𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐏𝐎𝐕

Why isn't he answering? I've tried calling Jax four times now, each one ending with me being greeted by a robotic voice on the other end. Ana had called to ensure I had a ride home, and I stupidly told her yes since Jax promised he would be here. But, low and behold, he's not.

"Alright, Allie," the nurse announces as she rolls a wheelchair into my room. "Did you get ahold of your ride?"

"Not quite yet," I say quietly, my gaze still fixed on my phone.

She gives me a sympathetic look as she locks the wheels of the wheelchair and turns to leave the room.

"I'll come back in ten minutes," she says with a simple nod and disappears through the door.

A lump forms in my throat, thinking about how alone I feel in this moment. As I sit on the edge of my hospital bed, I stare down at my phone, wondering if I should go ahead and have Ana pick me up. Scrolling through my contacts, I slowly search for Ana's contact number. Pressing the call button, I slowly raise the phone to my ear.

She answers on the second ring with a concerned, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Hey," I start to say, then hear a soft knock on the door as it slowly glides open.

Jax slowly enters the room with his hoodie pulled over his head, his feet shuffling beneath him.

Is he limping?

"I was meaning to call you, but," he says as he walks closer to the bed, holding his phone in front of him to reveal his phone completely shattered.

"Never mind, Ana. I'll see you soon," I say, ending the call abruptly.

Jax takes a seat next to me on the bed as he hands me his phone, still shielding his face deep in the hood of his jacket.

"What happened?" I ask with concern.

I take the phone from his hands to further inspect the intricate spiderwebs that have formed along his screen.

"Nothing I wouldn't do again," he replies, planting a soft kiss on my temple. "Are you ready to go?"

I take a deep breath as I stand from the bed, the pain being a lot more bearable than this morning.

"I think so," I say, holding my hand out to help Jax off the bed as he shifts his weight to the other leg.

What the hell happened?

"Your chariot, my lady," he says, bowing his head.

"Are you sure you don't need one of these?" I ask jokingly as I sit slowly on the plastic chair.

"I'll be just fine," he replies, unlocking the wheels and pushing through the door.

When we reach Jax's SUV, my heart suddenly slams against my chest at the mere thought of getting inside a car again. My breath catches as tears well in my eyes with my fight or flight begging me to choose flight. I take a deep breath, refusing to give in.

That was a freak accident, Allie. You are safe. You can do this.

Jax kneels on the side of my chair, grabs one of my hands, and squeezes it reassuringly.

"You got this, Al. I'm right here with you," he murmurs. "Take all the time you need."

His soothing words ground me, making me believe I have total control of this situation. He peers up at me through the brim of his hood. His eyes are a lot lighter today, resembling a powder blue that screams how tired he is.

Am I the reason he looks so tired?

Pushing the thought to the back of my mind, I brace myself against the wheelchair and stand from it with ease. Jax keeps hold of my hand as he extends his other arm to open the vehicle door. His eyes squint with a wince, trying to hide his own discomfort.

When Jax helps me secure my seatbelt, his gaze meets mine as my eyes naturally flick to his lips, instantly wanting his on mine... Wait.

"Is that a cut on your lip?" I ask, my thumb gliding along his bottom lip as he flinches slightly.

I carefully turn his face to the side and see a bruise forming just beneath the stubble of his jawline.

"What the hell happened?" I exclaim, panic surging through me as I instantly think he got into an accident.

I didn't get a view of the front of the car, but the back looked to be in pristine condition. What if he raced here because he couldn't call me, causing him to be in an accident? Is that why he's limping?

Tears well up in my eyes as I carefully take his face in my hands and murmur, "did you get into an accident?"

Jax's eyes widen as he slowly shakes his head, placing a hand over mine.

"No, I wasn't in an accident," he reassures. "There was a disagreement amongst the band."

"A disagreement ends with you having a black and blue jaw and a split lip?" I question.

Jax gives me a sly smirk as he meets my eyes and says, "you should see the other guy."

I swat at his shoulder playfully, giving him a serious look as I try to stifle a laugh.

