Brianna turned her phone off and on again. No signal. She needed to let her sisters know where she was so they wouldn’t worry. She was giddy all over as she waited for her phone to reboot. She could almost hear Gemma’s warning. The Jackson brothers were only after one thing. She’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire. They’d never buy the horse after they’d taken a ride for free. And the old adages would go on and on.
Gemma needed to get laid. Maybe if she had a man of her own, she wouldn’t be so bitter whenever she mentioned one of the Jackson brothers. Drina and Coco would probably share a bottle of wine and toast the event. In the back of Brianna’s mind, she truly believed they wanted her with Jax, Tyler, and Flint. They wanted her with them because they loved her and wanted her to be happy, but more than anything else they were tired of bailing her out of trouble.
She shuddered then. The cool night air whipped around her and she remembered how her mother used to tell them to take their sweaters with them if they were going to the Nolichucky. “The air is colder down there,” she once said.
Wrapping her arms around her upper body, she realized she wouldn’t be chilly for very long. Jax would come back and see her arms covered with chill bumps and immediately drape himself around her. Those big muscular arms would hold her close and his brothers would look on with a dab of lust in their expressions.
She wondered what was taking them so long. She’d lost time while dressing. Her mind had been a hundred miles away as she’d thought of Jax’s promise. He’d said they’d see what they could do about giving her everything she needed. Her fingers settled on her bottom lip as she thought of that bruising kiss, the one he’d planted on her lips without hesitation, without any reservations.
He’d wanted her. She closed her eyes and cursed like crazy. He’d wanted her but he hadn’t taken her because he was fucking scared she’d been raped, taken against her will.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She needed to find the courage to sit down and tell them what happened. Handsome hadn’t raped her. He hadn’t forced himself on her. He had abused her at the end of an act she’d first enjoyed, but she didn’t want the Jackson brothers to think of her as damaged goods then. She didn’t want them to treat her any differently than they would’ve six months ago when she’d knocked on their door and told them everything.
Brianna could still picture them standing there in the foyer. Jax had shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Tyler had acted plain guilt ridden. Flint only stuck around for a minute or two. Rumor had it later that he tried to run off the three women they had waiting for them upstairs. Women Brianna had watched enter their home, women Brianna wanted them to send on their independent ways because she had fully and intentionally tried to ruin the Jackson brothers’ good time.
Thinking back to that moment in time gave her great cause for impatience. She’d wanted them then. She wanted the Jackson brothers now.
Wondering what was keeping them, she peered around the corner, expecting to see Tyler and Flint with Jax. Instead four men had Jax down on the ground, beating him senseless.
“Stop!” Before she thought better of it, she showed herself. “What do you think you’re—”
Her heart probably stopped when the man on top of Jax peered over his shoulder. Handsome. Oh, my God. It’s Handsome.
Remembering the harsh words he’d said to her after he’d abused her at the motel, she realized these men weren’t there for Jax, but they would indeed make him a casualty of the situation. That’s how her father’s friends worked. They didn’t care who was hurt when they went after their mark. They didn’t care who they took out, as long as they were able to finish their initial job.
Gripping her phone to her chest, she hurriedly turned the power off, realizing she would need to run at least a half mile before she’d have service and praying she could make it that far.
“Run, Brianna! Run!” Jax rose to his feet and tackled Handsome from behind.
“Stop her! Bring her back alive! I want to be the one to finish this!” One of the men shouted to the others. At the same time, punches were thrown. Groans and grunts filled her head as she took off at a sprint.
“Oh God. Oh God.” She hurried across the pastures, leapt across a few logs, and slid down a hill, praying with every step, every last stride. She had to find help. She had to reach someone fast! Taking the route closest to the highway, she hurriedly decided it was the only way she could save Jax. She had to reach the main road so her phone would have service.
Looking over her shoulder, she noticed the two men following her were slacking and losing ground. They’d never be able to keep up with her if she made it to the main road and could run on a solid surface.
