The Asian one slipped behind them, cutting off a retreat into the wine bar. Also cutting off anyone from coming out. Jax tensed, reaching behind him to herd Jenna and Erika closer together.
Jax’s movement prompted Whitey and Big Guy to shift defensively. Or maybe offensively, since it was three penises against one. Vaginas never counted in this situation—it would work in their favor.
The big guy shifted slightly, allowing something long and metal in his hand to catch the light. “Knife.” Jenna’s eyes glued to the shining metal.
Jax nodded. He’d already seen it.
Erika nudged her and slightly nodded downward. She was opening Jenna’s handbag on the sly, where they had a weapon of their own—an unregistered 9 millimeter. With the handbag pressed between the two ladies, and Jax blocking visibility, Jenna could get it without anyone being the wiser.
“Get this over with,” the big guy said nervously. He had a deep, honeyed voice. Jenna couldn’t make out his features, but she was willing to bet he was a good-looking dude. Too bad this was the life he had chosen.
Whitey nodded and reached into his pocket. Jax glanced behind them at the Asian covering the door. The guy was too close to Erika and Jenna. If Jax rushed Whitey he would also have to grapple with the big guy and his knife. It gave the small guy by the door plenty of time to step up and take out the girls—or do whatever they came for.
Jax backed up a step, now directly in front of the girls. He would be using his body as a shield until he found another way to solve the problem.
Erika had the purse open and bumped Jenna’s leg. She heard Erika whisper in a trembling voice, “Them or us, Jenna. Please, not Jax. Please help him.”
Jenna reached in with shaking fingers. She cursed the decision to come to the wine bar tonight. She cursed that it wasn’t busier this late. She cursed that no cars passing by cared enough to offer help, or even noticed.
Oddly, she didn’t curse Josh going to the store. She was glad he was out of this. That he was safe.
Whitey finished pulling out his gun, holding it like a classic gangsta—in the air away from his body, angled downward, the gun on its side, pointed at Jax.
Jenna finished pulling out hers, holding it like she meant to use it. She kept it low and out of sight, but angled her body so she’d get the guy behind them first. He might be fast, but he was no Superman.
“Am I late to the party?” came the familiar deep voice from the shadows. Josh walked up with confidence, scary knife in hand. Jenna’s heart jumped into her throat.
Everyone but Jax flinched. Big guy swung around, knife hand up to defend himself. Whitey turned the gun on Josh, then back to Jax, before letting it drift to the middle of the two, unsure which side the danger would come from. Even the Asian guy, who had been facing Josh’s direction, started. No one saw him coming, which was pretty nuts, as Josh had to have walked the whole block to get there.
“Got people trying to come out,” the Asian guy said. He was leaning against the door.
“C’mon, man!” Big Guy’s voice was laced with anxiety.
Whitey pulled his hoodie up farther, shadowing his face, and swung the gun back to the girls.
Time slowed down as that barrel slid over them, the hollow black tip seeking them out. Seeking her out.
As if by unspoken agreement, Jax and Josh leaped into action simultaneously. Jax pushed the girls to the side, hard enough for their feet to get tangled up in each other and send them falling to the hard concrete.
Josh stepped up to the large man, probably an inch or two taller. His knife was held chest level, arm bent, business end out at the side. He was poised on the balls of this feet, his other hand out wide, ready to grapple.
His opponent hesitated. His body was not positioned anywhere near as well as Josh’s. His knife was low, pointed skyward. The weapon was thrust out in front of him like a shield. He wasn’t thinking about the possibility of grappling at all. Which probably made him realize that Josh knew his way around a blade in the way that Picasso knew his way around a brush. From the tension in his shoulders, Big Guy wanted to run away, but was too stupid.
Jax was reaching Whitey as Josh stepped toward Big Guy, closing the gap. Jax twirled around and landed a firm kick to Whitey’s knee. There was a crunch, followed by a hoarse scream as Whitey crumpled, grabbing at his ruined leg.
