15. Jax
JAX
My knuckles tighten over the steering wheel, nerves coursing under my skin.
I’ve never been one to ask for help, insisting on being the rock for my girl instead.
I know I can’t pull this off without her brother, but it’s hard to look past the kid that rode in my backseat, the one my mom fed as often as me.
Maverick, the ranch owner and Brielle’s other alpha, is watching me from the porch, a frown between his eyebrows as I exit my truck. “Jax?”
“Is Cooper here? I just wanted to talk to him real quick.”
He looks over his shoulder as the rest of his pack spills out of the front door. Cooper walks toward me, and Brielle sticks to Maverick’s side as they watch us.
“Is Marley okay?” His brown eyes drill into me, serious instead of the playfulness that usually sparkles.
I nod. “Yeah, we’re good. I—uhh, I want to do something for her, but I think I need your help because she’ll grow suspicious of me.” Or kill me if she finds out.
He crosses his arms over his chest, still tense. “Do what?”
The nerves stir in my stomach again, and I scratch the back of my neck and look over his pack before returning back to Cooper. “I want to plan a wedding for her.”
“Oh my god!” Brielle squeals, and I have to stifle my smile. “Yes!”
Cooper sighs, shaking his head at his omega. “You can’t just say yes for me.”
Her bottom lip pouts out. “You can’t say no.”
“I wasn’t planning on it. I just wanted some more information, Sunshine.”
Maverick picks her up, swinging her over his shoulder. “You’re causing trouble. Back in the house you go.”
She swats at his butt. “No! Marley is my friend too. Jax bailed us out of jail. We’re…” The rest of her complaints are swallowed up as the door closes behind them, but not before Duke sends me a wink. I can only assume whatever Cooper will walk back into would put a blush on a nun.
“A wedding, huh?”
I nod, then bile rises in my throat because of the second reason I had come to him. “I heard you bought back the deed to the house.”
Cooper blows out a breath, looking away from me. “Yeah.”
“She still has the deed for the piece of land behind it, the small broken schoolhouse. I wanted to fix both of them up for her and replace the bad memories with happy ones.” It’s a long shot, but I can’t have her dragging her feet about finding a place.
I understand her concerns, but we can fill the place with other memories in the meantime. We’ve both always wanted a dog.
His throat bobs, and his eyes roll to the darkening sky. “You think she’ll want to go back there? Hell, I bought it years ago, and I haven’t stepped foot in there.”
I shrug. “Her dad built it. She may not know him, but that’s your family home. And we’ll make it our family home, a real family.” Tracy told me that a while back. I don’t think Cooper or Marley knew that her dad built it. I don’t think she would have let it be taken if she had.
“It was never our family home.” Cooper turns his stare back at me, his lips pulling up on one end. “It helps that your parents are a few doors down, though.”
I smile back. “It does, grandkids and what not.”
He groans with a scrunched nose. “I don’t want to think about you and my sister fucking.”
“Kid, we were doing that long before you were,” I tease with a snicker.
Cooper shudders. “Anyway, what are your ideas for the place? Have you seen what Colt and his pack have done to the house down the road? Patched it up real nice.”
I shake my head. “No, but I’d welcome any ideas. I just want to make it into a house she’s excited to come home to, a place she can envision our future.”
He smiles, clapping my shoulder. “We got you…brother. Damn, that’s kind of weird.”
It brings a grin to my face. “It is, but it doesn’t negate what we’ve always been.”
Family.
My eyes track over the men gathered around the house, and I frown. “Where do your omegas think you are?”
“Work, duh,” Maverick grumbles. “You’re the one who sulks in his apartment and has a woman that’s suspicious of her own shadow.”
Cooper laughs. “Marley would think that’s a compliment.”
My lips twitch to laugh too, but I look over at Colt, who is watching the house like he wants to set it on fire.
I walk over to him, patting him on his shoulder. “You gonna be okay? We’ve got more help than I could ever need.”
He grunts, shaking his head. “I’m fine. Just strange to be here, knowing that my little brother was raised here. Knowing my father abandoned him as well, but they didn’t have Levi to help raise them.”
I tilt my head to the side. “They didn’t have Levi, but they had me. Me and my family, and I tried my hardest to keep them as comfortable as possible.”
Colt’s throat bobs, and he nods, pulling me into a side hug. As we pull apart, Cooper walks up, carrying a set of tools from one of the trucks on the crowded street. “This is the one that Mav said we can leave here. The rest we’ll swing back and forth for the days we can’t come by.”
“Anything you guys do is helpful. Honestly, thank you.”
Duke snorts. “Marley is still a part of this town. She might be the snake that will bite, but she’s our snake.”
Cooper shakes his head, nudging him with his shoulder. “She’s not that bad.”
Duke’s twin, Dallas, gives him an incredulous look. “Didn’t she spray someone in the face the other week with the soda gun?”
I laugh. “I wish we recorded it. It was hilarious.”
Dallas points his finger. “Match made in heaven, you two.”
“I think it would be funny to see,” Maverick adds.
Duke cackles. “And so would Brielle. You two are grumpy if you don’t get coffee before 9 a.m. That’s not saying much.”
“Alright, reel it in. Let’s get this house demo’d,” Colt says with a shake of his head.
I smirk, glancing around at the men surrounding me. “What are the chances you’ll help me repair the Carters’ carriage?”
Duke laughs louder. “Oh god. If we repair that, Brielle will ask for it for a redo of our wedding as well.”
Maverick grins. “Then it sounds like the perfect opportunity.”