Hannah and the Hitman

Chapter 58

58

HANNAH

An hour later, I was on the couch reading when a voice called from the entry. “Everyone decent?” Seconds later, Dax came into the living room.

“Hey,” I said, setting my e-reader down. The action had Pancake hopping onto the back of the couch, walking across it, then jumping down to go off and do whatever moody cats did. “You’re Dax, right?”

His brows rose in surprise.

“Oh, um, Jack called you by name in the parking garage.”

He caught on and his face cleared.

“Jack’s told me a lot about you,” I added.

He smiled. Nodded. Since Jack said they went to school together, I knew they were the same age. Both were also very attractive. Where Jack was dark, Dax was fairer. His lighter brown hair was shorn close to his head. Shorter and stockier and he reminded me of a boxer. Chiseled muscles. Thick shoulders, lean waist. Cauliflower ear.

Dax wore a tan suit with a white dress shirt and gray tie. He looked crisp and professional and not anything like I imagined a fixer to look like.

I hadn’t seen Jack wear anything but black–or jeans, or nothing–which was fine by me because he looked mighty fine in that color.

“This is yours, right?” He set my purse, which I hadn’t realized he’d been holding, on the back of a couch.

“Oh! Yes.”

“I went to the library and picked it up. Your cell is tucked inside. Probably needs to be charged though.”

“Thank you so much. I can’t believe you went to Coal Springs for me.”

He replied, but it wasn’t the answer I expected. “You’re the woman who’s got Jack by the short hairs.” As if that explained why he drove two hours round trip to grab a purse of a woman he never met before.

“Okaay. The um… short hairs, I’m not sure about that.” I shrugged, then glanced up at him slyly. “He does like me touching other parts of him though.”

He laughed, deep and rich. “I like you.” He had an easygoing manner that Jack did not. I could see how Dax could tame Jack’s intensity. “Where’s Jack?”

“Shower.”

He lifted his chin in acknowledgement.

“Want to sit down?” I asked, playing nervous hostess. This wasn’t my apartment and Dax wasn’t my friend, so I wasn’t sure what was right .

He waved his hand. “Nah, I stopped by to see if he wanted to tag along on a project.”

“You mean your fixer work?”

Dax raised one brow, eyed me in a calculated way that I couldn’t tell was suspicion or curiosity. “He told you about that?”

For a moment, I realized maybe I wasn’t supposed to know that. Or maybe I wasn’t supposed to let Dax know that I knew. Or–

Oh, what the hell. The cat was out of the bag.

“Did you forget he told me he was a hitman?”

“No, but I didn’t expect him to share much. My mistake.”

“To set the record straight” –I set my hand on my chest– “I’m not a hitman.”

He grinned. “I knew that, but I wasn’t blinded by that spectacular rack like someone else.”

“Hey, cut that out,” Jack said, coming into the room and setting a hand on my shoulder. He kissed my head before he continued, “That spectacular rack doesn’t belong to you.”

Wow. Today he was dressed down in jeans and an Air Force Academy t-shirt. His hair was damp, and he smelled clean and good.

“I can look,” Dax countered.

Jack growled. “Don’t make me kill you.”

Dax set his hand on his chest, then grinned and winked at me. “What a way to go.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his completely inappropriate compliment. But when a girl’s been told she’s overweight by her mother, classmates, and even ex-boyfriends, I’d take the words in the spirit they were given: to fuck with Jack and to make me smile.

“Get your own girl,” Jack snapped.

“I need to make a pickup,” Dax said, changing the subject. “Want to join me?”

“Nope, I’m here with Hannah.”

“You should go,” I told him, not wanting to keep him from boy-time or working.

His eyes met mine. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“Then bring her along,” Dax said.

Jack’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. “What? To a pickup? Are you insane?”

“Hey, why can’t I come?” I asked. “I can take care of myself.” I gave Jack a pointed look, hoping he’d catch my meaning without saying it aloud. While I would call my teleporting clumsy at best, I was doing it. I’d made it to all around the apartment and had sex immediately after each time.

Jack seemed to get off–literally–on me being Wonder Woman.

“Yeah, she can take care of herself,” Dax parroted.

Jack gave him a death glare. “How do you know that?”

“She snuck past you at Dad’s place.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, which had both men’s gazes dropping to stare. “I snuck past you at Dax’s dad’s place,” I repeated. What I didn’t say was that I could now teleport more easily if I had to.

The death glare lifted from my boobs to my face. I smiled sweetly at him.

“I want to go,” I said, setting my hand on his bare arm, then looked over my shoulder at Dax. “I mean, you’re not going to kill anyone, are you?”

“I leave the killing to your man,” he told me.

The glare continued through Dax’s words. In fact, I wasn’t sure if Jack even blinked. “Where’s the pickup?”

“Smitty’s.”

“You doing a little gardening? Jack asked.

I frowned. Now they were speaking in code.

Dax shrugged. “Maybe. If she’s gonna stick around, she needs to know what she’s in for.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Jack snapped. “I quit, remember?”

I set my hand on my chest. “I’m right here, you know,” I reminded. “Is this a bad guy?”

Dax chuckled. “Yeah, sweetheart, he’s a bad guy.”

“How bad?”

Dax and Jack shared a look. Dax remained silent until Jack nodded.

“We’re paying him a visit for an overdue loan. But he cheated on his wife and bragged about it. With multiple women. Refuses to pay child support.”

“A cheater?” I turned to Jack, slid my hand around to his chest and looked up at him. “I don’t like that. Maybe I could, um… throw him around a little for you?”

Jack’s dark brow winged up and his mouth twitched.

“I didn’t say murder,” I reminded. “Maybe a little karma though.”

“You do Judo or something, sweetheart?”

I didn’t answer Dax, just kept focused on Jack. His eyes went from stormy to amused in a matter of seconds. “All right, gorgeous,” Jack said. “You can throw him around a little. But you’ll do what I say and if there’s any danger, you’ll… disappear.”

I nodded, knowing that Jack’s protective nature wouldn’t allow for anything less than me transporting out of there.

“This is gonna be fun,” Dax said, heading for the elevators.