Before the scream, Josh had advanced like a fencer, hands moving at the ready, body balanced and fluid. Big Guy rushed him, knife set to jab quickly. Josh stepped forward almost casually to meet him, blocking Big Guy’s thrust by clashing his forearm against Big Guy’s. Josh slid his forearm off, making contact with his knife as he slid his arm away. His other hand grabbed for Big Guy’s body, pushing him into position for the next knife strike.
As the scream sounded, and Jax was grabbing Whitey’s gun, Josh was already moving in for the follow-up strike. He moved fast, but his movements were precise, looking almost lazy, as his knife jabbed Big Guy’s body in three places, wrenching screams as he did so. As he worked his way across the sidewalk, using his grappling hand to move and shove Big Guy to where he wanted him, angling his body so Big Guy’s knife was of no use, Josh bent for one final swipe and had Big Guy on his knees.
Jenna, her reactions nowhere near those of the boys, finally disentangled herself from Erika, and came up with gun in hand, pointing at the Asian, who was watching his friends with eyes like saucers as they were taken down with cool efficiency. He hadn’t even closed his mouth before his comrades were lying on the concrete helpless, the two nightmares in Armani moving in his direction.
Unlike his friends, he was no dummy. In the fight or flight battle, flight won. He took off like a shot, heading away from the door, and away from the boys.
Josh was after him a split second later. He reached the Asian a quarter of the way down the block, kicking the legs out from under him and waiting until he skidded to a stop on his face before giving him a solid punch, effectively knocking him out.
Josh carried back an unconscious and unlucky Asian dude.
“You girls okay?” Jax asked as he stooped to pick up Erika. Jenna was on her feet, gun pointed at the ground, safety back on.
She heard Erika’s shaky “yes” even as she nodded.
“Jenna, hide your weapon. Cops will be here soon,” Josh said as he deposited the Asian next to Big Guy, who was clutching his leg and his abdomen, bleeding from his arm and a couple of other places. All cuts seemed shallow and not life threatening, but judging by the moaning and shaking, all were debilitating, and hurt plenty.
Just to make sure they didn’t go anywhere, Jax was standing over them, Whitey’s gun in hand.
Jenna blinked a couple of times, trying to block out Whitey’s screaming as he writhed on the concrete. His knee was probably ruined for life.
“Jenna?” Josh said softly into her ear. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.”
Sluggish, Jenna met his eyes hidden by the shadow. “Trust me, Jenna. You’re safe.”
Jenna nodded again, getting herself up and running. It was a lot to process.
She felt Erika’s hand on her. She knew it was Erika’s because it was tiny and soft. Nothing like either of the boys’.
“C’mon, fool, we gotta get rid of that thing. Let’s go inside.” Erika pulled at her with confidence.
Jenna was led through the door in a daze. She was met by the startled eyes of both the employees and the customers.
“I called the cops, Jenna,” Erin said breathlessly. “We tried to get out to you, but the guy was holding the door. Then we saw a gun, and…” Erin’s face turned red.
“I don’t blame you.” Jenna patted her arm, trying to harden her voice to give them some security. “Jax and Josh didn’t need any more innocents to protect.”
There was some shaky laughter. “Anyone who wants to leave can. The perps are all subdued,” Erika said in a loud voice. “Although if one or two of you can stick around to be witnesses, I’m sure the NYPD would like
to have someone that stands by our stories.”
There were some scared faces looking around wide-eyed, but more people had scowls and determination on their mugs. Apparently, now that danger was past, the citizens of New York City would make sure justice was served.
Jenna nodded and smiled, thanked a couple of people for their willingness to see this through, offered drinks on the house, and made it into the wine vault with tremors.
“How you holding up?” Erika asked, stepping up behind her.
“Since when did you mother me in crisis situations?” Jenna wiped her face with a shaky hand.
“Since I realized that you are barely keeping above water with all this.”
“You’re in it, too.”
“I’m not the one organizing retribution. I’m the one who has to sit at home, safe and sound, and hope everyone comes out okay. It’s nice to be included but still secure for once. I don’t feel so helpless.”
