Angel stood as the deputy exited his patrol car and walked with the typical swagger of a man who was armed and dangerous and knew it. Kind of like the way Jake moved.
“Hey, Sam.” She’d dealt with the deputy before and knew as long as she talked straight, he wouldn’t give her any attitude. “We had a little problem with a white van sideswiping us and running for it.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jake glaring at her. Then he looked away, as if he didn’t want the deputy to see how pissed he was at the moment. Had he expected her to lie?
“Everyone okay?” The deputy looked into the ditch.
“Yeah. Just a few bruises and cuts. Nothing big.”
“I see. Whitfield, you need to take a field sobriety test?”
Angel stepped in front of Jake, redirecting the deputy’s attention to her. “How are you so sure he was driving?”
“Come on, Angel. A Whitfield letting a female drive? I don’t think so.” Sam nodded toward Jake. “Walk back to the car with me.”
A couple of seconds passed without Jake moving, not even with a look in the deputy’s direction. His full gaze centered on her. Would he refuse just out of principle? As he had a soda with lunch and nothing else, she knew it was a given he’d pass without a hitch. So why the intense stare?
Finally, he broke the standoff. “Sure.” Then he walked back to the patrol car.
She tapped her foot as she waited. The urge to move a little closer to hear what was being said had her body strung so tight she walked stiffly closer until she stood a yard from the sedan’s grille.
Sam held an instrument near Jake’s lips. “You know the drill, Whitfield.” Jake leaned over and blew into the small plastic tube. “Harder.” When the deputy moved it away, his eyes narrowed at the numbers on the small screen. “Well, it appears you’ve had one too many.”
“What the hell?” Angel moved around the door and glowered. “All he drank was a plain Coca-Cola. How did he fail it?”
“Angel,” Jake warned, shaking his head.
“Sam, I’ve always thought you were one of the good ones.” She crossed her arms. What was going on?
Unable to see the deputy’s eyes behind the dark sunglasses, she nevertheless glared his way. He pointed to the side of the road. “You go over there and sit down. I don’t want to hear another peep out of you or I’ll take your ass in, too.”
Frustrated but with no other option left, she did as he ordered.
Sam pulled Jake by an arm to the end of the car and then pushed him face first over the trunk. After handcuffing him, he patted him down.
Panic washed over her. His gun.
She edged over to the ditch, hoping to find an opportunity to toss hers into the tall grass. Once he found Jake’s, he’d be searching her. As she sat on the shoulder of the pavement, she slid the gun out of her pocket and pushed it over the small lip of the steep embankment. It tumbled down and stopped next to a clump of weeds. In plain sight. She closed her eyes for a second and sighed. There was nothing more she could do.
“There’s your ride, Angel.” Sam walked over to the black SUV that stopped a few yards away. Behind it was a large tow truck, sporting a cherry picker on the back bed.
What happened to Jake’s gun? Had he dumped it before the deputy checked him for weapons?
The SUV’s driver’s door opened and Tick stepped out, glancing over to the patrol car as he spoke to the deputy. Angel followed his stare. Jake sat in the back watching with half-closed eyes.
When she pulled her attention to Sam again, he’d returned to his car and was on a cell phone. Who was he talking to? She’d never seen Sand County use a cell phone to communicate with headquarters. The county was too small and poor to invest in anything fancier than CB radios and walkie-talkies.
Tick hunkered down next to her as the beeping of the tow truck vibrated around them.
“What did the boss do?”
“Nothing actually. Then again, maybe being a Whitfield is enough. The deputy claims Jake’s been drinking, when he hasn’t.” She felt so helpless. For now, Sam appeared satisfied with arresting Jake and ignoring her. Thank goodness for small favors. It had been one hell of a day.
“I’ll call Dad and have him head over to the jail.” Tick stood and moved away as he tapped the screen on his phone.
