“Hello?”
“You need to call your sister.” Frank’s sinister voice rings through the speaker of my prepaid cellphone I used for my sister before I left. How he got this number is beyond me.
Frantically, I grab the cell phone Brad gave me for emergencies. He assured me that no matter what, when I called, he would answer. I hit dial and wait impatiently for him.
“Lanie, are you okay?”
“My sister….” I break down in a fit of tears.
“What about your sister?” He asks. “Lanie, calm down.” I can’t seem to find the strength to calm down. It’s been over a month since I’ve heard Frank’s voice. Just those few words have me shaking so badly, I can’t think straight. I slide down the kitchen counter when my legs give out. “Lanie? Jesus.” He goes silent. All I hear is his muffled voice. Moments later, the front door is shoved open causing me to jump and scream.
“Lanie?” Jax calls out to me. My sobs are the only indication of where I am. “She’s right here. I thought I heard her crying.” He tells Brad on his line before ending the call. “Shh, it’s okay.” He bends and scoops me up with my two phones. “I’ve got you.” He kisses the top of my head walking us into my bedroom before sitting us in the center of the bed. He takes the lit phone and puts it to his ear.
“Yeah, I’ve got her. Give me a couple of minutes to calm her down. Okay…” He ends the call. “Lanie, look at me.” Jax demands. I can’t focus on anything right now. He places his hands on both sides of my face and forces my face to look at him. “Look at me, Lanie.” He nods when my eyes meet his. His face is blurry through my tears. “Good. Now breathe with me.” Slowly he instructs me to inhale and exhale with him. Moments later, when I’m finally not panting with fear, he clears his throat and dials Brad again, putting it on speaker phone.
“Fucking hell, you scared the shit out of me.” Brad calls on the phone.
“I’ve got you on speaker phone. I don’t give a shit about what you made me promise about privacy. I’m not leaving her alone to talk. You can either talk with me here, or I hang up.” His eyes never leave mine when he threatens Brad. He’s scaring the shit out of me, but in a protective, relaxing way.
“Lanie, are you okay telling me what happened just now with Jax present?” I nod, not breaking my eye contact with Jax’s. He’s the only thing holding me together right now.
“She nodded.”
“I… Yeah, he’s fine.” Jax lays the phone on the bed and takes both of my hands in his. We’re sitting in the center of the bed, my legs over his, facing each other. “Brad, he got a hold of my prepaid phone. The one I use for my sister.”
“What? How?” I continue before I lose strength.
“All he said was for me to call my sister. If something happened to Laura, like my parents, I’ll never forgive myself.” I feel the little strength I have slipping away.
“Okay, well let’s call her. Jax, can you grab the prepaid for her? Call her sister, put it on speaker and don’t say a word when someone picks up. Not a word. I’ll be recording it from my end.”
“I have to release your hand, okay?” His voice is as soft as his eyes are. I nod and instead of releasing my hand completely, he places them both in one of his. “I’ve got it. I’m calling her sister now.” He says before hitting dial and putting it on speaker. When the call pics up, Frank answers.
“Bout fucking time you called your sister. What? Thought you could leave me and get away without someone else in your life getting hurt?”
“Where’s Laura?” I ask with a shaky voice. “What have you done to her?” The phone goes silent.
“Lanie.” My sister’s broken voice comes through the speaker. “Lanie. I’m okay. I have a few broken ribs, but the police say I’m lucky to be alive. If it wasn’t for Frank following me, I wouldn’t have survived the explosion.” I gasp.
“Oh my God. Laura!” It’s only until now that I notice Jax is sitting in front of me, shirtless. His tattoos are by far the scariest, but most intriguing sight I’ve ever seen. His muscles are tight and are causing a slight distraction for me.
“He did this, didn’t he?” She whispers. When Jax’s hands start clenching and he begins to shake, I do the only thing I can to keep him from speaking. If Frank is with my sister, I know he will have her phone tapped or she will be on speaker. I place one hand on Jax’s chest and one on his lips, making sure he doesn’t make a sound.
