“He served his time in prison. I remember hearing about his release, but he never came back. I would have welcomed him with open arms, but he just vanished. No one around here has seen him since before he was taken away in handcuffs.”
“But, if he was innocent, why didn’t he come back for his daughter?”
“I imagine that he wouldn’t have been allowed near her. Helen, your mother, lived under lock and key until she was sent away to relatives.”
I bit my lip as I thought about a phone call I had received just a little over a year ago. It was the phone call that had gotten me curious enough to start seeking out the truth.
“A man called me about a year ago. He wanted to meet me. He said he knew my grandmother and it was urgent. We set up a time to meet, but he never showed up.”
“Oh dear.” She pursed her lips, concern marring her features. “I wonder what kept him away?”
“Do you know what happened to my great-grandparents’ house?”
“It was condemned years ago. The city tore it down after it fell into ruin. About ten years after your mother was born, the family moved away to Pittsburgh, about 1963 or 64. No one around here talked much after they moved. Ruth was the cautionary tale that all young girls were told about.”
She watched me carefully for a moment. I knew she wanted to ask me something else, but I was still trying to digest everything she told me.
“What about your mother, dear? I heard that she died a few years back.”
“She died when I was eighteen.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear. What happened?”
“Suicide,” I said thoughtfully. “She was committed to the Brookdale Psychiatric Clinic when I was twelve. She would have been just about forty-five years old.”
“Who committed her?” she asked in surprise.
“My great-grandfather.”
Her mouth dropped open. Yes, we were both shocked to say the least. I had my concerns about my great-grandfather before, but I never would have guessed that he had his own daughter thrown in an asylum. Of course, I didn’t know the man all that well. I had visited him when I was a child, but my mother had me when she was thirty-three years old. She hadn’t really ever wanted to be around him for some reason. I assumed it was too painful because of her mother going insane. After my mother was committed, I was sent to live with a distant cousin. Then, both of my great-grandparents died in a house fire just after my mother committed suicide. Their closest friends that came to their funerals said that they wouldn’t have lived too much longer anyway. They’d had too much heartbreak in their lives.
“I went to visit the Brookdale Psychiatric Clinic a few months ago. I met with a doctor that was on staff at Chester Insane Asylum before they closed it down.”
“He was still working?”
I nodded, finding it curious myself. “He said that the answers were at the asylum. He looked nervous, like he was afraid he was being watched or something. He rushed me out of his office.”
“So, now you’re here looking for answers,” she surmised.
“I bought the asylum.”
Her eyes went wide. “That must have cost a fortune.”
“I have my inheritance. And if my great-grandfather is behind this whole thing, it only seems right that he be the one to pay for it. Besides, it’s run down. It’s been sitting empty since the 80’s.”
“Where are you staying?”
I cringed. “At the asylum.”
She gasped and I nodded. “I know. It’s a little creepy. I’ve only been there a few nights and I’m already thinking of renting a place in town. But then part of me needs to know what it was like there for my grandmother. I know it’s different because it’s abandoned, but something tells me that I’ll find out everything I need to know there.”
“Well, I won’t be stepping foot on that property, but if you need anything, you just let me know.”
“I will.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Storm
“So, there’s a woman living on the property over here,” Cap said. We were still working out of the training center as the construction crews worked on the new building. It was taking a while, but we had a lot of special requirements. “If we can get her to sell this property, we can close off access to Reed Security from the east.”
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Jessica Finley.” I looked up at him in shock. Could it be the same Jessica? No, that was stupid. I needed to stop thinking about her. “She’s thirty-four, single, and as far as I can tell, has no life.”
Rocco, Tony Tacos, Craig, Coop, and I were the only ones in the conference room, which was a little odd. Alec and Florrie were on Craig’s team, so why weren’t they here? And Rocco was on Hunter and Irish’s team, but they weren’t here either.
“What does she do for work?” Rocco asked.
“Well, it looks like she’s restoring the house at the moment. She inherited a good chunk of money from her great-grandparents.”
“How big is this house?” I asked. Cap pulled up an online renter’s site and started clicking through images. “Hell, that’s not a house. That’s an estate. It looks like it has several other buildings on the property.”
“It does. If we could convince her to sell, we’re looking at around six hundred acres of land.”
I glanced around the table and noticed that the other guys were looking at each other too.
“Hell, that’s why you chose all of us to be at this meeting,” I surmised. “You want one of us to charm her.”
“Well, if one of you could use your powers for good, I wouldn’t be opposed to letting you do so,” Cap said.
“What are we talking here?” Tony Tacos asked.
Cap shrugged. “Maybe take her out a few times, maybe slip into the conversation how Reed Security would be willing to pay well for the property.”
“Not me,” Rocco said quickly. “I have a young child. I doubt she’d be persuaded by me.”
“Well, if she won’t like a young child, she’s definitely not going to want a seventeen year old hanging around. Besides, I’m trying to convince Becky that I’m worth sticking around for,” Coop grinned.
“Shit, that’s right. What about you, Craig?” Cap asked.
