Keeping 6 (Rock Point Book 1)

by Freya Barker

  “Jas and Luna just got here,” I explain, dragging myself away from her wet, warm lips. “I’d love to have you for breakfast, but I probably shouldn’t keep them waiting. Besides, you’re hurt.”

  “I’m not that hurt,” she says, sounding a little breathless herself, slightly scratching her nails over my scalp. It makes me want to curl up in her lap and never leave.

  “Hmmm...maybe after they leave, when you’ve finished breakfast, I can help you bathe.”

  “Deal.” She lets go of me, and I put her plate on her lap before I make my way back to my team, dragging my feet.

  “Hope you left me some,” I comment when I see both of them diving into breakfast.

  “Three left,” Luna mumbles with her mouth full.

  When I sit down, my own plate in front of me, she shoves a file at me. “I wrote out your report for you, since I was right behind you coming in, but you’ll need to check it and sign it.”

  I read through it, make a few minor adjustments, and sign it. I know both Jasper and Luna will have had to file a report, too. It’s required each time one of us discharges a weapon, let alone kills someone. I know at some point Kerry will have to go over her written statement, as well, but it would just have to wait until she feels up to it.

  “Anything else on the docket?”

  “Just clean up. I think James has the toughest job,” Jasper says. “He has to deal with his counterparts in the UK. They’re making noise, upset all the players are dead and we still haven’t been able to recover the goods.”

  “Do we have anything on that? Any leads?”

  “Blackfoot and Parnak have everything that was found at Willoughs camp at the lab and are going through with a fine-tooth comb,” Luna fills me in. “It’s just not that high on the priority list, with another house invasion last night. They’ve got more urgent things on their minds.”

  “Another victim?” I ask.

  “Not dead this time but pretty badly beaten, apparently. They haven’t been able to get a statement. The woman hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”

  Jasper speaks up. “Blackfoot mentioned something about wanting a sit-down as soon as possible with you. Pick your brain before he puts in an official request for assistance.”

  “Figured that was coming. Tell him to drop off copies of the case files and I’ll go over them,” I suggest. “Now, is there any news on my house?”

  “Nice digs by the way, boss,” Luna mentions. “Gonna have to keep my eyes open for something like that.”

  Luna has been hopping from one temporary rental to the next since she moved to Durango. She’s always had plans to buy but just never got around to it.

  “Just don’t move into my backyard,” I tease. “I see enough of you as it is.”

  She dramatically grabs for her chest. “You wound me.” Earning her a shove in the shoulder from Jas.

  “Bullshit,” he says. “Nothing wounds you. You’ve got a Teflon hide.”

  At the very least she puts on a good show, because every so often I see something shift in her eyes, which makes me think there is much to Luna under the surface.

  KERRY

  “Hi, Mom.”

  I managed to finish my pancakes and have been lying back, listening to the low hum of voices coming from down the hall. I know they’re keeping it down for my sake, but part of me wants to be able to hear whether they’ve found out anything more.

  A bit bored, I pull my bag onto the bed and fish around for my phone. Someone must’ve put it on silent at some point, because three voicemail messages are blinking. I’d been adamant about not calling my parents, so when I see all three are from my mother, I feel a little guilty. I don’t even bother listening to them, I just call her.

  “Kerry! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a few days. Jim—It’s Kerry!” she calls out to my father without moving the phone away from her face. The only result is an almost-blown eardrum on my part, because I know for a fact my father could care less. My mother likes to pretend ours is a normal family, when it’s anything but.

  “I’ve just been under the weather a bit and let my phone die on me. I just noticed it now,” I stretch the truth a little.

  “You know, I saw Greg last week at the grocery store.” She launches right into the reason she was probably wanting to talk to me, totally ignoring what I just said. I know I should know better, but the lack of care stings, especially when on the other side I have Damian’s mother itching to nurture. And I’m not even her daughter.

  “Oh yeah?” I try for a normal reaction. Greg moved back to Grand Junction right after our divorce, and I haven’t kept tabs on him. I know my mother was heartbroken when we split. She simply couldn’t understand why I would leave a man who could provide me with all my worldly needs. Her words, not mine. I didn’t bother trying to explain a life of servitude was not my idea of wedded bliss—it would’ve been a complete waste of breath.

  “Yes. At the deli counter in Safeway. He looked a little lost, a little disheveled. I think he really misses a woman’s touch, dear.” I can hear the suggestion and the eager hope in her voice and roll my eyes.

  “Not happening, Mom,” I immediately try to avoid getting pulled into that vortex. “I’m happy now. I have a business to run, friends I enjoy. I have a good life, Mom.”

  “Yes, but you have no one to look after. No one looking after you.”

  I slow down my breathing, in an attempt to calm down. She always does this, and although I know she means well, it drives me up the wall nonetheless. “I have lots of people to look after and lots of people who look after me.”

  “It’s not the same,” she hisses, losing patience with me now that she recognizes the topic for the dead-end street it is. “What is a woman without a man?”

  “I have a man, Mom...” The moment the words come from my mouth, I realize the mistake I made.

