by M. Merin
“I stopped to pick up bread and your red velvet cupcakes,” I sob.
I kiss Danny’s sweet face as Shade lays kisses across my forehead. “He’s safe, Jessa.”
“We need to get them checked out, Shade,” Flint says from beside us and I see we’ve trapped him in the kitchen.
“My truck. Now.” Michaels says from behind Shade, and we get moving without another word. “You too, Flint. And, you better be packing.”
Walking outside we see Royce being loaded into the ambulance and Officer Smith taking Molly’s statement. She gives me a little wave and I try to muster a smile for her.
“I forgot his car seat,” I say as Shade hands me our son after I buckle myself into the backseat.
“Best to get a new one, between glass and possible damage to the frame of the carrier,” Michaels says as he gets in.
“I have another one at the house,” Shade replies. “Where are we heading?”
“Hospital first. Then we’ll figure something out,” Flint says as he gets into the front seat. I just nod and continue to hold tight to my son, happy to have Shade’s arms wrapped around us.
“By the time you get checked out, I should have some information on what happened. Just throwing out a guess, but I would imagine this attack was meant to hurt you, Shade?” Michaels asks, looking back at us in his rear view mirror.
Shade doesn’t say a word, he just holds me tighter.
“I love you,” he whispers after a moment. “I can’t lose you. Either of you.”
Michaels
Halfway to Shade’s house, the call about an explosion in the square comes over the radio and I have no choice but to turn around. Turning the final corner, Shade starts flipping out in the back seat – his partial sentences make no sense to me until I look up and see what exploded.
Jessa’s new truck is before us, the back half only scarred by flames while the front half is all twisted metal. Beyond that is the bakery, where the paramedics are wheeling someone out and the firefighters are standing in the blown out window.
Jesus. Not Jessa and Danny. My heart starts accelerating and I understand the pain that I hear in Shade’s voice.
I get out of my truck and open the back door, yanking him out. He yells her name as I’m undoing his cuffs; Tanker sticks his head out of the shop and points toward the back area. Shade runs off and I follow slowly behind him, taking in all the damage.
Smith sees me and turns away from Molly, I simply hold up my hand. “You’re in charge, brief me in two hours.”
I stop a couple feet behind the family that is holding each other so tenderly. Their infant son, gently cradled in both of their arms, the love that Shade has for them is clear as day on his face. Looking past them, my eyes lock with Flint’s and a world of understanding passes between us.
As of this moment, Shade is not Public Enemy Number One. Right now, he’s a man who almost lost the only people that matter to him. People that my wife and I care about, also. Last week I wanted to lock him up and throw away the key. This is a game changer though.
No one comes into my fucking town and tries to kill a woman and infant.
I bark at them to follow me, including that wily, old bastard Flint for good measure. Watching as they all pile into my truck, I drive to the hospital. A million thoughts racing through my head, mainly of how to hide them until we can figure this out.
Smirking to myself, I shoot Flint a look at the irony of this. With what I’m thinking, I know I’ll be in bed with the Grizzlies on this. The look on his face is sympathetic, understanding how much that thought pisses me off.
Pulling up to a side entrance of the hospital that Tabby told me about, I get them inside and send a nurse scurrying for a doctor. They’re quickly taken to a private exam room and I pull Flint down the hall to a storage closet for a discussion.
I grimace when I open the door. The last time I was in here, I licked Tabby to an orgasm or two. Different fucking kind of day.
“Who’s after Shade,” I turn on Flint.
He exhales deeply before talking. “We wish we knew. It started a year ago. He was ambushed and we agreed he’d stay away until things cooled down. It seemed to go away and he came back. Even you guessed he was set up for Roth’s murder, so whoever it is has been watching and biding their time.
“Now, you level with me, Michaels. Are you bringing your team in on this, or can we keep it between us?” Flint glares at me.
