Racing Hearts (Hollows Garage Book 3)
Racing Hearts: Chapter 17

I tried to fall asleep, but the thunder rolled endlessly, shaking the building, which I couldn’t imagine was an easy feat. We didn’t have horrible storms often, but when we did, they came through with a vengeance.

I told myself I was fine, but streaks of lightning lit up the room, making me think of every horror movie where the killer is seen in that sliver of a lightning strike. It would be the perfect night for a serial killer to show up and drag me away, the thunder covering my screams.

I was losing it, sitting in the quiet as I ran through every horrible thought.

“Jax?” I hissed into the dark living room. I knew his door was open and if he was awake, he would be able to hear me. I sat up, the thunder rolling again.

“Jax,” I hissed again.

“Are you moaning my name in your sleep or do you actually need me?” he asked, the deep rumble of his voice sending a shiver through me.

“I am fully awake. I wanted to know if you were.”

“I haven’t been to sleep.”

“What are you doing?”

“Reading.”

“Reading what?”

“None of your business,” he said, and I could almost hear the smile that I knew was on his lips. “What’s wrong?”

The thunder rolled and lightning cracked, making me shriek.

“What’s wrong little witch, that scary movie getting to you?” he asked, the lightning illuminating his form as he filled the doorway to his bedroom.

“No, geez, you look like the killer in the slasher movie. Hanging out in the doorway on a dark and stormy night,” I said, waiting seconds before the room lit up again. This time I could see that he was shirtless, a pair of sweatpants hanging off his hips.

“Should I assume you’re into that type of thing? Do you like me even more now?”

“Even more? Who said I liked you in the first place?” I said, smiling into the dark room.

“Playing grumpy witch tonight? I guess I’ll head back to bed and shut my door, since you don’t like me at all.”

Another roll of thunder came as he called me out on my attitude. “Wait! I do like you. So, so much. So please don’t leave me out here all alone when I’m about ninety percent sure there are serial killer clowns waiting in the hallway for me.”

“Serial killer clowns? Alright, you have to stop watching those scary movies.”

“It’s not my fault that the loudest storm I have ever heard came through on the same night I watched the movie.”

He laughed, walking over to me. “So, who do we blame? Kye?”

“Definitely Kye,” I said laughing. “Would you maybe want to sit out here with me for a while? I’ll be quiet while you read,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t have to sit out here alone all night.

“We went from you not even liking me to wanting my company all night very fast,” he said, stepping closer.

“What can I say? All that charm is wearing me down.”

“Good, because I’ve really been giving it all I have, and I was worried it wasn’t working.”

“It was. Unfortunately, it works really well.”

“Wow, you really are scared if you are trying to sweet talk me this hard. Lucky for you, I’m falling for it.”

The thunder rolled, and I reached out, grabbing his hand. He was still standing in front of me, the line of his sweatpants perfectly at eye level. We said we were keeping our distance, but somehow that had included kissing my neck and touching me constantly. I thought it was fair that I allowed myself to touch him, so I pulled on his hand, forcing him to step closer.

I was quiet as I finally looked up at him. The lightning flashed again, and I could see his chest rise before it went dark again.

There was a safety in the dark that gave me a sudden burst of confidence. Letting me do something that I had wanted to do since I first saw Jax without a shirt on.

I reached out, running a hand down from his chest to his stomach. My finger hooked under the waistband before running back up his stomach.

“Finally,” he groaned, the quiet sound rumbling under my fingertips.

“Jax,” I said, moving him closer until his legs hit the couch.

“Fuck,” he whispered before dropping down over top of me, forcing me to lie back. His hard body pushed down on mine and I was glad he couldn’t see how red my face was. His lips hovered over mine, the small hesitation making me worry, but his hand started running down my side, over my hips and thigh before going back up.

“Do you like when I touch you?” he whispered.

“Yes,” I breathed, my hips pushing up against him.

He groaned, apparently that was enough of an answer. He dropped down further, his lips pressing lightly against mine.

I could barely register what to do next. Jax was kissing me.

“I have wanted to kiss you every second I’ve known you, and it’s even better than I imagined.”

I went to respond, but his lips found mine again, kissing me harder now, each swipe of his tongue more demanding.

