Beautiful Broken Promises(101)

Jaxon marched toward the older man, and I watched as his body straightened up and began to look serious. At least this wasn't a complete laughing matter to him—I really needed him to help me out here. Adam didn’t move from his spot on the curb when he was caught in the questioning glare of the uniformed sheriff.

After thirty long f*cking minutes, the sheriff, joined by Jaxon, paraded back to stand over Adam, who had finally gotten his nosebleed under control. I moved around the car a little closer, hoping the law enforcement presence would keep me in check.

“You do what he told me you did?” Mack barked down at him.

“Well, seeing as I don’t know what the hell he told ya, I can’t say. But probably.” At least he wasn’t going to backtrack.

“That’s sick,” Mack replied, holding his duty belt. This whole calm, cool, and collected approach baffled me. Not once in New York had I witnessed an officer approach a scene this casually, as if he had all day to chat.

Adam shrugged. “I’ve done worse.” My muscles locked and I called upon every ounce of self-restraint I had ever worked for to help me stay where I was. I spread my fingers out against my legs to keep them from clenching.

I cannot kill him. I cannot kill him. I cannot kill him.

“You ever seen Raegan? If you did, you’d understand,” Adam said as he slowly stood to his feet.

“Ain’t no damn girl worth my son. I don’t care what she looks like or how good she can blow me,” Mack growled. Adam opened his disgusting mouth, and I knew this would be the moment I would get locked away for life. Mack quickly jumped and shoved Adam face-forward against my car before pulling his handcuffs from his belt. “Do not respond to that. You’ve already said enough,” he warned before he began reading him his rights.

Once Adam was properly secured, Mack left him leaning up against the side of my car. Shit, now I was definitely going to have to get another vehicle. I would never look at this one again without thinking of this bastard dripping his blood all over it.

“How the hell am I supposed to explain his busted face?” Mack asked Jaxon while eyeing me.

“We found him that way?” Jaxon shrugged with a smart-ass smirk.

“Boy, you’ve already pulled that one on me before!” He wagged his finger at Jaxon with a smile.

“Come on, give Lane some slack. The f*cker just admitted to conspiring to have his daughter kidnapped,” Jaxon argued.

“Hey! The girl and Raegan were not part of the plan. It was only supposed to be the boy. I’m not going down for all three,” Adam called out.

“Don’t you understand those rights I just told you? Keep your mouth shut, ‘cause you’re just diggin’ a bigger hole for yourself,” Mack hollered back.

“I’m f*cked regardless,” he shrugged dispassionately.

“Not another word about any of them,” I growled.

“I see you’re married.” Adam turned to Jaxon, completely ignoring me. “You’re a good-looking dude, and I’ll bet the Mrs. is smokin’.” Jaxon nodded his head in agreement, but I could see the cautious look on his face, not knowing where this was going. “You would do anything to keep her, wouldn’t you?” Adam questioned.

“If you’re trying to get me to say that I would have my own son kidnapped, so that I could have my wife all to myself, then you can get your f*cking convoluted sense of camaraderie elsewhere, you *,” Jaxon barked. “The day my wife tells me she’s carrying my child, I’ll worship her every move… hell, I’ll be her shadow. When that day comes, I’ll be f*cking thankful for the honor that I created another human being with her. And every day from that day forward will be about them and how I will make them happy—both of them.”

“Damn, you have grown up,” Mack said with a smile. “I almost teared up.”

“Just take him in,” Jaxon said, shaking his head.

“You gonna press assault charges on this guy?” Mack asked Adam, pointing with his thumb at me.

“Will it lessen my charges?” Adam asked arrogantly.

“Not even by a day.”

“Then no. I don’t care for all that extra bullshit. He hits like a f*cking bitch anyway.” Oh, now the big, tough guy is going to come out and play. His pride will get him killed one day, and I won’t be sad about that at all. What did Rae ever see in this guy?

Mack shoved Adam’s body into his beat-up old cruiser and sauntered back our way.