For the next half hour she sat on the side of the road. She calmed down somewhat after Tick loaned her his phone to talk with Damien. A few cars traveled by, all of them slowed to a crawl as the drivers stared. Not until a large white pickup eased by did she recognized a face. The man behind the wheel was Jake’s cousin, Theodore Whitfield, also known as Teddy Bear. His grin spread wide as he spotted Jake in the backseat of the deputy’s car. When he caught her watching, one eyebrow lifted as he puckered his lips. A second later, he hit the gas, his cackling drifting in the wind behind him.
“The deputy said you can go.” Tick nodded toward the SUV as they watched the deputy’s car do a three-point turn and head toward the next town. Sand City was the county seat, and the jail was located there. Jake twisted in his seat to look out the back window, his cold gaze on her as they drove away.
Did he believe she had something to do with the deputy showing up?
“So your dad’s going to help him?” she asked without taking her eyes off Jake.
“Yeah. He’s waiting at the courthouse. It’ll be a few more hours before he can get Jake released. Dad’ll insist on them taking a urine sample. If they demand a blood one, it would take too long. So Jake should be home by nightfall.”
She looked into Tick’s dark eyes. “You’re so cool about all this. Does it happen often?”
“Enough.” Tick opened the door for her and waited until she settled into the passenger seat before closing it behind her. When he was seated and cranked the engine, he added, “After Jake got out of the Army, he’d expected everyone to respect him. Hell, he’d fought for our country. You’d have thought it would be a given. First week back, he was picked up for suspected breaking and entering. Every week, it was something. The last year or so, they’ve eased off.”
“Army? Jake?” Her world shifted. Not once had she heard a word about Jake serving in the military. She’d heard rumors of Ethan being sent to prison for eighteen months.
“He doesn’t talk about it much, but his dad forced him to join. The choice was go into the Army or go to jail.”
Color her confused. “How could he send his son to prison when he broke the law all the time?” She knew for a fact Dick Whitfield had been the biggest criminal in Sand County.
“The story is that Jake and Ethan had beaten up a store owner for no reason. The store owner was a good friend of Mac’s.” Tick glanced her way when they turned onto the Whitfield driveway. “Your granddaddy turned them in. Mr. Whitfield worked out the deal with the assistant D.A.” When they came to a stop outside the garage next to the house, he lightly touched her arm, keeping her from leaving the SUV. “Only thing is, about eight months after they shipped the boys off, the police get a 911 call to the store owner’s house. His fourteen-year-old step-daughter was messed up bad. The guy had been banging her and slapping around her mother. The girl had reached her limit and shot him. He lived but all the bad crap came out. That’s when the old man figured out what had really happened.”
“Jake and Ethan had been trying to stop the store owner,” Angel said as she shook her head in sorrow. “Why didn’t they tell everyone what was going on? Why not call the police in the beginning?” The store owner was lucky she hadn’t heard about it first. He would be in prison once she sicced the cops on him.
“The wife begged them not to say anything. She still loved the creep, and she’d made them believe it had happened only one time and the step-daughter had mental issues. When they were arrested, she never confessed. It would’ve been their word against hers. The daughter refused to talk, too.”
She shook her head. “It’s a sick world out there. What happened to the store owner?”
“He got sent to prison. Funny thing, the same one Ethan was in. A couple months in, the guy was found shanked in the showers.” Tick opened the door and waited for her to follow.
The obvious answer was Ethan had killed the man, but Angel knew the easiest answer wasn’t always the right one. Mr. Dick Whitfield was known to be a dangerous man to cross. Chances were he took care of the situation himself. She imagined he wouldn’t like to be set up.
And she thought her family was scary.
Later that evening, she and Damien sat at the kitchen table with bowls of steaming cobbler. The scents of cinnamon and apples infused the cozy feeling Jimmie Sue easily created with her legendary cooking. The wonderful housekeeper had even bought almond milk and vegan butter, declaring the dessert was better for it.
