by Jory Strong
"Can I stay here until you come back?" she asked.
Something eased inside him. "Yeah."
He kissed along her shoulder. Returned to her neck and kissed his way to her ear.
A shiver went through her. An answering ripple of want went through him.
If he didn't roll off her, he was going to roll her over and take her again with Rand outside the door.
The hand on her breast tightened. His cock ground into her ass, spasmed and licked her lower back.
Part of him was violently opposed to another man hearing those hot little sounds she made. Part of him was violently aroused by the thought of taking her with an audience and making it clear those sounds belonged to him.
Fuck, she was screwing with his head.
Jax rose onto his knees.
She lifted onto her elbows and it was all he could do not to raise her ass in the air so he could take her from behind again.
He left the bed, collected the gun magazine he'd dropped and the bullet he'd ejected the night before. Dying from his own gun wasn't how he was going to meet his end. Not that she was a danger, but he hadn't become a warlord by doing stupid shit.
He went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Toweled dry then pushed the bullet into the magazine before stepping into the bedroom.
His attention went to her first then flicked to the gun on the dresser. Stupid. His brains were still in his dick. They'd been there since she walked into his bar.
She could have been carrying a loaded magazine. Last night he'd been so intent on getting her out of her clothes, he hadn't bothered checking for weapons or anything else that might have warned that she was an assassin.
She'd rolled onto her back. Mercifully, she'd also tugged the sheet up to cover her breasts.
He pulled on jeans, closed them and buckled the leather belt he wanted to see looped around her wrists and doubled up to leave light red marks across her ass.
Socks and boots were followed by a shirt grabbed from a clean stack of them next to the gun.
He jammed the magazine into the gun, chambered a round then shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans, securing it in the leather sewn there to keep the gun from falling out or sliding down his ass. "Be back in a little while."
Three steps toward the door and he reached the pile of her clothing. The jeans and black hoodie. The lacy underthings he wasn't convinced she hadn't worn for the benefit of some other man, the shirt that belonged to another man.
Fuck if he was going to come back and find her wearing those things.
He wheeled and returned to the dresser, rifled through the stack of shirts and found his favorite, made of heavy, dark green material.
She'd get hungry. She'd leave his room. The shirt made it clear who'd brought her into the house—not that rumor hadn't already spread. The shirt made it clear she wasn't available.
He carried the shirt to the bed, dropped it at the foot. But getting that close drew him even closer.
His hand speared through her hair. His tongue plundered her mouth. And that first kiss wasn't nearly enough to hold him until he got done at the bar.
The second kiss wasn't enough either, or the third. Or the fourth. Not when her hands landed on his chest and her fingertips rubbed over the nipple bars.
Heat poured from her into him. From him into her, redoubling with each thrust of his tongue and stroke of her fingers.
She made that hot little sound and he moaned. His hand dropped to the front of his jeans.
Rand banged on the door. "You want me to come back later to remind you that Luke is waiting for you to show up?"
Jax ended the kiss. He turned away from her, stopped at the pile of her clothing and grabbed the panties and bra and shirt, then kept going.
Satisfaction came with the lack of her protest. He'd feel an even greater satisfaction after he dumped the clothing in a scavenger box and she was wearing the things he'd provided.
He stepped out of the bedroom.
Rand pushed away from the wall, eyes dropping to the shirt and underthings, brows lifting before his gaze did. "This mean you're going to show her off? Make her available?"
Jax's nostrils flared. The hand holding her clothing tightened while the other twitched for the feel of the gun.
Rand's hands lifted, palms forward. "No offense meant."
"None taken," Jax said, though it came out a growl.
Rand reined in a smile. "Yeah, right."
They went downstairs.
Jax detoured into the kitchen, grabbed three of the breakfast burritos that were being kept warm in the oven. He had them eaten by the time they hit the steel front gate so his hands would be free in case there was trouble.
Stepping out into the warren, he asked, "Who does Luke have at the bar?"
"Noah."
Fuck. Of all the men who could come after Eliana, why'd it have to be that one?
"What's he said so far?"
"Nothing, despite downing plenty of brew and getting a blowjob from the blonde Samuel was doing in the back room last night."
"Yeah, that's a real sweating."
Rand shrugged. "Debt is on your side of the equation last anyone knew. Luke went with some gentle persuasion."
They turned the corner. Jax split from Rand to walk on the front side of one of the scavenger boxes he'd had put up in the warren.
He tossed the unwanted shirt and underthings into the green box marked with his tags. They'd be gone before they reached the bar.
At the end of the box, he rejoined Rand.
"You're fucking killing me here," Rand said. "You know that, right? What's the deal?"
"With?"
A snort. "With her."
"That's what I intend to find out."
Rand's smile widened. "Did you get her name at least? Not like you haven't gone a whole night fucking without getting a single name."
"Eliana."
"Pretty."
Jax shot him a look. Rand shook his head. "Never thought I'd see the day, but I get it. She's yours, for now anyway. Pretty soon everyone is going to get it. Which means you've got to figure out how much protection you want to put on her."
