Jaxson's Song Read Online Free Page B

Come on, get in here and we’ll call the police,” he sighed,
leaning forward to clasp his hand lightly over her arm, wincing a
little at the sight of his glittering bangle bracelets next to her
gold-dust skin. He drew her into the house, glanced around one
final time, but there wasn’t much to see. The street was quiet; the
rest of the neighborhood was in bed for the night. “The phone’s
this way.”
    He let go of her and
passed through a set of French doors to the living room, without
waiting for her to follow. She did, though, and he met her halfway,
a white plastic cordless phone held in his outstretched hand. “Are
you…okay?” he asked, noticing the way her hand shook when she
accepted the phone and sank to the sofa.
    He watched her squeeze her
eyes shut, nod and dial 911, and he felt like an ass for not asking
her sooner. Standing there watching her fingers turn white around
the handset of the phone, light gold-and-brown hair falling forward
to obscure part of her face, he felt most of his anger begin to
cool and fade. She looked so small, almost fragile, sitting there
on the couch, curling around herself, one arm wrapped tight around
her middle as she spoke into the phone.
    “ I’d like to report, I mean, I need to report,” she took a
deep breath, “a break-in. My house was broken into tonight.” Her
voice became stronger as she listened to the dispatcher on the
other end of the line and then recited her address.
    A second later, she was
looking up at Jax again with those wide eyes. Gray, he noticed. Her
eyes were gray, maybe blue. The only light in the room came from a
single china-blue lamp that sat perched on an antique-looking end
table. Briefly he thought about flipping the switch for the
overhead lighting but immediately decided against doing so. The
woman in front of him looked freaked out enough as it was. Flooding
the room in a sudden brightness probably wouldn’t do a whole hell
of a lot for her nerves, and the last thing Jaxson needed was a
hysterical female… Clearly, she was already on the edge.
    “ They’re on their way,” she told him. “They said to stay on
the line…”
    “ Okay.” He nodded and dropped to the seat on the opposite end
of the couch. She glanced at him and her hands began to shake.
Jaxson carefully unwrapped her fingers from around the telephone
receiver and easily plucked the object from her grasp.
    “ We’re going to stay on the line, but I’m setting the phone
down until the cops get here,” he told the dispatcher.
    “ Thank you,” Kate murmured when he’d place the phone facedown
between them on the white-and-purple flowered sofa.
    “ Ah, I’m…sorry, about earlier.” His lips twisted. “It’s been a
long day, ya know?”
    “ Yeah.” She exhaled, then crammed her hands between her knees
and trembled, her gaze a thousand miles away.
    “ I’m sorry I snapped at you, on the porch, okay?” he blurted,
forcing the words out through lips that suddenly felt awkward. “I’m
having a shit day and it was wrong to take it out on
you.”
    “ Oh.” Her eyes darted to his. It was clear he’d managed to
surprise her again. Considering the circumstances, he thought with
a grimace, staring down at his cocktail dress, he’d have figured
the woman would be beyond surprise, at this point.
    “ I’m Jaxson, by the way,” he said without holding out his
hand.
    “ Kate,” she murmured, giving him another small, tense,
not-quite smile. “I’m sorry I’m bothering you tonight.” She paused
and sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t believe this is happening. We
just moved in.”
    “ We?” Jaxson shifted uncomfortably on the couch and
entertained dark fantasies of ripping off his pantyhose and putting
the damn things through a shredder.
    “ My sister Lilly lives with me,” she answered before her spine
stiffened. “Oh, my God, I need to call her.”
    There was panic in her
voice, and Jaxson reached into the beaded evening bag on the end
table at his