Rising (Blue Phoenix, #4)(70)

Ruby laughs and winds her fingers into my hair, holding her forehead against mine. “I like being alone in rooms with Jem Jones.”

“Yeah, but you never know what he might do to you.” She inhales sharply as my finger slips beneath the lace, toward the wet heat that’ll be there for me. I taste the perspiration on her skin as I lick from her neck to her ear.

“He never wastes any time, does he?” She shifts and presses into my hand.

“Makes a change that I’m the groupie,” I whisper.

Ruby thumps my chest with her palm. “Do you mind not mentioning groupies when you’re about to screw me?”

“Am I?”

“Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!” calls a voice to the tune of the Kaiser Chief’s song, followed by a knock. Jax.

“For f-uck’s sake…” I mutter and let go of her.

“Yeah?” she calls.

Jax continues to sing the song as he opens the door, then stops dead as he sees me. “Oh. Hey, Jem.”

That bloody song. Jax sings it around Ruby a lot and I’ve yet to figure out whether he’s attempting to communicate something. I’m aware that he’s torn between not accepting her involvement with me and needing to hide this because of the role I have in his life.

Jax is shirtless, hair as damp as Ruby’s, every bit the rock star he’s morphing himself into. Ruby’s t-shirt barely reaches her thighs and if he doesn’t stop staring at her legs… Jax has his own chicks now; he can keep his eyes and mind off mine.

“Were you wanting the room?” I ask. “Got someone with you?”

“Nah. Not tonight, too tired. Besides, we’re doing some celebrating with Ruby, aren’t we?”

“No, we’re not,” warns Ruby.

“Why? What happened?” I ask.

Ruby shoves her discarded dress in her bag and pulls her jeans on. “I’m tired too. Let’s go home, Jem.”

Jax crosses his arms and pulls his brows together. “It’s your birthday!”

“And we went through this last year; I don’t do birthdays!”

Jax looks at me and waves hand at Ruby. “Tell her!”

Ruby focuses on the wall over my head.

“Tell her what? You can’t make her celebrate her birthday.”

“So you knew too?” he asks.

“No. But I don’t like celebrating mine, so I understand.”

“But it’s your twenty-first!” protests Jax, ignoring me. “At least have a drink with the guys.”

I recognise Ruby’s stance, the tension beginning in her stiffening shoulders, and spreading toward her hardening mouth. I get the brunt of this enough to know when to calm things down. But it’s her trembling hands as she puts her shoes on that worry me because I’m not entirely sure this is anger.

“Ruby doesn’t want to do anything,” I say. “Leave it.”

“Jesus, Ruby!” snaps Jax.

“If you hadn’t nagged me or mentioned my birthday I might’ve stayed, but you’re stressing me. I’m going home.” Ruby grabs her bag then pushes past him and he swivels his head to watch her go.

“But, Ruby…” Jax is rewarded with a one-finger salute given to him over her shoulder.

“How long have you known her?” I ask. “Long enough to understand Ruby doesn’t operate on the same level as you. This is a situation connected to her past and you pushed it!”

“What, so she’s like you? You understand each other?” he asks, voice laden with sarcasm.

“I understand the world is different shades and not black and white. Maybe when you grow up a bit, you will too.” I pause. “And yeah, we understand each other.”

Jax chews hard on his bottom lip, his silence telling.

“Spit it out,” I say.

“Don’t hurt Ruby.”

“We’re none of your business.”

“She’s my friend and I watched her moving from a bad place. Then you came along. You helped, but now I think you’re going to make things worse.”

“I don’t abuse her! Don’t you f-ucking accuse me of being bad for Ruby.”

Finally alone with me, he has the balls to say what he thinks. “I’m not going to fight with you, but think about where she came from. Don’t f-uck with Ruby’s self-esteem by screwing her over and kicking her to one side.”

“Watch who you’re talking to, little boy,” I growl.

“Hit a nerve, have I?”

“I suggest you stop now before this gets nasty.”

Jax drops his aggression, eyes taking on a look of concern. “Ruby deserves to be loved. If you can’t give her that, do you deserve hers?”

Before I can respond, he turns and walks away. For all his bravado and swagger, this guy has an intuition I wouldn’t expect. He’s na?ve, his sheltered background protecting him from the bad in the world, but he understands chicks in the same way Bryn does. How do guys do that? Maybe he grew up in a house full of sisters like Bryn and got conditioned the same way. Yeah, I get Jax’s worried about Ruby; but he has no place to interfere, and if he says anything again, I doubt I’ll react as calmly.



****



The topic isn’t mentioned on the way back to the house. Instead, Ruby chats about the gig, over analysing every track the band performed as she usually does.