by C. R. Marcum
The entire room fell silent, and everyone stared at him.
“What?” he asked, looking puzzled.
“You said you were going out with Lacey today, what happened, she turned your ass down?” Jax said with a chuckle.
“No, it’s dinnertime. I came home for dinner. She’ll wait, food won’t.” He replied shaking his head and grabbing a plate. “Smells great Ray.”
The laughter came instantly. Leave it to Lucas to come home from a date to eat dinner.
The conversation flowed at dinner and everyone seemed to be enjoying the food. Ray sat listening and watching, and she had chosen the perfect moment to tell them about what she had told Uncle Richard.
“So guys, I kinda need to talk to you before you two leave.” Ray said, motioning towards Drake and Jax.
“All of us or just them? Cause I kinda gotta get back to Lacey.” Lucas said.
“Actually, all of you guys.” She said.
“Everything okay babe?” Jax asked, turning to face her.
“Yeah Ray, what’s up?” Lucas chimed in.
“Well, I was wondering what you guys had planned for Thanksgiving?” she asked.
“Not much, sandwiches and football, why?” Syn answered.
“Well see, while I was at breakfast this morning Uncle Richard kinda made me promise that I would bring all of you guys to Thanksgiving dinner.” She said, looking anywhere but at any of them.
“Nope, not doin that.” Syn said, pushing away from the table.
“Is there gonna be good food?” Lucas asked. “If so, count me in.”
“There will be amazing food, and why won’t you come Syn? I mean, sandwiches and football or hot food and football. Sounds like an easy choice to me. And what about you Ty, I mean you’ll come right?” She asked, now looking at each of them.
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to pass Ray.” Ty answered.
“Enough. I don’t have time to listen to all this shit so we are all going. None of us have any family other than each other, and we never do anything for Thanksgiving. Now, Jax get your shit we gotta get goin.” Drake said.
“Thanks Drake.” Ray said as she started to clear the table.
“No problem Ray, anything for you.” He replied with a big brother smile that he reserved only for her.
Raylynn stood on the porch waiting for Jax to finish getting his stuff. The breeze on her skin was almost to chilly, but nothing like the November air in Chicago.
“Lost in thought beautiful?” Jax said, wrapping his arms around her.
“Not really, just waiting for you.” She said, turning to face him.
“You know I love you right?”
“I know, I’m kinda easy to love though.”
“Ya know usually I would argue with you, just because it’s fun, but I gotta get goin babe. Trust me, those guys don’t like it if your late.” He said with a smile.
“Oh, well then you better get goin then. Wouldn’t want to piss them off.” She said, pulling him in for a kiss.
“I’ll see you in a couple days babe.” He said after the kiss was through.
“Kay, be careful. I love you.” She said, as he walked down the stairs.
“Take care of my girl bro.” he yelled once he was in the Suburban.
She turned just in time to see Syn nod. All she could do was shake her head and walk past him and into the house.
19.
The room was dark and cold. Raylynn sat bolt upright, the emptiness of the room overwhelmed her senses. ‘Jax should have been home by now,’ she thought as she freed herself from the shackles of the blanket. ‘Maybe he’s in the living room with the guys.’ She thought as she stood and made her way to the open bedroom door. She stopped. She was sure she had closed the door when she had decided to lie down. Jax had to be home, no one else would have opened the door.
She stepped into the hallway and saw that Syn’s door was open as well. She smiled a small smile to herself and headed towards the living room.
‘Jax,’ she said as she rounded the corner.
The living room was empty. She heard voices coming from the kitchen, so without thinking she made her way there. She found Syn and Ty sitting at the table, Ty was crying and Syn was drinking. Something was wrong. Ty rarely cried, and if he did it wasn’t in front of Syn.
‘What happened? Why are you crying? Syn, what happened?’ she shouted, but neither of them noticed her.
‘I don’t understand why any of this happened, I knew she would only cause trouble. I tried to tell him that, but Jax wouldn’t listen.’ Syn said, throwing back the last bit of beer from the bottle.
‘What are we goin to do? How do we do this without them?’ Ty asked.
‘What happened? Someone please talk to me? What do you mean without them?’ Ray yelled. Still, neither of them even looked her way.
‘They can’t hear you babe, you’re not here. Well, not here physically anyway.’ Jax said from behind her.
‘Wait, you’re here? Why are they acting like you’re dead? And what do you mean I’m not here physically? I’m standing right here.’ She said, stepping closer to him.
‘You don’t remember do you?’
‘Remember what Jax? What are you talking about?’
‘Follow me Ray, I’ll show you what I’m talking about.’ Jax said, turning and making his way through the living room.
Raylynn followed him. She was so confused. Why would the guys be crying and acting like that when Jax was here?
‘Wait, where’s Drake? Ty was crying, is Drake okay?’
‘I’m okay Ray, just follow Jax. You need to remember what happened.’ Drake said from behind her.
‘I don’t know what you guys are talking about. Remember what? What happened?’ she asked, turning the corner into the hallway.
Jax stood in the doorway of their room. His face was somber, and the look he was giving her made her want to run the other way. She instead, forced herself to walk towards him.
