Overdrive

by Juanita Kees

  “Love me, Chase,” she whispered as he nibbled her skin, tiny nips that had her shivering deliciously against him.

  “I already do.” Then with his hands and words and mouth, he showed her how much.

  *

  Chase watched Charlie sleep, curled up against him with her hair spread out on a cushion off the sofa. He couldn’t lose her. Not after tonight. Not when he loved her with every fiber of his being. No one had ever touched his heart the way Charlie had. He’d been enchanted by her pretty face in Molly’s Old Time Five and Dime, impressed by her talent in the garage, intrigued by her fight to keep what she cared about most, and floored by his need for her. Once would never be enough with Charlie. He wanted her by his side, every day, every night, but the reality of the fallout from what faced them could tear them apart. He was confident she wouldn’t lose Zoe, not if they could prove Charlie’s father planned to accept money in return for the baby’s adoption. But if they couldn’t prove the transaction, they’d need a backup plan.

  With the doctor’s report giving Charlie the all-clear, Tony Jackson couldn’t follow his threat of having her declared mentally incompetent. Zoe had a clean bill of health. She’d ticked all the milestones on the development charts. They had a home and security, an income. Would proving Charlie was a good mom be enough to come between a man like Tony and the lure of five million dollars? Chase doubted it.

  He dragged the box they’d brought down from the attic closer to him. Under the legal files were memories. Photographs, certificates, race reports. A history of his father’s time on the track buried under the weight of his loss.

  Beside him, Charlie stirred. He dropped a hand to her hair, enjoying the softness of it against his skin. She smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer. He wanted to wake her, kiss her again, but for now, he’d let her rest. He turned his attention back to the box, flicked through the photographs, lingered on the ones of his mom. He’d always miss her, always regret his mistake, but the raw edge of guilt he’d carried with him since had softened.

  He picked up a cream manila folder marked with a date and location. Daytona International Speedway. Incident Report. Chase flicked through the pages until a name leaped off the yellowed pages. Tony Jackson.

  Easing away from Charlie so he didn’t disturb her sleep, he moved to the kitchen and turned on the light above the breakfast bar. The report was comprehensive. Detailing each move, each statement, each piece of conflicting evidence. The more he read, the wider his smile grew, and when Charlie ran her hands up his back, over his shoulders and around his waist, her cheek pressed to his back, he could turn to her and say, “Baby, I think we’ve got something.”

  Charlie stepped into the space between his legs and eyed the open folder. “A race report?”

  He grinned. Now he understood what it felt like to win a race. “Leverage. All we need to do is get your father to come to Montana to meet us face-to-face.”

  “Good luck with that. He’ll send Ed back to town or his lawyer, but he’d never come himself.”

  “I think we can change his mind about that, but it would involve setting some bait.”

  “Bait?” Charlie frowned. “I’m not sure what would be enough of a lure for him.”

  Zoe’s cry reached down the hall. Chase slipped the file closer to Charlie. “I’ll go see to Zoe while you have a read of that. Then we’ll talk a plan while Zoe is fed and settles again.”

  He slipped off the bar chair, her warmth leaving him as he moved away. Under the light, her white-blonde hair shone, her shoulders tense as she read. No matter how bad things were between her and her family, this would hurt. Exposing the extent of her father’s cheating to the world would take courage, commitment, tenacity. Things she had in spades. Except this time, she’d have the love and support of a real family when she took her father on, and Chase would be there to catch her if she fell.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The wait had been the killer, but her father had taken the bait. Her call to say she wanted to come to an agreement had worked, and her ultimatum that the deal would be off if he didn’t come in person had been surprisingly well received. His way of coming to gloat about his success and put his rebel daughter in her place.

  Sheriff Hutchins had taken her statement, run his background checks, and unearthed far more than he’d expected. The Diegos weren’t the caring, childless, adoptive parents they’d portrayed themselves as. The more he’d investigated, the more he’d uncovered. The life they’d had planned for Zoe was not one that involved raising her in a loving family and growing her into a stable, successful young adult. Their intentions for her were far more sinister. Intentions that made Charlie feel ill knowing her father had been aware of what would happen to her baby.

