Chapter Twenty-Six

It had taken the former SecDef calling in a favor from the President and then the governor, who in turn called the mayor and police chief, to get them off the hook for the gunfight at the hotel.

Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Mac Mackenzie showed up from the California field office and Cobalt Security bodyguards had all been deputized as US Marshals that very day. As a result, the team was secure from any blame or wrongdoing.

Wyatt touched him on the arm, and Hayden turned to hug his brother as they stood together near the door inside of Jaxon’s hospital room.

“He’s going to be okay,” his brother assured him.

“Yes, doctors say it’s a miracle. The bullets could have done so much more damage.”

“Jaxon definitely saved us.” Wyatt gazed at him, but Hayden couldn’t drag his eyes from Jaxon lying on the bed.

“He’s my hero,” Hayden whispered.

Wyatt smiled and tugged at the strands of his hair. His brother had been debriefed by the marshals and FBI over the past two days and with Andrew Moss dead, and the evidence Wyatt had collected against the rest of the crime family, it allowed law enforcement to round up all of the criminals.

So, Wyatt no longer had to stay in WITSEC.

His brother was currently crashing at his and Jaxon’s place until he could find an apartment. Hayden had hooked Wyatt up with Dave, who had offered him a spot on one of his specialty teams, but Wyatt hadn’t chosen anything yet. His brother had come to him to talk about the possibility of Erebus. That surprised the hell out of Hayden because his brother was a former Fed. He was going to talk Wyatt out of it if it came to that, of course, but all that could wait until Jaxon was better.

“Love you, bro,” Wyatt said and gave him a hug as Jaxon started to stir on the bed. When Hayden became distracted with Jaxon, he left his brother and opened the hospital door quietly. “I’ll call you.”

Hayden barely heard Wyatt leave and returned to the chair by the bed. But before he sat, he leaned over and looked into Jaxon’s face. Yesterday, the man had squeezed his hand, waking briefly, and the doctors said that today Jaxon should fully regain consciousness.

Leaning closer, he softly whispered against Jaxon’s ear, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

His throat was raw from crying over the past two almost three days, but he let the tears fall again.

Jaxon lifted the hand attached to the IV and Hayden linked their fingers. He’d been terrified he’d never get to feel Jaxon reach for him ever again. The amount of blood loss plus two surgeries later, Jaxon had been heavily sedated by the doctors, but it had still freaked Hayden the fuck out. He couldn’t remember a time when Jaxon hadn’t been healthy or picked up the phone when he called.

Even when Jaxon took that trip to California to help with Erebus, the man had still picked up the phone when he called.

When the fingers around his squeezed tighter, he flicked his eyes up to find that stormy gaze locked on him.

“Hi,” he breathed, wiping at his face, and took the cup to place a very small ice chip against Jaxon’s lips—the nurse had assured him it would be okay.

Jaxon took the chip, swallowed, and said in a raspy voice, “Hey.”

Hayden lowered down into his chair and held Jaxon’s hand for several long moments. Those storm-colored eyes didn’t waiver and Hayden swallowed.

“Did you hear me?” he asked, covering his sudden nervousness.

“What?” Jaxon croaked.

“I said I love you.”

Jaxon stared at him so long, Hayden felt obligated to tip his chin up. “And if you have any objections, you don’t get to voice them.”

“No?”

A slow smirk moved the man’s lips and humor crinkled the corner of his eyes. They’d trimmed Jaxon’s beard short, but as hairy as the bodyguard was, it would grow back thick within a week. Hayden had taken out the hair tie and brushed Jaxon’s dark-blond hair himself while the man lay still in the bed. The heavy mass now fanned out on the pillow.

“Nope,” he said, popping the P for good measure. “I’ll have you know that you took ten years off my life with that stunt you pulled.”

“What’d I do?” Jaxon groused with a pout by poking his bottom lip out.

“You took a bullet for me. Scratch that…you took a few bullets for me. So now you belong to me.”

“You got that backward. I did the saving, so you belong to me,” Jaxon chuckled and then winced.

“This is not a laughing matter.” Hayden straightened the sheet and blanket before he lifted the cup of chipped ice and fed him another small piece. Once the ice disappeared into the man’s mouth, Hayden placed the cup aside and resumed his seat.

“Like I was saying, you belong to me.”

“And what are you going to do with me?”

“I’m going to marry you,” he mused, watching shock widen Jaxon’s eyes. “It’s only fair,” he shot back. “For scaring me, you know.”

“Yes.”

“Because if you hadn’t scared me then I wouldn’t need to shackle you.”

“Yes.”

“Shackles won’t really work, though, that’s a hypothetical. That’s why we need rings.”

“Hayden?”

“Hmm?” He smiled.

“I said yes, I’ll marry you.”

“Oh, I know you will.” He didn’t try to hide the satisfaction in his voice or eyes. “Like I said, you belong to me.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re bossy?”

Hayden batted his eyelashes. “Like you didn’t know?”

“I lied to you.”

Hayden heard the shakiness in his big, bad, tough guy’s voice and his heart broke for the pain that Jaxon had endured to keep him from finding out and potentially going after Wyatt, because he would have and Jaxon knew it.

“You had your reasons.”

“I did.”

“And you promised me you’d never do it again.”

“As long as I live.” Jaxon crossed his heart.

“Which is going to be a long time.”

“Yes.”

“So,” Hayden said and pulled at his lips because the next part was tricky. “I think we should retire.”

Jaxon’s eyes went wide. “We can’t afford that.”

“Yes, we can.”

“How?”

“You already own your own home, all we need to do is find jobs where people don’t want us dead. There’s got to be tons of those out there and I think that Logan would help—”

“Hayden,” Jaxon cut through his barrage of words.

“What?” he pouted.

“I know you’re scared, baby, but this is what we do,” Jaxon murmured and lifted his hand to bring it to his lips. The scratchy beard rubbed against his hand and Hayden sighed.

“Then what we need to do is…” he waved his free hand around, “take a vacation because I’m having panic attacks just thinking about you laying on the floor bleeding out.”

“It’s going to be weeks before I can get back to work. How about we go somewhere?”

Weeks? More like months, but he kept that to himself and squinted at Jaxon before relenting. “Where would we go?”

“Jamaica for a honeymoon?”

He couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping open, but then excitement widened his lips into a grin.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but first we need to tie the knot.”

“You bet your sweet ass we do.”

“Mhmm,” Jaxon agreed and tugged at his hand. “Now, come here and give me a kiss.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I love you.”

Hayden gladly went.