“Exactly and we need her, too. I don’t care what all this shit is about. If it means we have to close up shop, I’ll do it. We’ve got more than enough money to live life multiple times in luxury. She’s more important than anything. And, not sure if you realized it or not, but we haven’t been using any protection with her.”
Jax ran his fingers through his hair. “I know. I thought about it for a split second and then it hit me. I want her forever. I don’t want to lose her. I want her pregnant with our children.”
“I don’t want to scare her, Jax. She’s younger than us. She has goals and expectations.”
“She loves us already. She’s just scared like we are. The power of our connection is incredible, Jameson. I want this. But right now our priority is her protection We need to keep her out of harm’s way.”
“We
need to take her out of the city then.”
“I agree. I also have this feeling that we’re missing something with this. It’s got to be more than coincidental that Clover Masters was trying to steal your ideas.”
“You think Clover is behind this incident at Mariana’s?”
“I’m not sure, but Spider and the guys are investigating. He thinks we should take Mariana out of town for a couple of weeks.”
“How is she supposed to attend school?”
“She can’t.”
“That’s not fair to her, Jax. If Clover or whomever wants to go after us through Mariana, then we need to protect her. But taking her away from her studies, just isn’t fair for her.”
“I don’t care. She’s our woman and our responsibility. You said it yourself. We need her as much as she needs us. Besides, we know the dean of that college. He attends some of the art galleries at Roldolpho’s. I’m sure if we explain the situation that he would get her professors to send along the work so she can do it online. She only has a semester to go,” Jax stated with confidence.
“Fine. Whatever you think is best. But what about Clover?”
“I have men on him now. If he’s up to something, then we’ll know it soon enough.”
* * * *
“I can’t allow you to buy me a whole new wardrobe,” Mariana said as she stood in the laundry room and waited for her jeans to dry. She had one outfit to her name. The T-shirt and jeans she changed into at Freda’s place.
“You are so damn stubborn.” Jax raised his voice at her, and she glared at him. She wasn’t backing down.
“Here. This is from Freda,” Jameson interrupted, stretching his arm between Jax and Mariana to pass along an envelope. She took it and stared at him.
“What is it?”
“Your pay from the other night.”
Mariana looked inside the envelope and gasped. There were five thousand dollars in it.
Jax and Jameson looked just as shocked and a bit angry to boot.
“What exactly did you and Theo do on that date?” Jax asked.
She held his gaze. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Jameson now questioned her.
“Hey, it’s not that type of escort service. Besides, I was actually kind of on my own most of the time. Theo is quite popular.”
“Which is how Ellington got you alone. Let’s not think about it,” Jax said then walked out of the room.
“Freda did say that Theo gave you a little extra. I think maybe he felt bad about leaving you alone and giving Ellington the opportunity to strike.”
“I can’t accept this. It’s five thousand dollars.”