Dealing with the Past (12 page)

He was a little disappointed when Aiden told him that he wasn't ready to complete the handfasting yet, but he could understand Aiden's hesitation. Hopefully in time they would get there. Jackson wasn't in any rush, so long as he had his mate by his side during the waiting.

"Can you call Noah and ask for him to meet me at the office?" Aiden asked as he cleared the dirty dishes from the table and walked them into the kitchen.

"Sure, but I'm coming with you." It wasn't a question, there was no way Jackson was letting his mate go anywhere alone at the moment, not after everything that happened yesterday.

"If you must," Aiden called from the kitchen, as the water started running for the dishes. Jackson could hear the smile in his voice though, so he knew Aiden wasn't annoyed with him.

Jackson pulled out his phone and, after checking the time to make sure his brother would be awake, he clicked the button to call. Jayden answered after a half a dozen rings.

"Hey, bro, what can I help you with this beautiful Sunday morning?" The joy in Jayden's voice shone through.

"It is beautiful today, isn't it?" Jackson agreed happily. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good.

Jayden laughed down the line at him. "Someone's in a great mood today. You work things out with your mate?"

Jackson looked over into the kitchen and watched as Aiden washed their breakfast dishes. He was still having a little trouble believing that he was here. Jackson felt the need to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming.

"You could say that." Jackson really couldn't wipe the smile from his face if he'd tried.

Jayden chuckled. "Glad to hear it. I hope you two will be very happy together."

Jackson had to swallow the lump in his throat. After everything he and Jayden had been through, for his brother to offer his best wishes on Jackson's mating meant the world to him.

"Thank you, bro."

"You're welcome, now what did you call for? I highly doubt it was just to tell me that you got lucky last night," Jayden said.

Jackson laughed. "No, I wouldn't do that. Actually, I called as I need to talk to your mate."

"Okay, no worries. Let me just go get him for you." Jackson heard his brother try to muffle the speaker on the phone but he could still hear when Jayden yelled out for Noah. Less than thirty seconds later, Noah picked up the phone.

"Hey, Jackson, how can I help you?" Jackson could hear the confusion and curiosity in Noah's voice.

"Hey, man, Aiden wants to know if you can meet him at the office in an hour. You might want to call your partner as well."

"What's going on, Jackson?"

"We found out some information last night that you're going to want to hear. Just meet us, okay?" Jackson really didn't want to get into lengthy explanations over the phone, especially as he had nothing to do with the company. Aiden wanted them to meet at the office so they could search and find the proof that Brendan had found.

"All right, I'll call Harrison and meet you there in an hour." Noah didn't sound particularly happy but there wasn't really anything Jackson could do about that. He couldn't soothe his brother-in-law as the news that Aiden and he had wasn't good. Jackson just hoped that Noah's company could survive the theft.

"Thanks, see you then." Jackson said and hung up. He looked up from where he had been staring at the table to see Aiden standing in the kitchen looking nervously at him.

"Come here, Addy," Jackson said softly as he beckoned his mate forward.

Aiden walked forward slowly and stepped into his arms. The man released a sigh of contentment when Jackson wrapped him up tight. "Everything will work out. You'll see," he soothed.

"I hope so; Noah and Harrison are such nice people. I don't want to see them lose their company because of the greediness of others." Jackson tightened his hold, but didn't say anything; he had the same worries as his mate.

Forty minutes later they pulled up outside the building that housed A & M Accountants. Jackson and Aiden got out of the car and Jackson quickly walked around the front until he caught up with his mate. He slipped his hand down to his mate's and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze. Aiden smiled up at him.

Aiden swiped an access card to get into the building after hours and they walked over to the elevator bays then pressed the call button. They waited in silence, neither of them wanting to speak just yet.

Aiden pressed the button for the fifth floor when they stepped inside the lift. Aiden had told him that not every employee had access to the building or offices after hours, just a half dozen or so of the most trusted ones. Jackson liked the fact that his mate was included in that category.

