Loving the Fighter

33

Liam's POV

I half expected to see Jax all but seething as he paced around the cabin while trying to not wake up Ryder but what I saw was upon entre was much different.

Jax only sat there on his bed, his trey in his lap, staring directly in front of him.

"I don't think we've had a meal that peaceful since you got here," I joked as I sat down at the foot of Jax's bed and copied him.

"Sorry that you didn't get to have a big show but it didn't exactly feel the same without everyone there."

"Not saying that it was exactly a bad thing, just an observation," I said with a shrug of my shoulders as I look down at Jax's trey. I had been picking up on the fact that he didn't exactly eat most of the food on his plate and it looked like today would be no different.

I had noticed the first day he was here but decided it was best not to comment on it considering I was being an asshole and I knew it would only start a fight I knew I would loose. But now he's been here for a week and considering I think he's starting to loose a bit of weight I think it's time to say something about it.

"You know food only tends to help if you actually eat it," I say as I gesture down to his plate that currently had food pushed in every direction.

"I'm just not that hungry," he huffed out as he went to put the trey on the dresser.

"We're both smart enough to know that that was a lie. Especially considering you've barely had anything to eat since you've been here."

"You focus on other people way too much," Jax says with a smile and a shake of his head.

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"Why?" He asked, his eyes glaring at me. "So you just going to turn around and tell Andrew?"

"I would never tell him anything you didn't want me to."

"I can't believe you."

"Why not? You asked what Ryder's problem was and I didn't answer. What makes you think I wouldn't do the same for you?"

"Because Ryder is your boyfriend so of course you would protect him and I think you are actually required to tell a therapist if something is wrong with someone."

"Just because I'm required doesn't mean I'm going to. I don't care about Andrew, I care about the fact that it's only been a week and you're starting to loose weight. You may think you're hiding it well so far but Andrew has been with a lot of kids, he's going to pick up on it soon enough if you don't start eating more."

Jax made a face that I imagine a toddler would wear after eating something sour and turned back to look at his trey on the dresser. For a split second he looked as if he were about to pick it up and eat some more but something flashed in his mind and he changed his mind.

I force myself to hold in a sigh, knowing that would only make him clam up more, and thought about a better way to do this.

"I'm just trying to help you," I said quietly after a while which caught Jax's attention. "Ryder and Callum aren't stupid, they will notice soon enough too and while they wouldn't tell Andrew either they are going to be more persistent on fixing the problem.

"Callum told me that when Ryder refused to eat when he first got here that he went on a hunger strike with him. He said he didn't eat anything until Ryder did and they would do the same thing to you, and between the two of us Ryder can't stand to loose a pound or two."

"Then you stop them before it starts." He said with a bit of a glare before letting his eyes glide over to Callum and Ryder.

"Once they get started on something like that there is nothing I can do to stop them."

The both of us went quiet again. Jax was still looking over to Ryder with a look on his face that I couldn't read.

"My dad," he said in the smallest voice he could possibly make "use to say if you don't win you don't eat. There was a long strip of time where I had broken my arm and I couldn't fight. Apparently to him not fighting at all was the same as loosing. I picked a few bites out of his food before I did the dishes for the night but one night he saw me doing it and made sure I knew that wasn't allowed to happen again."

This was one of those rare moments where Jax wasn't a person to be feared.

His shoulders were hunched over, making him look a lot smaller than he actually was. His eyes stayed focused on the bed with a blank expression. His hands were clenching his knees hard, probably to keep them from shaking as much. To be honest he looked a few seconds away from breaking down entirely.

"I don't know," he said after a while, looking a lot more like the Jax I'm use to. He had managed to get the shaking to stop and he sat up straighter but without the glaring he just didn't look like Jax to me. "It just feels like that all over again. I've tried to get it out of my head but I can't."

"While I thing it would be a good idea, I'm not going to tell Andrew but I do want you to promise you will let me help."

He glared at the last sentence, that's when I knew I had him back.

"I don't need help."

"Clearly you do even if you don't want to admit it. I'm not saying I'm going to shove food down your throat three times a day, I'm just saying let me help you get more than three bites in per meal."

He still looked like he was on the fence but I could tell he was getting closer to caving. With one last glance over to Ryder I knew I had him.

"Fine," he sighed after a while. "But there are conditions." He said with a glare that said he was very serious about these. "They don't get to know anything," he said as gestured over to Ryder and Callum, "neither do Boyd and Kyle. Don't make it obvious that we're doing this or they will all ask questions. And when I say I'm done eating, then I'm done eating." The last condition was said with one of the worst glares I've ever seen him make but in order to leave the awkwardness about all of this I brush it off.

"I accept all of this. So, this is how we're going to do it."

This is the official announcement. The cover contest will be closed on Saturday the 12th at 11:59 pm Eastern time. The accepted covers will be posted in a chapter of this story on Sunday 13 when ever I get around to doing it.

Instructions on how to vote will be laid out in the chapter, please read the instructions!

Thank you to every one who has submitted a cover so far and to those who haven't yet, there is still time!

Thank you

- Emma Rose