Chapter 19: Forming an Alliance

**Jax**

"Jax?" Abby whispered.

"Hey, in here." I peeked out of the small pool house, then stepped aside so she could enter. Glancing around to make sure no one had followed her, and satisfied no one had, I closed the door.

"What's with the secret meeting?" she asked around a yawn.

"For starters, I wanted to ask how you're doing." I stood in front of the door, arms crossed. Despite needing a favor from her, I was concerned with the toll all of this was taking on her. Things hadn't exactly been easy since we'd arrived home.

Her eyebrows shot up. "You did not force me to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night just to ask how I'm doing." She mimicked my stance and crossed her arms.

"No, of course not. Just figured that was a good place to start this conversation."