Damned (18 page)

“Because I said so. Pack your bags in the morning, we will get there around lunch time.”

“Ok.”

“Ok, well I will see you in the morning.”

“Ok.”

“Night mate.”

“Night Jax, and…thanks.”

“Yeah, anytime.”

I feel overwhelmed with emotion once Jax has left. I don’t know if I want to cry or scream. I feel like we have not solved anything, and yet we have talked so much. I miss him; I want him to know that. I stand on shaky legs and walk out of my room, making my way towards his. When I reach his room, I open the door; and my world crumbles. On her knees in front of Jax, is Gazelle. It does not take a genius to know what she is doing to him.

I make a strangled sound, which I didn’t intend on doing. Jax looks up sharply; I am unable to read the expression on his face. He shoves at Gazelle who stumbles backwards. It is too late; I turn and run. It should not hurt; I know that, but it does. Tears roar down my cheeks as I stumble towards my room. I make a last minute decision and go to the next best thing, Jack. I knock furiously on his door. He opens and his face tangles in a mass of concern.

“Oh angel, what is the matter?”

“I…can you just get me out of this hallway?”

Jack nods and pulls me in, before shutting and locking his door. I crumble into his arms. He slides to the floor with me wrapped around him, and there we sit until I stop sobbing.

“Want to tell me what happened?”

“We talked; Jax and I. It was good. I went to…find him and saw Gazelle on her knees.”

“I get the picture.”

“It hurt so much. Jax has made it exceedingly clear to me, but it still hurt. I love him Jack; I don’t know how to cope.”

“You have to move on Jade, if you don’t; you will crumble.”

“
It’s
too late for that, I have already crumbled.”

There is a loud thumping on Jack’s door.

“Jack, open up.”

I know
it’s
Jax, but I don’t want to see him.

“I am busy.” Jack yells.

“I know she is in there, now open up!”

“Don’t Jack.” I whisper.

“He will kick this door down Jade, you know he will.”

“I don’t want to see him.” I whisper again.

“She does not want to see you Cap, go away.”

I hear Jax snort, then he kicks the door. It bursts open, and he steps in. His eyes fall on me, and he actually looks sorry.

“We need to talk.”

“No.”

“Jade, I will carry you out of here if I have to.”

“I said, no.”

With a growl, he leans down and scoops me up; tossing me over his shoulder. I scream and kick, but it does no good.

“I will come and find you soon.” Jack yells as Jax walks down the hall with me tossed over his shoulder.

When we arrive at his room, he throws me onto the couch. I stand and begin storming for the door, but he puts his hand on my shoulder and shoves me backwards.

“I am not going over this with you Jax, I want to go.”

He stands at the entrance with his arms folded. “Why did you come and see me?”

“What?”

“Before, why were you coming into my room?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter, tell me why.”

“It is beside the point. I saw something I did not need to, I hated it, and I want to go.”

“She was only sucking me off Jade.”

I gape. “Oh my god, do you have to?”

“It was nothing, I couldn’t get anywhere.”

“I don’t care Jax.”

“Clearly you do, or you would not have run.”

“Ok, I do care. So what?”

“Why were you coming into my room?” He asks again.

I sigh with frustration and cross my arms. “I was coming to say…I was coming to say…”

“Spit it out.”

“I was coming to say I missed you. All those years, I missed you like mad. I thought…maybe you wanted to know that.”

He stares at me for a long, painful moment. “Why would you tell me that?”

“Because, we have gone over all the hard stuff…I just wanted you to know, I missed my best friend.”

He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again. “I missed mine too.”

I make a sound of relief. “You did?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Then...Jax, can I hug you? I have wanted to since I got back and…”

He steps forward before I can finish my sentence and pulls me into his arms. I sink into him and lay my cheek against his chest. I can hear his heart hammering, did I make him nervous? He strokes a finger up and down my back and we stand holding each other for a whole ten minutes. When we pull apart, I look up at him through my lashes.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, turns out I needed that too.”

“I’m sorry about before,
it’s
your room and…”

He puts a finger to my lips. “I thought…I needed it but…I hated her mouth on me Jade.”

“I know.” I whisper.

“You make this so hard for me.”

“I know that too.”

He kisses my head, then lets me go. “You should some sleep, we have to move out early tomorrow.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.”

“Well, goodnight Jax.”

“Night baby girl.”

His words shock me, but I say nothing. I smile, and then walk out. Shutting the door behind me.

CHAPTER 10

I can not believe my eyes, the hotel he booked is enormous. The crew members share a few rooms and women get their own. Jax is extremely generous. When he takes me into the room we are going stay in, I gasp and stumble backwards. Ok I am a princess, but wow, this room is breathtaking. It’s so modern and fresh. Two large king sized beds sit beside each other in the main room. The kitchen is absolutely massive with bl
ack stone bench tops. A spa sit
s out on the secluded patio, with a little
window to step through, straight into the bathroom. The views are absolutely beautiful; I cannot breathe for the longest moment.

“Get dressed kid, we are going out.” Jax says, walking in behind me.

“Oh Jax…it’s…wow.”

“You’re a princess and you are gaping like that?”

“I told you, I rarely left the castle.”

“Well you are in for a treat. Get dressed.”

I turn to face him and fling myself into his arms, he seems shocked for a moment but pulls me into a deep embrace after a moment or two.

“Thank you Jax, I mean it.”

“Alright, enough of that. Will you
go
and get dressed?”