Angel dipped her spoon into a mound of apple cobbler and savored the buttery taste, but even the sweet dessert didn’t occupy her mind. Instead the memories of clear blue eyes flashing with heat and desire before she lowered her mouth to his cock, and the long groan of surrender when he came in her mouth filled her with a need to experience the sensations again. How was he the only man to invoke such wildness from her?
Jimmie Sue and Damien laughed, bringing Angel’s attention back to the present. She averted her hot face, not taking the chance they could see, even through her pale makeup. Keeping her attention out the window, she scooped up another bite.
Earlier, the sun had disappeared from the horizon, and the security lights surrounding the house lit up the drive as bright as midday. With the spoon hovering near her mouth, her gaze followed a black sedan with dark tinted windows glide by the house, heading toward the back. Even without seeing who rode inside, the hair on her arms lifted, warning it was time to pay the devil.
Jake was home.
“Jimmie Sue, Big Judd said he’d drive you home.” Jake hugged the housekeeper after she expressed her concern about local law enforcement needing more to do than harassing Whitfields. He could always count on her to support “her boys” when she felt someone treated them wrong.
“Have you heard where Matt disappeared to?” Jimmie Sue grabbed a sweater hanging on a hook near the door. Even at seventy degrees outside, she became chilled easily. “He is the most undependable boy I’ve ever been around.”
“Sen’s gone looking for him. He’s probably holed up with one of his buddies playing video games.” Not wanting to worry the older woman, he smiled and patiently waited as she said her goodbyes to Tick, Angel, and her brother.
One large hand cupping a bowl of cobbler, Tick moved around the table and sat next to the teenager. They started arguing which version of Warcraft they believed to be the best. Jake caught Tick’s eye and nodded before he turned to Angel. He needed the teenager’s attention elsewhere for a couple of hours. Time to teach his wife-to-be another lesson.
“Come with me,” he quietly said to Angel and headed toward the back stairs. He reached the first landing before he heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back and then murmuring as she made her excuses to her brother and Tick.
Without waiting, he continued up the staircase and turned left toward his suite of rooms. As the oldest, he’d taken over the master suite. Jimmie Sue had cleared out all of the old man’s personal effects a couple of days before the funeral and donated most of it to a local charity. Then he had a new bed delivered and set up yesterday. The housekeeper understood his need to move forward and take over every aspect of the old man’s life and property. With his takeover of that room and the study, it wouldn’t be long before the citizens of Marystown knew about it. People talked. Furniture dealers talked. Charity organizers talked. He needed them to spread the word. The more people who knew he was in command, the easier it would be to control those who worked for him.
He opened the door to his suite and stood to the side.
Angel reached his side and hesitated. She looked into his eyes. Whatever compassion she’d hoped to see wouldn’t be there. He couldn’t afford leniency at this point. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed in deeply, lifted her chin, and walked into the room.
“Kneel,” he said in a level, firm voice after he closed and locked the door behind him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Angel remained standing. She wanted to fall to her knees, craving the release his harsh voice promised, but they needed to clear up a few facts.
He leaned back, resting his shoulders on the door. With his arms and ankles crossed, he showed her that he had all the time in the world. Her gaze traveled over his broad shoulders and chest in his button-up shirt. Why was it everything about him appealed to her?
“Jake.” Her voice cracked. Desire to touch him closed up her throat.
“Angel.” His lips tightened as he waited for her to comply or explain. She did catch a mixture of impatience and anticipation in his light blue eyes.
“As you know, I’ve accepted that I have to marry you, but we need to come to terms about our relationship in and outside the bedroom.” So twisted up inside, her lungs felt as if they would explode any minute, she inhaled long and deep.
He pushed off the door and walked a tight circle around her. His fingers played with the red tips of her hair. “Go ahead.” His hip brushed against her. She balled her fists.
His big presence swallowed the air in the room as desire swept over her. She wanted to lean against his hard body and soak in every bit of his heat. How wonderful would it be for his arms to hold her again as he had last night when she fell asleep? With a mental shake, she forced the words out of her mouth.