“Well, thanks.” Jenna put her gun safely into her wall safe. She was the only one that had access, or even knew it was there, except for Erika, so the gun would be safe until she went to retrieve it. The safe was even fireproof, just in case a second set of underlings came by before she could get back.
From the open door at the top of the stairs they heard sirens and applause. A while later, Josh entered, eyes bright. He did one quick sweep before his eyes landed on Jenna and devoured her.
“You girls okay?” he asked, his gaze roaming her body, sticking to each cut and scrape, and then reluctantly moving to Erika to give her the same scan.
“You can stop looking at me and lick Jenna healed now,” Erika said dryly.
Josh wanted to do just that, Jenna could tell, and she wouldn’t mind in the least, but he stayed put.
“Jax is staying out front for now,” he said. “He’s going to talk to the police when they get here. He thought it best if I was back with you girls. Is there a back entrance?”
“Service entrance, yes. It is locked tight. No windows. It’s only opened for deliveries,” Jenna responded.
Josh nodded, looking deeply into her, filling her up with warmth. All she wanted was to be home with him, wrapped in his arms, their bodies so close together they couldn’t tell whose limbs belonged to whom.
“If the cops are arriving, I need to call my dad,” Jenna said.
“He’s back on his home turf.” Erika dragged out the foldout table and a couple of chairs.
“Except we aren’t the villains.” Jenna took a chair from Erika and sat down in it gratefully.
“We did the most damage,” Erika said.
“But they had the guns.”
“Visible guns, yeah. But Josh had a scary knife.”
“I have a permit to carry a weapon as a bodyguard,” Josh said matter-of-factly.
“Still,” Erika replied, perusing the wine racks.
“We should probably stay sober.” Jenna sighed, wishing that wasn’t the case. Oblivion sounded really good right now.
“Call your dad,” was all Erika said as she pulled out a bottle of the wine Josh had picked for Jax.
She was apparently missing her man. Jenna had hers on hand, but being that he was ten feet away and that was too far, she knew what Erika was thinking. Hell, so did Josh. He had barely taken his eyes off Jenna since he walked in.
A half-hour later, Bill walked in wearing a top-quality tailored suit. He looked like a million dollars. As if money was stuffed in his pockets.
With thugs, one needed a gun. With all things judicial, one needed Bill Anderson.
“Jenna. Erika. Josh,” Bill said by way of greeting, looking over Jenna with a critical eye. Like Josh, he pointedly marked each injury. Unlike Josh, it wasn’t out of love.
Mr. Anderson the attorney had shown up, not her dad. When she was twelve and fell off a scaffold at a photo shoot, she was upset he didn’t take a personal interest in her wellbeing. She was offended he was just looking out for her legal rights. She wasn’t proud that he’d sued, won, and made her more than her college tuition. At that time in her life, she’d wanted love from this man, not cold, calculated legal advice.
At twenty-eight, she felt relieved. She had Josh to kiss it better. She needed her father to poke the fuckers in the eye with a sharp stick. She wanted someone financially bleeding for all this.
She sighed and looked into the corner. Into fathomless sunburst eyes so intense her chest combusted. He was beautiful where he lounged, seemingly without a care in the world, except her. Solid from top to bottom, both emotionally and physically, massive shoulders leaning elegantly against the rack of expensive wine bottles, he was looking at her like she was priceless—a treasure he couldn’t believe he’d found, and would never, ever let go.
She knew how he felt.
What the hell would she do without him?
“Jenna, focus!” Bill said with a whip crack of a voice.
Alas, she was still here, in reality. In this nightmare Josh was trying to save her from. She wondered if he’d always known how badly she needed it. Maybe that was why he kept after her, through all her rejections. He knew her better than she knew herself.
More fool her.
A glass of wine materialized in front of her.
“Thanks, Erika. Yes, Mr. Anderson?”
“That’s better. The police will be in shortly. Jackson was talking to them as I walked in. He’s our golden boy. He’s doing better than I could. Already got them loosened up, including him. But our boys did some damage, so the NYPD are going to want to talk to you, get a statement. I already have witnesses lined up to talk to them who’ll say it was all self-defense. Good, God-fearing witnesses—pillars of the community. They’ll look great if this ever goes to court.”