I smile and run over to the bed, leaping onto it and undoing my suitcase. Jax grins at me, his smile melting through my soul. He likes that I am happy; he is amused by my excitement.

“You know for a princess, you are like a child on their first Christmas.”

“Oh this is like Christmas to me. Where are we going first?”

“That’s a surprise.”

“What do I wear?”

“Whatever you want.” He winks.

I laugh and hurry into the bathroom, pulling on a pair of shorts and a tank top. It is a sunny day out, and I can’t wait to go adventuring. I come out, and Jax has changed. He wears a pair of faded denim jeans that sit low on those gorgeous hips and a black tee shirt that hugs his muscles. Damn, he is yummy. He pulls on a pair of black sunnies and waves a set of keys at me.

“Ready to go?”

“You look so impressive in sunnies.” I tease. I am so glad the tension between us has eased.

“Right?” He grins.

I shove him and then follow him as he leads the way down the stairs to the front door. The sun kisses my skin as we step out, and I sigh in satisfaction. That is until I see what Jax plans on getting around on; a motorbike.

“Errr…you ride?”

He laughs. “You know I do, come on.”

“Oh Jax…A dirt bike was one thing, but that looks fast.”

“Come on, live it up princess.”

I frown at him. “Fine but if you kill me, I am totally coming back to haunt you.”

He smirks and pulls on a helmet before tossing one at me. I slide it on, mumbling about how ugly it is and get on the back of the bike, wrapping my arms around him. Ok, so this is not a dreadful idea, it gives me a chance to touch him and boy have I missed that. He speeds off, and I let out a small scream. After a moment though, I relax and enjoyed the freedom I feel.

We pull up at a gigantic theme park and I leap off the bike, squealing and jumping up and down. Onlookers stare oddly at me as if to say ‘It’s just a theme park lady’. Jax gets off the bike with another amused expression and takes my helmet off.

“You’re attracting a lot of attention to yourself, darlin.”

“Oh, I don’t care.”

“Come on, before you break something.”

We buy two tickets, and I pull Jax desperately through the front gate. I stand, looking left and right at the miles and miles of rides, food stores and little gift shops. I notice a group of young girls to the left, perhaps about eighteen or so, all giggling and smiling at Jax. Of course he gets the attention; he is so god damned gorgeous it is hard not to look at him.

“You have a cheer squad.” I mutter.

He winks, and they all giggled harder.

“JAX,” I say, shoving him. “Oh great, now I look like a jealous girlfriend.”

He turns to me and smiles down at my angry expression.

“Aw, now don’t be jealous kid.”

“I am not jealous.” I huff, walking forward.

When we near closer to the girls, I spin taking Jax into my grips and planting a sizzling kiss onto his lips. He groans and responds, thank god because it would look awful bad if he shoved me away. After a long, heated moment, I pull back, stare at the girls and wink.

“Oh, were you hoping he was single? Sorry ladies.” I smile sweetly.

I turn to Jax, grin at him and begin walking forward. He grasps my arm and spins me around.

“You’re a naughty little game player missy.”

“I can play well Captain.”

“So you can, alright, I get the point. No perving. Where do we start?”

I look around. “I don’t know, surprise me.”

He takes my hand then, ok, that is a surprise. When he holds it and begins walking, I can’t help the grin that s
preads across my face. Jax Watt
s is holding my hand in public. Jax, the hard, I love nobody pirate is holding my hand. I want to jump up and down and dance in little circles, but I keep my cool. One wrong word and his hand will be gone. He leads me to a huge rollercoaster, and I swallow.

“Oh…Oh…that’s huge. I don’t know.”

“NEXT.” The man shouts, and Jax pulls me forward, not giving me a chance to argue.

We sit down and are tightly strapped in; I take hold of Jax’s hand so hard I am sure I must have bruised it.

“This. Is. Not. Cool.”

He laughs and actually has the nerve to look like he will enjoy my fear.

“You will be right pretty girl, just shut your eyes.”

“Oh Jax, no no no no no.”

Before he can answer, the rollercoaster shoots off, and I scream, loudly. It lifts and drops down a gigantic slide looking thing, I scream and scream, clamping my eyes shut as it shoots up, then down, then around in every direction possible. Jax is laughing; I am sure he is laughing at me and not the fun of the rollercoaster. When it slows, he helps me off as I stand on wobbly legs.

“That was mean.” I stammer.

He shocks me by kissing my head. “You will love me for it later.”

I love you now; I want to scream but instead I say. “I doubt that.”

“Come on, we are not done.”

“Oh…I think we are.”

Jax takes me on just about every ride in the place, from bumper cars to ferris wheels. By the end, I am like a giddy child, laughing and screaming at every new thing he takes me to. He wins me a small
blue teddy bear, which I promptly name Locky. He proceeds to tell me that there is no such thing as the loch ness monster, but I tell him I believe anything can be real, to which he snorts and shoves me.

When we finish at the theme park, we ride to a nearby take away shop and he gets some burgers and fries, before taking me to a gorgeous beach. It has golden sand, pale blue water, and people lay about sun baking under big colourful umbrella’s. We take a spot in the sand, and I wriggle my toes through the soft, warm grains.

“No perving Mr Watt
s.” I murmur.

Jax is gazing out at the beach; he turns to me and grins. “Well, best you give me something else to perve on then.”

“Not happening.”

He laughs. “Fear not, there is only a bunch of old ladies topless over there which is a sight I never hoped to see.”