by Jayne Blue
If only that were true. I would give almost anything if it were.
“You’re mine,” Jack said again and I nodded as the heat grew between my legs. I couldn’t hold back for much longer. I wanted to spread myself open for him, take Jack in and hold him there where we would both be warm and safe forever.
I was so wet. My pulsing sex so hungry for him. I groaned as Jack kept his grip around my fingers, supporting me as my body took over once and for all.
“Fuck me,” Jack said. “Take it.”
“Tell me what you are,” I said to him.
Jack smiled and matched his thrusts to mine. “I’m yours. Since the first time you took what you wanted. Since the first time you touched me.”
I gave into the building desire. I threw my head back so hard my hair arced over me. I arched my back and Jack moved his hands to my waist to hold me up. If he hadn’t, the force of my powerful thrusts would have knocked me off him. But Jack held strong, letting me take my pleasure from him like some wild woman of the woods. I bucked up and down on his rock hard cock, taking him in so deep, almost to the point of pain. My juices trickled down and coated him. But I needed this. I needed him. Had to have it.
“Come for me, Tora,” I heard him say, but I was already gone. I screamed his name, hoping we were far enough away from the house for anyone to hear. And yet I didn’t care if they did. I didn’t care about anything in that moment except for the feel of Jack’s cock and the pulse of my own sex. He came with me. He sat up, keeping his hand on the small of my back to steady me. I straddled his lap as he filled me a second time, peppering kisses down the column of my throat and then one on each raw, pebbled nipple.
Then finally, we collapsed together in a tangled heap of rubbery limbs and blankets. Jack folded me against him and held me there. I became slowly aware of the sounds of the woods. An owl hooted close by, followed by the chirping of crickets. A slow breeze wafted through the rough cut windows and Jack pulled the blanket around me tighter.
“You sure we’re safe out here?” I said. I’d been told my ankle tether would beep out a warning if I wasn’t back on “home base” at my nine o’clock curfew. I stretched my leg out to check. No red flash. Just the dim green button on the outer panel.
“You’re safe,” Jack said and I knew he didn’t just mean the tether.
“Do we have to go back?” I said, nuzzling deeper against Jack’s warm chest. We’d formed a safe little cocoon in the blankets and I knew the air would hit me cold and harsh when it was time to go.
“I don’t see why we can’t stay out here all night. I guarantee Reed and Margie aren’t going to come looking for you.”
I snorted with mirth. “What happens in the tree house stays in the tree house.”
Jack laughed. “Something like that. These rickety walls have seen R.J. and me at less than our finest hours over the years. We used to climb up here and get baked when we teenagers. Pretty sure Reed got laid for the first time on these very same blankets.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Now you tell me.”
Jack laughed. “Lucky for you Margie taught him how to use a washing machine.”
“You feel good,” I said as I burrowed against him.
“It’s like eighty degrees out. How can your feet be cold?”
“Shh!” I gave him a playful slap on the shoulder when he tried to wriggle away from me. “You said you’re mine. Keeping my cold feet warm is part of your new job description.”
Jack kissed the top of my head and drew the covers around my shoulders. “Small price to pay, I guess. And I meant what I said.”
“Mmm. Which part?”
“All of it.” Jack cupped my chin with his fingers and drew my face up until I met his eyes. Even in the dark, I could see how his glinted with emotion. “When you needed me most I turned my back on you and I’ll be sorry for that forever.”
I smoothed my thumb along his strong jaw. “I threw a bomb at you. I get it. I forgive you. And you more than made up for it by going and getting my dad. We’re even, okay?”
Jack stiffened and his gaze went toward some point on the wall. He withdrew from me a little. I sat up. The blanket fell from my shoulders and the breeze hit my naked breasts. I shivered.
“Jack?”
His eyes flicked back to me. “I swear I’m going to take care of you, Tora.”
I smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. “We’re going to take care of each other.”
But his expression was grave. I knew he meant to break the spell first. I dreaded it. I wanted to keep the illusion of this place up for just a little while longer.
“Are you scared, Tora?”
My heart tripped. I’d experienced such joy in the last twelve hours, it had been too easy to forget about the reality of my situation.
“Yes,” I said. With Jack I would always tell the truth, no matter what.
He ran his hand along my shoulder making goose flesh rise. “You’re not going to prison, Tora.”
“I hope not. I can handle it if I just take things one step at a time. And I have to learn to trust the people around me. I know that you and Addie are doing everything you can to help me. And I know I’m innocent. I can bear it if I just hold on to those things. That, and my father is safe. I think I can face anything knowing he doesn’t have to suffer in that place another second.”
“I won’t let you suffer in there either,” Jack said and I knew we were having a different conversation than the one I was maybe ready for.
“I can’t think that far ahead.”
“I have to.” Jack sat up. My eyes went to the sharp lines of the muscles of his abs, how they tapered to a perfect vee at his hips. He was beautiful. He was mine.
“I made your father a promise I intend to keep.”
“I’m sorry about that,” I said, deflecting. “About him losing his shit like that. He’s a hot head and prison life hasn’t tempered that. He’s always been crazy protective of me and everything just kind of hit him at once. It’s not an excuse but ...”