When she was close enough for him to reach for her, he did and with careful hands he opened the door wider.
Raylynn didn’t want to go inside. There was something very wrong in there. She could feel it. Everyone was acting so strange, and this room had something to do with it. She wanted to run the other way, but something inside pulled her forwards. She allowed herself to look around but nothing was the same. This wasn’t their room, but it was familiar.
‘Think Ray, what happened?’ Jax said from the doorway.
‘Why do I need to remember Jax?’ she asked, putting her hands over her eyes. She knew where she was now, and there was nothing about this room that she needed to remember. She had tried everything she could to put this room behind her. She didn’t need to look to know what was waiting for her in there. She waited for the gurgling to start.
‘Do you remember now Ray? Do you remember what you did to me?’ Jax asked, his hands tight on her shoulders.
‘Wait, what?’ she asked, spinning on her heel to face him, and dropping her hands from her eyes.
There he stood, his neck flayed open, blood pouring from the wound. His skin was a sick shade of grey, and his eyes were cloudy.
‘Do you remember now babe? Do you remember how you sliced my throat and watched as I bled to death in our bed? Don’t you remember how you stabbed Drake in the chest when he came in to see what had happened? C’mon babe, you remember don’t you? What about how you slit your wrists when you realized that you had been having a nightmare when you killed me? You remember that much right.’ Jax said, pushing her towards the bed and making her look. She saw herself on the floor, dead. All she could do was scream.
Syn
“How’s my girl doin? I tried her phone but she didn’t answer.” Jax asked.
“She’s fine bro, I think she went to sleep. She hasn’t slept good since you left.” He replied, leaning against his headboard.
“Whatcha mean?” Jax asked, the concern in his voice was instant.
“She’s been
having nightmares. Nothin major, she won’t talk about it though.” Syn replied.
“Well, how’s she look? Does she look alright?”
How was he supposed to answer that question? Was he supposed to tell Jax that she was as sexy as ever? That even with the dark circles under her eyes and her hair thrown up in a pony that she still made him want her.
“She looks like Ray, just tired that’s all. Look bro, you’ll be home in a couple hours and you can see her yourself.” He replied instead.
“Yeah, we should be rollin in about three or so.” Jax said. “If she wakes up before I get home have her call me.” He finished.
“Sure thing. Tell Drake we got orders comin in. Probably have to do another run in a week or two.” He added.
“Yeah, we were talkin about that shit earlier. Seems like more people know where to get the good shit now. We run out faster than we can get it in. The boys down south said they can get more, but I don’t know how much we can risk bringin back ya know.” Jax replied.
“Yeah, but it’s all about demand. We have to have enough supply to cover the demand and right now, we don’t.”
The scream came rushing through the silence of the house. It was Ray.
Without hesitation, he jumped up and took off towards the bedroom. He had to wake her up, he had to make sure she was okay.
When he reached the bedroom, he rushed in and found Ray screaming on the floor. Her tears flowed down from her still closed eyes. Without thinking, he was next to her, pulling her close to his chest.
“Ray, hey. It’s okay, come on. Open your eyes Ray, look at me.” He said as he stroked her hair with one hand and gripped his phone with the other. “I’m right here Ray, you’re okay. It was just a nightmare. Please, open your eyes and look at me.” He pleaded.
Raylynn struggled against him for only a second before settling against his chest. He held her close and waited for her to open her eyes. He had almost forgotten that Jax was still on the phone.
The feel of her soft skin against his bare chest was almost more than he could take. She smelled of vanilla and she fit perfectly against him. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up, lay her on the bed and make her forget all about her nightmare, but he knew that would never happen. No matter how much he wanted to feel her move against him, no matter how badly he wanted her, she was his brother’s girl.
“Syn, what happened, what’s going on?” he heard Jax yell.
“It’s okay now, she’s waking up. I told you she’s been having nightmares. Every night about this time she starts screaming. Fuck, last night she was screaming something about her dad. I had never even heard her talk about him before. It took about five minutes to wake her up from that one.” Syn replied in a hushed whisper.
“Put me on speaker, she needs to know I’m on my way.” Jax said urgently. Syn knew how hard leaving her had been for Jax, and he could only imagine how much hearing her scream had hurt him.
“Go ahead, you’re on speaker.” Syn said, holding the phone close to Ray.
“Baby girl, I’m on my way. I’ll be home in a couple hours.” Jax said sweetly.
Syn watched the smile spread across her face. He felt a pang of jealousy at the realization that all she needed was to hear Jax’s voice.
“Hey bro, Imma put her back in bed and make sure she’s good. I’ll see you inna few,”
“Yeah, alright. I’ll see ya soon, and thanks for takin care of her.” Jax said.
“No problem.” He replied before the line went dead.
“Alright Ray, lets get you back in bed. Jax will be home soon and then maybe we can all get some sleep.” He said as he lifted her with ease and placed her back in bed.
“Thanks babe. I love you.” She whispered groggily, her eyes still closed.
“It’s fine Ray. I’ll see you in the morning.” He whispered back before pressing his lips to her forehead.
And without another word, he turned and left.
