Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
A lex stepped out of Liev’s car, his mind already inside the house. Madison said Jax was finally on the mend when they’d spoken yesterday. A brief call where she’d sounded exhausted but assured him everything was fine. Jax hadn’t had a fever in over a day. It was shocking how relieved that made him.
He pushed the front door open, locking it behind him as he stepped inside. He slipped off his coat, rolling his shoulders as he moved through the darkened space.
A soft sound broke the silence.
Alex froze.
“Mama,” Jax’s voice chirped through the quiet. A string of babbling followed, light and distracted, but when there was no response, he repeated it, more insistently, “Mama?”
Alex’s brows pulled together as he followed the sound, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he stepped into the kitchen. The baby monitor sat on the counter, the screen faintly illuminated. He could see Jax sitting up in his bed, wide awake. His little fingers wrapped around his stuffed dinosaur as he kicked his feet against the mattress.
“Mama,” Jax said again, this time frustrated.
Alex’s stomach knotted.
Where the hell was Madison?
A sharp edge of alarm cut through him as he turned toward the stairs. He took them two at a time, his pulse hammering in his ears. Pushing open Jax’s door, his eyes immediately landed on the small bed in the corner.
The toddler sat upright in his bed, blinking at Alex as he entered. But it wasn’t Jax that had Alex rushing forward.
It was Madison.
She lay sprawled across the other bed, completely still.
Alex crouched down and pressed a palm to her cheek—blistering hot. He swore under his breath.
His grip tightened on her shoulder, and he gave her a gentle shake. “Madison?” She didn’t stir.
“Angel?” Her skin burned hot through her shirt. A soft moan escaped her lips, her head rolling slightly against the pillow. She mumbled something he barely caught, her voice hoarse.
“Opal... ”
“Madison?” He tried again, his voice sharper this time. His concern had officially turned into something stronger.
Her eyelashes fluttered, then slowly her unfocused, blue eyes blinked open. For a moment, she just stared at him, like she wasn’t entirely sure he was real.
“Oh, hey. When did you get home?” she whispered, with a confused smile.
Alex exhaled through his nose, tempering his reaction as he cupped her cheek. “How long have you been sick like this?”
She blinked sluggishly, her brow furrowing. “What’s today?”
Wrong answer.
“Madison.”
She swallowed, her throat working, and she winced. Her eyes drifted half-closed again. “Since… yesterday, I think? It’s just the flu, Alex.” Her eyes struggled to open. “Jax?—”
“He’s fine,” Alex cut her off. “He was awake when I came in, but he’s settled back down now.”
She tried to push up onto her elbows, but the effort lasted all of a second before her strength gave out, and she flopped back down with a groan.
Alex looked down at Madison, her flushed skin stark against the pale sheets, and he brushed his thumb over her temple.
She looked wrecked—Her fever-drunk gaze barely able to hold his. There was no way she was going to get any real rest, sharing a room with a baby who might wake up at any moment.
Decision made, he scooped her into his arms.
She made a soft noise of protest, her head lolling against his chest. “I can walk,” she muttered weakly.
“You can barely sit up,” Alex countered, his grip firm.
She sighed against him, and her body melted into his hold as he carried her toward the door. He glanced toward Jax’s bed, the toddler watching him sleepily, fingers firmly in his mouth.
“I’ll be right back, buddy,” Alex murmured. Jax blinked drowsily at him but didn’t fuss as Alex carried Madison to their bedroom.
Laying her down against the cool sheets, he hesitated for half a second before pulling the blanket over her. She was already half asleep, her eyes barely open.
Returning to Jax’s room, Alex found the toddler already asleep, his small body curled around his stuffed dinosaur, his breaths even and slow. He crouched beside the bed, brushing a hand lightly over Jax’s back, reassured by the cool forehead and the steady rise and fall of his tiny body.
Grabbing the monitor from the nightstand, he stepped out and quietly closed the door.
Back in their bedroom, Madison was muttering something unintelligible into the pillow. Her hair was damp with sweat, her arms tangled in the blanket.
