Page 25 of Purgatory (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #1)

Hawk

“Oh my God, I’m back agaaaainn- ah.” I do a little dance as I turn off the water to the shower.

"Everybody" by Backstreet Boys is blasting from my headphones, which is connected to this sweet battery powered CD player we found.

I could always just use the iPod I have but, number one?

Gotta charge it. Such a pain in the ass.

Number two? Even though this house is completely self-electrified with the solar panels and all other knick-knacks and paddywacks Jax has powering this biotch, sometimes nostalgia is just worth it.

I leave the shower and strut into my bedroom in search of some sweatpants. Grey ones... ‘cause duh.

Am I original? Damn straight.

Am I the only one for Aly? I fucking hope so.

But after I saw how Cole responded to her when she first woke up?

And how she had that spicy as fuck dream?

Oh yes, Doc… give it to me! Eh... probably not.

But if I have to fight Cole for her affection, then I guess that’s ok.

Cole’s a decent guy and if I can see myself in some sort of menage situation, I could imagine worse possibilities than Doc.

Am I sexier than a Marine in silky PT shorts? Fuck yeah! Bringing sexy back all up in this bitch... wait... that’s... whatever... moving on!

I do a little turn before I dig into my top drawer, find some grey sweatpants and put them on.

Damn, I am feeling great. I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this good.

And the only thing I can attribute that to is Aly.

Alessandra? No. We kissed. I can give her a nickname. Pet name too. It's in the rules.

Aly. Gah, she is just full of surprises.

And her smile? She’d give Helen of Troy a run for her money.

Of course, I’ve never met Helen, but it wouldn’t matter, Aly beats her, hands down.

She is just beautiful, inside and out. And she doesn’t even realize it.

Just thinking back to the lake and holding her in my arms. The feel of her soft body pressed tightly to mine and the touch of her lips as we kissed.

I can still feel it. Burning into me and lighting up my soul like fireworks.

And not the cheap little roman candle waste of money ones.

More like the big BOOM BOOM BANG KACHOW ones. All kinds of glittery awesomeness.

I head out of my room and weightlessly glide down the stairs to the kitchen where Jax is. He’s at the island whipping up some salad. I turn towards the counter, grabbing a cup of coffee from the pot and sighing to myself at the taste.

“Mmmm, that’s some good, spicy bean juice.”

Jax looks my way, suddenly abandoning the cutting board to pin me with an inquisitive stare. “What the fuck did you just say?”

I take another sip, exaggerating the moan of contentment after I swallow. “I said... that’s some good, spicy bean juice.” I say it with an obnoxious, over the top Italian accent complete with the hand motions.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He looks to me and then to the cup.

“Ugh.” I point to the cup. “This is spicy bean juice.”

“Uh... no, that’s coffee in your cup. Your concussions are starting to show, bro.” Jax says playfully. I laugh and put my hands out, gesturing in my explanation.

“Ok. Ok. Ok. Hear me out. Coffee... comes from beans.” I say it like it’s an epiphany and Jax just stands there waiting for the punch line with a stone-face look about him. When he doesn’t say anything, I continue .

“And.... it’s hot... as in spicy....” He still isn’t getting it.

“Coffee is from beans that steep in water making it bean juice and it’s hot therefore it’s spicy bean juice...”

He stares at me a few seconds longer. I think the gerbils in his head died cause his brain doesn’t seem like it’s working right now. Just then, his eye ticks and he throws his arms up in frustration.

“That’s the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard! And I once had a guy tell me that pebbles are just baby boulders! Where in the fuck do you get this shit?!” He shakes his head and laughs. I know my shenanigans can be ridiculous at the best of times but this is one hill I will die on.

Coffee= spicy bean juice.

“Hey, not everyone is as bright as I am. Don’t worry, I’m sure you have some qualifying attributes to bring to the table too.” I coax him.

“What table?” He looks around. “Who, the fuck, is going to agree with that bullshit?” He says laughingly before returning to his task of cutting up vegetables.

“Easy. The woman of my dreams, of course.” I give him a smile and tilt my head.

I might still be riding the high of being with Aly today but the notion of possibility is front and center in my brain and I am loving it.

Hope and possibility and a fucking future to look forward to, rather than this steady, monotonous bullshit we’re finding ourselves in lately.

