Authors: Khelsey Jackson
Chapter Eight
Af
ter dinner they said their goodbyes and walked outside. Max placed his hand out in front of her, leaving her to be the one to decide if she wanted to take it, she didn’t have to think about it. She placed her hand in his and he drew her into him, his heat radiated from his body to hers. She loved how he held her as if she were going to vanish.
“We need to talk when we get home.” He brushed his nose against hers, and her h
eart swelled when he said ‘home’.
She nodded because she needed to get something off of her chest.
“Jax, I think you should ride with Max. I want to be alone for a little bit.” Max stiffened and she looked at him.
“Sweetheart, I don’t think you should be alone right now. Not until your ex is found.” For a few minutes she
’d forgotten he was back, and after her.
She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay,” she said and tried to move away from Max
, but he tightened his arms around her. He smiled down at her and it caused her heart to race, he knew the affect he had on her and didn’t care.
“Jax, could you drive my
car back in one piece?” Max was the one to break their intense eye contact.
“Hey
, I’m a better driver than you, brother.” Jax said and both she and Max turned to face him. “Besides that, Megan’s driving mine, if you’ll recall.”
She smiled tenderly at him, because she was going to tell them she was willing to give their irrational
relationship a shot.
Max handed his brother his keys and then turned
toward Megan, his eyebrows rose when he looked at her. “I think you should let me drive, you had a little too much to drink at dinner.” She had because when she told Jennifer everything about what had happened in the past twenty-four hours she realized she was in love and needed to tell Max. She was horrible at admitting her feelings, she always had been.
She nodded, and handed him the
keys to Jax’s car. Before she could walk away, Jax’s arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close against his hard body. He looked her deep in her eyes, and she would have fallen on her ass if he hadn’t been holding onto her. He glanced down at her lips and licked his own, when he glanced back up to her eyes she saw utter desire. He framed her face with his large hands and slowly lowered his sweet hot lips to hers. Their kiss started slow and sweet, his fingers tightened in her hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His wicked tongue flicked along her lips and licked across, she opened her mouth for him and he groaned into her mouth.
She couldn’t take anymore because she wanted to rip off his clothes and fuck him right
there in her best friend’s driveway. She was happy to see that she affected him too, because they were both breathless.
“
What are you doing to me?” he said as he rested his forehead against hers, and she smiled.
“I could as
k you the same question,” she said as she moved away from him. She glanced at Max wondering if she would see him upset, but that wasn’t what she saw. He was grinning from ear to ear. Jax’s hand tangled with hers and he walked her to the car. He opened the door for her and she got in.
When Max got in the car she turned her head to the side to look at him. He was still smiling, and she bit her lip. “Max?” she asked and he glanced at her as he started to drive away from Phoenix’s house.
She took a deep breath, but kept her eyes on him as he turned his attention back driving. “Why are you okay with sharing me?”
“Because
you deserve to be loved by as many people as possible.”
She narrowed her eyes at him even though he couldn’t see her. “
More than you and Jax?”
H
e looked at her and shook his head before looking back at the road. “No, I know I can share well with my brother. But no one else.” They pulled up to a red light, and he turned his head to the side to look at her. “And from what I saw of that kiss, I would say you want more with him too.”
It felt weird to be talking to him about another man, but she nodded. “I think I do, he is different than you.”
Max grinned at her. “He is more outgoing, I know.”
She reached her hand across to lay it on his
leg, he placed his hand on top of hers. “Max,” she said and he glanced up at her. “I…lo-” she was cut off when someone hit the car. She wasn’t wearing her seatbelt right. She had the strap behind her because she hated it when it cut into her shoulder. Her head it the dashboard, and she screamed.
“Shit,” Max said and she looked over at him. She felt a warm liquid t
rickling down her face, she saw him staring at her. He reached for her, but her eyes went to the man standing outside the driver side door.
Joe Roman
was stand there with a gun pointed at the man she loved. His short blonde hair was slicked back away from his devilishly handsome face. His crystal blue eyes were on her as he smirked at her.
“Out of the car,” Joe said
and she looked back at Max, he shook his head. “Do it now or I will shoot him.” She closed her eyes knowing he would do it without thinking about it twice. She grabbed her purse and got out of the car. She quickly glanced around for Max’s car. She knew Jax was behind them and wondered where he was. The street was normally busy and she wondered where the other cars were.
She walked
toward the drive side door to stand next to Max, he reached for her hand and she gladly took his. She turned her attention back to her ex-boyfriend. She had once loved him. At least she’d thought she had. “Joe, you don’t need the gun we can talk without it,” she said as she placed her free hand on her purse, and he laughed.
