Page 6 of Marked for Obsession

Sometimes life really did suck.

1

Jax Monroe staredat the screen in front of him. Correction, he stared at thewomanon the screen. And damn if he couldn’t find the strength to look away.

His gaze remained locked on the frozen image. Just like when she’d bumped into him last night, Jax felt drawn to those big, round eyes and curves that would drive even the sanest of men wild with need.

But there was something else there. Something that, for some strange reason, he couldn’t seem to shake.

Fear.

It was unmistakable. Especially for a man like him.

He’d seen that same look in a hundred different sets of eyes during his time as a Navy SEAL. It had been there in the innocents he and his team had been sent to save.

And in those they’d been ordered to kill.

He’d seen it again last night. That flash of a second when those gorgeous brown eyes had met his, Jax had recognized it instantly. And though he’d tried like hell to shake it, he couldn’t seem to let that shit go.

So here he was, sitting in the recently remodeled office that overlooked Sin’s dance floor and bar. With his eyes glued to the frozen image he’d pulled up from the club’s security footage minutes before, the same two questions occupying his every thought…

Who are you, darlin’, and what had you so scared?

A hard, recognizable knock pulled Jax’s focus from the screen to the set of double doors on the opposite side of the room. With a quick click of a button, the image on his computer vanished, a boring ass spreadsheet of last month’s revenue in its place.

“Come in.”

One of those doors opened and Ivan Petrov—Jax’s former SEAL brother and right-hand man—stepped inside.

“There’s someone here to see you, Boss.”

In the two years Ivan had worked for him, Jax had repeatedly told the man to use his first name. But as the man’s former team leader, Jax also understood that old habits were hard to break, so he’d chosen to concede that particular battle.

“Should I let them in?”

The man’s deep, gravelly voice was as unique as his resume. Like him, Ivan had seen and done things during his time in the military that would give most people nightmares.

He was as tough as they came and loyal almost to a fault. Yes, Ivan was a man Jax knew he could count on without question. It also didn’t hurt that he was built like a brick shithouse.

“Who is it?” Jax inquired about his unexpected guest.

“Your brother and his partner.”

Fuck me.With a sigh, he begrudgingly waved them in. Stepping to the side, Ivan waited as the men in question entered the private space.

“You good, Boss?” His trusted associate waited for the green light before leaving.

“Just peachy.” Jax plastered a fake-as-fuck smile on his face. “Thanks, Ivan.”

With a tip of his chin, the man who’d been by his side from Sin’s conception left the room, shutting the door behind him.

That smile vanished. “What do you want?”

“Nice to see you, too, Jax.” Declan King—a detective with Denver’s Major Crimes Unit and Jax’s half-brother—gave him a lopsided grin.

Between his clean-cut look and the badge hanging from the man’s neck, no one would guess Dec shared Jax’s DNA.

Standing beside him was Detective Grady Thorne. The tall, muscular asshole had a salt-n-pepper beard, but his head was as bald as a baby’s ass. He nodded his cue ball head but said nothing.

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