week. “You okay, babe,” he asks.
“Perfect,” I reply, rolling onto my back so that I can look up at him. I trace my finger around his nipple causing it to harden and he smacks my hand away. “Hey!” I pout.
He smiles and puts his phone on the bedside table beside mine. “We’re waiting, remember?”
I groan. “Maybe we could revisit the topic? Make a few amendments?”
Jax laughs. “Come ‘ere and gimme your mouth, Madd.”
That’s one request I will never deny him. “Hmm, you taste good,” he whispers against my lips.
The shrill ring of my phone cuts our kiss short. “Damn it,” I say as Jax hands it to me.
I answer the call and hear a quiet female voice.
“Angel?” she almost whispers my name.
“Yeah—Who’s this?” I ask.
“It’s Shelly… I’m sorry to call you like this, but can you talk? I need… I think something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean you think something’s wrong?” I ask, shoving the blankets off. Jax is up now too, and he throws my underwear at me, then a pair of clean jeans and a t-shirt.
“I have to whisper. Can you hear me?”
“Shelly, spit it out. What’s going on?” Jax places a hand on the back of my neck, instantly calming me as I pull on my jeans.
“Oakley got a phone call earlier. Actually, several phone calls. I didn’t think anything about it—I mean you know telemarketers. But then she got a text, and she’s been acting really weird ever since.”
“What do you mean weird? Is she okay?” I rush out.
“Yeah but, Angel, I just walked past her room and she’s packing her bags… fast. You need to hurry—I think she’s leaving.”
FUCK! “Stall her. Do whatever you have to do but do not let her leave.”
“I’ll try, but please hurry.”
I end the call and shove my feet into my boots. “Oakley’s leaving,” I say.
Jax follows me into the kitchen and grabs his keys off the counter. “The fuck? What do you mean she’s leaving?”
We rush out the door and get into his truck. I fill him in on what Shelly told me as we drive toward her house, hoping like hell Shelly was able to stall her.
“Madd,” Jax uses the same tone he uses on unhappy customers at the garage. Like I’m a wild animal and he needs to keep me calm. “When we get there, let me talk first, okay?”
I’m about to protest, but he puts his hand on my thigh and rubs it gently. “You know how you get when you panic. Let me talk to her first, then you can take over, I promise.”
I squeeze his hand. “We can’t lose her.” In such a short amount of time this woman has become our center. A common point in which we revolve around, both of us existing and breathing all for her. So much about our future together is uncertain, but the one thing I do know is neither of us sees a future that doesn’t include Oakley.
“We’re not going to lose her. Listen to me, we’re going to go in there and see what’s going on and then we’re going to fix it. She’s not going anywhere, you hear me? She’s ours.”
Jax pulls up outside Shelly’s apartment and cuts the engine. My first reaction is to grab the door handle and sprint inside, but when Jax makes no move to get out, I inhale and squeeze his hand again. “I’m okay,” I assure him. “I’m letting you do the talking. I’m good.”
He leans across the center console and grips the back of my neck, forcing our heads together. “Let’s go get our girl.”
I knock on the front door and Shelly opens it hesitantly. When she invites us in, she nods toward the closed bedroom door we can see from the living room. “I didn’t know who else to call,” Shelly says.
“I know, you did the right thing,” I give her a hug and ask her to wait in the kitchen.
Jax knocks on the bedroom door.
“Shelly, please—don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Oakley says through the door.
When the door opens and she sees both of us waiting, her eyes grow wide and she visibly swallows. “Ah, um. I thought you guys were Shelly.” She looks over her shoulder to the bed where a suitcase is stuffed with clothes. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes dart between me and Jax. Beside me, Jax is a pillar of strength, but when he clenches his jaw, I realize he’s close to losing it. Still, Jax losing