Fighter(22)

I snorted. “Not yet. You haven’t gotten into bed with my brother yet.” I ignored the rest. Jax now pressed kisses over my cheek, searching for my lips, and I struggled to maintain control.

Haley groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. “You’re right. I’m being all judgey, but seriously, your brothers are coming here. They thought you’d take him straight to jail, and since you haven’t, they’re coming to do it themselves.”

I sighed. One more chase. Then I shook my head. Fuck it.

Jax felt my decision as my body tensed, and he lifted his head. His gaze was lidded. “What? What’s going on?”

I pulled away, took his hand, and began leading him through the crowd. Haley followed us.

Jax’s hands went to my hips. He didn’t stop me, he just weaved with me, keeping that intimate hold. When we’d pushed through the main crowd, he leaned forward and asked, “Where are we going?”

“You…” I squeezed one of his hands. “…are going to jail. Then I’ll bond you out myself afterward.”

He groaned, but didn’t fight. “I’m drunk. Jail is very sobering. This is going to suck.”

“Yeah, well.” I didn’t say anything else, but the sooner he got in, the sooner he could get out. That was my way of thinking.

Haley held her hand out. “Give me the keys.”

“For what?” She was going to help us? Again?

She lifted her eyebrows. “The keys. What car is it?”

Slowly I took them out of my bag. “You know Dylan’s going to get pissed that you’re helping.”

Haley looked down at the ground, giving me the answer I’d already known: he had been pissed. But she looked back, her chin set firmly. “Give me the keys. They’ll know you had to have parked away from Sally’s. And someone called and told them they saw you guys walking down Sixth Street, so they’re waiting for you. They’re going to block you in and make a circle. They figure you can’t fight all of them off.”

I grunted. Jax was drunk. Who knew what he would do. I didn’t relish the idea of him fighting one of my brothers, but I knew the old Jax would’ve come out swinging if he was cornered. Reluctantly, I put the keys in her hand. “It’s the black Camaro parked two blocks up.”

“Which one?”

“The only one.”

“Oh.” She ducked her head. “Got it. Okay. Be back and be ready to jump in Dukes of Hazzard style.”

Oh boy.

As she took off, Jax frowned. “Dukes of what?”

I patted his arm. “Just be ready to leap when I tell you.”

He nodded. “Got it.” A determined look passed over his features, and he lowered his head like a bull ready to charge. “Where do we go?”

“Onward.”

We hadn’t gotten far when Dylan stepped out from behind a car, stun gun drawn. He wore the whole get-up: his black bulletproof vest with his badge hanging around his neck.

I smirked. “For real? The stun gun?”

He pressed the button, letting the electricity spark, and flashed me a look. “It’s up to you. You’re going in too, sister.”

“For what?”

He gestured to Jax with the stun gun. “Aiding and abetting a criminal, that’s what.”

Jax looked around. Dylan wasn’t alone. Dean brought up the rear, walking right in the middle of the road. He struck an imposing figure since he was three times the size of all of us. The people walking to their cars from Sally’s now realized something big was going down. When they saw it involved Jax, they began to shout.

“Shit’s going down!”

Someone else yelled, “Pulverize ‘em, Cutler.”

“You took down Monroe! These guys are nothing.”

“Come on, Jax!”

I felt Jax growing tense, pressed up next to me. I glanced down to see his hands in fists and his biceps flexing. He was getting ready to fight.

Oh dear.

Then it got worse. Word must’ve gotten back to the crowd at Sally’s, because a surge of people came sprinting from the parking lot down the block to us. They filled the sidewalks and started banging on the parked cars, slamming fists on hoods and slapping trunks.

“Let’s go! Another win, Jax.”

No one stepped out onto the street, so it was only Jax and me in the middle. Dean stood at one end, Dylan at the other and then, slowly, the rest of my brothers stepped out from the crowd to close in a circle around us.

David.

Daniel.

Derrick.

Damon.

Darren.

Darius.

I counted. Eight of them. Wait, the last one stepped out and closed the circle right next to Dylan: Deacon.

Jax grunted. “I knew you had a lot of brothers, but they’re a little scary when they’re all together.” He paused and let out a soft laugh. “Especially with you and me being on the other side of things.” He touched the back of my arm. “I’m sorry they’re being dicks to you.”

“I can handle myself,” I growled. They were going to arrest me too? They took out a warrant on their little sister? The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. That’s something we used as a threat, a ploy to get people talking—no one wanted to go to jail. But knowing they’d actually followed through and gotten a warrant on me? That was low.