by L. P. Dover
“Which is?”
She licked her lips. “You. I want you to show Bristol that it’s me you want. That every time you fucked her it was my face that ran through your mind.”
I was about to tell her she’d lost her fucking mind, but she cocked the gun, her finger resting over the trigger. “Fine,” I lied, hoping to get her attention back on me. Bristol was trying to saw discreetly through the tape and I couldn’t have Sadie focusing on her. I approached Sadie cautiously, trying my best to contain my anger. My instinct was to fight, to tackle her to the ground and take the gun away. But with her finger on the trigger she could easily pull it, and that would be Bristol’s end. I had to play her game. “You’re right,” I said, taking another step toward her. “It was you I thought about the entire time.”
Sadie’s smile widened. “I need you to show me, Jaxon. Make love to me, right here and now. I want Bristol to see the kind of passion we share.” She rubbed a hand down her chest to in between her legs. “You have no idea how many nights I watched our video and thought of you.”
I looked over at Bristol, whose eyes widened, and I froze. I hoped she could read my mind. I had a plan, but in order for it to work, we needed to move fast. Once Jason and his men got here, Sadie was bound to go off the deep end. Bristol needed to be safely out of here before that.
Chapter 30
Bristol
The thought of Jaxon touching her made me furious and sick at the same time. I knew what he wanted me to do and as soon as her back was to me, I was going to get to work. The faster I got free, the quicker we could end this.
Jaxon was only a breath away from her, but she turned to me and smiled. The gun was still aimed at my head, and the realization that my time could end at any second gave me more determination to live.
“This is what real love looks like,” she sneered.
Teeth clenched, I glared venomously at her. “Fuck you. I hope you enjoy what you get.”
“Don’t worry, my friend…I will.”
Jaxon reached for her hand and he guided her over to the bed, but unfortunately, she had an attachment that kept the gun basically glued to her hand. Any wrong move could end tragically. It took all I had not to look at them, especially when Sadie wrapped her arms around his neck, her moans echoing in my ears as she kissed him. They fell on the bed, her on top of him. Her back was to me, so I got to work. The blade was sharp and I felt it slice across my skin. I clenched my teeth at the pain, but I kept sawing. There was no time to waste.
While Jaxon kissed her, his gaze found mine and I shook my head. It killed me to watch him with her, especially with him having to pretend to enjoy it. She rocked her hips against his and groaned when it was obvious he wasn’t getting hard.
“Looks like we’ll have to do this another way,” she announced excitedly.
She started to unbutton his pants, and that spurred me on even more. Jaxon’s body tensed, and he was ready to strike whether or not I was free. He could take only so much and he’d reached his limit. I was almost there, only he didn’t wait. Grabbing her by the neck, he jerked her up and tossed her across the bed, right into his dresser. Her head hit hard and she collapsed to the ground, but the impact sent the candles to the floor.
“Jaxon, look!” I shouted. The flames spread across the rug on his floor up the curtains at one of the windows. My wrists were spread apart enough that I could break free.
Jaxon rushed to my side and since my arms were numb, he took the knife and worked on the restraints at my ankles. My wrists looked horrible, all blue and bloody. “I couldn’t hold out any longer,” he growled, the pain evident in his voice. “I wanted to rip out her goddamn throat.”
“Trust me, I know. But we need to hurry. The flames are spreading fast.” Panic started to settle in as the room filled up with black smoke. The bed was now taken over and the fire had spread to the hallway, blocking the door. Sadie started to move and I gasped. “Behind you.”
It was as if everything moved in slow motion. Jaxon cut the final restraint and my legs were freed, but I couldn’t move them fast enough. Sadie got to her feet and pointed the gun straight at me. She fired, and then so many things happened at once. Time sped up and I fully expected to feel the shot, but then Jaxon jumped in front of me.
“No!” I cried, watching him fall to the floor.
