Bounty: Fury Riders MC (47 page)

I watch Christina tremble. I see Tommy’s hands tighten on her arms.

“She fired a shot. I ducked, it hit a tree. Then she turned the gun on herself, pressed it against her chest. I jumped at her, wanting to stop her. But I couldn’t. She pulled the trigger. She died in my arms—I think she might have gone almost instantly. I couldn’t stop her, and I’ve blamed myself all this time. I didn’t want anyone to know she’d been in that much trouble—especially not that she was stealing from the cartel and the club. I couldn’t put her family through that pain.”

“Why are you telling this story?” Tommy asks, sounding bored and irritated.

I look at him. “Because I need her to know the truth.” I hear sirens approaching from the distance. Thank God. I couldn’t have kept this up much longer.

“What difference does it make?” Tommy asks, oblivious to the approaching cop cars.

“I wanted her to hear it before this happened.” I lunge at them, pushing Christina roughly out of the way. I take Tommy by the shoulders before hitting him across the nose with the butt of my gun, drawing blood. I hear Christina cry out, but I can’t look back.

He fights back, head butting me, knocking us both to the ground. We wrestle, rolling over and over. His hands are on the gun as he tries to pry it from me. I throw myself on top of him, hoping to knock the wind out of him and stun him into letting go. I drive my knees into his sides, our faces inches from each other.

“Please! Stop!” Christina’s screaming.

I can’t listen. I can only make this bastard pay for what he’s done.

“Jax, please!” The gun is somewhere between the two of us, jammed between our bodies. I know he’s still hold on, just as I am. I hear the sirens getting louder.

Then the gun goes off.

Chapter 36

Christina

It’s like a horrible nightmare has finally ended.

“We’re going to be together forever,” he kept saying, stroking my hair when he pulled me from the car. I’ll never forget how terrified I was. Looking at the tower, knowing what it meant that we were going there. Knowing he was going to kill me.

I wanted to vomit, just feeling his hand on me. I knew exactly what he meant. We would be together. Just not alive. He wanted to throw us
both
from that tower. We’d die together. Tragically.

When he pulled me from the trunk, all I could do was pray.
Please let somebody save me. Please let me survive this. I don’t want to die. I want my mommy. I want Jax. Please don’t let me die.

Now, I’m sitting in the hospital room.
Jax’s
hospital room. He’s been sleeping for hours, ever since he got out of surgery. The nurse told me he probably wouldn’t wake up for a while.

It’s a nice hospital, and a private room. I made sure everyone in earshot knew they were taking care of a hero. “He saved my life,” I said over and over. “Please, take care of him. I would be dead if it wasn’t for him.”

I sit looking at him. He’s peaceful, his face smooth. And now that he’s saved my life, more handsome to me than ever. I can’t believe he came all this way to find me. The fact that he put it all together in the first place is remarkable. I knew he had to be smart under all that bravado.

I’m pretty much okay, for the most part. I might need to see a doctor closer to home now that it’s all over. There are a lot of things I’m going to need to work out. Feeling safe again in my home, knowing I’m not in danger. Flashbacks of Tommy stuffing me in a trunk. I shiver just thinking about it. If seeing a doctor will help me get my life back on track, I’m more than willing to do so. I’ll take any steps to put this far behind me.

He stirs. I lean toward him, putting a hand over his. He rolls his head in my direction when he feels my touch.

“You’re okay?” His first words after waking up. I didn’t think my heart could swell any bigger.

“I’m just fine, Jax. Thanks to you.”

“Where are we?”

“In the hospital. You and Tommy were fighting over the gun. It went off, hitting you. Do you remember any of it?”

He closes his eyes, swallowing hard. I think he remembers. Instead of answering my question, he says, “Why am I not handcuffed?”

“Why would you be handcuffed?”

“Wasn’t I arrested? Or won’t I be, once I’m out of the hospital? I thought they’d want to keep me cuffed.”

“Jax.” I touch his face, rough with stubble. “You weren’t arrested. Nobody is going to arrest you.”

“No?” His eyes are wide. He’s still somewhat foggy from the anesthesia, reminding me of a little boy.