It’s like we’re stuck walking on a treadmill with no end in sight.

Always moving but never getting anywhere.

Shit’s frustrating as hell but after my time with Aly it seems like I’m finally able to jump off the treadmill I’ve been stuck on and run a course I choose for once.

Now that’s a liberating thought and it feels fucking good .

Jax shakes his head at my declaration. “Yea, ok. ”

“You’ll see.”

I toss my ass up onto the counter just to fuck with him. He hates when people mess up his space while he’s at it.

“So, what's cookin’ good lookin’?”

He stops cutting cucumbers and lifts an eyebrow in my direction. Turning the knife over and pointing that and his other hand at the cutting board, he gives a “Seriously? What does it look like” look. It makes me laugh.

“Ok, Ok, anything I can help with?”

He turns and scans the room, nodding towards the cupboards.

“Yea, go ahead and set the table, everything will be done in a few minutes. Dinner plates and salad bowls for this.” Pointing to the veggies in front of him.

I make my way over to the side of the kitchen, sneaking a peak at dinner.

Fuck me , I think. I still can’t get over how big the fish, Aly caught, is.

Plus, it smells amazing. Jax is a damn wizard in the kitchen.

We might be limited on food choices these days but, damn, his cooking doesn’t show that at all.

Just then Cole and Aly walk in from the back door.

“We’ve got more apples!” Cole says, lifting the bushel and planting it on the countertop, accidentally knocking over the salt and pepper.

Jax gives him a mild stink eye before moving him aside to grab some salt to throw over his shoulder.

The guy’s superstitious like that and I crack a smile when Cole doesn’t even realize what he did until Jax speaks up.

Or maybe he did and he’s just fucking with him too. Fun times.

“Stop fucking up my shit, ya dink, and get your ass in the bathroom to clean up. Dinner’s ready.” Jax huffs before turning back to the stove.

Cole turns to Aly, giving her a wink before looking back in Jax’s direction.

“Yes, daddy!!!” Cole says sarcastically, sticking his tongue out to him before turning and bounding for the stairs before Jax can catch up to him.

Cole is quick and agile and makes it to the stairs first, bounding up them before Jax even makes it to the other side of the island.

“Keep it up, fucker! I’ll superglue your ass cheeks together while you sleep!

” Jax turns back around, shaking his head and grinning.

Definitely fun times today. I look to Aly but she doesn’t seem to know how to react to Jax and Cole’s antics, putting a lid on her emotions.

Normally, around other people, Jax is as stoic as they come so she probably hasn’t seen this side of him like we do.

I watch her as she takes in the atmosphere in the kitchen.

She smiles, appropriately, but then slowly moves to the sink, washes up, and takes a few muted, deep breaths while doing so.

Her timidness seems to be directed at Jax which makes sense.

The guy is an enigma on the best of days so I can understand her reluctance towards him and his rickety personality.

She seems to get her confidence under her, though.

Pushing her shoulders back and lifting her chin, she moves up to Jax and points towards the salad bowl.

“Should I bring this over to the table?” He just grunts a response and nods once before walking in the opposite direction, essentially dismissing her.

The prick. I love him but the asshole needs to loosen up a bit.

Aly’s not going to do anything to fuck with him or anything he’s got going on.

We all know this. What could she possibly do?

Mess with the shampoo: conditioner ratio in the house?

I mean, her hair is long as hell so, fuck, she might.

But, big whoop, who the hell cares about that?

So, what’s his deal, then? Reluctantly, she takes the bowl and walks away to the table.

A second later, Cole comes flying back down the stairs, glides past me, practically skipping to the table, and sits down with Aly. I gather some dishes and silverware and make my way over to them as Jax files in behind me with the cast iron skillet.

Over the next hour we sit and talk about the day, eating the bomb ass food, and retelling stories from our tours overseas and during basic training.

Laughter fills the house from our reminiscence.

Including Jax who loosens up just enough to lose the stick up his ass.

Aly joins in a couple of times with her own stories but it seems that she’s just happy to listen to our bullshit.

“Oh my God, I almost forgot!” Aly bounces to her feet, running upstairs for a minute then comes bounding back down like an excited, little rabbit holding her bag. She stands in front of us and whips out what made her so excited.