Jackson’s Destiny(6)

We were both silent except for the sound of our breathing.

I laid my head back against the seat and allowed the tears to fall without trying to control them.

“Please get her help. Even if you can’t be the one that helps her, find someone that can. You owe her that,” I said just before lowering the phone and ending the call.

I don’t know how much time had passed before the slam of a car door startled me. I looked up into my rearview mirror to see Noah’s patrol car parked just a few feet behind me and Noah approaching me with his hand tucked into the waistband of his jeans.

No matter how I was feeling, the Sawyer boys made my heart race. They had this dominating look about them that made me feel tiny in their presence, and they were too attractive for their own good.

I hit the button to roll down my window just as he stepped up to it. The moment my eyes connected with his, a look of concern washed over his features.

“Hey, Bay, what’s going on?”

I shook my head and averted my eyes immediately. I was a mess, and damn if his concern didn’t bring on more emotions. “Did Amber call you?” I whispered.

“Ryan,” he replied. “But she called him. She’s worried and so are we.”

“I’m fine. I just let Carla get to me,” I assured him, but I knew I didn’t sound too convincing.

Noah opened my door, wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and pulled me into a hug. The smell of his cologne reminded me of Jackson. What the hell was it with these men? Did they all wear the same cologne?

As he spoke to someone on his cell phone, I could hear his words vibrating through his chest. “I need you to come out to Cameron Lane and pick up Bailey’s Jeep.” There was a pause before he spoke again. “I’m taking her to my place so she can have some space. Stop being an ass and come get her Jeep.”

I wondered who he had called, but before I could ask, he was pulling me out of my truck and leading me toward his cruiser.

“Your Jeep will get picked up and brought to my place,” he said. “I’m on duty until ten tonight, so you have some time alone. Stay longer if you need to, but you aren’t driving in your state.”

I looked up at him, wondering where this direct side of Noah had been hiding. I was used to the calm, cool, and collected version.





Chapter Four





Jackson



Thank God my brothers had insisted I load myself up with a shit-ton of coffee, followed by enough water to flush out all the alcohol I had consumed last night. Because now I was sitting in Ryan’s truck as he drove me to Cameron Lane.

Once I was behind the wheel of Bailey’s Jeep, I would be driving straight to Noah’s place to pick her ass up. It didn’t matter how much I had going through my head right now. If she was staying anywhere other than her own apartment, it sure as shit would not be at my single brother’s cabin.

Bailey and I had been skirting around one another since the night Ryan and Amber found us at the side of the barn during our last annual cookout at the ranch. Both of us had a little too much to drink, and if they hadn’t stopped us when they did, I’m more than positive we would have had sex right there. Yeah, not one of my finest moments, especially since I was trying to convince Bay I was interested in her and wasn’t the playboy I used to be.

“What are ya planning over there?” Ryan asked as he turned off the gravel road onto Cameron Lane.

“Nothin’,” I said.

“You got that look on your face. The one you get when shit’s happening and you’re taking control.” Ryan knew how I worked, and he wasn’t buying my shit.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Bailey, and from the sound of it, neither does your woman. But I sure as hell ain’t leaving her in the care of Noah,” I said as I looked up the road just as Bailey’s red Jeep Wrangler came into view. She had only bought it a few weeks ago, and the thing was still shiny. I knew she was proud of it because it was the first vehicle she had ever bought for herself.

“What if she wants to be in Noah’s care?” Ryan asked.

I swiveled to face him and narrowed my eyes. “Ask me if I give a fuck,” I growled. “No, I don’t. I may not have gone about things with her the right way in the beginning. I may be shitfaced with my own grief, and my head may be full off all kinds of garbage right now, but the last thing I will allow to happen is Noah sliding in to be the man that was there for her when she needed a shoulder. So whether she wants to or not, her ass will be walking out of Noah’s place with me.” I turned back to look out the windshield as Ryan slowed to a stop just behind her Jeep. “Either that or I’ll be dropping her at Heavenly Temptations, but those are her only choices.”