Before Sunday

Twenty Five

9:01 PM

When it's over, we head inside the house and settle on the couch with a blanket. I cannot wipe the damned grin from my face. Afterglow, no doubt.

I sit myself close to Jax. His arm falls lazily around my shoulder. "So your vow of silence sucked, Angel."

I laugh.

"No joining the monastery in any conceivable future."

"My gender rules me out from any higher calling as a Monk."

Jackson gives me a small squeeze. "Fair enough. Hey, do you have your phone on you?"

"I was naked as the day I was born ten minutes ago," I point out. "So, no. Why?"

"Smells like rain outside, wanted to check the weather. Mine's in my room."

"Mine's on the counter," I say, standing.

"I can get mine," he offers. "Sit down."

"It's alright. Mine's right there."

I walk to the kitchen while Jax settles back into his chair. My phone is sitting face down on the granite. I scoop it up and flip it over. As soon as my thumb slides across the surface, Xavier's text pops up.

Five words.

They unravel me.

You should be with me.

My eyes fly to Jax and thank God, are met with the back of his head. I can only imagine what the look on my face spells out in this moment.

Terror. Pure and undeniable terror.

My fingers are sweaty as I try to delete the text message. As if Jackson is somehow going to fly over here and read it over my shoulder. I glance at the phone in my hands and will them to stop shaking. I must wait a minute but it feels like an hour. I look at the screen and open the weather app.

"It's not going to rain," I say. My words get stuck in my throat on the way out so I clear it and repeat them. "Jax, it's supposed to be cloudy but no rain."

He turns around on the couch, his eyes to the kitchen. "Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong."

I set the phone back down on the counter, praying my shitty grip on the thing isn't going to result in a fall and a smashed screen. It doesn't.

On second thought, I pick it up.

"Jackson?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna have a shower."

He smirks. "Need any help?"

"I've had enough of you for now," I tell him, smiling. It's only partially true. If not for the utter chaos taking place in my brain right now, I'd welcome his company but I can't. I need some time to get my head together. "I don't think I can handle any more."

"Don't be too long. We can watch a movie. I'll even suffer through a chick flick for you."

I do a mental inventory of the stuff in Jackson's kitchen, searching my brain for something I know isn't there. "A movie, huh?"

"Yeah," Jax says decidedly, "your pick, Angel."

"Do you have milk duds?"

"No," he says. "Don't think I do. Why? You want some?"

"Kind of," I say. "I mean, I wouldn't oppose you buying milk duds or anything."

Jackson rises to his feet, stalks over and plants a kiss on my forehead. "What Lola wants, Lola gets."