Page 7 of Jackson

I purse my lips. “You’re better than me, Xander.”

“I find that hard to believe. Something tells me you’re one of the innocent ones.”

“Well, that really depends on who you talk to,” I smile, weak, but there.

He keeps his smile. Damnit, he’s a nice one. I like him.

“Why are you in here?”

I huff. “Would you believe me if I told you it was a set up?”

He tilts his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. “Yeah, I would.”

“Well, that’s what it was. Now I’m stuck here, and I’m not exactly popular.”

“Want to tell me why? I might be able to help.”

I exhale, letting my shoulders drop. “I’m certain you know Hound ...”

His eyes widen. “Everyone knows Hound. My question is, how do you?”

“I’m the daughter of the man who ran the club he is from.”

He jerks a little. Xander knows more about all of this than I first thought, I can see it in his expression. “You’re Hogan’s daughter?”

“I was. He’s dead.”

“Yeah,” Xander murmurs. “But Hound isn’t.”

“No, unfortunately. That means he wants my blood, and he’s going to make my life hell in here.”

Xander ponders this for a minute. “I wish I could tell you that he couldn’t get to you in here, but the fact is, Hound has a lot of guards on his side. The man is evil and he is high up in here. I’ll do my best to ensure your paths never cross.”

I frown. “Why would you help me?”

“Because I don’t care for people like Hound.”

Interesting.

We chat some more, and I tell him about Jackson and the club. He is familiar with all of it, and I can see he’s surprised that my back story is so deep. I assume he thought the same as everyone else; I’m just an innocent girl in the wrong place, but now he’s coming to realize that I understand darkness better than most.

By the time the nurse comes in, the bleeding has stopped and Xander has to go back to work.

I thank him, and as I watch him go, I know it’ll be him that helps me get out of here.

He’ll be the one to set me free.

I’ll make sure of it.

3 – Serenity

“What happened to your face?”

Addison’s eyes widen as she stares across the table at me. I am bruised and battered, having taken more of a hit than I realized when I got into that fight. I bruise easily, so right now, it looks worse than it is.

Jackson and Spike sit down beside Addison, and I can see the moment that Jackson notices my face, too, because his eyes flash and a hard expression comes across his face. This is his biggest fear, and I knew that when they visited me today that he wouldn’t like what he saw.

I wasn’t going to cancel the visit, though.

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