Aja didn’t need to know any of this. Despite his recent lapse in judgment, the Rangers were doing everything they could to protect her. What if that isn’t enough? Could you live with her getting hurt on your watch?
He stood in the middle of the hall and looked back and forth between her bedroom door and his. If he walked into her room, he’d never be able to stop himself until he was buried deep inside her. If he crossed her threshold, he wouldn’t be able to protect her because he’d be too busy satisfying her.
He couldn’t do this. No matter how much he wanted to.
He went inside his room and closed the door before he could talk himself out of doing what was right. The way he’d succumbed to his desires in the great room didn’t leave him much hope he could control himself in Aja’s bedroom.
He sat at the side of the bed as he’d done the previous night, checking his firearm in case he needed to use it. He had several stashed throughout the house and the ranch to get to at a moment’s notice. When he was satisfied the gun was prepped, he slipped it inside its hip holster and put it back inside the nightstand drawer.
The guns weren’t the singular security measure he’d taken. He’d even acquired Aja’s permission and made three sets of bump keys for his team to gain access to the house in the event of an emergency. Safeguarding Aja’s home had been the first thing on his agenda. Even if the ranch’s defenses were lax—or better phrased, nonexistent—where she slept needed to be safe. There was no compromise about that. Earlier he’d been thinking like a lawman; tonight, he’d been thinking as a simple man. No more. Not until the bastard trying to harm Aja was apprehended.
Jackson heard a thump in the hall that pulled his attention to his closed door. He knew what Aja’s footsteps sounded like by now, and that wasn’t them. He grabbed his holstered weapon, attaching it to the waistband of his pants in the small of his back before he sent off a quick text to Colton and Storm.
Possible B&E. Need backup. Perp possibly in 2nd floor Master. Going in. Enter through rear.
Text sent, he stepped easily across his room. His hand on his automatic pistol, he cracked the door open, using the tiny slit to check the hall. When he was reasonably certain it was clear, he eased the door back and walked across the hall to Aja’s bedroom. He leaned in for a beat, listening for any signs that this was merely his overactive lawman’s imagination at work, when he heard the telltale sound of glass breaking. Satisfied that his instincts were correct, he stepped back far enough to kick the door open.
Time moved in slow motion as he assessed the scene. The room was dark with only the light from the hall spilling in from the doorway. He could make out the broken glass and wood panels on the balcony door, as well as the two figures—one Aja’s, lying on her back in her bed fighting, with a stranger crouched on top of her with his hands around her neck.
Jackson aimed his weapon, but with Aja and the intruder entangled in the dark, he couldn’t risk taking a shot. Instead, he holstered his weapon, then took a running dive for the bed, knocking the assailant down on the floor where they tussled for purchase on top of glass shards and wood splinters. He’d bear a few nicks and scratches from this scrimmage for sure, but he couldn’t pay attention to that now. He hadn’t heard Aja make a sound since he’d barged in; he needed to make certain she wasn’t hurt.
He used his bulk to swing them around so he straddled the struggling body beneath his. Jackson landed two punches to the mask-covered face and was about to level a third when the assailant swung his arm wide. At first, Jackson thought the man threw a bad punch. But the biting sting of glass cutting through his upper arm assured him that the intruder’s aim was spot-on.
He released his hold, and the masked man seized the opportunity to push Jackson off him and scurry through the broken balcony doors. “Dammit!”
Jackson heard footsteps bounding up the stairs. It was probably his backup, but until he could hear Colton’s loud baritone asking for his twenty, he wouldn’t be caught off guard. “I’m in the master bedroom.”
His two men came in with guns drawn until they laid eyes on Jackson. Colton came to assist Jackson with his arm while Storm headed for Aja’s bed. She was still and quiet, which didn’t correlate with the scene. She should be yelling her head off right now in fear or shock. Quiet wasn’t right. Fear spilled down Jackson’s spine in cold, hard waves that made him flinch as he watched Storm place two fingers against the side of her neck to check for a pulse.
