Chapter 2The Ex I Hid Away

I was brought back to Jax's house.

The neighbors gossiped. "Hey Jax, brought the wife back?"

He pulled me behind him, blocking their view. "Shut your mouth. She's my sister."

That night, Nana cooked a feast, but she kept sighing.

"I wanted you to have a wife, and you brought back a sister. How am I going to get you married now?"

Jax rolled his eyes. "Nana, stop it. I'm not a predator."

At the dinner table, the old lady kept piling food onto my plate. "Eat up. You're too skinny, child."

That night, I ate until I couldn't move.

The house was small. Two bedrooms. Nana had one, Jax had the other.

He partitioned a corner of his room with plywood, set up a narrow cot and an old desk.

Nana gave me clean sheets. Outside the window, wildflowers were blooming in the moonlight.

Before this, I slept on a dirty mattress in a storage closet. Now, I had a bed.

I lay on the hard mattress, unable to sleep. I could hear Jax breathing on the other side of the plywood. It was strangely comforting.

The next morning, Jax knocked on the wood.

"Get up. We're going to school."

I sat up, confused. "School?"

"What else? You're sixteen. If you don't go to school, what are you gonna do?"

My nose stung. I could go to school?

After breakfast, he rolled out a rusty motorcycle and drove me to the local high school.

Jax stood in the principal's office, tucking in his shirt, hiding his tattoos.

"This is my sister. We need to register her."

From that day on, I really had a "brother."

Jax was famous in that part of town. The head of the thugs. He had killed a man (in a fight), served time. People said he ran the underground. Nobody messed with him.

I used to be the quiet girl everyone bullied. Now, when people saw me, they respectfully called me "Miss Harper."

The first time we had a parent-teacher conference, Jax came.

He wore all black, looking like a hitman sitting on a tiny classroom chair.

After the meeting, he ruffled my hair, grinning like an idiot.

"Damn. First time I've ever been praised in a school. You make me look good, kid."