Wilde Forever (Wilde Women Book 1) (39 page)

Jax nodded and did a fast sprint after Brynn, taking the stairs two at a time as cold fear sank in his gut. Something wasn’t right. Even a blind man would have seen that. Fuck. Now what?

He stopped outside the closed bedroom door and reviewed his options. He could barge in or knock and wait for an answer that might not come. Nah, neither of those two seemed right so he took a deep breath, tapped lightly at the same time that he slowly opened the door, saying, “Baby? You alright?”

His eyes scanned every corner of the room before he found her standing ramrod straight in a shadowed corner next to the window. Her back was to him and besides the stiff spine he noted she had her arms wrapped protectively across her middle, her ass had that
so tight you could hurt somebody with it
look and there was a discernible quiver of tension racing along her body. It occurred to Jax that maybe Sweater Man and Goatee Boy had returned and messed with her. A red haze of anger started dancing inside him.

Moving slowly and carefully into the room, Jax shut the door behind him and came to a dead stop less than a foot behind her. Everything about her demeanor reminded him of those confusing days after he’d come home when the slightest thing could set him off. He knew from experience not to try and invade her body space, but he needed some quick answers so he’d know how to handle whatever was going on.

“Babe?”

Brynn’s shoulders slumped, and she rested her forehead on the window jam but didn’t turn and look at him. He wanted so badly to gather her in his arms and absorb the anguish he felt radiating off her in waves.

When she finally said something, her normally husky, vivacious voice sounded defeated and just a little scared. Every protective instinct in Jax’s body ramped up to high alert.

“I caused a scene in the tearoom.”

Was that a sob she just choked back?
Fuck.
Somebody clearly upset her. The red haze deepened.

“Um, will you…….I mean, would you mind going and checking on Amy? Make sure she’s okay. I can’t go back there today. Ask her to stay and close up, tell her to send everyone on their way and just lock the doors. I’ll deal with it all later.”

Of course he’d do whatever she wanted, but first he needed her to look at him. “Brynn. Look at me. Please.”

“I can’t Jax. Just give me some space right now, okay? I’m, um…fine.”

No way was she fine, but he’d had enough therapy and talked out his problems in so many group sessions that he knew to respect the signals she was putting off. For now.

“I’ll take care of Amy and anything else in the shop that needs handling, okay? The guys are cleaning up downstairs, but they’ll clear out soon.”

She nodded and heaved a tremendous sigh. “I’ve made a mess of things,” she mumbled. He heard upset and something that came off sounding a lot like defeat in her voice. Not good.

“Whatever it is, it can be fixed.” He tried to sound sure and positive even though neither of those feelings was in abundance at the moment.

“No. Can’t be fixed. Not this time.”

H
mmmm
. The take-no-shit woman he was used to seemed to be pulling a disappearing act. This vulnerable, fragile side was a revelation.

“Is anyone dead or dying?” he asked.

She shook her head. Okay, that was a start.

“Was there blood or a nine-one-one call?”

“Only figuratively,” she answered.

“Then everything’s going to be fine.”

When she didn’t make another sound he gentled his tone and leaned in to her. “Do you trust me, babe?”

Relief washed through him when she immediately answered, “Yes.” Thank fucking God. Whatever was the problem, it wasn’t him. Jax started to retreat but stopped and turned back when he reached the door.

“Just so you know, my instinct is to take you in my arms and hold you close. But your body language suggests I’d get my balls ripped off if I tried.”

Her eyes, although carefully shrouded and hidden in the shadows flicked his way.

“I wanted you to know that so when I leave you don’t stand there and get all pissy in case what you needed was a hug, okay?”

She nodded briefly then went right back to slumping against the window frame. There wasn’t anything else he could say until he talked to Amy and found out just what had happened.

It took less than three minutes for Jax to fly through the back door of the bakery and make an immediate beeline for Amy who was quietly shooing two people he didn’t recognize out of the shop. These must be Brynn’s new helpers, he surmised. When Amy sensed his approach she whirled around and he was struck by the upset evident on her face. Some sort of serious shit must have gone down.

“Oh thank God, Jax. Is she alright? I didn’t know what to do,” she told him with an agonized expression. “It all happened so quick. Please, is she alright?” she bawled, clearly trying to contain her emotions.

“She’s at the house and as for how she is, maybe you should tell me what the fuck happened.”

Amy wrung her hands and glanced in the direction of the tearoom, anxiously biting her lip and pacing like a wind-up doll.

“Out with it woman,” he growled. “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

She nodded and took a couple of steadying breaths but the shocked, colorless look on her face remained.

“Well, um…Brynn had a visitor.”

The red haze exploded. “It wasn’t that fucking cousin of hers was it?” he growled.

“Seth? Oh, hell no. I doubt he’d have the balls to show his face around here. How’d you know about him?” she quizzed.

Jax snorted in an unamused way and told her, “Douchebag must have found his balls because he showed up at the house yesterday before Brynn got back. I sent him packing but he brought a little surprise with him.”

Amy’s instant anger reassured Jax that she would protect Brynn from unwelcome fuckery. “What was that little shit up to?”

“He had Roger Ellis on a leash.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she shrieked. “Oh my God. I wish I knew what the hell was going on. Roger and Seth being together can’t be good for Brynn. Those two are like the Frick and Frack of ass-holery.””

“Maybe you could ask Rhiann,” he muttered, instantly noting how Amy’s color turned to a rosy blush.

She coughed and quirked a wry smile at him. “I see the cat’s out of the bag but believe me, nothing comes between the Baron-Wilde sisters.
Nothing
.” She chose that moment to glance again in the direction of the tearoom. She’d mentioned a visitor.

