Her Defender (MacLachlan Security Group Book 2)

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Her Defender (MacLachlan Security Group Book 2) Page 4

by Rianna Campbell


  “Right. I’ll run this up, then,” Janie replied, looking her so-called friend right in the eye and notching her chin up defiantly.

  “Thanks,” Alexandra giggled, turning around to retrieve another box from Jackson’s Range Rover.

  Janie tried not to stomp on her way upstairs, instead taking a deep, ccalming breath as she climbed up to the second story. She took a left at the top of the stairs and bumped the already open door wide with one hip.

  She nearly dropped the box when she ran right into Jackson.

  “Whoa,” he said, grabbing the box before she could lose her grip. “Let me.”

  He took the box and placed it beside the one he’d already put down.

  “Thanks,” Janie replied. “Guess it was heavier than I thought.”

  “No problem,” he said with a smile. He ran a hand through his hair and she realized he’d had it cut.

  “Your hair...” she said.

  Real smooth, Janie. Real smooth...

  “Yeah,” he said, smiling wider. “It was time for a change.”

  “It looks… good,” Janie said weakly. Really she was afraid she might start drooling all over the carpet. The shorter style looked amazing on him. She especially loved the few longer strands on top that fell over his forehead.

  “Thanks,” Jackson replied, taking a step toward her.

  “I-” Janie began.

  “Hey, where’d everyone go? There are more boxes down here,” Alexandra called from the entryway.

  “Comin’,” Jackson hollered back and Janie bit her lip. “Keep your britches on, Sugar.” He winked at Janie as he slid past her, placing one large hand on her waist. She shivered and shook her head to regain her composure before following him down stairs.

  They hauled boxes to the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen and even a few to the living room, though it was fully furnished already. Janie tried to focus on the task at hand, but she couldn’t help stealing glances at Jackson when his broad, muscular back was turned.

  After an hour or so, Connor pulled up in his Hummer, Angel in the passenger seat, and Cam pulled up beside them in the moving truck. Jackson jogged down the steps and helped Connor open up the back so they could begin unloading the larger items onto the sidewalk. Cam couldn’t stay double parked for long without getting a ticket, so they’d have to be quick.

  Janie followed, along with Alexandra, but they both ended up standing around with nothing to do aside from watch the three of them move dressers, bed frames, lamps, bookshelves and a ton of boxes from the back of the truck. Not that they were complaining. They were a fine sight, honestly.

  When they’d finally unloaded the majority of the Uhaul’s contents, Cam hopped back inside and went to find a place to park the thing. Connor and Jackson, both sweating and breathing heavily, began moving things into the building while the “ladies” grabbed boxes and laundry baskets loaded with smaller items and moved them in off the sidewalk.

  They were just coming in with the last of the boxes when they heard a loud thump and a grunt coming from the second story bedroom. A moment later Connor and Jackson tromped down the stairs, arguing.

  “Why the hell didn’t you just drop it?” Connor fumed.

  “Because it was hangin’ over your head, dipshit. Did you want a trip to the ER today?” Jackson snapped.

  “Ye could’ve warned me, ya idjit.” Connor growled, that Scottish burr of his coming through loud and clear.

  “You could just say thank you, asshole.” Jackson mumbled. It was then Janie noticed that Jackson was cradling his hand, using his t-shirt to catch the blood that would have otherwise been dripping onto the floor.

  “Uh, oh. What happened?” Angel asked, stepping forward to examine the injury. She led Jackson into the kitchen, holding his hand the whole way and Janie had to bite her tongue to remind herself that she had no right to be jealous.

  Janie Carpenter didn’t do jealous.

  “Janie?” Angel called from the other room. Reluctantly, Janie squared her shoulders and went to see what she needed.

  As soon as she saw Jackson, shirtless, standing shoulder to shoulder with Angel next to the kitchen sink, her vision went red. Angel’s brusque tone snapped her out of it.

