Until Jax(15)
“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.”#p#分页标题#e#
“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.
Pulling in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. I’m not used to anyone looking out for me, but maybe it’s time I learn to accept help from other people.
“Okay, but I’ll give you the money back for it when I get home. Can you make sure it’s not more than fifty? I need to stick to a budget.”
“Sure,” he agrees immediately, making me feel like that was way too easy. I don’t know Jax very well, but I’m getting the feeling he’s the kind of guy who’s used to getting his way, even if it’s by plowing you over.
“Also, here,” he says, handing me some kind of bar in a shiny wrapper.
“What’s this?” I frown, flipping it over and reading what’s in it.
“You need to eat.”
“This has almost a thousand calories in it,” I tell him, holding it back towards him. If I’m going to get in better shape, I’ll need to lose a little bit of weight. In order to do that, I will need to keep under around thirteen hundred calories a day. Eating that bar would leave me just a few messily calories for the rest of the day.
“It’s good for you.”
“Thank you, but I’ll just grab a banana on the way out,” I say, holding the bar closer to him until he takes it back.
“Ellie, you need to eat,” he insists.
“I will.”
“You need to eat something more than a banana. Your body needs protein to run more efficiently.”
“You’re annoying,” I mumble, snatching the bar from him, ripping it open, and taking a large bite, which I chew twice before shoving the rest back at him and running to the bathroom, spitting it out in the toilet. It tastes like chalk and peanut butter—not a good combo, if you ask me. How anyone would willingly eat that, I don’t even know.
When I step back out into the hall after rinsing my mouth out and brushing my teeth again, both Hope and Jax are laughing hysterically.
“Do you eat that crap?” I ask Jax, and he grins, his body still shaking with laughter.
“Yeah, before workouts.” He chuckles.
“Why in the world would you waste perfectly good calories on that garbage?” I ask, and he places his hand on his stomach and laughs harder while Hope giggles.
Rolling my eyes at them, I ask Hope, “Are you ready to go?”
“Yep.” She smiles, taking my hand and tugging me toward the stairs. When we reach the first floor, Cash and Lilly are waiting at the bottom, both smiling strangely at us.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, grabbing Hope’s coat and then mine.
“Perfect.” Lilly smiles then turns to kiss her husband when he tells her that he and Jax are gonna head out.
“We’ll do dinner here tonight, babe,” Jax says, and I turn to look at him.
“Uh…sure,” I agree, even though I don’t know how I feel about dinner with Jax. This situation is already feeling way more intimate than I’m ready for.
“Also, here’s your key, and you remember the code, right?”#p#分页标题#e#
“I do,” I say, placing the key in the front pocket of my jeans.
“Have a good day, baby.” He smiles, making my stomach do something strange.
“Later,” I murmur, watching him tap the end of Hope’s nose, making her beam before walking out the door.
“Ready, honey?” Lilly asks, standing in the open doorway.
“Ready.” I smile, taking Hope’s hand in mine and following her outside. “Wait, I need to get Hope’s car seat.”
“Jax already took care of it.”
“Oh,” I mutter, and she smirks, opening the backdoor to her car. Picking Hope up, I get her buckled in and hand her doll over before getting into the passenger seat.