Page 43 of Triple Power Play 3
Location?
While I’m sending her address to Charlie, Jackson’s phone buzzes with another text:
9-2740
How about you keep your mouth shut and save us both the trouble? K, pretty boy?
My dark mood descends into the fiery depths of hell. I storm into the kitchen and slam his phone on the counter. “What did you say to Kyle when you met with him? You tipped him off, didn’t you? Did you tell him you had evidence?”
Jax stiffens and balls his fists, his muscles flexing and bulging. He’s shirtless, tattoos on display, his pulse visibly pounding beneath his sternum with each ragged inhale he draws.
“Means nothing.” He leans over the island, his tortured face inches from mine. “I grew up in it. All the memories.” He taps his temple. “I’mthe evidence.”
His words, rough and raspy, give me chills. The message, the picture—it’s unfathomable. No one should go through the shit he’s had to endure.
Still, I have to keep him talking. “Who sent the text?”
“Can you protect her?”
“Yes.”With my life.“Who?”
His shoulders slump with a shuddered sigh. “Kyle’s former partner.”
“How are you so sure?”
He swallows hard. “I just know.”
Unfortunately, I need more than that. I open the text and slide the phone in front of him. “That sound like him? Would he call you pretty boy?”
His demeanor flips, and his eyes become cold. He fists my shirt and drags my upper body across the counter. “Are you fucking stupid, Cop? What do you think?”
My skin crawls. This is his abuser. It all adds up, and I realize then that Ethan was right. I had Jackson wrong. He wasn’t merely entangled in this. He was a victim. His abuse wasn’t only psychological, which is why Ethan is fiercely protective of him. Aurora too.
I raise my hands in surrender. “Easy, Jax. I want him dead as badly as you do.”
“Doubt it.” He shoves me away. “Stop being an insensitive prick.”
Thirty minutes ago, I would’ve said he was acting like a child, but now, I get it.
His oppositional behavior isn’t all about protecting Kyle or himself, nor is it about protecting Aurora, though that’s there. It’s a trauma response. Engaging in this case is reopening wounds that never fully healed—willnever heal.
“Just give me a name. I’ll find him.”
19
ETHAN
“Wow,” Aurora breathes, her wide eyes reflecting the fairy lights hanging from the ceiling. “Are we alone?”
Above the bar is not exactly a restaurant. It’s an exclusive event venue used for small gatherings. We held our season opener and closer parties here most years.
Tonight, it’s prepared for a party of two, with a private chef and a romantic ambiance, all arranged by Team Trent. I’m no good at flowery shit. I thought make-up sex in my office was passionate. Clearly, I have a lot to learn.
Her dreamy expression has me grinning, and my cheeks are aching from all this smiling and laughing.
I take her hand and guide her toward a table adorned with flickering candles. “Just us and the chef.”
We sit in front of the stone fireplace, lit with a roaring fire.
