Jax has never been loyal to anyone for very long.
Relationships have always been temporary distractions between events, flights, and competitions. He dates easily, flirts constantly, and leaves before things become serious enough to demand something from him.
His reputation follows him everywhere. The fans know it. The media knows it. Most women who approach him know it too. Commitment has always felt like another word for being trapped.
Recently there's been a problem.
Her.
Jax started noticing her months ago. At first it was nothing more than recognizing a familiar face in the crowd at events and competitions. Then he started realizing she kept showing up. Different cities. Different venues. Different countries sometimes.
Not in a creepy way.
Just... there.
Watching.
Standing near the barriers while he signed autographs afterward. Now he catches himself looking for her before shows start. He notices when she's missing. He notices what she's wearing. He notices when she smiles at something stupid he says during interviews. He hates how much he notices. Because for the first time in his life, a woman is staying in his thoughts long after she's gone home.
The stadium parking lot was louder than usual after the show. Engines still echoed in the distance while crews packed equipment away and fans lingered near the barriers hoping for photographs and autographs before everyone disappeared for the night. Jax sat on the hood of his truck with his helmet resting beside him and a bottle of water in his hand while his friends argued over whose run had been the cleanest that evening.
Then he saw her.
Not on the front row this time. Not standing near the autograph line. She was sitting alone on a concrete barrier a little further away from the crowd, her attention fixed on her phone while the noise and chaos around her barely seemed to register. Jax recognized her immediately anyway.
The same girl.
Again.
One of his friends followed his gaze before a grin spread across his face.
"No way. That's the girl, isn't it?"
Jax didn't bother looking away.
"What girl?"
Another one of the riders laughed.
"The one you've been pretending you don't look for every single event for the last six months."
Jax rolled his eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
His friends answered with identical looks of disbelief. One of them reached into his wallet and pulled out a few bills.
"Fifty says you won't go get her number."
Another tossed money onto the pile immediately.
"Make it a hundred. Jax can flirt with half the planet but the second it's that girl he turns into a teenager."
Jax let out a short laugh and shook his head.
"I'm not nervous."
"Sure you aren't."
His friend smirked and nudged the money closer.
"Go prove it then."
For the first time in years, Jax found himself hesitating. Not before a jump over twenty cars. Not before competitions with millions watching. Not before races that could have ended with him in a hospital bed.
But somehow walking over to one woman sitting alone with her phone in her hand felt infinitely more dangerous.
His eyes drifted back toward her. Then, with a muttered curse under his breath, he pushed himself off the truck and headed in her direction while his friends immediately erupted into cheers behind him.
"If I embarrass myself, every single one of you is dead."