“Will do,” I automatically grunt, liking the sound of it more than I should.
Jaxie places the keys into my hand and signs, “You lock up.”
I give her a tight nod and watch how she opens the back door to pet Benny.Macy demands the same attention.Seeing her give both dogs comfort while getting the same in return makes my chest tighten.
In all my life there hasn’t been a moment where I thought about the future along the lines of a woman, a family, settling down.Now?Watching Jaxie with our dogs?The forced proximity definitely makes me aware of what could be, and what I’ve been missing.
I shake my head at the way my mind keeps drifting in another direction than keeping her safe.Feelings, emotions...the kind of shit that shouldn’t interfere with an assignment.It’s also why I reached out to Murray when Elodie wanted to come live with Jaxie earlier than planned.
Locking the house, I stalk back to Jaxie and hold out the keys.“You should drive.I want to go over everything in the file.”
She eyes the keys.“I w-wanted to r-read it.”
“No way.The first page was enough to turn your skin as white as a damn sheet.I don’t want you to read the information first.It’s clear they killed your father for whatever information he had.They trashed your place in an effort to find it.Probably the one we saw in the woods a few days ago.Maybe he was a lookout, to make sure you weren’t anywhere near the house so they could go through it.”
“S-so y-you’re g-gonna k-keep me o-out of it?”she stutters.
Her stutter is clearly worse when she’s stressed.The glare she directs at me?She’s implicating I’m doing the same as her father; cutting her out of the business.
I try to soften my tone and step closer.“It doesn’t mean I don’t trust you, or won’t tell you shit, Jaxie.Let me read it first, and we’ll go from there, okay?Your safety comes first, and I’d rather have you informed instead of keeping you in the dark.”
Moving closer to her, she tilts her head back to stare at me.It would be so damn easy to lean in and capture her mouth with mine.Jaxie licks her lips, as if she’s thinking the same thing.
“S-so, I’m y-your girl,” she breathes.
Not a question, a repeat of what Orson mentioned.This right here is the moment to put a stop to things burning between us or embrace something that for sure as shit will change everything.
Her lips part and my heart skips a beat when her pupils dilate.She’s just as affected as I am.Neither of us might know where this is going, but at least we’re on the same page when it comes to wanting one another.
“You’re mine,” I gruffly tell her, and take her lips to make sure she feels I’m not simply throwing some words at her.
She moans and I swallow it down, swirling her tongue against mine.Fuck.Jaxie has the ability to light up my whole body.She already made me come in my damn pants once today.
Regretfully, I end the kiss and murmur, “Let’s go back to your cabin.I don’t like having you here out in the open.”
Jaxie takes the keys and rounds the vehicle to get behind the wheel.I pet both dogs and grab the file beneath their blanket before shutting the door and getting into the front seat.It’s a long drive to the cabin and it allows me to go through everything Dax collected.
There are medical files, crime scene pictures, handwritten notes, documents.The names highlighted catch my attention.Hate fuels my veins and makes my damn leg throb.I get to the last piece of paper, and it’s clear it’s the very thing kickstarting Dax’s research.
Swallowing hard, I try to push away the memories flooding my brain from six months ago.The argument I had with Nolan.The fucker walking away from his assignment as Dax’s assigned driver and leaving me to take his place.Dax’s distress call about Jaxie’s panic attack.He needed me to take over his meeting and cancel the rest of his appointments for the day.
Nothing out of the ordinary, it happened once or twice a month.I was his right hand.Was.Until I got in that car instead of Nolan, without Dax.Fuck.Back then we assumed it was a random accident.A truck plowing into the car.I barely got out and then the explosion hit.They say the gas tank blew, knocking me straight into a pole, my leg getting the brunt of the impact.
I stare down at the file in my hand.The handwritten notes scribbled on the layout of the scene of the accident that’s edged into my mind releases an icy chill up my spine.Dax secretly had the car investigated a few weeks ago.Traces of Semtex, a plastic explosive, were found.He researched the truck driver who caused it.Fucker died two days after the accident, a broken neck from a fall down the stairs.
Motherfucker.That’s the exact way Dax died.
While my anger is focused on me, the accident being the first attempt to kill Dax, I have to push it aside to see the bigger picture.Medical files of Nolan, a blood test proving...fuck.
“E-everything okay?”Jaxie asks.“Y-you don’t look g-good.”
I snort and rub a hand over my face.“No.I don’t think shit will be okay for a long damn time.”
“I-it was Burk,” Jaxie states, keeping her eyes on the road in front of us.
She must have gotten a good look at the first few documents inside the file.“I think he was the one who planned everything, yes.Though, the one doing the actual killing and cleanup?”
Jaxie cuts me off by stating, “N-Nolan.”
