Page 16 of Redeeming Violet

“I guess it’s one more thing I’ll never know.”

There was so much about my brother I’d never know, and all the information I had on him was superficial. All the wasted years. In some ways, I almost wished I’d never found out about him. The pain of knowing he was out there, out of my reach, broke my heart.

“I’ll let you get some rest.”

Jaxon moved toward the front of the plane and I took in my fill of his backside. Damn, he had a nice ass too. In a different time and place I would’ve liked to have gotten to know Jaxon Cain and his sculpted body better. Unfortunately for me, he was out of my reach as well.

Chapter Eight

Jaxon

“Oh good, lover boy is back,” Zane chuckled.

“Come again?”

“Not this again. Christ, all you fuckers think I fell off the turnip truck last week. Jasmin lit up like a kid on Christmas when Linc first walked in the conference room, remember that? She denied it, fought it, and pushed him away. In the end, he won. Panther, the big fucker threatened to quit and take Olivia on the run, all while denying how he felt about her. Abe saw it, he was there. He finally lost the battle and claimed her. Now, you’d think after seeing this play out two times before, you’d cut the shit and give in. Save yourself the trouble of bullshitting everyone around you.”

“Z, man, I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m not feeling any sort of way around her. She’s leak, and is going to jail,” I told him, reiterating something he already knew.

“Yeah, whatever. You keep telling yourself that. But if you threaten to quit on me when I use her as bait to flush out Ortega, I’m shooting your ass. Fair warning.”

“You’re doing what?” I seethed.

No fucking way was Violet being used as bait. If Manuel Ortega got his hands on Violet, he’d be in the wind, and Violet would be gone. Once she was trafficked we’d never find her, and if by some miracle we did, she’d never be the same.

“There it is,” Wolf laughed.

“Fucker!” I shook my head. We didn’t have time for Zane’s idea of humor.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think she knew about Declan prior to the interview. I also believe her about her reasons why she went along with the demands.” Abe stopped and put up his hand. “You all know how I feel about liars. I have no use for anyone who doesn’t speak the truth. But before we send her to the executioner, let me ask you something. Have you ever loved so deeply that you’d sell your soul if it meant the other person could live? I’m not excusing what Violet has done. I’m telling you, that while I wouldn’t’ve done the same, I can understand why she did. She was backed into a corner. She doesn’t have the training, the know-how, the resources, or the skills we have. We can play post-game quarterback and pick out all the flaws in her plays, or we can admit she was trained for flag football and was thrown in the NFL. I believe her when she says she had good intentions, and that goes a long way for me in this case.”

Holy fuck. It sounded a lot like Abe, the most candid and honest person I knew, was in some ways taking Violet’s side. I hadn’t thought of looking at her situation through her eyes. It was hard for me to see everything that had happened, as her, a woman, who had no training in the art of war. She’d been used and blackmailed. I couldn’t go as far as calling her a victim, but I was understanding why she’d gone along with Timothy.

“She saved my life,” Jasmin said.

We’d yet to debrief about what had happened back in the hotel room, other than Jasmin seeing two men strapped with AKs coming into the hotel. They’d kicked in the door and she’d easily taken them out. She hadn’t mentioned where the third one had come from or how Violet had been shot.

I could tell Jasmin was uncomfortable when she started fidgeting. She neither liked having to admit some asshole had almost gotten the drop on her, nor that it was Violet, someone she didn’t like, that saved her ass.

“After I dropped the two asswipes, I’d gone to check out the window to see how much attention we’d gained and out of the corner of my eye I see Violet creeping out of the bathroom. Before I could tell her to get her ass back in, she’s yelling my name and flying at me like a goddamned spider monkey. Fucking bullet flew by our heads. Swear to Christ I could feel the air move from the velocity. She knocked Penelope out of my hand when we hit the ground. I pulled around my AR to fire, and in all my years this has never happened, but I had a misfire. Before I could clear the bullet stuck in the chamber, the crazy bitch had already unloaded a full fifteen round magazine into asshole number three. I know at least one or two hit him; the other thirteen are a crap shoot - they were spraying all over the place.”

My respect for Violet had grown exponentially; that’s to say, I now had some for her. She’d saved Jasmin’s life, and in the eyes of the team that meant something. We owed her a debt of gratitude. To say I was shocked Violet would risk her life to save a woman that had made no secret of not liking her spoke volumes about her character. Maybe she was telling the truth about the reasons she’d helped Timothy.

“How’d she get hit?” I asked.

“I told you, she’s a crazy bitch. When we hit the ground, she rolled so she was in front of me. She took one to the arm and still grabbed Penelope. If she hadn’t, with my AR jammed, we both would’ve been dead before you guys could’ve made it into the room.”

“Well, fuck me running. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?” Zane looked irritated he now owed Violet.

“Hell if I know. If someone saved one of my guy’s lives, they’d be family,” Wolf said, only adding to Zane’s frustration. Then added, “Tex said he has some new intel. He wants to video in.”

Dude pressed some buttons on his already open laptop and soon Tex appeared on the screen.

“We got problems,” Tex announced.

“Tell us something we don’t know,” Cookie said.

“The national security kind of problems.”