[Back to present]

Jax stared down at his forearm and quietly counted the fresh purple bite marks.

He was currently wearing about six or seven permanent wristwatches, courtesy of his very angry girlfriend. He had struggled for what felt like an eternity trying to convince the violent kitten to just take a simple walk with him.

Instead of a normal conversation, he received several deadly scratch attacks and a series of feral hisses.

Jax had barely managed to survive the harrowing ordeal, but he had successfully dragged Astrid all the way to the exact location he wanted for the night.

The absolute second he let go of her wrist, she immediately spun around and aggressively folded her arms. She refused to even look at him, pouting like a grumpy toddler before snapping at him.

"Whatever dumb tricks you are trying to pull tonight are definitely not going to work. I said I hate you, and there is no fixing what you did and all the things you hid. And honestly, I really just want to punch you so hard for being such a giant pervert."

While Astrid was still busy refusing to look at him, she finally started analysing their immediate surroundings. Her angry expression faltered the moment she realized they were standing in the exact same spot where they had first confessed their true feelings to each other.

A brilliantly bright moon illuminated the sky and bathed the entire area in a soft glow that felt like the heavens themselves were quietly smiling down on them again.

Jax spoke softly, his voice losing every trace of his usual cocky edge. "I already told you a hundred times that I am genuinely sorry for all the stupid things I did. If punching me is the only way to fix this, then please go ahead. I will happily take as many punches as you can throw until you are finally satisfied."

Astrid did not look back at him.

Jax tried again. "Please just tell me what you want from me. Do you want to punch me, or violently beat me, or officially enslave me. I am entirely willing to do whatever you say, just to make sure I get my Astrid back. The one who used to hate me in her own way."

Saying so Jax instantly realized something was not looking very good. He could tell from the slight twitch on the side of her face that she was deeply thinking about something. And a thinking and dreaming Astrid was easily the most dangerous and chaotic thing in the entire world.

And to entirely confirm that Jax was completely screwed, she finally turned around to face him. Astrid looked at him with an uncomfortably wide evil grin and immediately started to close the distance between them.

Jax swallowed hard as a cold sweat broke across his back. ’Shit. Did I really just set my own trap and jump right into it. Why does it feel like my entire existence is suddenly doomed. Do not tell me she is genuinely going to bring out a binding slave contract. Or demand something even worse.’

While Jax was mentally writing his own will, Astrid grabbed his full attention. She looked him dead in the eye and spoke with absolute authority. "Do not even try to walk back those exact words."

Out of all the life threatening situations Jax had ever faced in his entire life, this was easily the most terrifying moment.

He was so completely stunned by her sudden villainous aura that he lost the simple courage to reply with a yes ma’am.

Astrid let out a tiny sigh and took complete control of the situation. She stepped right into his personal space and began neatly adjusting his shirt collar. "Do not look so incredibly scared, because I promise I will not bite you again."

She immediately stopped fixing his shirt and blinked in sudden realization. "Oops. Wait. I really cannot promise that one."

Jax stared deeply into her soul with an incredibly suspicious gaze.

But then Astrid finally moved past him, sat down on the outdoor cafe bench and looked deeply at the silver moon hanging above them. Her voice dropped into something quieter.

"You do not know how much of a terrifying mess you created for my head for a whole week now. It felt exactly like losing a race which I was entirely certain of winning."

She let out a small breath. "But it is fine now because I will absolutely rig this race as well. Just like I have been doing since childhood. I am going to play so much dirtier than that bitch."

Jax instantly realized the exact fiery direction her thoughts were going. And he immediately knelt down on the cold ground in front of her. He gently started taking off her sandal and looked up at her with absolute unwavering adoration.

"You are completely crazy if you ever thought you were actually losing. You do not need to fight or play dirty, because you own the entire race track. You own the finish line. And you entirely own my soul."

His voice softened further. "No one could ever dream of taking my eyes off you. Because you are the finish line I will ever run towards in this lifetime."

A bright red blush completely swallowed the face of Astrid as she stared down at Jax doing something her brain simply could not figure out fast enough.

After his romantic words finally registered in her mind, she narrowed her eyes. "Do not you dare try to butter me up right now, because if you genuinely thought about it, you would have abandoned all those other girls and only focused on me."

She crossed her arms and tried to cutely mimic his exact tone with absolute annoyance radiating off her beautiful face. "Oh, I just cannot do that because I love them too, and I promised those ladies, since I am the biggest piece of garbage and a total pervert who gets hopelessly attracted to any lady who tries to charm me."

Astrid let out a small huff and continued.

"Well, whatever happens, I really do not care anymore. Because starting tonight, I will ruthlessly climb a certain ranking and make you clearly realize what happens when you try to make me this angry."

Her cheeks were still warm from the blush, but she powered through it. "But that taking over can wait until you finally explain why you brought me here, and—"

Her eyes finally dropped down to actually register what was happening at her feet. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO ME YOU PERVERT!"

She swung a rapid slap directly at Jax which he perfectly dodged just in time.

Astrid had completely lost her mind and gone red. Her blushing mode was officially turned on, because Jax was currently sitting on his knees in front of her, tenderly brushing the tiny specks of dust from the bare soles of her feet.

He looked exactly like a crazed cultist worshipping a divine goddess or simply a shameless pervert finally living out his wildest foot fetish dreams.

-x-X-x-

[A/N: Ordici_T, stupid_squad, DaoistMktAy4, Christopher_Cluts and Outsxder sliding in with the golden tickets, thank you guys 🙏🔥

(👍🏻ᴗ _ᴗ)👍🏻]