Chapter Thirteen

Jaxon’s cell phone buzzed, preventing him from getting an answer from Hayden.

It might have been a good thing because he couldn’t be sure that Hayden would have commented about what he’d said, and it took everything inside of Jaxon not to haul the man closer and take what he wanted. The rise of desire combined with a possessiveness he only felt with Hayden had his cock, not to mention his whole fucking body, hard and on edge.

Answering the phone, he kept his eyes on the man’s face.

“Yes sir.”

“Have you found Hayden?” Logan growled.

“Yes,” he said, tracking Hayden’s pacing back and forth. The slender man did that when he was nervous.

Hayden could be nervous all he wanted and that was fine with Jaxon, as long as he didn’t run.

“I need you to meet the rest of the team. Gunner found something. I’ll text you the address.”

“Got it.”

Logan ended the call and Jaxon lowered the phone.

Hayden stopped pacing.

“What is it?”

“The team has a lead.”

“What do we have?” Jaxon asked.

“We have two suspects and a shit ton of explosives,” Gunner responded.

They had gathered in another safe house except instead of a nice comfortable condo or house, this one was better and bigger. Housed inside of a warehouse-type building that Gunner said belonged to Phoenix. Giovanni Rossi had more safe houses than one man should have, but Jaxon was glad it kept their own team safe at the moment. He hated having Hayden out in the open for long.

Inside were several nice-sized private bedrooms that sat behind thick wooden doors. Off to one side, he could see a full-sized kitchen. Everything looked newly built and from what Jaxon could tell, it included a high-tech system. In the center of the building sat a common room with an area rug, several couches, a large conference table that could double for eating, and a large television set against one wall.

Just the alarm system alone made Jaxon feel a bit better. He shifted on the couch and kept his eyes trained on Hayden, who had yet to sit since they’d arrived twenty minutes earlier. The guy hadn’t said one word to him on the drive to this place.

Hayden was antsy and so the fuck was he. Jaxon thought for sure by now, they’d be lying in a king-sized bed in the room he’d rented at a nice hotel, but no, Hayden now seemed to be ignoring what had happened.

A few minutes ago, Jaxon thought he saw something flash in Hayden’s eyes, but now he wasn’t so sure.

The near kiss burned in his brain and for something to do, he pulled out his cell and discreetly checked out the room via the hotel’s website. Realizing that Hayden was staring at him, Jaxon avoided the man’s squinty-eyed gaze and tucked his phone away. What would Hayden think if he knew about the room?

So what? Damn it, was it a crime to think he had thought he’d get lucky with Hayden?

“Did your friend ever wake up?” Gunner asked, jerking Jaxon out of his thoughts and his eyes from Hayden’s.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Really? When?” Hayden asked, placing his hands on his trim hips.

“This morning,” Jaxon said with a relieved smile that Hayden was at least talking to him again, and he tried not to let his mind wander to the feel of the man’s hips beneath his hands when he’d gripped them in the parking lot of Jesse’s deli.

They had fit together so perfectly.

“I’m so glad.” Hayden’s words sounded so heartfelt, Jaxon’s chest tightened.

“Thank you,” Jaxon said. “Jesse has no idea of who set the bomb, plus he did not call Logan to hire us.”

“I have an idea of who it might be,” Felix interrupted and flipped on the television. The man’s fingers flew over the keys of the laptop and in a few moments, the TV screen lit up as a monitor, and in another moment, a photo filled the screen.

“This is Winston Gains,” Felix said with a chin nod at the picture. “He’s wanted for placing pipe bombs at a soccer field and detonating three bombs at a mall.”

Felix tapped a key and Gains’s face was replaced by another man.

“Here’s one we all know and hate.” Gunner gestured at the screen.

“Charles Foley,” Felix agreed.

“Fuck.” Hayden spat, staring at the TV screen.

Fuck was an understatement, Jaxon thought.

Gunner didn’t give any additional information on Foley because it wasn’t necessary. They’d put Charles Foley III away after he’d kidnapped two young twin girls.

The father of the twins was a close personal friend of Dave’s and it was only after the girls had been kidnapped that the father made a frantic phone call to the former SecDef, who contacted Logan, who in turn called on the whole of Cobalt Security to protect the family until the twins had been found.

“Why the fuck is he out of prison?” Hayden hissed, jogging him back to the present.

“I don’t know. Logan has a call into the prison, but it may be a technical glitch.”

“A fucking glitch? Like something wrong with the prison? Or a glitch in the fucking legal system?” Hayden raged, and Jaxon stood and headed to the man.

“Hey, we got Foley once, we’ll get him again,” Jaxon murmured when he stepped closer.

“He killed those two girls,” Hayden hissed at him. “How the fuck is he out with two murder charges?”

And that was the crux of the matter. No matter how much they’d searched, went without sleep, and fought to find them, Foley had killed the twins within the first twenty-four hours. It didn’t help that Cobalt Security had located the twins’ bodies within twelve hours after taking the case.

Logan had become a practicing private investigator and he used his team in all the ways a PI would. So, not only did they guard potential victims, but they investigated and apprehended as well. It helped that Logan’s husband was a former FBI agent with all the connections possible in the Federal realm and that Logan was best friends with the former SecDef.

“Logan is checking Foley’s escape and we’re to stay put until he gets that info,” Gunner said in that no-nonsense voice of his.

“So, how do you think he got out?” Hayden asked Gunner.