His hand moved down my neck to my chest, and I was suddenly aware that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now. His tongue slid against mine, running along the roof of my mouth and back to my tongue. I wove my hands into his hair and pulled his mouth back to mine. He groaned as I bit at his lip and moved my hands down his neck and shoulders. Each groan from him only encouraging me to do more.

His hand trailed down farther until he was pushing between my thighs, teasing me as his fingers moved along my shorts.

“Maybe you won’t be as scared if you’re busy having an orgasm,” he whispered, his finger pushing a little harder as it moved back and forth along the hem of my shorts. I could only nod against him in agreement. He kept getting closer to the one place I needed him, making me lose my mind a little more each time.

His finger hooked under my shorts, pulling them to the side as a crash of thunder shook the apartment. I jumped, pushing closer to him.

“I replace it funny that of all the scary things my little witch isn’t scared of, it’s thunderstorms that make you jump. I don’t think you even flinched during that scary movie,” he said, laughing as he pulled his hand away and wrapped his arms tight around me.

“Yes, but this storm is bad, and that movie did leave me with a few concerns.”

“A few concerns?”

“Like, what if someone comes into the building?” I asked.

“Unless it’s one of us, they won’t. We have it well secured. Relax. It’s only the storm making noise. No one else is here.”

Lightning cracked and something boomed, the electric going out with a pop. I pushed harder against him, grabbing onto his shoulders.

“I don’t know that you can actually get any closer to me and I think if you dig those nails in any harder, you’re going to draw blood,” he said, a hint of laughter in his tone.

“There is no way I am sleeping out here by myself tonight. I already feel like serial killers are watching me and now things are blowing up.”

He laughed quietly, kissing my forehead. “I assume it’s a transformer blowing up or something. We’re fine, just no power. As for the serial killers? Is it possible that I was right about the movie?”

I was quiet, wrapping my arm around him further. “It is possible,” I mumbled.

Riot jumped up on the couch, laying at our feet.

“Would you be okay if we stayed in the room with you tonight?”

“I was already prepared to beg for that so yes, it’s okay.”

We were quiet for a second, but the nagging feeling that something was wrong kept bothering me.

“What if someone is in the hallway?”

“No one is in the hallway,” he said. “Come on. Riot is calm. He wouldn’t do that if someone was creeping around. Do you want to go get into bed?”

More thunder rolled and another snap of lightning came. “Yes, and you’re back on bodyguard duties tonight.”

“I really didn’t realize this was an on-call type of job.”

“It is. Break-ins, thunderstorms, hateful family members who probably want me dead. Of course it’s an on-call job.”

He pulled me up, wrapping his arms around me again and immediately pulling me towards the bedroom.

“No one is going to hurt you.” He stopped, grabbing my shoulders and turning me until we were face to face. “I would miss you too much.”

“You would miss food.”

His hand moved from mine and rested on my hip, unmoving, but it didn’t need to be to make my entire side turn to flames.

“I would miss you. Coming home to food is great, but I could get takeout if that was the problem. I like coming home to see you. I like waking up and knowing your sleepy, grumpy face is out there to spend the morning with. Having a roommate is more fun than I expected.”

Before we made it to the bedroom, Riot was up and growling.

“Riot. Settle down,” Jax said, but he jumped down, barreling to the door before either of us could stop him.

“What is he doing?”

“I don’t know. He’s not scared of storms like this. He only does this when he’s guarding,” I said.

“As in, he heard or smelled something to guard us against?”

“Yes,” I hissed, lowering my voice. “I told you I thought someone was out there.”

“Here,” he said, pulling his phone out. “Hold on to this and if I tell you to, text everyone to come out immediately.”

“Now you’re freaking me out. I thought you said that you had a good security system.”

“Yes, but the power is out, so I have to check.”

He got up and moved towards the door, Riot still growling endlessly.

Jax pulled open the door, peering out before stepping out completely, Riot right behind him. I moved closer, trying to hear as Jax cursed and said something. Fear coursed through me and guilt nagged that this was my fault. Someone broke in to replace me, or replace the laptop I was hiding, but either way it could be my fault if they were here, and ended up hurting someone.