“It’s strong and steady. She’s alive but passed out.”
Relief spread through Jackson like air-conditioning on a hot Texas day. It tingled the top layer of his skin until it permeated his cells and he could feel the heat receding into nothingness.
He pushed past Colton and moved Storm out of the way until he sat beside Aja. He placed a gentle hand on her cheek and had to fight not to press his lips to hers. “Contact the sheriff and get an ambulance out here, then check around the perimeter. When it’s safe, tell Seneca and Brooklyn to make sure their doors and windows are locked and that they don’t come out until one of us says it’s safe.”
The lack of movement yanked his attention from Aja’s still form. “Why are you still standing here?”
Colton stepped forward. “Are we certain it wasn’t one of them?”
Jackson shook his head. “That was a man I was tousling with.” He stared at Aja’s sleeping face and stroked his thumb across a raised, reddened spot on her cheek. That hadn’t been there thirty minutes ago when he’d had her on the couch in his arms. Then she’d been happy and satisfied as he stroked her to release. Now, she was still and hurt, and Jackson wanted to break something or someone for daring to harm her.
His heart rate picked up as anger pulsed through him. He’d left her alone because he thought their connection had compromised his ability to protect her. It wasn’t lost on him that this attack might never have happened if he’d gone to her like he’d originally planned instead of letting his fears get the better of him. Would he ever get this right?
“With all that’s been happening on this ranch, I don’t believe this was a random break-in. I’d bet my badge this is our perp. If I hadn’t heard him, he’d have killed her.” He jerked his thumb toward the doorway. “Get some help in here now. I’ll sit with her.”
His men moved quickly and dispersed from the room. When he and Aja were alone, Jackson slid down next to her so he could touch her the way he needed to, desperate to feel her heat against him as proof she was still here for him to hold and keep close. He’d process later why he wanted those things. But right now, all he cared about was ensuring that Aja was safe.
“Aja, baby. I need you to open your eyes for me.” She still didn’t move, so he pressed his lips to her temple, thankful she was warm to the touch. “Aja, girl. Come on, let me see those beautiful brown eyes.” When she remained unresponsive, panic swelled in his chest. What if he hadn’t gotten to her in time? What if she couldn’t wake up?
“Aja.” He applied firm, hard pressure to her shoulder. Not enough to hurt her, but certainly enough to cause her discomfort and wake her. The muscles in her face flinched, but he kept pressing on her shoulder. Responding to pain wasn’t enough. He needed her awake and alert. Her eyes fluttered, and he released the breath he’d been holding. “Aja?”
She moaned softly. “Can you please stop squeezing my shoulder?” He lightened the pressure as soon as she spoke. Her words were a little jumbled, but he could make out what she was saying. “I don’t need a new set of handprint bruises to match the ones I probably have on my neck.”
Feisty, even though she still seemed a little groggy. Jackson sent up a quick prayer of thanks. If she’d walked away from this with anything other than a few bruises, he didn’t know what he would’ve done. “Do you remember what happened?”
She sat up slowly with his help. “Yeah. I went to the bathroom to freshen up. I lay down on the bed to wait
for you, and I must’ve dozed off. Because the next thing I knew, he was bursting through the balcony door and jumping on top of me.”
“Did he say anything? Give you a reason why he came?” Most sick bastards liked to hear themselves talk. He was hoping this guy would follow suit and leave them some information they could use.
She took a deep breath, rubbing her neck slowly. “Yes. He kept saying ‘die’ repeatedly until I passed out.”
Jackson’s anger pushed against the calm veneer he tried to keep in place for her. She’d experienced a traumatic event. The last thing she needed was him blowing his top, acting like the brute who’d put his hands on her. “Did you recognize his voice?”
She shook her head. “It was like a rough whisper, angry enough for me to hear, but still too low for me to recognize.” She shuddered, the vibration rumbling beneath the palm he used to cup her cheek. “It could’ve been anyone, Jackson.” She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with the sheen of unshed tears and the distinct smell of fear wafting off her skin. “Anyone.”
