Chapter Five

The motel was okay as motels went and Hayden dumped his bag on the bed.

“I don’t know why we had to stay here,” he grumbled, shutting the door.

“Just change and come eat,” Jaxon said from behind him, causing him to jump and whirl. He lost his balance and ended up crashing into Jaxon. The man’s hands caught his upper arms and Hayden ended up against Jaxon, chest to chest. He wobbled and fisted the front of Jaxon’s shirt. When Jaxon didn’t release him right away, Hayden tipped his head back and gazed up into a pair of unreadable gray eyes.

“What?” Hayden frowned and Jaxon’s hands squeezed his arms before falling away.

“Nothing,” Jaxon rasped and reached past him to open the door. Hayden coughed when something got stuck in his throat and in order to dodge around Jaxon, he had to brush his side against the man’s hip.

“Where’s Gunner?” Hayden croaked, stepping outside.

“I have no idea. I sent him a text, but he never responded,” Jaxon said and walked down the sidewalk. Hayden fell into step.

They found a pizza joint not far from the motel and ordered a couple of larges. This place reminded Jaxon of the place where he first got to know Hayden. He’d met both Wyatt and Hayden at a flag football game. Shortly after leaving the Army, Ryder had invited him and since he hadn’t had shit to do at that moment, he’d gone.

The four of them had gone out for pizza and beer and continued hanging out on occasion after that. It became a casual friendship with Wyatt, but with Hayden, Jaxon had instantly clicked. That day, Hayden, as slender as he was, had almost eaten an entire large pepperoni and sausage pizza by himself. Good thing Ryder had ordered several for the table that night. Jaxon had ended up with Hayden next to him and they’d shared a pitcher of beer. Before the night was over, he’d slung his arm around the bright blue-eyed blond and had sung at the top of his lungs, drunk, until his voice had gone hoarse. They had laughed like lunatics. When it came to Hayden, he’d always had a soft spot.

And it only made sense that when Wyatt was gone, it had been the most natural thing in the world to bring Hayden into his home to live.

“Whatcha thinking?” Hayden asked, jogging him from the past.

“Nothing.”

Hayden snorted and took a large bite of pepperoni and sausage. “So, how come we couldn’t get to your friend’s place tonight?”

“Because it’s his business and they don’t open until the morning.”

“Ah, ok,” he said around a bite of food and found Jaxon staring at him oddly. “What? Do I have food on my face?”

Jaxon squinted and reached across the table and wiped his thumb against his bottom lip. Something the man had done countless times before. Only instead of wiping it off on his jeans or a napkin, Jaxon sucked the sauce from his finger.

“Did you just steal my red sauce?” He gulped, trying to laugh, but it wasn’t coming as fast as it usually did so he stuck to making a joke and kept his voice light.

“Yup,” Jaxon drawled with a smirk and took another bite of the salad before more pizza.

“I’m pressing charges next time.”

“What charge would that be?”

“Grand theft?”

Jaxon laughed, the sound echoing around the deserted place. They were the only ones other than the staff. After all, it was almost midnight. Hayden snickered and turned his attention to his food, but for some reason, his eyes kept flickering over the edge of the tattoo peeking from the collar of Jaxon’s t-shirt. Hayden knew it was the top of an intricate design of a dragon. It wasn’t the only ink on Jaxon, but it was the most impressive and memorable. It trailed across the bodyguard’s pectoral down the left side next to his six-pack abs, with the tail ending low on his left hip.

The bite of pizza Hayden had in his mouth suddenly needed a lot of water to wash it down.

Hayden had been silent as they walked the few short blocks back to the motel. When they got back to the room, Hayden had snagged a shower first. Returning to the room wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants, the slender blond had climbed into one of the queen beds and pulled the covers over his body and head. Jaxon showered, changed, and stretched out on the other bed.

He didn’t believe for one minute that Hayden meant what he had said earlier. The man wasn’t leaving Cobalt Security. He was positive Hayden had only said that to get under his skin. Just the thought of Hayden leaving was ludicrous. He had wanted to talk to Hayden about his poor choice of employment, but that evening he’d been thwarted every time he tried to bring it up. He fell asleep gazing at the long, lean form of Hayden sleeping across the way.

In the morning, he’d been given the silent treatment even after he’d been good enough to give Hayden one of the burner phones he’d stashed in his bag.

Other than a muttered thank you, he got nothing as he took the onramp onto the highway.

He wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with Hayden, but by the end of this road trip, he was going to find the fuck out. If it was one of the last things he did, he was going to figure out how to fix whatever had happened between them. There was no way he was living without Hayden’s friendship. The thought that they wouldn’t ever hang out again sat like lead in Jaxon’s throat.

