by Anya Summers
Chapter 13
Garrett pulled into his driveway, after stopping off at the Quik-Mart to pick up two six packs of Corona. He’d almost grabbed a third, given his current mood and the fact that a shit storm in the form of his ex-girlfriend had descended on his life, but thought better of it. He wanted to see Cora tomorrow and not be hung over.
His house was a stone log cabin number he’d had built shortly after he had moved to Jackson. It had its own private lane with nature surrounding it on all sides. From his bedroom he was able to view the mountain peak the ski resort sat upon, almost as if he was watching over it from a distance.
He loved the exterior, the burnished walnut logs gracing the walls of the L-shaped home. The front porch constructed of tan stone helped frame the courtyard with the circular driveway. After parking, Garrett entered through the front door and strode into the kitchen. He glanced around the kitchen and great hall beyond. As much as he’d tried to outrun his legacy as a Brooks, there were some things, like his pure enjoyment of having a large, aesthetically pleasing home, he’d not been able to outrun or quash. With the hardwood and marble floors, luxurious furnishings, the full-sized gym in his basement, and the private dungeon he’d had installed as part of his master suite, his home exuded understated wealth.
He’d strategically designed the house so that the master bedroom was on the second floor of the shorter L-shaped portion of the home, away from the other bedrooms. It had its own set of stairs. When he’d originally built it, he’d done so with an eye toward the future, a potential future with a wife and children.
Garrett hadn’t realized how lonely and stale his existence had become. He rose each morning, worked out, went to work, where he typically pulled fourteen-hour days, and if he didn’t spend the night in his suite, he made it back here well after dark.
Funny how, in such a short time, the woman he envisioned coming home to was Cora. Perhaps Spencer was correct in his estimation and Garrett was falling for her. He had no idea what that meant.
The knock on his front door broke him away from his musings and he yelled out, “Come in.”
Spencer sauntered in with large pizza boxes and Jackson hot on his heels. While Spencer ran their BDSM club, Cuffs & Spurs, Jackson Stone was an officer with the Jackson Hole Police Department. Jack was still in his black uniform, fully armored up with gun belt and body cam, sans his hat.
Garrett withdrew plates from one of the cabinets and handed them off to Jack, who didn’t even say hello, just made himself at home. They’d been doing this routine for years. Garrett opened two beers as Spencer set the boxes on the golden solid oak kitchen table.
“I’m starving,” Jack said, taking a seat at the table. The man was like a bear after food. Once he scented it, it was better to get out of his way and let the man eat.
“You’re always hungry. Want a beer?” Garrett asked, holding up a long-necked bottle.
“Can’t while I’m in uniform. Got any Coke?” Jack asked. For a six-foot-two athletically built guy, he had a love affair with Coke. Probably needed the infusion of caffeine and sugar.
“Yep, I have you covered. Spencer?” Garrett held out the opened bottle toward Spencer.
“Shit, yes,” Spencer said, and took it from his hand before he had a seat at the table. Garrett grabbed a can of Coke for Jack from the fridge before he joined them. At the first whiff of melted cheese, processed meat and tomato sauce, his mouth watered.
They dove into the food, piling their plates with slices of deep dish meat lovers’ pizza piled high with toppings.
“Barbeque wings? Nice, Spencer,” Jack said, piling chicken and pizza on his plate all while taking a bite out of a slice.
Garrett nearly moaned at the first bite. Teton Pizzeria had some of the best damn pizza on the planet, and he’d lived near Manhattan the better part of his life.
In between bites, Jack asked, “So, what happened with that new waitress the other night? The really hot one from Seattle.”
Spencer growled.
Garrett grimaced. “Yeah, it might be better if we don’t get into it around Spencer, seeing as she’s his cousin and all.”
Jack smiled. “No shit. How’d he take it?”
“I’m right here, dickwad. For that little move on Garrett’s part, he’s banned from the club for a month.”