She closed her eyes and wet tracks slid down the sides of her face. Something snapped inside him like a brittle branch underfoot. He used the back of his hand to swipe the fat drops away. Then he pulled her into his embrace and let her burrow into his chest. He rubbed soothing circles on her back and didn’t speak until the pronounced shaking of her shoulders quieted to soft hiccups.
“You’re safe, Aja. Whoever this bastard is and whatever he wants with you, he didn’t win. That is the last time I’ll let him get to you. I promise.”
There was a knock at the door and she stiffened in his arms, lifting her face from his chest before looking toward the door.
“Jackson?” He focused on the door to see Storm peeking his head inside the room. “The sheriff is on his way. Colt and I want to take some pictures of the scene for our report before the locals come trampling through.”
Aja moaned, settling her head back against Jackson’s chest. “Please tell them not to come. I want to stay here with you until this is over.”
What he wouldn’t give for that to be possible. But it wasn’t. The sheriff and his team needed to canvass this scene, and he needed to check it out first before they made it up the stairs.
“Aja, come on. You passed out. Please, humor me. Let the EMTs examine you. Not to mention, we really need to get in here and get pictures for our reports. If this sheriff is as bad as you say he is, I don’t trust him not to fuck up this crime scene.”
He gave her one final squeeze, and it seemed to be enough to get her to cooperate. She sat up, rubbing her exposed arms, folding in on herself as if she were trying not to be seen. She was clothed, but after having someone invade her personal space like this, he understood if she wanted to be covered, protected by as many layers as possible to keep the outside world from getting in. “You have a robe or a sweatshirt you want me to grab for you before the boys come in?”
“On the back of my bathroom door.”
He rushed to her bathroom and grabbed the gray cotton garment from the lone hook on the back of the door and hurried back to his perch on her bed. He held it open for her, and she wrapped it around herself with quick hands. “You ready for them to come in?”
“Yeah.”
He waved Colton and Storm into the room. Colton carried what Jackson recognized to be their forensics bag. They couldn’t do a full canvas of the room because local law enforcement would notice. Or at least they should. If they noticed professionals had been there before them, then their cover would be blown.
But for now, they could get some pictures. While Aja recounted the attack to Storm, Colton took pictures of the surrounding scene. And Jackson took on the most important role of all. He held Aja’s hand while she relived it, stroking her knuckles while she spoke, encouraging her to continue. He didn’t care in the least that his men were there to witness it. Aja needed him, and that was all that mattered. He’d deal with the significance of that realization later. Right now, he needed to focus on her.
Chapter 15
Aja knew from the moment Jackson mentioned the local sheriff that things would get worse. She’d been assaulted in her own home, and now she had to deal with the likes of this asshole sitting across from her. Sheriff Leroy Hastings was a tall, lanky man with orange-brown hair that always seemed in need of a haircut. Whenever he removed his hat, he’d undoubtedly have to brush his unruly mop out of his eyes.
He’d walked in her front door thirty minutes ago wearing an ill-fitting sheriff’s department uniform hanging off his beanstalk form, like a child in his older brother’s hand-me-down suit.
If the way he looks in that too-big uniform isn’t a metaphor for the piss-poor job he’s doing as the sheriff, I don’t know what is. Why is this man even in my face right now?
He sat before he was offered a seat. No sign of the grace and manners of a southern gentleman. Instead, he sat facing her with his legs manspread like some kind of barnyard animal. With no notepad or writing instrument, he cleared his throat.
“You wanna tell me what happened, Ms. Everett?”
His voice was heavy with impatience, as if her being attacked were inconveniencing him somehow. Aja sat up straighter in her chair, determined to make this man see her annoyance.
“I was attacked in my bedroom. I went to sleep and awoke to a stranger on top of me, trying to strangle me.”
His eyes finally connected with hers. His mouth tilted in a small, lecherous grin. “Do you make a habit of entertaining strange men in your bedroom?”
