Jaxon

The decision to drive Violet up to Los Angeles for a few days was a gut reaction to what had happened. But the more I thought about it, the more it became clear we both needed this time. Together. Just the two of us. Call it instinct, but I also didn’t think she could handle being on the same plane that was transporting Eric’s body. It was hard enough for the rest of us knowing Eric was in the cargo hold in a pine box. That knowledge would’ve sent Violet into a tailspin. The next few days were going to be eye opening for her. Even though she’d worked at the Agency, she still had a lack of understanding about combat and the men that willingly put themselves in harm’s way. Those were the very reasons Ortega was able to exploit her the way he had.

I settled us in the Mustang convertible I’d rented, giving her a baseball cap and sunglasses. I had to say, she looked fucking hot in mirrored aviators and my black death dealers hat. We hit the 5 North and she leaned her head back with her face to the sky. It was a beautiful sunny Southern California day, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures hovering around eighty. An hour into our drive we’d passed the 405 interchange and traffic nearly came to a stop.

Nothing says welcome home like the 405.

“You hungry?” I asked.

“I could use a snack,” she answered.

I thought about driving up to Long Beach to stop, but with the traffic it would be another hour. I took the exit for the John Wayne Airport and hoped the café at the end of the runway was still open. It had been years since I’d been in this area. Shit pops up and closes down in California faster than a whore turns a john. But I was happy to see the Runway Café parking lot was jam packed when we pulled in. I remembered the bruising on Violet’s face, mentally kicking my own ass for not thinking about it sooner and deliberated pulling through a fast food joint. There was no way she’d want to go into a restaurant right now.

But we were here, and I was starving. “Stay here. I’ll grab us something and we can park by the tarmac and watch the planes land while we eat.”

“Okay.”

I made quick work of our lunch order and was back out to her and parking the car away from pedestrian traffic in under ten minutes. She popped a fry in her mouth and washed it down with her mint chocolate shake. When she pulled the straw from her sexy mouth, she smiled.

“That is the best shake I’ve ever had,” she told me.

“They are good.”

We ate in comfortable silence. When she’d finished her fries, she turned in her seat to face me.

“Can I ask you something?”

Damn! I was hoping to postpone this conversation a few more hours.

“Sure.”

“You…um…said you weren’t angry with me. But from where I was standing, you were looking at me like you hated me.”

I took a minute and I tried to gather my thoughts. This was too important to fuck up.

“First, I was never mad at you. I need you to understand that. However, I was angry, beyond angry. I’ve never experienced emotion in battle. I turn everything off. Emotions get you into trouble when you’re in the thick of a firefight. My mind is solely focused on the mission in front of me. I don’t have the luxury of feelings when bullets are flying my way. Yesterday, seeing you hurt and in danger, I couldn’t turn off my feelings. All I could think about was protecting you. Protecting you from getting hurt any more than you were. Protecting you from Ortega. But mostly protecting you from me. I didn’t want you to see that side of me. I just wanted you out of harm’s way and safe.”

“What side of you?” she asked.

“The cold and calculating man that gets sent into battle. The man that has no remorse, no hesitation, no regret when doling out punishment and death. There are some parts of me I never want you to see.”

“That’s not fair.”

“What’s not?”

“That you get to hold a part of yourself away from me. Especially when in large part it makes you the man you are, the man I care about. I don’t want you to hide pieces from me. Would you like it if I held parts of myself back?”

That was a good question and there was only one answer.

“Fuck no.”

“Then don’t ever do it to me again,” she scolded. “What happened to Ortega?”

“Would you accept this is one of those times I’m trying to protect you and drop it?” I asked.

“No.”

Damn. She was so cute when she was acting tough. It reminded me of the first time she strolled into Zane’s house while he was kitted out, looking like he stepped off the battlefield. She’d held her own then, too.

“He’s dead.”

“How?” she sighed, as if my lack of details annoyed her.

“Seriously? He’s dead. You don’t need the blow by blow.”

She was quiet for a few minutes before she spoke again. When she did, she didn’t take her eyes off the runway in front of us.

