Jackson by Ember Casey Page A

her again. “We’ll make sure you get a share of the haul. You have my word on it.”
    But Jackson was shaking his head, and she could feel the tension in the muscles of his arm around her.
    “She stays with us,” Jackson said.
    “We need to be able to move freely,” the other man said. “That means we can’t have anyone slowing us down. You’ve already seen how dangerous this is going to get.”
    “All the more reason why we shouldn’t just leave her somewhere by herself,” Jackson said. And then, “You already agreed to this over the phone.”
    “Because you said that in all likelihood she’d run home long before she ever set foot on this boat.”
    That was like a kick right to the gut. But before Charlotte could ask either of them to elaborate, Jackson released her and stepped toward the other man.
    “She’s involved in this now, whether we like it or not. Blame me if you like, but if Nash is onto us, you know what that means. She’s safer with us.”
    Roth’s mouth went rigid. She’d heard the way Jackson and Leo had talked about this man—he was the leader of this little team, and it was clear they respected him deeply. She hadn’t realized she’d be in the middle of something.
    But the decision, such as it was, appeared to have been made.
    “We’re leaving in ten minutes,” Roth said, looking around at his team. And with that, he turned and climbed back down below, the atlas still clutched in his hand.
    Charlotte still felt a little like the wind had been swept out of her sails, even when Roth had completely disappeared below and Jackson turned back to her. She’d known she was stepping into Jackson’s territory, but she hadn’t really expected it to be so… well, awkward.
    But if the others were feeling that awkwardness, they hid it well.
    “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” said the one with the tattoos, twisting around Jackson to place himself right in front of her.
    Jackson was already back to his normal self, and he rolled his eyes at his friend before looping his arm around her waist again, as if to protect her from the other man’s enthusiasm.
    “This is Toshi,” he told her. “He’s an even bigger player than Leo.”
    “Hey, hey, hey. Don’t be knocking me right out of the gate, man,” said Toshi. To her he added, “Jacky here has it out for me. But don’t worry—I don’t go after my brothers’ girls.”
    Charlotte started to point out that she was most definitely not Jackson’s “girl,” but before she could get out the words, Jackson had already started introducing her to the other two men on the boat. The big one on the left with the short, chestnut hair was Alexei, and he greeted her with the hint of a Russian accent. The other one was lither and had wavy, sun-bleached hair, and Jackson introduced him as Xavier.
    She didn’t have time to speak with any of the guys, though. They’d all jumped to action preparing the boat for departure.
    “We should take your things downstairs,” Jackson told her.
    She nodded, eager to do something besides stand here like an idiot. She followed Jackson through the opening and down the ladder-like steps to the area below deck.
    She’d never been on a boat before, so she was pleasantly surprised to see how many conveniences were down here below the deck—even if quarters were a little cramped. Roth was nowhere to be seen—he must have shut himself behind one of the narrow doors on either side of the stairs—but there was a small kitchenette tucked away to the left, and next to it, a short table jutted from the wall beneath a panel of electronics.
    Jackson led her to a door at the far end of the tiny main room.
    “This is where we’ll be sleeping,” he said.
    The space beyond could hardly be called a room. It was essentially just a bed with a scant ten inches of “floor” between the mattress and the door.
    “This looks… cozy,” she said. But then she realized what he’d said. “We’re sharing this?” The bed