“Fuck the tour,” he says without hesitation.
My dad saying that is equivalent to the devil putting on ice skates to get around now that hell has frozen over. He’s trying to be selfless. Just like Mom. Just like Bora. Just like Shanna.
But I don’t need them here. I really am fine now.
Before I can point that out, we hear something crash outside my apartment, and my dad runs out, along with Bora. Ruby stays on the bed with me, and even grabs the alarm clock from my nightstand like she can wield it as a weapon.
Because I’m jumpy, I actually tense, waiting for something to happen.
“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” my father barks as a door slams.
“One chance to move, Vince. Or I’ll move you myself.”
Jax’s voice has chills rushing up and down my body, and Ruby slowly lowers the alarm clock while shaking her head at me.
“I didn’t tell him,” she whispers.
“Where the fuck is she, Bora?”
“Who are you?” my mother asks, at the same time Shanna says, “Bedroom.”
Two seconds later, Jax Marshall is filling up my doorway, and I can almost feel the fury vibrating off him as he stalks toward my bed. He’s wearing dark jeans that hang on his hips just right, and a black T-shirt with his JM gym logo.
He winces when his gaze rakes over my face, taking in all the damage one good hit did.
For a skinny, hungry guy, he packed one hell of a punch.
“What happened?” Jax asks calmly, slowly lowering himself onto the bed and sliding over to where Bora was, getting so close I can feel his body heat.
My heartbeat pounds in my ears as his scent washes over me, and suddenly I feel encaged and trapped. Panic rises, because I’m not ready to be around him. When he gingerly touches my face, I flinch. Not because it hurts physically, but because it kills me to feel his touch and know it’s over.
He quickly pulls his hand away, assuming it hurts physically, and I don’t correct him. His jaw tenses and he looks at Ruby.
“What happened?” he asks again.
“Don’t make me kick your ass again,” my dad says from the safety of the doorway of my room, making no hasty movements to charge the man on my bed.
Jax cocks an eyebrow at him, and Dad slinks back just a little. You have no idea how hard it is not to laugh at that, because Vince Jaggons doesn’t back down.
Jax turns his attention back to Ruby, waiting on her to answer him now that my dad has been hushed. Before she can answer, Bora is shouldering by Dad.
“Bo sought out a homeless guy and tried to give him money. When she wasn’t looking, he took a cheap shot and left her ass in the gutter where she passed out. He also stole her purse.”
It’s like she’s tattling on me.
Jax’s jaw clenches, and more anger simmers in his eyes as his gaze comes back to me.
“Why the fucking hell would you do something like that alone?” he asks in a deceptively calm tone.
Knowing that he cares is not doing nice things to my already destroyed heart fragments. It’s not enough to close the wounds he slashed open, but it’s too much to bear right now.
“He was hungry, dirty, and alone,” I tell him weakly, trying to refrain from asking him to hold me.
It’d be sweet torture to have his arms around me right now, and I could get lost in him after the hellacious time I’ve had since he shattered me. I never thought of myself as fragile until Jax Marshall.
“You shouldn’t have fucking tried to help him alone, Bo. Damn it!” he growls.
Everyone in the room tenses when he raises his voice, but for once, I deserve the pissed scolding. Even I admit it was a stupid move. Jax is just the only one with the balls to do it right now.