She heard Jackson slam his hand against the kitchen counter and take a heavy step toward where she and the sheriff were sitting at the table. She held her hand up to stop him. The last thing she needed was her “employee” getting arrested for assaulting the sheriff.
“Whether I do or don’t isn’t the point, Sheriff. Are you somehow insinuating that I brought this act of violence on myself?”
The man dropped his eyes to his thigh, refusing to bring his gaze back to hers. “Sometimes women don’t realize the signals they give off. Perhaps this man thought you wanted him to do this.”
She narrowed her eyes and forced him to look at her. “I don’t know what kind of sick games you play with women in their beds, but if I want a man to put his hands on me, I have the fortitude and the vocabulary to express that. This had nothing to do with a late-night rendezvous gone wrong. This person entered my home uninvited with the intention of killing me. Now, are you going to sit here wasting my time asking nonsensical questions, or are you going to be useful?”
Aja wasn’t having any of this son of a bitch’s victim-blaming nonsense, and she sure as shit wouldn’t let him off easy. Someone had come into her home and put their hands on her. That was not acceptable.
“I’m not sure what you want me to do about this, Ms. Everett. You said yourself, you didn’t see his face or recognize anything about him. How do you expect me to find him?”
Jackson moved from his post leaning against the counter. The way tight lines pulled his smooth brown features into a flat expression showed he wasn’t too thrilled with the sheriff either. She shook her head again, silently begging Jackson to stay where he was. She’d deal with Hastings. She’d dealt with plenty of men in her tenure as an attorney. Hastings was chump change compared to them.
“I expect you to do your job, Sheriff. Or isn’t protecting a tax-paying, voting member of this community part of your job?” He flinched at the question and was poised to respond, but she held up her finger to cut him off. “You may not like me or the people I have working here, but I don’t have a bit of a problem using my resources as a high-powered attorney, or nepotism as the niece of a sitting county judge, to out you as an unprofessional and negligent asshole. Trust me, Sheriff. No one is better at shit-stirring than me, and I know too many mainstream media outlets that would love a story like this. You want to take that chanc
e?”
Hastings narrowed his eyes into slits and stuck his tongue in his cheek as if he were attempting to keep it otherwise occupied so he couldn’t speak.
Good. Because I’m done playing with you.
“We’re a small operation, Ms. Everett. I don’t have the capacity to investigate this the way it should be.” His shoulders slumped, and he rubbed the back of his neck as if the muscles there were too fatigued to hold up his head. “I’m gonna have to call in the Texas Rangers for this.”
She folded her arms and leaned back. “I guess you’d better make that call then.”
Hastings dropped his eyes before standing. He leveled a cursory glance at Jackson, and when the response was the flexing of his large muscles, Hastings made a quick beeline for the exit, closing the door soundly after himself.
“I really wish you would’ve let me handle that guy.”
Aja held up a hand, stopping Jackson. “Jackson, you can’t fight my battles with Hastings for me. If I let you, the moment you leave, everything will fall to the status quo.”
She glanced over at him, her chest full of sadness and her throat tight with regret. He would leave. That was a fact. And when he did, he’d take the incredible sensation of safety and desire with him. Don’t get used to it, Aja. It’s not here to stay.
“I have worked harder than most people to push through the bullshit people lob at you when you’re a woman, especially a Black woman. I’m not about to let this son of a bitch think he can handle me with a few threats. Him shirking his responsibilities to protect me, my workers, and this ranch stops today.”
She was serious. This place was where she went to heal and where she wanted others to heal. She couldn’t let this go any longer.
“If Hastings reports this to the Rangers, how will it impact your investigation? Will they be able to get a team out here to examine the scene?”
He pushed off the counter, taking the seat next to her at the kitchen table. He leaned in, placing his hands on the outer portion of her thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “It won’t impact us. They’ll get the request in Austin and put it in the system. I’ll let Austin know we’re running an undercover investigation, and no details should be disclosed to the sheriff other than they’ll send someone out when they can.”
Jackson Page 11
