Chapter 17

It was going on three o’clock in the afternoon when Shay finally leaned over Jaxson to look at his clock. She smiled at him and said, “I guess time flies when you are having fun, right.”

Jaxson laughed and kissed her forehead. “I guess so.” He said as he nuzzled her neck playfully. “How about I cook supper for us tonight. You up for it?”

“I didn’t know you could cook.” She said unable to hide the surprise in her voice.

He just grinned at her and said, “Hey, I am a man of many talents.”

She leaned up on one elbow kissing the side of his cheek and then traced her tongue along his earlobe, pulling it into her mouth to suckle on it. “Mmm, hmm. That you are.” She said as she nipped at his ear playfully.

“Stop it, woman. Or I will never let you leave my bed.” He growled.

“I could live with that,” Shay said suppressing a giggle. But then her stomach growled loudly. Jaxson just raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Doesn’t look like your stomach could live with that!”

Shay pulled away to get up and get dressed when she remembered something. “Shit! I promised Sue we would have supper tonight.” She said to Jaxson apologetically.

Jaxson looked at her. “Ms. Adkins? Your next door neighbor? I haven’t spoken to her in so long.”

Shay leaned back against the headboard with the sheets wrapped around her. “Yes. She loves to talk my ear off, but she is such a nice woman. We have kind of become close friends. She reminds me a lot of my mom. It’s nice to have her around. You should take the time to visit her. She loves you so much. I know she misses you too.”

Jaxson ran his fingers through his hair and looked away and stared out the window. Shay knew that this was a touchy subject still. It was one thing for him to open up to her, but another to let others in. He had stayed closed up for so long; she didn’t want to push him too hard. But, she felt she needed to be completely honest with him. She turned and looked at him and then said, “Don’t get mad but I asked Sue about Jillian.” She could see Jaxson expression grow cold and she rushed through her explanation. “It was the other day when you were refusing to talk to me. I had to do something. I wasn’t trying to go behind your back; I was just trying to understand. To see things from your point of view. So I asked, and she reluctantly told me everything that happened.” She looked down unable to meet his angry eyes. “You know— what George had seen that day.” She trailed off.

“Jesus Christ Shay. This is what I’m talking about. You push too hard sometimes. Why can’t you just leave things alone?” He said angrily. He threw back the covers and got out of bed. Even in anger, he was beautiful. She felt remorseful as she watched him get dressed and storm into the bathroom without saying another word. She felt vulnerable lying there naked in bed, so she slipped out of covers and searched for her clothes. “I’m sorry.” She called out while she pulled her tank top over her head. “I wasn’t trying to pry, Jaxson. I really wasn’t. But, you were dead set against speaking to me, and I needed to know why Jake said what he did. It wasn’t the first time he had threatened me, and I felt like you weren’t giving me any answers. I needed to find out if he was truly dangerous.” She pulled on her underwear and shorts and sat on the edge of the bed. “And it turns out that he is. Sue didn’t want to break your confidence, but she was concerned for my safety too, so she told me about Jillian.”

Shay waited anxiously for Jaxson to say something. The silence stretched for minutes before she finally heard the door open. Jaxson walked out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to him. Shay sat down beside him and grabbed his hand, kissing the top before holding it in her lap.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you or dig into your business. But, I felt like I needed to know the history.” She explained.

Finally, he looked at her and nodded. “I get it, Shay. It just caught me off guard. I don’t like talking about it, and I don’t like others talking about it either. It’s in the past, and that’s where I want to keep it.”

But that wasn’t good enough for Shay. He couldn’t just ignore it or pretend it didn’t happen. Or worse, pretend it didn’t happen the way George and Sue knew it had. “Do you believe what George said?”

