Fighter(18)

For me. He was doing this for me too.

Fuck that.

I grabbed hold of his sweats and yanked him to me. His lips slammed onto mine, and as our bodies fell back to the bed, he caught himself so he wasn’t crushing me. Right before he pushed inside me, I said, “We’ll do the right thing in an hour.”

Or two.

Or three.

Or after the entire afternoon.

Chapter Eight

When we finally made it there that night, as per usual, Sally’s was packed. The parking lot was filled, and a crowd waited to get in. We kept driving, but the two parking lots next to it were also full, and in the end, the first spot we found was five blocks away.

We didn’t have a genius plan of getting Jax in this time. We’d given everything we had yesterday with the mascot. The only thing I did know to do was ditch Haley’s car—and by ditching, I mean I left it in the parking lot of a grocery store a block away from her place. Then I slipped her car keys under her door with a note attached. We hadn’t talked for the last two days, so I didn’t know the status of her relationship with my brother. I just hoped he didn’t see the key first, if he’d slept over. But it wouldn’t matter too much. He’d just know we got a new car, which we did.

I’d rented an old-timer’s black Camaro. That was all they had at the rental office, and when Jax realized which car was ours, he’d burst out laughing.

“Now that’s a ride-in-style kind of car,” he said, patting my shoulder. “I’m thinking this is awesome for my last ride to jail tonight.”

Ah. Jail. Good times. I needed that reminder of why I was spending all this time with him. Not to jump him—well, not to jump him in that way, but in the bail jump kind of way. Get your head out of the gutter, Doi—Dale. Fuck me. I shook my head and put a scowl in place. It was time to round third base and head on home.

After parking, we headed down the sidewalk toward Sally’s with a crowd. After a couple double takes, Jax cursed softly and reached back to pull up his hood. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched over, trying to look inconspicuous. I rolled my eyes. No matter what he did, he couldn’t camouflage his lean build or charismatic presence. He had an almost animalistic draw to him. The people who looked at him hadn’t recognized him as the fighter—not yet. They were just drawn to him, as I’d always been. Catching a few seductive looks sent his way, I gritted my teeth. Jax must’ve sensed my growing irritation because he shot out a hand and caught my arm.

I glanced down at where he’d grabbed me, then realized I’d started moving toward one of the girls. The desire to rip off her arm had been first and foremost in my mind, and when it clicked that I’d been about to do just that, I flushed and pulled back, purposefully moving right next to Jax.

“Who’s the fighter tonight?” he asked under his breath.

I sighed. “I know. I know.” The old Jax would’ve let me confront the girl. It was nice to know he really had changed. “Thanks.”

He nodded, his eyes going to my lips. “I should get extra credit. Watching you initiate a chick fight is the hottest thing I can think of right now.” He slid his gaze down my body and back up, lingering on my breasts, then rising to my lips. “Well, maybe not the hottest thing, but you get my drift.” He winked at me and bumped his hip into mine. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d love for the cops to come and you to join me in jail tonight. The cops love me. I can out-benchpress them. I bet I could get us a shared cell. But you know…” He gestured around the block to where we could see the beginning of Sally’s parking lot. “We’ve got a fight to finish first.”

I groaned. “You just ruined it for me. I thought you were a stand-up guy and poof! There went the halo around your head.”

He laughed, drawing attention again, so he ducked farther down and quieted. “No halo unless I’m the male equivalent of a Victoria’s Secret Angel. Then hell yeah. I’d wear the whole costume. Wings too. They just have to be black. I’m not a white-wing type of angel.” He’d gone back to gazing at my lips, and his voice dipped low and promising. “I’m more like a fallen Angel, if you know what I mean.”

I did. Too well.

A disturbing tingle filled my body, warming my blood, and swelling my chest with warm fuzzies—the warm fuzzies I still didn’t want to deal with because they had nothing to do with our sex-filled afternoon and everything to do with the emotions that continued building in me.

I cleared my throat and pulled my gaze away from his. Yes. As soon as I looked away to the growing crowd, I could think better. Then I remembered what we were doing and grasped Jax’s arm. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” He searched the crowd. “What’s wrong?”

“What if my brothers are here? We haven’t been looking for them.” They could’ve already spotted us. Glancing around for them, I spotted a familiar face and my heart lurched. It couldn’t be…not here…

“Nah.” Jax shook his head, pulling me forward. “I talked to one of the guards yesterday. I told him the scoop, and he said he’d sneak us in through the back door.”

I shot him a look. The familiar face had disappeared. I was wrong about who I thought I saw. I had to be. “We’re bounty hunters. Backdoors are our specialty.” Catching the quick smirk on his face, I shot my hand up. “Do not go sexual with that one.”