Jax had been right to hesitate in the beginning, because I was already putting him and his friends in danger.

“Jax?” I whispered, going closer to the door and was met with silence. I didn’t even hear Riot moving around.

Seconds went by and I was nearly ready to cry right before Jax stepped back inside, running right into me.

“Shit. I can’t see anything,” he said, holding onto me as he grabbed his phone from my hand and turned on the flashlight making us both wince at the sudden brightness.

“What happened? Is someone really out there?”

“The only one out there is Kye, who is currently bleeding on our floor because he got his hand and arm cut open from a fight,” Jax said, sounding annoyed. “And now, he fell outside the door from wet boots, and power being out. Can you grab the first aid kit out of the bathroom?”

I stood frozen for a second, letting the relief wash over me that it wasn’t Slaughter or Tristan. That I hadn’t put anyone in danger.

Yet.

I couldn’t actually believe I was safe from them, and this should be proof of that. Maybe I was letting myself get too comfortable in a place that was too close to them. Not only too close, but with people who knew them, and had problems with them in the past.

“Are you okay? It’s not them, it’s Kye, but he needs some help.”

“No, I’m okay, just relieved. Yeah, sorry. I’ll get that now.”

I ran to grab the kit in the bathroom and headed back out to Kye, who was now leaning over Jax’s kitchen sink, washing his arm and hand.

“What happened?”

“I got in a fight.”

“And lost?”

Kye smirked. “No, but it was close.”

“What were you fighting about?” I asked, pulling things out of the kit. It’s not like I was used to this, but it wasn’t that strange to me. Slaughter would often come by with his friends and have my mom or me clean up a cut like this.

“Does it matter?”

“I guess not. You’re okay other than this?”

“Yep. The mix of blood and rain made me slip on the stairs and then I couldn’t see shit. Sorry if I woke you guys up.”

“You didn’t,” I said, snapping my mouth shut before I implied anything else.

Kye didn’t say anything, but I could see his smirk in the glow of the phone.

“Here,” Jax said, handing him things. “Put this on first, then the bandage.”

“Did you want me to do it?” I asked.

They both shook their heads at the same time, and then Kye got to work, patting the cut dry and covering it before turning to us with a smile. “Thanks so much. It’s like my own little hospital stop on the way up to my apartment. You two have a great night,” he said, smirking as he headed to the door. He stopped for a second, petting Riot before leaving.

As soon as the door shut, Jax turned to me. “Kye is a troublemaker. That’s a common occurrence.”

“Him getting slashed is common?”

He smiled as he cleaned up. “Common enough that you shouldn’t worry. It has nothing to do with what is going on with you.”

“But I thought it did. I thought one of them found me and came here.”

“But they didn’t.”

“But they still could. I let my guard down again.”

“Yeah, maybe we both did. But nothing bad actually happened, Carly. Everything is okay, and let’s hope that they aren’t so hell-bent on getting you back that they try breaking in here in the middle of the night, even if they did replace you.”

“They might,” I said, thinking about the laptop again. The one that held all their secrets. The one I still couldn’t replace the words to tell Jax about. The one that would make me admit to everything I did.

“In the event that actually happens, we will stop them.”

I nodded, wanting to believe him, but struggling to.

Ten minutes later, I had finished cleaning up and Jax had gone to reboot all the security systems on the small generator, so now the entire place was locked down again. It didn’t do as much as I hoped to ease the tightness in my gut.

The thought of following him into the room now felt a little awkward, so I avoided his eyes as I walked over.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to bed?” I said, pulling back the covers.

“No, you’re going to the couch, but you should be going to bed. Didn’t we already agree on that?”

“With you?”

He groaned and leaned down, kicking my legs out from under me and picking me up. I yelled, trying to fight him, but he only held me closer.

“Stop struggling.”

“Put me down. I’m too heavy. You’re going to drop me.”

He lifted me up and down. “Nope, it’s fine. You were trying to go to the couch and I want to at least pretend I sleep, which isn’t going to happen if you’re out here freaking out.”

“I wasn’t freaking out.”

He threw me onto the bed with a laugh and crawled over the top of me.