“Yes.” I begin to cry and drop my head, pausing only for a moment. “Laura, you need to get out of there….” The line goes dead. “Laura? LAURA!”
“The line went dead, Brad.” Jax takes my shoulders and pulls me into his embrace.
“I need to go see her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“You can’t do that. That’s exactly what he wants.” Brad’s voice sounds strained.
“She’s going to get killed if I don’t get her out of there.”
“Then I’ll go and get her.” He says.
“She doesn’t know you. She barely knows what’s happened to me. She only knows that I left because Frank is abusive and violent.”
“Let me make a few calls, I’ll get back with you in thirty minutes. Don’t leave her side, Jax.” He ends the call and I let the sobs for my sister flow.
Jax holds me in his arms, rubbing his hand up and down my back in comfort and reassuring me that everything will be okay. What he doesn’t know, is everything will not be okay. Frank has unlimited resources and will do whatever he can to get me back into his deadly web. He won’t be happy until I’m either back under his arm or worse, dead. I can’t let Jax know this. He’s already in too deep. The more involved he gets the more it puts his life in danger.
“You need to tell me what’s going on, Lanie.” I can’t, I shake my head no against his chest. I can feel him taking a huge breath. “How can I help you if you won’t talk to me?”
“Just be here for me. Please.” I beg. He holds me in his arms as we wait for the call from Brad. While we sit in silence, I release my hold around his neck and focus on his tattoos, dropping my hand down his arm.
“No wonder people are scared of you. You’re a walking horror film.” I run my hand over his Michael Myers face on the inside of his bicep. My head is still resting on his chest and I can feel his rumbling laugh from deep within.
“What can I say? I’m a fan.”
“You’re getting goosebumps.” I mention while I run my finger over the Freddy Krueger tattoo. His arm flexes and his body tenses up. I pull away from his chest and look up into his eyes. They are gentle, but fierce. My breathing quickens.
“You’re touching me.” I slide my hand down between us breaking contact from him. He places his hand on mine. “Don’t, don’t stop.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“I’ve never felt this way from a woman’s touch before.” He brings our hands up to his chest, resting it against his rapidly beating heart. “It’s your touch that does this to me. I don’t know what it is, but when we first shook hands, I felt something. Please tell me I’m not crazy.”
He’s asking me to tell him I felt the same thing he did. How can I tell him that I feel the exact same way? How can I put him in danger like that? I’m a woman that’s broken inside and everything I touch dies. Our fingers intertwine as our breathing picks up even more. If I lie to him, I will make him angry. That’s the first thing I learned with Frank, but he isn’t Frank. This is Jax, my boss and landlord that’s housing me from that monster.
“Say something.” He whispers, tightening his grip on my hand. I look up into his brown eyes, studying them. I look for signs of a monster. Regardless of his horror tattoos, all I see is compassion and concern. I release my hand from his and bring it to the dark stubble on his cheek. It looks like it’s rough, but it’s actually really soft. It tickles my palm. He leans into my touch and closes his eyes for a moment.
“I felt it too.” His eyes open and he releases a breath he was holding in. “But I’m not good for you, Jax. I’m a broken shell of a woman.”
He reaches up and wipes a tear from my eye with his thumb.
“Do you know what they do with broken pieces? They turn them into beautiful pieces of art.” His mouth turns up into a slight smile before he becomes serious again. His eyes dance back and forth with mine. “Let me put you back together.” He rests his forehead against mine. We remain this way until the phone begins to ring. Without letting me go, he reaches over and puts it on speaker.
“You’re on speaker.”
“Lanie, your sister is at the local hospital. She will be there for some time. The damages are worse off than what she said.” I close my eyes tight, trying to hide my anger. Jax pulls me into his arms as we listen to Brad. He tells us she was pinned when her car flipped. Her brakes failed and she spun out of control. She has a broken pelvis and ankle as well.