Raylynn
Raylynn woke in a blind panic. The room was dark and cold, and she was still alone. The clock on the bedside table showed 2:37am. ‘Jax should be home by now.’ She thought before throwing back the blanket and springing to her feet. She made it quickly to the doorway and pulled it open in one fast movement.
“Jax, are you home?” she yelled into the dark hallway.
She waited, but no answer followed.
“Jax!” she yelled again, her anxiety rising with each second that passed.
She had been having nightmares for much of her life, and she could usually shake them as soon as her eyes opened, but the ones about Jax were different. She could never get those memories out of her mind until she laid eyes on him.
When an answer didn’t come, she had no other choice but to walk out of the room and go find him. She had just rounded the corner when she ran into a brick wall.
“Are you okay?” Syn asked, reaching down, and pulling her up from the floor.
“No, I am not okay. Jax should be here by now, and he’s not. What if something happened to him Syn?” she replied, her voice shaky.
“Ray, Imma need you to calm the fuck down okay. I just talked to him. They are grabbing a bite to eat, and they will be here. Now, take a breath.” He said, pulling her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry, it’s just, Ugg…I just had a bad dream that’s all. I’m fine I swear.” She said, him holding her made her feel better.
They stood there for a long time. It took the sound of the front door opening to pull them apart.
“Jax!” she yelled, pulling away from his brother.
“I’m here babe, I’m here.” Jax replied, coming around the corner into the hallway.
“I missed you so much.” She said before jumping into his waiting arms.
“I missed you too babe.” He said, wrapping her up and holding her close. “Thanks for looking after my girl. I think I got it from here though.” Jax said, turning to face his brother.
“Good to see ya bro, glad you’re home, now I might be able to get a full night sleep.” Syn said, clapping Jax on the shoulder “She’s your problem now.” He added before turning and heading towards his room.
“Hey Syn,” Raylynn called, unwrapping herself from around Jax.
Syn stopped and turned around in time to see Ray coming towards him.
“What’s up?” he asked as Ray stopped in front of him.
“Thanks for everything, I know you didn’t want to spend your nights with me, and my nightmares didn’t make it any easier, so thank you.” She said, leaning forward on her toes and pressing a small kiss just to the left of his lips.
“It wasn’t horrible Ray, I mean it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible.” He said with a smirk before pulling her in for a hug.
“Aww, I am just loving all this love.” Jax said, coming up behind them.
Raylynn pulled away from the hug first. It had happened so unexpectedly. Syn never showed her any affection; well, that wasn’t exactly true. The last few days had shown her another side of Syn. He had been undoubtedly sweet during that first night, when the nightmare had torn her apart. His strong arms held her together while her tears flowed like a river down his chest.
“For real though, thank you bro. It was a lot easier to leave knowing that you were here if she needed someone.” Jax said, pulling Ray backwards against his chest.
“No big deal. Now can I please get some damn sleep? I am fuckin exhausted.” Syn replied with a smile.
“Yeah, we’re gonna go eat real quick and head to bed ourselves.” Jax replied.
“Goodnight Syn, see you in the morning.” Raylynn said with a small smile.
“Nite Ray.” He said before disappearing into the darkness of his bedroom.
Raylynn felt a comfort that she hadn’t felt in days. The comfort of being wrapped up in Jax’s arms. She felt her stress start to melt away.
“Just us now babe, and no offence, but you look exhausted. How about you go climb in bed and find us a movie to watch a
nd I’ll go grab our food. We can eat, and then we can finally get a good night sleep.” Jax said, hugging her close.
“That sounds like the second best idea you have ever had.” She replied, turning on her heel to face him.
“Oh yeah, and what is the best one?” he asked with a smirk, his hands resting on her lower back.
“Talking to me.” She replied smiling.
“Babe, I’m not real sure I even had a choice. Now come on let’s get you in bed.” He replied, taking her hand, and leading her into the bedroom.
The energy between them changed in an instant; it was no longer playful and sweet, it was needful and hungry. Raylynn watched the small smirk play at the corner of his mouth and before her body could react, he had pulled her against him, his hands below the curve of her ass, and scooped her up. His mouth was on hers then, their tongues dancing against each other.
Jax used his hips to hold her against the wall. He needed to free his hands up so that he could help her out of the shirt that was hiding her perfect body. He needed to feel her silky skin against his. So much had happened on this trip and she was the balm he needed to soothe his raw nerves. He had a feeling she felt the same way.
His hands slid up her sides and grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it off on his way up. He was glad to see that she wore nothing else under it. His hands found her breasts and he watched intently as her head tipped backwards when his fingers found the peaks of her already hardened nipples.
“God I missed you Ray.” He whispered as he spun them away from the wall and towards the bed. He lay her down gently and with a smile replaced his fingers with his mouth.
Jax was skilled, Ray knew that; but what he was doing to her was almost too much to handle. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the nightmares or the missing him, but the feeling of his mouth on her was like nothing she had ever felt before.
Jax trailed kisses down her stomach and across her hips. His fingertips trailed along her legs, and with every movement he made, her moans grew louder, and he grew harder.
