by Parker, Ali
She reacted like I’d slapped her, her body jerking back and her jaw going slack. Her eyes widened, then narrowed into slits of pure hatred. Which was interesting, given that she was trying to convince me she loved me.
“You’re going to regret saying that,” she said in what was practically a hiss. Uncoiling her body from her position seated in front of me, she dragged a fingernail from my one collarbone to the other.
When she did it before, it only had enough of a bite to make it feel like she wanted me. Now it felt like she wanted to hurt me, as she confirmed in her very next breath.
“You’re here with me. No one else knows where we are, and no one’s going to come looking here. You keep talking like that, and I might have to stop being so nice to you. I could hurt you, Jeremiah. I will if I have to.”
“Fuck off,” I spat at her. This whole situation was pissing me the hell off. She wrecked my car, kidnapped me, tied me up, and was forcing me to listen nonstop to her delusions. I was done with this shit.
If she wanted to hurt me, let her try. At least maybe I would pass out again, or for the first time since she said I hadn’t been unconscious earlier. Being in pain and out cold would be preferable to listening to her whining.
Jannie’s eyes stretched wide open, her upper lip curling in disgust. “What did you just say to me?”
“I said Fuck. Off.” I enunciated each word carefully and looked her in the eyes as I said it. “You want to hurt me, bring it. I’m not afraid of you Jannie. I’ve tried humoring you, but now I’m sore, stiff, and over it. You keep talking about when I forgive you. I can promise you, sweetheart, we passed the forgiveness station an hour ago at least.”
Her eyes narrowed again, and she brought one hand to my face, holding both sides of my chin as she brought her face down to eye level. She was so close to me, I would’ve been able to spit in her face if I had the inclination to do it.
“Listen to me, you son of a bi—” She was cut off by a knock on the door. Her head snapped to the side, but her hand stayed where it was on my face as she yelled out. “Go away!”
She started turning back to me, but another knock rang out. She straightened up, glaring daggers at the door. “Can’t you read? It says ‘Do Not Disturb.’ And I said go away!”
I nearly started laughing at her indignant rage. For someone who kidnapped a person and was holding them behind the door that said “Do Not Disturb,” she was acting awfully slighted by the disruption.
Opening my mouth, I was about to yell for whoever was out there to bash the door in when Jannie leveled me with a gaze and her eyes cut to a duffel bag lying on the floor. I took it to mean she had a weapon in there.
I didn’t have a single fuck left to give. If she tried injuring me now, the person outside would hear a commotion and undoubtedly call management. The jig was up.
Quick as a flash, Jannie slapped her hand over my mouth and reached for something on the bed behind me. A part of the bed I hadn’t seen because it was out of my line of vision. I bit down on her hand, but my teeth slipped on her fingers and the next thing I knew, she was roughly shoving fabric into my mouth.
When the ball of fabric was deep enough in that all I could make were muffled sounds, she wrapped another strip of fabric around my head to hold it in place.
The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than thirty seconds. I’d underestimated how well prepared she was for a good old-fashioned kidnapping.
Whoever was at the door knocked again. A timid voice followed the knock. “I’m sorry ma’am. I can’t go away. There’s been a problem with your payment for this week.”
“What?” Jannie snapped. The person at the door had her full attention now. “That’s not possible.”
“I’m afraid you missed a signature ma’am. You can come to the lobby with me. We have the document ready for you to sign right away, and no one will have to bother you again.”
“I’ll sign it later,” Jannie bit out, keeping her furious gaze on mine.
There was a beat where I thought the woman outside had left, but then I heard her again. “I’m sorry ma’am, but that won’t do. If we can’t process your payment, we’ll have to ask you to leave immediately.”
“Oh fine.” Jannie threw her hands out to her sides in exasperation, bent down and whispered to me. “Do not dare to make a single sound, or I will make you pay for it.”
I rolled my eyes, but her back was already turned to me. Her footfalls were soft, muted by the plush carpeting in the room.
The door creaked slightly when it swung open. Jannie, her tone betraying her frustration with the interruption, said. “Give me the docu—”
She let out a strangled noise and didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, there were sounds of some sort of ruckus. A dull bash, the door hitting the wall, a muffled scream.
I tried to turn again. What the hell was going on?
The next thing I knew, someone untied the fabric around the back of my head. I spat out the fabric keeping me from making noise and immediately started voicing the question burning at the forefront of my brain. “What the fuck?”
The familiar smell of her perfume hit me at the same time that Stephanie dropped down on her knees beside me and started untying me. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Shocked and only halfway sure I wasn’t suffering from delusions of my own, I could only stare until I felt her soft fingers graze my wrist as she untied me. The electricity that zapped through me from her touch was as real as ever.
I wasn’t imagining things. Stephanie was really here and was really freeing me from the chair of hell. She gave me a worried look when I didn’t answer her questions as I waded through the shock of seeing her there.
Her eyes, darkened with worry, snapped me out of my daze. “I’m okay. Nothing serious. How are you—”
I stopped when I heard yelling and familiar voices crying out. “Fucking psycho!” one yelled. The next added, “You’ve lost some weight Jannie, perhaps the prison diet will help you regain it. I doubt it.”