Every muscle in her body pulsed with energy as she thought about Jax and how she’d left him behind, left him back there to face off with her father’s enemies, the men who planned to make her pay for some of her father’s crimes. She turned on her phone and held it high in the air, thinking maybe it would pick up one of the towers and give her quicker service.
The phone beeped once and two bars shone bright on the phone. Pressing the first contact name she saw, she listened to the phone ring and ring. “Come on. Come on!”
“This is Flint. Leave a message.”
“Flint. Hurry! Get to the cabin down on the Nolichucky. Handsome—the guy who beat me—he has Jax. He and a few thugs from New York are giving him a beating. Hurry. Oh God, please hurry!”
She disconnected the call and paused long enough to search her contacts.
“There she is! Get her!” one of the thugs behind her screamed, alerting her to the obvious—she’d stopped running altogether.
Looking around for the best route to the highway, she chose the steepest area of the embankment leading to the main road, hoping she could make it but the big guys couldn’t. As expected, they slowed down as they started uphill. She hit the send button, calling home. The phone rang twice and then Kane answered. “Yes, hello?”
“Kane! Oh God! Kane! Help! You have to help me! Get my sisters to show you how to get to the cabin at the Nolichucky River. Get them to call Flint and Tyler. Please. You have to help me. You have to help me save Jax!”
“Slow down, girl. Where are you?”
“I’m coming up on the main highway in Erwin. Oh God. I can’t think of the highway now. You’ll pass me if you start toward the Nolichucky. Some fellas are following me…” The phone went dead.
Tears burned her eyes as she approached the main road and crossed the first guardrail. She was home free! Now she just had to keep her wits about her. Kane would be heading her way. Maybe Flint and Tyler, too, but one way or the other, someone would see her running down the highway.
She threw her hands over her head and screamed like a crazy woman, staring into the bright beaming headlights of the passing vehicles. Someone would see her. Someone would call this in and someone would help her so she could help Jax!
She had to help Jax. She had to save him. If she couldn’t save him, there was no reason for her to try and fight Handsome again. She would surrender. She would tell him to go ahead and take her and charge her for her father’s sins, no matter how great or how small.
If something happened to Jax Jackson because of her or her father, she would never be able to forgive herself.
Chapter Ten
Jax saw his chance and took it. When the two bigger guys took off after Brianna, he swung low and repetitive, going for a man’s prize and taking Handsome to his knees and then going after his buddy, giving him a hell of a fight by slamming his head into the fellow’s gut over and over again. He fought dirty and he fought hard. When he finished them, he went to his truck, found some rope, and wound that rope around one man and then the other. Then, he kicked the shorter dude across the ground and lined the two men up side by side.
He then tied them together. Only then did he realize that he might have carried this a bit too far.
&n
bsp; “You’ll never be able to save her,” Handsome said.
“Shut up,” Jax said, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
He stalked to his truck, dug through the glove box and found his forty-five. He started his vehicle, turned on the lights, and scoured his seat for his cell. About that time, his CB radio blared, “Breaker, breaker Big J. Where are ya, brother? Come back. A little dove told us there may be trouble at the river. Come back.”
He grabbed the unit and said, “Got it under control. Have you seen the little dove?”
“Got her right here with us.” Tyler immediately put his mind at ease. Jax’s eyes watered as he thought of how close he must’ve came to losing her. “She says to tell you to sit tight. We’re on our way.”
“She said that, did she?” He fiddled with his cell phone as he waited for their reply. Thank God the boys in the sticks still used their CBs. Folks in the city often made fun of them for the old fashioned tools and products they still used on a daily basis. “What about those blood hounds that were on her?”
“Big J, something tells me that Cartwell fella from North Carolina is gonna be a real good friend of ours.”
Either that or he was going to be a real pain in their ass.
“Little J, what’s your ETA?”