Jax touched the spot above his heart like a pledge. He'd never let a woman become his weakness. He'd never again be at the mercy of one.
"Don't worry about protection," he told Rand. For now he wouldn't allow Eliana to leave the house unless she was with him.
They got to the bar he used as his public headquarters and stepped inside. This time of day there were no paying customers, just men and women trading labor for a hot meal.
It gave him immense satisfaction to know the warren he ruled was nothing like the hellhole he and Luke and Asher had emerged from. He didn't force women into prostitution. He didn't allow slavery. He didn't put sadists in charge of work crews that included children small enough to be sent into crevasses and holes to scout for salvage in crumbling, unstable rubble.
Jax rolled his shoulders and felt every whip scar on his back. He nodded at Butch, wearing an apron and holding a clipboard with a list of work assignments. "You got enough help?"
"For now."
"Good."
He and Rand kept going to the back room. Jax punched in the code and they entered.
Luke was stretched out on the wide couch, his woman next to him.
Their black-haired, dark-eyed prisoner was in a chair, feet on the desk, his shirt parted and a plate of food sitting on his bare stomach, his smile already baiting.
Chapter 5
"Make yourself at home," Jax said.
Noah's smile deepened. "That's not exactly what you said the last time I was on your turf."
Jax got within kicking distance and struck, but Noah was faster at dropping his feet off the desk and onto the floor.
Noah set the plate on the wooden surface and lifted a slice of bacon. "And here I thought you were actually being hospitable."
"Who hired you?"
Noah swirled the baco
n slice. "For?"
"Don't fuck with me. To track Eliana."
"She come to you for protection?"
"No."
"You offering it?"
"Who are you working for?"
Noah bit the bacon strip.
The crunch crunch crunch of it had Jax grinding his teeth.
"Here's the problem," Noah said. "I give you that answer, you're not going to be satisfied with it, but you're going to say I've just used my free pass to be in your territory. Which means next time I show up and you decide you don't like it, you'll say I owe you. Seems like a lose-lose for me."
"So you'd prefer I beat the answer out of you?"
Jax kicked at Noah's chair. It was already flying backward, Noah laughing, on the balls of his feet, his hands curled into fists.
"You can try to beat an answer out of me. Or you can take my word that knowing who hired me isn't going to do you any good."
Jax pulled the gun from his waistband and handed it to Rand.
On the couch, Luke sat and put his feet on the floor to better protect his woman when bodies started flying.
She sat to watch, staying behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders.
Jax lunged and swung.
Noah ducked and countered with his right fist.
Jax blocked the punch and landed one in Noah's gut.
Noah grunted, then laughed. "That all you got?"
"Fucker."
"Says the manwhore."
Jax punched, grazed Noah's jaw but got a kick to the gut that sent him backward.
Fuck it. He didn't have time to play around.
He charged. Took the punch along his cheekbone but lifted and slammed Noah to the floor.
It became a wrestling match then.
Fists. Head-butts. Knees. Chokeholds.
Noah bucked and managed to flip and pin Jax—for an instant.
Jax muscled out of the clench. Came on stronger, wrestling Noah so the tracker was face down, arms and legs twisted and wrenched behind him so he was unable to get enough traction to escape the clench.
Blood poured from Noah's mouth and nostrils. One of his eyes was already swelling shut.
"Who?" Jax growled.
"Diego."
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Jax released Noah and sat.
"Told you," Noah said, rolling onto his back and reaching down to grab a shirttail.
He pressed the material to his nose and mouth and the light blue material darkened with blood that soaked in and spread.
"Idle curiosity," Noah said through the shirttail. "Why not ask her who she's running from? Or did you lose her too?"
The amusement in Noah's voice nearly had Jax jumping him for a second round. "I did not fucking lose her. She's waiting for me in my fucking bed."
"That so?"
Jax ground his teeth. "That's so."
"Must be afraid you can't get an answer from her then. Either that or whatever happened in your bed left you feeling hot and bothered and pretty damn unsatisfied. I mean, who'd rather fight than fuck?" He looked at Luke, then Rand. "Am I right or am I right?"
Luke grinned and reached around, hugging his woman against his back.
Rand, leaning against the desk, said, "Depends on the day and the woman."
Noah's abs flexed as he used them to pull himself up so he was sitting. "So she didn't tell you who she was running from?"
Jax clenched his jaw. Fuck it. He knew it wasn't the whole truth. "Her parents."
Rand choked back a sound of disbelief. "That must have been after she told Jax she was coming out of Elias's warren and after she said what she was running from was the sight of Jax sitting out front with Shell."
Noah turned considering eyes on Jax. "Not like you to go dumb over pussy."
Rand laughed. "Comes with going caveman over a woman."
"Not in this lifetime," Jax growled. "What's the fee for turning her over?"
"Why? You want to split it?" Noah's voice was a knowing jab.
"Just answer the damn question."
"My cut is a hundred pounds of copper. Hard to know what Diego got offered since bargaining with him is like trying to decide which nut you want to lose, the right or the left."
