Reid turned toward a crowd of onlookers who had gathered. Waving, he yelled, “It’s all clear. Move along, people.” Returning his attention to Jaxon, he said, “I get you, brother. But this is a discussion we need to have at the warehouse.”
Tazzy still wiped at her shirt. “I don’t get it. Why would the General shoot me with paintballs instead of something that would really hurt me? It’s mean, but it didn’t really do anything.”
Reid was right. This was a discussion for the warehouse, where his girl could hang with the Musketiaras while Sabre came up with a plan. “I’ll take care of it, Darkling. You don’t have to worry about it. Are you up for going to the warehouse, or do we need to go home?”
“I’m fine with the warehouse, Daddy. But I need a new shirt.”
“I have an extra shirt there. Can you wear that until we get home?”
“Of course,” she said.
Ezra walked up and stood beside Reid.
Jaxon motioned for them both to step away from Bones and Tazzy. When Jaxon thought they were far enough from Tazzy that she couldn’t hear, he stopped them. Focusing on Ezra, he said, “It was the General. I saw him.”
Ezra furrowed his brow. “The General? That can’t be right. If he’d left the containment area, the DPD would know about it.”
“I don’t give a shit about what you know.Iknow he was here. He tipped his hat at me for God’s sake.”
Jaxon brought Ezra up to speed. He told the cop everything with Reid at his side, backing him up.
After Jaxon had finished, Reid looked at Ezra.
“Look man, I get you’re skeptical, but this isn’t the first time Jaxon has seen the General away from the Graceview Retreat Center. And if anyone knows what that man looks like, it’s Jaxon.”
Ezra nodded and put his pad away. “Okay, I’ll look into it, but I need you to keep me in the loop on this.”
Reid nodded. “Done.”
But Ezra wasn’t done with him. “I’m gonna head to the gazebo. I need you to grab Tazzy and come talk with me before you leave. I have one or two more questions.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Ezra gone, Reid turned to Jaxon. “We need you to get to the warehouse. Everyone’s waiting, and they need to hear what happened from you.”
Jaxon nodded. “Good idea. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
For the first time ever, Tazzy didn’t enjoy being on the back of Jaxon’s bike. Not even a little bit. No matter what she’d told her Daddy, what happened at the protest had shaken her to her core.
“I can’t believe the General shot me with a freakin’ paintball gun,” she said. The new helmets her Daddy bought had Bluetooth connections so they could speak to one another. “I saw flashing lights after the bullets hit me. I thought it was a mystic vision or something. But now that I think about it, I’ll bet it was people taking pictures to post on their social media. I mean, what else could it have been—” she broke off with a gasp. Suzi. “Daddy, if Suzi posts pictures of me with red splotches all over my chest in her paper tomorrow, I’m gonna… I’ll… okay, I don’t know what I’ll do, but it will be bad.”
She’d thought someone had really shot her with a real gun. The paint was dark red, and the impact had knocked the breath right out of her. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Jaxon had identified the shooter as the General. Not that anyone knew it was him. He’d turned their peaceful protest into something scary. She added that to her list of reasons to hate that man.
After all that, it had taken forever to get away from the square. Everyone was told to leave, including the Musketiaras, who left withtheir Daddies. Well, everyone except Jaxon and her. They had to stay behind to make statements to the police. Ezra asked a million questions, and every answer she gave only seemed to spark another question.
The worst part was the way Jaxon had gone after the General. That moment still terrified her. She couldn’t care less what happened to the General. He deserved every bad thing that could come his way and then some. But Jaxon had lost control, and if the Sabre crew had not stepped in, he could have ended up back in jail. The very thought of it made her shudder.
“You okay, babygirl?”
“Yes, Daddy, just a little chilled.”
“In this weather?”
She hugged him tighter, trying to communicate in silence what was too hard to express aloud.
“I understand, babygirl. You just hold on tight, we’ll be at the warehouse in a few minutes.”