Jax by E. M. Moore

30

Fortunately, I don’t have to wait for long to get a Jax update. Jacob comes to see me in the holding cell. As soon as I hear footsteps, I stand from the bench and walk toward the bars. In my head, I’m in the finale of a movie and Jax is limping toward me. We embrace through the cell, and he tells me he got me out so that we can spend the rest of our lives together starting now.

It’s nothing like that. Real life is no fairy tale.

“How is he?” I ask, trying to mask my initial disappointment of seeing him. Jacob has done so much for me. He’s why I’m sitting here in this holding cell while the others are already in real cells, awaiting their time in front of the judge. The judge will tell them they’re spending time in prison while they wait for their trials.

“He went into surgery. The doctor says everything looks good, but they need to do some repair work on the inside. He woke up right before they took him back. He was asking for you.”

The bars gripped in my fists feed the slivers of icy chills that race down my back.

“Don’t worry. We told him you wanted to be there. He tried to fight the hospital staff off so he could come see you, but Finn talked some sense into him.”

“Thank God for Finn,” I muse, knowing Jax is way better off in the hospital than fulfilling my fantasies.

Jacob looks both ways before he settles his gaze on me. “I spoke to Cole. He said he knows someone who can get you out of this.”

My knuckles turn white. It’s tempting. So damn tempting. In my head, though, I know it’s not what I want. Or what Jax wants for that matter. I can’t imagine what he would think about accepting so much help from the leader of a gang. “Is it bad?” I ask.

“I think you’ll be spending at least six months in jail. At the very least. You can plead that you were coerced and you were afraid for your life. There’ll be restitution charges too. You’ll be asked to pay back the families that you stole from.”

“I want that,” I say automatically. “I’ll work until I die to pay them off.” A picture of the old man’s face pops into my head and guilt nearly slams into me with the full force of a tornado. I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. I was selfish, and it’s time that I own up to my mistakes. “I’ll take whatever they want to give me.”

“You’ll need a good lawyer.”

“Court appointed?”

Jacob shakes his head. “Not if you can help it.”

“I literally have no money.”

Jacob sighs and looks away. “Don’t think about that right now, okay?” A few moments of silence pass. “For the record, I think you’re doing the right thing.”

“Yeah?” I ask, voice shaky. Jail doesn’t appeal to me. Not in the least. I have no money to pay restitution, and I have no idea what’s coming up for me next, but I do know I need to go through this to come out better. I can’t have people save my ass all the time. It’s just not good for growth. “What about Psycho?”

“He’ll be going to jail for a long, long time. Most of the girls are flipping on him for rape charges. Then the stolen money, the domestic abuse... It all points toward rotting away in a jail cell for a significant amount of time.”

“I like that,” I say, smiling. “That sounds good.”

Jacob peers to his right and then back at me. “There’s someone here who wants to see you.” He steps back and Lyla moves into view.

She approaches the bars, looking stiff and uncomfortable. But when she glances at me, some of the rigidity in her shoulders relaxes. “Thank you,” she says, clearing her throat after a break. “It means so much to me that you kept your word. I’m going to corroborate your story one hundred percent.”

“You’re free?” I ask, gazing down and searching for handcuffs or foot chains. But no, she has nothing, and she’s still in the clothes she wore to the Ring, plus an oversized hoodie.

She only nods, and I heave a sigh of relief. With everything that went down at the end, there was no time to warn her. Of course, if she’d just come over to our side when I tried to get her to, I could have. Yet, she knew about the gun, so there’s no way she would have. “I’m so sorry about your boyfriend, Sadie. Any man who will stick up for his girl like that is a keeper.”

“Don’t I know it,” I whisper. “I’m not pushing him away again.”

“Cotton,” a gruff voice sounds.

Jacob nods toward the other end of the hall and then steps forward again. “Sorry, Sadie, she has to go.”

I nod, and Lyla walks away, looking once over her shoulder with a hint of a smile. It’s not a best friend pact by any means. I don’t expect one. I ruined her life. But maybe it’s a start toward that future I want.

When she’s out of earshot, I gaze up at Jacob. “How did that happen?”

“My little cousin went to her brother and told him to pull some strings for that girl. She’s the one you told us about, right?”

I nod. “She didn’t really do anything, and I owe her.”

“She’s free now. She flipped with Cole’s help and is going to testify against Psycho, too.”

That’s something I can be happy about.

“Actually, pretty much everyone flipped. Psycho is one scary fucker. I can’t believe he was under the radar for so long.”

“Yeah, well, scary and smart aren’t good attributes for one person.”

“Well, he won’t be able to hurt anyone else now because of you.”

I shake my head. I don’t deserve any praise. If it weren’t for Jax, I’m not sure I would’ve ever had the guts to do it myself, no matter how bad it got. I like to pretend that I would have but I don’t really know.

“Don’t think too hard,” Jacob says. “You did a good thing.” We’re silent for a few more moments while I take in his words before he starts explaining to me what’s going to happen next. He can push for my time with the judge to come quicker than the others but until then, I will have to spend time in jail. Whatever time I do spend there will be taken off my final sentence, no matter what that is.

Despite the sober news he’s telling me, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I see a blazing star haloing Jax who will wait for me there.

I see hope even through the haze of gray, prison drab.

I see everything so clearly now.

Love is so powerful. It’s the ultimate balm to a damaged soul. Jax’s love for me, and my love for him, won in the end.

I’ll happily do my time knowing that I put one bad guy away and that a good one waits for me at the end...with hope.

I gaze up at Jacob through unshed, determined tears. “Tell the big guy I love him, okay?”