by Jayne Blue
“Yeah. I’m still kind of trying to wrap my head around all of that. I wish I’d trusted my instincts more during that trial. You know I’m not at much liberty to talk about how the government is planning to handle it. I just wanted to give you the news and a little bit of a heads up on some other related matters.”
“Oh?”
“Look.” He sighed and paused. For a moment, I thought we’d been disconnected and then he finally spoke again. “This is a little awkward. I don’t work for the U.S. Attorney’s office anymore but we still pretty much swim in the same pond. You’ve stirred something up. I don’t have details but since you already had an inkling there was something wrong with McLain’s case, I’m betting you have more than an inkling over who Miranda Manning was trying to protect. I like you, Jack. I like Reed Burnett more. I know he’s stuck his neck out pretty far for the suspect in her murder case.”
“He has,” I said; the hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
“I just want you to be careful. You’ve kicked up a hell of a hornet’s nest with this one. People who were talking to me freely when this whole thing started have pretty much stopped taking my phone calls.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It was never my intention for any of this to cause you problems.”
“It hasn’t. Or at least none that concern me. But I’m just asking you to be careful. Watch your back, I guess.”
“Thanks,” I said, afraid to say anymore. I knew in Frank Furlong’s roundabout way, he was trying to talk about the other giant elephant in the room. George Pagano. My fear was that the government might try to reopen some sort of investigation into him related to this and that would be bad for pretty much everyone else I loved. Very bad.
“One battle at a time, I guess,” I said. I got another sigh from Frank Furlong.
“Right. And there’s one other thing. If I were you I would stay away from your brother from now on. That’s all I can really say on this and it’s probably more than I’m supposed to.”
“Frank. Seth Manning isn’t my brother. And there is absolutely zero chance that I’ll ever have anything to do with him again. But I appreciate the heads up, for what it’s worth.”
“Right. And this is probably the last time I’m going to call you until this situation is officially over. I hope you can understand that.”
“I do.” I heard commotion downstairs and Bill and Lilly Kurtz headed up into the kitchen, trailed by Tora. “Again, thank you, Frank. For everything.”
Furlong gave a brief snort and then hung up the phone.
Tora raised a questioning brow at me and I waved her off and gave her a smile. Then she turned and hugged Lilly Kurtz as she and her husband said their goodbyes for the day. The woman smoothed Tora’s hair out of her face in a motherly gesture. Again, I was struck by how quickly these perfect strangers had upended their lives to come to a club member in need. Just then, I felt a hand at my back as Margie came behind me. I guess the Burnetts and I had formed our own kind of club. Even though years had passed since seeing them, when I needed them, Margie and Reed had upended their lives to help me and by extension, Tora. I patted her hand and smiled up at her.
My phone rang again. This time it was Tucker Henderson, the criminal defense lawyer Reed had arranged to represent me. My plans to stay with Tora until her father came home were dashed. The prosecution in Tora’s case finally wanted me to come down for more questioning.
“Their timing seems a little coincidental,” Reed said as I hung up the phone. Tora took a seat across from me at the kitchen table.
“Will your lawyer be allowed to go in there with you?” Tora asked. Some of the color had drained from her face and I wished I could wave some sort of magic wand to take the stress lines out of her forehead.
“Henderson insists he doesn’t think I’m a suspect of any kind,” I said. “But it doesn’t sound like the prosecutor has any objection to him sitting in on the interview.”
“Good,” Reed said, sipping about his seventh cup of coffee. “You make sure you do exactly what he tells you and don’t volunteer anything they don’t ask. You’ll be fine.”
“You’ll all be fine,” Margie said. “I can feel it. My horoscope said this month will bring me great joy.”
Reed scoffed and Tora and I exchanged a knowing smile across the table.
“I don’t want to leave,” I said.
“Go,” Tora said. “There’s no use waiting around here. The sooner you get done, the sooner you can get back and hopefully by then you’ll get to meet my dad.”
