Blood Money (Bad Money #1)

by Ali Parker

  "Not at all, but if she's capable of such a feat... what else is she capable of?"

  "Serving your purposes well as long as you don't fuck with her."

  "Ah, but see after living a life of crime since I was only a boy, I live for properly fucking with people. It's the only joy I get out of life." Victor tilted his head. "You'd do well to remember that."

  "What are you proposing, Victor. Stop pussyfooting around the conversation and lay it all out. What do you want? Kate to sleep with you once so you can get it out of your system?"

  Victor laughed again before standing and stretching his arms above his head. "Tell her I'll stop by later this afternoon. I want to explain myself fully to her, seeing that it's her that I'll be working directly with. You're dismissed. Prepare for a trip and bring Katelyn and Jon back here tomorrow night for a meeting. Remember that your only job at this point is to keep doing what you do best - selling drugs."

  "And what of Kate?" Marcus stood, hating like hell how quickly the mother fucker in front of him had put him into his place. He was nothing more than a lackey, but that would be changing soon. There was no way he would spend the next ten years of his life serving the scum of the earth like he had for the last ten.

  "Katelyn is going to be deeply connected to all that I do, but don't worry... she's going to experience more pleasure than any one woman should be granted. We're done now. Leave."

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jon

  "Jon, have a seat." The captain of the police department pointed to the chair in front of him as Jon walked into the room. It had been almost been a week since the showdown in the warehouse and Jon had written up and turned in his reports as required to do. They had him under full investigation beside Seth, which was to be expected.

  How a cop could have a partner for two years and never suspect him to be the central drug lord in the city looked bad - really bad. Jon would have to work hard to get his reputation back, but perhaps it wasn't worth it anymore. He had joined the force years ago as a way to repent, to give back for his own past.

  With Victor's demands on Kate and Marcus, Jon was stuck playing the part of a rat on the force to keep the people he loved safe. It was no way to live. His stomach tightened painfully at the thought of their current dilemma.

  "I've read the reports, and I appreciate you taking the time to put so much detail into them," the captain started. "It would seem that Seth had all of us turned around ten ways to Tuesday. Insane how well he pulled this off. I'm so sorry that your brother was a victim of all of it."

  "My brother made decisions that led him to death. I hate that he did and I guess some of that was my fault for not fighting harder for him, but it is what it is." Jon shrugged, hating himself for the moment. Adam had been the center of his world when they were younger, but Jon began to separate himself from his brother as Adam turned from wanting a good life, to simply wanting his next high. Having never been involved in drugs, Jon simply couldn't understand the life Adam had chosen. So he didn't try to.

  "Well, we all make decisions based off of the pressures around us." The captain waved his hand in the air. "It's neither here nor there. I'm sorry for your loss in both your brother and your partner on the force. We will be assigning you a new partner soon."

  "I don't want one."

  "You don't have a choice, Peterson. You know that." The captain picked up a piece of paper from his desk, his eyes moving slowly as he read out loud. "It is my conclusion that Kate Jarret had no former information or evidence regarding the murder of Adam Peterson, nor involvement in the narcotics related incidents which occurred during the time under investigation."

  Jon already knew every word in the report he had filed. He had read through it a million times before turning it in. He didn't care if Marcus was implicated. The man had been a thug his whole life and would continue to be one. If he got what he deserved from the situation, so be it, but Kate...

  Kate was trying to clean herself up, trying to make a new life, and she had. She had until Marcus hooked up with Adam and left her stuck right in the middle of it. Jon would work to clear her name and help her to push forward into that new life in whatever way possible.

  It's never going to happen.

  He shuddered at the thought. Kate would never be free simply because of Victor's control over her. Hell, his control over all of them. Jon had very little left to lose in life, but what he did have, he treasured. His relationship with Kate had been shaky at best, simply due to the fact that he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with Victor's demands. Did the man really expect him to share Kate in the bedroom with others?

  No fucking way.

  Jon would have to let her go before his heart dove in deeper. He would have to decide to run with her or release her. There wasn't another choice available as sharing her would be the death of him. No decision needed to be made just yet. Marcus was meeting with Victor to get more details on what his intentions for all of them were. After that, just as he had always done, Jon would gather the facts and make a conclusion or decision rather.

  "I wrote it. I know what the fuck it says, Mike." Jon lifted his eyebrow to his captain, the need to get the hell out of there rolling over him in waves.

  "Read it again and again over the next few days. You know as well as I do that the review on you is going to get worse before it gets better. Keep your nose clean and if this girl means anything to you - walk away. She's trouble."

