Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
JAX
“Come here.” I pull Kinsley in front of the door.
I should maybe try to patch things up with her parents instead of taking a hammer to the relationship, but fuck 'em. If they didn’t want someone to come and snatch her up, they should have taken better care of her.
I’ll make no apologies when it comes to that.
It might be fucked, but I’ll do and say what I need to so that Kinsley stays mine.
“What are you doing?” She glances up and down the hallway.
“I’m talking to my girl.” I see a few people pass by us. I lean down and press my mouth to hers as I slide my hand around her.
“This is the office.”
“I know. You have to trust me, Bunny. If I move you somewhere, it’s for a reason.”
“All right.” She smiles up at me as I get the lock to click open. I push the door open; at the same time, I spin her around and hurry her in, letting the door fall closed behind us. “You did that while kissing me?”
“There are cameras in the hallway. People would take notice if I were openly popping the lock.”
“You really have to teach me how to do these things.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” She lets out an adorable huff.
“If I gave you all my secrets, then what would you need me for?”
“There are other things I can think of.” She licks her lips, her eyes dropping to my mouth.
“Bunny. There is a couch behind you, and you’re too much of a temptation. Have mercy on me so we don’t get busted.” A sexy smile spreads across her face as she runs her fingers down my chest.
“Fine.” The little minx swipes her tongue across her bottom lip.
I make a grab for her, and she jumps. I let her dodge it, for now.
She giggles, rushing behind the desk. I’ll take the laughter.
It’s better than the expression she had on her face when we entered the hospital.
“You let me get away, didn’t you?” Kinsley opens the top drawer of her mother's desk.
“I didn’t let you get away. I let you have some space.” I round the desk and see a stack of notebooks inside. Kinsley has piles of her own. There is already a small stack of them back in our room. Fuck. Our room. That sounds good. It has me reaching for her. I tug her into me.
“You saying I couldn’t get away?” I could give her the illusion of thinking she could escape me if she wanted. The reality is, no, she can’t get away from me. I have never claimed to be the hero or white knight. I have my own dark urges.
“You want to get away from me, Bunny?” Even as I ask her the question, her body is melting into mine, giving me the answer.
“No, and it’s kind of scary how much I want to stay.”
“I’m not going to push you away. I get annoyed when we don’t have the same classes.” If I thought finally having Kinsley in my grasp would help my obsessive thoughts about her, I was dead wrong. If anything, it made them worse.
“I want to believe that.”
“I know you do, Bunny.” I lean down and kiss her.
It’s her parents who put those thoughts into her head that she’s not good enough.
Did they say that to her? No, but their actions have said it all.
Their absence has made her feel as though she wasn’t important enough to get their attention.
Her lips part, and I sweep my tongue inside, stealing a taste, but is it really stealing if she’s mine?
“Shit,” I mutter, lifting my head as the door opens. My girl is too distracting, but fuck it. We can deal with her parents, or at least one of them, right now. Get that shit out of the way.
“What?” Kinsley looks up at me, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. Damn, I love that I put her off-kilter enough to not hear the door open. I barely heard the handle jiggle myself.
“Kinsley,” her mom, Laurie, snaps in surprise. Kinsley jerks back, but I don’t let her get far. I keep a possessive hand on her hip.
“Mom.” Her hand goes to her mouth. Her mother's eyes bounce between the two of us.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong? Who is he?” Laurie is tall like Kinsley with the same hair coloring. She’s in scrubs with her badge clipped on.
“He’s, ah—”
I’m not beating around the bush with this. The door has already been kicked open, and I’m going to barrel right through it. There is no way in hell I am hiding who I am from her mom, and I sure as shit am not going to hide how much Kinsley means to me.
“Jax Marino.” I give her a nod with a half smile. Laurie’s eyes widen a fraction.
“Marino?”
“Yes, this is Jax. My boyfriend.” Kinsley finds her voice, and that half smile I was wearing turns to a full one as she’s telling her mom who I am to her.
“Boyfriend? He doesn’t look like a boy.” Laurie‘s eyes flick over to me, lingering on a tattoo on my forearm.
“He’s in my grade.”
“You might have met me earlier if you had come to school events.”
Kinsley stiffens at my remark. Her mom ignores me—well, the best that she can.
“Are you okay, Kinsley?” She steps closer.
“I’m fine. Not that you’ve checked in. You know a girl died last night. At a party I was at after the football game.”
“What? I hadn’t heard that. What happened? Are you okay?” she asks again, and there is concern written across her face.
“It was from drugs, but you should have known. I should have called you.” Kinsley’s not wrong. That is something a child should be telling their parents. It was one of the first things I had Damon do after he handled Blair.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Why would I?” Kinsley fires right back at her. Laurie’s mouth presses into a hard line. She glances down, her head giving a slight nod.
“I deserve that. Is that why you’re here?”
“You want the truth?”
“I’d prefer that.”
“I came to read one of your notebooks.” I guess we’re telling her. I let her go. If this is how Kinsley wants to do this, so be it.
“Kinsley, I’d never do that to you.”
“Well, you don’t do much for me.” She quickly backs away, making Laurie visibly flinch. Though she doesn’t snap back or get defensive.
“What do you need from the notebook?”
“Remember the girl? The one you spoke about, that had lost her mind?”
“Yes.” She nods. Kinsley keeps going and tells her about Trent and how we think the girl from last night is connected. Then she tells her about the missing police report. Her mom takes it all in, and I can see the concern growing on her face.
“I think you were right about there being a new drug on the streets,” Kinsley adds. Her mom is quiet for a long moment. I can see the wheels turning in her head.
“And the Marinos?” She wants to know how we’re wrapping ourselves into this.
“Want to end it.” I reply.
“And you can’t trust the police. If that report is gone. She killed them.” Kinsley says.
“Yeah, maybe don’t go around saying that right now,” I tell her.
“Let’s see how far it’s gone.” Laurie hurries around her desk, turning on her computer. We step back to give her room. She logs into the system. “I remember her name and the date she came in. It stuck with me.” We watch as she searches for a Penelope Parker.
“Oh my God,” Laurie whispers loudly when nothing comes up. She quickly reaches into the drawer, grabbing one of the notebooks and flipping through it. When she finds the page, she turns it to show us. Kinsley takes it. I pull out my phone and snap a picture of it.
“You’re giving me the information.” There’s no missing the surprise in Kinsley’s voice that her mom is handing it over.
“You’re a bright girl, Kinsley. You’re curious, as I am; we’re just curious about different things.
Giving you this is the least I can do.” She glances at me.
“And I suppose you’ll get to see if this Jax is what he’s claiming to be to you.
” This doesn’t even put a dent in making up for being absent from Kinsley’s life, but at least it’s a start in the right direction.
“Thank you,” Kinsley tells her.
“I would like to be kept updated, and I’ll do the same if anything comes through our ER again.” Kinsley glances at me.
“That’s a good idea,” I tell her as her phone starts to go off.
“I have to get back to the ER.” Laurie stands. “Be careful. I do love you.” Kinsley nods, her eyes filling with unshed tears. Laurie's attention turns to me. “Don’t hurt her. I know the Marinos aren’t all bad. I have worked in this hospital for a long time.” Aka, she knows shit.
“I’ll protect her with my life.”
“Thank you.” She gives Kinsley one last look before she hurries out of her office.
“That wasn’t what I expected.” She turns to face me.
“I think she likes me.” I smirk, making Kinsley burst into laughter. “So we’ll move your stuff in.” That only makes her laugh harder. Not sure why that's so funny, but she’s not saying no. I’ll take it.