Josh couldn’t stop the humor from bubbling up and spilling over, erasing the anger. She had tried to run; Jax grabbed her and then cuffed her. He was admitting that he couldn’t control a woman civilian half his body weight.
Jenna stared at him, blinking dazedly. Even Jax stopped for a minute to look at him in astonishment. Admittedly, he didn’t smile much these days, but looking at him like he was on a big screen was a little much.
“She wanted to get out,” Jax said as he looked at Jenna quizzically. “I wouldn’t let her, so she punched me.” Jax motioned for the other two to get out and follow him. “I would’ve let it go, but she said I had to let her out or she would charge me with kidnapping. She could have, and probably would have, so I arrested her for assaulting a police officer. She took that as a green light to continue assaulting said police officer—me, let me remind you—until I was forced to try and put her in cuffs, at which point she ran.”
“So you let her run?” Josh’s smile vanished in a blink, his voice taking on a low growl of disapproval.
“I would have got her easy, but her friend there jumped out and attacked me. I had to get her back in the car and locked in before I could go for this one.” Jenna got a small shake from the hand that had her arm. “She’s fast. She went through the brush like a hot knife through butter. Lucky for me, she tripped over her own feet and fell down a ravine. I just waited for her to run into me after that.”
Josh just shook his head and followed them in.
“Did you find anything?” Jax asked.
“Yeah.” Josh left it at that as Jenna was ushered toward a small holding cell. There was no reason she needed the details. She had enough to worry about.
“You’re seriously going to lock me up?” Jenna asked.
“Worried about your record?” Jax replied.
“No. But I doubt you want to do all the paperwork.”
“I see you’ve done this before. You’re right. I don’t want to do the paperwork. Instead I am going to put you in there to teach you a lesson.”
“Won’t work. I’m hardheaded, remember?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, my nose still hurts.”
Jenna smiled at him. She was pushed into the cell and the door was closed.
“You are an asshole, sergeant.” Jenna wiggled her hands. “Wait, aren’t you going to take off my cuffs?”
“Nope. Maybe you’ll think before hitting and head-butting an officer of the law.”
Jenna gave him the frosty stare Josh recognized as her last resort for not showing weakness. She was strong, but she wasn’t Superman.
He waited for Jax to cross in front of him and followed with one last look. She sank down into the mattress with such pure vulnerability that Josh nearly went back to her. This was Jax’s show, though. He couldn’t intercede just yet. Not without creating some serious problems.
Josh followed patiently as Jax corralled the architects into the break room. Mike slumped into a chair, but Erika stopped in the center of the room.
She blinked twice, and then looked around. “Wait…where’s Jenna?”
“She’s in a cell,” Mike said with a frown. “We were literally just there.”
“In a cell?” Erika appealed to Josh with huge doe eyes and a shaking, half-slouching body. Before he could answer, her brow tightened. “I’ll go sit with her, then. Put me in there, too.” She straightened up her bearing, raised her chin, and looked Jax dead in the eye.
It was miraculous—those two girls would go through a lot of shit to comfort the other. Josh respected them more for it.
“No, she— ” Jax froze. Josh saw his buddy’s eyes zoom into Erika’s face, as if they were a lens on a camera. Jax’s face softened and his lips quirked up into a crooked smile.
Josh had seen that look before. Erika had just taken a big, hard grip on the man’s vitals.
Josh smirked. Jax didn’t fall often, but when he did, it was quick and absolute. Usually it took longer than two minutes, but Erika was emanating quiet vulnerability and Jax hated women in distress. Josh knew how he felt.
Too bad the little friend had a boyfriend. Jax would not be thrilled when he found out.
“Jenna needs to learn her lesson.” Jax wrapped his words in velvet. “So she’ll stay in the cell for a while until she can cool off.”
Erika didn’t seem to notice Jax’s sudden weakness. “Jenna won’t learn a lesson from being shoved in a jail cell. What she’ll do is spend the time thinking of a way to get back at you. You don’t want that.”