  Three days after she’d called him to say she was ready to negotiate, he’d arrived. Now he stood inside Calhoun Customs Garage as if he owned the place, confident he’d won, with her brother a step behind him. Still taking direction, an angry puppet as much under Tony Jackson’s control as she’d been. Still trying to intimidate her with his threatening stance.

  Mason had the situation covered, the thump of a monkey wrench cracking through the tension in the room with every slap against his palm as Chase stepped out of his office into the garage.

  “There you are, Chase.” Mason eased out of his deceptively relaxed pose where he’d been leaning against the mashed-up fender of his pickup. “Your visitors have arrived.”

  Marty had straightened from studying her artwork for the hood, no longer casually leaning on the fender, but standing stiff and controlled. Charlie clutched Zoe a little tighter as Chase came to stand beside her and the Calhouns closed rank around her.

  “I can see that.” He dropped the manila folder on the hood of Mason’s pickup. “I knew I should have taken the shotgun from the safe this morning.”

  “I heard there’s a party going on.” Carter breezed into the garage. “I was in town for some supplies and thought I’d join in. Thanks for the heads-up, Mase. I brought the shotgun and a shovel. In case, you know … we need to hide the bodies. There’s a saying out here that everyone dies famous in a small town. It’s true.”

  “Clearly something this family is familiar with. What’s that? Two murders in twenty-five years? Charlotte.” Tony eased out of his stare down with Marty to cast a glance at his daughter. “The car’s outside. Get in it.”

  Chase captured Charlie’s hand in his and held it tight. “Charlie doesn’t respond to commands.”

  “I thought I’d made it clear to Charlotte what would happen if she didn’t respond.” Tony’s gaze dropped to their joined hands. “But I can see that she has manipulated her way into your trust. And like everything my daughter touches, it will be your downfall.”

  “You’re actually related to these assholes, Pyro?” Mason tested the weight of the wrench in his hand, flexing and rotating his wrist. “I’d never have guessed. You must have been raised by the housekeeper. You have far better manners.”

  “A lot prettier too.” Carter held up a hand at Ronan’s glare. “Just sayin’.”

  Marty leaned against the hood of Mason’s pickup and tried to hide his shaking hands by folding his arms. A shake that didn’t come from fear but could be interpreted as a weakness rather than the illness it resulted from. Chase hated that his father, who’d always been strong, was being made weak by his misbehaving nervous system. If it wasn’t for his Parkinson’s, he’d march the Jacksons right back out the door and throw them out on the street himself.

  “Still relying on Sullivan to do your dirty work, Tony? No different from the old days, right? Dig up the dirt, dish it out, and wallow in the spoils when the mud’s thrown.” Marty shook his head, the uncontrolled tic only barely visible in the movement. “Thought you’d be man enough to fight your own battles, win your own races, now that you’ve grown up.”

  “And I heard you’re finished, Calhoun. So, bringing you down further should be easy. Must be hard for a man like you to fall
so far.”

  Charlie tore her hand from Chase’s grasp and stepped forward, her voice shaking. “Stop it. Your fight isn’t with the Calhouns. It’s with me.”

  “Everything with you is a confrontation, Charlotte. It doesn’t need to be. Hand over the baby, and I’ll make sure you have enough money to live comfortably wherever you please.”

  “Do you really think your five million dollars will stretch that far? I’ve told you before, my baby’s not for sale.”

  “I can have the baby taken or you can hand her over, but this is a done deal. I won’t be leaving without her. You said you wanted to come to an agreement. You hand over the child, I take her, you go away quietly. We have an agreement.”

  Cold seeped through her. Zoe, wide awake and alert to the tension, clutched at her sweater. “You really think it’s that easy, don’t you? She’s just a commodity, something you can trade. Do you know what the Diegos plan to do with her?”