Garrett said, “Wrongfully banned, you mean. I didn’t know she was your cousin when I slept with her.”
Jack cracked up. “Hate to point this out, Spencer, but none of us knew she was your cousin. It could have just as easily been me the other night. If she’d been interested. But she only had eyes for Garrett.”
“So what would you have me do, lift the punishment?” Spencer snorted.
“Yes. It’s not even reasonable, given the circumstances,” Garrett said with a shake of his head.
“I have to side with Garrett here, dude. A month is a mite harsh when he didn’t know he was committing an offense and breaking a rule,” Jack backed him up.
“Fine, I will retract it to only a week,” Spencer said, his expression militant.
Garrett rolled his eyes. “Ever the stickler. It’s a surprise subs don’t run away screaming in frustration. Fine. I’ll take the week. But no more punching.”
“Wait, he hit you?” Jack asked with smirk.
“Yep, right along the jaw. It’s likely bruised beneath the beard. It was a sucker punch.”
“You deserved it,” Spencer said around a bite.
“Glad it was you and not me on the receiving end, because then I’d have had to haul his ass in for assault on a police officer—or, should I say, detective.” Jack sat back in his seat.
“You got the promotion? Congrats, man,” Garrett said, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Well, Jack, your promotion came just in the nick of time too,” Spencer said.
Jack glanced between Garrett and Spencer. “All right, drop the cryptic clues. What’s up with the impromptu meet and eat? Not that I don’t love a free meal.”
Spencer arched a brow in Garrett’s direction. He was the one in the group who knew about Gail because they’d met shortly after Garrett’s relationship with her had gone sour. “I dated a woman years ago. She was my first real long-term relationship. Gail was older than me and the woman who introduced me into the BDSM lifestyle. We were together for five years, while I was in college. It ended, badly, I might add, causing a rift within my family. It was shortly after the breakup that I enlisted in the army, yada, yada.”
“And? Why do I get the feeling that’s not the end of it?” Jack studied him and as he did, Garrett noticed the flip in Jack’s eyes, from the eyes of a friend to those of a cop. He’d always trusted that flip, which was why Jack was so good at his job.
“That would be a correct assumption. She checked into my resort this afternoon with her latest boy toy to try and blackmail me. Gail was an ‘anything goes’ type in the bedroom, loved submitting, loved bondage, and was quite the painslut. She also liked to role play certain fantasies, including rape fantasies. They weren’t my favorite or even something I wanted to do, but I thought…” Garrett looked down at his beer, watched the bead of condensed moisture roll down the longneck.
“I was eighteen when Gail and I started seeing one another. Our relationship lasted throughout college and I believed that we were in love.”
Jack whistled and shook his head. “Sorry, man, I didn’t know. How is she trying to blackmail you?”
“I didn’t know it at the time because I was too enthralled with her and, I admit, being led around by my dick, but she was taping us when we fucked. She has video footage that makes it look like I’m raping her. She’s bound and tied to the bed, blindfolded, and saying ‘no’ as I fuck her.”
“Shit. That’s not going to look good if she has physical, damning proof and you only have your word against hers,” Jack said.
“Don’t I fucking know it,” Garrett replied and took a swig of his beer.
“And what d
oes she want from you?” Jack asked, pulling his notepad from his breast pocket and starting to scribble notes.
“In exchange for her silence and giving me the tape, she wants twenty million dollars. Or she’ll take it to the police and the press.” And wasn’t that the kicker. Garrett had the money. Hell, it wouldn’t even put a dent in his portfolio. But he knew, if he gave her a dime, she would continue reappearing in his life to suck him dry whenever she needed money. And this was just one tape. How did he know whether or not she had dozens of them on the back burner?
“Fuck. Unless you have evidence that it wasn’t a rape but a rape fantasy, I hate to tell you this, but you’re screwed. The district attorney’s office will look at video footage of a rape and it will be a slam dunk case for them,” Jack explained.