“I think he escaped somehow and nobody is saying shit.”

“Inside job?” Hayden frowned.

“Maybe?” Gunner sighed and shook his head. “Dunno.”

“What I’d like to know is why Foley’s running with this Gains guy,” Felix interjected.

Silence swept over the room.

“He needed someone to create that bomb,” Gunner said.

“So, now we know the hit was for you,” Jaxon murmured.

“Me?” Hayden shook his head.

“Yes, you. You were the one who apprehended him.”

“It was a team effort,” Hayden argued, still shaking his head.

“Think about it,” Jaxon said. He remembered that day clearly. They’d cornered Foley in a high-rise in the middle of the city. From there, they’d split up and taken the building along with the local PD and SWAT.

It had been Hayden who’d found Foley with the dead twins. It had been Hayden who’d beat the guy senseless, and it had been Hayden who Jaxon had to talk down from putting a bullet in the fucker’s head.

“Shit.” Hayden ran a hand down his face.

“Yeah. It’s you all right,” Jaxon growled. “Fuck.”

Felix’s phone rang and the man punched at the screen.

“You’re on speaker phone, Logan. The team is here.”

“Just over three weeks ago, Charles Foley had a medical emergency in prison. They took him to the infirmary and he escaped with the help of a guard he paid off. We weren’t notified because they’re incompetent assholes.”

“Did he have an emergency?”

“Yeah, he had an appendix attack that he took advantage of.”

Jaxon stared at Hayden while they waited for Logan to continue. Other than going a bit pale, Hayden seemed to be holding up well. And why wouldn’t he? The guy was a trained professional, an operative turned assassin, and if Jaxon were being honest, he was proud of Hayden.

“There’s something else.”

“What?”

“Ryder and Harrison were shot at this morning.”

“What?” Jaxon growled.

“Their SUV was shot to hell, but they’re both okay. I wanted to send them both to Texas to stay with Maddox and River until this shit can be handled, but Ryder had some choice words to say about that,” Logan finished in a voice that wasn’t happy.

Jaxon knew running and hiding would stick in Ryder’s throat. But he also knew Ryder would do anything to keep his husband safe. Maddox and River were ex-Special Forces and the Triple R ranch in Texas was built like a fucking fortress.

“Where are they?”

“Ryder and Harrison are on their way to you.”

“What do you want us to do in the meantime?” Jaxon inquired.

“Well, that depends. I can’t ask Hayden to do anything because he no longer works for me.”

Jaxon’s eyes swept to Hayden and he saw the confusion, then a frown, and then the man glared at the phone—hands clenched at his sides.

“I can help,” Hayden snapped.

“Not if you don’t work for me. You can take your ass to Texas and stay at the ranch or call Solomon and take another job, but you are not on the Foley case,” Logan snapped right back.

Jaxon wasn’t going to ask how the fuck Logan knew about Solomon, but he figured that information probably came from Dave. It was all he could do not to snap his teeth when Logan suggested Hayden take another hit job.

“Wait!” Hayden frowned. “Give me a second to call Dave. I need a phone! I’m on this case, Logan. You hear me?”

Everyone kind of froze when Hayden shouted at their boss. Jaxon was sure Hayden hadn’t even realized and after a moment, Logan responded.

“I hear you. Ryder and Harrison have your cell phone,” Logan said, and everyone heard the slight satisfaction in their boss’s short, curt voice before Logan ended the call.

Jaxon pulled out his own cell and held it out for Hayden to use, but at that very moment, another call came in.

“Hang on,” Jaxon said and answered the call from Logan. That it was coming into his personal cell after having just talked to the man on Felix’s phone was concerning.

“Hello?”

“Jaxon, step outside without saying a word.”

Jaxon’s eyes flew to Hayden and the man froze.

“What?” Hayden hissed.

Jaxon shook his head and walked out of the room, squeezing the phone.

Once he was outside with the door shut behind him, he spoke.

“What’s going on?”

“That case you’re working on has ties to the Moss crime family.

“Winston Gains has ties to the Moss crime family?” he parroted just to make sure he heard correctly.

“Yes, I can’t say anything further right now until after I check out a lead, but keep this from Hayden and stay extra vigilant,” Logan said and ended the call.

Stay vigilant? Keep this from Hayden? What the fuck? If Gains was working for the Moss crime boss, shit was going to get ugly really fast.

Hayden glared at the closed door.

What the hell had taken Jaxon out of the safe house with that look on his face?

“Here,” Felix said, holding out his cell phone. “Call the SecDef from mine.”

Making a face, Hayden made the call to Dave, who wasn’t a bit surprised he wanted back with Cobalt Security and fired him on the spot.

Hayden had the sudden suspicion that he’d been duped and was equally sure Logan had called Dave beforehand. Hayden hung up and handed the phone back to Felix.

Well played, Logan, damn it.

Hayden resumed his stare at the closed exit door and came to the conclusion that Jaxon was shutting him out again. He raked his hands through his hair, dislodging the clip that held it back, but not giving a shit.

Suddenly tired of waiting, he stalked to the door and yanked it open.

The door behind Jaxon yanked open with considerable force and Hayden stood in the doorway, blond hair all askew as if he’d run fingers through it multiple times.

“Who was that?”

“Nobody,” Jaxon said and stalked slowly forward.

Hayden didn’t back up though, he tipped his chin up and stared back defiantly.

Clearly, the man didn’t believe him.

They really had to work on mutual trust.