  "Once a criminal, always a criminal?" Jon chuckled sardonically, his need to defend Kate rising up and threatening to suffocate him.

  He didn't want to defend her. He wanted to save her. To offer her hope in the midst of this darkness, but he couldn't. He didn't have a large enough stick to beat Victor back and with the threat that sat heavy on him, he was locked in too.

  "Exactly. I know the girl appears to be innocent, and I believe she is, but don't let anything even appear like you have lost your objectivity, or you'll be suspended until farther investigations can be done."

  "That's fine, but you need to note somewhere that I'm going to stop by the club over the next few days. I need to solidify my understanding of a few bits and pieces I lost of the story through the drama. My brother's case is being closed and my notes are due to complete the process. I'll be quick and keep things completely professional, but note it in the files. I don't want some dumb ass watching me and thinking I have no reason to see Miss Jarret and her lackey. I do."

  "Will do." Mike sat the papers down and leaned back in his chair. "Now that we have recovered Adam's body, do you have the funeral information? The guys want to come and support you."

  "Yeah. It's tomorrow. I'll call Karen later when I get home and give her the info." Jon stood up. "Did you need anything else or what?"

  "I think you should take a few weeks off to get healed from all of this, but I assume you're going to tell me to stick it up my ass."

  "That I am. I don't want time to think. Not interested in that shit." Jon walked to the door and opened it, glancing over his shoulder and nodding at his boss and old friend. "Call if you need me."

  "Will do. Remember what I said, Jon."

  The loss of control was sickening - stifling. There was nothing he could do about it and yet it left him with the desire to crawl into the darkness and stay there. There were only two choices in the matter facing him. He could kill Victor and they would all be free to live as they pleased... all of them but him of course. The only other option was to run and have the bastard follow after them for the rest of their lives.

  Kate and Marcus would never go for that, and honestly, Jon couldn't see it happening either. He would sooner die than run from anything. Letting her go and putting his mother in protective custody was the only remaining choice. That would free him to tell Victor to fuck off and maybe he could go back to his life before the incident.

  Maybe there would be redemption and healing waiting for him. He needed forgiveness for Adam's death, for missing Seth's denial, for falling in love
with a woman who needed far more help than he was able to give. She needed protection and he was defunct all of a sudden.

  Jon picked up the large file on his desk and tucked it under his arm as he walked numbly through the police station. He needed a long nap, but it wasn't happening. He needed to know about Kate - truly know about her before making his decision to pull back, or risk it all.

  There had never been a woman who felt so good beneath his touch, her moans and whimpers leaving him craving more of her. He let out a slow breath as he pushed the door to the police station opened and walked into the early spring afternoon. He could go see her, make love to her and spend the afternoon in her bed, but that would make things harder when he decided to break it off.

  It seemed like the only viable option.

  Jon tucked the file into an empty backpack he left strapped to his motorcycle and tugged it onto his back. Getting on the bike, he had the urge to just forget everything and go to her. Her presence changed everything and made him want to fight like a mother fucker for her, for Marcus, for all of them.

  "I'm becoming bi-polar," he mumbled and started the bike, turning to head toward a small bar at the edge of town. He couldn't very well go to Expulsion to dig into Kate's past. She would be right beside him and he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of her.

  He released his thoughts and drove toward an old dive bar near the edge of the plantation homes he so badly wanted to take her to see. Why couldn't they have a simple life? A life filled with the tension of trying to figure each other out? A life that included making a few bad decisions that would lead to building the relationship up with great make-up sex? They could get married eventually and have a couple of kids together. He would work to make her life everything she had once hoped for.

  She had wanted a normal life at one time, right? Jon wasn't sure. They hadn't known each other long enough to really discuss anything of that nature. The last few weeks had been filled with tragedy and horror. The fact that she forgave him for leaving her to deal with Victor's lackey was a miracle. That she didn't get raped and chopped into small pieces was almost too much to consider. She was tough... She was tough for a reason. He needed to know who she was. What made her into the woman she was now.

  He could just go through the file, read up on her and hopefully the information would help him make a decision about what to do next. There was no one to help him work through his next steps, and Kate had made it perfectly clear the last time they spoke that she had to go forward with whatever Victor wanted. Something in her almost seemed to snap as if she wanted to move toward that old lifestyle again.

  Did she?

  Could he?

  No. He never wanted to be a monster again.

  About the Author

  Ali Parker is a contemporary romance writer who is looking to flood the market this year with lots of great, quick reads. For those of you who love a full-length novel, we’ll be boxing up the serial trilogies into a boxset a week after the last release.

  Want to know when Ali releases something new? Join her mailing list HERE!

  You can find her on Facebook and Twitter as well.

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