Chapter 6
Jax hated the office.
They usually had a few days between missions to get caught up on the bullshit that needed to be done at a desk, and this time, each hour felt longer than the last. He had nothing to do but check email and think about Jessa.
He had to let it go.
She obviously had.
He turned the news on a small TV in the corner of the room and leaned back in his chair, remembering.
He’d gone to her house the day after they spent the night together, only to find a for sale sign in the yard and her cell phone disconnected.
She’d claimed she’d been tired of packing, when really she’d been finished. He’d tried to take that as the message it was no doubt meant to be.
I’ve moved on.
So should you.
He’d made the mistake of using the HERO Force computers to find out where she was. A little town just outside of Savannah, where she probably planted flowers outside her door and found a nursing job at the local hospital.
Of course he’d gotten her number and had to call her again, his pulse hammering at the sound of her voice on her greeting. He’d left a message.
She disconnected that cell phone the very same day.
He was two for two, and he couldn’t help but wonder why she’d gone to such lengths rather than tell him she wasn’t interested.
Overnight, he’d gone from a solitary man who enjoyed more than his share of female company to a goddamn loser who was stalking a one-night stand.
He might have been okay if he could have gotten her out of his mind, but the night they’d shared together was like a recording his memory played over and over again whenever he didn’t have one hundred percent of his brain occupied. Like when he was checking email. Or — God forbid — trying to sleep.
That was the worst — whiskey and longing forming some kind of vortex that sucked him inside and refused to let go. There was only Jessa, her body and their lovemaking, her laughter and the spark in her eyes that had first drawn him to her.
I want you to come inside me, Jax.
He could hear her voice, see her face as she said the words.
Cowboy walked into Jax’s office and sat down. “Hey, chief.”
Irritation was instantaneous. “You know how to knock, Leo?”
Cowboy stood up, walked back outside, and knocked.
“Go the fuck away,” said Jax.
“That’s why I didn’t knock.” Cowboy closed the door and sat down again. “You want to tell me what’s going on with you, man?”
“Paperwork. Office bullshit.”
“You seem a little…what’s the word? Bastardly. Some of the guys think you’ve just become a total jackass, but I think there’s more to it.”
“Are we having a heart-to-heart?”
“Sort of, yeah.”
“Get the hell out of my office.”
“Is it Linda?”
The mention of his ex’s name was like a shock collar on an errant dog. “Jesus, no.”
“But it is a woman.”
Jax scowled. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
Cowboy shrugged and smiled. “Not really.”
“Go to the range and shoot something. We got some new assault rifles I want you fully trained on before we go wheels up again.”
“Already on it, chief. Red thinks they’re too heavy, but I got the kill shot down.”
“Then go do something else.”
“Who is she? That hot little secretary who hit on you in the diner? Or the chick who lives downstairs and always wants you to give her a ride?” Cowboy pumped his hips.
“We’re done here.”
Cowboy was quiet for a minute. “What else could it be? Ever since you killed Steele, you’ve been acting like an asshole.”
“Go find something to do, Cowboy.”
“Wait a second…”
Jax glared at him, then picked up his coffee cup and moved to leave the room. He got so far as to put his hand on the knob.
“Is it Jessa?” asked Cowboy.
Jax froze, his eyes focusing on the shiny metal of the door in front of him. He’d been so close to getting away from this conversation.
Not close enough.
“Jax, what happened when you went to her house to tell her about Steele?”
Jax walked back to his desk. There was no point in denying it. “What do you want, Leo?”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Cowboy leaned back in his chair, holding on to the desk and balancing on the back two legs. “’Cause, you know, you don’t talk damn near enough. You should share with your friends. Get it off your chest.”
“Fuck you.”
“And your vocabulary could use a little work. You seem to keep using the same words over and over…”
“I can’t find her,” said Jax. Why not tell Cowboy? What difference would it make? He tapped his pen on the desk and sighed. “She moved away and she’s not showing up in the system.”
Cowboy slammed his chair down and stood, moving behind Jax’s desk. “Let me try. I’m good at this.”
Jax stood reluctantly. “I know how to do it.”
Cowboy was on the computer less than a minute. “Apparently not. She’s in Savannah.”
“Not anymore.”
Cowboy spun around in the chair to face him. “Come again?”
Jesus. He’d never felt like such an idiot. “She was in Savannah, then I called her and left a message…”
“And?”
Jax shrugged. “And she disconnected the phone. Landlord said she left the next day.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she move again just because you called her?” He raised his eyebrows. “Are you that bad in bed?”
“Shut the fuck up, Leo.”
Cowboy saluted. “Yes sir, mister commander man.”
“Where the hell is she now?”
“It might take a week or two for her to show up. She needs to register with DMV, sign up for utilities, that sort of thing.”
“It’s already been over a month since she left Savannah.”
“No wonder you’ve been such a dick.” Cowboy’s brows drew together. “She should be in here by now.”
“She’s not. There’s no record of her anywhere in the country. It’s like she doesn’t exist anymore.”
The news anchor on television filled the silence.
“An identity scandal has rocked the Savannah, Georgia, morgue. Ricky Kingfisher, a clerk in the morgue records office who previously served time for forging documents, is accused of selling the identities of unclaimed bodies from the morgue and allowing the victims to be buried as John and Jane Does.”
Jax’s eyes shot to the screen. “Jessa’s maiden name is Kingfisher.”
“How do you know that?”
“I was at the damn wedding.”
Cowboy stood up next to Jax. “So, Jessa Kingfisher disappeared from Savannah right before Ricky Kingfisher got busted for selling new identities in the same town.”
Jax’s spine was tingling. “No. She wouldn’t do it. She has no reason to take on a new identity.”
“She had reason enough to move twice in two months. How do you explain that?”
Jax cursed under his breath. He’d foolishly assumed it was because of him. “She must be in some kind of trouble.”
“It would explain why she’s not showing up in our system.”
“Contact the morgue,” said Jax. “Find out the names that were stolen, and we can cross-reference them in our computer. Any women in their late twenties or early thirties, we check out.”
“Will do.” Cowboy turned to leave.
“And Leo, thanks.”
“You got it, chief.”