“Me? How would it look to Reese if I tried to pick up another woman while trying to win her affections?”
“Who the hell is Reese?” I asked.
“A woman from the coffee shop.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair and staring off dreamily. “I fell in love with her over coffee, but somehow I fucked it up. I’m not sure if it was the fact that the coffee shop was held up or if she didn’t like my attitude about the whole thing.”
“Well, intense situations can be difficult to navigate,” Tony Tacos added.
“Intense? Hell no,” he scoffed. “It was just two yahoos that thought robbing a coffee shop was a brilliant idea. I mean, who does that? Anyway, I knew I had it under control and I didn’t see the need to ruin a perfectly good coffee date.”
“So, you just sat there talking to her?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, yeah, I mean, I was just explaining a few things to her. I didn’t want her to be totally shocked when I took down those assholes.”
“So, you really think that you could win her back at this point?” Rocco asked.
“Well, it would take some finesse, but I think I could do it. As long as I don’t have to try and woo some other chick,” he said pointedly to Cap.
“Alright, so Rocco, Coop, and Craig are out of the running. That leaves Tony Tacos and Storm.”
“It’s just Tony,” Tony clarified. “I just fucking worked for Taco Bell. It’s not like I was actually a taco.”
“Well, if that’s not enough to grab your attention, just wait until you see her picture.”
Cap pulled out a photo and held it up for us to see. “Holy shit,” I said, snagging the photo out of his hand. It was the same woman from the bar. “Are you fucking serious? Thi
s is Jessica Rabbit.”
It’s her.
“Uh, it’s Jessica Finley,” Cap corrected.
“Look at the size of those tits,” Tony said, snatching the photo from my hand.
“I call dibs,” Rocco said.
“Nope.” I grabbed the photo back, practically salivating over this woman. What were the chances that she was a redhead and named Jessica? It couldn’t be a coincidence, but it couldn’t be real either. My mind was just fucking with me. He was fucking with me.
“I can’t believe Jessica Rabbit’s real name is Jessica. What are the odds?”
“How do you know her?” Cap asked.
She lived in my dreams at night. The one that walked out of the bar and left me drooling and wanting more. “I met her at a bar a few weeks ago.”
Rocco reached around and tried to take the picture from me. “You’re not qualified to handle a woman like that.”
I yanked the picture back and glared at him. “You already pulled out of the running.”
“I can change my mind.”
“No take backs,” Tony said with a glare.
“But-”
“No,” I cut in. “You weren’t up for the job before, but now you want in? No, this chick is all mine.”
“Why do you get her?” Tony asked.
“Because, I’ve been here longer.”
“By like six months.”
“And I met her in the bar. She already knows me.”
“Yeah, and she walked away.”
“Tough shit,” I spat back.
“Boys!” Cap shouted. “Let’s handle this like real men.”
I glared at Tony and he glared back.
“Gunfight?” Rocco asked
“Sword fight,” Craig corrected.
“Arm wrestling?” Coop asked.
“No,” Cap grinned. “A thumb war.”
I stared at Cap for a moment, sure I had heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?”
“A thumb war.”
I looked at Tony, then back to Cap. “A thumb war. We’re going to decide who goes after Jessica Rabbit by having a thumb war.”
“I get to choose,” Cap said, pointing at his chest. “If I leave it up to you, someone’s gonna get waxed or have to walk across hot coals.”
“Yeah,” Tony snorted. “That would be a real challenge.”
“And a thumb war is?” I asked.
“I say we make them really work for it,” Rocco grinned. “Maybe a dance off or a singing competition.”
“Hell no,” Craig shook his head. “That’s just asking for trouble.”
“Alright, gentleman, take your places,” Cap grinned.
I sat down at the corner of the table with Tony and put my arm up on the table. He did the same and we stared each other down, waiting for Cap to start the competition. Strains of Eye of the Tiger started playing and I cracked my neck and then my fingers, preparing to take on Tony Tacos. Craig was holding up his phone, nodding along to the music.
“You ready, asshole?”
“Oh, I’m ready,” I said. “I’ve got this. You don’t have what it takes to take me down.”
“I’m gonna wipe your blood off the floor with my shirt, just so I can wear it and show off my victory.”
“Yeah? That’ll be pretty hard to do when you’re missing thumbs.”
“Just you wait-”
“Gentleman,” Cap interrupted. “It’s a thumb war, not Antietam.”
I glared at him again. Cap might think this was all a joke, but I was serious. There was no way I was gonna lose this battle. That woman would be mine.
“On my mark,” Cap said, placing a kleenex over our joined hands. “Go!” He lifted the kleenex and we started the countdown.
“One, two, three, four. I declare a thumb war,” we said in unison, and then it was on like Donkey Kong. The fucker was strong, I’d give him that, but my thumbs were born for this. He moved left and I moved right. He went up and I went left and up, snatching his thumb under mind. At the last second, he pulled his thumb out and it was an all out war again. The war lasted for another minute before he pinned my thumb down in such a way that I just couldn’t get it out. Cap banged on the table, declaring him the winner.