They stepped out of the lift and Aiden unlocked the door to the company offices. Jackson glanced around. It seemed like A & M had the entire floor to themselves. Jackson really had no idea that Noah was quite that successful. He was very happy for his brother-in-law and what he and his friend had been able to achieve.

As soon as the door opened, Jackson could hear talking coming from the back, Jackson looked at Aiden and the man shrugged. "It's probably just Noah and Harrison," he said. Jackson hoped Aiden was right. Even still, Jackson proceeded with caution as they headed through the reception area.

Jackson sighed in relief when he was finally able to make out Jayden's voice amongst the others. He also recognised Noah's, but there was a third that he had never heard before. He assumed that must belong to Noah's business partner Harrison.

Aiden squeezed his fingers in reassurance. Jackson had completely forgotten that he and Aiden were still holding hands. Aiden knocked gently on the open door to Noah's office. Jackson knew who it belonged to due to the name plate stuck to the door.

All conversation ceased the second they walked into the room. Jackson's eyes immediately went to the stranger in the room. Harrison Albright stood taller than everyone else in the office; the man had broad shoulders with muscles rippling underneath the shirt he currently wore. His long golden locks and blond facial hair reminded Jackson of a lion. He knew the man to be a feline shifter but he'd never been told what type. Hard green eyes softened considerably when they settled on Jackson's mate.

Jackson glanced at his mate and poor Aiden had a deer caught in the headlights look about him. Jayden must have seen it too as he smacked Noah on the shoulder and motioned Aiden to one of the unoccupied chairs.

"Sorry, why don't you take a seat, Aiden, and tell us what this is all about." Aiden nodded and moved over to the chair and sat. Jackson leant down and kissed his mate on the cheek.

"Addy, I'll be back in a minute, I need to find the bathroom," he said quietly. As much as Jackson would like to stay and support his mate, his bladder was currently screaming at him that it needed release. Plus he wasn't sure what help he could be, they were sure to soon be talking figures and Jackson hated maths with a passion.

Aiden smiled up at him. "Just head back out to the lifts and take a right. You can't miss them."

"I'll be back soon, try not to have too much fun without me."

"Yeah, right, sure, I'll try to remember that." Jackson couldn't help but laugh at the tone in his mate's voice. He took one final look around the room, silently asking his brother to look after his mate while he was away. Not that he thought the man could get into any trouble in the middle of an office. Jayden nodded minutely before Jackson turned and walked out the door. He heard Aiden start to explain to the others what they had found out the previous night.

Jackson hurried back the way they had come, heading to the bathroom. He walked inside and felt around for the light switch. Finally finding it, he flicked it on and nearly ran to the urinal. Jackson sighed in relief as the pressure left his bladder. He had no idea how long he stood there but it felt like a solid five minutes. He doubted it though. Tucking himself away, he washed his hands and flicked the light off.

He'd just opened the door to the bathroom when the elevator dinged and two people got off. Jackson stepped back and closed the door so only a crack was visible. He watched and listened as a man and a woman walked towards the office.

"What are the lights doing on? No one is supposed to be here. Duncan, you told me this was just going to be a quick in and out, grab the evidence and go." The woman's high nasal voice annoyed Jackson just listening to her for two seconds, how anyone could put up with it for longer was beyond him.

"Shut up, Bianca, you have no idea who's in there or why they're there. Either way, we need to get all the incriminating evidence and get the hell out of town. And if we have any problems in doing so, we'll just go to plan B."

"What's plan B?" the woman asked sceptically.

Duncan lifted the back of his shirt and pulled out a gun that had been tucked into the waistband of his pants. "Plan B," he said, far too happily for Jackson's liking. His mate was in that office along with his brother. Bianca seemed startled for a minute before she smiled and kissed Duncan on the cheek. "Let's get this done," he said as he opened the office door and stepped in.

Jackson closed the bathroom door and pulled out his phone, he dialled triple zero and waited anxiously until his call was connected. "Police, fire, or ambulance?" he was asked as soon as the call picked up on the other end.

"Police."

"What's your emergency, sir?" the woman on the line asked him.

