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“It was on a streaming medical drama I got hooked on. But it’s common sense. It holds up.”

“English can handle it. If it means we can finally get ahead of this guy, we have to do this.”

“Reagan, you have to trust him.”

Her eyes widened, and the pupils darkened like the thunderstorm raging outside. Jackson might have enjoyed seeing her anger directed at someone other than him if they weren’t pressed for time.

“I don’t trust any of you, and I don’t even know why I bother. Do whatever the hell you want. I don’t care. You’re awake, so I don’t need to be here anymore.”

Reagan stormed from the room. Jackson exhaled loudly as he ran a hand through his hair again. He glanced at English but swung his gaze back to where he last saw Reagan.

“Would she—”

“Run?” Jackson finished English’s sentence. “She would.”

“Go. One of the boys will come in here when they see you leave, and I’ll fill them in. You can’t let her out of your sight. I owe you both an explanation, and I swear you’ll get it. Just keep her safe first.”

His frustration had him almost refusing English’s request. He was tired of trying to protect someone who fought him at every turn, and he was tired of having to wait for intel. He wanted to solve this case and get back to his life. Reagan was nothing more than a disruption, and a stubborn one at that.

But she could have led the attacker directly to the hospital. She could walk out the doors into an ambush, or worse, a sniper’s bullet between the eyes.

Without another word, Jackson went after her. Though he heard his brothers tossing questions at his back, he didn’t slow down. He didn’t even bother to see if Alex and his men were still around. His long strides at up the distance quickly, and he was grabbing Reagan’s arm before she could step on the waiting elevator. Her hair whipped against his face as she rounded on him, jerking her arm but unable to free it from his grip.

“Let me go, or I’ll scream loud enough to bring security running.”

“I should let you go since you want to risk your life to prove a point, but I’m not about to let someone under my watch get taken out because she doesn’t have better judgment. This is not one of your books, Reagan. This is not going away because you ignore it.”

“I’m not ignoring it,” she insisted. “I’m just tired of hiding. Can’t you understand? I don’t run away from problems. I face them. I beat them. I don’t know how to be any other way.”

The earnestness in her eyes tugged at something deep inside Jackson. He was suddenly aware of how soft the skin of her wrist felt beneath his rough palm. Her scent enveloped him, and his mind started down a forbidden path. He could envision Reagan at his side in everything — running the bar, leading the Legends, warming his bed, bearing his children. The picture was so complete, soperfect, Jackson recoiled like someone delivered a forceful punch to his solar plexus. He released her and stepped back. A shutter dropped over his eyes, and he hardened his heart against the yearning she brought out in him.

Standing in the middle of a hospital hallway, he took in the way her silky hair splayed over her shoulders and back and how her fitted clothes covered her but showcased her slender curves. She was tall, but still smaller than him. Yet her body was perfectly made to fit his. She’d gotten under his skin and under his defenses, and he only had one move left to make.

He had to let her go. He couldn’t afford to have her as a weakness — a way for someone to get to him through her. The risk wasn’t worth the glimpse of the future she gave him.

“Tell me what you want.” Jackson didn’t know what possessed him to ask her, especially when he already knew what she would say.

“I want to take my parents and go back to my life. Daddy knows people who can keep us safe until you sort this out. I can’t be here anymore. I can’t be near English or any of this. It’s too hard.”

Tears glistened and turned her eyes into dark, solemn pools that were Jackson’s undoing. He nodded, but his words clogged in his throat, almost choking him in his attempt to grant her what she wanted.

“Your parents are on their way. Wait here, and I’ll have Ben go with you to wait for them in the lobby. Stay in the lobby with him, and we’ll figure out the next steps once you’re all together.”

“Thank you,” she whispered to his back because he’d already turned to go back down the hall.

When he was certain no one would see him, Jackson rubbed the spot on his chest to dispel the painful tug in his heart. He missed the elevator doors opening and Reagan going inside alone.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jackson forced himself to study English’s face as the older man watched the replay of the security footage. His expression gave nothing away, but Jackson suspected English’s brain was working overtime to connect what he was seeing with snippets of memory he could recall.

“Stop it for a minute.”

Luke tapped a button on his laptop and halted the video. Jackson’s eyes narrowed.

“Talk to us, Gish.”

The man shook his head gingerly. “Tell me about the investigation first. I want to know what you do. It could help me make sense of things.”