Damned (25 page)

“Oh baby, I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

“I…no…god Jax.”

“Its ok, its all ok.”

“I feel guilty!” I wail. “His life was taken because of me.”

Rusty steps in then and pulls me out of Jax’s arms. He grips my face and holds it close.

“We are pirates Jade, we trust each other for a lifetime out on that water. It wouldn’t have mattered if he merely slapped you. He dies. We made a pact, signed an agreement, we all know the rules. If Jax let him go, then everybody will think they can do the same thing. If I didn’t come in, he would have raped you, that is that harsh truth. Dont you ever, EVER think it is your fault.”

I am crying again, Rusty sighs and pulls me into his arms.

“Now now, don’t cry.”

“Thank you Rusty, without you…”

“Its ok, your like my daughter, I would never let anything happen to you and neither would Jax.”

“Thank you.” I croak again.

I pull back, and Rusty wipes a small tear from my face. “You need to sleep, come on crew, lets get out of here.”

Rusty shakes Jaxs hand. “Later Cap.”

“Thanks mate, for saving my girl.”

“Anytime.”

Jack comes over and hugs me tightly, kissing my head and stroking my hair. “You going to be ok now angel.”

“Thanks Jack.”

Mack walks over, looking dazed and confused. “Well, this has been an eye opener. Your happy here?”

“I am da..um…”

“You can call me whatever you like baby girl.”

Baby girl? I melt. “Thanks dad. I am glad we found each other. I am going to stay with Jax though. Here is my number, you can call me anytime.”

I hand him my phone number, and he smiles. “Thank you, I will keep in touch, and hopefully one day soon, we will see each other again.”

I smile and hug him; it is gratifying to know I have somebody who loves me as much as my father does. I can feel it; it radiates off him. He pulls back and gathers himself, before turning to Jax.

“Take care of her.”

“Yeah mate, always.”

They shake hands and then, we are alone. I glance at Jax who is watching me intently.

“You scared the crap outta me today.” He says.

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugs. “Its done. Come here.”

I step forward and sink into his arms. Thank god for Jax Watts. He lays me on the bed and holds me until I fall asleep. I do not hear him leave. I toss and turn most of the night, and when I wake it is to the sound of Jax’s pained cries. I sit up; the room is dark. I can see his silhouette, but that is about as far as it goes. He is thrashing in the bed, his body twisting and turning. I flick on the small lamp.

Sweat lines his face, his arms and his chest. He is groaning and gripping the sheets; his knuckles are white. He is having a nightmare, a bad one. He growls and screams, twisting and thrashing. Should I
wake him? No, it would be dangerous. I begin calling out his name softly; I get nowhere. He is panting, and his breathing is ragged.

“No,” He roars. “You have to die.”

I blink, what is he talking about?

“Don’t scream, don’t scream. You have to die for this. No mamma, don’t scream, he has to die.”

Oh god, is this nightmare real?

“So much blood, fuck, fuck!”

“JAX!” I scream loudly, and he bolts upright.

“Jade?” He pants.

I scurry over and climb onto his bed; I take his trembling hand. He is drenched in sweat; his chest is rising and falling rapidly.

“Oh fuck.”

“Its ok, I am here.”

I take his head and press it against my chest; he wraps his arms around me, and we fall back in that position. I wrap my arms around his head, pressing him closer to my chest. I stroke his damp hair and whisper soothing words to him. I have never seen Jax so upset, so afraid. His breathing begins to slow, so I continue to stroke his hair and whisper useless words out loud. When his breathing is back to normal, I stop talking.

“Sorry.” He croaks.

“Hey, no…don’t be sorry.”

“It was just a dream.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I am not going to push the issue, if he wants to tell me about it, he will. Right now, he just needs me and a little comfort.

“Is that why you don’t sleep with women?” I ask gently.

“Yeah.”

I continue to stroke his hair; it feels nice to be the one giving comfort. He pulls back after a moment and looks up at me, I glance down at his pained green eyes. Poor man.

“You are an angel.” He whispers, taking my fingers into his hand and kissing each of them.

“Are you ok?”

He nods. “Yep, I am all good. Thanks Jade…you made a difference.”

I smile at him and touch his damp forehead. “You want a shower?”

He shakes his head. “No, I only want one thing.”

“Oh?”

“You.”

He leans forward and takes my nipple into his mouth. Oh. He lowers me onto the bed, not taking his mouth off me. He draws me deeper into his mouth, making me whimper. He slowly slides his tongue up my skin until he meets my lips; he then takes me into one of those deep, intense kisses that leaves one breathless. I moan as he drags his mouth over to my earlobe and suckles on it.

“Jax, please.”

“Hush.”

He slides down my body slowly, causing me to twitch and turn beneath him. When he reaches the apex of my thighs, I tense. God, the man is driving me crazy. He slowly slides his tongue into me, and I gasp. Oh, wow. With painfully slow licks, he brings me to the brink, then; he thrusts his fingers inside me and I scream. I erupt around him with a fierce explosion, my screams echo through the room. He slides back up my body and takes my hips; I expect him to thrust in but instead he turns me over.

“Whaaaat?” I pant.

“Shhh, it wont hurt.”

He lays me on my side and pressed himself against my back. I can feel his breath on my neck, his hard chest on my back and his erection against my bottom. He moves my hips, grips my leg and pulls it backwards over his hip, then, thrusts deep inside me. I let out a strangled sound, wow, who knew it could be done like this? He slides out, then slowly pushes back in with a growl.