  “What happens once we hand her over is not my concern. Or yours. That’s the point of adoption.”

  “Except this isn’t adoption, is it? This is knowingly selling a child into a corrupt world. You’re committing a crime.” Her heart ached that he couldn’t see past the transaction to the lives he was destroying.

  “You have no proof that there is money involved.”

  Chase threaded his fingers through hers, his touch firm and reassuring. “An investigation into your bank accounts will tell a different story. Besides the fact that you’ve just tried to bribe Charlie, this isn’t about money, Jackson. It’s about your daughter. And your granddaughter.”

  “You have no idea what this is about. Get in the car, Charlotte. I’m done talking to these backwater yahoos.” He shoved Ronan toward the door. “This is my business and if you insist on interfering, Sullivan will leak a story to the press on how you killed your mother. And then your sister better watch her back on that track.”

  “No one is going to believe that a ten-year-old boy murdered his pregnant mother. Not when all the testimonies and evidence can prove it wasn’t anything more than an accident. I dare you to make it more than that. You’ll lose. It would all be lies, and you know it, Tony.” Chase’s voice was calm with a no-more-bull undertone. “And lies have a habit of tripping a person up, even decades later.”

  Her father stiffened, his eyes narrowing. “You think you’ve got something on me, Calhoun? You’re mistaken.”

  “You can always test the theory and find out, but I have evidence of another deal that went on … under the sheets … back in ninety-two. It would be a shame if the rumors resurfaced and the racing council got wind of it. People will look at you in a completely different light and your son’s career will be over. Where have you got more to lose?” Chase stared her father down.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re stalling. Wasting my time.”

  Marty stepped in and picked up the manila folder. “He’s got a lot more to lose, haven’t you, Tony? This file proves that the race officials have been known to turn a blind eye. The same way your mother did, Charlie.”

  Charlie frowned. “My mother?”

  Marty nodded. “I know things from my track days that would make great gossip rag stories, but that information should be used for good not evil. It took some talking and reminiscing, but eventually your mother agreed to let me release the independent report on that final race. She’s been living in her own kind of jail, Charlie.”

  “It was in a very extravagant cell then.” Charlie couldn’t stop the bitterness from coloring her tone.

  “Sometimes we have to make hell look pretty, honey.” Marty dropped the folder on the hood of the pickup. “It’s time to lay these ghosts to rest.” He took a breath and let it out on a sigh, hiding the shake of his hands by shoving them into his pockets. “Way back in ninety-two before Nora’s accident brought me home, there was a bit of a scandal on the track. Tony won a race he shouldn’t have. That night at the after-party, I stumbled in on something I wasn’t meant to see. Let’s just say that one of the race officials was more than just a friend. Your father has been living his own lie, Charlie. His marriage to your mother was a complete sham. He’s always wanted to be with someone else, but he needed a cover-up that wouldn’t sully the Jackson family name and strip him of his trust account, so he married your mother.”

  “That’s a lie, Calhoun.” The lack of conviction in his words told a different story.

  They had him on the back foot. Charlie held Chase’s hand a little tighter. “Is it, Dad? It would explain so much. The long absences, the separate rooms, the lack of affection.” She held her father’s gaze. “An ongoing affair that, if leaked to the press, would be highly publicized and expose a revered member of the association? That’s not the kind of information you want made public.”

  Tony looked away. “That’s blackmail, Charlotte.”

  “It’s no different to what you’ve threatened the Calhouns with. What you’re planning to do with Zoe is a lot worse, Dad.”

  “I can’t back out of this deal.”

  “It’s not a deal, it’s a crime,” she reminded him.

  “It would end TRJ Racing.”

  “You were quite happy to ruin Charlie’s reputation, not to mention sell your granddaughter into a very black market,” Chase threw back. “It’s not your son’s career you’re worried about or your daughter’s welfare; it’s the great Jackson name. You’re living your dream through your son, Tony.” He took the folder from Marty. “By all accounts in this report, you never were a very good driver.” He turned to Ronan. “You want to know why you father drives you so hard? It’s because he couldn’t make the cut himself without cheating or bribing the race officials. And that’s why he wants to sell Charlie’s baby. So, he can buy you a race win. Like he had to buy his own.”

