CHAPTER19
JAX
Alejandro makes several calls while I drive us to the hospital, jumping at least two red lights and making every traffic violation there is to get us there as fast as possible. First he called Alana, who was only around the corner with Hugo. She is sitting beside Lucia’s bed when we arrive, holding her daughter’s hand, but the two of them are deep in conversation about something and they are smiling.
The relief at seeing her sitting there, safe and relatively unharmed, almost knocks me off my feet. I have to stop myself from going straight over to her and checking her over myself. I want to run my hands over every inch of her skin to check for scratches or broken bones then wrap her in my arms. I imagine the looks on her parents’ faces if I did that, and so I hang back, standing awkwardly with my hands stuffed in my pockets because I feel kind of out of place here. I’m family but not quite. I have no right to touch her like that but that doesn’t stop a memory of my hands and my mouth on her skin from popping into my brain and making my cock twitch in my pants.Not now, Jax!
Raoul is sitting in the corner, stony faced as usual, and you can hardly tell he was just in a car accident. Alejandro walks straight to his wife and daughter, hugging and kissing each of them in turn before he turns to Raoul.
“What the fuck happened?”
“We were at a crossing. A car jumped the light and hit us. It was headed for us though, Boss. It was a targeted hit.”
“Why are you so sure of that?” Alejandro frowns.
“It swerved around two other cars to get to us,” Raoul replies matter-of-factly.
“It was only because Raoul acted so quickly that we weren’t run off the road,” Lucia adds. “He swerved just in time and we missed the worst of the impact.”
“Thank you,” Alejandro says to Raoul, who simply nods in response.
“Did you see anything? Remember any helpful details?” he asks both Lucia and Raoul.
Lucia shakes her head but Raoul speaks, reeling off the information he has for us. “A silver Dodge pickup. California plates but they may have been stolen. Driver had a black cap on. That’s all I got.”
“We can check security and traffic footage. I’ll speak to the LAPD and see if they got anything,” I add.
“Yeah,” Alejandro says absent-mindedly.
“Do you need me for anything else, Boss?” Raoul asks as he stands. “I can wait outside.”
“Can you accompany Hugo when he takes the girls home shortly?” he asks.
“Of course.” Raoul nods, then excuses himself.
“I can’t go back to the house now,” Lucia says. “What if I put Mom or the boys in danger?”
“Lucia!” Alana frowns at her.
“You won’t.” Alejandro frowns at her too. “There is nowhere safer for you than the house.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “What if something happened to one of you because of me?”
“Lucia. This is not up for discussion!” Alejandro barks.
“What if they’re just waiting, Papi? What if next time Matthias is with me?”
She looks up at him and it’s then that I see she is terrified. I mean that’s completely understandable but I have never seen her like this before. The instinct to protect her is so overwhelming that I have to force myself not to speak and suggest that I become her personal twenty-four seven bodyguard and take her far away from the danger that is here in LA.
“I can’t just hide out in your mansion. I’ll go crazy,” she adds.
Alejandro rubs a hand over his jaw and then he looks at me. “Any ideas?”
Fuck!“What if I got Lucia and Matthias out of the city until you can figure out who was behind this?”
His eyes light up and I feel as guilty as fuck for suggesting this. But I am just trying to protect her. I mean that’s what I keep telling myself anyway. And it’s not like we’re going to be alone. Matthias will be with us, not to mention my family.
“I think it’s perfect. I mean if they’re not with me, Jax, then the safest place is with you. Nobody outside of this room knows about the ranch, do they?”