He went rigid at her direct question and tried to pull his hand back, but Shay held tight. She was determined to make him face the truth. He quit struggling against her but didn’t respond right away. He let out a long sigh before answering, “The Hanover’s and Avery’s have had their history, some good, most not. But, I just don’t believe that Jake is capable of doing something like that.” Jaxson shook his head as he spoke as if trying to convince himself of what he was saying was the truth. “Sure, he’s gotten in his share of fights, but he’s mostly all talk. Besides, he’s my first cousin, and despite the history, we’re still family. George was an old man, and his eyesight was poor back then. The tree line where he was at was more than 100 feet away from that clearing. You know how he and Sue like to gossip. Maybe he embellished what he saw or mistook Jake for someone else because they were a similar build.”

Shay shook her head in disbelief. But rather than get angry, she knew the best way to convince Jake was not through emotion, but through logic. “I think you are being closed-minded Jaxson.” She held up her hand to stop him as he prepared to argue. “Just hear me out. Please.”

“Let’s look at it from a different angle. Sue mentioned that Sherry said it was a pack of rogue wolves in the territory. That she and Jillian were both attacked. Right?”

Jaxson nodded.

“Okay, well did you ever find any trace of them?” She could tell he was frustrated by her line of questioning. He stood up and paced the bedroom floor.

“My brothers and I searched the property for days. We didn’t track anything or pick up anybody else’s scent that we didn’t recognize. If it was rogues, they were long gone.”

“But, you searched as soon as it happened, right? Had it rained that night? Wouldn’t the scent have still been strong, especially if it was a pack of wolves and not just one?”

He stopped his pacing to look at her in the mirror on the dresser. He didn’t turn, and she could see the anguish on his face. “No, it wasn’t raining that night. We were experiencing a drought, and it hadn’t rained for over a week before it happened or after.” Shay could tell she’d given him something to think about but didn’t want to push him too far too fast.

“Okay, let’s also look at it from Sherry’s perspective. From what I understand, Jillian and Sherry didn’t get along.” She looked at Jaxson for confirmation, but he just regarded her quietly. Shay took that as a yes. “So, if that were the case, why would the two of them have been together in the first place? Did Sherry ever explain what they were doing or why they were together?”

There was no mistaking the pain in Jaxson’s eyes now. She could see that everything she had said hit home. He could argue anger with anger, but he was struggling to argue with logic. He said taking a deep breath. “Let’s drop the topic ok.”

Shay stood and put her hand on his arm. She understood that he wasn’t ready to share that part of his life with her and she wasn’t going to push him. He needed time to digest what she had said and to come to terms with it on his own. He would let her know when he felt it was right. When he felt comfortable. “You know what.” She smiled up at him. “I’ll go talk to Sue and tell her something came up. What time do you want me back?”

He gazed down at her, and she watched a smile spread across his perfect full lips. She could see the relief in his eyes that she was letting the issue drop. He dipped down and gave her a kiss and said, “How about 7:30 pm? That should give me enough time to have everything prepared.”

“That’s perfect. It gives me enough time to do what I need to get done today. Do you want me to bring anything?”

She watched a wicked grin appear on his face and then he said, “Just that pretty little ass of yours.” His hand slid down the front of shorts as he cupped her pussy and his lips dipped down to her ear. “You better go now. Otherwise, I might want dessert before we even get to supper.” He grazed the outside of her shorts a few more times making her squirm as she felt the heat rush back down between her legs again. She moaned, “Ok, I really need to go before we end up back in bed.” She said laughing and pulled away from him. He swatted at her ass affectionately, but she danced out of the way. She walked to the front door, and Jaxson followed her.

He leaned up against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. “I’ll see you tonight.”

She leaned up and gave him a kiss and then left. “I look forward to it.”

As she walked home, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Not only had they spent another amazing day together but they’d also had a breakthrough. He had finally opened up a bit and also listened to what she had to say. She counted that as a step in the right direction.

She felt bad for having to cancel on Sue tonight, but she vowed she would make it up to her. Shay came up with the idea that she would cook supper at her house next week and have her and Jaxson over together. She was sure they would both be happy to see one another again. It had been too long.