“Can she be moved?” Jax asks.
“She can be transferred, yes, but Frank is with her. He hasn’t left her side much, and when he needs to, he has someone standing outside her door.”
“I have to go to her.”
“Lanie, that’s exactly what he wants you to do.” Brad exclaims.
“Then that’s what I will do. I can’t have anyone else getting hurt because of me.”
“No!” They both state in unison.
“This is my fight.”
“Lanie, I didn’t relocate you for you to go back into the arms of a monster. Don’t forget how easily he found you the night I met you.”
“Those bruises on your neck, those were from him?” Jax asks. I don’t answer. Instead, I slide off the bed and reach under it to pull out a small bag. “God Damn it Lanie, answer me.” He stands at the edge of the bed and takes my arms in his large hands. I automatically freeze in fear that he will hurt me.
“Don’t hurt me, please. I’ll do anything you ask.” I cry. He releases me quickly and drops down onto the bed.
“How could you think that…” He runs his hands over his short black hair. “Jesus Lanie, I would never hurt you. Ever.”
“Jax, Lanie will tell you on her own time what has happened to her. For now, I need you to keep a close eye on her. Can you do that? I know it’s not a part of our deal, but can you do this for me? For her?”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course I can.” His shoulders slouch from exhaustion. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”
“Then pack your bags. I have to go see my sister.” I demand.
“I’m sorry.” Those are the only words I’ve spoken since we landed. Jax sits silent staring out the window.
“For what?”
“For what happened earlier. I didn’t mean to…. I mean. When you grabbed me, I automatically thought…” I let the words trail off. Jax reaches for my hand and I allow it. I must tell myself constantly that he isn’t Frank.
“Don’t apologize, please. I totally get it. It was an impulse reaction. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that and scared you. I’m sorry. I just wish you would talk to me. I have no idea what’s going on or what I’m walking into. All I know is that I made a promise to my best friend to keep you safe, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
“I’ll tell you everything. I promise.” I slide my fingers between his and hold onto his hand tightly. “Just let me get her someplace safe. It’s the least I can do for her. She’s all I have left.”
“You’re wrong.” He corrects me. “You have me now, also.”
“You don’t know me.” I whisper under my breath. I was hoping he hadn’t heard me, but he did.
“I know you well enough to know that whatever this is between us, isn’t going to go away when this is all over and done with. Last night was by far the best night I’ve had in a really long time. Until the phone call, of course.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” I rest my head against his shoulder, needing contact with him in any way I can.
“Let me worry about me. I’m a big boy, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Maybe once or twice.”
“So, this is where you’re from?” Jax looks outside the car window and surveys my hometown.
“It is.” I know he’s trying to distract me from what I have to do and I appreciate it. “I was born and raised here. I moved away for a few years when I went to college, but moved back shortly after.”
“I have to say, it’s beautiful for a large city. I wouldn’t want to move here though.”
“It’s not so bad.” He pulls into a hotel that Brad had set up for us. He said he would be in room two-fifteen. When Jax parks, he exits and walks around the car to open my door. I take his hand and he pulls me into his arms before closing the door.
“You don’t have to do this. I’m sure Brad can come up with something else.” Jax says with a sad look in his eyes.
“My sister doesn’t know him.” I repeat again, something we’ve been fighting about since we got on the plane.
“I’m not happy with this, Lanie.”
“I’m not either, but there’s no other way to do this.” He squeezes me tightly before releasing me. The compassion he shows is unbelievable. I’m so used to living in fear, I didn’t even think that a man could be loving and caring as Jax has been. And he’s got the looks to add to it. Tall, dark and handsome has nothing on him. His physique is unremarkable. He’s done an excellent job this past month keeping his body covered up, but when he came running in last night shirtless… wow! I’m going to do everything I can to encourage him to be more of himself. I believed his sister when she said he’s rarely covered up. Especially with the warm weather we’ve been having. Not to mention his tattoos. Never have I met anyone who has two full sleeves of stars from horror flicks. He’s got a few Michael Myers, a Freddy Krueger, David from The Lost Boys…..
