Page 11 of Fight for You

“I wish I knew, baby. But I don’t have an answer for you. Just know that Jaxson is going to do everything in his power to keep me, you, and Blake safe, okay? And for him to be able to do that, we have to be here.” I push up off the bed and start to make my way to the doorway but Vie calls for me.

“What about… what about mom? Is she safe?” I give her a sad smile.

“Yeah, honey. She’s safe. Zander put one of his men at the motel and he’s watching her room.” She seems okay enough with that answer so I leave her room, making my way towards the kitchen where I left Jaxson a few minutes ago so I could make sure the kids were okay. Blake was already asleep when I peeked in his room, so I turned his television off and shut the door part way.

Jaxson isn’t in the kitchen but the sliding door to the patio is slightly open and there are lights on. I grab a hard seltzer out of the fridge, ones that I know he bought specifically for me. I find him out on the patio, seated in an Adirondack chair.

“Everyone good?” He asks and I drop down in the chair across from him, kicking my flip flops off and tucking my feet under me before cracking open my drink.

“Yeah. Should we go inside?” I question, anxious about the house being empty while the kids are in there, now that I know what’s going on.

“They’re fine. I turned the front porch motion sensor alarm on. If anyone walks up, it triggers the alarm and I’ll get a notification on my phone.” He pats his pocket, so I know he has it on him and that relaxes me a little. I sink back into the chair a bit and take a drink.

“Genevieve’s hurt that mama would get herself into a situation like this.”

“As she should be,” he murmurs, tipping his beer at me to go on.

“And Blake was asleep when I peeked in on him, but he seemed excited that there’s a TV in his room.” Jaxson grins at that.

“I bet he was. But what about you? How are you holding up?” He asks and I shrug my shoulder.

“I’m pissed that she’d come to town knowing she was in so much trouble. Angry that she’d allow shit to get this far before asking me for help.”

“To be fair, Ace, I’m not sure she really knows what she’s up against. She may only know Hank as her pimp, may only think she’s recruiting women for him to use for his prostitution ring. Probably has no clue he’s taking these women she brings him and selling them into the sex trade.” My stomach twists at his words, just like it did earlier on my porch. Sex trafficking. Child porn. What kind of human being would even do something like that?

“Do you think he’ll hurt her?” I ask, referring to Hank finding mama. Jaxson sighs and stands up, tugging me out of my chair before taking my place and pulling me down into his lap, my legs hanging over the side of the chair and my arms twisted around his neck.

“I’ve got one of Zander’s best guys sitting on her at the motel and Wood, Zander’s tech guy, has set up in the room next to her with all sorts of equipment. They’ll hear and see anybody coming and going, Ace. She’s fine. She only leaves for her shifts at the grocery store, and Zander’s guy sits on her there, too.” I scoff at the fact that mama now has a job when she couldn’t be bothered to work to send money home to us all these years. “I know,” Jax goes on, his warm palm sliding just under the hem of my cutoffs and resting there as his finger gently grazes my panties, causing desire to pool between my legs. “But it’s better this way. The guys can sweep her room each time she leaves, make sure she’s not hiding anything. So far, she seems to genuinely have no clue the kind of shit Weller is into.”

I turn that thought over in my head, that mama really didn’t know who she was dealing with. But the fact that she would recruit young girls for his business, whether legit or not, when she has two young daughters at home is unforgivable. I’m not sure this is something we can ever get past. I snuggle deeper into Jaxson and listen to the sounds of the bayou surrounding us.

Jaxson lives in a remote part of town, about half a mile past the city limits. He designed the place himself, just finished being built last year before I started at the office. It’s surrounded by marshy grassland and swamp, bullfrogs croaking in the distance as lightning bugs dance across the backyard. Jaxson’s pocket vibrates and a high-pitched ringing noise blares through his phone. He stands abruptly, fishing his phone out of his pocket and dragging me quickly behind him, across the deck and into the house, sliding the patio door shut and turning the deadbolt. He kills the light in the kitchen and my heart races. He holds his finger over his lip, silencing me, and drags me along behind him towards the front door. He arms the system just as his phone rings.

“Talk to me,” he says as he hits answer and puts it on speaker.

“I don’t see anything on your cameras,” comes Zander’s deep voice. “Wood, switch it to zone two. Wait, go back. Fuck,” he hisses, the sound of his fist colliding with something in the background. “There’s a dead zone. Due south of the house, just off the patio.”

“Shit.” Jaxson curses, “nothing?”

“No, just a quick rustle from the bush and then nothing. I’ve got a guy enroute to you, he’s about a minute and a half out. Don’t open the door unless I text you the all clear.” With that, Zander disconnects and Jax pockets his phone. He turns towards me.

“You okay?” He asks and I nod my head.

“I’m going to go check on the kids,” I scurry out of the living room and up the stairs, first poking my head into Blake’s room where he’s still sound asleep. I move quietly down the hallway and tap lightly on Vie’s door. When there’s no answer, I push it open, seeing her sleeping form in bed. I breathe a sigh of relief. I don’t know how I would live with myself if something happened to either of them.

I’m hitting the bottom of the stairs just as Jaxson’s pulling the front door open and a large man is standing in its frame. Jaxson lets him in and closes the door.

“Henley Santin,” he says, reaching his hand out for Jax to shake. This man is massive, towering a good eight inches over Jaxson but easily three times his size in bulk and muscle. He’s wearing black jeans and black motorcycle boots, a black Lock & Load t-shirt hugging his muscular frame and a black beanie pulled down over head, covering his hair. He’s dark complected and smoking hot.

“Jaxson Callaway and my girlfriend, Avery.” He motions at me and I give a little wave to the man that’s introduced himself as Henley. “See anybody?” Jax asks and he shakes his head.

“Nah, nothing. I scanned the property twice, there’s nobody out there. I’d suggest just locking it down for the night and arming the system. Wood will be out here first thing tomorrow morning with his crew to get a camera on that dead zone.” He bids us our goodbyes and leaves, Jaxson doing what he says and setting the alarm behind him. He gathers me up in his arms and carries me up the stairs to the opposite end of the hall from the kids and lays me down, where he proceeds to make love to me until the early hours of the morning.

Avery

Ding dong.

Shit. The sound of the doorbell causes me to jump, the three-barrel waver I’m using pressing to my forehead. Damnit, that hurts. I release a sigh as Jaxson hollersI’ve got itfrom somewhere in the house.

---