My heart swelled at the hope in her eyes. A little of the hollowness seemed to go out of her cheeks. I knew from Margie that she hadn’t been eating or sleeping very well and it tore at me to think of her in any kind of pain. And for the first time since the awful night of her arrest, she wanted me to come back. She wanted to bring me into the most important part of her life.
I nodded as I stood up. “Then I’ll be sure and talk fast. I wouldn’t want to miss that offer for anything in the world, Tora.” Once again, Margie worked her magic and before I could even turn around, she had herself and a grumbling Reed shuffled off into another room.
I came around the table and gathered Tora into my arms. My kiss was slow and tender, but with the promise of more.
“I’ve missed you,” I whispered against her cheek. “It’s like I can’t think if I’m not near you.”
She put a gentle hand on my ear and tugged my head down until our foreheads met. “I feel the same way. I think Margie is right though, Jack. It’s going to work out. It has to.”
I circled my hands around her waist and pulled her out of her chair so she stood pressed against me. When her breasts brushed my chest, my cock stirred and I felt a different kind of hunger for her. My kisses became more urgent.
“I want to be alone with you, Tora,” I said. My voice came out in a near predatory growl.
“Can we?” she said, breathless. “How?”
“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “Let’s see how things go later and maybe even tonight. If you’ll have me.”
Her low, wicked laughter nearly undid me. “Oh, I’ll have you, Jack. Bent over, on my back, on my knees. However you want it.”
“God.” My voice was a ragged croak as I ran my hand along her side, finding her pert nipple under her cotton t-shirt with my thumb. It took every ounce of restraint I had not to bend her over Margie’s kitchen table right then and there.
“You better go.” Her words said one thing but her body said something else. My hands had a mind of their own. She wore a short denim skirt and I ran my fingers up her smooth thigh. Her legs parted as I found the waistband of her cotton panties and dragged them down just far enough that I could sample the wetness between her legs.
“Jack.” Her whisper became more urgent. “They’re just in the other room. And you can’t be late for your appointment.”
“Hmmm.” I was momentarily incapable of making any other sound.
“Tonight,” she said. Finding the strength to break our embrace first. Her face was flushed and my eyes went to the tempting rise and fall of her chest. Her nipples formed hard peaks under her shirt and it took everything in me not to pull her back to me.
“Tonight,” she said again, more insistent. “Find a way.”
A slow smile cracked my face. “You know how much I like a challenge.”
“Then consider the gauntlet thrown, Mr. Manning. You know right where to find me.”
I groaned as she leaned in to give me a quick, chaste kiss. Then she swatted me on my ass. My instinct was to return the favor but I knew once I started down that path it would be even harder to stop.
We said our goodbyes and I left her, my wheels already turning with how I’d make good on my promise.
***
As my new defense lawyer promised, it didn’t appear that the North Chicago police were looking at me as any kind of a suspect in Miranda’s death or the aftermath. That was good news for now but it k
ept Tora still very much in their crosshairs. Our relationship didn’t help her case much and it was one more thing I got to blame myself for.
My interview did take the better part of the day. For every reason on Earth, I was eager to get back to the Burnetts’ house and Tora. I pulled in the driveway at around five o’clock and my heart raced. The Kurtz’s car was parked in the street and that told me Dex McLain was probably already there. There were also five Harleys parked in front of their car. The Great Wolves appeared to be gathering. I’d turned my phone off during the interview so I missed any news reporting about how his release went. The good news was it didn’t appear any reporters had followed him back here so for now, the Burnett house was still safe.
I took a steadying breath as my fingers closed around the front door handle. Dex McLain, the man Tora had risked everything for, the man my father had put away, was behind that door somewhere. It was time for me to face him.