“No. I told the police everything. Once they saw the wound on my head, it was pretty clear I wasn’t making anything up. And once they get a look at Tommy’s phone they’ll see the messages he sent me. You’re in the clear.”

He drifts back to sleep, a smile on his face. Now he can rest.

***

I wake up with a stiff neck, curled up in the chair at Jax’s bedside. This time, he’s the one who’s been watching me.

“Good morning,” he whispers, smiling softly.

“Wow. Morning already?” I sit up, stretching.

“You slept through two visits from the nurse. They were going to bring a cot in for you, but didn’t want to wake you. You were out cold.”

“I guess I was.” I remember the hours I spent awake, cold, terrified. Yes. Sleep was what I needed. I take stock of him. He already looks better than he did when he first woke after being wheeled up from surgery. His color is better. He’s more alert.

“How’s your wound?” I ask, motioning toward his abdomen. When the EMTs said the bullet hit him in the stomach, I nearly fainted. I know how dangerous that can be, even if I’ve only seen it on TV.

“The nurse says it looks good. Stitches are holding fine.”

“The doctor told me you made it through surgery like a champ.”

“Would you expect any less?” He grins.

I lean down to kiss him softly. There’s no mistaking the way the beeping of his heart monitor speeds up. I laugh.

“Guess we can’t be doing much of that for a little while. I wouldn’t want to tax your system while you’re healing.” I wink, and he groans.

Then he becomes serious. “I don’t remember anything after being shot.”

“I’m sure you don’t. You were barely conscious.”

“I hate to ask you this…but…did he…?”

“Rape me, you mean?” Jax’s face hardens, but he nods. I shake my head, smiling. “No, nothing like that. He never even got close to it. I don’t think it was on his mind at all.”

“What did he say to you? Did you ever speak with him, besides when you got to campus?”

I nod. I’ll never forget that surreal breakfast. “We stopped at a diner. It’s where we first met. I had to sit there and force food down my throat. I had to pretend to be happy he’d finally come to get me. He talked the entire time. I’m sure even the waitress thought he was nuts. He wouldn’t let me out of his sight.” I leave out the part where he came to the bathroom with me. I don’t want to relive that humiliation just yet.

“I guess that’s how I was able to catch up to you.”

“I’m glad he got hungry.” I smile, but it’s a shaky smile. Soon I’m crying. I lay my head on the side of Jax’s bed, letting it all out. I feel his hand stroke my hair, so different from Tommy’s rough touch.

I cry for a long time. Once it’s all over, I feel better. Not one hundred percent, but better. After splashing my face, I return to Jax’s bedside.

“Where is he now?”

I don’t have to ask who he means. “Jail. They have him on a bunch of different charges.”

Jax closes his eyes, relieved. “You said something when I first woke up,” he reminds me. “About telling the police everything.”

I nod. “Yeah, every bit of it. I can’t believe you thought they would arrest you for saving my life.”

A shrug. “I guess it’s a habit, assuming I’ll be blamed for things.”

“Believe me. Nobody could blame you for this. You’re the only reason I’m here right now. Sincerely.”

“And when we get home?”

“What about it?” I’m confused.

He tells me everything he went through, just trying to get the cops to pay attention to my kidnapping. I can’t pretend I have any faith in our police force if they were so quick to blame Jax for my disappearance without listening to what he tried to tell them.

I smile, though. “I can’t wait to get back to town and throw it all in their faces. How wrong they were about you. By the time I finish, they’ll be throwing a parade in your honor.”

He chuckles, then winces in pain. “Don’t make me laugh,” he groans.

“I wasn’t trying to. I mean it. They’re going to eat their words, every one of them.”

“Wow.” He looks me up and down. “Who’s this assertive girl in my hospital room? Where did she come from?”

“She was always assertive. Remember how we butted heads when we first met? How crazy I drove you?”

He smiles. “Yeah, I do.”

“It wasn’t just you, though you did bring it out in me. You have a talent for that. I can be just as pigheaded with others, too. They’re all on my shit list until they apologize. I’ll take out a full-page ad just so the whole town knows what you did. You took a bullet for me, Jax. They need to know.”

He shrugs. “Maybe they don’t need to know. Maybe they’ll always believe what they want to believe. What difference does it make in my life?”

