AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, me, too,” I confess. I never thought I was going to see my family again. I was petrified of not getting to know Jaxson more, of exploring this thing between us. Never hearing Mama sing to me again.
“I don’t want you to leave, you know.” Pressing my body farther into his, his warmth seeps into me, making me sleepy again.
“Me either,” I murmur, the lull of comfort and safety allowing me to begin to drift off. I know that in his arms, nothing will happen to me. I appreciate that more than I thought possible.
Wrapping an arm under my neck, he eases my body closer to his. “Sleep. I’ve got you, sunshine.” And he proves it by not leaving my side until I’m awake again.
Chapter 7
Jax
“What do you mean he’s not in Russia?” I glare over at Scotlyn’s cousin Easton as he types away on his computer and pulls up video footage.
“A friend was able to get this from the Moscow airport. Sergei was not the one to get off that plane. It was a decoy. Which means he’s likely still in Baltimore and biding his time.” The man sounds half as frustrated as I feel.
“Find him, Easton,” Carver hisses from where he’s standing guard in the hallway leading to the room Scotlyn is sleeping in.
“I’m working on it,” he grits out before picking the laptop up and walking outside to sit on the deck, even though it hasn’t stopped raining in the two days they’ve been here.
“He works better in calm,” Saint supplies when I stare after the man.
“Jax.” My head swivels to stare at my dad. He nods his head to the side, indicating he wants a word alone. Following him out the back door, I gaze across the rear paddock where the horses usually graze. “Doesn’t Scotlyn have a roommate?” I forgot about that.
“Shit. Yes, Libby. They’re tight. They dance together at the theatre.” She’s quite the character.
“I think it might be time to bring the woman here. Just in case Sergei decides she might know where Scotlyn is.”
“You’re right. I’ll get Drew and Gun to go find her.” He’s already shaking his head at me. “What?”
“You and Saint should. She’s not going to trust two men who are not connected with her friend, and I want you to get your sister too. We don’t know if this man knows about you or not. She could be a target as well.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know who, if anyone, Scotlyn has talked to about me other than Libby. However, if Sergei got his hands on her, which is possible because the girls work for his theatre, then it’s entirely probable that he knew how to get ahold of Libby—who is not trained in the art of torture.
“On it, Dad.” Walking back inside, I look at Saint, and he’s immediately on edge. “Take a ride with me.”
Without question, he follows me out the front door. “Leaving?” Easton asks but doesn’t look up from what he’s doing.
“Got a couple girls to collect.”
“Don’t kill no one, Saint.” The man stops short as he’s about to walk off the porch and glares at his cousin. “Tell me the lie, man, tell me the lie.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Saint growls as he walks away, and I raise a brow at Easton when he finally lifts his head. Shrugging me off, he continues what he’s working on.
“Kill people often?” My question is casual, but I expect an answer. If I’m going to have these people around my girls, I need to know who they are.
“Not lately,” he grunts before getting in my truck.
I wait until we’re halfway to the city before I repeat his words back to him. “Not lately?” Saint is a quiet man, intense, filledwith scrutiny, and observant, so I know he understands exactly what I’m talking about.
“I don’t do it for the hell of it.” I wait because I'm sure he has more to say. Men like him often do, but they aren’t given the opportunity to. “Some people don’t deserve to live.” On that, we can agree. There have been plenty of times I’ve been tempted, but I’m not a killer. I wasn’t raised as one. Not like him.
Like Scotlyn.
I know who her family is. She assumes I don’t, but I knew their names as soon as she introduced them. Where they come from, and who they are. Half the country is afraid of them, and the other half actively avoids them.
“Sometimes I must do the things others won’t,” he further explains. “Scotty’s not like us, though. None of the girls are. They’re pure souls. Too good for the world we live in. And each of us will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.” I feel his eyes on me as we navigate the empty highway into Baltimore.
I don’t respond because I agree with him. I would do the same for her, for my own sister, for my twins. Nothing would prevent me from protecting them.
