Under Pressure(36)

Scared and unsure what was going on, Bella risked looking up at him to see he was barely recognizable. The tender, caring Jason she knew was gone. He had shut down completely, and in his place was the warrior.

Cold.

Hard.

Untouchable.

Now she understood why people thought he was a machine.

He drove with the confidence of a skilled race car driver, maneuvering in and out of Chicago traffic at a frightening speed. Tony let out a stream of impressive curses as he held on. As Bella huddled on the floor of the car, she wondered what could have possibly happened to have caused this reaction from Jason. She rested her head against her arm and closed her eyes, knowing that everything was okay as long as she was with him.

He would keep her safe.





Chapter Thirteen




Jason pulled up to his rehabbed building once he made sure they hadn’t been followed and entered the key sequence into the car dash to pull into the first part of the garage. A red light flashed for a brief moment and they waited as he keyed in the second code. The second door opened and they pulled into the main garage. Bella obviously missed the red light last time she was here, probably because she had been so nervous. Or it could have been some new security measure she hadn’t seen before.

Tony didn’t even blink at the hardware in the garage as they made their way through. She was bustled into the elevator, and they made it up into Jason’s apartment in an eerie silence with Jason all but surrounding her in the small space. The quiet was grating on her nerves and had her temper flaring.

Once inside, Jason opened a hidden panel in the wall and pressed his palm on the screen. “MacBain, Supernova alpha zeta 6-6-1 lockdown.” He turned to Bella, eyes hard. “You aren’t going back there. You’re going to quit teaching.”

“What?”

He ignored her. Turning to Tony, he told him to call Sal to bring him in.

She held up a hand. “Okay, listen. Stop right there. I’m not going to quit.”

“Aye, you are.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?”

“Bloody hell, woman, you’re not safe there.”

“What the hell is going on? I understand something just happened. I just let you throw me into your car and drive away like the devil was after us, and I want to know why.”

“You let me?” Jason’s eyebrow rose. He turned away again, and she reached out to grab his arm. It pissed her off to deal with him while he was still in warrior mode, but it threw her fury into the stratosphere when he dismissed her.

“Oh, you condescending son of a bitch, don’t you dare mock me. Tell me what happened or I’m leaving!”

Jason spun around and held on to her shoulders tight. She struggled helplessly against his hold. Tony’s low voice was informing Sal about what had happened over the phone in the background.

“I am resenting the hell out of this, Jason. If you won’t tell me what’s going on, I’m leaving. I won’t be handled. Don’t try and control me. I can think for myself! It’s my life, mine! I’m not quitting my job just because you tell me to! My teaching has nothing to do with you. I am not quitting! This is my life. Let me go!” Panic had her freaking out.

“Nothing to do with me?” Jason whispered.

Then he roared.

Her words were like a dagger through his heart. He pulled her up right off her feet until she was face-to-face with him. “Bollocks! There was something on your car, waiting for you! What if it were a bomb? What if someone had been waiting to shoot you in the fucking head while you stood there? How do you think I would feel if you got shot right in front of me? I’m not about to let a bloody thing happen to you, you got me?”

Jerking her so their noses almost touched, his voice lowered in icy fury. “Nothing to do with me? Everything about you has to do with me. You are mine. Your life means more to me than your bloody job!”

The color had drained from her face. She had lost herself for a moment as pure terror spiked through her system, but then their eyes connected. This was Jason, the man she was falling in love with. She knew, knew that she could trust him. She felt safe, protected, as if nothing could touch her with Jason watching over her. What she saw in his beautiful stormy eyes was something that she never thought she would see.

Fear.

Her anger dissipated at once.

“What was it? Tell me, tell me the truth.” Her voice was shaky.

Damn. He hesitated a moment. “Roses. White roses.”

Bella sucked in a breath, tried to speak, and couldn’t. She took a moment and then shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m sorry. I must have heard you wrong. Did you say roses? Someone left me roses, and this is the way you react? What is wrong with you? Are you high?”