“Look behind ya, big brother. You’ll see my headlights in about five or six seconds.”
Jax slid away from the truck and kept his gun trained on the man who had tried to harm his woman. He knelt next to them and said, “When you post bail and I’m sure you will, you get in that fancy vehicle of yours and you get on out of here. In this part of the country, we look after our own. Folks around here grew up working for a living and we don’t take kindly to those who come in and try to harm one of our women.” Jax took the heel of his boot and pressed it against Handsome’s jaw. “Do I make myself clear?”
About that time his brothers pulled up behind him and a couple of cops in SUVs pulled in behind them. Doors slammed all over the place.
“Jax!” Brianna ran straight into his arms, locking her legs around his hips and hanging on for dear life. “I was so worried.”
“I knew you’d save me,” he said, winking at his brothers and cupping her bottom with both hands. He could get used to this, the hard ridge of his cock nestled against the warm heat of her denim-clad pussy. Yes indeed. He could get used to the finer things in life.
“Go on and grope her in front of everybody. Might as well. From what I can tell, everybody who’s wanted a piece of that has had some,” Handsome said.
Tyler and Flint beat Jax to the punch. Before Jax could gently release Brianna, they’d already taken it upon themselves to deliver a few kicks to the fellow’s middle.
Cops rushed the scene then. “Boys, move back!”
Andrew Little, a friend of the Jacksons, rushed Jax. “This your scene?”
“It’s not my scene,” Jax said, referring to the fact that he didn’t affiliate with city slickers who took it upon themselves to abuse women. “But the rope job is mine to claim.”
“Damn boy, you need to give up buying cattle and just rope ’em for a living.”
“I’m not a rodeo cowboy.” Jax draped his arm over Brianna’s shoulders. “Besides, I have a feeling I’ll soon have a good woman who’ll want to keep me at home.”
Brianna snuggled closer to him. About that time, Kane Cartwell appeared. Gemma, Drina, and Coco rushed Brianna and it physically pained him to release her so her sisters could check her out and assure themselves and each other that she was fine.
“Consider yourself lucky,” Kane said, shaking his hand and slapping his back. “I’ve had my son-in-law doing some PI work on this group.”
“Mob?”
“Oh yeah,” Kane said, tilting his head toward the vehicle. “I’d like to talk to you about that.”
Jax, along with his brothers, walked away from the others so they could talk privately. Brianna watched them, seemingly distant as she spoke to her sisters in a low voice.
“This isn’t the end of this,” Kane said. “You’ve got a war coming and you’d better be ready for it. On good advice, I suggest you leave town for a while.”
“Leave?” Jax snorted at that. “You call that good advice and I call it plumb stupid. We’ve got land here and over ten thousand head of cattle in five counties right now. We can’t go anywhere.”
Kane’s lips thinned and he curled his fingers against his brow, seemingly lost in thought. “You boys have no idea what you’re up against here.” He frowned. “Listen, you seem like good guys, but you don’t want to be involved with this.”
“We’re already involved,” Tyler said, that hot temper rearing its ugly head.
“He’s right,” Jax said, trying to keep a level head. “We aren’t going anywhere, Mr. Cartwell. Our folks were killed five years ago. It was ruled an accident. We inherited our family farm and rent four other properties here trying to help other families hang on to what’s left of their families’ farms. Around here, we don’t run from our problems. We join together as a community and work to resolve them.”
“Son, you don’t seem to understand. These guys mean business.”
“And you think we don’t?” Tyler asked, moving aside his jacket and showing off the butt of his gun. “Listen, Mr. Cartwell, with all due respect, I’m not real sure you understand the way farming is now in these parts. Half of the businesses around here are drug infested, and family farms are where a lot of the weed is grown and the meth is cooked. Another twenty-five percent of those properties are run by those considered the upper echelon of the livestock trade. They run their drugs and their cattle about the same way—transporting them across the country on the back of eighteen wheelers. The rest of us are legitimate but legal operations come at a price.”