Here I was thinking he wanted to be with me. Maybe he’s not ready for that yet.

“What’s wrong?”

My face must give away my emotions. “Nothing.”

“Don’t say that. What is it?”

It’s time to be brave. If I can face down Tommy, I can do this, too.

“Maybe you’re not ready for this yet. If you’re not, I completely understand. After everything you told me, I get why you wouldn’t be in this place. It’s just…I love you.” I say it all in one big breath. Now it’s out there. I can’t take it back.

“I love you, too, you idiot.” A huge smile breaks over his face.

“You do?”

“You can’t be seriously asking me this! Christina, why would I go through all this for you if I didn’t love you? If anything, I didn’t think you loved me. I couldn’t imagine why you would.”

“But you did it all? Not knowing how I felt?”

“Of course I did. That wouldn’t change how I felt for you. Just because I didn’t know how you felt. That’s crazy.” He reaches for me, taking my hands in his. “I love you. I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.”

“Now who’s being an idiot?” I can’t say anything else. I have to kiss him. The heart monitor goes crazy again.

Chapter 37

It’s been a week since Jax entered the hospital. An entire week since he saved me once again. He’s healing beautifully, as well as anyone could expect. Now he’s climbing the walls, aching to be out of here.

“Why did they have to keep me for so long, anyway?” He’s only asked me this question roughly two dozen times today.

“Because,” I repeat, as I have so many times, “they had to be sure you weren’t infected. Infection’s a pretty big deal, you know.”

“Sure, sure. I didn’t have a fever. The bullet hardly grazed me. It was superficial.”

“Hardly superficial. There was muscle damage. You got very lucky.” My mom smiles at him. He calms down. Mom has been here for four days, taking care of both of us. It seems like she has the magic touch. One word from her and he’s a different person.

“You’re right,” he admits. “I just can’t wait to get out of this bed.”

“You’ll have to take it easy for a while,” Mom reminds him. “No lifting heavy things. You could hurt yourself even worse.”

Jax nods. I feel like I’m witnessing a miracle.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come back with us?” I say, making her laugh. “I’m serious. You’re the only person he listens to.”

“He’s a lot of bluster. Inside he’s just a little boy. All men are—no matter how big they are on the outside.” We snicker together quietly.

“I hear you over there. I’m not deaf.”

I laugh, crossing the room to kiss him. He’s half smiling, so I know he’s not that upset.

Mom and I have done a lot of catching up over the past several days. I owed her an explanation. I’d been kidnapped, after all, when she didn’t even know Tommy was stalking me. Then I was rescued by a man of whose existence she was unaware.

She only came to make sure we were taken care of. The two of us have been sharing a room at a hotel near the hospital. I’ve spent nearly every minute of visiting hours right here, at Jax’s side.

Adam came two days into Jax’s stay to pick up his bike. Jax probably wouldn’t be able to ride it home, so Adam had a friend drive him to meet us. I noticed how much better he already looked since I first saw him only a few days prior.

He gave me a big hug on entering the room. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said. The sincerity in his voice touched me. I left the two of them alone for a while so they could catch up. When I got back they were laughing. My heart soared. Jax had told me of their conversation, how he’d confessed everything. How Adam gave him his bike. I owed him a lot, too. More than anything, I was happy to see Jax laughing. He’d missed Adam’s friendship after Marissa’s death. I hoped this meant they could rebuild their bond. Jax needed people, as much as he pretended he didn’t.

We promised to get together after Jax was released. He looked hopeful after Adam left.

Mom heads down to the nurse’s station to see if there’s any chance of getting his discharge papers some time before next week. I’d think with such an obstinate, frustrating patient they’d be happy to get him out of their hair. It feels like they’re dragging their feet.

“You know,” Jax says, now that we’re alone, “for such a long time, I thought I was protecting Adam and his family by not telling the truth about how Marissa died. I thought I was being…I don’t know…noble or something. Sparing them the pain, protecting her name. Now…I’m thinking about how Adam looked when he came to visit. Didn’t he look better already?”

I nod. “He looked great. Sober, for starters.”