Jack smiled and put his hand up. “We’ve reached a truce, your dad and me. At least I think. The funny thing is I kind of don’t blame him for reacting how he did. If you were my daughter, I suppose I’d have done something similar.”
“I love you.” I leaned forward and brought Jack into a slow, delicious kiss. My blood stirred again as his fingers found my exposed nipples. I knew we’d come together many more times before the sun came up and I planned to relish every second.
Jack pulled away. He held my face in his hands, his eyes searching mine. “God. I won’t lose you. I’ve promised your father and now I’m promising you.”
“Jack.”
“You will not go to prison. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
I sat up and drew my knees to my chest. “I can’t ask you to do that for me.”
“You’re not,” he said. Jack’s face was like stone; his eyes held mine and I didn’t dare look away. “You didn’t kill Miranda and I don’t know what’s coming. I don’t know what Seth’s done. You and I both know he’s the one who’s guilty. I don’t know if he’s deliberately framing you or if it just worked out that way with the stuff he did on your phone. My instinct is that you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person. And I don’t care. You won’t take the fall for Seth, no matter what.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Tora.” Jack shifted. He stood up and let the blanket fall away. It seemed fitting somehow that he should take this vow before me like this, naked and glorious, the moonlight bathing him in a blue glow. He held his hand out and pulled me to my feet. I looked up at him; my eyes glistened with fresh tears. I knew what he was going to say and it filled me with both dread and awe.
“We won’t ever have this conversation again. But, when the time comes, if it seems like there’s no other choice, I’m going to take you away from here. We’ll go someplace where no one will ever find you. I have the means. I believe you
r father has the connections.”
I knew he did. If it weren’t for me, he would have used them to save himself thirteen years ago but he thought I could have a more normal life without him.
“I can’t ask you to give up everything for me,” I said.
Jack’s smile melted me. “Tora, this is the only way I know how to keep everything that matters to me. Don’t you get that?”
I went up on my toes and kissed him. Jack swooped down and lifted me in his arms again. He was tall and strong and pure alpha male.
“Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into with me?” I giggled as he kicked the blankets out before setting me on the ground again. He had my body so well trained that I spread my legs on instinct. Jack was already fully erect again. I gasped and dug my fingers into his back as he rooted himself in me and fucked me well into that perfect, star-filled night.
Chapter Thirteen
Jack
Tora and I never slept. We were too busy relearning each other’s bodies from the weeks we’d spent apart. There was a quiet desperation in the way she moved, the way she clung to me when I entered her. I knew she worried about how much time we had left together. I was secure in my promise that if it came to it, I would find a way to take Tora far away where no one would ever find her. She would not do time for Miranda’s death. No matter what.
We were both bleary-eyed and sated by morning and the blush in her cheeks nearly undid me. Now that I had her back, I didn’t want to take my hands off her. I thought leaving her at Reed and Margie’s was torture. Now, sitting across from her at a back table at Lucarelli’s diner just a half a mile from the Burnetts’ house under the watchful eye of Dex McLain was pure hell.
Dex woke up wanting flapjacks and a meeting so here we were. He hadn’t wanted me here but Tora insisted. It was going to take a long time before Dex and I trusted each other but for Tora, it was worth the attempt. Dex stared at me over his steaming cup of coffee as the waitress set his eggs and pancakes in front of him.
“Can we talk in front of him?” Larry Kurtz jabbed his fork in my direction. I felt R.J. shift next to me and I pressed my thumb into his side to keep him still. I brought him along for his professional expertise and to have my back in case Dex decided to go after my throat again. So it was the two of us looking out of place in our business suits surrounded by five members of the Great Wolves M.C. in full leather-jacketed, patched regalia. The bridge between us was Tora. She sat coolly beside Dex, unphased by the testosterone and posturing all around her.
“We’re here for Tora, aren’t we?” I said, my eyes fixed on Dex’s.
“He’s good, Larry,” Charlie Brogan said, wiping bits of egg from his nest of a beard. I recognized his willingness to vouch for me, even after Dex’s outburst, for the honor it was. On one side of Charlie sat the man who had been introduced as Chip, the Chicago chapter president, and next to him, his V.P., a short, balding badass named Kale.
“Addie should be here,” I said. “Any defense strategy session ought to include her lawyer.”
No sooner had I said it when the door to the cafe swung open and Addie Moscowitz blew through it. For as short and round as she was, she was a whirling mass of movement as she clutched her thick, worn leather briefcase in front of her. She used it as a kind of battering ram as she muscled her way through the breakfast crowd and headed for us.
She took the seat next to mine with a clunk and dropped her briefcase to the floor. She looked up and smiled, not in the least bit intimidated by the five pairs of Great Wolves eyes staring at her as they worked out what to make of her.
“Anything good to report?” Tora broke one level of tension and brought up another.
Addie smiled. “I don’t know about good. Just odd. The prosecution is not coming off their theory of your case. They think those phone forensics and Miranda’s notes to the housekeeper is all the smoking gun they need to pin this on you, Tora.”
