"Nothing." Jackson came to sit by me, relaxing back and resting his arms along the back of the sofa. It was nice to see him relax for five minutes and not act so formally.
"I've got my best men working around the clock to try and figure it out though, so I'm confident we will."
"I trust you guys. Are we safe here though? Everyone knows where I'm staying."
"They do, but they also know you're staying with me. My guys are here all the time, this is the safest place you'll ever be."
I felt better when I remembered how often Jackson's men would be in and out of the house. There was always at least two of them in the house, normally just eating or hanging out with Jackson, which definitely made me feel safer. The only way I was able to sleep at night was knowing that there were at least three, massively built guys watching television downstairs. It still confused me as to what their roles were, though.
"I still don't understand. Are they just your friends? Because they act like your employees."
"It's difficult to explain to someone who wasn't raised around here. I guess you could call me the sheriff and these guys are my deputies. You'd have to shoot them in order to get to me, though."
I laughed at his reference, secretly thrilled by the way he smiled at me in response.
"Ah, I see. So, you're like the boss?"
"Pretty much. I'm hoping that by having you stay here, it will put whoever is trying to hurt you, off. They'll know the family they are messing with and will hopefully give up whatever they are trying to achieve."
"Nothing is ever that simple though, is it?"
"Unfortunately not."
"It's not a burden to stay here, I mean your place is beautiful."
"Thank you. I'm hardly ever here, hence why it's quite sparse. It's really just a place to rest my head, but by 7am I'm back out again."
"So, being the boss? It's kind of a 24/7 deal then?"
"Definitely. Keeping these guys in line is a full time job."
"Oh sure, they seem like such terrors." I said sarcastically, smiling when he barked out a laugh. I was beginning to realise I had been wrong about Jackson. I'd presumed he was a hard-ass, who never smiled and was angry with absolutely everyone. I'd realised over the past couple of weeks that he was just selective with those he let his guard down with, and I couldn't help but inwardly cheer that I was one of the people he did that with.
"You weren't here the time we had to go and retrieve Blake from the top of a tree when he was stuck."
"Oh my god, was he a child?"
"It was about six months ago." I laughed, begging him to tell me the story.
"I got a phone call. Blake told me he was having a nightmare in the forest and needed assistance. I panicked, thinking he was in a lot of trouble so went along to the location he sent me with about six of my men. I imagined every scenario you can think of; he had been attacked, he'd got caught up in an animal trap or fallen down a bloody well. Nope, we arrived to find him right at the top of a huge tree, freaking out that he couldn't get down."
"Seriously?" I chuckled. "Blake who is about four times the size of me, looks like he spends every second lifting weights down the gym, couldn't get down from the tree?"
"See, that's the thing. Blake is the toughest guy I know underneath all the bravado. Seriously, put him in a fight with ten men against just him and he will win, but when faced with his biggest fear he just fails to function."
"He's scared of trees?"
"No, he's scared of heights. Like, terrified. He was trying to act all cocky and stuff but he was literally shaking."
"Why the hell did he climb a tree when he is terrified of heights?"
"He said he was trying to conquer his fear, but all he did in the end was put himself off tree climbing for life. Now do you see the kind of crap I have to put up with on a daily basis?" I laughed, relaxing back in to cushions on the sofa. I was grateful to Jackson for distracting me from my worries after the fire, even if just for a moment.
JACKSON
Drinks in the pub. 10 Minutes.
I sighed as I read the text message that had just come through on my phone. I knew why the guys wanted me to meet them at Logan's. Pretty much to rip the shit out of me about Laura. Great. I hopped in my car and took the ten minute drive to The Howl, already dreading the probing questions I was bound to be asked. I stepped inside and noticed the pub was half full, with Logan at the bar, serving. I walked over to the corner where Noah, Isaac and Blake were sat, drinking beers and laughing about something. Great, all the brothers together. It could have been worse, though. Ethan was normally the worst for taking the piss, so I was extremely grateful that he was clearly otherwise engaged.
"Bro! Sit, we got you a beer already." Blake passed me the bottle.
"Everything okay?"
"Everything's great. We haven't had a good drinking sesh in a while, so thought it would be cool to just hang for a bit." Blake answered, his eyes checking out the girl in the corner who worked in the local hairdressers.
"You know it's rude not to look at someone when they're talking to you."
"Please, if it's a choice between looking at your ugly mug and that gorgeous girl? It's obvious who I'm gonna be focusing on." The guys all laughed and after about five minutes of small talk to catch up, the topic swung around to the one person I would really rather not talk about.
"So, how is Laura?" Blake asked with a smile on his face.
Isaac spoke before I was able to answer. "She still planning on sticking around?"
"Yeah, she's here for good, why? I thought you were cool with her now?" I felt my hackles rising, confused by how quickly anger overtook me at the thought of anyone being negative towards Laura.
"Chill, Jackson. I like her. I was just curious about what her plans were now. It's obvious someone in town doesn't want her here. It would probably be safer for her if she did leave." I wish I could deny that; but it's true.
"You're pretty quick jumping to her defence," smirked Blake, as I punched him on the arm probably harder than I would normally, to get him to shut up.
"Are they any developments on that front?" I asked, trying to deflect the conversation away from the feelings I had towards Laura.
"We can't find any trace of anyone other than wolves from our pack. It's looking pretty certain it was one of our own guys who set the fire."
"We need to find out who did it." Blake said. "They may have been aiming for Laura, but that building had my girls in it, and I'm not gonna let it lie until I kill whoever did it."
The guys got serious for a moment; thinking about how much worse the situation could have been.
"We'll find out who did it. My men are working on it day and night and I'm keeping my head low but one ear to the ground; always. The best thing we can do is go on like normal, but keep an eye on our families. Whoever did this will get a false sense of security, so is bound to try something again. We need to make sure that we're ready for them, when they do."
The rest of the evening was spent downing beers, coming up with various plans of action should anything else happen. There was a sense of unease in the whole town lately and I didn't like it one bit.
LAURA
I needed a break. Don't get me wrong, I'd been having the best time hanging out with Jackson and his family each night, reading bedtime stories to Annabelle, enjoying friendly banter with Jackson's men who came in and out of the house like there was a revolving door on the front of it. I felt safe and happy; I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else. But, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. I felt like I belonged here at the same time as still feeling somewhat of an outsider, with everyone knowing the secrets of the town apart from me. Although most people in the small town had gotten used to me by now, there were some who avoided me like the plague. There were whispered conversations that I wasn't allowed to hear and I still couldn't understand why Jackson was out at all times of the day doing a million different jobs, despite just being one man. Why did he need so many ‘enforcers' and what did that word even mean? It felt like he was mayor of the town, at the same time as being head of the law enforcement, fire department, security and everything in between. It could just be that he was a good guy, but my gut told me that there was more to it, and I now always listened to my gut. If I'd done so in the first place, maybe I would have seen Craig for the lying git he was behind all the sweet talk. But then I wouldn't be here right now, with these amazing friends. I had decided to take a walk through the woods to get some fresh air and stretch my legs, after being cooped up inside and watched like a hawk after the fire. It was sweet how protective everyone was, but sometimes a girl needed time to think on her own without someone asking her every five minutes if she was okay.