Chapter 24

He tightened his grip on her hand once more before forcing himself to loosen it.  With the smile that she sent him as they walked down the hall behind her ex, he knew that she didn’t mind how tightly he held her hand, as long as he held it.  That was the problem.  The longer they followed Greg, the further they went into this building, the tighter he wanted to hold her. 

Now that they were finally in front of the person that Amy had loved, now that they stood here near the person that had hurt her so badly, her brother’s words were flying through his head.  She forgave too easily, loved too much, and was the most heartfelt person any one would ever hope to meet.  His free hand reached up, rubbing at his chest as he forced himself to keep from pulling her away from her ex.  What would he do if she did forgive Greg?  What would he do if he had to sit there and watch as the two of them reconciled?  He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it, wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to let go of her, not when he had just decided that he wanted nothing but to hold on.

Her shoulder bumped into his, making him glance over and down.  The smile she sent him had his nerves dying down and an answering smile falling onto his face.  The warmth in her eyes reminded him of the first time he had saw her.  Even with the fear masking her expression, even with the worry over who he was clouding her mind, she had stared at him with those caring green eyes, and at that moment, he knew what type of person she was, and that was exactly why he wanted to drag her from this office as fast as he could.

“You okay?” she whispered, but by the way that Greg glanced at them over his shoulder, Jaxon knew the other man had heard her words.

He ignored the man they were following as he turned towards Amy.  “I thought I was the one who was supposed to ask that question.”

The smile on his face was genuine and by the flash of happiness in her eyes, so was hers.  The only question was why she was happy.  Why had the nervousness that had hovered around her suddenly disappeared as soon as Greg had walked into her sight?

“I’m good,” she said, still trying to keep her voice as light as she could.  When he still didn’t say a word, she laughed.  “Honestly, when I came here, I didn’t know what to expect, but now that I’m here, I wonder why I put this off for so long.”

“Here’s my office,” Greg interrupted, keeping Jaxon from asking the questions that were floating through his mind.  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather speak alone?”

Amy rolled her eyes at the man, and a small smile pulled up the corner of Greg’s mouth as if he had expected the action from her.  That small expression, that small movement from Greg reminded Jaxon just how long the two of them had been together, just how much they had shared, and just how much they had loved one another.  The only thing he could hope for now was that it was all in the past, that the feeling she felt so strongly for the doctor were now gone.

“I’m positive,” she answered as she stepped around Greg and pulled Jaxon in behind her.  “Anything you have to say, you can say in front of Jaxon.”

Greg shut the door behind them and let out a small, almost sad chuckle.  “You must have known this guy for a long time.”

Jaxon frowned at the two of them when Amy froze and Greg looked at her as if she were to blame for everything.  “We just met a couple of days ago,” Jaxon said in confusion.  “She’s the most open and honest person that I’ve ever met.”

A snort left Greg’s mouth as he plopped down in his chair.  “So she tells you all of her secrets, does she?  When the two of us were together, I’d have to pry for weeks just to get her to tell me the small things.”

They both looked towards the woman still hovering over one of the three empty chairs in Greg’s office.  Jaxon shook his head at Greg’s description of her, knowing right then that even if the two of them had spent a year together; Greg obviously hadn’t gotten to know Amy as much as she had gotten to know the doctor.  “You don’t know her very well, do you?”  The question brought on a glare from Greg and a frown from Amy, but he knew once he had opened his mouth, he needed to keep talking; he needed to tell them what he was just beginning to realize.  “If she kept anything from you, anything at all, it was the small things, the things that you couldn’t do anything about.  Because for Amy, the most important thing is taking care of the ones she loves, if that means keeping her burdens to herself, that’s what she’s going to do.”

Silence met his words, but by the way that Amy glanced away, he knew that his statement was right on the money.  “There’s just one thing,” he whispered, putting all of his attention on Amy.  She glanced towards him, caught his eyes and froze as his next words flew from his mouth.  “With you and me, it would hurt for you not to tell me the small things.  If you’re having a bad day, I want to be the person to make it better, and that means you have to be open with me, Amy.  If not, I don’t think I’d be able to handle the disappointment, the feeling that you don’t care as much as I do.”

Tears gathering in her eyes, she blinked at him with a small smile on her face.  “You know the same goes for you, right?”

Tugging her towards him, he grabbed her in a hug, rocking them back in forth while hoping that the tears in her eyes wouldn’t fall.  Amy angry, he had come to look forward too.  Amy crying, he didn’t think he could handle.  “I know.”

“Excuse me,” Greg said while clearing his throat.  “I thought you came to talk to me, not to each other.”

They pulled apart slightly, only enough for Jaxon to lean down and press his forehead to hers.  “God, he’s an ass.”

Laughter fell from her lips as the tears disappeared completely.  “He kinda is, isn’t he?”

 “An ass that happens to still be in the room.”