“Let’s get this over with then.” He takes my hand and we head for the hotel. When we get to the room, Brad opens it before we knock.
“I knew you were here. Come in.” He opens the door wide, allowing us space to enter. When we sit on the loveseat hand in hand, he notices, but doesn’t make any comments regarding it.
“We’ve been tracking Frank. From what I can tell, he thinks you’re going to leave your sister here. He does however have someone standing outside her room, so I’m sure he’s going to be ready for whatever is to come. I’ve called the hospital administrator explaining what’s going on and we’ve decided to orchestrate a fake fire drill to deter him from the room.”
“So, Lanie won’t be in any danger?”
“The simple fact that she’s back in her hometown puts her in danger, Jax. I need you to know that.” He opens a bag that’s sitting on the bed, pulling out two pairs of scrubs. “You’ll both need to put these on. When you enter through the emergency room, you’ll go straight to the desk. Let them know that Brad sent you and they will issue you each an all access pass to the hospital. They will only be good for a few hours, but that’s all we’ll need. I’m going to be in the building also and surveillance will be on you the moment you enter. Zane will run things from his end.” He pulls out two little ball looking things. “I want you to put these in your ear.” He hands one to me and one to Jax. “You’ll be able to hear everything I need to tell you. I can also hear you as well.”
“Wait. Where’s Zane?” Jax asks. I have no idea who they’re talking about, but the fact that there’s someone else on my side, means more to me than anyone knows.
“He’s around.”
“You’ve got to tell me more than that, Brad. I haven’t seen nor heard from him in years.”
“And you probably won’t either. All you need to know is that he’s taking care of things on his end.” Jaxon’s entire body tenses up and I can tell, their little disagreement isn’t going to get any better.
“Okay.” I ball my fingers around the bud, breaking them from their conversation and getting back to the topic at hand. “Do you have a place for her?” Brad nods.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. Just before the fire drill takes place, you and Jax will grab some orders from the nurse’s station and leave them outside of her room. That way when her goon comes back, he’ll think that she’s going for some testing. By that time, we will have her in a waiting ambulance and then all three of you will be whisked away from here before Frank gets word.”
“Sounds like it might actually work.” I try to sound strong, but in all honesty, I’m scared for my life and my sisters as well. The last day I saw Frank was the day of our court hearing. That night, he found me and almost killed me before Brad came in and knock him out. If he finds out I’ve double crossed him again, he will most certainly kill me and maybe my sister too.
“Lanie, do you trust me?” Brad demands my attention. With a squeeze from Jax’s hand, I nod. “This will work. This is what I do. I will make sure you and your sister are far from harm. I have to be honest with you though.”
“What?”
“When I relocate your sister, she will be under a different name. Until this is all taken care of, and Frank is taken down, you will be forbidden to have any contact with her again. We simply can’t chance it. Can you handle that?”
“But, I will be able to reunite with her eventually, right?”
“It may be some time before that can happen. When I know she’s safe and sound, I will consider sending her to you. But in the meantime, I can’t even tell you her whereabouts. It’s for the best. Even her hospital records will be altered. It will show she went into cardiac arrest during the testing and she will be pronounced dead.”
“Okay.” I take a deep breath, grab the scrubs from the bed and go to change. Before I can make it to the bathroom door, Jax turns me around and encases me in his arms.
“This will work, Lanie. It has to.” He kisses the top of my head. I don’t respond, because there’s a knot the size of Georgia in my throat, so I nod instead. “I’ll be with you the entire time. I won’t leave your side, okay?” I don’t answer. I can’t acknowledge that, because there’s never a sure guarantee that this will work.