A Jar of Hearts

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  Eric shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Except that Harvey sent someone into the gang to find out about Burns’ death and this kind of pissed him off.”

  “You mean pissed him enough to want him dead.”

  Eric nodded. “Now, that Burns is gone, he will only need to be rid off Harvey to officially become king of the underworlds in San Diego.”

  “I just can’t believe it came so soon after Burns’ order. On the other hand, I can’t believe it will be all over. After all these years…”

  “Well, it’s not all over just yet.” He threw his head back against the backrest of his chair, looking up at the ceiling tiredly. “The fucker wants Harvey domed.”

  “Domed? Shot in the head?”

  “He won’t have it any other way. It’s some weird ritual of staking his claim as the ruler of the ganglands, I suppose.”

  “It means ‘don’t fuck with me’,” Mark let out slowly. “Juan sure knows how to make it tough for us though.”

  “So how are we gonna do it?”

  “I don’t know. I’d have to talk it with the team.”

  “Mark, this is it,” Eric said. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for. And I want out. I just want to get back to normality- with Anne.”

  “I understand, and I’ll do whatever I can to give that to you,” he assured. “Did Juan suspect you for anything though?”

  He frowned. “I would like to think not, but I can’t shake the feeling he is up to no good.”

  “What do you mean?” Mark leaned forward.

  “His men have been following me and then he enquired about the faux office.”

  “ Yeah?”

  “I just had to tell him I wanted to quit and start up a business from there. I hope he bought it.”

  “He’s suspicious about something,” Mark mumbled.

  “Or maybe that he’s simply pissed.” He grew quiet, flashes of the burning man returning to him. “They flamed another guy last night.”

  “Alive?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Damn.” Mark sunk back into his chair. “Is that why…?”

  Eric closed his eyes, trying to squeeze the images out of his mind. “I needed some time to recover. I couldn’t let Anne know. I was throwing up all over my bathroom.”

  Mark nodded, understanding quite well the pain he was going through. “I’ve seen a couple myself and it ain’t a pretty sight. It haunts you for days. Their pain, their shrieks and cries. I don’t know how those bastards live with themselves after they do that.”

  “The odor of burning flesh doesn’t leave you.”

  “How is it now?”

  Eric looked up at him and sighed. “Better. It always does get better with the days.”

  “We’ll get them. We will get them.” Mark ran a palm over his face.

  “Why trap them?” Eric asked curiously. “Why not just charge in and arrest them? You’ve got all the evidence you need to prove that they’re involved in criminal activities.”

  “It’s not as easy as it seems.” Mark’s eyes flickered towards the door. They could still hear Anne rumbling in the kitchen. “There is a reason why we are a secret branch not identified wholly by the FBI. There are people who don’t want the drugs to go away. And we would be happy target practice for some deranged hit-men if they get a wind of anything we’re doing. We are talking about people in power- politicians, businessmen and even high ranking police officers.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s business. It’s all about the money. If you aren’t addicted to the drugs, you get addicted to the money. That is just how it is with the drug trade. Drug lords don’t want drugs legalized because it would reduce their profits. And law enforcement agencies don’t want it legalized because it would lose millions of dollars, and thousands of jobs also would be lost should the drug war end. The police force and federal agencies hold a billion dollars in seized assets and they make millions off of these confiscated cash, property and cars. As long as the primary objective is money, there is no chance on winning the drug war.” He pulled in a deep breath of air. “But what we do… this here… this can make a difference. Even if it is a negligible difference, it is still one we should be proud of. And you should be too.”

  “How are you feeling?” Anne asked as she carried a bowl of steaming broth to the table.

  “Wonderful,” James whispered into her ear as he back-hugged her, his arms resting beneath her breasts.

  “I was worried about you.”

  “You shouldn’t have. I just had work to do, that’s all.” He kissed the side of her neck, skimming along its curves and down to her shoulders.

  “I can’t not worry about you. Especially after announcing that your ex-girlfriend is out to kill me for real and that I needed a guard at all times.”

  He turned her in his arms, looking down into her face. He never could get enough of her. She was his life. It was as simple as that. “I like that you worry about me. Someone to look out for me. A reason to take care of myself and return to at the end of everything. But at the same time I don’t like it that you put yourself through all that strain.”

  “What do you expect me to do?”

  He leaned down and covered her mouth with his. “Love me.”

  He dove eagerly into her, playing with her tongue, teasing her until she gasped.

  “You’re not getting away with this,” she rasped helplessly. “I’m still angry with you.”

  “Really?” He smiled cryptically.

  His hands slid beneath her dress to cup her buttocks and then tugged her up to him. His fingers tore through her lacy panties, pulling them off her. He pressed her against the wall and then pushed her feet apart before falling down onto his knees.

  “James.” She pulled in a sharp breath.

  “Sshhh, I’m begging you to forgive me,” he muttered as he parted the lips of her core to taste her.

  She threw her head back, her fingers clutching desperately into his hair for balance. “James,” she moaned again.