“I am biased towards a legitimate arrest here, Flint,” I return his stare. “But whoever did this crossed my fucking line by going after those two, so I’m willing to find some common ground here. This one time.”
“I’ll speak for the others and agree that common ground works,” Flint agrees after a moment. “That doesn’t mean we’re going full disclosure with you; that’s for your own good as well as ours.”
I reach my hand out and his firm grip accepts the terms of our deal.
Flint’s phone rings as I’m reaching for the door knob and his boot stops the door from opening, as he accepts the call.
“Go,” comes his terse greeting to whoever’s on the line.
After that, his eyes widen and he makes a series of grunts as the person who called him continues to speak.
“Jasper, hold up.” He finally lets me know who he’s talking to. “I’m with Michaels, he’s gonna help us with this situation within certain boundaries. Let me put you on speaker and have you repeat that first part. Yeah, we shook on it.”
“Sheriff,” Jasper’s voice is loud in the small room we’re in. “I sent Gunner and Jake out to Shade’s place. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any surprises waiting at that end. The living room had a message spray painted across it: A son for a son.”
“So, we’re looking at a revenge hit.” I quickly wave my hand up at Flint’s look. “I understand that I’m officially working off the assumption that Shade is completely innocent. Hypothetically, if Shade was in the murder-for-hire business, I would guess that Wrench has been picking apart the victims from the past few years. If he has any names that I can look into, he can drop them off at my house.
“Now, it’s a bit bare, but I have a rental property that’s sitting empty right now. It backs right up to the woods with a fire trail about hundred feet from the tree line. That makes for easy access for whoever you send to keep an eye on them. I know you have a safe house of your own but we don’t know how long this guy’s been watching and I’m turning into the wild card in all this.”
“Where does that leave us with the court-ordered ankle bracelet?” Flint asks. That had slipped my mind.
“Got someone that can sit at his house for a week or so?” I try. “Granted, whoever’s after him may be stopping by again.”
“Yeah, I think I know someone who’ll volunteer for that,” Jasper responds. “Text me the address of your property.”
“Amy knows where it is. I’d rather not leave a fucking trail if this all goes south.” I get a smirk from Flint in response to me trying to cover my ass.
“I owe you,” Jaspers say before disconnecting the call.
“We all do,” Flint says behind me as I hit the hallway to head back down to the room Jessa was taken to.
Opening the door, I see something I never imagined in a million years. Shade is holding his son and making faces – getting gurgles and spit bubbles for his effort. I’ve known who and what this man is for a long time now.
For years I told myself, it wasn’t so important that I bust the Grizzlies for something major; all that mattered was sending a guy like Shade Hall to death row.
Internally, I’m still certain that he is a hitman. But there’s this funny little thing. I don’t have a shred of fucking proof, just a string of murders that stopped a year ago. There are some crimes that give guys like him a rush: arson, murder, rape. They pick their favorite and stick with it. My training tells me they don’t stop cold once they get a taste of that rush.
And now, what I see in front of me tel
ls me something completely different from what I’ve always thought. Shade looks at Jessa and Danny with absolute devotion and love. It’s not my place to convict him without evidence, but I find myself softening. Wanting to believe he can be a better man.
“Danny checked out fine,” he’s still smiling down on his son when he finally acknowledges my presence. “Jessa’s gonna have one hell of a bruise on her chin, they took her for an x-ray because of her head injury a couple weeks back. But I got lucky today.”
My phone rings, I pick up and listen to Officer Smith give me the initial findings before I hang up.
“The bomb was on a timer,” I tell him.
“Jessa stopped to get me a treat,” he shifts away from me, but not before I see the tears in his eyes.
“Flint and I have a little plan forming. I’m going to need you to trust me,” I tell him.
“I have to make sure they’re safe, Michaels. I’m gonna pussy out and do what you say because they mean so damn much to me,” Shade stands and extends a hand to me.
“My dad always said one sign of being a man was knowing when to ask for, to accept, help,” I grip his hand and he nods in reply to me letting him off the hook.
