“No, sweetheart. It doesn’t fucking matter. C’mere.” He hoisted me on top of him and spread my thighs until I straddled his cock. “I’ll never get enough of you. Ride me, baby. Fucking ride me.”

19. Candid - Rafe

19. CANDID - RAFE

“Did ya fuck her?”

I stood in the living room entrance and folded my arms. Other than the light from the stove, darkness shrouded the room. Jax sat in the chair, shoulders hunched and the bottle of booze gripped in his hands, hanging between his knees. He’d blown through way too much of that shit already.

I stomped toward him, my bare feet vibrating the hardwood, and yanked the bottle from his hands. “You’ve had enough.”

“Prob’ly so.” He lifted an arm, dangled it like a zombie, and jabbed a finger in the air. “So did ya?”

“That’s none of your business.” Instead of dumping the vodka down the drain, I plopped onto the futon and took a swig.

“You used to share shit with me,” he said. “You used to be my friend.”

I took another drink before setting the bottle on the floor with a loud thud. “Explain to me how a ‘friend’ sells you out to his psycho father to be killed?”

“I wasn’t gonna let you die.”

“Well that just makes it all better. Is this the part where we pretend you didn’t let them torture Alex?”

Jax shrugged. “Girl’s got kahunas. I knew she could handle it.”

I squeezed my hands into fists, and it took everything in my power not to launch the few feet between us and throttle his pathetic neck. “She shouldn’t have to handle anything. Aren’t you at least a little sorry for what you did?”

“Yeah I’m fucking sorry.” Jax bolted to his feet and veered sideways. He shot an arm out and steadied himself on the arm of the chair. “I didn’t know she’d been abused. I didn’t know shit because you didn’t tell me any of it.”

“I didn’t remember any of it, until she told me.” We were on a conversation merry-go-round.

“I’m talking about the island, before you lost your memory.” He flopped back into the chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “She changed you, man.” He raised his eyes and deep lines wrinkled his forehead. “You went from a fucking hard ass to a fucking pussy.”

“Why are you mad at me? What am I missing, Jax?”

He let out a cold, bitter laugh. “You’ve gotten up close and personal with my family. Mom’s dead, the old man will be dead if I can help it, my sister is—” His voice cracked. “You’re all I got left.”