“Yeah. I wonder if a lot of pain he was going through had to do with never being really sure. Not wanting to believe I could do it, especially since we were so close and I was Marissa’s husband. Maybe keeping secrets only hurts people.”

“It’s like you’re reading my mind,” I tell him, sitting beside his bed. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. If I’d been honest about Tommy, everything I was going through with him, I wouldn’t have needed to suffer the way I did. I could have been honest with my parents, for starters. I never did tell them the reason I left him. Thinking, I don’t know, I was sparing them something. All I was doing was driving myself crazy, and letting him get even more crazy the longer I stayed away. I should have told the police. I should have told somebody. But I was ashamed. And for what? Because he’s a nut? That’s not my fault.”

Jax takes my hand. “I think it’s easy to say that now,” he says, stroking my knuckles with his thumb. “When you’re in the middle of something like that, you don’t want anybody to know. I didn’t want anybody to know Marissa was shooting up again. I’m sure the coroner figured that out, but had I said something at the time I could have helped avoid a lot of pain.”

“We never know, do we?”

He shakes his head. “There’s one thing I do know, though. No secrets between us. Ever. Don’t ever think you need to spare me something. Just say it. I’ve lived with secrets for too long.”

I have to smile. I love when he talks about our future together.

“Deal.”

***

Amy raises her coffee cup in a toast.

“To the two of you. Especially you,” she says to me and Jax, then throws her arms around him. “You saved her. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“Oh, Amy.” I chuckle, tears in my eyes.

“I mean it. God, when I think…we were just laughing together…”

I nod, a shiver running up my spine. Isn’t that what I thought about while I was in the trunk? How she would feel, knowing we were just together outside the shop before Tommy took me?

She insisted we have a little party at the shop to celebrate my homecoming. Adam’s here, drinking from a coffee cup instead of a flask. He’s agreed to go to AA. Jax told me he’s finally able to put it all behind him, now that he has a sense of closure. He knows why Marissa did what she did. He can process it now. It’s time to move on. He’s a young man, not much older than Jax, with plenty of life left.

I’m glad to see Jax looking so happy, here in my world. When we were in Texas, he decided he didn’t give a damn about riding into town. He wasn’t going to separate himself from the world anymore. If people had a problem with it, let them. It was their problem. I told him I stood fully behind him.

The best part is, the first day he came in for coffee and a muffin during the morning rush, he was mobbed by people shaking his hand and congratulating him for being so brave and saving me from my stalker.

It took me by surprise just as much as it did him. He kept shooting me looks, to which I kept shrugging. I had no idea where they got their information from…until I looked over at Amy, who had a mile-wide grin on her face.

“You told them?”

“I had to. They need to get down off their high horses and find out what a good guy he is. He deserves a little respect, wouldn’t you say?”

I agreed wholeheartedly, and I still do. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but I get the feeling Jax is going to start putting his own past behind him. Maybe he and Adam can work together on that. I know from conversations with him that the club isn’t where he wants to be, and he hasn’t been part of it for quite some time. Jax had no way of knowing that, though, since they never spoke.

I baked a little cake for our party, and I’m doling out pieces to our little group. There is only a handful of us, but for right now, this is all I need. I have my business. I have Jax. I have friends. My life is pretty perfect.

***

“Should we flip a coin?”

“What, heads my house, tails your house?”

“Sure. Why not?”

I shrug. “It seems a pretty crazy way to make such a big decision.” We’ve been going back and forth on this for days. Whose house we should live in. It only makes sense for us to move in together. Neither of us feels like keeping an entire second set of toiletries at the other’s house. And it makes no sense for me to keep paying rent on my house if I spend half my time at Jax’s. It would be one thing if we lived far apart, but it’s a fifteen-minute drive from door-to-door on a good day.

There are excellent arguments on both sides. Jax’s house holds a lot of memories. Maybe it would be better for him to move on, leave that part of his life behind. My house is in the middle of town, or practically. Does he want to live his life among the people he’s been trying so hard to avoid? Yes, he’s made progress. He comes into town on a regular basis with no blowback from either the residents or the club. But moving there is a lot to ask all at once. Meanwhile, my house is closer to my shop. I could walk there if I needed to.

