Ride me Down

Chapter Nineteen - Seeds of Seduction

Jax didn’t say a word. He just grabbed her hand, firm and sure, and started leading her through the crowd. No resistance. No hesitation. That hand alone said everything.

Taylor, tipsy and glowing, stumbled after him with a giggle, her free hand lifting to wave at Dani, who just winked and mock-saluted before going back to her whiskey.

“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly, the leather of his jacket still wrapped snug around her shoulders.

Jax didn’t answer.

Didn’t need to.

Not with the look he gave her over his shoulder — low, heavy-lidded, and absolutely primal.

He pulled her down a quiet hallway, away from the pulsing music, past curious stares and a few knowing smirks. Her heels clicked on the floor, heartbeat thundering louder than the bass still rattling the walls behind them.

The door he opened wasn’t to his room.

It was the same storage room from the first time — the one with the lingering scent of sweat, wood, and bad decisions.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Before she could even spin to face him, her back was against it, her breath catching as his mouth hovered inches from hers.

“You think you can kiss someone else in front of me,” he rasped, “and I’ll just let it slide?”

Taylor smirked, drunk on heat more than the shots. “You let it happen.”

“I let you have your fun,” Jax corrected, his hand sliding up her thigh beneath the jacket, possessive and deliberate. “Now I’m reminding you who you belong to.”

“I don’t need reminding,” she whispered, pressing her hips into him. “I just like it when you prove it anyway.”

His groan was low and dark. That was all it took — his lips crashed into hers, raw and hungry. Her fingers curled in his shirt as he lifted her effortlessly, like her weight meant nothing, carrying her deeper into the room and laying her out across the nearest surface like a prized possession.

Taylor let herself fall back, legs still wrapped around him, laughing softly.

“You’re so dramatic when you’re jealous,” she teased, breathless.

Jax leaned down, nose brushing hers. “It’s not jealousy, baby. It’s ownership.”

And then there was no teasing left — just heat, and hands, and his body proving exactly what he meant with every rough, reverent move.

Her jacket slid from her shoulders.

Her moans echoed once again.

This time, she didn’t care who heard — because everyone in the compound already knew.

She belonged to Jax.

But tonight?

Tonight, he made sure they all remembered.

By the time Jax was finished with her, Taylor’s legs were jelly. Her body hummed, sated and exhausted, and every step felt like she was walking through warm honey.

She leaned heavily against the wall, trying to catch her breath, sweat still clinging to her skin. Jax, perfectly composed as ever, adjusted his shirt while watching her with a smirk that said he knew exactly what he’d done to her.

“Go say goodnight to your friend,” he murmured, brushing a knuckle over her cheek, “then you’re coming with me.”

Taylor blinked up at him, still dazed. “I can barely walk.”

“That’s fine.” He leaned closer, his lips brushing her ear. “I wasn’t planning on letting you.”

Still a little dizzy, she stumbled back into the party room, locating Dani who was mid-conversation and already raising an eyebrow like she’d been waiting for this moment.

“You good?” Dani asked, voice teasing.

Taylor nodded, her smile lazy and proud. “More than good.”

“You look like you got wrecked,” Dani added with a knowing smirk.

Taylor just grinned, tossing back, “Worth it.”

Jax was behind her the next second. He didn’t say anything to Dani, just gave her a brief nod before scooping Taylor into his arms like she weighed nothing at all. She gasped, her hands gripping his shoulders.

“Jax!”

“You’re done walking tonight,” he said gruffly, already carrying her through the corridor like he didn’t care who saw. “And I’m not finished with you.”

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. Her breath hitched.

“I thought that was you finished.”

Jax looked down at her, dark and dangerous. “You don’t get to decide that.”

The door to his room opened with a solid push. She barely caught sight of the bed before he was setting her down on it like a prize he wasn’t done admiring. His hands were already on her again — claiming, kneading, making her forget how to breathe all over again.

“Hope you said a real goodnight,” he murmured, dragging his mouth along her throat. “Because no one’s seeing you until I’m done.”

And from the way he looked at her — like she was the only thing in the world he needed right then — Taylor knew…

It was going to be a long night.

And she wanted every second of it.

He didn’t rush. That was the worst part—how slow and deliberate he was with her now. Like every second, every inch of skin, belonged to him and he wasn’t in a hurry to take what was his.

Jax towered over her, shirt discarded, his eyes scanning every inch of her like he needed to memorize it again. Like the party, the noise, the world outside that door no longer existed.

She lay back, hair wild against his pillows, her body warm and aching with anticipation. All she could do was hold on, fingers curled tight in the sheets, nails digging into the fabric as he hovered above her—dangerous and controlled and so devastatingly hers.

“You’re quiet,” he murmured, voice low and rough, his thumb brushing over her parted lips. “That won’t last long.”

It didn’t. Not when he kissed her with the kind of need that burned slow and deep. Not when his hands skimmed her thighs, her hips, making her gasp and arch into him. She clung to his shoulders, to his back, to anything she could find as he took his time undoing her all over again.

There was nothing soft about Jax—but with her, there was something reverent about the way he moved. Possessive, yes. Unrelenting. But reverent, like he understood the power she gave him every time she let herself fall apart in his arms.

Taylor breathed his name into the hollow of his throat, fingers tangled in his hair, body trembling from the intensity of it all.

She loved this. She loved him.

Every second he stole her breath, every time he drove her to the edge and pulled her right back down with him—she savored it.

She wasn’t thinking about the future, or what came next. Not about rules or secrets or threats.

Right now, in this room, tangled in his sheets and wrapped in his scent—

She was just his.

Completely.

And she never wanted this night to end.

The sun was already high when Taylor blinked her eyes open. The room was warm, the sheets tangled around her legs, the scent of Jax still heavy in the air. Her body ached in places she hadn’t known could ache, muscles exhausted from the night before.

He was gone—of course he was. Jax wasn’t the type to linger in bed while the world moved outside his window. She reached toward the other side of the bed anyway, half expecting to find him still there, even though she knew better.

Her body protested as she sat up slowly, her skin still humming from the way he’d claimed her, over and over again. There was a kind of soreness in her thighs and neck that she wore like a badge—one she wasn’t even remotely ashamed of.

She padded into the bathroom, wearing nothing but his T-shirt again, brushing through her wild hair and wiping the smudges of leftover eyeliner from beneath her eyes. She didn’t rush. For once, she allowed herself the luxury of moving slowly.

Eventually, dressed in one of her go-to soft knit dresses—something comfortable but still very her—she made her way downstairs.

The compound was quieter than last night’s chaos, but the smell of fresh coffee and something delicious baking filled the air. She followed it like a woman on a mission, walking barefoot across the cool floor.

The kitchen was warm and lived-in, the way it always seemed to be, and someone had already laid out brunch—biscuits, bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee. Praise be.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, cradling it between her hands as she leaned against the counter. Her body still carried the weight of the night before, but she felt good. Quietly pleased.

And if anyone asked why she was walking slower today?

She’d just tell them the truth:

Jax didn’t know the meaning of moderation.