Page 122 of Jax

“It’s time to take Jackson away from you once and for all.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jax

The soft smell of the couch had my head wanting to loll on it and take a nap. With everything that had happened in the last few hours, I was emotionally depleted and just ready to check out from the world.

As if.

I was pissed beyond belief, unable to stop the anger and concern and fear all mixed into one. I was unarmed, tied to the fucking radiator of Mr. Jenkins’ house, having no idea if my club family was okay and not having a fucking clue where Ronnie was.

I spent the last twenty minutes startling at every little creak, thinking Ronnie was unknowingly about to walk through the door. She’d slip on her ass if she did though. With the amount of fuel that they were throwing on the floor, up the curtains, and on all the ancient furniture; it didn’t take a genius to know what they had in plan for me.

Why they’d go out of the way to burn me like a witch at the stake, though, was what had my mind reeling.

If this was business, and they were getting paid, then the only thing left to complete this puzzle would be to find out who the hell was filling their pockets. As a club that liked to dabble on the darker side of the law, there were plenty of enemies out there ready to slit our throats at a moment’s notice. But that was the main thing. Our enemies would be happy to get their hands dirty just to see the life leave our eyes. So far as I knew, the only one who wouldn’t was Ash’s father. He was overseas and had cut all ties to the Black Jacks after getting what he wanted last year.

There was no one else that came to mind.

“Fuck,” I grumbled under my breath, my head slamming back against the couch. It creaked backward a little, causing my body to jerk up quick. I skidded my back up against the thing, hiding my hands.

The little nail in the floorboard was loose, but it was also bent as hell and over fifty years old. The thing had taken me twenty minutes to work half loose and if I was going to have any chance at cutting these cable ties, I needed the tetanus-filled piece of metal. Fucking jackass nail. Maybe this place really did need burning to the ground.

Hopefully without me in it, however.

“LET GO OF ME!”

I froze.

That voice.

“RONNIE!” I yelled, not caring about the nail any longer as I threw myself from the radiator. It gave an ancient moan but didn’t move.

“Jackson…?” Ronnie’s quiet squeak of a voice echoed from beyond the room. I heard heavy footsteps and splashes as her body came into the view from the door frame.

She was tossed forward, landing front first over the soaked foot ottoman.

“Ronnie!” I lunged, trying desperately to get close to her but unable to.

“The two of you are just as bad.”

I jerked my head upward, the deep southern tone familiar to my ears. I turned my face to see a man I didn’t recognize, but the voice was undeniable. Years had passed and the boy I had once known had aged decades since I’d last seen him. He was a chiseled man with a beard and dark brows and short, cropped hair. Wrinkles lined his eyes and brow as he fixed his dirty brown glare at me.

“Jacob?”

“Nice to see you too, cousin,” Jacob Creek snarled, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “It’s been a while.”

Everything clicked into place.

“You’re the one who’s paying them? The Black Jacks?” I looked over his broad shoulder to see one of the men in black leather standing against the banister. Anatoli Ivanov didn’t flinch as he met my glare with a shrug, confirming my guess.

“What? How? Why?” I growled, tugging once more at the ropes holding me back. They were biting hard into my wrists, and I could feel the faint trail of blood begin to slip down my palms.

“I came across them looking for work, and it so happened I had a runaway wife I needed tracking down.” Jacob shrugged, his foot kicking out at the leg of the ottoman, shoving it from underneath Ronnie’s quivering body. She hit the floor with a groan, crumpled into a ball on the floor.

“Ronnie!” I lunged, wanting to scoop her up into my arms. “Ronnie, baby, look at me!”

Huge booted feet stood in my path and I looked up to find Jacob looking back down at me, blocking my path to Ronnie. “This is the why.”

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