R.J. met me at the door and he grabbed me into a back-slapping embrace. “Man, I’m glad to see you,” I told him. R.J. had spent the last couple of weeks out of town doing an investigation for one of his private clients. I knew Reed kept him up to speed and it was good to have someone in the house who wasn’t nearly a stranger. Margie’s living room and kitchen were filled with about a dozen Great Wolves M.C. members. Bill Kurtz was the only one I recognized. The house shook with laughter, joy and commotion. I didn’t see Tora or her father.
“Yeah,” R.J. said. “Mom’s neighbors are going to have a hell of a lot to talk about out at their mailboxes tomorrow morning. The Wolf Pack’s been howling up a storm since about three o’clock. How did your interview go?”
“Good,” I said, still scanning the leather-clad group in the kitchen. Margie was in her element, doling out a pot of stew with the help of a tall, bleach blonde woman in leather boots, a barb wire tattoo across her toned bicep and impressive cleavage showing from her black tank top.
“That’s Violet,” R.J. whispered at my ear. “She’s married to the Chicago chapter President. He’s around here somewhere too. She’s about the hottest sixty-five-year-old I’ve ever seen. It’s like she and my mom are a different species. Turns out they graduated high school the same year.”
I smiled wide. “Sorry I missed the great arrival. Your parents are saints for putting up with all of this.”
R.J. laughed. “Are you kidding? My mother is having the time of her life with this. She’s in full-on den-mother mode and loving every minute of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up with an honorary patch after all of this.”
I nodded. “Where are they?”
R.J. stiffened beside me. “I should probably warn you ...”
Whatever R.J. was going to say, he didn’t have a chance. Charlie Brogan came up the stairs from the basement. He had an empty bottle of Bud in one hand and his other arm wrapped around Tora. His great bear of a face split into a wide grin when he saw me but my eyes were all for Tora. She was beautiful, her face lit in a smile; she snorted against Charlie’s arm after whatever he had just said to her. Her lilting laugh made my heart race. I took a step toward her.
And then a mountain moved behind her.
My only previous impression of Dex McLain came from a thirteen-year-old mug shot clipped to Miranda’s file. In that, he stared at the camera with all the swagger and rebellion of a young man. Then, he had been clean shaven with a thin face and flashing green eyes just like his daughter’s. This Dex McLain was an entirely separate beast.
At six foot three, I’m used to being the tallest guy in the room. Dex McLain matched my height. Thirteen years of prison life put at least twenty pounds of muscle on him that wasn’t there in his mug shot.
Time seemed to freeze when we saw each other. I squared my shoulders and faced him. We sized each other up. His face was broader, with deep lines through his brow. His nose had changed from his picture. It was thicker through the bridge, likely having been broken at least once. A line ran through his eyebrow from an old scar. He sported a thick but neatly trimmed beard over his strong jaw with more silver through it than black. But those same green eyes flashed and no one could mistake Tora for anything other than his.
“This is Jack Manning, Dex.” I heard Charlie say. My eyes flicked to Tora for an instant but something told me to keep my focus on the silverback gorilla standing beside her.
“Manning,” Dex said, his voice deep and gruff, his tone accusatory. Everything about his posture screamed out a warning to me. He was coiled and tense and he looked at me with the menace of more than a dozen years of pent up rage and injustice that my family name had brought down on him.
I nodded. “McLain.”
Then Dex McLain moved toward me like an avalanche. He was quick and deadly. I dropped my hip and got my arm up just in time. Otherwise, I would have taken his right hook square on the jaw. Instead, it glanced my arm sending shock waves up through my shoulder.
All hell broke loose after that.
Tora shouted and Charlie growled like a grizzly. I slammed my shoulder into the brick wall of Dex McLain. We crashed to the ground together taking Margie’s floor lamp with us.
He got one shot across my jaw but down on the ground, it lacked the power of the first blow. Even so, the side of my face felt like it exploded. I slammed my forearm up hard and made contact with Dex’s chin. He grunted but barely moved. His eyes were wild and I jerked my head to the side just before he would have landed a bone-splintering head butt.
