Chapter 19

Jaxon leaned back in his seat, trying not to let them see how nervous he truly was.  With Marshal driving and Carson sitting beside him, he knew he wasn’t going anywhere, not that he would want to.  He was the reason why they were all mixed up in this, the reason why none of them would be able to walk away now, and he would be damned if he was the coward who couldn’t take care of his own mess.  He needed help; he’d admit to that, but it didn’t mean he was going to step back and let them take care of everything.  He wasn’t going to let his hard work for the past year get into someone else’s hands.  The only problem was that it was.

He didn’t know which one of them had it, whether it was Amy or Spencer, but one of the two of them had the flash drive.  He was selfish enough to hope that person was Spencer, because as horrible as it was to think, he would rather the man be in danger than Amy.  Hell, if he had his choice, the flash drive would be in no one’s hands but his, but with this family, he was already learning that you don’t always get your way.

“Where are we going?” he asked, wanting to break up the uncomfortable silence in the car.

Marshal glanced at him in the rear view mirror, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that the man didn’t like him.  “If it was my choice, I’d bring you to the closest safe house we have, lock you up, and make sure you couldn’t leave until the trials I’d force you to testify in.”

“And why aren’t you?”

Marshal didn’t answer, simply looked back to the road, which made Carson laugh.  “The same reason why any of us do anything: Amy.”  Marshal opened his mouth to protest, but Carson simply waved him off.  “Oh, not in the same way that she has everyone else wrapped around her finger.  You need something from her, and until you get that, you won’t chance making her mad.”

“She’s a good woman.”

Another laugh from Carson, this one full of pride.  “No she isn’t.  She’s the best damn woman you’ll ever meet.  She’d jump in front of a train if she thought it’d help someone out, and that right there is why I’m here.”  Jaxon turned to look at Carson as the man’s tone slowly went from happy to deadly.  “If either one of you even think about doing anything that may hurt her, I swear on everything I’ll skin you alive.”

Marshal laughed, the noise sounding more forced than amused.  “I don’t plan on doing anything to hurt her.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be sending her to that asshat.”

Silence met Carson’s statement, and once again, Jaxon was out of the loop.  Sure, he knew that Amy’s ex had left her; that the man really was the biggest idiot, but there was something deeper, something that Amy hadn’t told him yet.  “He won’t hurt her, will he?”

Carson studied him for a moment, and after that moment, Carson grimaced.  “You really care about my answer, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t have asked.”

The man looked up as if praying for something before laughing.  “You won’t be the first person that we’ve scared off.”

“How about I be the only person you can’t scare off?”  Jaxon wanted to take the words back as soon as they slipped from his mouth, because he knew he shouldn’t have said them.  Even if he liked Amy more and more the longer he was around her, he knew deep down that they would never work.  He couldn’t let her get close, couldn’t risk her being in danger, but he also couldn’t quit now.  He needed, more than anything, to end the people who had killed his brother.  He needed to finish what he had started a year ago.

Carson cleared his throat, making Jaxon jerk slightly in his seat.  Amy’s brother frowned at him, looking as if he didn’t like what he was seeing.  “He won’t hurt her again because we’ll be there.  We weren’t stupid enough to let him near her after what he did.”

Again, Jaxon felt like he was missing something.  It would be easy to just ask, see if Carson would provide the information that Amy had yet to tell him, but he couldn’t do it.  He couldn’t lose Amy’s trust when he was just beginning to earn it.  “You kept the two of them apart?”  When Carson didn’t say a word, Jaxon closed his eyes, feeling something that felt like panic claw at his chest.  “Does Amy know?”

“No,” Carson replied quietly.  “It wasn’t her that wanted to see him.  He was the one that tried seeing her.”

“He wanted her back,” Marshal guessed, throwing himself into the conversation.  “I hope you beat the hell out of him before telling him to stay away from her.”

Carson laughed.  “Not me or Asher.  Neither of us could afford to be reported; it’d either end our career or hurt it enough that it’d take years to get back to where we were.”

Jaxon opened his eyes and winced when he realized who Amy’s ex had to deal with.  “Logan?”

Marshal winced too, but Jaxon had a feeling that the man’s reaction came more from experience.  “I’d feel sorry for him.”

“But he’s an asshat,” Jaxon finished, making the other two men chuckle.  He leaned back in his seat once more before running a hand over his face.  “What would it take to convince the two of you to keep Amy out of this?”

“It’s not us you have to convince,” Carson said with a disbelief-filled laugh.  “It’s Amy, and if you can talk her out of helping, I’ll see to it that no one even tries to scare you off.”

Jaxon frowned.  “I’m sure one of you can talk her out of it.”

“Nope,” Carson said with a small grin that Jaxon was beginning to realize all the brother’s shared when they thought of their little sister.  “Since she was a little girl, she’s been picking up strays; doing anything she can to help them, and then sending them on their way.  Until the two of you stop looking so broken, you’re her new projects.”  When silence met his words, he sent them both slightly evil smiled.  “Don’t worry, as soon as she’s done fixing you, you’ll never have to see her again.”

Again, silence met Carson’s statement, and while Jaxon didn’t know what was going through Marshal Grant’s mind, he knew what was flying through his own.  When Amy was finished helping him, when she was sure he had gotten what he wanted, would she really just leave?  He pushed back the emotion that threatened to come into play, because that was exactly what he wanted from her.  He wanted her to leave him, to stay away from the danger he created.  He couldn’t have it both ways; he couldn’t want her around him and away from him at the same time.

