Loving the Fighter

65

Jax POV

Dinner was more tolerable than normal. Boyd sat with us, Kyle wasn't glaring at me, and I didn't have to worry about keeping my cool with Abbott tomorrow.

"All I'm saying is if they want us to eat, they should give us food that's worth eating," Ryder says as he plays with the food on his trey while I practically mimic his behavior.

"I agree," I mumbled while trying to choke down a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"Yep," Boyd hummed as he pushed his trey away.

"You have to eat something," Callum said to no one in particular. "All of you," he clarified after a while of Boyd not even snacking on anything, but he was mainly looking at me.

The three of us frown and I could feel the tension rolling off Liam.

I almost didn't notice when someone sat down beside Boyd with a glare on his face.

"I thought we talked about this," he said in a seething whisper. I couldn't help but glare back at him. It took me a second to realize that it was Boyd's roommate with the scar over his eye.

"No you talked about it," Boyd all but snapped back. "I had to sit there and listen."

"Is there a problem?" Callum asked in his cheery as usual voice with his usual smile.

"Not with you if that's what you're asking," the roommate said back as he moved his gaze over to Callum.

"You said I could sit over here without you," Boyd mumbled as he pulled his trey back to him.

"I said you could sit here if you actually ate while you were here. You barely ate anything."

Boyd huffed as he looked back at us.

"This is Dylan," he said while gesturing to his roommate. "And this is Jax, Callum, Liam, and Ryder."

"I remember Jax just fine," he said with a small scowl. Liam glanced over at me for a split second to gauge my reaction but for once, I didn't care. Seeing that I wasn't going to start anything with him today, Dylan went back to lecturing Boyd.

"Half of the roll, most of the peas, and at least a third of what ever meat that it," his tone left no room for argument ad judging by the way Liam looked at me, I was supposed to have the same amount as Boyd.

"Or I could shove this fork up your ass," Boyd said as he lifted up the fork and glared. I expected for this to be the time where Dylan got upset but he only smirked, making all color drain from Boyd's face. "Don't you dare say it," he grumbled as he turned back to his food.

The rest of dinner passed smoothly after that and eventually the four of us went back to our cabin.

The second we walked in the cabin my hands were on Ryder as I dragged him to my bed. Ryder tensed for a second before relaxing as we lay down. His head used my chest as a pillow while I stared up at the celling. His leg was slung over my waist and I didn't love it but I didn't make him move.

Liam and Callum mimicked us in Liam's bed and for a while that's all we did. No one talked, no movies played in the background, it was just us sitting there and I have to be honest, I didn't hate it.

I was nearly asleep when Liam spoke up.

"Do you think it's late enough?" he asked Callum. I wasn't really listening to them but Ryder lifted his head to see what they were talking about.

"Probably but we'll have to be quiet. If Jax is even awake."

I felt Ryder look up at me, clearly seeing I didn't look awake.