"That's not funny, Jax," I say, a small smile sneaking across my lips.

He lets out a soft chuckle as he lays his head in my hand, "I know, I'm sorry. I'll be fine, promise."

Still feeling uneasy, I decide to drop the topic. The look on his face tells me it's not something he wants to relive right now, so it must have been a pretty bad fight. I have to remember what the band does has nothing to do with me, even if Jax and I are in this until the end. The band will always be his.

The car ride back to the Airbnb was as anxiety-filled as I had anticipated. Jax kept my mind at ease as much as he could, but every traffic light we encountered, I could feel my heart rate spike with sudden fear. Stepping out of the vehicle, Jax takes my hand in his as he guides me up the walkway, his soothing touch reassuring me.

He eases me inside the house with extreme caution as he helps lower me onto the couch as he leaves my side momentarily and returns with a plush blanket from the hallway cabinet. I chuckle to myself at how I don't have the heart to tell him I really am fine. I can't do any heavy lifting for the next few weeks, but the surgery really wasn't a big deal.

I stretch out on the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted from the ride home. As I am getting more comfortable, Jax settles at the other end of the couch and props my feet on his lap—exactly like the first night we fell asleep together. The memory is pulled to the front of my mind in an instant, making me smile uncontrollably. I pull the blanket up to the side of my face as I let out a small yawn and allow my eyes to close for a short nap.

When I finally open my eyes, I peer over the blanket to see Jax sitting in the same position with my feet nestled on his lap and a game controller in his hands. He looks so peaceful, his attention completely fixated on Call of Duty. He slowly reaches down and rubs my leg soothingly as his gaze meets mine.

"Hi there," he murmurs with a smile, causing butterflies to swarm in my stomach.

"Hey," I reply, carefully turning over onto my back. "When you get a second would you mind grabbing me a bottle of water?"

"Of course," he says, pausing his game and swiftly discarding his controller to the cushion beside him.

"Oh, I didn't mean right this second," I say, not wanting to interrupt his time to relax.

"That's okay. It'll still be here when I get back," he says, motioning to the screen.

He carefully moves my legs off of him and gently places them back down on the couch as he disappears into the kitchen. I look up at the TV to see that it's a game where he can't actually pause, and he's still dying left and right. Ruining his "kill streak," or whatever Trevor used to call it.

A few moments later, Jax strolls into the living room with a glass of ice water. He pulls the coffee table closer to the couch and hands me the glass as I sit up.

"You died a few times. I'm sorry," I say quietly.

"Why are you sorry?" he asks as he sits beside me, rubbing my leg once more.

I shrug while I say, "Trevor used to get upset if he had to put his controller down because it ruined some sort of 'kill streak.'"

He lets out a chuckle as he shakes his head, "it's just a game, love. Your needs are far more important than some virtual game."

Okay, when is it acceptable to marry this man?

"I think I just fell more in love," I joke, taking a sip of my water and placing it on a coaster.

With his gaze still fixed on me, he smiles sweetly and murmurs, "I think I fall more in love with you every day."

My eyes snap up to his, an unspoken understanding passing between us. I sit up from the couch, rotating myself to lay my head in Jax's lap as he moves the hair from my face.

"Why don't we get out of here?" he suggests. "We could go have a picnic at the park or get some dinner."

My smile grows from ear to ear as I say, "I would love that."

Jax took the liberty of packing an entire picnic basket we had found in the garage. He wouldn't show me what the contents were inside, saying he wanted it to be a surprise. I can't lie when I say that made me all the more excited for our final date before I have to return home.

As we pull into the parking lot for Sanders Pond, we exit the vehicle, breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass, and listen to a father playing frisbee with his two boys nearby on the grass. I walk to the back of the car to help Jax carry a few things as his eyes flick to mine, giving me that look that says, "don't you dare."

I plant my hand on my hip as I say, "I'm capable of carrying a few blankets Jax. Let me help."

He sighs in defeat as he hands over a checkered blanket.

"Okay, but don't overdo it," he pleads.