“What’s going on then? Who upset Brynn and why do you keep looking over there like you expect Godzilla to come stomping this way?” He was getting irritated.

“Actually, it’s her grandmother. She showed up out of the blue and, well…I don’t even know what happened. One minute they were talking and eating cake and the next thing I knew Brynn was shouting. Jax,” she exclaimed, “Brynn
never
yells. It was so unlike her.”

“Wait,” he drawled, confused. “What? Her grandmother is here?”

“Yes she is,” Amy declared with raised eyebrows. “Bryanna Charles. She’s sitting by the fireplace in the tearoom. After Brynn stormed out, she kept on eating her cake like nothing untoward had just happened. It’s weird, really. I suppose it’s just her way to act like her granddaughter hadn’t just gone off on her like a crazy person.”

Bryanna Charles. H
mmmm
. The name was ringing a bell. Where the hell had he heard it before? When the light bulb went on over his head, Jax instantly barked, “Bryanna Charles as in
the
Bryanna Charles?”

Amy nodded. “In the flesh. I see you know who she is.”

Jax took a long moment to consider this riveting piece of information. Of course he knew who she was. His mother was a diehard fan of the stage. He remembered so well the regular trips she subjected him and his brother to as kids, dragging them into New York and making them sit through a variety of Broadway plays. He’d never seen the illustrious Ms. Charles on stage, but his mother frequently gushed about having witnessed the woman in a production a long time ago. It was what sparked her lifelong love with anything that had a Playbill.
Oh man, this he had to see
.

“She’s still here?” he asked.

“Yep. It’s like she’s waiting for something.”

Oh, he just bet she was.

“Amy, close up, would you? I’ll handle Ms. Charles and don’t worry about Brynn. I’ve got this. Whatever
this
is,” he muttered as an afterthought.

Brynn’s assistant reached out and squeezed his forearm. “I just knew from the moment I laid eyes on you Jackson Merrill that you were going to be good for Brynn. She needs a strong man to help her see the light, y’know?”

He shrugged. “From your mouth to God’s ear. She’s a spitfire, that one, and isn’t exactly falling at my feet in surrender.”

Amy snorted in amusement. “You wouldn’t want her to. Where’s the fun in that? You go ahead,” she nodded in the direction of the tearoom, “and see what kind of damage control is needed. I’ll take care of everything and slide out the back. Call me if you guys need anything.”

“Will do…and thanks. I’m glad Brynn has you to count on.”

Okay then.
Time to recall his inner Gladiator and step into the arena to see what the hell was messing up Brynn’s normally well-ordered world. The minute he came around the corner of the tearoom and caught sight of Bryanna Charles from behind, he could tell by the tilt of her head and the in-your-face body language that he was in for one hell of a ride with this one. Now he knew where Brynn came by all that feistiness. It was in her blood.
Fan-fucking-tastic.

B
RYNN STARTED PACING THE MINUTE Jax left. She couldn’t get a handle on her emotions, flying between being mortified at her outburst and soul-ripping despair that the life she’d so carefully nurtured was being destroyed. And not from outside forces. In this case, the call was most definitely coming from inside the house.

She didn’t need a piece of paper and a pen to list all the changes and stresses that had come at her in the last weeks. They were all but etched on her brain and quite easy to access.

First was the revelation of her grandmother’s dastardly manipulation. The older woman taunting Brynn with a change in her estate had set her on an emotional roller coaster that she hadn’t been able to slow down or control. She hated anyone trying to mess with her life. There was an ex-husband lurking around after all who could more than make that point. The news that Roger had hooked up for some unknown reason with her cousin had come out of the blue. She might not know exactly what those two idiots were up to, but she knew it wasn’t going to be good. It wasn’t a coincidence that two men who loathed her showed up together at her home.
Lord knows why
. They certainly hadn’t come for a cup of tea or a cinnamon bun.

Then there was the matter of her parents, or at least her father anyway who seemed to be spinning Nana’s ridiculous record about Brynn being old before her time, too serious, and in need of a M-A-N to complete her life. Damn but that made her angry. The assumption hit her like fingernails on a chalkboard. Rhiann letting her know that their mother was less than thrilled with what was going on had given her a glimmer of hope but even that seemed to be fading fast.

Brynn knew she’d been out of her damn mind for contemplating even for a single second the notion of getting herself a beard husband to play along. The thought had burst upon her in a moment of desperation, and she’d entertained the idea because that was what she did, but she’d known all along it was a grasping at straws solution.

She supposed it was childish to be angry that people who loved her were so friggin’ concerned about her solitary existence. If this was about Rhiann, and it was her sister acting as Brynn had for the last few years, would she have been on Team Nana? Man, that was a hard call to make. A lot of what they were saying was true. She hadn’t anything that resembled a social life and couldn’t own up to having gone on a date since…well,
shit.
Since before she met Roger, and that was a lifetime ago. When you looked at it that way it
did
seem like she needed a kick in the butt.

Flopping to her back on the bed, Brynn lay there and stared at the ceiling. It was the insistence that she was unfulfilled and somehow incomplete without a relationship that got under her skin. She’d never,
ever
wanted to be one of those women. Always searching, lamenting the lack of romance, feeling like half a person because she was single.

Even though her divorce had been ugly she’d had to admit that ditching Roger Ellis in the dustbin of foolish mistakes had been a blessing in disguise. She hadn’t loved him. In fact the truth was she thought she was too smart to get caught up in some romantic foolishness. Marrying had been a pragmatic decision—one that eventually bit her on the ass.

Turning to her side, she grabbed a pillow and tucked it beneath her head only to be assailed by a scent she’d know anywhere.
Jax
. Was it reflex that made her take a deep breath? He always smelled so damn yummy, and right now, being awash in his scent instantly calmed her nerves. What the hell was that all about?