“Fine. What do I need to do? Or know? How do I need to talk to the authority keepers?” Jenna asked tiredly.
“Not like you to be complacent,” Erika muttered into her glass.
“He’s a shit father, but he’s always been a great lawyer.”
“Nice talk,” Bill said dryly, his phone out. “I need you scared, shaken, but playing up your name. These police know you—the whole city knows you at this point; you’re in the news constantly. Be the woman that needs protecting.”
“Ever the damsel. How did I get hung with this mantle?” Jenna asked as she looked at Erika.
Erika just rolled her eyes and took another chug. Apparently Erika was going for drunk damsel.
“Josh,” Jenna murmured. “It’s easier to play the damsel in distress when you play the hero.”
Josh was behind her, swishing her hair to the side and laying his hand on the back of her neck before she even finished her sentence. She felt herself sag into the chair even as her insides leaped at the contact.
How had did she gone through life without someone like Josh to lean on? How had she made it this far on her own?
“I asked myself the same question the other day,” Erika said.
“Did I just…” say that out loud?
Jenna felt a light squeeze on her neck. She must’ve.
Oh well, not like it was a secret.
There was more applause, but the sirens were quiet. If she knew her town, the room in front would be stuffed full of nosy, busybody patrons.
“Okay, gang, showtime.” Bill stepped to the corner of the room. He was giving Jax room to move.
A second later Jax walked in. He stood straight—if he’d only keep that posture when he was in the clothes Erika’d bought him! Judging by the scowl on Erika’s face, it was exactly what she was thinking. Well, that, and getting him naked.
As well she should. Jax looked great. His eyes were almost black, shining with purpose and clout. He knew who he was, what he was, and where he stood in the pecking order. If the cosmos was reduced to the group of cops he walked in with—police actually within their jurisdiction—he would still be at the top of that pecking order.
“Here they are. I moved them to the cellar so you could talk with them before th
e media swarmed in.” Jax sounded like he was doing them the biggest of favors. And by the look of it, the cops thought so, too.
There were four of them, but they couldn’t all fit comfortably in the room. Two headed back out.
The first cop scanned the room, then her, Erika, Josh, and finally her dad. Jenna got the familiar urge for a cop-induced perma-scowl, but a pointed look from Jax kept her sitting peacefully, ignoring her every instinct.
“I’d like to speak to them individually,” said the no-nonsense lead cop. His eyes picked out Jenna, who was doing her best to look flighty and charming. It was irritating. But to keep Josh safe, she’d do it. He was the one who poked holes in the assailants, and probably drew the most raised eyebrows.
“I’ll be present for each, of course.” Bill adjusted his tie.
All the police, including Jax, went on point. Lawyers were the enemy. And Mr. Anderson was the top of the heap, enemy number one.
Jenna felt a burst of pride.
“I can be present,” Jax said as he turned to the cops with an expression saying he was doing them another huge favor. “I’m sure the girls would be okay with that. Save Mr. Anderson from having to listen in.”
“Now wait a minute…” Bill eased away from the corner.
Welcome to the Bill and Jax show, ladies and gentlemen! For their first act, they would dupe New York City’s finest.
“I would prefer representation,” Jenna said, playing her part in the sideshow act.
Jax looked at her in disbelief. He turned to his fellow cops—he was one of them now, she’d guaranteed that—and said he’d handle it.
“Jenna, you don’t trust Jax?” Erika asked with uncharacteristic anger. Unlike her man, she saw what Jenna was trying to do.
Jax turned to Erika, tilted his head, and then looked back at Jenna. Finally he caught on. Jenna, still playing devil’s advocate, turned to her father. Bill stepped forward another step, his lawyer face intent.
“Jackson will be fine,” Josh said quietly from the far corner in a voice filled with authority. His words cut through the debate like a hot knife though brie. More than one cop jumped, having forgotten about the man who was still and quiet, watching the room.
Unexpected Guardian (Skyline Trilogy Book 3) Page 25