  He thrusted his tongue in and out of her until her legs staggered under her. Unable to take it anymore, she gave in to him, sitting her crotch on his face as he continued to work her with his fingers and his mouth.

  “Please, James… I can’t take… I will…,” she begged.

  He released her from his carnal mouth, giving her time to breathe as he stood up, brushing his entire length against her. His hand yanked down the neckline in her dress to reveal her breasts, catching her nipples with his mouth.

  She groaned as she labored for air, her hands reaching for his shorts and pushing them down his legs. His cock was hard and throbbing, springing out of his pants and jutting out against her naval.

  She kissed her way down to his crotch and when she wrapped her hands around his cock, he gasped. She was kneeling on the floor, her tongue sliding up and around his hard length. He clasped a tuft of her hair, doing his best to hold on while she took her time. His breaths grew short and shallow as she kissed his tip before finally wrapping his lips around him. He felt himself go deep into her mouth and his body clenched. He put a hand out against the wall to brace himself.

  His eyes flickered towards her and he saw her head bobbing up and down his cock. Watching her, seeing her taking him into her beautiful mouth accelerated his breathing. Could he grow any harder?

  He was going to explode and while he would have loved to do it on her tongue, today wasn’t that day. He pulled out of her mouth and lifted her chin, kissing her, his tongue twining with hers, tasting himself on it.

  He picked her up and threw her against the wall as she wound her legs around his hips. He held himself to her apex, guiding her to sit atop him. He closed his eyes, feeling the heat of her sheath him. He cupped her buttocks as he began to pump into her, fast and hard.

  “James,” she breathed into his mouth.

  He covered her lips as his body clamped. He felt her core contract on his cock, her body orgasming in sync
with his. He leaned down and kissed the hollow at the base of her neck, trying to catch his breath.

  “I missed you,” he whispered.

  “Are you ready?” Mark asked as he walked into the house.

  “Yes,” Julia replied curtly, picking up her keys.

  “I’m driving.” He dangled his keys from his finger.

  She stared at him coldly. “Thanks, but I do have a car.”

  He ambled up closer to her until he was a hand-span away from her. “Have you even looked at me? How am I supposed to fit into your cute little Honda?” He turned around and began marching out the door. “My car or nothing.”

  She grabbed her bag angrily and stomped out of the house, pushing past him as she did.

  He glanced over at her leaning against her window, staring into space. Her dark hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, enhancing her sharp features. His eyes drifted down to her hands, tightly clasping the handles of her bag. She wasn’t comfortable. She didn’t want to be here with him and he didn’t blame her. He had barged into her life, demanding she trust him. The truth was she didn’t know how to do that. She had been an independent woman for so long and after that asshole boyfriend of hers left her during a time when she needed him most, she probably didn’t know how to depend on any man at all.

  “I know we started on the wrong foot,” he began. “But I am here to protect you and Ashley. I won’t let anything happen to you both if I can help it.”

  She looked steely over at him. “We are a job. I understand that. I only want to get through this without having to communicate with you so much.”

  He tightened his grip on his wheel, a muscle pulsing in his jaw. She was right. They were just a job. But he didn’t like hearing it. Especially when she said it aloud like that.

  The vendor packed in a heap of apples into a plastic bag and handed it over to her. She thanked him with a smile and reached out to pay him. She felt his hand on hers as he silently removed the bag from her hand and carried it.

  A knot pitted in her stomach, her lips growing dry from the sudden racing of her heart. He was still a bastard, she thought. But for some reason he was growing into a rather charming one. She couldn’t deny she was attracted to him, after all he was handsome. Those light blue eyes and lush of sleek silvery hair set him apart from a lot of men she had known. He was different.

  She walked on from vendor to vendor, watching him from the corner of her eyes as he dutifully followed her. A young female seller smiled at them, clearly envying them as a couple. She caught him smiling back and she frowned. She was annoyed that anyone would think they were a pair. But she couldn’t ignore the pang of jealousy biting into her heart. Why was he smiling at the woman like that?

  He suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her into him. A cyclist wheezed past them and she stared after him in a state of startle, her heart thumping in her chest, her breasts crushing against his.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She licked her lips as she tried to straighten up again. What was wrong with her? She certainly was losing her sensibilities around him.

  Mark pulled into a car space just as children began pouring out of the private school.

  “Does she know we’re here to pick her up?” he asked, his eyes scouting the crowd for Ashley.

  “Yes, I told her I would in the morning,” Julia replied. “I just had an uneasy feeling all had not been quite sorted out from yesterday’s scuffle.”

  “You probably are being protective, that’s all. I’m sure the principal would have warned the girls of any more trouble.”

  “I hope so, Mark. I’m hoping that I am wrong, because I can’t help shaking the feeling we don’t belong here. I want this for Ashley, but I don’t want her to feel like an outcast in a school filled with rich kids as well.”

  His muscle twitched in his jaw again. He had already gauged she had been living it tough all these years, and to see her worry about her social class simply unnerved him more. She deserved more than she was getting.