“You feel so good.”

“Oh Jax, please.”

He continues slowly in and out, not picking up the pace. I grip the sheets as my release builds higher and higher. Jax’s breathing is intense as he tenses around me. Fuck. It is all I can say. I am climbing higher and higher; my body is sweating, ready for release.

“God Jax, fuck!” I scream.

“Come now!” He roars, and we both erupt together with strangled screams and groans.

When his hips finally stop thrusting, he slowly pulls away and rolls onto his back. I follow suit until we are both laying side by side, panting.

“Shit, you swearing during sex, it's hot.” He breathes.

“That was…wow. I didn’t know we could do it like that.”

“There are many ways we can do it darlin, that is just one of them.”

“I thought…”

“No, I don’t play in that playground baby.”

“Thank god, I thought that is what you were going to do.”

“Nope. I don’t do anal, its wrong.”

I sigh with relief. “I agree, god, thank god.”

He laughs. “Poor thing, why didn’t you say something?”

“I felt you moving, so I figured I was just reading it wrong.”

“You can say anything to me, you know that right?”

“I know.”

“Hey thanks…for sticking around though my shit.”

“I love you Jax, I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

He rolls and pulls me into his arms. “Say that again.”

“I love you.”

He holds me in that position for a long while; I don’t want to move. It's not fair.

“I guess I should go back to my bed.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I never have more than one nightmare, your safe tonight. Stay.”

“Really?” I whisper against his chest.

“MMMMM.”

And so we stay like that, all tangled arms and legs, until the morning light wakes us.

CHAPTER 13

We wake in the morning to a loud banging on the door. Jax groans behind me and nestles his nose into my hair. The banging gets louder.

“Someone is at the door.” I grumble.

“Fuck.”

Jax slides out of bed and pulls his jeans on, then walks over to the door. I quickly pull a night dress on and stand. He opens the door to find the entire crew standing outside.

“What’s up?” Jax asks.

“Cap…we are surrounded.”

I walk over. “What is going on?”

“Jade…they are here for you.”

“What?” I cry, my face draining of colour. That quickly?

“We are surrounded, they are going to take you home.”

“Over my dead body.” Jax hisses.

“All the exit’s are covered Cap, we are trapped in here.”

Jax thinks for a minute and then looks up at the roof. “The man holes.”

The crew have all entered the room now, and they all look up at the roof.

“Where do they lead?” Rusty questions.

“They come out near the dumpster around the back, there is no door so nobody will be waiting.”

A guard tears through our door then, I am standing near it so he grasps me and yanks me to his chest. I cry out and twist. The crew cock their guns; they look deadly and the guards face falls.

“Jade, we are here to save you.”

“No. I don’t want to go back there.” I plead.

“Let her go, or you die.”  Jax says in a cool, icy voice.

“She is the princess of Russia.”

“Let-her-go.”

“I will not, back up is coming. You are all dead, pirates.”

“Jade, shut your eyes.” Jax orders and I clench my eyes closed in time to hear his gun go off and a horrible gutteral sound come from the guards mouth.

Another set of arms wrap around me. Jax. He takes me in one arm swinging me around as he shoots two more guards.

“Rusty, open the man hole.”

The men clamber about and open the hole into the roof. Jax shoves me at Rusty who lifts me, and I slide into the tiny hole.

“Go left Jade.” Jax yells.

“What about you?”

“Right behind you baby, go.”

I don’t believe him; I know he will shoot a few more people before he is done, but I feel a slight amount of comfort when Jack comes up behind me.

“I got you sweetheart, keep going forward.”

I crawl through the crammed space, for what seems like forever. Finally, we come to a pipe that goes straight down into a dumpster. Oh gross.

“Oh Jack, you can’t be serious.”

“Sorry love; we have to or you go home.”

I sigh, close my eyes and step down. I land harshly into a rubbish bag. Things poke and prod me as I scramble to get out, god this is just wrong. I climb over the side, and the rest of the crew follow until we are in a small alley way. We can see the street but know they would be waiting out front.

“How are we going to pull this off?” I ask.

“Wait for Jax,” Sam says flicking a bit of garbage off her shirt. “He will know.”

We stand behind the dumpster hiding ourselves until Jax appears. He glances at us all and laughs; oh right now was not a time to find this funny.

“You ought to see you lot.”

I glare at him, and he winks at me. “Come on, lets get out of here.”

“They will be waiting out front Jax.”

He thinks a moment, then says. “Wait here.”

He rushes out front; nobody even notices him. I suppose they are not watching for him; he just looks like a hotel member walking out for a morning paper, in only his jeans. I laugh at that. He whizzes back around on his bike, pulling up beside us.

“You lot rush out and scatter, they will not know which way to look. If they don’t see Jade, I am hoping they won’t attack. Get to the ship, make sure you are not being followed. Sam, give me your sunnies.”

Sam hands him her sunnies and he turns to me and slides them on with a grin.

“You sexy little devil, banana skin and all.”

“Shut it Watt
s.” I snap.

“Climb on baby, lets go.”

I slide on, and without another word he zooms out so fast, I don’t know how we don’t crash and die, but he is right, nobody notices. I do see about forty gaurds at all the entry points at the hotel, god, they were darn quick. Jax zooms quickly down the highway and to the docks where the ship is being watched by his faithful mate JR. We pull the bike up, and he helps me off.

“Come on, we gotta get outta here quick smart.”

I nod. He stops and touches my cheek. “You ok mate?”