“I love you, Jack,” I whisper.
“Love you, too, beautiful,” he murmurs back, placing yet another gentle kiss on my lips. “Gotta go,” he says, pulling away and walking to the door, but before he leaves, he turns around with a sultry smile spreading across his face and says, “Baby.”
“Yeah?”
“Gonna fuck you in the shower when I get home, then gonna make love to you in our bed.”
“Look forward to it, gorgeous,” I say, watching as he turns and walks out the door.
Jack
As I climb into the GTO, my brain’s still trying to absorb what Devon told me on the phone not ten minutes ago. Apparently Juan is an acquaintance of Dag’s. Actually, he’s more than an acquaintance, he’s apparently Dag’s baby mama’s half-brother, and they’ve know each other pretty much their whole fucking lives. Once again, how the fuck did we miss that kind of info?
I shove the key in the ignition and turn it until I hear the rumble of the engine cut in, then pull out of the parking garage and head toward Juan’s house. According to Devon, he has a long rap sheet, which includes charges of gun dealing that occurred ten years ago.
I missed this because I’ve been too caught up with getting Payton back. Now that I’ve finally got her, I remember the day I visited her at Pulse and Dag showed up. When Juan came around the bar, Payton had introduced the two men, and Juan was acting shady. Should’ve noticed that shit. Fuckin’ rookie mistake.
Ten minutes later, I pull to the side of the road, parking in front of Juan’s bungalow. I wait for my back up to show before making my way to question Payton’s boss. After another thirty minutes go by, and Devon still hasn’t shown, I try calling him on his cell, but it goes straight to voice mail. I lose my patience, get out of my car, and head toward the house solo. I knock on the front door and wait. The door opens and there stands Juan’s wife, Bianca.
“Jack, what are you doing here?” she asks.
“Came to see Juan. He in?” I ask, already knowing that he is.
“The bar doesn’t open until three, so he’s home until then. Come in,” she says, standing aside, motioning for me to walk through the door.
“Juan, there’s someone here to see you,” she yells down the hallway as she shows me into their homey little living room.
“Sit, make yourself comfortable,” Bianca tells me. I’m too anxious right now, and the thought of sitting still on the sofa doesn’t work for me. I pace back and forth while she watches me, waiting for Juan to join us in the room.
A couple of minutes later the man makes an appearance. “Jack? What’s going on? Is there something wrong with Payton?” he asks, concerned.
“Payton’s fine, no thanks to you,” I accuse him.
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” he snarls.
“Found out you’re acquainted with Diego Sanchez. That’s he’s the father to your sister’s baby. And you both have been in trouble with the law—involving the sale of illegal weapons. Gonna take you into the station, get this shit sorted,” I inform him as I walk over toward him with my cuffs in hand.
“Where the fuck did you get that information?” he asks, angrily.
“Doesn’t fucking matter,” I hiss at him.
“Sure as fuck does, when it’s bullshit. I’m clean, never been in trouble with the law before. Haven’t even gotten a parking ticket. As for having a sister, I’m one of four boys in the family. So, like I asked you before, where’d you get your fucking information?” he barks out.
“He’s telling the truth,” Bianca backs him. She walks over to a built-in bookshelf and grabs a photo album, bringing it over to me. I flip through page after page of family photos with Juan and his family over the past twenty years or so. No signs of a sister in any of them. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
Devon Ryan. My fucking partner. The guy that’s been trying to convince me that Payton’s been involved with this shit the whole fucking time. Why would he give me false information?
Jesus Christ! He’s the fifth.
Payton
I’m downstairs in the kitchen, standing at the island pouring myself a bowl of cereal, and at the same time, having a conversation with the adorable Officer Langston. Of course, because I’m not paying attention to what I’m doing, my bowl overflows and Cheerios spill out on the counter and the floor.
