Wanted: County Knights MC (5 page)

              “Anna! Oh!”

              I didn’t pull away, but I did turn my head to see who the hell interrupted what promised to be a damn fine moment. A short woman with black pixie cut hair grinned at us from the doorway. “I’m sorry. I just heard about the accident. Are you okay?”

              Anna shoved me out of the way and addressed the intruder. “Hi, Maris. Yes, I’m good. Jackson here was nice enough to take me home, but he’s leaving now.”

              “He doesn’t need to. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. My night shift starts soon. Are you sure you’re okay?” She walked over to where we were, pointing at the sling over Anna’s arm. “Your arm.”

              “Just sore. I’m fine,” Anna reassured her, ignoring my presence, or at least pretending to ignore me. “I’m just going to take some Ibuprofen and get ready to head to the shelter.”
                            “You can’t go in tonight.” I grasped her chin and turned her face me. “You need to rest.”

              “I have a job, Jackson. I just need to help a woman with a resume, then I’ll come home. I won’t stay long.” Her words didn’t hold any sharpness to them. “I’ll have to take the bus. My car is still—”

              “Jerry pulled it back into the garage once the cops were done with all their measurements and pictures. We’ll have it repaired as quickly as possible. You can’t take the bus.  I’ll take you.”

              “No. You won’t. Please just go.”

              “I can take her,” Maris interjected softly, looking at me with less concern than I would think a woman in her situation would. “I go that way to work anyway.”

              “See?” Anna pulled out of my grip. “I’ll take a cab home, okay?”

              I looked from one girl to the other.

              “I’m gonna hit the shower.” She smiled at me and backed out of the room. 

              “Fine.” I jerked the phone out of her hand and tapped my contact info in. “You call me if you can’t get a cab right away. Got it?”

              “Sure.” She nodded, but that lip of hers was being sucked into her mouth. The little liar still had the same tell as when we were kids. I sighed.

              “Fine.” I shot myself a text from her phone, giving myself her number. “I’ll call you tomorrow, then.”

              “You don’t need to. I’ll be fine. Just give me a call when the car’s ready, and let me know how much.”

              I eyed her silently for a minute. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said, and pushed myself off the couch. “You get the resume done, and you get home. Understood?”

              “Whatever.” She tried to look annoyed, but didn’t succeed very well. She may have been pissed, and she wanted to know things I wasn’t ready to tell her, but my Anna was still my Anna. Her emotions played across her face like a drive-in movie. Finding me had brought her relief. From what, I didn’t know yet, but I’d find out. “Now just go.” She shoved me with her good hand. 

              Without another word I left her sitting on her couch. I wanted to help her to her room, held her change, get cleaned up, but I knew if I touched her, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Not kissing her at that moment had my dick hurting in my jeans. So close to touching her, tasting her, and it was yanked away from me.

              When I stepped out of her building, I looked up and down the street. The sun had started to fade a bit, taking away some of the summer heat with it. The back of my neck tingled, as though I could feel someone’s eyes on me, watching me. I checked the cars lined up along the street, all empty. 

              On my way to the truck I kept my ears open, hearing nothing more than traffic from the main street. I couldn’t shake the feeling. Someone had eyes on me. On Anna’s apartment. That car accident wasn’t an accident. Someone was out to get her, and I’d be damned if they succeeded.

CHAPTER FIVE
Anna

              “You shouldn’t go to school today. Just stay home and rest.” Maris poured herself a cup of coffee while I struggled to get my book back into my bag.

              “I’ll be fine, Maris. I just need to do a few things. I’m almost done with this semester then I can start my internship. If I miss too much work, I could lose it.” She looked at me with hesitation.

              “Your shoulder looks like you were thrown against the wall by a gorilla. You barely slept last night; I know because I could hear you wandering around your room.” 

              She was right. I hadn’t slept well at all. Jackson being thrust back into my life after seven years left me with so many more questions than answers. Where the hell had he been? Why did he feel so compelled to throw me out of his life if he didn’t blame me for what happened? How was I supposed to take his dominating concern for me?

              The Jackson I knew years ago was more than just my friend. He protected me, cared for me. When everyone at school laughed at my thrift store clothes, he took me shopping for new jeans. He spent what little money he had from his part time job at Jiffy Lube to put me in better clothes. When I promised to pay him back, he had grabbed my shoulders, squared us off, and told me in no uncertain terms that I was never to think about giving anything back to him. He liked taking care of me, and it was only my job to accept what he did and say thanks.

