The Rottweiler’s back end wiggled harder at the mention of his name.
“I know.” The branch lowered several degrees. “Jax Marcum?” She tilted her head and froze, as if studying him for a moment. Slowly, she peeled both hands off the branch. It dropped to the ground. Her hand moved to her collarbone, grabbing onto a necklace of some kind above her coral-colored tank top. Her other hand tugged the brim of the hat lower over her face.
“Do I know you?” Jax squinted but couldn’t make out her features because of the shadows and her ball cap.
“A friend of a friend,” she mumbled.
He opened his mouth to question the vague answer.
The woman on the ground tried to sit up, then crumpled to the forest floor again with a groan.
“Careful, Ate Vanessa, your head is bleeding,” the petite, black-haired woman crooned, sinking to the ground beside the woman wearing the neon pink shoes. She eyed the side of the injured woman’s head.
While Jax couldn’t recall what the word “Ate” meant, he knew he’d heard the Filipino term before from his best friend, Matt Ecal.
“Mind if I help?” At her hesitant nod, he forged a path through the dense vegetation separating them. Once he reached them, he edged around her to crouch on the opposite side of the injured woman. With care, he parted her long jet-black hair to examine the wound. “I’m betting it’ll require a few sutures, but the bleeding has stopped.”
The woman whimpered when he touched the raised, swollen area surrounding the cut.
“I’m no medic, but there’s a nasty lump. A doctor should examine her. She might have a concussion.”
“Can you stop talking about me in the third person? I can hear you, you know,” the woman named Vanessa groused, rubbing her neck.
“Sorry.” Jax helped her sit up. He checked both eyes with the flashlight on his keys. “No pupil irregularities. Did a person hit you?”
“Yeah.”
“A man or a woman?”
“I didn’t see them. I couldn’t tell from their voice, either.” Vanessa shrugged her shoulders and winced. “They sounded winded, so it was low.”
Jax addressed the woman with the ball cap. “Did you see them?”
She didn’t lift her head. “No. I saw Vanessa lying on the trail. That’s it.” She sighed and addressed Vanessa. “I hated canceling on you again. I finished my paperwork and planned to catch up to you so we could run together.”
“I’m glad you did. By the way, thanks for the hoodie. It’s a good thing I worried about getting my hair wet from the rain earlier,” Vanessa admitted with a laugh. “I bet that thing saved my life by cushioning the blow a bit.” Her eyebrows lowered, and she narrowed her eyes in thought. “Wait. I forgot. I did hear them say something.” She paused and locked gazes with the other woman.
“What?” Jax asked.
“Lights out, Tierney.”
The woman in the baseball cap gasped.
“Who’s Tierney?” Jax ground out, switching his focus to her again. His eyes narrowed on the brim of the hat. Why did it feel like she was hiding under that ball cap?
“Me,” she stated in a whisper. “I’m Seyla Tierney.”
/////
Jax Marcum? Here? In Lavender Creek?
Seyla hesitated, braced herself, and tore the gray baseball cap from her head. She watched recognition slide across Jax’s face. A face she hadn’t seen in over a decade.
A face more angular and mature, and even more handsome than the boyhood version she remembered from the brief time she’d known him in high school. His brown hair was shorter, his build more muscular and broader, his skin tanner. But there was no mistaking those hazel eyes backlit with fiery gold embers up close.
Jax blinked. “Seyla? Matt’s cousin Seyla?”
“The one and only.” She pointed to the other woman. “This is one of my other cousins, Vanessa. Our moms are the twins.”