“I need to know. I can’t explain why, but I’ll try. He took something from me. He hit me. He scared me. He tried to sell me as a sex slave. He stripped me of my clothes and my dignity. He let his men gawk at me in my bra and panties. Cutter saw me like that. Cutter watched him slap me. I’d thought he’d bought me and I had to lie to myself that I could take it, I could be strong. But I knew I was going to crack and crumble when I left that room. I don’t think I’m a vengeful person, but I have to know what happened to him.”

I tried to keep my reaction in check, but hearing her sweet voice tell me the vile things he’d done to her made my blood boil all over again.

“Brace baby, because it ain’t pretty. We walked in, I located Ortega.” I stopped to take a deep breath and prayed I was giving her what she needed and not what was going to scar her. “He took one to the hand, then thigh. I wasn’t feeling extra generous and didn’t give him the manner of death he would’ve preferred. Instead, I took my time. I don’t want you to think I’ve ever taken pleasure in killing; however, this time there was a level of satisfaction when my blade punctured a few organs. He died the way he deserved, slow and painful. Let’s just say his face looked worse than the black eyes he gave you, and he died knowing what if felt like to be beaten while helpless.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, and raised her face to the sun again. “Thank you for ending his life and making me safe.”

“You’re welcome, baby.”

“You’ve never said that.” She giggled. “You always tell me nothing to thank me for.” She deepened her voice and tried to mock my typical answer.

“You ready to get back on the road?” I asked.

We still had another two hours, if not more, until we got to Cooper’s house and I was eager to see my brother.

“Will you talk to me about Eric?”

“Yes, but not here. We’ll talk about him tonight.”

I started the Mustang and took a moment to appreciate the rumble of the engine before I headed back to the freeway. The next hour was spent making small talk the best we could as the wind rushed past with the top down. Then it dawned on me, this was the first time I’d be alone with Violet out in the open. No thoughts of kidnappings, blackmailing, or terrorists. For a few days, we could do anything we wanted. There would be enough grief and sadness in the days to come. For now, I just needed to be; we both did.

Another hour later I pulled into the driveway of my brother’s house and took in Violet’s sleeping form. She looked so peaceful I hated to wake her. Cutter had said she did get some sleep on the plane from Brazil, but after everything she’d been through she needed to sleep for a week.

“Where are we?” she asked. With her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses, I hadn’t realized she was awake.

“Cooper’s house,” I told her.

“Your brother?” She sat up straight and took in the house in front of us. Cooper lived in a nice older neighborhood in Tarzana. He bought this particular house because it had a three-car garage. The two extra bays were used to fiddle on one of his many projects. I didn’t doubt that if I peeked inside there would be an old hot rod or muscle car torn apart. Ever since we were kids, my brother had been taking stuff apart and fixing it. Our dad tried to push him to get a degree in engineering, but Cooper refused. He explained it would no longer be fun if it was work.

On cue, the middle garage door opened, my brother appeared, and Violet shrunk into the seat. This was why I hadn’t told her where we were going. I didn’t want her to have time to over think meeting Cooper.

“Come on.”

“I can’t meet your brother,” she told me.

“Why not?”

“Umm… hellooo…. have you seen my face?” she asked, each word drawn out and sarcastic.

“I have. It’s beautiful.”

“I have two black eyes, Jaxon,” she huffed.

“And?” My answer may’ve been nonchalant but the reminder of her black eyes and how she’d received them made my skin heat and anger once again simmer.

“Jaxon.” Her plea broke my heart.

“Baby, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. The marks on your face are going to fade over time, but you know what won’t?” She shook her head. “Your strength. Your bravery. I hate that you were hurt, and you have to look at the bruises for a few weeks, but you are beautiful, you are strong, and you don’t have a goddamned thing to be ashamed of. My brother knows what happened.”

“Okay.” I hated that she still sounded so defeated, but I wasn’t going to let her hide away.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Not really, but I don’t want to sit in the car all day.”

“Come here,” I told her.

“Come where?”

“Here.” I held up my hand and crooked my finger for her to come to me.

She leaned closer and I met her in the middle. Our kiss was soft and chaste, a touching of our lips, but it meant more than any kiss we’d shared. She was alive, she was safe, and now I could go about making her mine.