Reluctantly, they pulled apart and took a seat across from the man that Jaxon no longer worried about.  Even if Amy did forgive him, which was a huge possibility with the woman, he knew that she and Greg were through.  He knew without any doubt in his mind that Amy had moved on.

“Sorry,” Amy said with a large smile, looking anything but apologetic.  “I did come here to talk to you, Greg.  I know you didn’t call afterwards, and maybe, for you, the way we left things was closure enough, but not for me.”

Greg’s face fell into a genuine frown as he studied Amy.  “What do you mean, I didn’t call?  I did everything that I could to get in contact with you.  I even showed up at your apartment one day.”

“What?”

Keeping his eyes on Amy, watching as confusion flew through her eyes, Jaxon listened to the words he had dreaded hearing since he walked into this doctor’s office.  “Amy,” Greg started, “I did everything in my power to get you back.  I sent roses, I wrote apology letters.  I even left voicemails on your answering machine apologizing.  The thing with Mirabelle was the second biggest mistake of my life; the first was walking out of the door that day.  I had let my parents rule my life for a long time, and it wasn’t until after I gave up you that I realized that I couldn’t take it anymore.  I couldn’t live how they wanted me to.”

“You were with her before you were with me, Greg.  That wasn’t a mistake.  That was planned.”

“At the beginning it was, yeah, but Amy the last couple of months that you and I were together, I had ended things with Mirabelle.  Why do you think she told you in the first place, out of the goodness of her heart?  No, she did it to get back at me, to make sure that you’d never take me back.”

Amy’s eyes flashed with anger, and for the first time, Jaxon didn’t find joy in her aggravation.  “So what you’re trying to tell me is that you wouldn’t have said a word if Mirabelle wouldn’t have told me?  You would have lied to me, pretended that you weren’t sleeping with my best friend behind my back?”  She jumped to her feet, and his grip on her disappeared.  “You mean to tell me,” she shouted as she picked up a pen from the desk and chunked it at Greg's chest, “that you would have gone on pretending that you love me, for what?”

“I do love you, Amy,” Greg said pitifully as he dodged the desk ornament.  “I wouldn’t have broken things off with Mirabelle if I didn’t.  We started off on the wrong foot, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t pick up on the right one.”

“No,” she said as her hands settled on her hips.  “I think where we left it last time was the perfect place.  The only difference is that it will be me walking out, not you.”

Pushing to his feet, Greg made a move to walk around the desk, but before he could get close, the door swung open.  All of their eyes turned towards the newcomer, and Jaxon felt his stomach fall as the man studied them all.  “Is everything okay in here?  I heard yelling.”

“Dr. Jacobs,” Greg said with a sigh.  “Everything is fine.  I was just speaking to an old friend of mine.”

Amy snorted.  “One that isn’t planning on reconciling.”

Dr. Jacobs chuckled slightly, and Jaxon tensed at the noise.  Turning slightly, he leaned forward to let his hair hide his face.  At that moment, the only thing that he wanted to do was call out random colors until Amy’s brothers busted down the door, but even a mumble may clue Dr. Jacobs in as to who he actually is, and that mumble might be the end for Jaxon.

“If everything is fine, I’ll be on my way.  I have a patient in room two that has chronic lower back pain.”

“Need me to write the prescription?” Greg offered.

Dr. Jacobs quickly shook his head, dismissing the idea before it could really take form.  “I have this one, Greg.  You take care of this pretty young lady and her friend.  Room four is waiting on you when you’re through.”

“I think we’re through here,” Amy said with a sigh of disappointment.

Jaxon knew where her disappointment stemmed from.  He knew that she had wanted to get more information for Marshal, that she had wanted to put the doctor away for his crimes, but right then, Jaxon knew that things were larger than just a drug operation fronted in a doctor’s office.  It was more than just Marshal’s sister.

“Hey,” Dr. Jacobs mumbled, “do I know you?”

Jaxon ignored the question, hoping that Amy would realize that there was a reason he didn’t want to speak, a reason why he wasn’t looking towards the doctor who had stumbled in moments earlier.  “I don’t think so,” Amy answered, and before the doctor could ask any more questions, she grabbed Jaxon’s hand and began tugging him towards the door.  “We really need to get going though.”

“Where are you off to so quickly?” Jacobs asked as they walked passed him.

Amy didn’t stop walking; instead, she sent the man a small smile.  “My brother let us borrow his truck.  I promised I’d get it back to him before lunch.”

“Drive your brother’s truck often?” 

Jaxon glanced up, and as soon as he did, he realized what a mistake the action was.  Jacobs made eye contact and recognition flew onto the older man’s face.  “I thought I recognized you, boy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Amy said in an overly loud voice.  “I remember you now, but without your yellow hat, it’s hard to tell if it’s really you or not.”

“Yellow hat?”

“I think it was a rainbow hat,” Jaxon mumbled as he tightened his grip on Amy’s hand and began moving them away from the doctor.  “Yellow, purple, orange, green, and whatever other colors are in the rainbow.  All I know is that it wasn’t a good hat.”