“You certainly do not,” Mike said, staring at his hands.
“Erika, you know that Jenna likes to be alone to deal with certain things,” Josh said as he leaned against the far wall. “Give her a couple of minutes—she’ll be fine. I wouldn’t let her stay in there if it’d do her harm. Okay?”
Erika gave a huff, and went over to sit on the bench against the wall. She crossed one leg over the other, and then crossed her arms over her chest. She turned her head to the side, cutting Jax and Josh out of her line of sight. If she had an office, or her own room, she would’ve slammed the door.
After a moment of reflection, Jax finally tore his eyes away from Erika—various parts of Erika—and led Josh into his office. Jax sat in his heavy leather chair behind an old, rustic oak desk, and Josh on an uncomfortable fold-out chair. They didn’t have incredibly high budgets, it being a small city outside of Denver, but they had everything they needed.
Usually except criminals. There wasn’t too much activity this side of Denver. Until now.
“Back to being Josh, huh? No more Chuck?” Jax sat back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach. The interrogation had begun.
Josh shrugged. “It’s time I rejoined the world of the living.”
“Quite a change from a week ago. It have anything to do with the head-butting anger management case?”
Josh smirked, and then shrugged again. That was all the answer he planned to give.
“You try to get out of the action and it finds you,” Jax said, putting his feet up on the desk. The man could get comfortable anywhere. “Not me, the guy who was looking for it, but you, the guy who was hiding in the woods.”
“Looks that way.”
“And how did you find it? Have any…unpleasant memories?”
Josh looked away. He’d heard a few war vets talk about flashbacks, and certainly Josh had had many a terrible nightmare, but he so far hadn’t experienced a true war hallucination. He told Jax so.
His buddy nodded, looking slightly relieved. “Well, tell me what you know and then I’ll fill you in.”
“Fill me in on what?”
“The architects had a conversation that might help shed some light on this.”
Josh nodded slowly, wondering why Jenna hadn’t told him directly. “I was in the water watching an altercation between the deceased and Jenna on the bank, about ten yards from my location. She was handling it, so I kept on alert but stationary. Lewis—”
“The ex-boyfriend.”
“Yes. Lewis was watching the altercation as well. He got grazed and was propelled away from point of contact. The movement caught my eye, but immediately after Dale was hit, the first shot hit him in his right shoulder, which was closest to Lewis. I started out of the water toward Jenna and tried to get everyone to take cover. A second later the third shot was fired, hitting Dale square in the back. After I had taken Jenna to the ground, one more shot was fired.”
“And the suspected target?”
“Jenna.”
“Jenna.” Jax paused for a second, figuring out how to go about whatever it was he had to say. Finally he said, “She’s a pretty girl.”
Josh clenched his jaw. He knew where this was going. It was hard to hide anything from the man sitting in front of him. They had been through BUD/S training together, a grueling six-month training course leading into the Navy SEALs, where two-thirds of the men dropped out from mental and physical exhaustion. It was hell on ear
th, testing the very core of a man’s moral fiber. Then, as SEALs, he and Jax had served in the same team. Going through hell and coming out on fire created a bond stronger than blood.
“She’s more than just a pretty girl,” Josh said evenly.
“More, as in, she is both striking and charming and a huge pain in the ass?”
Josh smirked at the accurate description. “She’s smart, uncontrollable, headstrong, and never backs down from me. Not ever.”
Jax’s eyebrows shot up. He put his hands behind his neck, his elbows out like wings. “Never backs down from you, huh? That’s a first. Hell, half our team backed down from you when you got going.”
“I can tell I make her nervous now and again, but she’s been through some shit. I’m not the biggest monster she’s ever seen. She’s too stubborn to let me intimidate her.”
“Hmm. Just the thing to keep you trying.”
“Hooyah.”