              I should have seen the signs then, that he was a dominating jerk. Except he wasn’t.  Back then he kept a soft side for me. The hard man I found standing in his garage yesterday, he still had that soft side, there were just a few more layers on top of it now.

              I needed to get my head on straight. Jackson didn’t want me in his life. He’d made that really clear for me. Right before I got myself plowed into. I hadn’t even heard the car coming, my mind was too busy replaying my conversation with Jackson. My first conversation with him since he saved me from my step-brother and it entailed him telling me he didn’t want me in his life. Awesome.

              “I’m okay, Maris. Really. Thanks, but I can’t miss.” The only thing going right had to do with school. I’d fought tooth and nail to get that internship. Getting that internship was my opportunity to get in with a good company at a competitive wage that wouldn’t short sell me.

              “So, um, that guy who was here last night. What’s that all about?” A teasing grin slipped across her lips and she leaned against the cabinet, holding her cup up to her mouth.

              “An old friend from a different life,” I explained, not wanting to get into the details. Even if I could describe Jackson to her, what definition would he fall under at that moment? “He was there when I got hit.”
Stick to small facts.

              “He didn’t look like any old friend when I walked in,” she pushed.

              I rolled my eyes. That near kiss experience had played over in my mind on a loop all night. I wanted so badly for him to press his lips to mine. I remembered him kissing me when we were in school, that last kiss. The power behind it had kept me up all night then, too. “He’s pushy.” I managed to zip my bag but couldn’t quite get it over my right shoulder.

              “Let me drive you,” Maris offered for the third time.

              “No. As it is, I’m not sure how you’re standing here after working so late last night. It’s fine. I’ve always taken the bus when my car crapped out on me. I’m not going to stop now just because I have a busted up shoulder.”

              “Maybe you could call your friend for a ride.” She winked at me, then laughed a throaty laugh at my discomfort.

              “No. Thanks.” Been burned by that fire before.              

              “I’ll see you tonight?” She put her cup down on the counter and helped me get the strap over my good shoulder.

              “Thanks. Probably, depends on how long my shift takes.” I checked my phone, no messages. I couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment at not seeing anything come from Jackson since last night. He’d been so overprotective I thought he would have surely sent me a message or two in the morning.
Enough already! Get him out of your head!

             
Maris shook her head as she headed back toward her bedroom. “Don’t wait for him, just call him.” She waved a hand in the air and disappeared into her room.

***

              The air conditioner on the bus was busted. By the time I stepped off at campus, my hair had plastered itself to my forehead. Stepping into the building felt more like walking into heaven than school. My shoulder throbbed from all the jostling on the bus, but I managed to get up the flight of stairs to where my class was about to start without much trouble.

              When I turned down the hall I saw him. Standing outside the door to my class, Jackson was leaning against the wall, his hands shoved in his front pockets, and a grave look on his face. He noticed me right away, so running back down the stairs wasn’t an option. He moved away from the wall, staring me down, almost daring me to try and turn around. 

              Damn him. Until that moment, I hadn’t really taken the time to take in his appearance. The lightly muscled boy I knew had been replaced with the broad shouldered, hard muscled man before me.  His shaved head had grown out into a shaggy style, his chestnut hair matching his dark brown eyes perfectly. The shirt he wore fit too tight, but I doubted any shirt would fit him better with the thickness of his arms. His jeans were snug in all the places I wanted jeans to hug a man. But this was Jackson, and I couldn’t look at him that way, appraising the beauty of him. I needed to firm up my resolve and remember I was pissed.

              “What are you doing here?” I hissed at him when I was within hearing range.

              “How’s your shoulder?” He ignored my irritation and grabbed my bag from me. I would have fought him on it, but to be truthful, it was a relief to have the weight removed. 

              “Fine. What are you doing here?”

              He eyed me cautiously as thought he could see into my body and assess my discomfort from where he stood. “This Martin guy, is he that little twerp in there?” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the door and I let out a low groan.

              “You need to let this go, Jackson. It was an accident.”

              “No. It wasn’t. Whoever hit you did it on purpose.”

              “You’re crazy. You know that?” I reached for my bag, but he moved out of my reach.

              “Anna, the car that hit you went from a standstill to high speed and blew right through that intersection. I’m telling you it wasn’t an accident. Whether you want to listen to me or not doesn’t matter. I know it’s true, and until I know this Martin kid didn’t do it, or pay someone to do it, I’m going to be damn sure you’re safe.”

