Page 30 of Tactical Revival

Margot

Ihaven’t been able to think straight since Jaxson left a few hours ago. The feel of his body beneath mine, his arms around me—the memory has been swimming in my mind, playing on repeat until I’m so enamored by the idea of him and me that I can hardly think of anything else.

I set the book I’ve been trying to read aside.

There can’t be anything between us. Especially not now that money is involved. I doubt he’d believe me if I told him I wanted a relationship even before he handed over that check, and dating a man who just gave me twenty thousand dollars feels—weird somehow.

Yet here I am, sitting in the foyer, waiting for him to return.

A flashback of me sitting in this same spot, waiting for Chad pops into my head, and I push to my feet. He’d come back, all right. Drunk and smelling of another woman’s perfume.

Jaxson’s not him.

Jaxson’s not—well—he’s not my anything.

He can do as he pleases.

So why does the fact that he practically ran out of here make me feel nauseous?

The front door opens, and I turn. Jaxson walks in and closes the door, locking it behind him, but he doesn’t stop to talk to me. In fact, he barely makes eye contact with me as he heads for his apartment.

My thoughts go to his dad.

He’d told me that the man was ill. Did he pass? Was that the call?

“Wait, are you okay?” No response, so I follow. I’ve never seen him look so—tortured.

Jaxson opens his door and moves into his apartment, and I don’t give him the chance to shut it before I’m pushing inside.

I repeat again, “Hey, are you okay?”

He shakes his head and starts pacing, hands on his hips. He looks tormented. Weighed down. And my desire to ease his agony is stifling. Without thinking too much about it, I step into his path and reach up to rest my hands on his shoulders.

The former Marine stops moving and takes a deep breath before looking down at me. The heaviness in his gaze, the way he watches me hungrily has me withdrawing my hands, though I remain where I am. “What is it?”

“Lanetti is missing.”

My stomach plummets. “What? Missing? What do you mean?”

“I brought trouble here, Margot. And I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Jaxson.” I take a deep breath to steady myself, then move in closer to him. “What trouble?”

“The last case I worked in LA. It was a serial killer. Took me five months to track him down, and in that time he killed seven young women.”

Bile burns my throat at the mention of someone so evil. “But you caught him.”

“I did. But he used a calling card, something to taunt us on the case and let us know it was him.”

“What does that have to do with Lanetti?”

“Sheriff Vick found the killer’s calling card at her house. And I found one at an attempted break-in yesterday.”

I cover my mouth with my hands and process everything he’s telling me. A killer on the loose in Hope Springs? Lanetti missing? I’m not even sure how to start wrapping my mind around it.

But I do know that the fact he’s blaming himself is ludicrous. The only person to blame is the evil one carrying out these violent acts, but I can understand the weight of what he’s carrying. “Was he released from jail? I’m assuming he went to prison.”

“He did. And he’s still there. Serving his life sentences. I don’t know what’s going on, but I intend to find out before anything happens to Lanetti.” He shrugs out of his shoulder holster and hangs it on his chair, then removes his firearm and sets it on the table.

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