Jax released an annoyed sigh, and Mariana slowly lifted her head up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Jax, and he ran his fingers through his hair as he stood there in a pair of navy-blue boxers.
He took a deep breath then slowly released it.
“Nothing. I’m sorry.” He walked closer and caressed her back and then her ass as he knelt down beside the ottoman.
“I missed you.” He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her.
When he released her lips, she lay back down with her cheek against Jameson’s chest. Jameson locked gazes with Jax and immediately he knew that something triggered Jax’s behavior and his need to possess Mariana.
“Hey, baby, why don’t you let Jax start a hot bath for you? You can soak a bit while we shower up.”
“Mmm, sounds good.”
Jameson looked at Jax, and Jax nodded his head as he caressed Mariana’s back and ass before standing up and heading to the bathroom. While she was in there, Jameson and Jax could talk about what exactly was going on.
* * * *
“Okay, so spit it out,” Jameson said as he towel dried his hair. Jax had already showered and now sat on the couch in the living room.
“We’ve got ourselves a bit of a situation.”
“With Mariana’s apartment being ransacked?”
“It was a message. Spider thinks that it was meant for us.”
Jameson sat on the couch with the towel in his hands. They were both dressed in dress pants and shirts.
“What does that mean?”
“He thinks that this has something to do with our business dealings. Someone may be trying to scare us into not becoming so large so quickly. Not sure really.”
“Maybe he’s wrong,” Jameson suggested.
Jax shook his head as he looked at the rug and then back up toward his brother.
“The knife was custom made. Under the pillow was a typed note. It said, ‘We can get to her any time we want to.’”
“Fuck!” Jameson stated then stood up.
“Exactly. Someone wants to scare us.”
“Well, they just fucking did scare us. What are we going to do?”
“Our jobs, for one, and take care of Mariana. We can’t let her out of our sights.”
“She has school.”
“Fuck school. She doesn’t need to go.”
“She does, Jax. She’s been working so hard for her degree. It means so much to her. Plus there’s more. We talked while you were gone.”
“Talked about what?”
“Us, and our intentions,” Jameson said, and then he told Jax all about Marian’s upbringing and her fears.
“She needs us, Jameson.”