"You can't be serious. You're taking her from the pack? I can't tell if this is sleep deprivation or if your brain just isn't capable of calculating the risks," Ash seethed and slammed his forehead in a gesture of Jax's apparent stupidity.
"I'm doing what I think is right for my wife," he explained and dropped the files into his bag.
Ash grabbed his cousin's arm and pulled him around.
"You're being selfish! You two out there alone, with a clan of vampires out to get her. Do you not see how stupid this is?" Ash spat.
Jax stepped closer and pushed his chest out as he raised his head.
"What I see is that you have a misguided sense of protection. Or was it not you who told Lola yesterday that I didn't care about her or her safety, and that's why I sent you in my place?" Ash raised his head and met his cousin's challenging gaze.
"I clean up your shit and get the job done. Don't pretend you don't love it so that you can swoop in and save the day after it's done," he seethed.
Jax chuckled, and a dark smirk grew on his face.
"You clean up after me?" Jax asked. He scoffed and turned around to keep packing everything he needed from the study.
Ash nodded. His eyes glinted, and he watched the back of his cousin's head.
"That first day when you brought her here- when you were in the room with her, and she begged you to let her go..." Jax stiffened, and his shoulders raised to his ears. "You knew we'd be downstairs waiting. She thought she was running to freedom, but you knew you just sent her from one captor to another. You were never planning on letting the girl go. That's a lie you keep telling yourself, a lie you told her to avoid facing the fact that I'm the one who gets my hands dirty so you don't have to." Jax was still facing the wall. His eyes pierced the storm blue wallpaper, but he'd heard every word Ash had spoken. The words hit his ears like poison on a knife, spoken to cause pain in which he had succeeded.
The door closed as Ash exited the office. Jax turned, his back stiff, and he faced the door. The smell of ink and papers filled his nostrils. He looked around at the leather chair and the crystal glasses on the bookshelf.
He rolled his fingers up to fists. With a huff, he bent down to grab the bag.
* * *
Lola waited for Jax at the entrance with her bag ready and a guilt-ridden look on her face. Jax's brows furrowed, and he saw Ash in the corner of his eye, looking glum.
"What?" Jax asked as he grabbed Lola's bag.
She winced, and a stiff smile spread over her lips. Her eyes sunk in pleading, and a loud thud was heard as another bag dropped to the floor.
"So where exactly are we going? I brought my school books so I can study on the way, but I need to know how many days we're gonna miss so I can fix a schedule and not fall behind... too much," Melissa said and raised her brows.
She looked up from her phone after tapping away on a Word document with all her classes, assignments, due dates, and scores.
"You're kidding me, right?" Jax asked and looked between Lola and Melissa.
Lola raised her hand and put it on his chest.
"I promised not to keep anything from her, and when I told her about this little trip, she wanted to join. What was I supposed to say?" she said and tossed her head back.
"No!" Jax answered with his arms flung out dramatically, still holding onto the bags.
Melissa's head fell to the side, and she glared at him. "That's rude. I'm one of you now, in on all the secrets and mysteries. And you sure as hell bet that I'm not letting you take Lola away from here if I'm not coming with you," she said forcefully and crossed her arms.
"Not going to happen. I'll drop you off at your house on our way," Jax said and lifted Melissa's bag as well.
He began walking down to the car and glanced at a white Mercedes. He turned in joy and gestured with his head.
"Looks like you brought your own car. Get in it and go home," he said, dropping her bag by the car door.
Melissa and Lola were still inside the mansion.
Jax turned with a heavy sigh after loading the bags in the SUV. There were five more cars to choose from, but he thought this one would be the most comfortable for a road trip.
He saw the girls watching him, Lola's nose wrinkled and lips pressed together. Melissa carelessly scanned her nail beds and reapplied some lipgloss while they waited.
Jax walked with heavy steps over to the Mercedes. He took her bag and walked it to the SUV, throwing the bag in the back.
Melissa squealed and ran down to him, patting his arm as she batted her lashes. "I knew you'd come around," she mused.
"Listen," he said and grabbed her arm. "This isn't a little trip. We're going to chase down the only lead we have on the story of the Doe. We have no idea who we'll meet or what dangers we will face on the way, so whatever you do, stay out of the way in case things turn bad," he warned and narrowed his eyes to ensure she understood.
Melissa's eyes rounded, and she shrugged. "Yeah, no problem. You won't even know I'm there." She winked and got in the car.
Lola walked down, slowly edging closer to Jax.
"Thank you," she said and smiled nervously.
"You can thank me when we're all back home, alive," he said and held the door open for Lola to get in.
She felt his fear from as little as the brush of their skin when she stepped inside the car.
Just as Jax was getting in, another car drove up in front of the mansion. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood stepped out, and Jax walked over to greet them. With quizzical looks, they followed behind him to the car where the girls were sitting. Mrs. Blackwood's hard gaze softened immediately when she saw Melissa in the backseat. She couldn't show her truest self with someone else present, especially when that someone was a bargaining chip to keep her son's wife on as tight a leash as possible.
"Did you catch that?" Lola asked quietly while turning up the music in the car.
Melissa smiled and waved to Mrs. Blackwood. "Oh, I caught it," she said without breaking her facade.
"What is going on, where are you taking them?" Mrs. Blakwood asked.
"There's a fair just outside of town, I thought I would be a nice distraction for Lola considering everything."
"You're not taking her out of this town and that is final. Tell the girls to get inside," Mrs. Blackwood said.
Jax's chest swelled, and he bowed his head.
"I'm taking them, and when we get back, we're having the Alpha ceremony, and I take over the title. I have met all your demands, and it's time the title was passed," Jax said and turned around. He didn't give them a chance to object, and he missed the shocked looks on both their faces as he got in the car.
"What did you tell them? Your mom looks murderous," Melissa said from the back.
Ash's earlier glumness melted away when his uncle stepped into the mansion. Jax drove off, leaving behind Ash with a secret that Jax could only hope he didn't share with his parents.
Ash had in his hands the one thing that could ruin everything, the one thing that could take Lola away from Jax and force him against his own family.
He looked to the side and saw Lola leaning back to see something on Melissa's phone. They laughed, and the sound warmed his heart.
"So what exactly is the story of the Doe?" Melissa asked and poked her head between the two front seats.
Jax reached for the bag and grabbed a book from within.
"Here, read it," he said and gave the book to Lola.
She opened it up, and a beautiful title spread across the first page.
"Story of the Doe."