  “Janie, there’s a first aid kit in the front seat of Connor’s car. I need you to get it for me.”

  “Got it.” Janie nodded. She might be feeling something unpleasant at the moment but she could respect Angel’s take charge professional side.

  She turned to go and ran smack into Alexandra, who was rushing in with what looked suspiciously like a first aid kit.

  “Here. I grabbed this. Thought you might need it,” she said breathlessly, handing over the red plastic case.

  “Perfect. Thank you,” Angel said, nodding with her head to indicate Alexandra should set it on the counter beside her.

  “Janie, can you grab a clean towel and wrap some ice in it?” Angel said over her shoulder, popping open the top of the case and removing the top tray as she looked for something.

  Janie pulled a clean white towel from the drawer beside the stove and filled it with ice from the freezer. Then stood there, holding it, and feeling like an idiot. Angel fished an individually wrapped package from the box and tore it open to expose a clean square of gauze. She poured something that, judging by the smell, was probably antiseptic onto the gauze and applied it to what Janie now saw was a long jagged cut on Jackson’s left palm.

  He winced, sucking in a breath between his teeth.

  “A little warning would be nice,” he grumbled.

  “You’re a big boy,” Angel said, not taking her attention away from the process of caring for her patient. “You’ll be fine.”

  She tossed the used gauze, now pink with blood, into the sink and turned his hand this way and that to get a better look. She poked and prodded without a word until she was satisfied.

  “You don’t need stitches,” she announced, fishing out medical tape, more packets of gauze and a tube of antibiotic ointment.

  “I’ll bandage it up for you and give you some things to take with you. Just make sure you keep it clean, covered and the dressing dry for at least three days. Tylenol for the pain and ice it if it swells, but no more than 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jackson replied, doing a piss poor job of hiding a smile. Angel noticed and narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Any fever or any redness or discharge from the wound, follow up with your doctor ASAP or go to the ER. Staph infections are nothing to mess with.”

  Jackson did a better job of schooling his features and nodded solemnly.

  “Good. Now, sit down so I can bandage that,” Angel ordered.

  “Hey, Angel? You done in there? I need you to tell me where you want this stuff,” Cam called from the living room. Angel’s face turned red and she rolled her eyes.

  “Can’t you wait a few more minutes?” she shouted back.

  “I can, but your stuff can’t. It’s starting to rain,” Cam replied.

  “Oh, shoot,” Angel muttered, looking anxiously out the window.

  “Go ahead, darlin’,” Jackson said. “I can do this myself.”

  Angel looked nervously between Jackson and Janie, before handing Janie her fistful of supplies.

  “Make sure you wash your hands,” Angel instructed her. “Be generous with the ointment and make sure the gauze stays sterile and that you seal it with the tape all the way around to keep debris out. Got it?”

  “I can handle it.” Janie nodded, swallowing hard. Angel was taking this so seriously that she wasn’t at all sure she could handle it. It was putting a bandaid on, essentially, and now she felt like Jackson’s life was in her hands.

  Calm down, you’re not reattaching a limb or performing open-heart surgery here.

  “Go. I got this,” Janie added with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

  Angel gave her one more long look before nodding and shooting out the door.

  “We
ll, darlin’, it looks like I’m in your hands now,” Jackson said with a sly grin.

  Oh, crap…

  CHAPTER FOUR

  He couldn’t have planned it better if he tried. Here he was, alone with Janie, and he was shirtless to boot. He wasn’t the type to think that all he had to do was take off his shirt and the girls would come running, but it was clear that there was a mutual attraction between the two of them and he could use any advantage he could get.

  Judging by the way she was looking at him now, that magnetic attraction that had been there when she’d kissed him at Connor’s engagement party was still very much there. For some reason, she was fighting it and he couldn’t figure out why.

  “So, what happened?” Janie asked, setting the supplies down on the table and moving to the sink to wash her hands.

  “Ah, I was helping Connor put the bed frame together and the whole damn thing practically fell over. I grabbed it to hold it up, but I caught a corner. Damn cheap metal frames. I’m glad my bed frame is made of wood.”