Garrett leaned back in his chair and said, “I recorded her in my office today.”
“Did you now?” Jack said. “Let me see it.”
He’d sent the video feed to his phone and pulled it up. Handing his phone over to Jack he pressed play. The sound of Gail’s voice in his home, the taint of it, even just a recording, made him want to upchuck the four slices of pizza and wings he’d scarfed down.
When the recording ended, Jack murmured, “This is good. We may need a bit more, though, to make such a rock-solid case against her that no defense attorney will be able to help her wriggle out of charges.”
“So it’s not enough to charge her with?”
“Not necessarily. It’s a start, though, and more than enough to launch a full investigation with the backing of the district attorney’s office. Do you know if any other recordings were made of the two of you?” Jack asked.
Garrett shrugged and ran a hand over his jaw. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“It makes me wonder if you’re the only one she recorded. You said she likes younger men, correct?” Jack said.
“Yep. She’s twenty years older than I am. And the guy she brought with her, Frank, can’t be more than twenty-four.”
Jack grinned. “Dude, can’t believe you went for the older tail.”
“That’s because you aren’t seeing her in her prime. When we started dating she was thirty-eight and grade A prime pussy. Trust me when I say, you wouldn’t have been able to resist her climbing into your bed either.”
Spencer snorted. Jack flashed a shit-eating grin before they controlled themselves enough to continue with the business at hand. The last thing he wanted, that would upend his plans for his possible future, was to be charged with a rape that had never happened.
Jack stated, “Okay, I need all of Gail’s information. As much as you can get me. The video she showed you was on a tablet computer?”
“Yep,” Garrett said, but he was betting that wasn’t the only copy of the video.
“Think I could get access to it for, oh, say, ten minutes or so?” Jack asked, going for seconds with the pizza. How he could eat as much as he did was beyond Garrett.
“Let me see what I can do.” Perhaps he could entice her and Frank with amenities at the resort that would make it appear like he was trying to butter her up, like a spa package. That would get them out of the room so Jack could get inside and check it out. Gail was self-centered enough that she’d never dream that he would go to the authorities. And it would play to her ego having things like a spa day comped for her.
“Good. I’ll do some digging on my end. Twenty million, huh? I want to check her bank records and see what her cash flow situation might be,” Jack said, lighting into another slice of pizza.
“Gail has always had expensive tastes. I know she inherited the bulk of her fortune from a husband who died when I was in high school,” Garrett said.
“Any foul play at work there?” Jack asked.
If only there had been. Garrett said, “Nothing was suspected. He was in his eighties or something and died in his sleep.”
“All right, I think I have enough to start building a case. Don’t engage with her unless you have to. I know that with her at your resort, it will make things more difficult. I do want to see if I can get my hands on her tablet computer. If I can get in and copy everything that’s on it, it would give me access to what she may be hiding.”
“You could take the week off to help plan the small heist with the tablet until Jack has solid evidence against her,” Spencer said.
Garrett glanced at him like he’d grown three heads. “Are you serious?”
“Look, other than needing to get Jack into her room to try and access the tablet, the less interaction you have with Gail, the better. It’s not like the resort won’t survive without you.”
There was that. Garrett tended to treat the hotel as if it were his life. He hadn’t taken any real time off in a few years. Plus, it would have the added bonus that he could spend more time with Cora.
Speaking of… “One thing, we agree here and now, not a word of this touches Cora.” He shot Jack and Spencer a glare. Garrett didn’t want her involved with the sordid details of his past. He would protect her from everything, including this.
“Agreed,” Jack said.
“I sure as shit hope you know what you’re doing,” Spencer remarked. “Because like I told you earlier, you hurt her, they’ll never find your body.”
“I’m going to pretend I did not just hear that,” Jack said.
“I have no intention of hurting her.” But Garrett had every intention of protecting her from his past. He didn’t want any part of it to touch her or Milo.
