Jaxson scooted into the backseat beside me and shut the truck door. There was nowhere to move with our proximity tight, and his knees brushed up against my legs. His warm hand grazed my cheek, and the other tangled in my hair, glancing me over from head to toe. Unlike the men who had attacked me, Jaxson’s touch was gentle yet, firm.
I grimaced. My head ached from when I’d been slammed into the brick wall.
“I’ll drive us to the hospital,” Lincoln said and scooted over to the driver’s side.
“That’s unnecessary.” I didn’t want to go to the hospital. There would be too many questions, and the police would have me file a report, and an investigation would be underway. “I can’t go to the hospital. Isn’t it two hours from here?”
“A little less than that,” Jaxson answered. He leaned forward and retrieved a tin box labeled ‘first aid’ beneath the passenger seat.
“I’m all right,” I said as he tended to the wound on my head.
He retrieved a penlight from his kit and had me follow the light with my eyes.
“Since when did you become a medic?” I asked.
His expression remained blank, and he shut off the light. “She doesn’t appear to have a concussion. Why don’t you drive us back to Eagle Tactical?” Jaxson asked. He turned his attention back to me. “Since when did you become a C.I.A. operative?” he retorted.
I winced and swallowed the lump in my throat. “How did you know?” No one was supposed to find that out. I had been assured that my identity and past with the agency had been scrubbed clean.
Jaxson didn’t answer my question. “What happened in there?”
I rubbed the back of my neck and shrugged off his coat. Was it warm in the truck or was I feverish under his scrutiny?
He pulled his coat tighter around my shoulders. The coat was warm around my shoulders, and I slipped my arms into the sleeves. Jaxson fastened the zipper, pulling it to the top. “You’re freezing, Freckles. You need this more than I do.”
Hearing the name he’d given me made me warm and toasty. “I don’t feel cold,” I whispered. My eyes fell to his lap.
He opened an alcohol wipe and swiped it against the abrasion on my forehead.
I hissed from the sting that radiated through my head. “Tell me you have drugs in there.” While I appreciated him taking care of me, I didn’t like the burning sensation that the alcohol caused.
“There might be a few ibuprofens,” Jaxson said. He tended to the gash on my head, cleaning it before using butterfly bandages to close the wound. “There’s nothing any stronger if that’s what you’re asking.” He leaned forward and kissed my injury when he was done.
Lincoln’s eyes were on us as he drove, every so often glancing in the rearview mirror. I did not know what he thought of me. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. The look of loathing was enough to send my heart plummeting.
I told Jaxson everything about Connor and the man with the baseball cap how they’d attacked me and demanded four million dollars by sunset. While I hadn’t wanted to tell him the rest, he deserved to know the truth and hear it from me.
“They’d been watching me, probably since the day I came to town. They knew about you and Izzie,” I said.
Jaxson closed up the first aid kit and shoved it back under the seat. His hand latched onto mine. While I’d always known his hands were large, the warmth eased my anxiety a little. “They threatened you,” he said matter of fact, like my life hadn’t just been torn apart and blown up in one afternoon.
I winced when I attempted a nod. “Yes. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t want him to hate me. While I wasn’t keen on Lincoln’s intolerable glare, I didn’t want to experience that from Jaxson.
He lifted his hips and retrieved his phone from his pocket. “Skylar, it’s Jaxson. I need you to make sure the doors are locked and keep Izzie inside and away from any windows. Arm the alarm and then take her into the playroom. Don’t answer the door for anyone, is that clear?”
He hung up his phone and shoved the device back into his pocket. “Head straight for my place,” Jaxson said.
“Affirmative,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln had downshifted the truck and rolled out the gears, he hurried up the mountain pass to get to Jaxson’s house quicker. The pace quickened as trees whizzed by the windows on our way up.
I didn’t know what we would do about the men or the money that they wanted, but they were becoming two thoughts furthest from my mind. I was worried about Izzie. Jaxson’s hands gave mine a tentative squeeze. He was concerned too. “I’m sorry,” I said, keeping my voice low, so the conversation was between the two of us.
A stony stare from Lincoln made my heart skip a beat, and I met his gaze in the rearview mirror.
Jaxson’s jaw remained tight, his shoulders square. “I have to ask you something and you owe me the respect of answering honestly.”
I wanted to tell him I’d always been honest, and while I’d kept secrets, I hadn’t lied to him, not outright. My stomach bubbled with fear and dread. What was he going to ask now? I gave him the best smile I could muster to ease any worries that he had and squeezed his hands in mine. “Of course. What is it?”