone; of course it was at the bottom. “Here,” I handed him my textbooks. “Make yourself useful.” I sniggered at the slight disgust on his face when he took them. Also, the look in his eyes which told me not to mention this to the boys.
“Hello?” I smiled into the phone, my eyes still on Jax.
“Amber!”
“Blake?” I was shocked to hear his voice; he hadn’t contacted me since he’d been arrested; although he was in jail, so he had a pretty good excuse.