“Then we are all agreed,” Spencer said.
The three of them sat at Garrett’s kitchen table devising their plan to take Gail down until the wee hours of the morning. It was a good plan. He trusted Jack to do his part and investigate it fully. It was after one when he watched their taillights drive down his lane and leave him alone with his thoughts.
As much as he hated that he had to hide this from Cora, at least while Jack was investigating the situation, Garrett had to, for her own safety. And, in truth, until he could clear his name and prove what he knew to be true: that Gail had set him up to take a fall. He worried that something like this could make Cora turn from him, make her think less of him, and that fear held more gravitas than Gail’s bribery attempts.
He would confess all to Cora, when the time was right. He prayed that he could make her fall for him enough that she would see his side of things and not hate him.
Chapter 14
Some days Cora wondered if getting out of bed was even worth it.
She was standing at her front door with her neighbor. Rayna had her Teton Diner waitress uniform on. The Teton Diner was a throwback diner that paid homage to the fifties, which was why Rayna was wearing a powder blue poodle skirt and looked like she was trying out for a production of Grease.
“I’m so sorry,” Rayna said with guilt furrowing her brow.
“Rayna, it’s not your fault. You got called into work. Believe me, I understand.”
“I just hate to leave you hanging when I said I would watch him,” Rayna said, wringing her hands.
“I’ll give Spencer a call. I’m sure he’ll be able to watch him for me. Don’t worry about it,” she replied, trying to soothe her friend.
“Okay, but the next free night I have, I owe you dinner, wine, and girl talk. Thank you so much for understanding,” Rayna said, giving her a tremulous smile.
“Sounds fun,” Cora said and shut the door after waving Rayna off.
So much for hoping today would run more smoothly. Considering she’d had another virtually sleepless night thanks to their newest addition to the family, she was batting zero out of a thousand. As it was, if she could sleep standing up, she would do it.
Cora tried calling Spencer, repeatedly, as panic rose in her chest, and kept getting his blasted voicemail. Well, it was Sunday morning. For all she knew, her cousin was still sleeping off last night. He’d mentioned that he was heading to the club when he’d dropped them off at her car. He was a Dominant and owner of the
club, to boot. She should be thankful that she hadn’t worked there last night or she would have been treated to a front row seat of Spencer getting his freak on. And really, she didn’t want to know about her cousin’s sex life any more than she already did.
Worst case scenario, she would take Milo with her to the gym and pray for the best. She hoped Matt wouldn’t be pissed and fire her on the spot. Maybe she was being ridiculous to worry about it when Garrett was offering her free daycare to work at his place. Although, if truth be told, she only had to worry about daycare for Milo on the weekends, and then again at night when she was waiting tables at the club. Part of the appeal of the job at the resort was that she’d be able to stop working at the club, or could at least pare her shifts down to maybe two nights a week.
Milo and Elmo raced around the living room. Cora could feel the start of a tension headache. What was she going to do about Elmo? She really didn’t want to leave him alone for a few hours. Not after the night they’d had. The sweet-faced pup had already managed to chew up two of her shoes—not from the same pair, of course—throw them up, and pee and poop on her floor. Then he’d proceeded to cry half the night until she brought the little guy into bed with her.
Maybe she could set him up in the bathroom so he wouldn’t get into anything.
This was why she had swollen dark circles you could park a car under beneath her eyes. She had already chugged a half pot of coffee like she was at a kegger. And, somehow, she had to find some semblance of inner peace for the two Sunday Rejuvenation and Relaxation yoga sessions she was scheduled to lead.
Come on inner peace, I don’t have all day.
She sighed. Maybe she should just cancel her classes and brave Matt’s fury. Most likely she could kiss this job goodbye if she canceled.
Nor could she take Milo with her. She’d be terrified that he would get into something and either break it or injure himself. Not to mention she would incur Matt’s sadistic streak. She’d be fired before she finished the second class.