“When I found her again, Michaels. I didn’t know you were married, I thought you had a thing for her and was a bigger dick than usual to you…”
“Tabby’s my world. She and I care a lot about Ellie, Jessa, and Danny. I mean, I’m not going to invite you over for the holidays or shit like that, Shade. But we’re together in this. Right now,” I respond, letting go of his hand as the door behind me opens and Jessa is wheeled in.
Her eyes widen but she waits for the nurse to leave before speaking.
“They didn’t think I had a concussion but maybe I’m hallucinating?” She tilts her head at us and we both chuckle. “Wait! Let me see your hands! Maybe one of you has burn marks? Like with demons,” she continues on in a loud whisper.
“I’m going to call the white coats if you keep that up, Jessa,” I laugh at her.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers?” She’s on a roll, I guess.
“Might not be a bad idea, Michaels,” Shade smiles over at me, making me chuckle again. Mostly because I can see her point.
“Wait?! Now you two are ganging up on ME?” Her jaw drops. “And, I’M the crazy one?”
Chapter 17
Shade
Flint barrels into the room next. It’s really starting to get crowded.
“I got a diversion set up, so if everyone’s ready to roll?” He announces.
“Diversion?” Jessa asks, having missed a few things.
“We’re getting the three of you to a safe house,” Michaels inserts. “Going to sneak you out of here.”
“No – what about Ellie? Is she going to be safe?” Jessa points out who we forgot to cover. “Roy is traveling; I don’t want her all alone at home.”
“Shit,” Michaels picks up his phone. “Ellie, hi, listen…” He doesn’t get any further before handing the phone to Jessa.
“No, we’re alright, Auntie. I promise.” Jessa reaches a hand out to stroke Danny’s head as she looks around embarrassed. “I know. I’m so sorry. I, well, my phone…I think it was in the truck. Look, I need you to listen to Michaels. Do exactly as he says, alright?”
Michaels takes his phone back and gives her orders to stay inside the station house until he gets to her.
“I was so shaken up,” tears are swimming in Jessa’s big brown eyes again. “I didn’t even think to call her. Molly did, and when Smith got back to the station he repeated what Molly had told her.”
“Hush now, she’ll understand,” I try to keep her calm.
“Flint, is Royce alright?” Jessa turns to him next as she grips my hand and looks up at me. “He was behind me walking into the bakery; his bare arms were all cut up.”
“Pretty momma, look at me,” I use my free arm to pull her in close to Danny and me. “Everything’s gonna be alright, but we gotta focus on getting out of here now. We need to do what Michaels and Flint tell us, alright?”
She nods and leans into my body. Looking over her head, I nod at my unlikely ally and wait for his orders.
*
Twenty minutes later, we’ve exited from the far end of the hospital and are lying in the back of an old car. Jessa’s on the seat with Danny in her arms, and I swear Michaels is getting his revenge at the contortion routine it took me to spread across the foot well. Bastard.
“Hit another pothole and you’ll be taking me right back to that hospital, you asshole!” I growl at him.
“Switch spots with me,” Jessa says, not for the first time.
“You’re beat up enough, Rosy,” I smile up at her, flinching when he hits another hole.
“Mike? Please be careful,” Jessa adds her plea to mine. “Um, do we know what we’re going to do for diapers and food?”
“We have it covered, Jessa,” Michaels announces. “The cabin’s about ten minutes from my place and Tabby was at home, so she raided our food and extra clothes to stock it while you were being x-rayed. Diapers might get dicey from the smell of things back there but Jasper said someone would drop them off tonight.”
We stay quiet after that. Soon arriving to the one bedroom cabin, we look around before Michaels takes off.
“Your Brothers are stationed all around the property; they came in through the fire road. Someone will be by after dark.” He heads out to his truck.
“What do I do for a phone?” I ask, having given mine to Flint before we left the hospital.