  “You do? What does he do? Can he provide for you?” The excitement in her voice is unmistakable, and I drop my head back on the pillow, my eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling. Big fucking mistake.

  “I can provide for myself. Have done so successfully for quite a while.” I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing I have to stop letting remarks like that push my buttons. My mom will never change, but I can change how I choose to react to what she says. So I continue in a softer voice, “He’s nice, Mom. He’s in law enforcement and is good to me. He’s good for me.”

  I feel the mattress dip and my eyes shoot open to find the subject of conversation sitting on the edge of the bed, his dark eyes smiling on me.

  “Law enforcement? Oh, sweetheart, that’s wonderful! I hear they have fabulous family benefits. Of course, you’d have to be married. Are there any plans? After all, at your age, finding an eligible man only becomes more and more difficult.”

  “I’m not marrying someone for his benefits,” I groan, exasperated with my mother’s one-track mind.

  Damian leans close and whispers in my ear, “I wouldn’t object.”

  “I have to go, Mom. Something’s come up. I will give you call soon, okay?” I say quickly, trying to ignore Damian.

  “Of course, sweetheart. Say hello to...what’s his name?”

  “Love you, Mom. I really have to run,” I cut her off, not even giving her a chance to respond.

  “I’m guessing you told her about me?” Damian smirks as I toss the phone on the mattress, not even caring as it bounces off and lands on the floor. I may change my number altogether.

  “It was a mistake,” I whine, dramatically throwing my arm over my eyes. “She has this way of making me say shit I know I’m better off keeping to myself.”

  “So I’m your dirty little secret?” I know he’s teasing me as he pushes up my nightshirt, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the swell of my stomach. “I could get used to that,” he mumbles. “Especially if that means I can help you get rid of the guilt and the tension after.” His lips never break contact with my skin as he talks his way down my body,
carefully taking my underwear down with his hands. “All you have to do is lie back.” Once he relieves me of my panties, he pushes my legs up and open, settling himself in between.

  “Wait,” I cry out. “What about...?”

  “They left,” he cuts in, not slowing down for a second.

  There’s something highly erotic about a fully dressed man going down on a very naked you. The slight scrape where the material touches bare skin has my nipples peaking to firm points, and I feel myself get wetter as he pushes me wide to expose me. I force my eyes to stay open as I look down at his dark head, with the occasional hint of silver, between my legs. I watch him purse his lips and blow softly over my exposed flesh. With his thumbs, he spreads me open to his eyes, and for an instant I have to resist squeezing my legs together. He lazily rubs the pad of his thumb over my slick lips and already my hips move for better friction.

  The almost feral smile as he lifts his eyes, dark with hunger, right before he deliberately lowers his mouth, has my toes curling. The moment his tongue strokes over me, I am caught on a wave of sensation. The low rolls when he softly rubs and licks, only to drive me up on a crest with deep explorations and hard flicks to my clit. His arm comes to rest on my hips to keep me in place, as he renders me mindless with the addition of two fingers, playing in the crease between my legs.

  After he makes me come quite spectacularly, he helps me to my feet and leads me to the bathroom, where he spends the next twenty minutes bathing me as promised. By the time he is drying my hair, I’m so relaxed, I can barely stay seated.

  “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  He lifts my head with a finger under my chin so he can look me in the eye. “Only in your eyes,” he says with intensity before he carefully pulls me up. “Okay, let’s get some clothes on you before I forget myself.”

  I feel bad, but I tried twice to give him some relief while in the tub, but both times he stopped me. “This is not about me,” he said. I promise myself to devote the same type of attention on him once I’m a little more healed.

  By the time he has me installed on the couch with the remote, I’m ready for a nap again.

  CHAPTER 30

  Damian

  Christ, what a week.

  I finally got access back to my house four days after a man came in and terrorized my Gypsy—In. My. Fucking. House! As promised, Ma came in with Fran and Gabby and had even dragged my father along. For heavy lifting, she’d said. I almost laughed out loud since my father is almost a foot shorter than my mom, at five foot six or seven, plus he has trouble lifting the coffee pot in the morning. Not exactly the muscle she makes him out to be.

  But I left it in her hands. She was thrilled to finally be able to do something, and I was thankful to scratch one thing off my list. I didn’t think she’d take the job of cleaning so seriously.

  After three fucking days, Ma calls me to let me know it’ll be ready tonight. I’m not sure what the hell took them so long, and part of me dreads to find out.

  Now there’s Kerry, who claims to be good enough to just stay home. God save me from stubborn women.

  “You still have trouble getting dressed with your ribs messed up. How in the hell are you gonna manage on your own?” I ask her, fighting off the urge to just toss her over my shoulder and haul her off. She’s sitting on the couch, dressed in leggings and an old T-shirt ending just below her knees. She can’t even wear a bra yet because it hurts too much, let alone raise her arms to wash her hair.

  “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m going to have to open the store in the next few days. Marya is still in Silverton with the kids, and I’m guessing she’ll be out for another five or six weeks with that arm of hers. As it is, it’s going to be a while before I get my business back up to where it was. On top of that, I have to find a new car since my old one is scrapped. It’s just easier from here.”

