Page 28 of Triple the Danger

He wanted to grin at that, but managed to hold it back. He had no intention of this situation going back to being platonic, but he could work on that. And maybe it would give him time to figure out why the hell this woman had him acting like every other shacked up brother in the club. “Fine,” he said with a nod.

“Good. Now that that’s out of the way, what do we need to talk about?”

“I want to know more about your ex.” He eased back into the recliner and watched her.

She arched a brow at him. “What else is there? I told you and everyone else earlier all about what happened.”

“Yes, but I want to know how you met him. What made you go out with him? Did you notice anything else about him that might be helpful?”

“Why are you asking me this now, and not when we were in your Church or whatever it was?”

“Kind of hard to ask questions when I’m trying not to puke from the knee to the balls,” he replied drily.

“Oh, right,” she said sheepishly. “Alright, fine, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SAYLOR

She didn’t like to think about how she and Leon connected. Not because it was some shocking story, but because now she wondered what warning signs she missed. Still, she was willing to tell Jax what he wanted to know if it helped them all figure out how to get this bastard, and whoever else was after her, off her ass.

“I met him by accident,” she recounted. “I was walking down the street toward a coffee shop. I was tired of working in my apartment and needed to get out, so I headed there. He happened to be coming out, and we bumped into each other. He spilled his coffee, and I apologized. It’s almost too cliche,” she cringed.

“And you’d never seen or met him before that?” Jax asked curiously.

She shook her head. “Nope. I don’t go out to bars often, and most of my work I do at home. So other than when I go to the gym or the grocery store, I’m not really out and about. And he’s good looking, so I would have noticed if I ran into him before that.”

Jax nodded. “Alright, so we can probably rule out that he was targeting you. How did you go from bumping into him to dating him?”

“I offered to get him a new coffee, and he took me up on it. We chatted a bit, and he was actually pretty charming. He apologized for cursing at me, saying he was surprised, and since I probably did the same, I accepted. Anyway, he asked me out, and I was feeling lonely so I said yes. I hadn’t been on a date or in a relationship with anyone in over a year, so I think I just wanted to have some kind of connection. I probably would have said yes to pretty much anyone.” She didn’t bother keeping the self-condemning tone from her voice.

“Babe, don’t beat yourself up,” Jax warned her. “Now, did you go out right away or wait a few days?”

“We went out that night for dinner,” she recalled after a moment’s thought. “We went to a fancy restaurant downtown. Not my kind of scene, but I figured he was trying to impress me. That was when he told me that he was a banker. When I asked him which bank, he told me one that wasn’t far down the road, so I didn’t question it.” She frowned. “But whenever I asked him anything bank related afterwards, he would sidestep the questions or give me bullshit generic answers. He said that he didn’t handle those kinds of things, and was more in charge of large accounts. I don’t know enough about banking to really think that’s wrong, but now thinking about it, wouldn’t you have to work your way up to that? You’d have to go through all the other stuff before you’re promoted to that level.”

Jax shrugged. “I wouldn’t know either, but that makes sense. Either way, it’s not your fault he was being a shady prick. How often did you see each other?”

“Not as often as you would think. I should have known something was up when he kept postponing or cancelling our dates. He kept telling me he had an important client that needed his help figuring out some accounts or something, and I didn’t know enough to question him. I would have suspected that he was cheating, but I think I was just happy to have someone to pay attention to me. Fuck, that’s so fucking pathetic,” she groaned. “I have more self-respect than that. The first time he was shady I should have cut off all contact.”

Jax didn’t say anything for a moment, and then got up from his recliner and moved around to sit on the couch with her. Before she could protest, he was lifting her onto his lap and settling back against the arm of the couch. “Stop beating yourself up over it,” he ordered calmly, but firmly. She stiffened at that, narrowing her eyes at him. “No, don’t get all pissy,” he continued. “Look, you made a mistake, and the more you hate yourself for it, the more you continue to give him power over you. I’ve seen all my brothers’ Old Ladies battle their own demons, or blame themselves in some way, and they had to learn that same hard lesson. You keep doing that shit, and you’ll never move on. I’m not asking these questions to make you doubt yourself, either. Every little detail you remember could be helpful in figuring out how to catch this bastard. But with the unknown third man, we’re taking no chances. So, all of this is a necessary evil, but I’m not judging you. None of us are. No one thinks you’re weak or some kind of damsel looking for help to get out of distress.”

She regarded him quietly. She knew he was right, but it wasn’t easy to accept that at face value. To let the guilt and the anger toward herself go. Hell, if she noticed all this shit before now, she wouldn’t be on the run, and she wouldn’t have to worry about Mater or the gym being caught in the crossfire, even though she knew that Frank and Leon wouldn’t dare touch them. It was well known back home that you didn’t mess with Mater. Mater had friends far and wide, and connections that could cause trouble, even for a man like Frank and his operation.

Still, she was allowed to be pissed, even if she knew she had to let it go.

“I’m working on it,” she finally told him. “But I’m still not happy about the situation and how all of this could have been avoided.”

“But then you wouldn’t have met me and experienced all this,” Jax pointed out with a charming grin and a wave of his hand toward himself.

She rolled her eyes. “I have the magic pussy, you don’t have the magic dick, big guy,” she reminded him drily. “It’s really nice, don’t get me wrong. Definitely one of the better ones, but something tells me you don’t need the ego boost.”

His grin widened. “If I’m not the best, then that means we need to keep practicing until I am. Can’t have you telling anyone I don’t measure up, now can we?”

She shook her head, even as her lips twitched. Still, she knew better than to engage in this conversation too long. “Do you want to discuss your sexual prowess, or are we going to get back to the details you want to know about Leon?”

“My sexual prowess doesn’t need discussion, it needs demonstration,” he corrected. “But sure, we can get back to that after we’re done talking about the prick.”

She felt like she had whiplash. He went from serious, to joking, now to just plain goofy. Jax was seriously a different breed of man, and she couldn’t seem to bring herself to hate it. If anything, it only made him more endearing. A dangerous combination, because she already liked him more than she should. “Alright. What other things do you need to know?”

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