I got out and met her at the passenger side. When I grabbed her hand to guide her to the garage, the warmth of her hand in mine calmed my nerves. She was alive. The current that flowed between us confirmed what I already knew, she was mine.

“Yo!” I called into the space allowing my eyes to adjust to the lack of the blinding sunshine from outside. Cooper straightened and looked around the open hood of a ’69 Chevy Camaro. “Hope you’re planning on painting this piece of shit. It’s orange.”

“Say’s the man who dares to park a Ford in my driveway. That hunk of shit leaks oil, you’ll be out there with degreaser and a toothbrush. Come to think of it, I’ll pull ol’ Molly out there and you can hide the Ford in here. Don’t want the neighbors to complain about the trash.”

“Fuckin’ snob,” I laughed. “Cooper, this is Violet. Violet, this is my little brother Cooper.”

“Nice to meet you,” Violet said, and offered Cooper her hand. I was so proud of her.

Cooper looked at her, then her hand, then his, then back at her. “Babe, I got grease all over my hands. Come on in the house so I can wash up and give you a proper hello.”

“You mind not flirting with my woman?”

“Bro, if you think that was flirting, you’ve been out of the game for a long time old man. You wanna catch a woman as beautiful as Violet, you better step up your A game.”

Violet’s face flushed, and she smiled just as Cooper had intended.

We followed Cooper into the house. On the way in he told us about the ugly orange Camaro. He’d purchased it a few days ago and planned on a complete overhaul and rebuild before he took her to the track for one race then he would flip her for a profit. Cooper had been flipping cars for a long time and made a good bit of money doing it. I was pretty sure he could quit the LAPD and make a decent living selling his remodels, but he loved being a cop and just like when we were kids he wouldn’t take his hobby and turn it into work.

Cooper washed his hands and turned to Violet, startling her when he pulled her into a tight hug. I also forgot to warn her my family were huggers, especially my mom. She’d pull you in and smother you half to death.

“Glad you’re here,” I heard Cooper tell her. He broke the hug and without asking he pulled off her sunglasses. That’s another thing about my family - they are pushy.

“Motherfucker,” he said and Violet flinched. “I hope you dispatched the motherfucker who did this to hell.”

“With my bare hands and it was sweetest thing I’ve tasted in a long time, brother.”

“Sweeter than me?” Violet asked with a sexy playful smirk. I wasn’t sure what had brought out the sass in her but I was pleased as fuck she was comfortable enough to joke with me in front of Cooper.

“There is nothing in the world as sweet as you, baby.” I pulled her to my side and tucked her under my arm.

“I like her. She’s a keeper,” Cooper said. “Grab a few beers, would ya? I’m taking Violet out back.” He picked up her shades, handed them to her, and without waiting for me to answer, he led her to the back deck.

I grabbed the beers and waited a few minutes, watching Cooper point out the various plants that surrounded the new patio he had built. I’d only seen pictures of it; however, the images hadn’t done it justice. It was a tropical paradise. On the left side of the patio there was a water feature that included a small waterfall. Birds of paradise were in full bloom, along with a multitude of other brightly colored orange, purple, and yellow blossoms.

Watching my brother and Violet together clicked a few more pieces of the puzzle into place. It was hard to believe that it wasn’t too long ago I couldn’t figure her out. Her straight edges seemed to have been missing, there was no way for me to make the frame and box her in. Now I’d realized she doesn’t have any straight edges, there is no outside edge, and her pieces, when fitted together, didn’t take a standard shape. She was complex and predictable at the same time. Violet smiled at Cooper, pointing to the waterfall, and I wondered if she’d like a patio like this in Maryland. I had plenty of room in my backyard. We couldn’t have the same shrubbery and flowers with the difference in climate, but we could make something just as beautiful.

The longer I observed, the more I realized all the obstacles I thought Violet and I had to work through were all bullshit. The most pressing one, Ortega, was eliminated. There was nothing left standing in our way.

We’d get through the next few weeks together, then it would be smooth sailing. A physical pain in my chest brought my hand to my heart.

I fucking miss you, brother.