I couldn’t see if he was okay because Sadie lunged for me, screaming, “This is all your fault!” My back hit the floor and the breath whooshed out of my lungs. It didn’t help that they were filled with smoke. Gasping for air, I tried to fight Sadie off, but she pointed the gun down at me and I smacked her hand, the shot firing into the wall. I punched her in the face and her head snapped to the side. It gave me enough time to see Jaxon on his feet, his eyes glowing with rage. His shoulder was bloody, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He grabbed Sadie’s arms and hurled her into the fire, her screams excruciatingly loud as she rolled around on the floor, covered in flames.
Jaxon grabbed the chair I had been sitting in and tossed it at the window. The glass shattered and the smoke found an escape, but it intensified the heat. “Hang on!” Jaxon shouted, lifting me in his arms.
“What are you doing?”
He stood by the window and peered down. “I’m getting you out of here. When we hit the ground, roll your body so it’ll soften the fall.”
“Jaxon, no!” Only he didn’t listen. He glanced back at Sadie’s burning body and then jumped. We flew out the window, and it felt like an eternity as we fell through the air to the ground. When we hit, I rolled out of his arms and sucked in the clean, crisp air.
The next thing I knew, I was in Jaxon’s embrace, his heart pounding in my ears. “Thank fucking God you’re okay. I was so worried about you.”
Tears fell down my cheeks. “I didn’t think I’d make it out of there.”
He kissed my head. “You’re safe now.”
A chuckle escaped my lips, but there was nothing humorous about what had happened. “So are you,” I told him. Now he wouldn’t have crazy-ass Sadie sabotaging him. I jerked back and looked at his shoulder. “How bad is it?” There were no spurts of blood exiting the wound, so that was a good sign.
Sirens blared in the distance and the lights could be seen coming down the street. Jaxon helped me to my feet and he hobbled on his leg. Gasping, I stared down at it and then up at him. He’d hurt it jumping out the window. “I’ll be fine,” he promised, pulling me into his side. “It’s all over now.”
I wanted to believe that, but I had a feeling it had just begun.
—
The pain meds the doctor put me on had me in a haze. I remembered having a gazillion tests done and then being put in a hospital room. After that, it was all a blur, except for the doctor coming in and telling me that Jaxon was headed off to surgery. I had yet to see him.
“How’s your head feeling?”
I smiled and opened my eyes. Ryan held my hand, and he didn’t even attempt to mask the pain on his face. “Feels like I got hit with a baseball bat.”
“You did,” he said matter-of-factly.
I squeezed his hand. “I’m fine, I promise. Have you heard from the doctor?”
“Yep. Luckily, you just have a slight fracture in your skull where that cunt hit you. But on top of that you have a concussion.” He closed his eyes and I could tell he was hanging on by a thread. “I told Reed if you got hurt I was going to kill him.”
“Ryan, it’s not his fault. You can’t—” I didn’t get to finish what I was saying because a knock sounded on the door. Ryan and I both turned to find Jason Avery strolling through the door with his badge displayed on his belt. He had dark hair like Jaxon and even resembled him a bit. He’d introduced himself last night after everything happened, but I couldn’t remember a single thing I said to him.
“Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said. “I’m Jason Avery. I didn’t know if you’d remember meeting me after everything going on last night.”
I waved a
t him. “I remember you. Unfortunately, I don’t remember anything I said to you, though.”
He glanced at Ryan before focusing on me. “Is this a bad time?”
“No,” I said, pointing to the chair on the other side of my bed. “Have a seat. You probably need a statement, right?”
He nodded. “We can always do that later when you’re better rested. I wanted to stop by and give you an update. By the time the fire was under control, it destroyed over eighty percent of Jaxon’s home.”
“Did you find Sadie’s body?” I asked. I remembered watching her go up in flames, but I had to know for certain.
“What was left of it,” he informed me. “She won’t be bothering you anymore. With everything that happened, it was enough for the Nate Bryson case to be reopened. I’m hoping the gun Sadie had was the one used to kill Nate and his wife.”
I gasped. “Yes. She admitted to killing them.”
His eyes went wide. “Are you serious? Would you be willing to testify?”
