“Hi.” Hope smiles shyly, leaning her head on my shoulder.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Hope,” Lilly says with a soft look on her face while reaching out, running her hand down Hope’s cheek.
“Hi, Hope.” Cash wraps his arm around his wife’s back, pulling her closer to his side.
“Ax said naudy words,” she tells his parents, and I pull my bottom lip into my mouth as Ashlyn starts to laugh at my side and Jax groans, tilting his head back.
“He did, did he?” Lilly frowns over her shoulder at her son.
“Two times,” she says, holding up three fingers, the third one coming up because her little fingers are so chubby.
“Are we supposed to tattle?” I ask her, and she frowns while shaking her head. “Good, now are you ready to eat?” I lift a brow and she nods, so I set her back on the counter, since there is no table, and cut up her pancake, placing it next to her.
“Here, sweetheart,” Jax says, giving her a Solo cup with orange juice in it.
I give him an appreciative look, and he shrugs then asks, “Are you going to eat something?”
“I’m going on a diet, so I’ll have a banana or something,” I tell him absently, watching Hope eat.
“Why are you going on a diet?” He frowns, checking me out and making me blush as his eyes get darker. “You look perfect.”
“I realized how out of shape I was when…” I stop and look at Hope, not wanting her to hear what happened. “I just need to get into better shape,” I whisper.
“I can teach you some self-defense stuff,” he says quietly.
My eyes run over him and I feel my cheeks heat again. He’s not just in good shape; his body is perfect. I doubt he has an ounce of fat on him. Pulling my eyes from his abs, I look into his eyes.
“I just want to be able to run without feeling like I’m having a stroke,” I say, watching his jaw clench.
“You won’t need to run again,” he growls.
“That may be true, but I need to know for myself that I can,” I tell him, reaching out and squeezing his bicep. His eyes drop to my hand and his body relaxes.
“I’d still like to show you some stuff,” he presses.
“All right,” I mutter then look around the kitchen, seeing everyone watching us. My eyes stop on Lilly, whose eyes are on my hand, which I didn’t realize is now against his chest, over his heart. Pulling it away quickly, I mumble an apology and step away from him, going to Hope’s side.
“Are you finished, Angel?” I ask her, needing to get away from Jax.
“Yes.” She smiles with chocolate around her mouth.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” I laugh, pulling a paper towel off the holder and wiping her face.
“Can I have a baff?”
“Tonight,” I tell her, picking her up off the counter and turning to face the room of people, who are still watching us. “We’re gonna go get ready.”
“Sure, honey,” Lilly says getting a coffee mug while Cash nods, and Jax just stands with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.
“It was nice meeting you, Ashlyn.” I smile as I pass her.
“We’ll have coffee sometime soon.”
“I’d like that.” I nod and head up to the second floor, where I get Hope ready first, in a pair of leggings, a sweater dress, and her ballet flats. Going to my room, I dig through the garbage bags of clothes until I find my trusty black jeans that always look perfect, a black t-shirt that scoops in the front just enough to give a hint of cleavage, my black ankle boots, and a chunky silver and turquoise necklace that makes the outfit look more dressy.
“Let’s go brush our teeth and hair.” I hold out my hand to Hope, who is sitting on the bed, playing with her favorite doll.
Walking across the hallway, I notice Jax’s door is closed, but I can hear him talking loudly to someone on the other side. Closing the bathroom door, I give Hope her toothbrush while I fix her hair into a French braid. Once she’s done, I brush my teeth while looking myself over, seeing sleep has done wonders. The bags under my eyes are gone, and Ashlyn was right; my hair actually looks good with crazy waves. Taking my hair serum, I squeeze some into my palm, using it just on the ends to tame them a bit. All I use on my face is some mascara and a little blush.
“Can I have makeup?” Hope asks, watching me.
“How about lip-gloss?”
She nods, pulling one of the pink ones from my makeup bag and putting it on herself, so I bend to her level and let her put some on me as well. “What do you think?”
“You look pwetty.” She smiles, patting my cheek.
“So do you.” I tell her giving her a kiss.
When I open the bathroom door, Jax is standing in the hall leaning against the wall with his phone in his hand, frowning at something on the screen. When his head lifts and our eyes meet, I look down at Hope.
“Why don’t you go grab a couple of your dolls to take with us, Angel?” I say, and then watch as she heads to her room before looking at Jax again and asking, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, baby, I just wanted to see if you need any money before I take off.”
“What?” I ask, feeling something strange creep over me, making my insides turn with unease.
“I know your purse is gone, and it’ll take a few days to get a new card from the bank. I don’t know if you need to get anything from the store for you or Hope.”
“Oh,” I breathe out. “I didn’t even think about that. I need to see about getting a new ID. I have the debit card from my savings account that has about four thousand dollars in it, which can hold us over until I get everything else worked out,” I mutter absently. I can’t believe I forgot my purse is gone. I didn’t have much in it, maybe forty dollars, my cellphone, and my wallet with my bank card. I don’t even have a credit card in my name.
“Are you sure you don’t want some cash just in case?”
“I’m sure,” I say, shaking my head, when Hope comes out of her room with her doll and doll stroller. “Millie wants to go for a walk, Mama.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to wait until we get back here later to take her for a walk.”
“But she really wants to go,” she pouts.
“Hope,” I say her name in my ‘mom voice’, tilting my head to the side and waiting for her to take the stroller back into the room before shaking my head and meeting Jax’s gaze again.
“Are you gonna be okay with my mom?” he asks, reaching out and touching my hand so briefly I wonder if it even happened.
“Of course, your mom seems really nice.”
“If you need me, just call.”
“I’m sure we’ll be okay, and that won’t be necessary,” I assure him.
“I know, but call anyways.”
“You know I don’t have a phone, right?” I ask softly.
“Sh—” His eyes move to Hope, who walks out to stand next to me, and then his eyes sweep up to meet mine again. “I mean, I’ll get you one today.”
“I can get my own phone.”
“You’re gonna be busy. I don’t mind getting one,” he says gently.