My eyes found Stephanie’s. I couldn’t believe she was really here, and unless I was very much mistaken, she was here with my friends. “Tanner, Bart, and Shawn?”
Stephanie grinned and nodded. Moisture glistened in her eyes, but she didn’t let the tears fall. Reaching up, she cupped my face in both her hands and studied me for a moment, as though checking for herself that I really was okay.
Then the humor came tumbling back into her eyes. “We’ve decided to form our own Justice League. The case of the missing billionaire was the first one on our docket.”
“The arrest of the insane former fling is up next,” Bart piped up, appearing beside Stephanie. He helped her undo the thousands of little knots Jannie made instead of a few proper ones, then slid his phone out of his pocket.
Being able to move but not quite trusting my legs to stand up, I twisted in the chair to see Tanner and Shawn subduing Jannie. Tanner was rummaging around in the duffel bag on the floor and handed Shawn a length of rope. “That’s going to have to do until the cops get here.”
Shawn shrugged, quickly winding the rope around Jannie’s wrists. He had her down on the floor and seemed to be keeping her there with no effort at all. “I could probably hold her down all week by myself if that’s how long they take.”
“I’m on it,” Bart said, his phone pressed to his ear. When his call was answered, he asked for an Officer Harrison and waited another second before he smiled his most triumphant smile and made his announcement. “Officer Harrison? This is Bart Watkins speaking. I’m calling to let you know that we found Jeremiah Williams.”
Chapter 53
STEPHANIE
If I kept pacing, I was going to put the theory that you could burn a hole in your floor by doing so to the test. I kept at it anyway. I couldn’t stop.
Adrenaline from finding Jeremiah safe and sound and rescuing him was coursing through my veins as was the insatiable need to see him. To hold him. To assure myself once again
that he really was fine.
After everything went down at the Julian, Jeremiah was taken to the hospital to get checked out. Then he had to talk to the police to give his statement.
He’d kissed me deeply before the ambulance took him away, promising me he would come straight to my apartment when he was done. He texted ten minutes ago to say he was on his way.
Waiting for him, I replayed the crazy events of the day in my head. Shawn had showed up at my apartment like he said he would, but he wasn’t alone. He brought Bart and Tanner with him.
Together we raced to the hotel where the guys charmed the receptionist on duty into talking to us. She had been on duty since early morning and recalled a woman coming in with a man who appeared to be really drunk. She told us the woman rented two rooms months ago and had been paying for them ever since, but she hadn’t really seen her around much.
Tanner had asked Neil to send us a picture of Jannie from the Williams Inc. database on our way to the hotel. He showed it to the receptionist, who identified Jannie as the woman she’d seen coming in with the man earlier.
After that, it was all a blur. Bart gave the receptionist a run-down of the situation and convinced her to take us to the room Jannie rented. Only one of the two rooms had a “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging on the door, and we correctly guessed that was the room she had Jeremiah in.
My emotions had been all over the place, but as soon as I saw Jeremiah alive, everything inside me quieted. He was okay. Jannie was taken into custody, and now he was on his way to me.
It felt like I’d spent the day in a parallel universe or an alternate reality. Jeremiah knocked on my door, pulling me from my surreal thoughts.
I rushed to the door, yanked it open, and wound my arms around his neck. Jeremiah reacted immediately, pulling me close to his chest and kissing the top of my head. “I’m fine. The doctors gave me the all clear. I’m fine.”
He whispered the soothing words repeatedly, assuring me Jannie was locked away and that everything would be fine now. When I finally pulled away from him, I threaded our fingers together and led him into my apartment.
“Do you still have a headache?” I asked, locking the door behind us. I had a feeling I would be doing that automatically for a long time to come. Tiana would be proud, given we’d both been trying to teach ourselves to remember to lock it behind us for ages. A feat we didn’t always manage.
Jeremiah sat next to me in our living room, his arms across my shoulders as he kept me close by his side. “The doc says it might take a couple of days for the headache to go away entirely, but he’s given me some painkillers. I’ll be fine. It’s not that bad.”
I’d seen the way he winced when we took him outside to wait for the police at the hotel. He was hurting big time. “You don’t have to act so brave, you know? A crazy woman plowed into your car this morning and kidnapped you. You’re allowed to admit that you’re in pain.”
“If I do, will you dress up and be my nurse?” he asked teasingly, his eyes lighting up as the brown hues warmed. Whatever Jannie had done to him clearly hadn’t broken his spirit.
“Sure, let me just go grab some scrubs,” I said joking back, pretending to scoot away from him to go to my closet.
He grabbed me around my waist and held me next to him, lowering his head to nuzzle my neck. “I was thinking more like a naughty nurse than an actual scrubs-wearing one. Those things cover up too much.”
“I don’t think naughty nurses are much good at administering shots, which you might need if you don’t take the painkillers the doctor prescribed.” He nipped lightly at my throat, drawing out a low moan from me.
His voice was husky in my ear. “I can handle a headache. It could’ve been much worse if you hadn’t come when you did.”
Trepidation settled like a rock in my stomach. I crawled onto his lap, burying my face in his neck. “Thank god you told your friends about your shag pads.”