  Janie shot him a curious look over her shoulder, her face flushed, and Jackson smiled to himself. Oh, yeah. She was thinking about the same thing he was.

  She dried her hands and came over and sat across him at the table. She wouldn’t look at him as she lined up all the supplies in front of her. She opened the neosporin and squeezed a generous dollop out onto the tip of her finger. She finally looked up at him and held out her hand. He held her gaze as he placed his hand in hers.

  She quickly set about her task, carefully smearing the translucent cream over the jagged wound. He barely felt it, she was so gentle. He watched her face, all scrunched up in concentration, bottom lip tucked between her teeth. It was so damn adorable he could hardly breathe.

  He must have made some kind of sound because she looked up at him, all innocent curiosity. It was so different from what she normally projected that it caught him completely off guard.

  “Did I hurt you?” she asked.

  “No,” he said quickly. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”

  “Oh. Okay,” she said, relieved. “Good.”

  “You’re doing fine, sweetheart.”

  “Why do you do that?” she asked, carefully unwrapping one of the gauze packets. She placed it softly on his palm and unwound some of the tape.

  “Do what?” he asked as he watched, fascinated, as she ripped off a piece of tape with her teeth.

  “Use those pet names with everyone,” she said, placing the first piece of tape along the side of the gauze.

  He thought about it for a minute and couldn’t come up with a good answer.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Just the Texan in me, I guess.”

  She snorted, but kept carefully placing strips of tape around the gauze.

  “What? You think I’m full of it?” Jackson teased.

  “Not necessarily.” She shrugged. “But maybe you should give it some more thought.”

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  “Because some people might find it patronizing.”

  He’d never thought about that possibility before. He’d always thought it was just what nice southern boys did. It was cute, wasn’t it? He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt sick, thinking people might have been taking it the wrong way.

  Janie was picking up the supplies and throwing away the garbage, keeping her eyes averted. He went and stood in front of her and waited, but she wouldn’t look up at him. He placed a finger beneath her chin and gently nudged it up until she was looking him in the eye.

  “Do you?” he asked quietly. Her answer seemed really important at that moment.

  “No,” she said with a shrug. “But it does kind of make it seem like you can’t remember any girl’s name,” she added with a smirk.

  “Me?” he asked with a grin.

  “See?” She rolled her eyes. “You seem a little too pleased about that.”

  “Not pleased,” he replied. “Amused, maybe. I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being some kind of playboy before.”

  “Okay. I think we’re done here,” she huffed.

  “Wait.” He grabbed her arm before she could storm off. “I-”

  “How’s the patient?” Alexandra asked, breezing into the kitchen. Janie jumped about a foot and backed away from him as if he was on fire.

  “He’ll pull through,” Janie quipped, heading for the door.

  “I brought you this.” Alexandra smiled, tossing Jackson a plain black t-shirt. “It’s Connor’s so it should fit you.”

  “Thanks,” Jackson replied, biting off the term of endearment he almost tacked on. He pulled the t-shirt on, the gears whining in his head.

  This was not how he’d wanted things to go with Janie. He was more confused now than he had been that morning and he had a feeling he’d put his foot all the way in his mouth. Now he needed to figure out how to fix it, because one thing was certain: he wanted her now more than ever.

  He started to follow her without even thinking, when Alexandra’s hand on his chest stopped him.

  “Just a minute,” Alexandra said, looking over her shoulder and watching Janie leave the room. “You and I need to have a chat.”

  “What about?” he asked, taken off guard by her serious tone.

  “I consider you a good friend, Jackson.”

  “So, do I,” he said with a smile. She didn’t smile back. Major red flag.

  “But Janie is my best friend,” she replied. “So I feel it’s only fair that I warn you.”

  “Warn me?” he chuckled. “About what?”

  “That she’s not as tough as she looks,” Alexandra said pointedly. “And if you hurt her, I’d be obligated to make you pay for it.”