“Meg
, I would never hurt you again. I learned my lesson when I lost you, but your doctor has to go.” He stepped closer to her and Max and she shook her head.
She wouldn’t let him hurt someone she loved, not again.
She reached inside her purse to pull out her 9MM, but she wasn’t fast enough. Joe release the trigger and she tried to shove Max out of the way. She heard the bullet hit his flesh, and he fell to his knees on the ground. In the distance she head sirens and someone screaming her name.
Everything that
happened next was in slow motion, she just did what she had been trained to do. She lifted her hand and pointed the gun directly at the man who had caused so much heartache in her life. She thought about the child she could have had if not for him, she thought about the life she might not get with Max.
“Megan!” Now
the male’s voice was closer to her, but she didn’t look away from Joe. She knew that she must have been in shocked, and even had a concussion.
“You can’t do it, even though I shot him. Don’t you see
? You don’t love anyone! You are not capable of love. Just like me.” He stepped closer to her until her gun was against his chest. “Come with me I could give you what you want most.”
Megan narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
“Megan!”
S
he heard her name, but didn’t look away from the man in front of her. “You can never give me what I want most. I want to be loved and we both know you aren’t capable of love. But you are wrong about me, I can love and I do.” She kneed him in his balls and he groaned as he collapsed on the road. She reached down to the gun he dropped and placed it in her purse. She went to Max, she dropped to her knees and grabbed his head. She placed it on her lap and he smiled up at her. She glanced down to where his shirt was stained crimson it was below his heart.
“You are so fucking beautiful, like an angel.”
His voice sounded rougher, and she felt tears burning her eyes. He smiled up at her with his sinfully beautiful mouth and she lost the last shred of control she'd been clinging to. “But you are wrong, you are loved. I love you, Megan, you are the only woman I have ever loved.” She couldn’t hold back her tears, because he meant everything to her.
She placed her finger on his lips
. “Shh,” she looked up when movement caught her eye. Jax appeared in front of her, he was on his phone. “Max, I love you, you can’t leave me. Not now, I just found you.”
He lifted his hand and gently brushed the tips of his fingers down her cheek. “You need to take care of Jax, he acts like he is a strong bad boy
, but he isn’t. I am all he had left, and now he has you.” She didn’t want to be talking like this, like he was going to die.
“You are an incubus, heal yourself!”
she yelled at him. She lead down and kissed his lips, she wondered if he could feed from her like that. She’d watched a show called Lost Girl, the main girl in the show was a succubus and she could feed like that.
“My
love, it doesn’t work like that,” he gasped and closed his eyes.
“Ma’am please move away from him, let us help him.” She looked over her shoulder to where two paramedics
stood. Jax moved toward her and reached a hand out for her to take. She didn’t want to leave Max, she wanted to be with him.
She lifted his
head off of her, and gently laid him on the cold hard street. Jax was there wrapping his arms around her, with his hands roaming up and down her checking for any injuries. He took her face in his hands and looked at the cut she knew she had on her head.
“God
, Megan, I have never been so scared in my life. That fuck head somehow blocked the road after you and Max passed. I couldn’t get though, so when I called Max and he didn’t answer I got worried. I ran toward where I knew he would be driving. When I heard the gun shot I died a thousand deaths.” She closed her eyes and more tears fell down her cheeks, he swiftly brushed them away with his fingers. She glanced around as police officers placed handcuffs on Joe.
“What can I do to save Max?” He looked behind her to where the
paramedics were helping him.
“At this time, just be there. You can’t heal him
. It is up to the doctors now.”
“We need to get him to the hospital now. Ma’am
, do you need to go for your head?”
She turned to face the men. T
hey’d already lifted Max onto a stretcher. She nodded because she wanted to ride with him. “Then follow us, I will look at your head in the ambulance.” She nodded and turned to Jax.
“I need to be with him.”
“I know, go and I will be waiting for you.” He kissed her forehead and she hurried after the paramedics.
Chapter Nine
Once when they arrived at the hospital she was rushed away from Max
into an emergency room where she got eight stitches on her forehead. She asked her nurse about Max, but the only answer she could get what he was in surgery. She walked out to the waiting room and wasn’t surprised to see Jennifer and Phoenix waiting with Jax. Jennifer ran to her, and wrapped her arms around her.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this happened. But I know Max will be okay
,” Jennifer said and pulled back a little to survey the damage to Megan’s face. “I have some cream that will help with the scaring,” she said and smiled at her, but Megan couldn’t return her smile.
