Chapter 10
Aspen
My whole body aches. Anger whirls in my heart but it really shouldn’t. I was the fool that let myself get duped by his pretty face. He’s easy to figure out. Just like most other men. He’s in it for the physical release.
I’m not sure why he decided that he wanted to run before he got what he wanted, but maybe he decided I wasn’t worth it after my orgasm.
Tears prickle at my eyes and I fight not to stop right where I’m at and fall to the ground, bawling like a big baby.
His hands felt so good on my skin. His body was so strong, so perfect . I felt safe.
Now all I feel is stupid.
Something shifts in the shadows and my eyes narrow. What?
I barely get that thought out and he’s on me. The angry guy from the other night.
His hand wraps around my throat and he’s pulling me into the shadows, growling under his breath as my fight or flight kicks in and I kick and scream.
“Let me go! Dammit! Let me go!”
“Shut up,” he hisses under his breath. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want you to come with me and talk to Angel. She’ll listen to you.”
“I’m not talking to anybody when you’re kidnapping me,” I grunt, stabbing at his arm with my nails. He grunts but he doesn’t let go of me.
“Just settle down. I promise that I’ll let you go after you talk to Angel. She just needs to understand how much I need her.”
Wrenching away from his grasping hand, I race for the front of the house, turning to throw my purse at him. “Leave me alone, asshole! I don’t even know who the hell you’re talking about.”
His grasping hands reach out for me and I duck and dodge away from him. “She told me that she talked to you,” he growls through gritted teeth.
“Ever thought that maybe she’s lying to you?”
“She wouldn’t do that. She’s a nice girl.”
Even nice girls get sick of jerks treating them like chattel.”
“Come on! Just talk to her and this will all be over.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. Leave me alone.” My body is running on pure adrenaline as the asshole wrenches at my arm and tries to pull me into him.
And that’s when a huge, full-body roar shudders around me. “Drop it or I’m gonna fuck you up, buddy.”
“What do you mean?” The guy whips around and a fist crashes into his face.
“Get in the house, Aspen. Right now.”
“I’m not leaving you alone out here with him. He’s nuts. He thinks that I’ve got a patient named Angel but I don’t.”
“The Sheriff’s on the way. He’ll be here any second. Get the hell away from him, Red.”
“I don’t need your help. Go home.”
He snorts and glares at me. “I can’t even believe you can say that with a straight face.”
As Jax argues with me, he’s circling the dude who keeps coming after me. Big and muscular, Jax growls under his breath.
“I don’t know why you’re messing with my woman but you need to get a new hobby. Cause when the Sheriff takes off with you today, if you show up again, I may hurt you. Aspen is mine. Anybody that touches her is going to have to go though me”
“I’m not yours,” I mutter under my breath.
He turns to me and there’s something desperate and scared as hell in his dark amber eyes.
“I’m sorry, Aspen. I got scared again. I should have never let you walk away.
You’re worth everything to me. I should have asked you to marry me today and locked your pretty ass down instead of running away and letting this…
”. He shakes his dark head, his eyes wild.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m never letting you go. ”
“You say that now but ten to one you change your mind as soon as this guy is out of here. It seems to be your M.O”
“I’m not leaving you, baby.”
“We’ll see,” I sniff.
The Sheriff comes racing up to my house, his lights and siren on.
The loon that’s been trying to get his hands on me turns to run but before he can, Jax gets ahold of him and grunts, tackling him to the ground.
Wrestling like olympians, the two men grunt and growl until the Sheriff hollers. “Freeze!”
Both men stop fighting immediately and Jaxon hops to his feet immediately, leaving the other guy stumbling to his own hands and knees.
“Stop right there.” Sheriff Hayes’s cold voice stops him in his tracks.
“I’m not doing anything wrong,” he growls, holding his hands up in the air.
“I beg to differ. I don’t even know who you are and I certainly don’t want to go with you. Let alone the fact that I haven’t got a clue who the hell Angel is. It wouldn’t do me any good to talk to her because I never did in the first place.”
“She said that she talked to you and you told her that she should go.”
“You don’t think that maybe she talked to somebody else and she’s just telling you something to try and get you off her back. Did she actually give you my name?”