He needed to do something about her fever, but he wasn’t exactly familiar with taking care of a sick person. Relying on what he’d seen in movies, Alex headed into the ensuite bathroom with a muttered curse and turned the faucet in the tub to lukewarm.
“No,” Madison mumbled immediately when he reached for the hem of her shirt.
“Yes.”
“My body really wants to.” Her fever-slurred words making his lips twitch despite himself. “Well, parts of my body do. But more parts want to die. Leave me alone.”
“I need to get your temperature down, Angel.”
Madison groaned but didn’t stop him as he stripped her. For once, her bare skin didn’t spark the usual fire in his veins. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her into the bathroom. The second he lowered her into the water, she scrunched her face.
“It’s cold,” she muttered, shifting uncomfortably.
“You’ll live.”
Madison made a noise somewhere between a whimper and a groan as he grabbed a washcloth, dipping it into the water before dragging it over her arms, her shoulders, and her chest.
Her nipples pebbled at the contact, and Alex’s grip tightened on the cloth. He grit his teeth, forcing his focus to remain clinical. She was delirious with fever. This wasn’t the time to start fantasizing about all the things they could do in a bathtub.
Madison’s eyes flew open. “Where’s Jax?”
“He went back to sleep,” Alex reassured her. He held up the monitor. “I have this.”
“Oh.” Her lashes fluttered, her body slumping again. “Okay.”
When the water grew too cool, he lifted her from the tub and patted her dry with a towel before tugging one of his T-shirts over her head.
She muttered something about Jax’s next dose as he laid her back in bed. Alex smoothed a hand over her hair, his voice low. “I’ll take care of it. You just need to rest. I’m going downstairs to get some medicine. I’ll be right back.”
Thankfully, Madison had the foresight to buy adult medicine along with Jax’s. After he popped two pills out of the packaging, he filled a glass of water. With an arm around her back, he helped her sit up.
“You’re going to get sick, Charming,” she muttered, taking the medicine.
“I think the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you.’” He tucked her damp hair behind her ear.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, then sighed heavily, resting her head back against his shoulder. “Put the baby monitor on the bedside table and turn the volume all the way up. I don’t want to miss him if he?—”
“I’m taking it with me,” he said, sliding his arm away and rising to his feet. “I’ll take care of him if he wakes up.”
“But—”
“Put down your sword, Angel. You don’t need it tonight.”
“Alex, I?—”
“I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Close your eyes.”
Rising from the bed, he took a quick shower, relieved that Madison had fallen asleep by the time he emerged from the bathroom. Taking the monitor with him, he peeked in on a sleeping Jax before heading to one of the bedrooms down the hall.
Thankfully, Jax slept through the night, which meant not only had Madison been able to rest, but also Alex hadn’t needed to figure out what to do with a screaming toddler without waking up its mother.
Early morning light was filtering in through the curtains when Alex heard soft rustling from the baby monitor. The quiet noises were followed by a few nonsense murmurs, then Jax’s voice rose in an insistent, sleepy babble.
Alex pushed himself up, turned off the monitor, and hurried down the hall. The last thing he wanted was for Madison to wake up after only a few hours of sleep.
Jax was sitting up in his bed, rubbing his eyes, and holding his stuffed dinosaur by the neck. As soon as Alex appeared in the doorway, the boy made a noise somewhere between greeting and demand.
“Yeah, yeah,” Alex muttered, with a smile scooping him up. “My wish is your command, tyrant. You let mommy have a break last night, so I think you deserve a treat.”
Jax’s eyes lit up at the word. “Let’s go see what we can find in the kitchen.”
The toddler hummed something that sounded vaguely like agreement, before laying his head against Alex’s shoulder. Warmth curled through Alex’s chest, but this time, he didn’t fight against it.
What was the point anymore? He was already completely attached to this child and his mother.
Alex shifted him to one arm while pulling open the fridge. “What do you want? Eggs? Toast?” Jax smacked his lips but otherwise remained quiet. “Not helpful,” Alex muttered.
He grabbed several small containers of cut fruit and set Jax in his highchair. “How about we start here?”