  Ronan stood silent, all attitude knocked from him, the shock on his face proof he hadn’t known how far his father would go, that he’d had no idea where the money was to come from to continue to fund his career. What lies had her father told him too?

  “Well, if the boy was competent enough to drive, I wouldn’t have to do put my ass on the line for him. All those hours of training, coaching, driving … all for nothing. As useless as his damn sister to me. Can’t drive for shit. I gave him everything he ever wanted to encourage him, and all he did was let me down.”

  Charlie’s words whispered softly into the sudden silence. “It doesn’t feel so good to be on the receiving end, does it, Ronan? How does it feel to know that all you are is a means to an end?”

  Ronan stared at his father, disbelief stealing the anger from him. “You busted my balls. Not because you believed in me, but because you wanted to make yourself look good?”

  “Do you think I’m investing five million dollars in you for the hell of it?”

  “Money he’ll get from selling my child to his sponsor. Did you even think about where the money was coming from, Ronan?” Charlie let go of Chase’s hand to unwrap a tearful Zoe. “Meet your niece. Her name is Zoe. She’s three months old. This is who your father is selling to fund your win. She’s become a commodity he’ll trade for the good of the Jackson name. Look at her and tell me if you think that’s fair.” She held Zoe close as she showed her to her brother. “I’ve always taken the back seat to make way for you, Ronan. I’ve been bullied and punished so you can have what Dad wants for you. I’ve put up with you being mean to me in public, ridiculing me in front of your friends, and arrested and humiliated for your entertainment. I’m sorry I set fire to your car, but damn it, enough is enough.”

  Ronan looked at Zoe’s face and avoided Charlie’s completely. The sneer hadn’t yet left his voice as reality punched a hole in everything he’d built his dreams on. “Since it seems to be the day for confessions, the car wasn’t your fault, Charlotte. I paid Ricky to set you up. I hated you for the freedom you had while I was busting my ass on the track. The more you rebelled, the happier it made me because I thought the focus
would shift to you eventually. But that’s not what happened at all. The more Dad ignored you, the more attention he paid me. And that wasn’t always fun and party games.”

  “Shut your mouth, boy,” Tony roared, surging forward and startling a cry from Zoe.

  Ronan took a step toward him and shoved him back. “No, Dad. I’m done keeping quiet. Charlotte, I’m sorry for making your life hell. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

  Ronan reached out and touched the soft skin of Zoe’s cheek, catching a tear and surprising her into breathy sobs. “There’s been enough destruction in this family. I’ve closed my eyes to so much that’s been happening, because I’ve been made afraid of the truth. I’m taking back my power.” He turned to his father. “I quit. You can find yourself another driver. And it won’t be at the expense of this family. We’re done here, Dad.”

  “Great,” Carter said. “Can I shoot him now?”

  “No.” Sheriff Hutchins walked into the garage. “But I’ve sure heard enough to launch an investigation into criminal activities. There’s another saying we have out here. It goes ‘the best thing about living in a small town is when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does’. Tony Jackson, I think we need to talk. Your buddy, Ed Sullivan, had a lot to tell me. Seems he’s willing to whistle ‘Dixie’ under pressure and not afraid to drop your ass right in it.” He pulled the cuffs from his belt. “Selling your daughter’s baby? That’s low, man.”

  “You set me up.” Disbelief echoed in her father’s voice as the sheriff prepared to read him his rights.

  “You set yourself up by doing a deal with the Diegos. It didn’t have to come to this. Your obsession with a win and being in control has cost you big this time. But someone like you doesn’t understand the importance of family and just how great that cost is. You never will now.” Charlie’s throat ached with regret. Maybe one day he’d realize the harm he’d done, but she wouldn’t hold her breath on him changing his ways.