“What do you think?” Dex said.
“I think it’s weak,” Addie said, waving off a menu but gulping down a steaming cup of coffee that had to have scalded her throat. She didn’t even flinch from it and I respected her need for caffeine at all costs. “I finally got copies of Miranda’s letters.”
Addie reached into her briefcase and pulled out a yellow file. She slid a packet of papers across the table to Tora who stopped it neatly with her palm.
“Read those,” Addie said. “There’s not much to them. Miranda tells the housekeeper she thinks you’re trouble. That she wants her to keep an extra close eye on you when you’re inside the house. She says she thinks you mean to do her or Seth harm.”
“Sounds pretty incriminating?” I said.
Addie shrugged. “She’s nonspecific about what type of harm she’s talking about. I can work with that. It’s not like she said she’s in fear for her life. Worrying about Tora being a gold digger and worrying about her being a murderer are two very different things.”
“So where are we then?” Tora said. “What happens next?”
“You have a preliminary hearing in two weeks. That’s when the judge decides whether there’s probable cause to hold you for trial. I’m going to take another stab at getting your bail conditions lifted. I’m gonna argue like hell that the prosecution can’t meet their burden of proof.”
“How much chance do you think there is that you’ll win that argument?” Tora tapped her fingers on the table. Her forehead crinkled with worry and I wished I had the power to ease it. Dex shifted next to her. He saw the same thing in her face that I did and I watched the color drain from his. Watching Tora go through this was tearing his guts out as much as it was mine. And yet there Tora sat, with her back straight and her eyes clear. She was strong and bold and surrounded by the men who loved her and would fight to the death to protect her.
“Honestly? Not much,” Addie said. “I think we’re going to be right back in the position we’re in.”
“What do you need, Addie,” I said and she turned to me. “Realistically. What could break this case in Tora’s favor?”
Addie shrugged. “Our theory is your stepbrother did this. Any chance he’s going to come forward and confess?”
“None.” Tora and I said it in unison.
Addie nodded. “Do you have any idea where to find him?”
I didn’t. Seth was about to be formally charged with obstruction of justice and fraud charges stemming from Dex’s case. He faced ethics charges by the state bar as well as an investigation into violations of Dex’s civil rights.
I shook my head. “I know what you know. The F.B.I. tried to bring him in for questioning and he bolted. Do you know whether anyone’s issued a formal arrest warrant?”
Addie nodded through another sip of coffee. “Soon. He hasn’t helped his case at all by bolting before his scheduled interview.”
It’s what I feared. Seth had enough means to disappear for a while if he wanted to.
“So we need to build a plausible motive for him offing Miranda,” Dex said.
Addie tapped her nose with her finger and then pointed it at Dex. “For the win, Mr. McLain. Every piece of evidence they have against Tora is equally incriminating against Seth if he were their main suspect. The only difference is motive. From what I can tell, they are sticking with revenge on Tora’s part for what Miranda did to you. I’ll do what I can to limit the evidence of your fake identity but it’s really one of the pillars of their case against you. And of everyone at this table, Tora, you know Seth the best. What do you think happened?”
Tora shrugged. “I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times. Seth was pretty much driven by one thing. He wanted that senate seat. It’s the only thing he talked about. Every decision he made seemed aimed toward getting him there. Miranda was the person in the best position to help him. It makes no sense why he’d get rid of her. Except I know that he did. He must have.”
“Do you think something might have just made him snap?” Dex asked.
Addie shook her head. “This wasn’t the act of someone snapping. This was cold, calculating, premeditated murder. He researched how much antifreeze he needed to give her. He mixed it in with her health shakes. He waited for the opportunity to execute the plan. Something must have happened that made him think he needed her dead. That’s what I’m relying on you to help me figure out.”
“Who else was he talking to a lot before Miranda died?” I directed my question to Tora.
“Other than Miranda?” she answered. “I don’t know. He certainly talked about plenty of people. But mostly he thought other than his mother, Ed Jeffries and George Pagano had the power to hand him that senate appointment.”
“Tora,” Addie said. “I’ve asked you this before, but I need to ask it again. Was Seth ever violent towards you?”
My eyes shot to Dex. He gripped the handle of his coffee mug so tight I thought he might snap it. He kept his breathing measured and I imagined he was probably doing a ten count in his head.
“No,” Tora said. “Not really. But his behavior was erratic. Definitely. The more he drank, the more pills he took, the more trouble he had keeping his temper.”
“He smashed a wall two inches from your head,” I said. “Does that count as a violent tendency?”
Dex slammed his mug against the table.
I gave Addie the broad strokes of the incident I witnessed after George Pagano propositioned Tora. I knew this was the first Dex was hearing about this part of Tora’s story and I kept a watchful eye on him. He kept both hands flat on the table but his fingers twitched. I noticed Charlie watching him closely too. Finally, Dex could stay silent no longer.
“We sure this wasn’t Pagano’s handiwork?” he asked. “If he thought Miranda was going to use the shit he did for me against Pagano to get him in line behind Seth, wouldn’t that have provided a reason for him to go after her?”