Dani just sighs, as if she’s begrudgingly accepted her current situation. "Yup. Not sure how I got roped into his orbit, but here we are."
Aiden just smirks from his place behind her. "You weren’t sad about our situation last night, sweetheart."
Again, Jax’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline. It’s not odd to meet Aiden’s conquests, but it is odd to see him bring them himself and then brag about them to the group.
"How did you two meet?" Remy asks, sounding just as curious as the rest of us are about this mystery girl.
At that, Dani grins. "I met him on Temple’s campus when he helped me run from a security guard. We ended up having to—"
Aiden shoots forward to cut her off by slapping his hand over her mouth. "Aaaand that’s enough story time," he growls. "That big mouth of yours is going to get both our asses in trouble."
Dani tugs his hand from her mouth and turns to smirk at him over her shoulder. "Oh please. You love my big mouth." Her grin widens as she wiggles against where Aiden is pressed to her back. "And my ass."
Aiden’s eyes widen, Remy barks a startled laugh, and Jax grins. "I like her," Remy chuckles. "We need more women to keep these guys in line.” She grins at Dani, the two women bonding instantly with a single, unspoken conversation. "It’s about time this asshole found a Daddy."
Dani just winks at her in answer.
New Girl has definitely made an impression.
Aiden immediately jumps to distract Dani by ordering another round of drinks, and I’m not at all surprised to see that she’s a whiskey drinker, or that she’s bonding with Max over whatever quality whiskey they both order on Aiden’s tab.
Finally, Aiden turns back to Jax and I. "It’s good to have you back, Little Porter," he says. "Glad you finally got the shithead off your back."
I offer a small smile, even though I’m trying to never hear about Steve ever again. "Me, too."
He grins, his eyes twinkling. "Heard you got a good punch in."
Now it’s my turn to grin. "Damn right, I did. I can’t be a Porter without having a good right hook." I see Remy out of the corner of my eye, smiling proudly into her beer.
Jax chuckles next to me. "She insulted his dick, too. I’d be surprised if he ever finds his ego again."
Aiden’s eyes sparkle with amusement. "You did? Damn, girl. You took that man down in every way that counts, huh?"
I shrug. "He seemed to be under the wrong impression that his lap pinky was something to be proud of. I was just trying to help the guy out."
My words are met with an uproar of laughter.
Aiden seems delighted, Max and Lucy both crack up, and even Dani chuckles. Jax grins and I canseethe pride glowing in his eyes.
It’s Remy that’s left staring at me in shock, with a look ofwho are you and what have you done with my innocent sister?
Aiden’s laughter is the last to die off. "That’s fucking amazing," he says on a final chuckle. His eyes rake over me, taking in my short red dress and the happy smile that seems to have taken over my face. "You look better now too. More alive. More womanly."
Remy rolls her eyes, sensing her idiot teammate’s taunt, but Jax growls and tightens his grip around my shoulders. But before anyone can say anything, Aiden just starts laughing.
"Jesus Christ, bro. I wasn’t hitting on her. I was just saying she looks… let’s go with happier. Does that satisfy your protective instincts?" He rolls his eyes at Jax, but his satisfied smirk is still in place.
"If you thought I was protective before, I can assure you, it’s about to get a whole lot worse," Jax threatens in a deep voice. A shiver runs through me, just as it always does when he gets like this.
His words heal something in me in that moment. It’s always been obvious that Jax cared about me, but I never really thought about what it means to have it be so intrinsic. With Steve I had his words, all the time and whenever I asked. He was quick to tell me he loved me and to remind me of the things he did that "proved" that love. But I was never actually convinced of it.
Not like I’ve always been about Jax.
I don’t know if he’s "in love" with me, but there has never in my life been a doubt in my mind that Jax shows me the kind of unconditional love that people rarely experience from people other than their parents. Even with friends, this kind of love is rare. But with Jax, with his declaration ofit’s Hailey, I’ve never been so sure of being loved in my entire life.
And even though I’m mortified at the feel of them, I know tears are burning at the back of my eyes, simply because I feel grateful.
I don’t let them fall, though. I blink them away and turn my face into Jax’s chest. And when I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head, I feel even more loved.