  “Lex… Are you threatening me?” he said in disbelief.

  “Yes. And not even Connor would be able to stop me.”

  The way she was looking at him reminded him of the glare his mother would give him when he’d said something she deemed “back talk.” She definitely wasn’t kidding.

  “Lex-”

  She held up a hand to silence him.

  “But, you are a good friend, so I'm also going to give you a piece of advice,” she continued. “Whatever you do, don’t fuck her.”

  His jaw dropped, both at the idea and the fact that Alexandra had just said it. At his obvious surprise and confusion, Alexandra went on.

  “Just trust me. If you like her, and I mean really like her, you need to go slow. She’ll try to turn you into another notch on her bedpost if you let her. Then she’ll drop you the minute she thinks you’re catching feelings. You need to… treat her like a spooked animal. Go slow, gain her trust.” Alexandra took a step forward, looking him dead in the eye so he could see precisely how serious she was. “And if you’re lucky enough to get it, you make sure you deserve it, and you never break it.”

  He nodded, replying with a simple, “Understood.”

  Alexandra nodded once, turned on her heel and walked away.

  Well, hell… Now what am I supposed to do?

  ✽✽✽

  Janie’s whole body felt like it was on fire. She made a beeline for the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She patted it dry, checked her makeup and decided to power through the rest of the day. If she could just get through the day, she could freak out about it all later. When she was alone.

  Jackson was nowhere to be seen when she stepped out of the bathroom and she thanked God for small favors. She snuck upstairs to where Alexandra and Angel were unpacking boxes in the guest- in Angel’s room.

  That was going to take some getting used to. She’d lived alone for years until she’d needed to move into Alexandra’s place. Even then, Alexandra had been at Connor’s so often for the month or so before she moved in with him that it was practically like living alone.

  She liked her space and her privacy, and although she liked Angel, she seemed a little more… conservative than Janie. After all, she couldn’t imagine Samantha and Charlotte ever shar
ing an apartment.

  The idea made her laugh out loud. She didn’t realize Alexandra and Angel were staring at her until she noticed the silence and looked up. Angel gave her a nervous smile, but Alexandra was grinning like a fool.

  “Anything I can help with?” Janie asked, hoping to head off any questions about the scene Alexandra had walked in on a few minutes ago.

  “You’re very helpful today, aren’t you?” Alexandra asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I try.” Janie shrugged, moving to a stack of boxes and opening the one on top.

  “Helped Jackson right out of his shirt,” Alexandra muttered.

  “I’ll have you know, his shirt was missing when I got there,” Janie retorted.

  “That’s true,” Angel said, still unpacking the suitcase full of scrubs on the bare mattress in front of her. “I told him to take it off so I could throw it in the washer for him. It was covered in blood.”

  Angel froze and looked up, horrified. “That’s okay, right? I’m sorry I should have asked first.”

  “No, it’s totally fine,” Janie assured her. “It’s your machine now, too. No permission needed.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Angel gave her a tentative smile. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me.” Janie smiled. “Lex is the one who left the machine behind.”

  “Well, I didn’t need it.” Alexandra shrugged. “Connor already had one. But don’t change the subject.” She gave Janie a pointed look.

  “I didn’t think there was anything else to talk about.”

  “Liar.” Alexandra rolled her eyes. “What was that, anyway?”

  “It was nothing,” Janie huffed. “Cam needed Angel’s input on something so I took over.”

  “That’s it?” Alexandra asked.

  “Christ, Lex. All I did was put gauze on his hand,” Janie sighed.

  “I don’t know, looked a little more… intimate than that,” Alexandra muttered.

  “Well it wasn’t,” Janie snapped.

  “Why not?” Angel murmured to herself. “Jackson’s hot.”

  Alexandra and Janie exchanged a look and then proceeded to stare at Angel, open-mouthed. Angel, noticing the quiet, looked up, clapping a hand over her mouth.

 

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