“Wait!” the doctor called out as they got further away.  “I have a message for you.”

“Not interested,” Jaxon called out again as he glanced over his shoulder at the man.  “And tell whoever gave it to you the same thing.”

“That’s the thing,” a new voice said from in front of them.  “They don’t really care if you’re interested or now.”

Jaxon snapped his head around, knowing that voice, remembering the person who held it.  “You.”

“Me, old friend,” the man whispered as he drew back his arm.

Having just enough time to dodge the punch, Jaxon released Amy and pushed her towards the door.  “Run, and whatever you do, don’t stop until you see one of your brothers.”

“Care about this young lady, do you?” his attacker asked with a chuckle.  “I never thought I’d see the day, but then again, I never thought you’d be a rat either.”

“What’s going on here?” Greg yelled as he stepped out of his office.

Jacobs turned towards the younger man and shook his head.  “This has nothing to do with you, boy.  Get back into your office.”

“This has everything to do with me as long as Amy and her boyfriend are involved.  I’m not going back into my office until I know that they’ll be leaving here safely.”

Jaxon stared at Greg, surprised to hear the words coming out of the other man’s mouth.  “You don’t have to get involved in this.”

Greg shook his head with a laugh.  “She may never take me back, but maybe I can make up for it now.”  He stared at Amy, studying her, before nodding as if he had come to some kind of conclusion.  “We’ll meet at our place at six.”

“I’ll be there,” Amy whispered, obviously picking up more in Greg’s words that Jaxon did.

“Now,” Greg said in a loud, happy voice.  “What do you say we all get back to our jobs?  I have a feeling that Logan will be looking for his truck pretty soon.  I know for a fact that the O’Neal family isn’t known for their patience, and I really don’t want to be here when they all show up.”

Jacobs face paled slightly as he stared at Amy with a newfound sense of understanding before motioning for the man in front of them to move.  “Let them go,” Jacobs said in a strong voice that was opposite of his demeanor.  “We know where he’s staying.”

Jaxon pushed passed the man blocking their exit, ignoring the chuckle falling from the man’s lips.  As they got closer to the door that led them to the lobby, Jaxon stared over his shoulder, not trusting them to keep from stabbing him in the back if his eyes were turned.  He knew how they worked, knew what they were capable of.

The door burst open before they could reach it, and Jaxon felt his body relax in relief when Amy’s brothers stood there, scowling at the people behind them.  Logan stood at a fighting stance, his hand resting on his hip.  Spencer’s eyes darted every which way, Asher kept his hand tightly clenched around something that Jaxon couldn’t quite make out, while Carson held his badge in his palm, looking ready to use the object as a weapon if need be.

“Everything’s okay here,” Jacobs said with a strained chuckle.  “Just a little bit of mistaken identity is all.”

The brothers didn’t keep their eyes off the other men until they were finally out of sight, but not out of danger.  Silence filled the air as they all piled up into the truck.  Asher at the wheel this time, Spencer and Carson up front, while Logan and Jaxon surrounded Amy in the back.  Now that they were in danger, now that something could happen, the brother’s didn’t seem to care who Amy sat by, as long as she was as far away from harm as she could get.

“What in the world was that?” Spencer mumbled a couple of minutes later when they finally were out of sight of the doctor’s office.

“Hell,” Amy whispered, causing her brother’s to look at her with a little bit of shock in their expressions.  “Oh, come on.  If you can say hell and damn, and other things that I won’t chance saying, I can too.”

“We thought we were going to walk into one or both of you being beaten when the rainbow comment came through.  Damn,” Carson said with a laugh.  “I don’t think we’ve ever run so fast in our lives before.  I think that’ll be my workout for the day.”

The laughter eased the tension in the truck, but it didn’t make the worry and confusion disappear.  “What did happen back there?” Amy asked, and Jaxon knew that the question was for him.

“Jacobs recognized me,” Jaxon said while shaking his head.  “I didn’t know the man was actually a doctor.  I just thought he was some old guy who they paid to do a little first aid when someone was hurt.”  He rubbed his eyes in frustration.  “You recognized the other guy, didn’t you?”

“The one from the videos,” she whispered with a nod, causing Logan to turn in his seat to stare at them.

“She’s gotten too deep,” Logan started.  “We need to get her far away from this before it gets any messier.”

“I agree,” Jaxon said with a nod.

Amy shook her head at them with a small laugh.  “Did you forget that the man saw my face, knows my last name, and by the end of the day will most likely know everything about me?  That comment that he made in there, I doubt that was just an observation, Jaxon.”

Jaxon closed his eyes with a sigh.  He knew her words were true, that in his own way, the man had threatened Amy.  “I should never have gotten you involved.”

“Too late now,” she said, sounding happier than she should in a situation like this.  “You’re stuck with me, whether you want to be or not.  Plus,” she continued, “in a couple of hours, we’re going to get something that we all want.”

“What is that?” 

She smiled at him.  “Proof.”