“Do you trust me?” He demanded; his dark eyes pulsed withenergy as he stared directly at her.
"Yes, but…" She knew he would keep her safe, butshe didn't want to take any chances, not when they could just go home.
His calloused thumbs swiped gently under her eyes, wipingaway tears she didn't even realize had fallen. Leaning down further, Jax'sforehead nearly touched hers as she stared at him with held breath. There was anote of edged steel settling into place in his gaze that caught her attention.
"If Gary ever sets one foot in this area code, lookingfor you," his deep voice was just above a whisper, but it held no less ofan impact at his next words. "I will kill him, sweetheart, simple asthat."
His lips pressing against her forehead felt like a seal ofan oath sending tremors through her body. Holding her breath, Alessia couldn'tmove— didn't want to move—as he continued his lethal vow.
“I will bury him so deep in my woods, baby, even I’ll have ahard time finding him.”
She was leaning heavily against him by now, his wordsabsorbing the strength from her legs. Every word was a dark, beautiful promisethat she could clearly see Jax meant to keep. No one had ever made her feelthis way. Not sure what to say, she nodded awkwardly between his hands.
“Good, just stand here,” letting go of her face, Jax lookedbehind him towards the rest of the store. “I will go up front and confirm thatit’s Steve. Stand here. Do not run,” he ordered.
She did not want to let him go, but she forced herself torelease her grip on his jacket. Watching him walk away, Alessia continued tohold her breath in fear. She knew she needed to calm down. Even if Gary washere, what could he do? He couldn't drag her back in front of witnesses,especially not with Jax around and certainly not on a motorcycle. Jax'sdangerous words still hung in the air of the small hallway, and though theyshould have scared her—they didn't.
The sight of Jax walking back down the hallway allowed herto release the breath she was holding.
Holding up his phone for her to see, he pinched the screento zoom in. “See, that’s just Steve doing nothing useful at eleven in themorning, loitering in front of Rick’s bar.”
Alessia bit her lip as she examined every detail of thesmiling man in the photo— a man that clearly wasn’t Gary.
Nodding, she shifted on her feet. Now she just felt foolish.“I feel stupid,” she murmured under her breath, too ashamed to look at Jax.
“Don’t,” he tipped up her chin and gave her an understandingsmile. “Anyone would’ve reacted the same way.”
Alessia didn't say anything as she stared at a spot on theancient linoleum floor.
"Come on, if we don't get back soon, Whiskers is goingto cry," Jax coaxed, his hand sliding to the small of her back inreassurance.
That did make her lift her head, but she still couldn’t forgetthe scene she made out there.
“Can’t I just write down my list and have the keys to thetruck so I can go melt into the seat in embarrassment?” She moaned.
Laughing, he threw his arm over her shoulders and steeredher down the hall. “Let me show you some one-of-a-kind mountain man magic.”
*~
It really was like magic, no one said or did anything asthey continued shopping. At the checkout, Alessia couldn't help but eye theolder lady closely as she rung up their items. The woman's smile was just a bittoo bright just as her conversation was a little too run-of-the-mill, coveringeverything from the weather to informing them about the upcoming winterfestival the town was hosting. Any embarrassment she might have felt wasreplaced with stunned curiosity at the woman's behavior. When they got back inthe vehicle, Alessia asked Jax if he had said anything to the woman when hewent up to check out the window for Gary.
“Nope, didn’t say a thing,” he gave her a mischievous smirkthat only came off even more devilish with his thick arched eyebrows. “I toldyou it’s magic.”
After some prodding, Jax finally admitted that most of thetownspeople were afraid of him.
He shrugged. “I stopped trying to understand why.”
“And you have done nothing to correct it either, right?” Sheadded knowing full well the irascible hermit probably counted on his severeface and off-putting personality to keep people at bay.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he mumbled.
Although Alessia was sure it was all by design, somehow, Jaxhad kept her mind temporarily off the events of the store. Bickering andchatting the entire drive back, for a while, Alessia forgot the weight of herworries.
After putting away the food and supplies, Alessia sat downon the floor in front of the sofa and pulled out Whiskers' new jingle ball toplay with. Soft little paws bounced and leaped from one of her legs to theother chasing the soft jingling ball as Alessia stared past the grate of thewood heater. Creeping in slowly but steadily, the thoughts she tried to runfrom came back. When she saw that man through the window, it felt that herreality had shattered. He looked so much like Gary. It angered her to think ofhow she reacted. She should've known it wasn't him, how could he find her inthe middle of nowhere? Now it felt like she opened something inside of herselfshe couldn't quite close again. Horrible memories wouldn't stop replayingthemselves in her head. Living here in the forest with Jax felt like she wasliving in a secret lost paradise and now her thoughts threatened to taint thisworld.
Leaning to the side, she let her head rest on the cushion ofthe couch behind her as she closed her eyes and tried to push thoughts of Garyout of her head. With feathery light steps, she felt the gentle weight of thekitten crawl on to her lap. Letting out a demanding meow, Alessia obliged,softly scratching the needy kitten behind the ears. Silently, they stared ateach other in a battle of wills. Large crystal gray eyes blinked slowly, eachtime narrowing just a little more beckoning hers to mimic.
Jax didn’t need to look over the back of the couch to knowAlessia had fallen asleep. The happy jingle of the kitten's new ball hadstopped and the room had grown quiet. Staring past the data of his solar usageon his laptop screen, Jax leaned back in the kitchen chair with a heavy sigh.He couldn't get his thoughts from Alessia's panicked fear from earlier. On theway home, Jax could see her trying to move past the incident as she laughed andjoked with him, but the shadow was there in her eyes. Ignoring what happenedwasn't going to work. Getting up from the chair, he walked over to the frontwindows, needing to expend some of the restless energy running through him ashe thought about Alessia’s panic attack. The more he thought about it, the moreit angered him. This Gary asshole didn’t just scare her or threaten her. Thefear Jax witnessed was something else, this was a breakneck fear that sent asmart, composed young woman into a terrified state. Clenching his fist againstthe window’s sill, Jax watched as the sky faded into a bright orange color. No,Gary had done something more, and that fact felt like a blade to the gut.