R.J’s arms came around my shoulders and he tried to heave me off Dex McLain. Charlie was on the floor next to us and grabbed Dex by the shoulders.
“Take it easy!” Charlie bellowed in Dex’s ear and it seemed to break through to him. He took his focus off me and it gave me the opening I needed to get back on my feet. I bounded on my heels ready to counter anything else Dex tried to throw. R.J. kept his arms around me but I wasn’t planning on throwing another swing unless Dex tried to do it first.
“Daddy, stop it!” Tora stepped between us as Dex popped up to his feet. Charlie had him around the waist and shoved Dex back hard.
“Takes you five damn minutes to violate your parole?!” Charlie hollered. “Son of a bitch, Dex. You’re still just like your old man. Now cool off!”
Tora turned toward me and put a gentle hand on my jaw. I winced but was whole.
“I’m fine,” I said, waving her off, keeping my eyes on Dex. Whatever set him off, he seemed to have more or less gotten a hold of himself, though he panted through his nostrils reminding me of a bull still about to charge.
The rest of the club members backed off into the kitchen now that the show seemed to be pretty much over. Margie and her new friend stood in the entrance way to the front room with their hands on their hips and identical looks of disapproval.
“You get that worked out?” Violet, the chapter President’s wife said to Dex, her eyebrow arched high.
He shrugged but hung his head a little. “Yeah.”
“Good,” she said. “You owe Margie a lamp.”
I gave Margie a wink to let her know there wasn’t any permanent damage done. The two women shrugged and went back to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” Tora said, her eyes pleading.
“Yeah,” I rubbed my jaw and addressed Dex. “You think the two of us could talk for a minute without an audience? Can I trust you not to try to break my face for five minutes?”
Dex straightened his back but the rage was out of his eyes.
“Can you keep a hold of yourself?” Charlie asked Dex.
Tora stood beside me and put her hand on my chest. Dex looked to her, to me and back to his daughter again. Though I wasn’t keen on his anger management issues, a part of me had empathy for how tough this had to be on him. I was a Manning after all and so far as he knew, everyone he’d ever met with my name had tried to destroy him or his daughter after that. Plus, he saw me put a protective arm around Tora and maybe that was difficult too. He hadn’t had the normal chance a father
would to get used to the idea of his daughter with another man.
“Can everybody keep their testosterone in check?” Charlie said, giving voice to my own thought process.
Dex nodded. “I can do that,” he said. His voice was deep and gruff but the menace seemed to be out of it for now.
Yes. Dex McLain and I had a lot to talk about.
I rubbed Tora’s arm. “Why don’t you give your dad and me a few minutes?”
Charlie jerked his chin toward Tora and she brought herself out from under my arm. They walked into the kitchen together with Tora glancing at me over her shoulder with a dubious expression. I shot her a quick smile of reassurance. Then I turned back to Dex.
“That’s your one,” I said. “Raise a hand to me again and I won’t hold back.”
“Let’s talk outside,” Dex said, motioning toward the front door.
I nodded but waited for him to go first. I wasn’t about to turn my back on Dex McLain anytime soon. He gave me the hint of a smile when he saw what I was about and popped the latch on Margie’s screen door. I waited half a beat and followed behind him.
“You smoke?” Dex said.
“Not anymore,” I answered. “But don’t let that stop you.”
Tora had her father’s smile. He cocked his head, still sizing me up as he pulled a pack of cigarettes and matches out of the back pocket of his jeans. He took a long drag and walked to the end of Margie’s driveway. I followed him and sat beside him on the curb. He took another puff before he spoke.
“How much of Tora’s trouble has to do with you?”
The question took me off guard but explained a lot about what set him off. Dex flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and I made my first attempt at an answer.
“It looks like my father had a lot to do with what happened to you. I’m not here to justify any of it. I don’t understand it all myself. But I can promise you that I’m doing everything I can to try and reverse some of the damage.”
“I guess you can’t pick your family,” Dex said. “What about Tora and you?”