Still, something about Carson’s words didn’t seem quite right.  Oh, he was sure Amy made a habit out of helping people and other creatures that she found less fortunate than her, but he didn’t believe that she’d just walk away when she was finished with them.

“Nice try,” Jaxon said, and for the first time since he’d gotten into the car, he felt himself relax.

Carson turned towards him, looking slightly shocked by Jaxon’s words, which only made him chuckle.  “Damn,” Carson mumbled with a slight smile on his face.  “That one usually works.”

“What?” Marshal asked in confusion, and Jaxon’s smile widened when he realized that it was the Marshal out of the loop this time, not him.

Shaking his head, Carson stared at Jaxon.  “Do either of you know what I do?”

“You’re a fed,” Marshal answered.

“True,” Carson agreed, “but I didn’t ask you what I am, but what I do.”  Neither of them provided a guess, and Carson took it as his cue to continue talking.  “As a teenager, which I’m sure the both of you already know, I did a lot of stupid stuff, but I could only really be pinned for a couple of them, you want to know why?”

“You were good?”

“Hell no,” Carson said with a laugh.  “I got caught every time.  What I was good at was talking other people into doing the dirty work for me without them realizing it.”

Jaxon nodded in understanding.  “So that’s what you do?  Interrogations?”

“Most of the time,” Carson agreed before narrowing his eyes at the two of them.  “I’m not sure if she knows this, I imagine she does, but if she doesn’t, not a single word from either of you.”  They didn’t have to ask who exactly Carson didn’t want them telling, because there was only one female that Jaxon knew of that could make Carson look both worried and scared at the same time.

He waited for both of them to nod before continuing.  “My specialty is going undercover in big organizations and bringing them down from the inside.  Usually, all I do is find that one person who will be easy to turn into a snitch, but sometimes its worse.”

Jaxon didn’t ask what Carson meant by worse, and he didn’t want to know.  The same haunted look that had been in Logan’s eyes when he watched Jaxon’s videos had flashed in Carson’s, and Jaxon knew without a doubt that Amy’s brother and he shared more in common than either of them thought.

“So,” Jaxon started, changing the subject, “did I pass the test?”

Carson chuckled again, looking slightly relieved.  “The first one, but don’t worry, there are a million more people who you’ll have to prove yourself too.”

“Does that mean you’re through with me?”

“Not at all,” Carson disagreed, “but since I’m actually starting to like you for some reason, I figured a warning was due.”

“What about me?” Marshal asked.

Carson turned to look at the man and a loud laugh flew from Carson.  “If you were even in the running, I’d warn you, but after what you pulled with that file, she’s marked you off her candidate list.”

Marshal shrugged, but by the look in the man’s eyes, Carson’s words had bothered him more than they should have.  Jaxon felt his gaze narrow on the man.  Not only did he not trust him, but out of everyone, Marshal was the only person that Jaxon thought would actually hurt Amy.  He was the only one that hadn’t done everything in his power to keep her out of it, because if he had, he would have refused to let her help when she offered earlier.  No, Marshal wasn’t someone he could trust, not as long as the man was near Amy.

“We’re here,” Carson said in an eerie tone, and for the first time, Jaxon realized that their car was coming to a stop.

Before he even had the chance to glance out of the window, Carson was jumping from the car along with Marshal.  Following their lead, he froze when he saw the place in front of him.  Sure, he had known that Amy’s family was powerful.  Of course, he had realized that they had money, but by the way that they had all talked about their family home, this was not what he had expected.  In front of him, and about the size of the school elementary school he went to as a kid, was the O’Neal family home.

“Don’t be intimidated,” someone whispered from beside him.

Smiling over his shoulder, he shrugged at Amy.  “It’s hard not to be.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” she started as she began pulling him towards the front door, “the only reason why they keep it is because of the staff.  When we were children, having a house this big didn’t seem so empty, but now that we’re all gone…”

“Why not just get rid of it anyway?”

She looked shocked by his question, and he couldn’t help but smile down at her.  When was he going to realize that, despite the fact that they were powerful, the O’Neal family was some of the most caring people he had ever met, especially their youngest.  “They’re like family,” she said as if the answer was obvious.  “We couldn’t throw them out with the economy the way it is.  Most of these people have worked here for over ten years.  Where would they go from here?”

By the time she finished her last sentence, her eyes were lit up with annoyance, her hands were on her hips, and a large smile was on his face.  One day, maybe he would grow tired of watching her get annoyed with him; one day, maybe he wouldn’t do anything in his power to see those green eyes light up like they did when she was angry, but right then, he was already thinking of ways to keep that spark from dimming.

“Amy!” a loud voice billowed from the porch, making Jaxon’s eyes snap away from Amy. 

Glancing around him, he realized something that he hadn’t noticed before.  Everyone but Amy and him stood on the porch, staring at them in expectation.  When he had been trying to annoy her, the rest had been waiting on them.  He clenched his jaw in frustration, not liking the thought that it was the third time in hours that he’d been so distracted that he hadn’t realized what was going on around him. 

Amy’s hand curled around his arm again, and his jaw instantly relaxed, because he knew that if he had to chose something to be distracted by, Amy would be at the top of his list.  She tugged on him once more, and this time, with a laugh that felt carefree for the first time in years, he let her pull him towards the porch where her family waited with glares on their faces.

“Don’t let them intimidate you either,” she whispered as they reached the porch.

Jaxon stared at the people a couple of steps above him and let out a deep breath.  “I’ll try,” he promised, knowing that facing down these people would be harder than anything he’d done in the past year.