Page 59 of Edge of Desperation

“Yes, they did,” I mumble. “Butyouput me back together. All of you did.”

He inhales sharply. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t. Neither one of those assholes touched me. Besides, I have Lykos,” I say. “And you don’t have my kill list.”

“She’s got a fucking kill list?” Carver hollers from behind us. “That’s badass!”

“Shut the fuck up, Carver!” Jaxson bellows. “We’re not encouraging her.”

The shock and emotional toll of the day hits me again, and I double over laughing. Once I have control over myself, I wheeze. “That s-s-ship already sailed when you t-t-taught me how to maim and kill someone.”

Jaxson roughly runs his hands through his hair. “Fuck. Okay, fine. But there will be rules.”

I raise my brow. “Rules?”

“Yes, rules.”

“I’m listening.”

“First, I have to be there.” He holds up his hand when I open my mouth to argue. “You can do the killing, butIwill be there to help if things get out of control. Second, you never go anywhere without Lykos. Third, if for some reason you find yourself in over your head and I’m not around, you immediately send me your location and text ‘Winchester’. I don’t care if you’re in the middle of the goddamn Sahara Desert, you text me.”

I can live with those conditions.

“Deal.” I stick out my hand to shake his.

Does Jaxson shake my hand? Nope. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to his chest. Before I can grasp what’s happening, he presses his lips to mine. It’s a sweet, short kiss, and I don’t even have time to reciprocate because as quickly as it started, it’s over, and he’s walking away to help the rest of the guys finish cleaning up my mess.

I brush my fingertips across my lips and replay our first kiss in my head.

Jaxson Rivers kissed me! Holy shit!

CHAPTER 21

JAXSON

“Arewe going to talk about tonight, or are we going to pretend that none of that just fucking happened?” Thomas asks.

After we cleaned up the mess, Thomas and Bennett took care of discarding Senator Briggs’ corpse while Hudson and Carver took the girl who was drugged to the hospital. Fortunately, they were able to avoid the cameras and left her outside. Hudson made an anonymous call, and they didn’t leave until hospital staff found her.

While they did that, I drove Aurora and Lykos to my place in her car, and I’m glad because she passed out pretty quickly. I knew the adrenaline crash was coming and didn’t want to risk her driving herself.

When we got home, I carried Aurora to my bed. I wanted nothing more than to crawl in beside her and cradle her in my arms, but she was passed out cold. I would never get into bed with her without her permission, not when she already had so many choices taken from her. Instead, I wrote her a note and told her I would be down at Carver’s place if she needed me.

“I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it all,” I say.

Carver passes out coffee. “Man, I knew it was bad… but hearing her say it out loud? It gutted me.”

“Yet, she survived,” Hudson mumbles.

“Fucking barely,” Thomas sneers. “She was so fucking scared of getting dragged back to Krukov that she tried to fucking kill herself because of a threat from a senator.”

“In her defense, who would’ve believed her? An elected government official who, by the way, is an advocate for anti-human trafficking, or the general’s daughter that no one knows was a victim?” Carver points out.

“Wewould have believed her,” I snap.

“We weren’t here, Jaxson,” Hudson says.

“Don’t you think I fucking know that?” I slam my fist on the table. “We should’ve never left. I promised her she’d be safe.Ifucking lied to her.Ifailed her.”

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