              I saw it then, the determination in his eyes. He wouldn’t go away, no matter how much I assured him he worried for nothing. “Jackson.” I breathed out his name. Everything inside of me just felt heavy. Too hard to carry with me anymore. Yesterday morning I woke up and he wasn’t in my life. I didn’t know where he was or how he was doing, and within the course of twenty-four hours my entire life spiraled away from me. 

              Walking away from the door where several more students filed into the room, I leaned against the wall. He followed me with his concerned eyes and protective stance.

              “Why are you doing this? You don’t know me anymore, I can take care of myself now. I’m not that scrawny, naive little girl hiding under her bed every time there’s a bump in the night anymore. You said yourself you didn’t answer any of my letters because you didn’t want to. Just because I got hit by a car outside your garage doesn’t make you responsible for me.” 

              He stepped closer, invading the small space between us until the tip of his shoes touched the front of my sandals. “I stayed away to protect you, Anna, but never did I leave you alone.” I blinked a few times at his words. What the hell did that mean? “I’m not going to leave you alone now. That Martin guy could be a bigger pain in your ass than you think. You may not be the scrawny girl I knew inhigh school anymore, but you still don’t understand the big bad world. Not the way I do.”  His eyes narrowed, and he spoke so low I could barely hear him. But the menacing tone came through pretty clearly. 

              He pressed further toward me, my back pushed back against the wall, his face lingering just over mine. “I…” The fluttering in my stomach and the hitch in my breath made coherent thinking harder than usual.

              “So you are going to stop throwing it my face what I said to you yesterday. I did that for your protection, and I’m here now for your protection. And you are going to start taking what I say seriously, because I don’t play games, Anna. I’m not a patient man. When I want something, I take it, and when I say I’m going to do something, I do it.”

              I swallowed hard. Our eyes were locked in a mental tug of war. I wouldn’t look away. I refused to give in to him, because if I did, I would find myself lost. “What is it you want?”

              He didn’t answer me. Not with words. Instead, his hand snaked up my body, under my hair, and cradled my head. His lips came down hard on mine, crushing me with the force of him. His tongue lashed out against my lips, demanding entrance. No asking, no wooing, just a hard dominance, and I caved. Parting my lips, he swooped in, his tongue mingled with mine, showing me the power he held over me. A low moan escaped into the air. From me? The pad of his thumb rubbed my neck, behind my ear, drawing my attention to every tingling sensation running to my core. 

              When he finally broke the kiss, pulled back, and looked at me, his eyes were dark. Large pupils stared back at me. My breath came quicker and I tried to regain some composure. His own breath matched mine, his hand hadn’t left my hair. “That’s what I wanted,” he whispered, and kissed me again. A quick, hard kiss before he released me.

              My skin became electrified under his gaze. He released my neck, but he didn’t move back. His body pressed still me against the wall. If I had thought what my stomach felt before was fluttering, it had quickly turned into full on twists and jumps at the way he looked at me—as though he had only had a taste of what he wanted. An appetizer to satisfy him until the big meal. In that moment, I could have easily given myself to him. I could feel the strength of him just through is his gaze.

              “Now, we’re going to go back to your class and you are going to point this Martin asshole out to me.”

              “What are you going to do, Jackson? Threaten him? I have to work with these people. This is my last semester. Please don’t do anything to make my life harder here.”

              He let out a short burst of air and stepped back. “That’s the last thing I want to do, Anna.  But your safety comes first. Now let’s go.” He held out his arm, directing me to go ahead of him. When I tried to grab my bag from him, he shook his head and raised his eyebrow. 

              “Fine.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and walked ahead of him, making sure not to look back at him. No need to encourage his Neanderthal behavior, or to let him see how much his kiss affected me.

              I walked into the room, hoping he’d just stay outside, but I should have known better. He followed me to my seat and put my bag on the table for me. “Where is he?” he asked, looking around the room. I wanted to stomp my foot. The foolish man actually thought Martin would do something to hurt me just because he didn’t get his first pick internship? His second pick nabbed him, he had a solid future ahead of him. It wasn’t like I’d stolen away his only chance.

              Sweeping my gaze around the room, I found the twerp in the corner talking with his current crush. Aside from considering himself the brightest in the class, he also believed himself to be the Casanova of our group. Sharon wanted nothing to do with him. Her eyes wandered over his shoulder as he talked, and every so often she checked her phone. The blatant dismissal was lost on him however.