From the couch, Luke said, "Makes a lot of standard coin, if you don't want to turn it into something more useful." His eyes met Jax's, full of shared history. "Could be she's telling the truth about running from her parents. Might have slipped out of the city through the gate in Diego's territory. Behind the wall or in front of it, no guarantee you won't get shit for parents."
Noah changed out the bloody shirttail for the other one. "True enough. But whether she's from the city or the warrens, to offer that kind of reward probably means there's a man who wants her." He cut Jax a look. "She a virgin?"
Jax stood, done with messing around when the answer to every question he had was waiting in his bed.
"He have anything interesting on him?" he asked Luke.
"Nope."
Not surprising. Noah's memory was legend.
Jax headed toward the door.
"This mean you're not interested in handing her off to me and splitting the fee?" Noah called after him. "Last I heard, Diego promised to shoot you the next time he saw you."
"Escort him to the border," Jax told Rand.
Noah sighed dramatically. "Going to let me stop bleeding first?"
"No."
Jax heard Noah stand.
"You know I'm not letting this score go," Noah said. "Not without a good reason."
Jax spun and stalked toward Noah.
Noah released the second bloody shirttail and balled his hands, protecting his face and ready to go at it again.
"Here's your reason," Jax growled. "As long as she's in my territory, she belongs to me. You go after what belongs to me then what I'll owe you is a coffin and a nice burial instead of dragging your corpse into the wild lands or having it dumped in Diego's warren."
"Sounds like she's got her hooks into you the same as she does the man behind getting her back."
Jax threw a punch before he could stop himself.
Noah ducked out of the way but didn't follow with an attack.
Jax said, "You've been warned."
Noah jumped from one foot to the other, air-punching like a stupid motherfucker, but it helped Jax rein in the fury that'd come with thoughts of Eliana with another man.
"I give it two days before you have her name tattooed on your dick," Noah said. "Assuming you can hang on to her. Five gold pieces. Anyone want in on the action? Rand? Luke?"
"Get him out of here," Jax said, wheeling and heading toward the door again, changing his mind steps away from it about letting Noah go. "Take him to the square. He can whore and drink in as many places as he wants, but someone stays with him."
"Better hope she leaves your territory, little brother. She's trouble, Jax. Gut read instead of direct knowledge. I'm not the only tracker who's going to risk coming here after her. I doubt I'm even the first one to get here."
"I can handle trouble."
"Famous last words. Don't let that be what shows up on your grave marker."
Jax left the room.
He managed four steps before Rand joined him, offering the gun, a worried look on his face instead of a smirk.
Jax's footsteps faltered. Fuck. He'd been so focused on getting back to Eliana and getting answers—
He took the gun and holstered it in the waistband of his jeans, telling himself that he wouldn't have stepped out of the bar without it and even if he had, it didn't mean anything.
He didn't actually need the gun to enforce his will or hang on to his turf. That's why he had loyal men, why he turned tribute and the contraband he sold to distributors behind the wall into support for farmers and businesses, into goods dropped into the salvage boxes and hot meals for those willing to work to eat.
They entered the public portion of the bar. It was empty except for Butch who was ins
pecting liquor bottles that'd been cleaned so they could be reused.
Butch looked up. Grunted. "Noah need some ice?"
The corner of Jax's mouth kicked up on its own. "He asks, you can give him some."
They hit the front door. Stepped out into morning bustle, people bringing stuff into this part of the warren to sell because they thought they'd get the best prices.
Rand said, "She's worth a lot to someone. You want me to reach out, see if there are better terms than what Diego's offering?"
Fury returned to Jax in a rush, coming on so fast and hard that it was like he was mainlining it. He fought against acting on it. Wrestled it down but not completely into submission.
"You miss what I told Noah?"
The threat of extreme violence was in his voice. He knew it was in his expression when he half-turned toward Rand.
Rand's hands lifted to mid chest. "Wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out what needs pointing out. Never a bad thing to turn windfall into guns and ammo so farmers can reclaim more land. But I got it. You're not done with her…yet."
Jax bit down rather than react. Took a measured breath. "That's right. I'm not done with her."
Rand's eyebrows lifted.
"Yet," Jax growled.
The smirk returned. "I'll tell Enrique to make sure he's ready to ink some skin. Considering your chest is covered, leaves only one good place for her to put her mark of ownership, unless you plan to wear it on your neck like a collar."
Not happening. "You're lucky you've been with me forever and I still take pride in having saved your ass in the first place."
Rand laughed. "Yeah, and you got eight new bodies added to your crew for your trouble."
Eight kids, some of them older than he'd been, who'd made a difference, allowing him to move into the territory that'd been controlled by a psycho called Mad Dog back when he was fifteen.
That strip of hell was a couple hundred miles of wall away and near the one he'd spent the first twelve years of his life.
Guilt started creeping in. Jax slammed to door on it but not before he remembered Eliana's tear-wet eyes over something in the past, something involving a younger brother, something she couldn't undo any more than he could undo the past when it came to the little brother and sister he'd spent five of his first twelve years keeping safe, and a sixth searching for, before surviving and growing strong enough to one day claim a warren had become the focus of his life.
