Page 73 of Ravage

“I tried calling.”

“Yeah, I know… I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.” He pulled back and looked down at me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” My heart was still racing when I asked, “What about my studio? Is it okay?”

“It will be.”

Jax motioned his head over to Ravage, and he and the others stepped out of the room. I could hear them whispering, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. After what seemed like an eternity, Coop and Vicious walked out, and Jax returned to my room with Ravage.

“What’s going on?” I looked at Jax and asked, “Is my studio okay?”

“It’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“So, they destroyed it.”

“Didn’t say that,” Jax piped back.

“You didn’t have to.”

“Okay, yeah. The place is a bit of a mess. The important thing is you’re okay.”

“Art therapy studio for kids! Who would do something like this?”

“Can’t say for sure.” Jax’s eyes skirted over to Ravage. “But they rifled through shit and made a fucking mess.”

“What do you think they were looking for?”

“Don’t know, but we’ll find out.” Jax glanced at Ravage as he continued, “Until we do, we’re gonna need you to steer clear of the place for a bit.”

“What about work?”

“You’re going to need to put things on hold for now… It’s going to take us a minute to get the place back in order.”

I turned to Ravage, and his expression had gone back to normal, calm and controlled. Like he hadn’t almost kissed me five minutes ago and I hadn’t felt the earth shift when he looked at me. I didn’t know much about what was happening, but I did know one thing for certain.

There was something between us.

I felt it down to my bones.

Jax interrupted my train of thought when he said, “You’ll stay at my place until we get things sorted.”

“I can’t leave.” As scared as I was that whoever had been here might come back, I had to stay. “I have private records down there. It’s my responsibility to make sure they are taken care of, and I can’t do that at your place.”

“Then, I’ll stay here.”

“You’ve got the run tomorrow.” Ravage kept his voice low and firm. “Aren’t you supposed to head out at five?”

“Damn. I forgot,” Jax grumbled. “But I’ll have to work something out.”

“Go,” I insisted. “You know how Stone is. He’ll be pissed if you try to back out at the last minute.”

“I’m not backing out. I’m…”

“I’ll be fine, Jax.”

I loved my uncle, and it meant the world to me that he was being so protective. But I didn’t want him to compromise his responsibilities because of me. Clearly frustrated, Jax ran his hand through his hair and said, “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“I won’t be alone. The prospects can stay downstairs, and they…”