We pass through the entrance of the park, walking along the cobblestone path that crunches beneath our feet until Jax finds "the perfect spot." I unravel the blanket and fan it out, laying it smoothly along the blades of grass overlooking the water. Carefully, I lower myself onto the blanket as Jax sits on his knees in front of me, pulling out two champagne flutes and a bottle of Barefoot Rosé Champagne from within the basket as he pours it into our glasses a quarter of the way.

"I figured since you liked their brand of wine, you might like this, too," he says with a smirk.

I give him a sincere smile, leaning over the blanket to give him a soft kiss. He knows me so well.

"Thank you for this," I murmur, inches away from his lips.

"You're welcome," he says with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

I return to my seated position as I pick up my glass, taking a small sip, savoring the bubbly, fruity taste on my tongue.

Jax clears his throat as he shifts slightly, looking at me bashfully and says, "the other reason I wanted to bring you here today, was I have something I wanted to show you."

A sudden nervousness washes over me at the anticipation of what else he has up his sleeve.

Is he going to propose? If he did, would I say yes?

Shaking off the jitters as much as possible, I take a deep breath and give him a simple, "okay."

He smiles briefly as he stands from his seat, walks over and plants a kiss on my forehead before whispering, "don't move. I'll be right back," then saunters toward the car.

I swiftly take my cell phone out of my back pocket with shaky fingers, quickly sending Ana and Nora a group message.

Me: Jax took me out for a picnic and said he wanted to show me something and ran back to the car...

Almost instantly my phone dings with a response from Ana first.

Ana: Oh yeah? *smirk emoji*

I roll my eyes at her message as another notification appears from Nora.

Nora: OMG WHAT?!

After a few moments of me internally panicking, waiting for their next message to pop through, I see Jax jogging back toward me with his acoustic guitar in hand. I hastily lay my phone beside me on the blanket and smile up at him.

He returns the same enthusiastic smile as he sits cross-legged directly in front of me, and takes a deep breath.

"As you know, I've been in this band for nearly a decade. We've written songs about anarchy, people that piss us off, and how shit our exes are," he says and then smiles. "But the moment I met you, I haven't been able to write a single thing we're used to."

I swallow a hard lump in my throat, my eyes already watering. Jax extends his arm across the two of us, laying his hand on my calf as he rubs his thumb along it.

"Ever since I've met you, Allie, I know what those sappy love songs are about. I always thought they were just written in a mainstream way, to fit in. Until that's all that consumed my mind. I couldn't get these melodies out of my head until I wrote them down, and you were the first person I wanted to hear it."

My lip trembles as I give him a nod and say, "I'd love to listen."

His face lights up with pure joy, leaning his guitar against his knee and starts strumming a soothing melody. My eyes are fixated on his hands and the way they seem to move freely, as if he doesn't need to think about his finger placements along the neck of the guitar. As if he's played this same song for years on end.

As his lyrics break through my trance of being swept up into the melody, I didn't think I could become more captivated until he starts singing. His angelic voice carries a hint of gruffness, making me wonder why they've never played an acoustic show before. As the song continues, a single tear falls down my cheek as his strumming slows for the chorus.

"I don't know why,

I don't know how,

all I know is when I'm with you,

I don't think.

My thoughts swirl like a violent cycle, but with you,

I don't need to think."

As he finishes the song, I realize my cheeks are saturated with tears.

This was better than a proposal.

As I quickly wipe them away, Jax lays his guitar on the blanket beside him. I crawl across the blanket and sit across Jax's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I was thinking of calling it, 'Don't Think,'" he says softly, placing a kiss on my temple.

I sniffle against his chest, feeling like my world is crumbling at the fact I have to leave him tomorrow for God only knows how long.

"It's perfect," is all I can muster to say with a quavering voice.

He wraps his arms around me as we sit in the heart of a small park in Boston, Massachusetts. The place where I think I might have found my soulmate that I've been searching so long for. Who would have thought that I'd get the chance to fall in love with the person I thought I'd never meet?