Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) (28 page)

The funeral home was an old, two-story Victorian house. It might’ve been creepy if it wasn’t painted a cheerful butter cream yellow. Grace didn’t see the place as creepy, but she didn’t want to be locked in after hours. There were still dead bodies in there after all. But the sun was still clearly in the sky and she was only going to be inside for five minutes.

Grace unlocked the front door and made her way to the beeping panel to disarm the alarm. She flipped a light switch and the hallway that led to the kitchen filled with light. She put her keys down on the counter and as she reached for the first pile of café items, cold metal jabbed into the side of her head and a hand came up and covered her mouth.

T
here are so many things I want to do to you.” Chad’s hot breath slapped against Grace’s ear, making her stomach heave. “So many things,” he said as he pressed his body into hers and forced her to move out of the kitchen and up the stairs. “But there isn’t enough time for all that fun at the moment.”

“Just put the bitch somewhere where she won’t be in the way,” Hoyt called out from a room down the hall on the second floor.

“That’s what I’m doing,” Chad snapped back as he threw Grace into the supply room. She fell forward into the shelves, her hands fumbling for purchase, but it was useless. She hit the shelves and a sharp pain radiated through her head. “You scream and I’ll shoot. Understand?”

She nodded. She’d never been more terrified in her life, and if she opened her mouth she’d probably throw up.

“Hold out your hands,” he said, pulling a roll of duct tape from the shelf.

She stuck them out and they shook as Chad wound the tape around and around. He tore off a thick piece and slapped it across her mouth before he pulled her down the hallway and threw her into the bathroom.

A few new developments had been made in the burglary cases. Hoyt and Chad had definitely had a source on the inside of Lock and Load to figure out the logistics to the systems. Too bad Judson had no idea what information he’d been supplying. Judson had been brought in again, and this time it appeared that Judson was telling the truth when he said he wasn’t involved.

Chad and Hoyt still hadn’t been seen by anyone, nor did anyone have any information on the pair. The sheriff’s office was putting in all available resources to look for the assholes, but they’d probably hit the road the night before. All Jax could hope for was that there might be one last thing that they’d need to take care of. One last thing that would get them spotted. One last thing that would get them caught.

Jax stopped by Shep’s house on his way back from the station. Things were still a little rocky between them, and Jax knew he was the one who needed to fix it.

Shep didn’t say anything when he opened the door and saw Jax on the other side. He just opened his door wider so Jax could step in.

“I’m sorry,” Jax said when Shep turned around. “I’m sorry for hitting you. And for thinking you would ever sleep with Grace. And for what I said about you sleeping with anything in a skirt.”

“Water under the bridge,” Shep said, shaking his head. “I heard about the shooting. I stopped by and saw Mel. Glad she’s okay.”

“She’s lucky it wasn’t worse. We’re all lucky it wasn’t worse.”

“Did you fix things with Grace?” Shep asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yeah,” Jax repeated. “I—” his voice caught and he stopped. Jax cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

“It’s about damn time.” Shep grinned. “Congratulations, man,” he said, and held out his hand. When Jax grabbed it, Shep pulled him into a hug. “You deserve her,” Shep said when he pulled back. “You deserve to be happy, too.”

“I’m beginning to realize that.”

Jax and Shep talked for a couple more minutes before they both headed out the door, Shep to the bar, and Jax home to Grace. Just that very thought made him so freaking happy.

 He was halfway there when his phone started ringing. He pulled it out and answered.

“Anderson.”

“We have a problem,” Baxter said. “Hoyt and Chad were seen going into the funeral home.”

“It’s after six, no one should be there,” Jax said as he turned and started heading toward the funeral home. If Chad and Hoyt were armed and someone was there, they’d have a hostage situation on their hands.

Baxter hesitated for just a second, the last second Jax had before his entire world came crashing down.

“Jax, Grace’s car is parked outside.”

The world was spinning and Jax couldn’t take air into his lungs, which was a problem considering the fact that he was driving.

“I’m three minutes away.”

“Meet me in the back,” Baxter said before he disconnected.

After the longest three minutes of Jax’s life, he pulled into a parking lot across the street from the funeral home.