“Of course. That girl was a piece of work. I can’t believe she pretended to be someone else so she could get to me. She was probably planning on killing me from the very beginning.”
“I have no doubt,” Jason agreed sadly. “We found Jaxon’s portfolio in her house. It pretty much confirms that she was the one responsible for the break-in.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, I leaned back against the mattress. “How bad is the press going to be?” I asked.
He shrugged. “They’ll be hounding you for the next couple of weeks, but after that it’ll die down. You and Reed will be fine.” He got up and shook Ryan’s hand. “Good game last weekend.”
“Thanks, man,” Ryan replied.
Jason then turned to me. “Talk to you soon. Reed knows my number.”
“Wait,” I called out. He glanced at me over his shoulder. “What happened to Corbin? Is he okay?”
He gave me a small smile. “He’ll be fine. The guy’s a survivor.”
I breathed a sigh of relief; I’d been worried about him.
Once Jason was gone, I was hoping Ryan would have calmed down, but the visit had only fueled him more. “I don’t like this, Bris. What if another one of Jax’s psycho one-night stands comes along and tries to hurt you?”
“They won’t,” I told him. “First off, he doesn’t have any more one-night stands because he’s with me. And second, I’ll just break their noses like I did Sadie’s. If I wasn’t tied to a chair, I would’ve taken her down. I’m not going to run, Ryan.”
“You should,” he retorted. The tears I’d been trying to hold back fell. Groaning, he leaned over and hugged me gently. “You should leave him, but I know he took a bullet for you. I just want you to be happy…and safe.”
I let him go and wiped my eyes. “I am. You have nothing to worry about.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right.”
Out of the corner of my eye, a figure appeared in the door. It was Jaxon, with a forlorn expression on his face. Judging by that look, I’d say he’d heard everything Ryan said. He was dressed in a pair of clean jeans and a T-shirt with his arm held in a sling. Sighing, Ryan kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you later, sis. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
He stood and walked over to Jaxon, his gaze hard as he stared at him. “Just because you took a bullet for her doesn’t mean you’re what she needs.” Jaxon lowered his head and waited for Ryan to storm out before approaching me.
“Hey,” I said, waving him over. “I’m surprised they let you out before me. I’m not the one who got shot.”
Shrugging, he walked over with a limp. “True, but I might’ve bribed the doctor with free football tickets.” I chuckled. “You took a hard blow to the head. They just want to monitor you. I know you’ll be fine. Although,” he said, “your brother might say you have brain damage now that you’re staying with me.”
I reached for his hand and brought it to my face. “Ryan just wants to protect me. He’ll learn to accept you one day.”
Jaxon sat down and sighed. “Doubt it. Maybe he’s right about you leaving me. What if someone else tries to hurt you?”
“Then we’ll deal with it,” I promised. “However, I don’t think anyone’s going to mess with us after what happened to Sadie.”
“They’ll get burned if they do,” he added. Then with a groan, he ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, that was a really bad pun. What’s bad is that I don’t feel any sorrow at all over her death. I’m glad she’s gone.”
I squeezed his hand. “So am I. Now she can’t hurt anyone ever again. What about your leg, though? You’re still limping.”
He waved me off. “Just a sprain. A few days on ice will cure it. I refuse to miss a game.”
Knowing him, he’d play with a broken foot. “I never got to say thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive right now.”
He leaned over and kissed my lips. “I love you, Bristol. I’d step in front of a bullet any day for you. But if you feel like paying me back, I can think of several different ways.”
I smacked his good arm and giggled. “I’m sure you can.”
“And speaking of thank-yous, Corbin wanted me to give you a message. When I went to check on him, there was a woman in his room. He said you would know who she is and to tell you thank you for bringing her to him. If it weren’t for the tragedy, she wouldn’t have found him.” Brows lifted, he looked at me with curiosity. “Does that make any sense?”
It sucked that it took Corbin getting shot for his long lost love to find him, but it warmed my heart to know he was happy. “It does,” I said with a smile. “Maybe now he’ll make the right decision.”
