Loving the Fighter

82

Liam's POV

"He seems better," Callum said almost as soon as Jax closed the door behind him. His words were cheery but his tone was more skeptical.

I only hum in agreement while Ryder seems to be thinking the same thing.

"Maybe this is where it ends?" Ryder asked after a while. "Maybe the hard part is over now?" He sounded hopeful but his eyes casted doubt as well.

"As much as I want that to be true, something just doesn't seem right about this," I say as I pet his hair.

"What do you mean?"

"He seems too okay all of a sudden. I mean he went from glaring, slipping nearly constantly, and literally gagging himself to being a gothic version of Callum almost over night."

Callum frowned at my analogy but he didn't comment on it.

"So then do we bring it up or we just let him ride this out until he either explodes or actually becomes this happy version of Jax?"

My eyes travel down to Ryder. He looks back up at as if he is waiting for my answer.

"What do you think?" I asked him, making his eyes go wide slightly.

"Why me? You would know better than me," he says defensively.

"You know him better in this sense. You two are so similar when it comes to things like this. What do you think we should do?"

He goes quiet as he thinks, his head still resting on my chest while he stares up at the roof with a small frown.

"I think we should let him go," he says after a while. "Just try to soak up this good stretch before the next thing comes along but I still think we need to keep an eye on him just in case. As much as I don't want to admit it, eventually something is going to happen and we'll be happy we had this little bit but we still need to make sure nothing else is happening. Then maybe, when this next big thing happens, we can stop it before it gets too bad."

"I agree with that," Callum said from his side of the room. "Still keep an eye on his weight, just because Andrew is involved now doesn't mean anything will really change about it."

We all seemed to agree with Callum, but he didn't seem to be done with this lovely conversation just yet.

"Can I be honest real quick?" He says after a while, his voice dripping with frustration.

"You know you always can," Ryder says calmly as he sits up to give Callum more attention.

"It feels like he's isolating himself but from each of us and it pisses me off. He's a completely different person depending on who he is with and none of us want to talk about it just in case Jax takes it the wrong way but I can't keep doing this shit."

I can't help but sigh as I rub my face. I had noticed it too. It was like I was the only person that Jax every talks to when he gets bad. If Ryder isn't in the room you can forget Jax watching a movie or doing anything even remotely entertaining. And since the night Jax started dating all of us, he's only kissed Callum.

"So what are we going to try to do about it?" I asked any one who had any suggestions. So far in our three way, we have never had this kind of problem. We were all pretty good telling each other when we wanted alone time.

"Maybe we just need more one on one time with him," Ryder suggested. "I mean we are with each other pretty much 24/7, it might be good for us to spread out a bit more again. I know it's hard to go on dates here but we could still try."

My mind goes back to a few months ago. I had tried that with Jax when he first got here but it didn't end well.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," I say before Callum has the chance to agree. "I tried to take Jax out once when he first got here and he ended up having a panic attack in the bathroom. That was the first breakdown he had."

Callum shared a frown with Ryder before turning hopeful again for a second.

"That was a while ago though. He's been out on his own a few times since then, so it shouldn't happen anymore."

"But do we want to chance it? I thought we were going to try to ride out this happy streak."

"We can't shelter him from everything," Ryder spoke up after a while. "He's a big boy, we know his triggers for the most part, and we are more prepared now. If we keep walking around on eggshells near him, he's going to realize what we are going and he's going to be pissed off at us for it."

"He has a point," Callum said with pitiful look as he stared at me. "We aren't going to be able to grow if nothing changes. Just keep an eye on his at all times and if it goes south for whatever reason, just try to get him back to the cabin as fast as you can."

I can't stop myself from thinking it's still not the best idea but Ryder and Callum seemed pretty dead set on it at this point so there wasn't much changing their minds at this point. All I could do is play along and hope they are right.

"So," I say after a while. "Who wants to go first then?"