“Fine,” I say. “We’ll flip a coin. Heads my house. Tails, yours.”

He pulls out a quarter. “You sure about this?”

I hesitate, then nod. “No matter where I am, I’ll be with you. It’s just as well, either way.”

“Okay.” He grins, then flips the quarter high into the air. He catches it, then slaps it on the back of his hand. I place my hand over his.

“What’s the matter?” he asks.

“I just realized. I don’t care what the quarter says. I want to move in here.” We’re sitting in front of his fireplace, a Monopoly board between us.

“What? Since when?”

“Since…this is where I want to be. That’s the only way I can put it. That house, my rental? It doesn’t mean anything to me. There’s no attachment to it. It’s just…convenient. That’s all. This house?” I look around. “It’s already full of memories for me. Good memories.”

He smiles. “It is. I know what you mean.”

“But! If there’s too much here you want to move away from, I totally understand. I don’t want to force you to keep living here with all the old memories.”

He thinks about that, now looking around. “We can redecorate. I think I’ve been too stuck in the past. It’s time for me to move forward, but that doesn’t have to mean moving to another house. I can start here.” He smiles at me. “You
really
want to live here?”

“I
really
do.” I kiss him.

“Can we still see what the coin says?”

I shrug, removing my hand. We look. Heads.

I fall back on the floor, laughing. “Oh, well. What’s a coin toss? Arbitrary.”

He leans down, covering my mouth with his own. The laughter dies, replaced by a low moan as his tongue swirls around the inside of my mouth. As always, my body responds to his almost instantly.

“You’re pushing it, little boy,” I whisper while his hand roams up and down my torso.

“How so? And who are you calling little?”

I giggle, then whimper when his fingers brush my sensitive nipples. “You know you’re supposed to be taking it easy. You can’t flex those abs too much. We don’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s true.” He kisses my jaw, my chin, down my throat. His mouth sends a tingle straight to my core. “Maybe you should do all the work, in that case.”

I laugh. “I think that’s a possibility. Only if you ask nicely.” My hand caresses his cock, already at half-mast. He growls.

I enjoy making love in front of a roaring fire as much as the next girl, but I don’t love being watched by a hound dog. I scramble to my feet, dashing up the stairs. Jax follows.

As soon as we reach the bedroom, he closes the door. We fall onto the bed together, kissing and touching. He claws at my clothes, unbuttoning my jeans, running his hands beneath my t-shirt to touch my skin. I feel the clasps on my bra pop open. “Somebody’s in a hurry,” I murmur, taking his bottom lip between my teeth. I suck it, then bite gently.

“Mmm…” he growls, returning the favor.

I get on my knees on the mattress, pulling the shirt over my head, discarding the bra. His hands are immediately on my breasts, kneading them. I sigh, closing my eyes to enjoy the feeling. Then I move his hands away.

“Just lay back and enjoy,” I whisper. He smiles, placing his hands behind his head to watch me.

I straddle him, kissing my way down his inked torso. Swiping my tongue over his nipples before moving down to his navel. He hisses through clenched teeth, abs tensing. Still so tender.

I unbutton his jeans, tongue moving playfully along the waistband before I slide the pants over his hips and down his legs. I rub his erect cock through the cotton of his shorts, teasing him. There’s a wet spot at the tip, betraying his excitement.

“Put it in your mouth,” he whispers urgently. I comply, sliding the shorts down until he’s exposed. His solid, erect length lying against his stomach. Starting from the base, I drag my tongue slowly up his length until I reach the head. I open my mouth, allowing him to slide past my lips. His groan seems to reach my pussy, which twitches in response. I’m already wet, ready for more. First, I’ll please him.

I go excruciatingly slow, sliding my mouth down his shaft one inch at a time. He holds his breath, waiting for me to take him completely in. Finally my lips go as far as they will, my mouth unable to hold all of him. I move back up, then down again. My hand strokes the now wet shaft while I gently suck the head.

“Oh, God…” Jax’s eyes are closed, his beautiful body stretched out before me. He’s totally in my control. I take advantage, rolling my tongue in circles around him while I suck. Flicking the sensitive spot just below the head every so often, pulling a groan from his throat.