Suzi shrugged. “My Daddy is a heavy sleeper. Once he’s asleep, I can pretty much do whatever I want.”
Tazzy took another sip of her sweet marshmallow drink and tried to let the warmth push away the leftover fear that still sat in her chest. The girls kept talking around her, their voices soft and worried, but she found it harder and harder to stay focused on the conversation.
Jaxon had left her here with her posse so she could have fun, but she couldn’t help wondering what he was doing right now. Was hestill furious? Was he telling the other Daddies everything that had happened? Were they making plans to keep her safe, or were they trying to calm him down so he wouldn’t do something reckless?
She shifted in her goth-style swinging chair and gave it another gentle push. The motion helped a little, but her mind kept drifting. She just wanted him to come back. She wanted to feel his strong arms wrap around her and hear him tell her everything would be okay. The Musketiaras were her besties, but she needed her Daddy.
The girls were still talking, their voices blending together, but Tazzy barely heard them anymore. Her thoughts stayed fixed on the man who had walked out of this room with hard lines of fury still etched on his face.
When would he come back for her? And what would he be like when he did?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jaxon sat at the head of Sabre’s conference table and fought to keep his fists from clenching. The chaos at the square still burned hot in his mind. One minute, Tazzy had been waving her ridiculous glittery sign and teasing him to come get her. The next, she had three red splotches blooming across her chest and had dropped to her knees.
For the worst few minutes of his life, he thought he’d lost her. If the General had been using a real gun, he would have. No doubt that was the intended message.
Clear as day, the General had stood on the northeast corner of the square and taunted him. The bastard had tipped his hat like a gentleman before disappearing into the crowd. That was probably for the best because, if he’d reached the General, Jaxon would be in a cell right now instead of sitting here with his brothers. Meanwhile, the county would be trying to figure out how to bury what was left of the General’s body. That thought of that made him smile.
The rest of the Sabre crew filled the chairs around the table. Ravage leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Zane sat, silent, at the far end of the room and watched everything with keen interest.
Reid kept his voice even but firm when he spoke. “I need you to be straight with me, Jaxon. You gonna be able to keep your shit together,or do we have to be worried about you doing something that lands you back in prison? ‘Cause that would be the General’s wet dream come true. It might even be the reason he keeps coming after you and Tazzy. But if that happens, he’d be free to do whatever the hell he wants to Tazzy without you being able to stop him. When you feel like going after him by yourself again, you think about that.”
Jaxon met Reid’s gaze. “I’m not going back inside. For a minute today, I lost control, but I have it locked down now. I promised Tazzy I’d never leave her again, and I’m not gonna break that promise. So, to answer your question, I have my shit together.”
Hutch nodded once. “Good. Because we’re putting together a plan to fix this and we need you to be a part of it.”
Gage leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. “We all saw what happened out there. Believe me, if anyone gets it, it’s me. I might not have been in prison, but that man cost me ten years that could have been spent with Breezy in my arms.” Gage looked around the table. “Hell, everyone sitting at this table has a reason to see the General behind bars. But that’s history. We need to focus on the here and now. So tell us what happened after the cops showed up today. Did Ezra get anything useful?”
Jaxon rubbed a hand over his jaw. The stubble scraped under his palm. “Maybe. Truth is, I don’t know. Digging into how I keep seeing the General seemed important to him. He took my statement, and he listened to my account of how the General stood there, clear as day.”
Sawyer nodded. “Problem is, the Darling Police Department’s monitoring equipment shows the General sitting pretty at Graceview Retreat Center.”
Now that was interesting. “How do you know that?” Jaxon asked.
“Please.” Sawyer rolled his eyes. “I’ve been hacking into the police computers since I got the message from Reid about what happened to you eight years ago.”
That tracked. “Twice now I’ve seen him, and twice they verified he was at Graceview,” Jaxon said. “So, Ezra’s not doubting me, he just can’t figure out how the man’s pulling it off. Just between us, he’s checking below the radar to see if anyone on the DPD is on the take.Getting prints off the airsoft gun is a possibility, but everybody here knows he’s not going to find anything except my prints. The General is too careful for those kinds of rookie mistakes.”
Deke gave a low grunt. “Of course he is. That bastard has been playing games for years. It’s about time we got ahead of him.”
Law shifted in his chair. “Speaking of games, what about that note you found on Tazzy’s porch last night? You said it was from him. You sure?”
Jaxon reached into his back pocket and pulled out the folded paper. He slid it across the table. “Tazzy has no security at her place. I should have taken care of that when I first got back. But I didn’t, so no cameras caught him. That means, again, I got no proof. But I know it is him.
Reid glanced at Ravage. “Go ahead and read the note, Ravage, just to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
Ravage stepped forward and picked up the note. He scanned it, and his jaw tightened. “Did you really think you could keep her safe? An eye for an eye, remember?”
Sawyer motioned for Ravage to give him the note.
“Fuck,” Ravage said. “That’s straight up nothing but a power play. He stood on her porch while you were inside with her. He wanted you to know he could get that close.”
Sawyer read the note and cursed under his breath. “I’ll get to work on security for her house as soon as we’re done here. Motion lights, cameras on every corner, and reinforced locks. But Jaxon, you should think about moving her into Arcadian Hills with the rest of us. It’s a gated subdivision that’s built for families like ours. It’d be a lot harder for the General to stroll up to your front door if you were there.”
Jaxon shook his head. “I just came from a gated community, brother. They aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.” A chuckle went around the room.
“I’ll think about it, but it won’t be happening soon. First off, I got no money for building houses. That should change now that my conviction’s been overturned. But they haven’t released my bank accounts yet. Another thing I can blame the General for, I’m sure. Butthat’s not the only reason. Seriously, I spent eight years living behind a gate. I’m not crazy about building a house inside one. But if it’s the safest place for Tazzy, I’ll look into it. But no promises, not yet at least.”