"Two people just walked into the offices of A&M Accounting on Mitchell Street, one was armed with what I think is a Glock 9mm, but I'm not a hundred per cent sure on the type of gun. My boyfriend and his bosses are currently in the office compiling evidence of embezzlement against the two who just walked in."

"Are you in any danger?"

"No, I'm just outside in the bathrooms. They didn't see me." Jackson hated the thought of being out here when his mate was inside. He wanted to know what the hell was going on.

"Okay, sir, please stay on the line for a moment while I dispatch officers to you."

Jackson nodded even though the woman couldn't see him and cracked the bathroom door open. He couldn't see or hear anything though and he closed the door again.

The woman came back on the line and let him know that three squad cars had been dispatched to his location. Jackson gave the lady more accurate information about where they were and then hung up. He wasn't about to sit out there and wait for the cops. They should be along any minute now anyway.

A shot rang out and Jackson's heart near exploded as he wrenched the bathroom door open and raced back inside the offices. He head Duncan yelling. "I told you the next time wouldn't be as nice. You had to go and raise the dead. You couldn't just leave well enough alone."

Jackson knew before he even got to the office what had happened. Even knowing it didn't prepare him to see his mate lying on the floor with Jayden leaning over him putting pressure on a wound that seemed to be bleeding far too much for Jackson's liking.

All hell seemed to break loose at the same time. Jackson skidded into the room and dropped to his knees beside Aiden. Noah started yelling while Harrison shifted and attacked Duncan. Jackson barely even registered Bianca's scream as Harrison disarmed her boyfriend.

Jackson's eyes swam with tears as he looked down at the mate he had only just gotten to forgive him. "Don't you even think about leaving me, you hear me, Addy?" He cupped Aiden's cheeks and leant down to place a gentle kiss against his lips. "I've only just gotten you and I'm not willing to give you up for at least another fifty or sixty years yet."

Aiden chuckled but quickly cut it off with a groan. "Ow, fuck. Getting shot hurts like a bitch." Jackson could tell his man was in pain by the way he was clenching his teeth with every word he said.

"I know exactly what you mean," Jayden said from above him.

All of a sudden half a dozen police burst into the room then came to a sudden stop when they were confronted with a five hundred pound male lion standing over a man who had clearly pissed himself, if the smell that was only just now registering to Jackson was anything to go by.

Jackson watched as Harrison slowly stepped back and the police advanced. They looked around the room, taking everything in, then immediately called for an ambulance. Jackson sat with his mate, never letting go of his hand while the police assessed the situation. They instructed Jayden to continue to put pressure on his wound and then started to gather as much information as they could.

Everything after that started to blur. Jackson moved back but still kept in contact with his mate when the paramedics arrived. He rode with him in the back of the ambulance to Royal Darwin Hospital. Jackson didn't remember when his parents or his brothers arrived to sit with him while Aiden was rushed off to surgery.

Jackson sat in a daze, his brain refusing to acknowledge that he might lose his mate after having the man for less than twenty-four hours. Several long agonising hours later, a doctor finally came to let him know that whilst Aiden had lost a lot of blood in the ordeal they had managed to remove the bullet and he should make a full recovery in time.

His legs gave out from under him at hearing his mate was going to make it. He would have fallen had his brothers, Jessie and Jude, not caught him. Jackson was manoeuvred backwards into one of the hard plastic chairs and he sat gratefully.

Now that he knew Aiden was okay, he wanted to see his mate so badly. His entire being felt like it was calling out to be with Aiden again. All he could do, however, was sit and wait for the doctor to come back and tell him he could see the man he was in love with.

Chapter 12

Aiden danced around the kitchen singing at the top of his lungs along to the radio he had playing in the background. He'd been out of the hospital for four weeks now, and with therapy his arm was nearly back to its full use. The bullet had entered and lodged itself in his shoulder blade, doing a lot of damage on its way in. It had been one of the most excruciatingly painful things Aiden had ever endured, but now it just twinged every so often when he moved his arm wrong or tried to lift too much weight.