Jax snuck around to the back of the building and tried to focus on what he was doing, tried not to let the fear choke him. But that was hard to do when Grace was in that building with two men who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her. He had to get to her. Had to make sure she was okay.

God, this couldn’t be happening twice in less than twenty-four hours.

When Jax got to the back, Baxter was waiting for him.

“I called Mr. Adams,” Baxter said. “He met me down the street and gave me the keys. I figured a quiet entrance was our best bet. Neal is on his way.”

Jax just nodded, unable to move his jaw.

Baxter unlocked the door and opened it quietly. Jax walked into the room, gun drawn, as Baxter followed with his own gun out.

They walked through the room and opened the door into an empty hallway. They made their way through it and passed the kitchen. Jax looked inside to make sure it was empty. The light was on and Grace’s keys were sitting on the counter. A sharp pang hit Jax in the chest, but he pushed past it.

A floorboard creaked overhead and voices traveled down from the second floor. Baxter nodded his head toward the other end of the hallway.

Back stairwell,
he mouthed as he went off on his own.

Jax nodded as he continued toward the front of the house. He edged along the wall until he got to the funeral home’s main viewing room. He checked to make sure it was empty before he moved past it. He eyed the stairs, praying he could get up them without alerting Chad and Hoyt.

He put one foot up and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t make a sound. He continued up, one painful step at a time. When he reached the top he saw Baxter coming down the hallway from the left, checking the rooms as he went. Jax went right and headed toward the noise coming from the next room.

Hoyt had his back to the door as he ripped at the lining of one of the coffins. Hoyt’s gun was laying on top of the closed coffin next to him and within reaching distance.

“Put your hands up and turn around slowly,” Jax said as he came up behind Hoyt, angling himself so that he had the doors to the room within his line of sight.

Hoyt froze and did as he was told.

“So you found us,” Hoyt said through a look of sheer loathing. “Well, one of us at least. Too bad you didn’t find Chad first as he’s the one who’s taking care of your whore.”

“Get down on your knees,” Jax said.

“Funny, that’s what Chad was planning on making her do, too,” he said as he slowly got down.

“Lie down with your hands behind your back.” Jax still had his gun leveled on Hoyt when Neal came into the room.

“I got him,” Neal said as he pulled his cuffs out of his belt.

Jax went back out into the hallway and stopped dead. Chad was coming out of a room, using Grace as a shield as he held a gun to her throat. There was duct tape around her wrists and across her mouth, and tears were streaming down her face.

Black dots clouded Jax’s vision as he felt like he’d been ripped in half. So this was what dying felt like.

“Let her go,” Jax said.

“I don’t think so,” Chad said, shaking his head. “You see, you have what I want and I have what you want.”

“And what do you want?” Jax asked.

“To get out of here with the stuff I came for. But you’re currently blocking my path.”

Hoyt and Neal were in a room in the front of the house, but the back of the house had a balcony that ran across the second floor. Out of the corner of Jax’s eye, he saw through the window in the room to his left. Baxter was currently crossing the balcony, most likely headed for the room that was next to Chad.

“So if I let you go, you’ll let her go?”

“Like that’s going to happen,” Chad said, shaking his head.

“If you don’t hurt her, I’ll let you walk out of here with whatever the hell you want.”

“What if I want her, too?” he asked, sliding his hand down to her breasts.

Grace winced as he touched her, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath through her nose. Jax wanted to launch himself across the room and rip the fucker’s arms out of their sockets.

Come on, Baxter,
he mentally pleaded.

“Let her go, Chad,” Jax repeated.

“No,” Chad said, shaking his head.

Something creaked in the room next to Chad and he moved automatically. As his body turned, he lowered the gun from Grace’s throat. Chad was about twenty feet away, and Jax had shot at much smaller targets from a much farther distance. Jax pulled the trigger once, and Chad’s gun fell to the ground only a second before he did, cradling his shoulder and screaming.

Grace pulled forward and fell against the wall. She tried to scramble away from Chad into an empty room, but her bound hands didn’t let her get very far.

Baxter came out of the room and grabbed the gun that Chad had dropped. Since Baxter was taking care of Chad, Jax went to Grace.

“Are you okay?” Jax asked as he pulled Grace farther into the office.

