Thirty
Axel
“Are you okay?”I askedagain, staring at Charlie.
Her eyes were wide, her body unmoving as her feet stayed planted in the pantry.I gently squeezed her arms, getting her attention as she blinked rapidly to keep the tears from flowing down her cheeks.
She nodded, sucking in a deep, shaky breath as she allowed me to hug her.
“Jo?”she asked, her voice muffled against my chest as her hands clung to the fabric of my shirt.
“She’s fine.Everyone is okay.”
Technically, noteveryone, but the people I cared about were okay.
“Were they...”She paused as she pulled back to look at me, rubbing her lips together as tears filled her eyes.“They were here for me, weren’t they?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth as I gently helped her out of the pantry.
“Everything is okay,” I assured her as Ashley pulled a chair over and helped her sit down.
“Where’s Jo?”she asked, looking up at me with genuine concern in her eyes.“Are you sure she’s okay?
“She’s perfectly fine and taking care of stuff up front,” I replied, choosing my words wisely.
She was already shaken up, so I didn’t want to tell her about the bloody mess up front or how we dealt with dead bodies in Nowhere.In all fairness, it was better that shedidn’tknow.While Nowhere was officially home to Charlie now, that didn’t mean she was ready to know all of the things we did to protect what was ours out here.
“I was so stupid for having my phone on the other day.I knew better and yet I still led them right to me,” she whispered, looking up at me with pure sadness that dimmed the brightness in her green eyes.“With everything you guys have done to protect me, I go and blow it all by being stupid and reckless with my phone.
“It’s okay,” I said softly, gently squeezing her shoulder.“You’re not stupid.It was an accident.I didn’t think about it either.Things happen.”
“It’s not okay!”she screamed, the panic rising in her voice as her eyes rose on her forehead.“Don’t you get it?My stupidity almost cost you everything, Axel.They could have come in and destroyed the bar, or worse, killed you!They could have killed Jo!It’s not okay—none of this is okay.I showed up and brought danger to your bar.You shouldn’t want to protect someone like that.”
“Charlie, I need you to trust me when I say this.”I squatted in front of her and looked her in the eyes.“You didn’t put anyone in danger.Everyone in this town has been in worse danger than what just happened up front.We’re all kinda used to danger at this point.What matters now is keeping you and the baby safe.”
“I just want this to be over,” Charlie said, letting her head fall as tears raced down her cheeks.
“I know you don’t want to talk about Jason, but I think we need to.Those guys aren’t just low-level thugs, Charlie.I think Jason was in deeper than you knew, and unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this yet.”
She pulled in a shaky breath and looked between Ashley and me.
“It’s the only way to protect you,” Ashley assured her.“I can tell you that whatever happened up front is not the end of it.Whoever is after you isn’t going to stop just because two of their guys are dead.If anything, that’s only going to make them come for you more.”
“My husband has a gambling problem,” Charlie said as she lowered her head.“I didn’t know about it until after I found out I was pregnant.It started with money missing from our savings account, and when I asked him about it, he got angry.Then I checked the safe we had at home, and it was cleared out.”