Jax laughed but settled back down. The interrogation wasn’t over. Something was bothering him. Josh had no idea what.
“What is she to you?” Jax asked.
Josh shrugged for the millionth time, letting his gaze slip out the window. “Don’t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.” He hoped one; he feared the other. Which of those he hoped and feared changed constantly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. The threat needs to be neutralized. She’s not safe until it is. I’m not sure about the others, but I doubt they are any safer.”
“That’s our job. Despite your many job offers, you’re still just a hiking guide.”
Josh ignored the dig. “She’s going to want to call her boss. The others say he’ll talk to her faster than to any of them. Maybe he knows something. Maybe he sent them away for a reason.”
“That is where the conversation in the car comes in.” Jax told him what had been said.
“She’s the star of the show,” Jax said.
Josh cleared his throat, taking a second to bat down a completely ridiculous surge of pride. The woman was not his. Nothing permanent tied them together. So why the hell was he elated that some chick that had it all was the head dick? It made no sense.
Trying to keep all this from Jax, he went simple. “Yeah.”
“They’ll all probably want to go home.”
“Probably.”
“You can’t keep her here, and I doubt she’ll invite you along. She isn’t your concern, Josh.”
“We’ll see.”
Jax busied himself with his computer for a minute, punching commands into his keyboard as if trying to punish the thing. In another second he snatched something off the printer. He handed it to Josh with a stern expression. The punch line was coming soon.
“That’s her rap sheet,” Jax said, resuming his seat. “I had Martha pull it after Miss Anderson slugged me, head-butted me, and then ran.”
Josh couldn’t believe the length of the list. Assault, shoplifting, theft—it was all fairly petty and mostly unnecessary, but there was plenty of it. It was Jenna’s young self crying out for help.
Josh’s heart swelled. He wished for all the world that none of that had been necessary. He knew exactly where she had been coming from, and it killed him that she’d had to endure any of it.
“Long list,” was all he said. What else was there to say, really? Without the full story, Jax wouldn’t understand.
“Yes, it is. She has a little bit of everything starting with theft at age ten. She was a minor, so it doesn’t count, but still, she has a troubled past. She’s a pain in the ass. Headstrong, high maintenance, egotistical… She’s bad news.”
“Sounds like a description of me.”
“Yes, it does. The only thing is, she turned herself around.”
Josh looked hard at his buddy. He hated it when this topic was broached.
“Did you know,” Jax went on, studying the desk, “that her father is rich? She’s beautiful, she’s got a great job, she’s got a ton of money, and she turned herself around from trouble, with a capital T, into the star of the show.”
Josh shifted uncomfortably. It was a harsh twist on the same old plot. He had let himself go so low, he wasn’t any good to anyone, least of all himself. So here came the part where his best mate in the world pointed out the obvious: she was way too good for the likes of him. It wasn’t news—Josh had known it from day one—but it still wasn’t great to hear.
“I assume you have a point to this shitshow of an interrogation?” Josh said in a low voice.
“Well, if she’s got all that baggage…” Jax’s voice was soft, his fingers picking at a wood knot in his desk, still unable to meet Josh’s eyes, “and can turn herself around, maybe you can, too, huh? Maybe she can give you a pointer or two.”
Josh waited for the other shoe to drop.
Jax still wouldn’t look at him, but nor did he say anything else.
“Is that it?” Josh asked, skeptical.
“Yeah. That’s it.”
“All that was to point out she should take on a job as a life coach?”
Jax finally met his eyes, albeit warily. “No. All that was to point out that maybe she’s good for you—her example, anyway. Maybe she’s your yellow brick road, man. Your second chance.”
“But not too good for me…” It had to be said.
Jax huffed, brushing at the desk as if the knot would wipe away. “I’d imagine you’re the only one who would take her. Who else would want to play the power games? Plus, she’s already taught you how to smile again, I see. I’ve seen you smile twice in twelve hours. That’s got to be a record…”
“She’s funny.”