“Whenever others are around, I’m your equal.” She closed her eyes as his hand dropped and skimmed over her collarbone. Her breasts lifted and fell with deep inhale and exhale as she tried to regulate her breathing.
“Is that so?” His smirk lit her temper.
“Do I have to prove it?” She tried to regain her composure, hating his condescending tone.
“Yeah.”
She grabbed his wrist, shoved her shoulder into his ribs, and flipped him. He hit the floor with a grunt. The next second, he pulled her down, pressing her back to his chest and rolled to the side with her. Before she could struggle, he grasped her arm and twisted it, pulling up her numb hand to her shoulder blades. He quickly released his painful hold, and his arm hooked her neck to roll her over, face first, to the floor. His heavy body pressed her into the rug.
Panting, she remained stiff and on alert. What did he plan to do next?
“Nice move. We’ll talk about what I believe equal means,” he whispered into her ear.
She shivered. The reaction was more from how his body rubbed against her and his other arm pressed against her breasts and not from the threat in his tone or the pressure to her throat. All that maleness centered on what she said, his body wrapping her in his strength, brought a weakness to every joint in her body. She sagged in his hold and inhaled the scent of Jake: leather and the faint smell of tobacco.
Hadn’t she wanted his arms around her?
No, not exactly in this way. She grinned knowing he couldn’t see it as she decided she would take what she could get.
He released her and stood. Then he tugged her to her feet. With her facing away, he wrapped strong arms around her once again.
“Equals means I’m in this with you. Finding who killed our family,” she said, ignoring his hiss, and then added, “and stopping whoever it is trying to kill Damien and you. I want to be involved in the decisions.” He squeezed her as she continued. “Decisions that pertain to the investigation and anything that has to do with my brother.” She relaxed into his embrace, if a person could call what he did that. He tightened his hold a little more. She could barely breathe but she felt safe and secure. Something she never remembered feeling.
The silence in the room didn’t bother her. She felt his body tensing and a certain area pressed to the small of her back becoming hard. Jake’s body said he had other things on his mind.
His hands covered her bre
asts and lightly squeezed. Then without warning, he jerked the corset down. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the freedom from the stiff material and letting him see how much she wanted his touch. He looked down and thumbed her taut nipples. Then he molded his hands over the soft mounds and tightened his thumbs and forefingers on the tender tips.
Releasing a sharp intake of breath, her eyes almost rolled in her head as shots of electricity raced from her breasts to clit. The pain-pleasure reminded her of how he made her feel when he spanked her. She threw her head back and pushed into his hands.
“You have beautiful tits.” He released her nipples and cupped and lifted. “I agree but with limitations.” He nipped at her ear. “Alone, I own you, and you do whatever I say. Out there,” he nodded to the bedroom door, “I’ll consider your opinion.” He rolled his fingers and tugged the flesh between them.
“No,” she croaked. Later she’d wonder how she held up against his sexual lure. Swallowing hard gave her a couple of seconds to clear her mind. “Partners out there. I’ll let you lead, but partners still the same,” she said in a near normal tone.
“Alone. You’re mine to command?”
“Yes.” Thank goodness he held her as her knees had turned to goo.
“Your mouth, your pussy, and your ass are mine.”
“Yes.” She closed her eyes and shuddered when need overwhelmed her.
He moved his hands down and wrapped his arms below her breasts, lifting her off her feet as he licked her neck. “Damn, you taste good, and I like how you stand up to me, and look after your brother. Your loyalty tells me a lot.”
“Like how you can use me?” She blinked open her eyes and immediately bit the side of her mouth in an effort not to say more.
“Yeah. I already knew that. You proved that in the limo the other day.” Before she could protest, his body’s heat disappeared in a blink. He stepped back. She barely caught her balance. “Kneel,” he commanded.
When she lifted her hands to tug the corset back in place, she hesitated at the shake of his head.
Jake: A Southern Crime Family Novel Page 13