“No. She just said she went to therapy to talk things out and they told her that she should leave me because I obviously didn’t understand her pain.”
“I haven’t talked to anyone about their husband so I think that she might have been telling you a story just to get you off her back. I take it she’s already left?”
“Yeah. But she has to come back to get a few of her things that she missed and I thought maybe you could talk to her then.”
“I’m not talking to her. You’re going to have other problems to deal with and I’d advise you to let her go and if she really wants to be with you, she’ll come back. If she doesn’t, then there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t force someone to love you.”
He hangs his head and I want to scoff. I should be taking my own medicine.
The Sheriff gathers him up, handcuffing the suddenly contrite man. His head hangs down but as they head away, he turns to me. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was never going to hurt you. I just hoped that you could help me.”
Nodding at him, I wave at the Sheriff and he tips his hat to me as he walks the guy away.
I wish that I could believe the guy but I don’t. I think he’s so afraid to lose his girl that he’s crazy and he doesn’t even realize for sure what all he’d do.
A chill skitters down my spine as I watch Sheriff Hayes lead him away.
I don’t want to think about it anymore. Hell, I don’t want to think about anything anymore. I just want to go in my house and forget the last 24 hours.
Until a warm hand touches my shoulder and tries to turn me into his arms.
Resisting, I glare at him. “I’m really tired, Jax. And you need to get home to your dog.”
“I’m sorry, Aspen. I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot. I got scared that I was going to lose you just like I’ve lost everyone else that I love and I ran.”
Tears trickle down my cheeks but I don’t turn to face him. I can’t. “I can’t do this, Jax,” I whisper. “I can’t get all caught up with you again and then have you turn and run away when things get heavy or hard.”
“I won’t. When I saw you struggling with that guy I almost lost my mind. It killed me to see another man’s hand on you. It felt wrong and I wanted to beat him to death. Wanted to kill him for touching you.”
A tremor hits me and I let him turn me around to face him. Let him see the pain on my face, the anguish that’s ripping me apart.
“Oh god, Red. I’m so damn sorry. I’m an idiot. I should never have said what I did. I shouldn’t have tried to leave you. I don’t want to. I want to stay here and watch over you, keep you safe.”
“What if something happens to scare you again?”
“Doesn’t matter. There is nothing on this earth that would scare me more than watching you turn away from me and get jumped by some asshole that thinks that he’s free to hurt you. I will spend the rest of my life protecting you, keeping you safe, if you let me.”
“What if I want to protect you?”
He chuckles and the hard lines of his face loosen up a little. “I would gladly let you. As long as you don’t put yourself in danger. I’ll spank your round little ass if you ever do something that reckless.”
Frissons of desire sizzle along my nerves when I think about what he’s saying. “That doesn’t sound that bad, Jax.”
He groans and tugs me closer, until I’m buried in his chest, smelling that unique, spicy scent that is so totally him. Then his big hand comes up to tilt my chin up. His amber eyes are bright gold with love and desire and my breath jerks in my chest.
“I love you, Aspen. I hate that it scares me and it always led me away from you but there’s something that’s more terrifying and that’s losing you.
Even to my own damn fear. I promise that from this moment on, I’m not going to ever let you go.
You’re mine, you’ll always be mine. And I’ll always be yours.
I want to grow old with you, raise kids with you, if you want to.
I know that you’re a little older than me and that’s okay.
If you don’t want kids, you’re enough for me. You’ll always be enough for me.”
Lifting my hand, I settle it on his jaw, going boneless when his eyes close and he leans into my hand. “I just want you. If something else comes along, I am sure that we’ll handle it.”
“I love you. More than I ever thought I would or could.”
“I love you too. Now…are you coming in…or?” My brow lifts and he grins cheekily.
“Oh…I’m coming in. I’m coming in and I’m gonna rock your world…if you let me.”
I don’t answer him, just hold his hand and lead him to the door, unlocking it and slipping inside, pulling him along behind me.
We barely get inside the door and he slams it shut and his arms are around me, tugging at my clothes and his lips slam on mine, leaving me gasping and breathless.