Page 18 of Thrown Off Balance

“Exactly!” Huxley motions wildly to Killian.

“Well, how am I supposed to find my girl if I can’t go after anyone who likes money?” Jax frowns like this is the first time he’s ever really thought about this.

“You need to find someone who doesn’t care about the money. Someone who would like you even if you had nothing.” Huxley shrugs his shoulders.

“I know the perfect woman for you,” Tanner says with way too much amusement in his tone.

I know whatever comes out of his mouth next is going to push Jax’s buttons and Jax knows it too. He’s already narrowing his eyes on his friend and teammate.

“Oh, really? And who is the perfect woman for me?” Jax keeps his tone even and his gaze locked on Tanner, daring him to say it.

“Bella’s pretty fine and that woman is always all over you.” Tanner smirks like he just won, but he has no idea what he just started.

Jax and Bella have an interesting relationship and they always have. Where Jax is loud and outgoing, he seems like he’d be the perfect match for Emma. Bella on the other hand is calm and collected. She’s not a wall flower but she doesn’t feel the need to be the center of attention either. She’s happy being surrounded with a handful of friends and nothing more.

Jax has always been protective of her and I’ve wondered off and on if he has any sort of feelings towards Bella, but he’s never voiced anything to me.

That’s one of the difficult things about growing up on Mulberry Lane. We grew up acting like everyone is family. All of the men were our pseudo uncles and the women our pseudo aunts, their kids were like cousins to us. We weren’t actually related to any of them though.

The only people brave enough to try a relationship was Charlie and Wyatt, and we all saw how that turned out. Sure, they’re living their best life now, but it wasn’t always great. In fact, it was awful for a long time and made things tense and awkward for almost a decade.

I'm not sure anyone else is willing to risk something like that happening. It will be interesting to see if any of them try it as we get older. I know I'm not going to, but I’ve never seen any of the girls as more than family. I probably have Sloan to thank for that.

“Bella’s just a friend, Tanner,” Jax says softly. He gets unusually quiet and heads towards the showers. I frown as I watch him go. He’s never like this. What’s going on with him?

Tanner turns his attention to me. His mouth opens and closes several times, but nothing comes out.

“I don’t know,” I say before following Jax towards the showers.

“There’s my big sister!” I scoop Charlie into my arms and hold her tightly against my chest. She doesn’t try to get away from me, instead she enjoys the hug and squeezes me back.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” she murmurs.

“I know. I can’t wait for my house to be finished. Then we can get together a lot more often.”

“Or you could drive the twenty minutes to see us,” Wyatt mumbles under his breath.

“Man, I’d love to but it seems like our schedules never line up.” I release Charlie and hug Wyatt. He’s always been like a second brother to me and I was thrilled when he and Charlie finally figured things out. “You know how difficult it can be to just find an hour of free time and then when you take away the driving time each way, I’d get like fifteen minutes to actually see you.”

“I'm just messing with you. I get it to my core. During the season I feel like I barely see my little girl.” He frowns as he glances at Charlie. I'm sure he’s missing Carter.

Charlie and Wyatt are fantastic parents. They want Carter around all the time. They hate when she isn’t close by. I'm sure they’re especially thankful Owen has a daycare at the clubhouse and during baseball season she doesn’t need to be away from them.

“We have off this weekend. We’ll definitely be at family dinner. Dad’s trying to get us to stay in our childhood rooms for the entire weekend.” I chuckle.

Dad’s one of those people you wouldn’t expect to love their kids so much, but he’s always been so invested in us. He hates having an empty house now. I'm sure he tries to steal Carter away from Charlie and Wyatt as much as possible.

“Oh my gosh! You should! We can spend so much time together!” Charlie bounces on her toes and claps her hands in excitement. “Soph! Jax and Cody might spend the weekend at Mom and Dad’s!”

“What!” Sophia shrieks and pushes Pecker out of the way to get to me. “Really?” Her eyes quickly fill with tears and she throws herself into my arms.

“Hey, why are you getting all teary-eyed on me?” I kiss the top of her head and rub a hand up and down her back. I’ll always have a sweet spot for my sisters.

“Because I miss you!” She holds onto me even tighter and sniffles.

“Sweetheart, all you and Charlie have to do is tell us you need us. Jax and I will be there as soon as we possibly can.”

I eye Jax as he exits the locker room. He drops his bag on the ground and instantly wraps his arms around Sophia, turning her into a sandwich. She doesn’t even try to get away from him. In fact, after a few moments, she spins in my arms until she’s hugging Jax instead of me.