Jax had no clue what she was talking about. He figured it didn’t matter much. He pulled his arm from off her shoulder and took each of his hands to hold her wrists. She wasn’t going to rip that beautiful skin of hers in front of him. He pressed her arms into her lap.

“Broken?” he snicker slightly, “Damn, you are the most interesting exciting hot mess I have ever seen.” He turned his head so he could really look at her eyes and he kept her hands still in her lap. “And have you looked around lately? The whole fucking ship is a pile of broken pieces. Think there might be a reason we all ended up there. Cause each of us stumbled in only part of what we were or should be.”

Jax stopped not sure any of that mattered so much. “Whatever it is whoever it was. Fuck ‘em. You did win. You are a smart talented woman in a place you have no right to be only because you got more balls than all of us wimps piled together.” Did he say that right? Well, too late to worry about that. He thought about trying to back step and maybe softening that, but, hell, he was broken too. 

He did think about how just yesterday he entertained ideas of getting the curse of the woman, both of them. off the ship. Now he spun completely around and he wanted them there? This broken shit was catching. But he did want her there. She was a good first mate even if she fucked him up a bit. He wanted her there.

“Listen,” He took a breath, “I have sailed on too many ships. I jump one to the next because I can and I get tired of the ones that don’t work well for all different reason. I am broken. But this one sails like a baby because the workings are good. That’s you. That’s the Captain. You two ride the waters better than most. You are not broken as a first mate. You’re damn good. He didn't win nothing.” Well, of course Jax had no idea if that was true but this was a pep talk and truth hardly mattered. No, that was wrong, it did. Yet Jax was pretty sure whoever, whatever, didn't win shit.

He paused and let the pressure on her wrist slighten a bit. “And you dress up real fine.” He smiled with a small chuckle, “Dance good too. Broken? Fuck, give us broken over those dressed up dogs in heat any day.”