  “There she is.” Julia pointed with slight relief. She moved to unbuckle her seat belt, but he held her buckle firmly down.

  “Stay,” he said. “I’ll go and get her.”

  He didn’t wait for her to answer, stepping out of his vehicle and walking at once towards Ashley. He had already spotted the discomfort in Ashley’s body and the three older girls taunting her from behind her.

  “Ashley,” he said aloud, catching their attention. He gave out his hand which the eight year old eagerly reached out to clasp. “Who are your friends?”

  “Um… they’re not really friends,” she muttered close to him.

  The girls stared at him in awe, clearly admiring his physique. His shirt hug snugly to his torso and his fitting sleeves defined the muscles in his arms. And with his dark glasses, his chiseled features would have passed him off as a model. He always knew the effect he had on women. He just didn’t care much for it. At least not until he met the woman waiting for him in his SUV.

  He put an arm around Ashley, his protective fatherly instincts coming alive. Who knew he even had them?

  “Oh, I’m sure they are.” He smiled at the girls and added. “Good seeing you.”

  He turned around, his arm still on Ashley’s shoulder, and led her back to his car. He glanced over at her, her face a stark difference to the grimness she had carried only a moment ago. She was bright and excited as she hopped into the vehicle.

  “That was so cool!” she exclaimed to her mother. “Did you see, Mom? They were just staring at Mark when he walked up to us!”

  Julia looked over at Mark for an explanation but he simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned at Ashley.

  “I didn’t do anything except say hi,” he said.

  Julia rolled her eyes and turned to glance at the three giggly teenage girls in the distance. “You put your charm to good use.”

  “Will they stop bothering me now?” Ashley asked hopefully.

  Julia sighed. “I hope so, darling. I don’t know why such older and beautiful girls would want to bully someone almost half their age. Girls can be so cruel sometimes.”

  “Well, if they ever rough you again, Ashley,” Mark said firmly. “Just let me know and I will talk it out with them and the principal.”

  “Yes!” Ashley pumped into the air and Mark grinned again.

  Julia shifted uncomfortably in her chair. The man was growing dangerously close to them. And if she wasn’t careful, there would be every possibility that he would break their hearts when he slammed the door behind him on his way out of their lives.

  CHAPTER 27

  Dry twigs crackled in the fire as the two men sat beside it warming their hands in its heat. Somewhere in the dark trees around them, an owl hooted. But other than the occasional chirping of crickets, the forest was devoid of any noise.

  It was peaceful, Eric thought. He had always cherished the silence of the forests, and if it weren’t for the sea, he would have opted to live in the middle of the woods somewhere.

  “Have you ever gone hunting?” Mark asked him. Eric raised his brow and Mark grinned. “I meant normal hunting- deer, quail, duck.”

  “I’ve never had the chance.”

  “So how did you learn to shoot so well?” Mark tilted his head up to him with curiosity.

  “Shooting ranges,” Eric replied in short. He tossed another twig into the foot high flames.

  “How did you get there?”

  Eric smiled. “You’re asking a lot of questions, tonight.”

  Mark leaned back casually, staring up at the trees. “We’ve got an entire night to pull through and we basically have nothing to do but wait. Besides, it’s tradition for a little storytelling by the fire.”

  “I’ve got only horror stories to tell you.”

  “I don’t mind those either.”

  Eric sighed. “I was good at shooting baskets and I discovered I wasn’t too bad with a carnival gun also. It didn’t take long for
Joe Cavallo to find that out either and we kind of hooked together as a result of that. I used to get straight easy targets, but like any job, you start vying for more money, better status, more respect.” A colony of bats flew above them, settling into trees close by. Their squeaking crepitated through the quietness, drowning the forests in a barrel of annoying noise.

  “They smell,” Mark said, screwing up his nose.

  “The perks of camping.”

  “I don’t think so.” Mark grinned. “Anyway, what did you do then- to get all that?”

  “I asked around about for someone who knew how to handle sniper rifles and soon after, I was pointed in the direction of a military sniper veteran. He was homeless and wandering about the streets. I paid him enough and he taught me all he knew about the M24.”

  “Where did you get the gun?”

  “Joe Cavallo arranged for one. He knew people who knew someone who could sell me one.”

  “A cop?”

  Eric nodded. “Yeah, well it didn’t take me long to master it.”

  “I’ve seen you shoot and I have to agree you handle it better than most men I know. Why didn’t you have any interest in the police or the military? They could have really used you there.”

  Eric shrugged. “I just didn’t have anyone to point me in the right direction.”

  “You were lucky than most kids who lost their parents.”

  “I know.” He stretched out his legs, breathing in the night air. “But I missed my own parents too much to appreciate what I had. I suppose it was my way of rebelling against norms, society and people’s expectations. Needless to say, it didn’t serve me well.”

  “And you think Anne has helped?” Mark asked cautiously.

  “She’s been my pivot. She gives me hope that I could be human again.”

  They grew quiet for a while, listening to the squeaks of the bats piercing the silence.