Jax (Titan #9)(101)

"I don't," she lied. Every night, dreams came to her. True or not, she became more confused about fiction and reality.

Jax stood up, tugging her hand. "On your feet."

Gently, the brooding man pushed back the chair and gave another tug until she stood. Jax removed the pen from her loose grip and placed it next to the paper then gathered both her hands in his. Seven let her eyes drift shut as she rested her chin on his sternum.

"There was Elvis in sequins," he said quietly. "Desserts that you were way too excited about."

She quietly laughed then placed her cheek against his heart. "We should blame the bakers for this mess."

His chest rumbled, and he played with her hair. "Do you remember giving the over-under on whether couples would last?"

No… "Yes!" They'd agreed most wouldn't make it past the end of the year. Jax had said a few of the couples wouldn't make it past the end of the month. But she bit her tongue at that realization, eyes wide open, because it was Seven who'd said she bet they would last forever.

Heat hit her cheeks, but it wasn't embarrassment. She had pushed that first domino, causing the chain of reactions to where they stood now.



"We can't get married." Jax picked up her hand. "No engagement ring. There's been no proposal."

She rolled her eyes then took the last bite of her cake between her fingers and pushed it to his lips, giggling as he finished the bite then licked the last of the icing.

"I don't need a ring. I don't want anything."

"You're crazy, Seven."

"For you. So. Very. True."

He pulled her close and kissed her. "Tell me what you want."

"Simple." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just you. Jax."

"That sounded a helluva lot like a proposal, princess. Better be careful. Otherwise, I'll take you up on that."



"I forgot about the part where this was my idea." Seven pulled away, convinced this was the perfect time to rearrange her laundry. When he took her by the elbow, she grimaced. "Now's as good of a time as ever to tell you that I have a… nervous tic."

He let go of her elbow, reached for the counter, and tossed a hand towel her way. "Fold it all you want. If it makes you feel better, I don't care."

"It's more like a compulsion at times."

"Do you want to talk about that now instead of divorcing me?" he asked.

She smoothed the towel on the table. "I'd rather not discuss either."

"Your plan was to never pick up the phone again?" Jax smiled. "Seems very un-Seven-like."

"Similar to marrying someone in Vegas. It goes hand in hand." Methodically folding the towel was so simple. "I didn't think about how or why we were married. I only tried to fix what wasn't planned. Look, I have to focus on my kids. That's it. Not me. Not you. Them."

Jax pulled away abruptly. "Sorry to drop a rainbow bomb on all your self-sacrifice, but your belief in smiles and sunshine is supposed to surpass all of my grumblings. Your hair is pink for God's sakes. It's a happy freakin' color because you're a true believer in this stuff. Don't shy away from me now because something didn't go as planned. That's life, and you roll with it."

"You're not supposed to roll with marriage."

He closed in on her. "You are if you love the guy."

The world stopped spinning. Seven stopped breathing. Jax's piercing eyes glared, and his hard-set jaw clenched as though he challenged her to say anything but the truth she had been denying.

There weren't enough ways to tell him how grateful she was to him for bringing her kids home, how much they idolized him, and how desperately she needed him. She couldn't begin to count the times she'd smiled by herself, knowing she loved him.

How many masters do you serve? Seven squeezed her eyes shut, unable to get her father out of her head. Nolan had had nightmares every night since he'd come home, and Bianca was even more wary of the world than she had been before the kidnapping.

"I have to focus on them. Not me." Seven reached for the pen, and—Jax grabbed it and threw it across the room. "What the—?"

"Do you know what scares me?" he asked.

She was shaken by the somberness in his tone and how he'd launched the pen away. "Nothing scares you."

He laughed hollowly and stared out the dining room window before moving to the living room. Seven followed, and Jax put his hands on her shoulders, guiding her to the couch, but didn't join her. Instead, he paced the area rug for what felt like hours as he battled whatever his internal demon was.

"Are you okay?" But really, what was the answer? She was asking for a divorce from a marriage she was scared of wanting.

Jax stopped and pulled an ottoman in front of her then sat so they were eye to eye. "You think I'm not terrified to lose you?" He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I never thought about the future outside of my SEAL team, and Carrie probably never thought about hers outside the Agency. But you? Seven…"

Seven's stomach turned, not in jealousy but from the unknown and distant sadness she couldn't pinpoint. She hated the idea that he'd been hurt and that she'd called him out on a pain she couldn't comprehend.