“There’s another decision I need you to make.” He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “Now that my house is unlivable, I was wondering if…”
“If you could stay with me?” I finished.
With a sheepish grin, he shrugged. “Maybe. What do you think?”
“You didn’t even have to ask. We’ve basically been living together anyway.”
“True, but after everything that happened, I didn’t know if you still wanted to be with me.”
“I’m not going to let anyone scare me away,” I murmured.
He leaned forward and placed a hand on my cheek; his skin was warm and I breathed him in. “I love you, Bristol. As soon as everything is settled, I’m taking you on a vacation. How does a tropical island sound?”
“Like paradise.”
Chapter 31
Bristol
“Whose idea was it to have Christmas dinner here?” Jaxon asked. He turned his back on the ham and I stole a piece, trying my best not to laugh. We’d spent all morning cooking it and it tasted delicious. Instead of traveling to Texas to see my parents for Christmas, we flew them here to Charlotte, and the same went for Brent, Jaxon’s brother. We’d traveled so much for Jaxon’s games that I was ready for some time at home.
I wrapped my arms around his waist while he finished carving the meat. “Yours. Don’t worry—it’ll be fine. Your brother will get along perfectly with my parents. And Ryan’s been warned to be on his best behavior.”
“At least he doesn’t scowl at me anymore at practice. It’s a step in the right direction.”
“I guess.” I laughed. “I just wish he’d get over it and move on. We’ve gone almost a whole month without something bad happening.” Grabbing the plates, I set them out on the table.
Jaxon snorted. “Better knock on that wood, love. You just jinxed us.”
I knocked on the table just as someone knocked on the door. Jaxon and I both stared at the door. “Who could that be? No one’s supposed to be here for another hour.”
I opened the door and Luke greeted me with a wave. “Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, Luke. Merry Christmas to you too,” I replied awkwardly.
Jaxon joined me at the door and shook Luke’s hand. “What brings you by?” he asked.
I stepped out of the way so Luke
could come in. With a big smile on his face, he held out an envelope to Jaxon. “I figured I’d be the one to give you the good news. I thought it’d make a nice Christmas present.”
Jaxon took the envelope and opened it quickly. “Is this about the bike design?”
Luke winked at me and nodded while Jaxon fumbled with the paperwork. Excitement bubbled in my chest and I slapped a hand over my mouth to hold in my gasp. “Well?” I said, waving him on. “What does it say?”
Mouth gaping, he handed me the papers, a look of pure shock and awe on his face. “They want me to design their bikes…all of them.”
Squealing, I jumped in his arms. “This is amazing! Are you going to do it?”
He chuckled and set me down. “Hell yeah, I’m gonna do it. I’d be stupid to pass this up.”
Luke pointed at the contract. “Not to mention, they’ll be paying you a shit ton of money. It’ll be the perfect job when you retire from football.”
“You could design full-time. Just imagine all the opportunities you’ll have,” I added excitedly.
Luke patted Jaxon on the shoulder. “All right, you two, I’m going to get back to the family. I just couldn’t wait to give you the good news.” He backed toward the door and stopped. “Once all the holiday shit is over with we should all get together and hang out. I’d love to pick your brain.”
Jaxon beamed. “We’d love to. And I appreciate you stopping by to give me the news.”
Luke nodded and once he’d walked out the door, Jaxon lifted me in his arms. “Holy shit, this is intense. I didn’t think they liked my sketch. It’s been weeks since I gave it to Luke.”
“Obviously, they love it. What a great Christmas present.”
His smile softened and he set me down. “Since we’re on the subject of Christmas presents, I want you to go ahead and open yours.”
“Now?”
He walked over to our Christmas tree, which glistened with bright, white lights and a couple hundred multicolored ornaments. I was anal about my furniture matching, but my tree was decorated with a mishmash of ornaments from my childhood. My mother didn’t care about putting up a tree anymore, so she’d sent me all of her ornaments. Every time I looked at them, it felt like I was back home. Jaxon moved a couple of the presents out of the way and pulled out a box.