“He’s right,” Jax said. “There isn’t a week that goes by that somebody isn’t approaching us for illegal action.”
Kane massaged his jaw. “It’s gotten bad over in Fletcher, too.”
“It’s nothing like it is here in rural East Tennessee,” Flint said, finally stepping in the conversation.
Tyler said, “Look, we appreciate your concern but we’re taking Brianna home with us. You once said you’d look after her sisters. I hope you meant that because we’ll take care of Brianna.”
Kane locked gazes with Jax. “You got anything to add?”
“Not really. You can already guess why we want Brianna.”
“You love her?” Kane asked, not trying to hide the question by using a more considerate and lower tone.
“We all do,” Jax said, glancing at Brianna and not really caring if she heard him. They’d tell her sooner rather than later. If anything, the last few days had taught them plenty. He wasn’t about to postpone today what he might not have a chance to do or say tomorrow.
* * * *
The cops questioned them for a while and finally let them go. Kane had promised to look after Brianna’s sisters and they didn’t seem too happy about the fact, but they’d left in jovial spirits after he expressed he’d been away from Peyton longer than he’d intended.
Tyler and Flint then departed in one of the Jackson vehicles, stating they’d meet them at home. Brianna had been surprised by the affection they’d shown her in public. Flint left a quick kiss on her lips and Tyler had hugged her as if he were afraid to let her go. Then, they’d each shot her a wink and Jax had escorted her to his truck, placing a protective hand in the small of her back as he guided her to the passenger’s side of his vehicle.
“You think he can protect you, Brianna?” Handsome, now handcuffed and headed for the unmarked police cruiser, didn’t seem to mind that the local PD had swarmed the area.
Jax stiffened beside her. “Keep walking. Don’t acknowledge him.” He guided her to the truck.
“You think you’ll walk around here with your nose in the air, spending money like it’s nothing when your father cost us millions? He stole from people who don’t give a damn about the dol
lar but certainly care about the cause. They practice ethical business measures and—”
“And ethical business measures include raping a woman?” Jax charged him like a bull and several of the locals stepped in and prevented him from attacking the one they were trying to take into custody.
“He ain’t worth it, Jax,” Andrew said, straightening his badge as if he wanted to remind him of his career status. At that moment, he was an officer of the law. It didn’t matter that Jax used to train his horses and they went to the same high school. It didn’t matter that they often spent their Saturday nights playing poker at a mutual acquaintance’s home. They were friends, but here in front of his peers, Andrew was a lawman through and through. “Get on in your truck and get on back to the farm. I’ll drop in later to let you know what we have on them.”
The man with Handsome said, “See there? I told you how it’d be here. Didn’t I tell you?”
Jax winked at Handsome. “You’re on our turf now, city slicker. Your mob money doesn’t mean anything here.”
Handsome smiled. “Everybody has a price, Mr. Jackson. Remember that. Because when I find out what it is, I’ll pay it and everybody around you will know you sold out to the mob.”
The sheriff shoved Handsome’s head down and forced him in the backseat of the car. He turned around and greeted Jax by saying his name only. “Jax.”
“Sheriff.” He nodded at the older gentleman. “Andrew, call me later. No need in stopping by. I’ve had a long day. Plan to turn in early tonight.”
Andrew smirked. “All right. I’ll give you this one. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Minutes later, they were on their way to Brianna’s place. A few miles from the Baldini farm, he pulled off on a dirt road, remembering a time when he’d parked there with some little fresh lily who wanted to frisk him in the middle of the day.
Throwing the gearshift in park, he threw his arm behind the seat and turned to her. “You’re going home with me.”
“What?” She shook her head as if she adamantly opposed the idea. “No.” She looked straight ahead.
Sexual Healing [Contemporary Cowboys 1] (Siren Publishing LoveEdge) Page 7