Page 92 of Kiss Marry Kill
People were walking past them and the noise was intolerable. “Excuse me? You came back just to be an asshole to me?” She looked pissed the hell off and was about to open her mouth and rip him a new one when the other girls walked offstage—all smiles, until they saw Jax.
Taylor stopped dead in her tracks. “You’ve got a lot of nerve—” He completely ignored her because it was time to get back to the hotel and deal with the crazy who was out to get her.
* * *
What the hell was Jax doing there? And in complete commando-badass mode.
It was like he had two personalities: sweet carefree funny man or soldier. Never the twain shall meet.
She was finally able to get words out of her mouth. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ll explain later. Right now we need to head back to the hotel,” he barked. “I want everyone in the limo in two minutes, then we’ll use the back elevators as soon as we get to the hotel.”
“Yeah yeah yeah. They’ve already gone over this with us a hundred times, Jax,” Taylor said, pointing at Ben and Jason behind them. “What’s all the hoopla all of a sudden?”
“We go over it as many times as I think we need to,” Jax snapped, shocking everyone with his curt response.
“Jackson!” Megan said as they walked quickly to the limo. She hadn’t even had a chance to change clothes or grab her things from the dressing room.
Taylor stalked toward Jax. “Excuse me? How dare you—” she began, a hand on her waist.
“I don’t have the time or the patience, Taylor,” Jax said, taking Megan’s hand, which surprised the hell out of her, and pulling her into the limo. The sudden touch startled her and she flinched. He looked hurt for a second before going back to being a dickhead. “Just fall in line. You can be pissed off later,” he said to Taylor, then turned to Megan. “Seat belt,” he barked, and began to type furiously into his phone.
The limo ride was short, not even ten minutes, and no one said anything. She was pumped full of adrenaline from the concert, shocked he was there, and still pissed and hurt.
As soon as the limo parked, he took her hand and pulled her out. “Come on. Let’s do this.”
“Jackson! Are you crazy?” Megan asked incredulously, glancing over her shoulder to see a scowling Taylor being ushered out, Ben close by her side. Jax didn’t answer, he just walked out of the limo quickly, his eyes vigilant to all the goings-on around him. “Eyes and ears open at all times, you got me?”
His hands were on hers and she couldn’t even enjoy it.
“Would you slow down?” Megan said. “I can’t believe you just talked to Tee that way.”
He didn’t answer. Instead, as soon as they all got inside the large service elevator, Jax was on his phone typing again. Taylor was still scowling and Nelly seemed worried. Megan wanted to rip the phone from his hands and demand answers.
Without looking up, he began to belt out fresh orders. “The rest of the crew is scattered throughout the hotel as of yesterday. We have dinner being sent up at 2000 hours, then tomorrow at 0800 we meet downstairs at the lobby to head out.”
“Yes, boss,” Jason said. Ben nodded agreement.
“Can we please talk about the fact that you’re being a dick?” Taylor asked, her arms folded over her chest.
“No,” Jax replied, not bothering to look up from his phone. “Once we get upstairs, straight to your rooms. Jason and Ben will explain the new plan.”
Something was going on.
Shit shit shit.
Now Megan was worried. Big time.
The elevator stopped and he looked up. “We’re here. Come on.”
She felt nauseous and without much thought grabbed his forearm and squeezed. He stopped what he was doing and looked down at her, then took her hand and pulled her to her room.
Once inside their room, Megan snatched the phone away from Jax’s hand. He glared at her. “What the fu—”
“I need you to stop for a moment,” she demanded. “At the very least, you’ve always looked straight at me when we talk. So stop and look at me.” He let out a breath, and with arms over his chest he waited for her to continue. “I get that you’ve been stressed. I understand that you’re looking out for me. But, you need to remember I’m a person. We—me, Nell, and Taylor—are all people. This is going to eventually be resolved, and you’re going to be left with three pissed off and unforgiving women. Why are you here? What is going on? Why are you being an asshole?”
“Don’t really care if you all are mad at me. Last time I let my guard down, you were fucking abducted,” he said, snatching back his phone. It all made sense now. The guilt was obviously getting to him. She was about to tell him it wasn’t his fault, when he spoke again. “I’d rather you’re all uncomfortable or upset than dead. I drop the ball, you get dead. It doesn’t matter whether you’re all mad at me.”