“Don’t lie to me. You were going to lay there forever worrying. An hour ago, you were worried about serial killers.”

“And I was right!” I yelled with a laugh.

“There are no serial killers, it was just Kye.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“I thought we agreed that we both were going to keep our distance?” I said.

“I don’t want to say that I lied, but I have to admit that I never thought that I was going to do well with that,” he said.

“We should probably try.”

He laughed, rolling off of me until he was on his side of the bed, not touching me at all. We laid in silence for a while, but I wasn’t tired now.

“Why don’t you sleep?”

“No idea. It’s why I was out driving the night I met you. It just hasn’t come easy. I will for a few hours hopefully. You’re okay, though. Thunderstorms and serial killers will not be a problem.”

I snuggled back into the pillows, surprised how comfortable being here with him really was, even more surprised that nothing bothered me again as I drifted off to sleep.

I KNEW it was still the middle of the night, but the small glow of the light next to the bed was on. Jax was laid out next to me, asleep, with his book on his chest.

He seemed to read a lot, but I could never see what it was when it was on his phone. I reached over, trying not to take note of how cute he looked asleep, as I picked the book up carefully.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

This was a full-blown romance novel.

It was a popular one. I hadn’t read it, but I knew enough about it to know that it was a little darker, but more romance than anything.

All I could think was that my sweet little street racer, who is the first to step up and protect me, is now laying here, trying to make me feel calm while also reading a romance book.

I don’t know how he had the right to be this adorable.

I flipped to the first page, starting it when he rolled over, throwing an arm over me and hitting the book. He jolted awake, looking at the book and then at me.

“What are you doing?” he asked fast before letting out a groan. “Shit, I actually fell asleep.”

“Yep, and left your romance book out for all to see.”

“Don’t read that. Pretend you didn’t see me reading that and go back to bed.”

“Why would I do that? I like learning dirty secrets,” I said, flipping through the book. “And it looks like I’m replaceing out exactly how dirty this one is.”

“Carly,” he warned, grabbing me and pulling me close.

“Jax,” I warned back, flipping the pages as I briefly caught words and scenes. “I have to admit. I’m already intrigued and will be reading this.”

“So you’re saying I have good taste at least?”

I smiled over at him. “So far, yeah, it looks like you do.”

He grabbed the book out of my hands. “Fine, but you can’t start it until I’m done and you cannot make fun of me.”

“Oh yes I can,” I said, propping myself up next to him on my arm.

He tried to frown, but the smile was inevitable. “I swear if you talk about this with anyone else I will—”

“What? I would actually like to know what you would do?”

He reached out, wrapping an arm around my hip, pulling me against him until he was rolling me onto his chest. His other hand plunged into my hair, forcing my head back until I was staring up at him.

“Brat,” he whispered. “Always calling me out.”

My mouth fell open, but I couldn’t replace words. The grip he had on me was sending heat through my body and making me instantly turned on.

And not the turned on I had felt in the past. There was no question what to do next now. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I could even think of a few things that I wanted him to do, too.

He didn’t let me go, but instead leaned up to me. His tongue came out licking along the roof of my open mouth before he laid back again with a playful smirk.

“You tell everyone my secrets and the next time you get into bed with me, I’ll have you over my legs getting spanked before you know it.”

My mouth fell open again, shocked at the image that his words created, but I snapped it shut, biting down on my lip so it didn’t happen again.

“Well, I might not be getting into bed with you again.”

“Right,” he said.

It was the right thing to say. Reminding us both that in another week I wouldn’t be there.

But it being the right thing to say didn’t explain why it made me feel so bad.

Or why it made his playful smile fall and grip loosen on me.

Or even why both of those combined made me suddenly upset.

He flipped me over until I was on my back, my head back on my own pillow, then he leaned down.

“Goodnight, my little cold-hearted witch,”

He went to move back, but I stopped him. “Jax, I’m —”

“Right. You are right,” he said softly. “Go back to sleep. We have to be up soon to leave.”

I laid back, staring up into the dark room, remembering that I had agreed to go stay the weekend away with all of them.

A weekend away with Jax.

It shouldn’t feel any different than living together, but it suddenly felt very different. And I agreed to it all.

What had I been thinking?