She looked around and found Jax’s eyes. She needed him, she wanted to be in his arms and it helped that he looked so
much like Max because right then she needed that. He walked toward her, and she moved out of her best friend’s arms. He wrapped his arms around her and held her that was when she noticed Detective Moore standing off to the side. He nodded once at her and sat down, she turned her face into Jax’s shoulder and cried. She was aware that she needed to give him her statement, but her only concern at that moment was Max.
The time seemed to pass slowly even when she fell asleep in Jax’s arms. He promised her he would wake her as soon as he heard anything.
Technically he was the only one that could find anything out because he was the only family Max had left. Detective Moore hadn’t tried to talk to her, he just sat there watching her. She knew he had questions, but he had to know she wasn’t in the mood to answer any until she knew about Max.
“Megan, the doctor wants to talk to me.”
Her eyes flew opened, and she sat up.
Jax
wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her shoulder. “I want you to come with me.” She nodded and stood up on shaky legs, he took her hand in his and walked to where a man stood wearing blue scrubs.
“Jax Davis?” He asked and Megan wanted to punch him in his stupid face. He knew that this was Max’s brother.
“I am, this is Max’s fiancé Megan Hinder.” The doctor shook his hand and hers, she was shocked to hear what Jax said.
“Max is in recovery
, we did all we could during surgery. Thankfully the bullet didn’t hit anything major. But he did lose a lot of blood, more than he should have. We think it was his adrenaline that caused most of his blood loss. The next twenty-four hours may be rough, we get to play a waiting game.”
Megan felt her legs go weak, she wasn’t
stupid. She knew that Max’s life could end easily. Just because he was an incubus didn’t mean he couldn’t die. Jax wrapped an arm around her waist to help her, and the doctor raised one eyebrow at them.
“When can we see him?” Jax asked the question she wanted to
ask, but couldn’t.
“Now, but only
two at a time.” He looked between Megan and Jax. “Let the nurse know when you are ready to see him.” The doctor turned away from them and she turned to Jax.
He wiped away the tears she didn’t know were falling, and smiled affectionately down at her.
“Let’s go see him.” She nodded and allowed Jax to talk to the nurse.
“Excuse me, ma’am?”
The young blonde turned around and did a double take when she saw Jax. She smiled at him and tucked her hair behind her ears. “What can I do for you?” she asked, sounding suggestive, and Megan rolled her eyes.
“We would like to see Max Davis, please.”
The young woman nodded, and kept her eyes on Jax. If Megan was in a better mood she would have done something to show her that he was taken.
“Go to the door off to the side and I will buzz you in.”
Megan didn’t wait for Jax
, she moved away from him.
He reached for hand and pulled her back to him. “Hey, he’s going to be okay.”
Fresh tears burned her eyes and she shook her head. “You don’t know that for sure.”
He framed her face with his hands and brushed the tips of his fingers under her eyes.
“I do, if he was going to die he would have already. When he wakes up you will need to feed him. That will heal him quicker.”
She nodded and looked at the door as it opened.
“I need to talk to Phoenix, are you okay to go back there by yourself?”
“Yes, I will be fine. Phoenix is Max’s best friend
you need to let him know he’s going to be okay.”
Jax kissed her cheek and turned away from her.
The pretty nurse narrowed her eyes when she saw Megan. “Follow me,” she said and turned around. Megan rolled her eyes as she walked behind the nurse. They stopped outside a room, she glanced at the name on the door DAVIS was written in large black. “You can go in.”
Megan nodded and took a deep breath, she knew that Max was going to be okay
, but he was shot because of her. Her crazy ex-boyfriend shot him, and that just about destroyed her. She placed her hand on the door knob and slowly turned it.
The first thing she heard was beeping from the
machines, but when she saw her strong Max laying in a bed motionless she felt new tears forming. His long eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheeks from the lighting, and she desperately wanted to see his emerald green eyes caress her like he always did when she entered a room. She forced her feet to move toward the bed, he had an IV in his hand and oxygen tube in his nose.
When she got closer to him she noticed he had more wires coming off of his body.
She loathed see him like this, she picked up a chair and sat it next to his bed. She lifted her trembling hand to place on top of his. She wondered when she was in the hospital like this, if Jennifer had felt worried and powerless. She wished there was a way she could take his pain.
