Jax (Titan #9)(85)

Sugar tore her attention away from Jax and felt for the girl. Nothing worse than feeling awful and having to work. They'd all been there. "Sorry about whatever sucks for you today."

The woman gave a weak smile. "Thanks. Just trying to keep my head above water."

Sugar ordered her lunch as she watched Jax get his food, but he barely touched it, sipping his water as he mostly stared at the notes. What did he see there? Or maybe it was wishful thinking.

People came and went, and as Sugar's lunch dragged on, she ordered dessert and coffee and watched Jax study the papers.

Suddenly, he jumped up, grabbing his wallet and throwing down some bills. He borrowed a pen from the table across from him, wrote a note on a napkin, then took his pieces of paper and split.

What had just happened? Sugar knew she had to keep an eye on him but needed to pay her bill, so she likely did the same thing he had. She fished a pen out of her purse and wrote "room charge" along with her name and room number. Then she stood, preparing to chase him down, when she heard a sob and turned to see the waitress dropping into the chair that Jax had just vacated.

Sugar faltered and didn't know which way to go. Follow Jax or see what he had said that made the woman cry?

Honestly, she wondered if he had written something awful to the poor girl. Sugar would kill him herself. Deciding she could track him down in a minute, she stomped over to the waitress. "What happened?"

The waitress sniffed. "That guy. He left this and…" She didn't finish her thoughts. "There really are good people out there, aren't there?"

Sugar took the napkin and read it.

I didn't mean to overhear you talking with your coworker. Keep the change. It'll be okay one day.

– From the guy that has to believe that and is maybe starting to figure that out today



Sugar didn't ask what Jax had given the waitress, but between the woman's tears and the wads of hundreds sticking out between her clenched fingers, she realized he had helped the waitress when he thought nobody was looking.

Sugar headed toward the hotel lobby, pulling her cell phone out to text Jared.



Sugar: I think you've made a mistake.





CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR


Jared tossed his cell phone on the table and rubbed his sternum. If Sugar thought he was headed in the wrong direction, she wasn't going to like the conversation he'd just had with Parker. But flying blind wasn't an option. Intelligence was what they lived and died by. It was a working assumption that he knew Titan's every move, anyway.

Jared hadn't shared with any of Mayhem that Deacon was dead. How the CIA had found out, he had no idea, and the only reason he'd been tipped off was because Beth, who worked for both Titan and CIA, made fast work of getting on the phone.

Tex knocked with his Mayhem-ring-covered knuckles. "Deep in thought, brother."

Jared leaned back in his chair and popped his knuckles, shifting his scrutiny from Tex to Hawke then down the line of remaining Mayhem members until he ended on Ethan, who was the easiest barometer of the truth. "Waiting for intel."

Parker's name popped up on his cell, and he answered as he stepped away from the table. "Hang on a minute."

"No problem," Parker said.

Once Jared moved back to the small conference area where he'd installed a device to jam signal interception, he gave Parker the go-ahead to continue on their secure connection.

"I've tapped the feed to Jax's phone and hotel room and Seven's. Any incoming or outgoing call will register on your phone. He won't hear if you pick up. Disconnect whenever you feel like it."

"Got it. How's Victoria doing?"

"To put it in the most mild of terms," Parker said, "she's pissed. I'll keep an eye out if Ryder loses sight of her, because the woman is on a warpath."

"I bet. What about her injuries?"

"Mostly superficial. They thought her wrists were broken, but they were dislocated after she forced her hands out of the handcuffs. There'll be some scarring."

Jared cocked his eyebrows. "That bad?"

"Yeah, Ryder said she's a mangled mess. The cuffs were on secure before she got loose."

What strength and pain that must have taken. But hell hath no fury like a woman whose best friend's babies had been stolen out of her back seat.

"Anything else I need to know?" Jared asked. Parker paused, and his lack of immediate response made Jared uncomfortable. "Spit it out. I don't have all goddamn day."

"I don't know the details of what's going on. And I wouldn't have said this was conversation-worthy except for the fact that we're tapping Jax's phone."

Jared pinched the bridge of his nose. "Whatever it is, if it has to do with Jax, I'm interested."

"I'm getting the few details that Gennita Johnson, the kids' glamma, has shared with the Phoenix authorities. She hasn't discussed Mayhem, barely touched on where Seven was, and not mentioned what she's doing. But she's talked about Jax like the kids thought he was a superhero."

How much didn't Jared know about Jax? He hadn't known about the Deacon-Jax connection, never expected Jax to marry Seven, and now they were getting information from a third party about kids who thought his man was their savior. "All right, good to know. I'll figure out what to do with that." Jared hung up, more confused than before the phone call.