Page 10 of Marked for Obsession

The lucky bastard had also managed to snag Skye’s big, forgiving heart.

With her father back in federal custody, the two lovebirds were now living together in what Jax referred to as gag-inducing bliss. And he, well… He wasn’t the least bit jealous.

Keep telling yourself that, dumbass.

Clenching his back teeth together, Jaxdidtell himself that as he rounded the desk and plopped his ass back into his cushy, expensive-as-shit leather chair. Not wanting the detectives to know he already had the recorded footage pulled up, he made a show of clicking several random keys before pulling up the video he’d been watching minutes earlier.

The last thing he wanted was for his brother to start asking questions. Questions Jax had no intentions of answering.

“Here’s your girl.” He spun the laptop around for the other men to view. “As you can see, she comes through the door at eight-seventeen. Looks like she was headed for the bar when she ran into me. I asked if I could help her, but then her friend comes ove,r and the two walk away. He gives her the drink before heading over to the group he’d come here with, while she waits by the door. And then, like I said before, the two of them leave the club together.”

“Wait.” Declan leaned in closer to better study the video. “Go back to where she first walks in.”

As requested, Jax rewound the footage to the point where the woman—Penelope—entered his club.

“You see that?” Declan pointed to the screen.

Grady nodded. “She almost looks…scared.”

Jax disagreed. She didn’t look scared.

She looks fucking terrified.

“Like maybe she saw something right before she ran into the club?” Declan mused.

Grady tilted his head. “Orthoughtshe saw something.”

Glancing down, Jax stared at the woman on the screen again. He thought about their brief interaction. A moment in time that, for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand, was deeply ingrained in his memory.

The adorable brunette had been scared, all right. And if he wasn’t mistaken, right before that jackass friend of hers showed up, little miss Kansas had been precariously close to askinghimfor help.

I want to be the one to help her. Not Declan. Not that blond punk from last night. Only me.

“Doesn’t matter, though.” Grady’s voice pulled him out of the what-the-fuck thought.

The other man’s words had Jax scowling. “The hell you mean, it doesn’t matter?”

The big guy simply shrugged. “Can’t open an official investigation based on what shethinksshemayhave seen.”

“Thorne’s right.” Declan nodded. “We’ve got nothing else to go on other than her account of something that may or may not have happened. So unless some actual hard evidence happens to show up…”

The man’s voice trailed off, but his point was clear. They had no case, which meant the cops wouldn’t be given a green light to open a formal investigation.

Good thing I’m not a cop.

“Well, like I said…” Jax attempted to wrap up the conversation. “I haven’t heard anything about a murder or a dead body.” He shut the computer before placing it back in the center of his desk. “But hey, look on the bright side. Guess this means you’ll make those dinner reservations, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Declan frowned.

The one thing the two brothersdidshare—a deep-seated gut instinct that Jax never, ever ignored. And right now, he knew his brother was thinking the same thing…

The nurse from Kansas saw something last night. Something that had sent her running scared intohisclub. The only question was what?

“Thanks for your time, Jax.” Grady offered him a tip of his bald head and a handshake.

Sincerity flickered behind the tall fucker’s blue-gray eyes as he flashed a polite smile that hallowed a set of deep dimples.

“You know me.” Jax forced his own toothy grin and took the man’s hand. “I live for the chance to help the DPD in their endeavor to protect and serve."

---