“Max?”
she whispered and her voice cracked. She squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to be strong for Max because she knew that Jax required her to be. “Please don’t leave me, I need you.” She leaned forward and laid her forehead on his hand. She brushed her lips along his hand and permitted her tears to fall for the man she loved.
A knock at the door had her sitting up straight and drying her
face with her sleeve. She cast her eyes over her shoulder and saw Jax leaning against the door his eyes were focused intensely on her. Behind him Detective Moore stood, patiently waiting. She firmly held onto Max’s hand before letting go. It was necessary to deal with the detective so she could give her full attention to her twins.
Jax
grasped her hand and pulled her into his magnificently muscled chest and she wrapped her arms around his waist. She allowed him to comfort her as she inhaled his scent in. “Sweetheart, you don’t need to talk to him yet. I can ask him to come back later.”
She sighed and lifted her head from his chest. “No, I want to handle it now so I can be with him.”
Jax nodded, and then leaned down to lightly kiss her lips.
“Okay if you need me just yell for me.”
She gave him the best smile she could
conjure and he moved past her, leaving her with the attractive detective. She closed the door and walked toward Moore.
“I’m sorry that I have to question you, I know you want to be with Max.
I need to know what happened.” He pulled out a small black recorder.
“
Max was driving. Joe hit the car at a stop light, and I hit my head on the dash board. I looked at Max, and that was when I saw Joe at the window with a gun pointed at Max. He ordered us out of the car. I’d put my gun in my purse at the office because I didn’t want to be without it. I walked to the driver’s side door to stand next to Max. Joe started telling me I was like him. I pointed my gun at him, and before I could do anything he shot Max. I kneed him in the crotch and went to Max.”
Detective Moore
wrote down everything she said, and when he was done he looked up at her. “Thank you, I know you want to be with Max right now. But Joe is going to prison for the next seven to twenty-five years. I will talk to the DA and ask for the max, I know this guy made your life living hell and I think he should pay for what he did to you.”
She was happy to hear that. S
he let go of the stress she wasn’t aware she was holding on to. “Thank you, Detective.”
He smiled warmly at her, and reached into his pocket
. He drew out a white card. She glanced down at it and read Detective Lance Moore it had his personal phone number and email address. “If you ever need me, I will always answer my cell.” He smiled at her as she nodded. “You are a strong woman, Megan Hinder. Go take care of the man you love.”
Megan went back into the room and found Jax sitting in the chair she
’d brought up to the side of the bed. He gazed up at her, and she didn’t miss the tears in his eyes. She went to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
He put his hands on top of hers. “I have never
seen Max like this, our kind are strong and can normally heal pretty fast. We never get sick, so seeing him like this is hard.”
She wrapped an arm around his
powerful chest, she knew she was falling for this Davis too. He was sweeter than she’d thought he would be, and he made her feel things she didn’t think she was capable of. Max showed her she could love again, and Jax reinsured her of that love.
Th
e next twenty-four hours went by in a blur. Phoenix and Jennifer came in to make sure she and Jax were eating. She did wonder when Jax would need to feed again, because it had been well over a day since she’d nourished him. He told her that when Max woke up she would need to give him all of her attention, and he would go and distract the nurses and doctors. One of the nurses brought a chair in the room that folded out into a twin bed, but she didn’t want to leave Max’s side. She wanted to be holding his hand. And when his hand would flinch, her heart would race until she realized it was involuntary movement.
She laid her head
on their connected hands, and allowed her eyes to flutter shut.
*
* *
Max awoke
with his stunning Megan passed out on his hand. He wondered how long he was out for, and how long she had been there. He glanced behind her and saw his brother watching him. Jax placed one finger against his mouth, and Max nodded. He understood that Megan hadn’t been sleeping much.
Jax walked to the other side of the bed. “Nice to see you are still alive
,” he said, and it made Max smile.
“I am, how has she been?”
he asked, his voice sounded horse and Jax reached for some water.
“Not good, she wouldn’t leave here until you woke up.”
That was what he
’d thought. He knew she would be blaming herself for what happened to him. Chronic pain shot though his body, and he knew it wasn’t because of the bullet. He needed to feed, and he needed it sooner rather than later. He really looked at his brother, and he could tell he hadn’t fed in a couple of days either.
“You haven’t feed?” Max asked and Jax shook his head.
“Shit,” a sharp stabbing pain erupted from his chest and spread out to his legs and arms.
“She fell asleep about an hour ago for the first time. She has been awake waiting for you, and Phoenix is walking the halls somewhere.
”
Max glanced down at his temptation as she started to move, his heart swelled when he realized she was waking up.