She nodded, tears still streaming down her face, and her entire body shaking. She was breathing hard through her nose, and Jax was pretty sure she was about to pass out.

“Look at me and breathe,” he said, cradling her face in his hands. “I’m going to get the tape off.”

He pulled at it slowly, Grace’s warm, rushed breath washing out over his knuckles. When her mouth was free she started gasping for air.

“Breathe baby, you have to breathe,” he said as he started to work at the tape on her wrists.

The second her hands were free she threw her arms around Jax and clung to him. She sobbed into his throat as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap.

“You’re okay,” he said over and over again.

The flashing lights were giving Grace a headache. Well, it was probably that and all the crying she’d done, but really what else was to be expected when a lunatic held her at gunpoint. Grace wasn’t sure how long Jax held her on the floor of that office, but when they finally went downstairs, Chad and Hoyt were gone. Hoyt was taken directly down to the sheriff’s office; Chad had to make a trip to the emergency room first.

The parking lot was filled with multiple sheriffs’ cruisers, an ambulance, and a crowd of people. Jax had refused to leave her side and was currently standing guard next to her as the paramedic looked at the cut over her eye.

“I think you’ll just need a few butterfly stitches,” he said, gently probing her forehead.

She winced when he disinfected the wound. Jax had his hand at the small of her back, and Grace was grateful for it. The only thing keeping her grounded was the sure, steady weight of his hand.

“He didn’t do anything else to you?” Jax asked as the paramedic applied the last bandage.

“No,” she whispered.

He nodded, none of the tension leaving his face or shoulders.

“Grace!”

She looked up as Brendan, Oliver, and Lula Mae crossed the parking lot.

“Oh, thank God,” Lula Mae sobbed, pulling Grace in for a hug.

Grace looked over her grandmother’s shoulder at Brendan and Oliver who were both wearing matching expressions of worry.

“You shot him?” Brendan asked, looking at Jax.

Jax nodded. “He’ll be going away for a very long time.”

“It better be for the rest of his lousy, miserable life,” Oliver said, shaking his head. He looked over at Grace and promptly started to cry.

“Pops, I’m okay,” Grace said as Lula Mae pulled away and Oliver took her place.

“I know,” Oliver said, holding her. “But I’ve already lost one of my girls. I can’t do it again, Gracie.”

“I need to go talk to some people,” Jax said as he started to step back from the group.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Lula Mae said, grabbing him and pulling him in for a hug. “Thank you, Jax. You saved her life,” Lula Mae cried as Jax wrapped his arms around her.

Jax looked up and locked eyes with Grace. “Grace is my life.”

Jax and Grace headed to the station so Grace could give her statement. When they arrived Jax had to give his own statement, and he looked more than a little bit panicky when he had to leave her side.

“I’m fine,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“All right.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead before he walked down the hall.

Grace told Lieutenant Lancaster exactly what had happened from the moment she walked into the funeral home. She was surprised she’d been able to remember everything past the blind panic that had consumed her for the majority of the time, but she somehow managed to get through the story.

 Grace and Jax didn’t get home until after midnight. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and not move for days.

The second she walked in the door she headed for the bathroom. They’d given her a lot of hot tea at the station and it had made its way to her bladder on the ride home. When she finished washing her hands she dug a hair tie out of the drawer next to the sink. Jax hadn’t moved any of her stuff when they’d been apart.

She pulled her hair up and grabbed a washcloth, soaking it in cold water before she wiped the dried tears from her face. Mascara and eyeliner had smudged under her eyes and she washed that away before she ran the cool cloth to the back of her neck. Her skin was still crawling from where Chad had touched her and she wanted to wash that off, but she needed to talk to Jax first.

When she opened the door she saw Jax in the bedroom. He was sitting at the edge of the bed, his arms resting on his knees as he stared into his open hands. He didn’t say anything as she sat down next to him, just continued to stare at his hands.

“Jax?” she asked, reaching out and putting her hand in one of his.

His long fingers closed over hers as he shook his head. “He had a gun to your head,” he whispered thickly.

“I’m okay,” she said.

He turned to her, tears streaming down his face. “But what if you hadn’t been?”