Chapter Fourteen – Jaxon
I watched the two women talking, leaning on my bike on the other side of the road. I didn’t want to throw Star off her game by coming to her meeting with Abbey, but there was no way I was going to let her go alone, not when I knew how high the stakes were here.
I glanced up and down the street, eyes narrowed; it didn’t look like any of the shoppers coming or going meant us any harm. Abbey had chosen to have this meeting at a chic coffee shop in the nice part of Atwood, and I was feeling distinctly out of place, like everyone who took a single look at me would be able to tell what was going on in my head right now.
I could see Abbey gesturing vehemently as they talked – they had been at it for around a half-hour now, and I had been keeping a close watch on them the whole time. I thought it had been too good to be too, for someone like Abbey to be willing to hear out Star’s story, but I’d done a deep-dive into her, and she seemed legit; if anyone was going to be able to put this story together in a way that made sense, it was her.
And, fuck, I hoped for Abbey’s sake that she knew what she was taking on here. She had dealt with some corrupt politicians before, but this was far beyond anything she had taken on in her previous work. I had seen at least some part of what Sal Salina was capable of, and the last thing I wanted was for Abbey to find herself in the middle of something she couldn’t handle.
I had been on edge since I saw Sal coming out of the Kennels – I couldn’t know for sure that he was there to find someone else to track down Star, but what else could it have been, really? I had no doubt he was involved in some seriously shady stuff, maybe even with people we might have considered allies, but I had to hope none of them would be fucking nasty enough to work with him on forcing his daughter into a marriage she clearly wanted nothing to do with.
I watched Star as she listened to Abbey, nodding along, her face serious, and I couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride. What she was doing was so damn important, and I hoped she really understood that. I couldn’t imagine the bravery it took for her to go against her family like this, knowing what the stakes were, knowing what might happen if things went wrong –but she wasn’t letting that stop her. She wasn’t letting it so much as slow her down. She was looking them dead in the eye and doing what she could to expose the truth, and that, to me, was the coolest thing in the world.
If I was being honest, I was falling for this girl a little. More than a little. A lot. I had shut myself off from the world for so long – the only people I let anywhere near me were the Dogs, and they were far from the romantic connection I didn’t realize I had been missing all this time.
And the sexual one, too. Fuck, even though she had never been with anyone else, she was so hot in bed, it was hard to believe she was so new to this – but maybe that was what was driving it. She was exploring this world for the first time, enjoying every moment of it, and those little sounds she made when she experienced some new kind of pleasure got me hard every time. I couldn’t get enough of her, even in the middle of this mess we were in right now – my gut had told me, way back when I first saw her, that she needed me, but I hadn’t realized how much I had needed her at the same time.
I wanted to paint her. I hadn’t had the nerve to ask her yet, given that I had never painted anyone else before, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I could already imagine the exact shade of blue I would use to capture her eyes, the gold that shimmered in her hair on the canvas – when all this was over, it was the first thing I wanted to try if she would let me.
Finally, she and Abbey both got to their feet; I straightened up, ready to head over and meet her as she came out. I had kept my distance, not wanting to give Abbey a reason to second-guess Star’s credibility since she was hanging out with a member of the Dark Dogs, but I hated being this far from her. We’d spent all our time together lately, wrapped around each other, unable to get enough of one another – even sleeping pressed together, where I could breathe in her scent.
She and Abbey paused outside the cafe for a moment, continuing to talk, and then, Abbey smiled and nodded and turned on her heel, marching off down the street like she had a whole lot to take care of. Star watched her go, and then glanced over at me, offering me a smile. I waved her towards me now that Abbey was out of sight, glad to have her to myself again.
She crossed the road and reached me, wrapping her arms around my waist and leaning against my shoulder for a moment.
”How was it?” I asked, and she nodded.
”I think...I think it went well,” she replied. ”As well as it could have gone, anyway. I think she believed me, and she said she’s going to do some research to back up everything I said to her and get back to me from there.”
”That’s great news,” I murmured, brushing my lips over her hair. ”I’m so proud of you, Star.”
”It’s just the start,” she protested. ”There’s still so much we need to do...”
”And it’ll get done,” I promised her. ”But this first step, that’s a tough one. Trust me, I know.”
She gazed up at me for a moment, a curious expression on her face.
”What happened to you, Jaxon?” she asked me. ”Before we met, I mean. You’re always talking about it like something big went down before you joined the Dogs, but you’ve never told me exactly what.”
I hesitated. She deserved to know the truth of what I had been through, of course, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to put it into words. I had spent so long trying to conceal that part of myself, doing everything I could to contain it and push it down, that coming out and telling her what had happened to me seemed impossible. How did I know she wouldn’t freak out?
I stared down at her, trying to still my overthinking mind. No. She had accepted so much about me already, there was no way she was going to lose it on me now. I took a deep breath.
”I was...on some shit before I met Chuck,” I explained. ”I was-”
Suddenly, a noise came from behind us – in the alleyway that led off the street, a sound caught my attention. My head snapped around, but, before I could react to it, I felt something crash into the side of my temple, sending stars spinning through my vision.
”Jaxon!” she exclaimed, but I could hardly see her – my adrenaline had kicked in, and I tried to lunge towards whoever had made this move against us. They had to have some serious nerve, making an attack like this in broad daylight where anyone could have seen it.
I stumbled, catching myself before I hit the ground. I could hear her behind me, calling my name, but the ringing in my ears was too loud to make anything else out. I lifted my head, dazed, looking around and trying to figure out who was coming for me like this, but before I could call out and tell her to run, I felt another crack at the back of my skull. Pain spun through my system, but still, all I could think about was her – I didn’t know who was coming after us, but I couldn’t let them take her, I couldn’t let them steal her away from me, I couldn’t.
I managed to spin around long enough to lock eyes with her – and, in that instant, I saw someone behind her, a dark figure approaching behind her. I parted my lips to call out and warn her, but it was too late. By the time that any sound escaped my mouth, they had grabbed her around the waist, clamping a hand across her mouth and cutting off her cries for help.
Someone pressed a rag to my mouth, and a foul-smelling substance filled my senses. Unconsciousness began to rise up before I could fight it, and all I could do was stare helplessly at Star before me – and pray that wherever she was being taken, I would be taken to, as well.
Because I couldn’t let her face whatever this was alone.