  I take a deep breath and try a different angle. “I know you don’t need my help, but would you like me to come with you to find a car? We can go this afternoon so you’ll at least have some wheels.” Initially she looks at me suspiciously, not quite buying that I’m really giving in. I show her my best sincere face.

  “I know you’ve got something up your sleeve, but regardless,” she says with a little smile, “I would love to get the car thing out of the way, and I would love your help.”

  I let out a relieved breath, when she pins me with a wagging finger. “But don’t think I won’t have my eye on you.”

  IT IS NOT GOING WELL.

  Kerry is dead set on getting another Subaru, no matter how much I try to explain that a real Durangoan would not be caught dead driving one of those Kerry doesn’t seem to care, and knowing the car is only part of the struggles ahead, I decide—with pain in my heart—to let this one go. I’m picking my battles, but instead of making her happy, she seems even more suspicious when I turn the Expedition south to the dealership.

  A long and painful hour later, Kerry signs the contract on a brand new Forester. They don’t have the color she wants in stock, something called Quartz Blue Pearl, and so she’ll have to wait for them to order it in. I try to suggest a navy one, to me blue is blue, but that earns me a stink eye.

  I have my eye on the slick salesman when he tries to sell her the undercoating, for an exorbitant price, he’s hiding in the monthly installments she’ll be paying. I have a little chat with him, and in the end he throws in the undercoating, plus one or two other add-ons for free. That time Kerry’s gray eyes sparkle and I suddenly can’t care less about the car or the color, as long as I can see that sparkle in her eyes.

  Kerry’s monthly expenses are going to put a serious dent in her income and—opportunist that I am—I’m going to add that to my arsenal of reasons she should just move in with me. Working as a field agent for many years, before I set down roots here, allowed me to live from a duffel bag and stockpile my money. It means when I bought my place, I was able to do it without the need of a mortgage. Taxes, utilities, and groceries are all I have to pay, and my SUV comes with the job.

  “Don’t you love that color?” She smiles big as we drive away from the dealership, a brochure with her new car in the exact color she picked clutched in her lap. “I wish I could show Kim.”

  “If you love it, that’s all that matters,” I say, prying one of her hands away from her lap and entwining our fingers. “But if you want, we can head up for dinner at my place, see what my crazy family has been up to. And at the same time, you’ll have four women to show your new Quartz Blue Pearl car off to.” I ignore the hard stare I feel coming from her.

  “Low, Gomez,” she scolds me. “Also, very effective. Fine, I’ll come home with you, but just for dinner with your family.”

  I hide my smile behind our laced fingers when I bring her hand up for a kiss. “That’s all I want,” I lie bold-faced.

  The moment we turn off the highway, I feel Kerry stiffen beside me, and I realize what an idiot I’ve been. First chance I get, I pull off to the side in the grass and turn the engine off.

  “Why are we stopping?”

  I turn, take her face in my hands, and kiss her gently. “Because for someone who is generally pretty observant, I’ve been stupidly blind. I know it’ll take you some time to properly process what happened to you. Hell, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna take me some time. I just never clued in that you might be scared to come back here. Do you want me to turn around?”

  She doesn’t say anything but stares out through the windshield. When I follow her line of vision, I notice we are parked right on the crest of the hill, overlooking the river and my house.

  “It’s beautiful,” she finally expresses. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see it anymore, but I still do.”

  I shove my seat back, fumble with the damn seat belt and finally manage to pull her across the console and on my lap. “It is beautiful,” I agree. “Don’t give him that kind of power.” I wrap my arms tight around her waist and rest my head against hers.

&nbs
p; “I’m sorry,” she says, as she climbs back over the console into her own seat. “I don’t want to turn around. There’s an armada of vehicles in your driveway. I wouldn’t let you face such an onslaught alone. Besides,” she adds, a little grin tugging at her lips. “Who else would I show my pretty new car to?”

  I start the car and pull back onto the road. “I love you,” I say, without turning my head, eyes fixed on the view below.

  “I know,” she softly answers, but when I quickly look over, she has the widest grin on her face.

  KERRY

  “Have some more,” Carmella urges, as she shoves the pan in my direction. “I swear, you’ve lost weight.”

  I chuckle because I doubt that missing a couple of meals, the first two days after I sustained my injuries, has hardly put a dent in my surplus thirty or so pounds. I’ve learned to like my surplus, though, and I have no doubt Damian likes it, too.

  The moment we got out of the Expedition, the front door flew open and the entire family, minus Chrissy, who apparently stayed home with a sick child, came filing out of the house. Damian managed to round the front of the car and slip a protective arm around me before leading me through the hellos and well-wishes. Carmella was standing with her arm around a much shorter man with an impressive shock of silver hair, a strong nose, and deep set, warm brown eyes. His entire face was deeply lined, but despite his age and rather short stature, he made a striking figure. He was introduced as Ignacio, and completely disregarded the friendly hand I held out. The older man placed his hands on either side of my face, kissed both my cheeks, and then my forehead before letting me go.

  “Preciosa,” he rumbled in a surprisingly deep voice.