Chapter Sixteen

Everything was fine until Jaxon tried to keep him inside the suite.

They’d stayed locked together in bed for another half an hour, just enjoying each other’s company and as if by mutual consent, they’d even showered together. But ever since they had gotten dressed, Jaxon wanted him to stay put.

“I’ll bring you something to eat.”

“I can get my own food.”

“Just stay here.”

“You’re acting weird.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” He squinted at Jaxon and yanked open the door before striding out into the common area.

Only Brick and Felix were there, sitting on the couch with plates of food piled high. Hayden could already smell the sausage and bacon and gave the plates a quick glance with their pancakes and hash browns.

“Who cooked?” he asked, advancing toward the kitchen.

“Gunner,” Felix said with a chin nod toward the kitchen.

Once he reached the island inside the efficient and brightly lit kitchen, Hayden found Gunner with an apron tied around his waist, wielding a spatula like it was an extension of his hand at the cast iron skillet.

“How many?” The man pointed to the pancakes cooking in the pan.

“Four,” he said, grabbing a plate from the table and piling it high with bacon, eggs, and sausage.

“Six,” Jaxon answered, reaching around him and taking a plate.

Brick’s phone went off and instead of answering it, the man scowled and turned it off. Nobody said a word, but Hayden was sure they were as curious as he was. The bodyguard had been getting calls from someone very insistent about seeing him. Hayden had to wonder who Brick was dodging.

Later, as they sat around the table in the common room, Hayden realized Jaxon had dodged his question about the previous night’s phone call. Why the hell everyone was being so secretive, he didn’t know, but it was starting to get on his nerves.

Perhaps Jaxon’s call had been personal and he frowned. “It’s not your mom, is it?”

“What?” Jaxon glanced up from his plate.

“The call.”

“No,” the man answered before going back to shoveling in food.

It was like pulling teeth. Had it been an ex-lover? If so, then why had Jaxon’s face been white as a sheet as he ended the call? And why had Jaxon hung up the cell the moment he’d stepped outside?

He hated that Jaxon didn’t trust him enough to share, but he didn’t get a chance to point out the lack of trust as the sound of an engine reached their ears when a car pulled up in the parking lot. The cameras that Felix had up on the television monitor lit up, showing a silver Ford SUV parked close to the building next to the team’s vehicles.

Jaxon tensed and was up out of his seat, shoving his plate away before pulling the weapon from the shoulder holster the man always wore.

“Go into the suite and stay there,” the man ordered him gruffly and strode toward the door.

Was Jaxon fucking serious?

Did the man think to send him hiding like he was a child?

Well, fuck that all to hell!

He pulled his Sig Sauer from his own holster and followed Jaxon over to the door to the safe house.

“You stay inside,” Hayden snapped when the man scowled at him ferociously.

Jaxon’s eyes went wide as if it had just dawned on him that he was armed and dangerous, and Hayden snapped his teeth. Stalking past Jaxon, he found his arm caught and held in the man’s big, tight grip and was pulled to a stop.

“Wait,” Jaxon hissed, and Hayden shivered because the man’s breath ghosted against his ear and his beard brushed the skin along his cheek, which was the only reason he paused.

The man was completely annoying but also annoyed, he could feel it in Jaxon’s tense muscles.

“It’s Ryder,” Felix said, breaking the tension between them.

Hayden pulled open the door in time to see Ryder exit the silver SUV along with his beautiful, blond husband, and Hayden tucked his weapon away before he jogged down the short steps.

Harrison pulled him into a hug the moment he drew near, and Ryder held out his hand to Jaxon.

“Thank god you’re here,” Hayden hissed in Harrison’s ear.

He really needed a friend right then.

Several minutes later, he and Harrison sat in the middle of the big, wide bed Hayden had shared with Jaxon. When the door closed behind them, Harrison situated himself on the comfy mattress and ate from the plate of food he’d grabbed from the kitchen on their way through the common area.

From the bedroom, he and Harrison could hear when Brick and Felix started arguing about something.

Hayden cocked his head to listen intently. Would Jaxon come in to see what he and Harrison were up to? He wanted it so bad on one hand but on the other, he thought it would be too telling and he wasn’t ready to share. Not that they didn’t know because he and Jaxon had spent the night together, but it was still so new that he wasn’t sure what to actually call them.

Jaxon had called them an “us” and the man was right about one thing, it took some wrapping his head around. Plus, Jaxon had been so closed-mouthed that morning, Hayden wasn’t sure about a damned thing at the moment.

A door shut in the distance and a car started, and after another minute, he couldn’t bear it. Hayden jumped up off the bed, leaving a surprised Harrison behind, and tore out of the room and into the common area.

Both Jaxon and Ryder were missing. Hurrying to the monitor, he stared at the screen where he could see Ryder’s silver SUV driving away with Jaxon.

He felt adrift for some reason and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like they hadn’t worked different jobs before. He just wondered why Jaxon would leave him now of all times. Had he gotten a lead?

“What were you two talking about?” He spun on Brick and Felix.

“Research,” Brick said, careful to keep his phone face down with the team text from Logan about the Moss crime family and Hayden. “Well, Felix is doing the typing. I’m doing the brain work.”

Felix snorted. “We’re just putting some dots together with Winston Gains and… a local crime family.”

Hayden frowned and then nodded. If Gains was involved with a crime family, then it could be that someone other than Foley had ordered the attack. That begged the question of, if Charles Foley didn’t order the attack on his life, then who could it be? Also, if Foley wasn’t behind the bombing, then it stood to reason that Jaxon’s life was in jeopardy. Hell, all of them could be in danger, which made sense because Ryder and Harrison had been shot at.

Maybe it was someone from his assassin job? Did Bozz have a relative bent on revenge? But the minute he thought that, it didn’t make sense. The timing was off. The bomb at Jaxon’s friend’s deli had to have been planted before they arrived straight from the Bozz job that very day.

“You okay?” Brick came around the kitchen center island and walked over to stand next to him.

“Yeah,” he sighed, studying the empty road on the television as if by some miracle Jaxon would come back for him.

“I’m making lasagna for dinner tonight,” Felix called out from where he sat on the couch. “We didn’t have time to stop for groceries on the way, so I grabbed from my kitchen what Gunner cooked for breakfast, plus what I am going to make later. And some wine or beer. Whichever you prefer.”

Hayden yanked his eyes from the road outside and smiled at Felix. The man was trying so hard to make everything appear normal. Which in a sense was nice, but nothing was normal at the moment. Someone was trying to kill him or Jaxon, or both, and he didn’t have a clue. He eyed the cups of coffee that Felix held out.

“Take these and visit with your friend,” Felix smiled, holding out the mugs of piping hot coffee.

Hayden took both cups and he didn’t feel a bit guilty about leaving the men in the living room and returning to Harrison in the bedroom.

“Sorry,” he said.

As he closed the door with his foot, Harrison glanced up from his phone and pointed to the bed.

“Sit and tell me everything.”