33. Jaxs Frustration
THIRTY-THREE
JAX'S FRUSTRATION
J ax
Motherfucker.
I wake up in a foul mood, the frustration from the past few days hitting me like a freight train. My head throbs, and my body aches from a restless night. I rub my eyes and glance over at the source of my frustration.
Lily, tangled up with Enzo, both of them still naked, with his dick partially inside her.
The sight feels like a punch to the gut. I heard them last night—hell, we all did—but seeing it first thing in the morning sets my blood boiling. Clenching my fists, I grab my phone to check the time. Dead. I try the lamp next to me, flicking the switch. Nothing.
"Fuck," I mutter under my breath. The power’s out.
Frustration gnawing at me, I lean over and shake Marcus awake. "We’re late. The power’s out," I growl.
Marcus groans, grabbing his phone off the nightstand. His eyes widen as he reads the screen. "Shit, we’ve got twenty-two missed calls from the crew. We’re five hours late meeting them."
“How the hell did we miss twenty-two calls?” Dylan asks.
“My do not disturb was on,” Marcus says, sounding frantic as he jumps out of bed and starts pulling on his clothes.
“Why didn’t they come knock on our door?” Lily asks.
Marcus shrugs. “Who knows, but we need to get down there.”
Panic spreads like wildfire. Dylan jumps out of bed. He’s usually laid back, the least bothered by any bad situation, but not today. He’s rushing to get his clothes on as quickly as Marcus.
Enzo untangles himself from Lily, the smug look he gives me making my fists itch. Lily pulls the sheet around herself, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"This is on you," I snap at Enzo, my anger rising. "Your late-night sexcapade kept everyone awake, and now we’re screwed."
Enzo’s smirk disappears, his eyes narrowing. He opens his mouth to retort, but Lily quickly cuts in, her voice calm despite the chaos. "Guys, don’t start. We need to figure out how to fix this."
I ignore her. I’m too pissed to care about being civil. Grabbing my clothes, I storm out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I need space. I can’t deal with this shit right now. The tour, the pressure, the constant bickering, now the bus being broken down and us missing our only other ride—it’s all too much.
I head downstairs to the hotel lobby, my mind racing. How did things get this bad? Frustration and jealousy burn in my gut, making it hard to focus. The lobby’s quiet, a far cry from the chaos upstairs. I lean against the wall, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down. Every time I close my eyes, I just imagine Lily and Enzo together and it makes me want to lose my shit.
The elevator dings, and the rest of the band stumbles into the lobby, guilt and frustration written all over their faces. Marcus speaks first, his voice laced with irritation. "The crew’s probably losing their minds by now."
"No shit," I snap back. "We should’ve been down here hours ago."
Dylan tries to lighten the mood, cracking a weak joke. "Hey, at least we got some extra sleep, right?"
No one laughs. Even he shuts up under the weight of our glares.
Marcus holds his phone to his ear. The ringing is audible from where I stand. His call goes to voicemail. He tries twice more, and no one answers. “No one is picking up now,” he states.
"Perfect," I mutter sarcastically, rubbing my temples. "Just what we need."
Enzo, leaning against the wall, still looks smug. "Calm down, Jax. It’s not the end of the world."
That’s it. I step toward him, fists clenched. "You think this is funny? We’re falling apart, and all you can do is stand there like it doesn’t matter. Like you don’t give a damn about what fucking happens to us."
Enzo doesn’t flinch. "Maybe because I don’t," he fires back, his eyes cold.
Marcus steps between us before things escalate. "Enough. This isn’t helping anyone. We need to figure out our next move to get out of here."
Lily steps up next to Marcus, and it starts to feel like they’re all ganging up on me. She places a hand against my arm, but I yank it away, ignoring the flash of hurt on her face. “It’s going to be okay. Let me check with the desk and see if anyone left a message,” she says, turning away.
She returns a minute later, with the hotel manager in tow. The manager addresses us, her voice apologetic. "Excuse me, but the power outage has affected the entire block. No one stopped by the desk with a note, but I understand that you missed your carpool. We can arrange transportation if needed.”
“Yes, we would appreciate that,” Marcus responds, offering her a polite smile. “We can’t reach anyone now and we are running pretty late.”
The manager gives us a sympathetic smile and heads off to make arrangements. I turn back to the band, still fuming. "Did anyone leave anything upstairs? We leave as soon as our ride gets here."
Dylan and Lily exchange a look, then head upstairs to double check nothing was left behind in the room. The rest of us stand in tense silence. Everyone is holding their bag already, so I question if Lily just needed to escape the constant bickering. Then I try to convince myself that I don’t care.
Finally, a cab arrives, and we pile in. The cramped space only adds to the discomfort. As we settle into our seats, Lily leans over to me, her voice soft. "Can I charge my phone? I need to text Harris and the crew."
"Yeah," I grunt, handing her my charger. "USB port."
She plugs it in, her fingers flying over the screen as she types out frantic messages. The rest of us sit in silence, the hum of the car’s engine the only sound as we drive toward the next disaster waiting to unfold. When it rains, it pours.