“Yes!” Tony stood, fists high in the air as he shouted his victory. I glared at him and then took off running for the door.
“He’s running,” Craig shouted.
“You fucker!” Tony shouted behind me. “She’s mine. I won the thumb war!”
“You’ll have to get to her first,” I yelled over my shoulder.
I ran toward the back stairs, knowing I would hit every fucking scanner on the way, but shoved my way through the first door. As I waited for my hand to scan, I pulled out my phone and opened the new app for the elevator. I sent the elevator up to the next floor and then the one after that. The fucker would have to make every stop before he got to the garage.
It took me five minutes to get out of the building and I ran to my truck, jumping in and peeling out of the parking lot. Cap must have called to the front gate to have them lock me in, but they were too slow. I gunned the engine and just barely made it through the gates. I saw Tony slam his fist on the steering wheel as he got stuck behind the gate. It would only delay him a few seconds, so I slammed down on the gas and tried to remember the address Cap had shown me. I mentally mapped out directions and took a wrong turn twice, ending up behind Tony as he tried to beat me to Jessica’s house.
The road to her house was up ahead on the right and I saw my chance. On the right, the ditch wasn’t quite as deep for just a short time. I yanked the steering wheel and drove off into the field and gunned it across to the next road. My truck dipped in the slightly deeper ditch, but then I was up on the road and he was eating my dust. I barely slowed down as I swerved down her driveway. He was right on my ass the whole length of the mile long driveway that wound through the estate.
I threw the truck in park and ran for the front door. Knocking on it with more force than necessary, I panted as I waited impatiently for her to answer. Tony was out of his truck and running for the front door. I heard the door handle turning and heard that sexy voice. Tony was just running up the steps when the door started to open. Like in slow motion, I had a split-second decision to make. As Tony ran up to me, I shoved him into the bushes beside the porch and turned with a smile to Jessica Rabbit.
CHAPTER SIX
Jessica
I opened the door to a sweaty, heaving man on my front stoop. He was tall, with muscles that were big, but not too big, and his hair was cropped short in that military sort of style. He had a scar through his right eyebrow that almost cut through his green eyes. Most people would think that a sweaty man showing up on their doorstep would be a negative thing, but this guy was hot. He had a slight ring of sweat around his collar that just made him all the more sexy. And I knew this man. He was the guy that I met at the bar a few weeks back, the one that kept me entertained with cheesy pickup lines.
“Screw me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we met before?” he asked, his white teeth shining bright.
I looked behind me, confused, but also a little excited. “Me? I’m sorry, how did you find me?”
“Storm.” He held out his hand for me to shake. “I told you, my mother always told me to follow my dreams.”
Well, he had swagger, but it was definitely over the top. Still, when was the last time that a man showed up on my door wanting to take me out? Um, never. Another man popped up behind him, from the bushes on the side of the house. He shoved the man aside and thrust his hand forward.
“Tony Tacos.” He closed his eyes quickly, stumbling over his words. “I mean, Tony Russo. You can call me Tony.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, grinning like I was missing out on the joke. “What’s going on here?”
Tony was just as hot as Storm. He had pale skin, like he hardly ever spent any time in the sun, and his hair was dark brown and just long enough I could run my finger
s through it. Where Storm’s was black and almost shaved, showing off his beautifully rounded scalp.
“Um, not that I’m not flattered, you know, having men show up on my doorstep and fight over who gets to take me out, but…why are you really here?”
“What do you mean?” Storm asked in confusion.
“I mean that we met once in a bar and then you show up on my doorstep with a sidekick. I didn’t even tell you my name.”
“Uh…” Storm puffed up his cheeks and then blew out a breath. “I was talking with someone in town that said this place had been bought and that you were renovating.”
That was funny because the only person I had spoken to from town was Elsie and I didn’t see her gabbing to Storm about me. Of course, I suppose the realtor could have spread the word. People gossiped all the time.
“Well, I am renovating, but I just started a few weeks ago. I barely have my feet under me yet.”
“This place is huge,” Storm said, looking past me into the house. “It must be a museum because you are a work of art.”
I snorted and tried to hold back my laughter, but his smile and cool demeanor were just too much.
“Seriously, you need to stop that.”
“Yeah,” Tony said, smacking him on the back of the head. “You really need to stop that.”
“I can’t help it. Life without her is like a broken pencil…pointless.”
I pulled my lips between my teeth and tried to stop the blush working up my face. The man really was a charmer and even though I tried, I was falling for it.
“Seriously,” Storm grinned. “What are you going to do with this place?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll fix it up and rent rooms or something.”
“Really?” Storm’s eyes twinkled and that swagger came back. “You know, I’m actually looking for a place to stay. If I rent from you, would you keep me?”
“Not if you keep giving me those cheesy pickup lines,” I smiled.
He held up his hands in defeat and took a step back. “Maybe I could rent a room here in exchange for helping you with renovations.”
“Me too,” Tony piped up. “I need a room too. And four hands are better than two. I mean, four of our hands are better than two of our hands. In total, there would be six.”
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