“Best not to have one, right now,” he calls back, getting into his truck. “If we need to get word to you, we’ll call one of the guys staking out the property.”
I close and bolt the door; leaning my forehead against it, I can’t help but worry about how to protect my family.
“He ate like a little piglet and fell right asleep,” comes Jessa’s sweet voice from the bedroom doorway. “I found a couple old T-shirts in that dresser and doubled them up to made a diaper for him, with a towel under him.”
Turning, I stalk towards her and lift her; continuing on to the old couch pushed back against the windows.
I put her on it and spreading her legs, I kneel between them.
“Forgive me?” I stare up into her startled eyes, before my gaze lowers to the bruise on her chin. “It never fucking occurred to me…fuck! What I’ve done in my life, it never occurred to me that I’d have someone like you. And a baby. That the shit I’ve done would ever touch anyone but me.
“I’d take it all back. Jessa, I’d take everything I’ve done back to spare you any…”
She puts one hand over my mouth and her other behind my head. Her soft, brown eyes hold mine as the silence between us stretches out.
“That night you parked outside the station? When I went back inside, Michaels came out of his office. He had a file of over thirty unsolved cases, something he’s been working on for a while. They all occurred within a hundred miles of a Northern Grizzlies Chapter. They were all a little different but he was sure they were all your kills.
“I knew before I told you about Danny, Shade. I knew long before you told me yourself,” Jessa takes a deep breath. “You and I may as well have grown up in different universes. But as I paged through the file, I saw the men he suspected you killed. Pimps, dealers, pedophiles, suspected murderers - ”
“Stop, Jessa. I never asked why. I just took the jobs. I’ve lived with two different chapters and took the files the presidents assigned me. Didn’t care who, I just needed to feel…” my voice drifts off. I don’t even know how to explain.
“I did look, Shade. There were a few that didn’t seem so bad. I don’t know, I guess I kind of thought of you like that serial killer on the TV show. You killed the bad guys,” she shrugs. “The way you’ve protected me? The way you are with Danny? You seem so different this year than when we met, I – Jesus, I sound so naïve but I don’t think you’re the same man you were.”
“Let’s get through this alive. Then we can have deeper talks,” she kisses me. “Like I said before, I’m with you. I love you, and…”
It’s my turn to cut her off. I open her jeans and reach a finger up to her lips when she squeals. Looking towards the bedroom where she left Danny sleeping, I continue to tug her jeans down.
Spreading her legs wider, I move my thumbs up to lightly caress the edges of her soft lips. A sigh escapes her mouth as I feel her pussy dampen. Pushing both thumbs inside her, I circle them around – then move the wetness up along her before I duck my head down and dive in.
I haven’t spent enough time down here but that’s all about to change. The honey that seeps from her body makes me groan. I slide my hands under her ass and shift her so I can slide my tongue deeper into her core. Swirling it around, I feel her juices coating my lips and chin; feeling that she’s getting close, I swipe my tongue up the length of her until I reach my goal. Her clit.
It’s swollen and her hips arch up at my first contact with it. Jamming my mouth down to give Jessa what she needs, I suck. I kiss. I massage her sweetness until she explodes. Her hands have fisted in my hair, pulling me closer to her but I doubt she notices it and I don’t care.
Jessa
My head is lolling back on the couch and my fingers are still gripping Shade’s head as the aftershocks from my orgasm start to fade.
“I need to be in you, Rosy,” he whispers, staring up at me. “I need to feel you.”
The pain in his eyes breaks my heart and as terrifying as today was for me, I know he needs this comfort as much as I do. Understanding that he doesn’t have condoms with him, I quickly calculate the number of days that I’ve been on the pill.
I’m not entirely sure how smart this is but right now, making love to Shade is more important than any consequence. Peeling my T-shirt off, I nudge him back and slide off the couch so I’m in front of him. My lips meet his as my hands go to work on removing his belt and opening his jeans.