Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Charlie
We finished our shower and got dressed. The day had been so much fun, but I was beyond exhausted. I put on my favorite pajamas and brushed my hair, thankful for the hot shower and delicious sex. Axel had been just as good as I had imagined he would be, and I couldn’t wait to be with him again.
I brushed my hair and put on lotion, setting the bottle on the cramped table Axel had given me to store my stuff, when I bumped my purse and knocked it to the floor. I bent down to pick it up, tossing stuff inside when I noticed several notifications on my phone.
My brow scrunched as I stared at it as Axel walked over, tilting his head as he studied me.
“What’s wrong?”
“I dropped my purse, and my phone fell out. It shows I have several missed calls and text messages,” I replied, swallowing hard when I noticed the features change drastically on his face.
“Did you have your phone with you today when we went to Timber Falls?”
I nodded, trying to keep my lip from trembling when he closed his eyes and tipped his head back in frustration.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was a big deal. I just took it in case we needed it. Like if we had an emergency and got stuck on the side of the ride or something.” I threw my hands in the air helplessly as I struggled to figure out what had happened. “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing,” he assured me as he opened his eyes and rubbed his hands soothingly up and down my arms. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Your husband did. I did.”
He shook his head as he pulled away and looked at the phone still in my hands.
“What are you talking about? How did you do something wrong? All you’ve done since I got here is protect me and take care of me.”
“Because I got distracted, just like Jo warned me not to. I was so caught up in taking you to get the stuff we needed that I didn’t think about the dangers involved.
The cell service here sucks, so I haven’t been too worried about them tracking you here.
But Timber Falls is a bigger town with great reception, which means we gave them a prime window to track your location. ”
My heart sank as I listened, realizing how grave my mistake was.
“Shit.”
He nodded and pressed his lips together as he paced in front of me with his hands on his hips.
“Who are the missed calls from?” he asked.
I lifted my phone and stared at it, fear keeping me from unlocking the screen and finding out what was waiting for me on the other side.
“Do you want me to look?” he offered softly.
“Yes, please.”
I entered my passcode to unlock it, then handed my phone to Axel as I sat on the edge of the bed and waited while he scrolled through the missed call logs.
“They’re all calls from Jason,” he said, his jaw clenching. “No voicemails, and most of the calls were right after you left. The last one was a few days ago.”
“And the text messages?” I asked, looking up at him as my whole body trembled.
I watched as he read through them quickly and noticed the way his face fell before looking up at me.
“What is it?” I pressed, knowing that something terrible was waiting for me.
He closed his eyes and stood there as if it pained him to have to tell me what had been sent. I stood up and walked over to him, gently caressing his cheek with my finger to get him to look at me.
“I can handle it. Whatever it is, just tell me.”
He turned the phone to face me, his face solemn as my eyes went from it to the picture message that came in from Jason’s phone. It wasn’t from Jason, because given the state he was in in the picture, he wouldn’t have been able to take it.
I gasped and clasped my hands over my mouth as tears ran down my cheeks, as I stared at the image of Jason hanging from a metal beam.
His hands and feet were bound with metal chains as his head hung lifelessly.
In the next picture, the image was zoomed in, showing a tattooed hand gripping Jason’s head and lifting it to show a bullet wound under his chin.
Axel’s eyes stayed glued to me as he cleared the images and showed me the text messages that had come through with the images.
Jason: A quick reminder of who the fuck you are dealing with.
Jason: You can run, but you can’t hide.