Damn it, he wanted answers.

A call from his mom came through the dashboard and he grimaced. Of all the times she could call, now was not one of them. He threw a warning look at Hayden.

“Behave,” he growled.

“I’m always good,” Hayden snorted.

“Define good,” he muttered and punched the answer call button. “Hi, Ma.”

“Hi, Mrs. West,” Hayden sing-songed.

“Hi, Jaxon. Hi, Hayden. What are you boys up to this weekend?”

“Nothing.”

“On a job.” Jaxon glared at Hayden’s innocent expression. It was a look the man used when he wanted to manipulate him—making those blue eyes wide, parting his lips, and shaking his hair out. The part that was nuts was it worked every single time.

“Oh…well, I’m having your brothers and sister over to the house for Sunday dinner, Jaxon, but since you’re busy… Hayden, can you make it?”

“Yes ma’am,” Hayden happily replied and gave him a slow wink.

Fuck.

“Ma? I can’t talk right now, but we will both be there.”

“Fantastic! Love you both. Bye!”

“Love you.” Jaxon smiled at her exuberance.

“Love you!” Hayden shouted and Jaxon ended the call.

“She’s my favorite.”

“Favorite what?”

“Mom of all time.”

“She’s the only mom in your life right now.”

“True, but she’s still my favorite.”

Jaxon smirked. His mom and Hayden had hit it off from the start. In fact, when Jaxon thought about his loud, boisterous family, there hadn’t been a single person who hadn’t taken to Hayden from the first moment. Hayden was the type of guy who drew people to him with his easy smile and wicked, if a little bit odd, sense of humor.

When he finally got around to taking Hayden to meet his family, his Mom had been so smitten that she’d scolded him for not bringing the younger man by to meet her sooner. Jaxon’s brothers both had families with one who had teenaged twin boys and his sister had recently married and was expecting. Of course, the kids had all taken to Hayden because of his easy smile and his bright eyes, and his skill for gaming won over the teenagers.

When Jaxon had moved Hayden in to live with him, his mom had scolded him for not telling her. She’d gone on about decorating his room.

“You’re living with him and you didn’t even tell me?”

“Ma, it’s not like that,” he had groaned at his tiny mother. He got his height from his dad, and sighed. “He only moved in not too long ago.”

She had harrumphed with her hands on her hips.

“He has lost his mom and now his brother. You take care of him,” she sniffled.

“I will.” Jaxon had folded her into his arms.

“Whatcha thinking?” Hayden’s voice brought him back to the cab of the truck.

“Nothing.” He shook off his thoughts and took the exit that would take them to the deli.

A few moments later, he pulled up outside of the place where his high school friend worked, and parked his truck. When Jess had called Logan, he’d reported a suspicious-looking man hanging around his place of business for a week.

Before Jaxon could say a word, Hayden jumped out of the truck and shut the door.

“Shit,” he muttered and grabbed his weapon from the glove compartment and shoved it into his shoulder holster beneath his leather jacket. Coming around the truck, he found Hayden waiting for him.

“Who are we meeting?” Hayden was smiling and that was always a good sign.

Gunner pulled up in his black SUV, parked, and rolled down the window.

“Give me two minutes,” Jaxon told the bodyguard, who nodded and started scrolling through his phone.

Jaxon spun around just as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud that sent light shimmering in Hayden’s blond hair, giving the man an ethereal glow and he stood frozen, caught off guard for a moment studying the silky strands. He almost lifted his fingers to touch Hayden’s hair, but caught himself. He sensed Hayden was on the verge of punching him for some reason and didn’t want to give the guy any more ammunition.

They normally got along really well; it was strange to be so at odds with the usually bubbly younger man. He’d always thought their temperaments were perfectly matched and that was why they’d become fast friends. Now, it seemed as if he couldn’t find any of the right words to say. While Hayden buried himself in joking around, Jaxon knew the man used it as a defense mechanism—but why would Hayden need to keep up his defenses around him?

“Jax?” Hayden said with an adorable furrow etching his brow.

Jaxon cleared his throat. “We’re meeting Jesse Freeman. He’s a buddy from high school.”

They’d both played basketball at Denver’s East High and won plenty of state championships. After high school, Jesse had gone to college while he’d gone into the military and subsequently gotten his own degrees.

“An ex-boyfriend, buddy?” Hayden asked, and Jaxon realized the man’s beautiful mouth was stretched wide.

Jaxon rolled his eyes to cover any signs that his own mouth had gone completely dry and reached for the door. People came in and out.

With a hand on Hayden’s lower back, he ushered the man into the front room of Freeman’s Deli and Coffee.