“Not the descriptive I would’ve used, but whatever licks your lolly. Point is, she does seem to tickle your tree.”
Yes she did, and expertly.
Trying not to let another smile bud, Josh said, “When’s the last time someone gave you a bloody nose?”
“A couple of years. Still don’t see how that is funny.”
“You got a bloody nose from a girl half your weight, and you don’t see what’s funny?”
“How was I supposed to know she knew how to head-butt?”
“Never underestimate your opponent. Anyway, you gonna let her out any time soon? Is your pride recovered?”
“She’s lucky I didn’t press charges.”
“I doubt she’d care. As you said, she’s rich. She’d make bail. Plus, dear old Dad is some hotshot defense attorney. You’d probably be the one ending up in jail.”
“Man, you sure pick ’em.”
“Jealous?”
“A little. She’s hot.”
Finally, vindication! “She is, isn’t she? When I first saw her I about split my pants.”
Jax smiled. “She have a sister? A tamer one? Or what about her little friend—she with that yokel-looking guy?”
“No, she has someone named Phil.”
Jax’s face fell. “Too bad. Jenna’s ex-boyfriend is a high-class dude.”
“Your point?”
“I sure like that Erika. I wonder if this Phil is a high-class dude.”
“From what I could tell…” Josh followed Jax out the door. “She wasn’t too keen on Lewis. Didn’t think all that much of him. Probably doesn’t go for that kinda guy.”
“Hmmmm.” Jax gave Josh the keys to Jenna’s cell. “Keep her calm, will ya? My nose still hurts.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jenna heard Josh and Jack come into the room murmuring to each other. She heard rattling and metal clanging followed by a door swinging open on heavy hinges. The bed bowed near her head. She felt a large, warm hand on her back.
“You okay?” Josh asked quietly.
“Yes. I don’t care for jail cells all that much.”
“Understandable.”
“Am I free to go?”
“Yes.” He sounded guarded.
“What happens now?”
“We were wondering if you would call your boss.”
“We?”
“Jax. Me. Your coworkers.”
“Is it Jack or Jax?”
“It’s Jackson. Most people call him Jack. I am the only one left, apart from his family, who calls him Jax.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Josh seemed sad and haunted. Tortured. There was death in his past, and it sounded like it might involve close friends.
“Okay, let’s call Don,” Jenna said. “He’s going to be pissed.”
They all gathered in Jack’s office. It was spacious but not plush. Colorado probably didn’t have any more money than New York for city officials. Jack put the phone on speaker so they could all hear. Jenna wasn’t sure how wise that was. Don would watch his Ps and Qs if he knew a cop were listening in. One reason Jenna suspected he liked her so much was because she had a troubled past. Don thought a person either followed the rules, or didn’t. Either you were on one side, or you were on the other. She was on Don’s side. Cops…weren’t.
Well, except for a few, and those were trouble.
“Mr. Jeffries’ office, how may I help you?”
“This is Jenna Anderson for Don.”
“Hello, Miss Annnnnderson.” The horrible woman laughed. Jack did, too. Everyone else rolled their eyes, except for Josh, of course, who was looking stony-faced out the window, his thick black lashes drooping. He looked uneasy.
Jenna just waited, as usual. Jack prompted her to speak. She stared him down.
“I’ll get him for you,” the assistant said.
“She irritates the shit outta me,” Mike said from the back of the room.
Erika and Jenna nodded in commiseration.
“Jenna?” came the loud voice from the speakerphone.
“Don, you are on speakerphone in a cop’s office. Thought you’d want to know.”
She got the stink eye from Jack for that one. There was silence before Don said, “Camille, shut the door.”
Silence again. A door closed in the distance.
“Now what?” Don asked.
“I am calling from—”
“I heard all that. Why are you in a cop’s office? It usually means you’re a snitch, a rat, or naked. Which is it?”
Unexpected Hero (Skyline Trilogy Book 1) Page 22