His chest vibrated against mine as he laughed. “Shag pads?”
I looked up into his eyes, happy he went with my attempt to distract from the serious conversation we almost had. I’d had enough of serious today. I couldn’t hear what else Jannie had planned for him right now. “What else do you call them?”
Eyes boring into mine, he touched our noses together. “Part of my history.”
Please excuse me while I melt into a puddle. I burrowed deeper into his arms, not able to get enough of him. Everything felt right between us, but I knew I had to talk to him about one more thing that happened today.
“Have you spoken to your father yet?”
Surprised by the question, he frowned. “Not yet. I was going to give him a call earlier, but then I spoke to Neil. He told me speaking to my dad might be a bad idea right now.”
“Oh,” I said, guilt taking up a giant space on my shoulders. “Did he tell you why?”
“No.” He looked down at me, questions swimming around in the depths of his eyes. “Do you know why Neil might think that?”
“I might.” I fought the urge to hide in his shirt. When I’d exploded all over his dad earlier, I never imagined the possible repercussions of having to tell Jeremiah about what I said.
He gently slid a finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. “What happened, Steph? Why doesn’t Neil want me to talk to him, and why are you acting like you want to stick your head in the sand?”
Breathing in deeply through my nose, I met his eyes and hoped he could see how sorry I was in mine. “I yelled at your dad this morning. The police were here, and I was talking to Neil… He overheard me. We disagreed about what might’ve happened to you. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but then I just snapped.”
I was rambling, but I didn’t care. I needed him to hear me out and hopefully understand why I snapped. “I was so sure Jannie had taken you, but it didn’t feel like anyone believed me. I was scared and frustrated and then… he said some stuff, and I lost it. All over him. I just exploded.”
He pressed a kiss down on my forehead and nodded. “He has a tendency to bring that side out of all of us. What did he say to you, baby?”
“It’s not about what he said to me. It was what he said about you.” I hadn’t been planning on telling him that part. Stupid big mouth.
Jeremiah’s eyes clouded over. He knew how cruel his father could be, probably better than anyone. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also knew now that I had mentioned it, I would have to tell him.
“What did he say about me, exactly?”
Damn it. Why couldn’t I have left this part to Neil to tell him? A tiny voice in my head whispered the answer. Because you’re the one who yelled at Jance. You have to take responsibility for what you said.
Adulting sucked so badly sometimes. “He said there was no way Jannie could’ve kidnapped you. That a woman wouldn’t have been able to take a fully grown man. He thought you were probably just driving drunk and being a reckless, Class-A idiot. Things kind of escalated from there.”
“You don’t say,” he said, then gently lifted me off his lap and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
The door slammed behind him. I sat there stunned, not really able to make sense of the last few minutes of my life for what felt like the tenth time in one day. I only repeated what his father said. I hadn’t even gotten around to confessing about what I’d yelled at him in response.
And yet… Jeremiah was gone.
Did I overstep? I felt like I might have.
Falling back against the couch, I grabbed the throw pillow next to me and released a groan into it. Something was out of whack with the universe today, and it kept coming after me. Frustrated and worried once again, I reached for my phone and called Tiana. I only hoped she was almost done at work. I really needed my friend right now.
Chapter 54
JEREMIAH
Loud bangs rang out into the cold night air as I pounded on the front door of my father’s house. The sprawling estate probably didn’t
really classify as a house. It was more of a compound or a fortress. But it was where I grew up and where my father still lived.
Alone, in a nine-bedroom, twelve-bathroom house. He didn’t even keep a full contingent of staff anymore. It was him, the groundskeeper, and Macey the housekeeper.
I wasn’t worried about waking either of them. Both the workers stayed in quarters around the back of the house and would be asleep by now. When Jack and I still lived here, there was a round-the-clock chef and housekeeper who would’ve opened the door for me tonight. But after we moved out and more particularly, after Jack’s death, Dad fired them all.
I never understood why two children and one adult needed so many people to tend to them anyway, or why we needed such a big house for that matter. It never felt like a home. It was a house inhabited by a few people. There were no warm and fuzzy memories for me here.
It was too dark to see right now, but next to the brick and stone mansion was a swimming pool the size of a hotel pool and a squash court. Further down the estate was a pond, a boathouse, and finally the riverfront. Dad kept a sixteen-foot boat, but he never took it out anymore.
I wondered if I made a mistake coming here tonight, but no. I left Stephanie’s house like a bat out of hell for a reason. I took some time to clear my head and try to figure out what the right thing was to do, and now I had to get it done.
There were no sounds coming from the inside of the house. Not surprising since it was around eleven at night. My father usually went to bed by nine thirty. No give, no take. If he wasn’t out, he was in bed by then.
He was going to be livid about this disruption, but I forgot to bring any fucks to give back from that hotel Jannie took me to. The long, terrible day behind me just didn’t seem to want to end. After I left Stephanie’s, I drove around for hours until finally winding up here. At my father’s door.
Parked in the circular driveway behind me was my Jaguar. I loved the thing, but it wasn’t the Chiron. The mere fact that I was driving it was a reminder of everything that happened today.