Jax hummed a happy little noise as Alex handed him a piece of melon and placed a variety of fruit on the tray. He chewed enthusiastically, bouncing his legs as Alex leaned against the counter, watching him.
“You’ve got a pretty good setup here, you know that? Mommy carries you around.” He gestured at the food on the tray. “Snacks are ready for you whenever you want them, and I’m at your beck and call.” Alex mused.
Jax’s only response was a delighted giggle as he held his sticky fingers out to Alex. “Right. I forgot you also have a personal valet.”
He might have felt silly about the one-sided conversation he was having with the toddler, but Madison did it every day, so he figured it was okay.
Grabbing a napkin, he wiped the boy’s hands, ignoring Jax’s attempts to squirm away, before finally setting him on his feet.
“All right, let me grab a sippy cup for you, and you can watch some cartoons while I work.”
A sippy cup? Who the hell am I?
Holding his cup with two hands, Jax toddle-ran in front of Alex, leading the way to the living room. It was astonishing to Alex just how much the boy had changed in a few short months.
Jax plopped onto the floor, settled his back against the sofa, and pointed at the painting above the fireplace.
“Blue!”
“I’m going as fast as I can.” Alex pressed the button on the remote control to reveal the hidden television behind the painting and then flicked through the screens until he reached Jax’s favorite.
“Blue!” he exclaimed again.
“You’re going to end up sounding like an Aussie before this is all over,” Alex grumbled but started the popular Australian children’s show.
Jax, entirely unbothered by Alex’s judgment, stared at the screen, completely enraptured, while Alex sank onto the couch with his coffee. He glanced at his phone, answering a few messages, all while keeping an eye on the toddler.
After a while, Jax pulled himself up and clambered on the sofa, only to shuffle closer to Alex, dragging his stuffed dinosaur with him. He burrowed into Alex’s side, his eyes back on the animated dogs.
Alex smirked down at him. “I’m more comfortable than the floor, huh?”
Jax didn’t answer, too absorbed in his favorite character. Alex shook his head but switched his phone to his left hand so that he could rest the other on Jax, holding him close.
It was almost an hour later when Alex heard the soft footsteps coming down the hall. He glanced up as Madison walked into the room. Her damp hair was pulled up in a messy knot, and she’d changed into a pair of her sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt.
She hesitated at the threshold, her gaze darting between Jax and Alex. There was something cautious in her expression, as if she wasn’t sure what she was about to walk into.
“He’s fine,” Alex assured her before she could ask. “He didn’t seem to have a fever, so I didn’t give him any medicine. Seems good, just not as energetic as he normally is. How are you feeling?” he asked as she stepped closer.
Madison crouched beside Jax to press a kiss to his head, but he only glanced at her for a millisecond, his attention still riveted on the TV.
“Pretty gross actually,” she said hoarsely. “I took some more medicine.” She paused, looking a little uncertain as she straightened. “Thank you… for taking night duty, I mean.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” Alex held her gaze.
She gave a small, self-conscious shrug, but he refused to let it go. “You aren’t alone anymore. It’s okay to let me take the weight for you sometimes. We’re a family.”
Her eyes flooded with tears that she tried to blink away before batting the few off her cheeks that escaped. She waved a hand in the air. “Sorry. Just ignore me. Fevers always make me weepy.”
Alex didn’t argue, because his own body was reacting in unfamiliar ways. Swallowing past the thickness in his throat, he placed one of the throw pillows flat on the sofa next to him and patted it. “Come here.”
Madison hesitated for only a second before sighing and climbing onto the couch. The second she settled, Jax turned and threw himself down, his back pressed to her chest, his little face still glued to the television. Alex pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and arranged it over both of them.
He returned to emails on his phone, but within fifteen minutes, soft snores had him glancing down. Alex exhaled, running a hand over his beard. They were both asleep, tucked together like puzzle pieces against him.
Alex’s chest tightened painfully with an emotion he didn’t care to analyze too closely.
He’d always liked to think of himself as a man ready for anything, but he was beginning to realize that he could never have prepared for her.
Or the way she would change his life.