“Shit!” Oh well, no point in crying over spilt cereal, right? I look around for a blasted broom, but can’t find it anywhere. I make a mental note to ask Jack where he keeps it stashed. I remember packing up my little hand-held vacuum before I moved, and it’s still in a box upstairs in the closet.
“Be right back,” I tell my bodyguard before running up the stairs to the bedroom. I locate the box shoved into the far right corner of the closet. Upon opening the box, I immediately see the vacuum right on top of everything else. As I take it out, I can’t help but notice the canister’s full, so I head into the bathroom to empty it. When I pull it apart to dump the contents I hear a clanging sound as something heavier than dirt drops into the trashcan.
I lower my head to see what it is, and that’s when I notice the silver USB jump drive. I recall the last time I used it and then remember it was in my car. Holy shit! That’s what those assholes were after! I’ve got to call Jack to let him know, and I’ve got to get downstairs to my laptop to check out what’s on this blasted thing. I reach for my phone on top of the dresser and call Jack’s cell.
Jack
Before I left Juan’s I tried calling Payton, but it went to voice mail. Now as I race toward our condo, I tag my phone from my front pocket, ready to call her again, but my phone starts ringing. It’s Payton.
I pick up and say, “Baby, listen to me. Don’t let …”
Before I can finish warning her about Devon, she says to me in an excited tone, “I found the USB, Jack. I’m just going to run downstairs and see … what the fuck?” Then I hear a gunshot, and the phone goes dead.
Oh shit! Jesus, no! Do not let this be happening again. I increase my speed knowing I’m approximately a minute away from her. Please don’t be too late. If anything’s happened to Payton, I’m going to be spending the rest of my life in prison because I’m going to kill that fucking bastard. Partner or not! As I’m driving toward home, I call Payton’s cell and get nothing but voicemail again. Fuck!
I call it into the station, requesting back up. Even though I know I’ll get there before them, I won’t be waiting. I’m barging in there with my gun loaded and the motherfucking safety off.
I pull into the lot of our condo, not bothering with the parking garage—wastes too much time. I burst out of the car, leaving the door wide open and run as fast as I can toward the building. I press the elevator button … nothing happens. Panic starts to build. Fuck it, I’m taking the stairs. I fly up the stairway, taking the steps three at a time. When I get to the top, my heart’s pumping wildly in my chest, and my head’s pounding. Fucking shit! Before entering the apartment I take a quick look at the ceiling and close my eyes. If there’s a God, please let me not be too late!
I open my eyes, pull in a deep breath, and open the door to our home.
The scene before me brings me up solid—ice flowing through my veins.
Langston’s lying dead in a pool of blood on the living room floor, with his gun in hand, and a bullet to the head. From behind the stairs walks my girl looking scared out of her ever-loving mind, with the barrel of a gun pressed to her temple. Next, walks the man holding that gun, wearing a malicious grin on his face, and my stomach lurches. His free arm snakes around Payton’s waist as he uses her body as a shield. My hands are shaking, but they both steady as I raise my sidearm and take aim at the head of the man that I trusted with my life.
“Just tell my why. Why you’re fucking standing there with a motherfucking gun pointed at the woman that I love? Because this shit’s not making any sense.” I direct at the piece of shit holding my future in his hands.
“Not on
ly does this bitch have the USB containing the password to the storage unit holding my guns, which, by the way, is going to make me a very rich man, but she also holds the evidence that can put me in prison for the rest of my life. Diego got greedy, tried to blackmail me into giving him more money for the guns. I ended that little shit. In case you haven’t figured it out by now Jacky-boy, I’m a dirty cop,” he hisses between his teeth and presses the gun against Payton’s temple harder, causing her to whimper. I can’t take my eyes away from this bastard. If I miss something, it could mean the end for Payton, and then not long after, it’ll be the end for him … and then me.
Payton
I can’t believe this is happening right now. My eyes are squeezed shut as I feel the cool metal of the revolver pressed against my head. I can still smell the gunpowder odor lingering from where he shot Officer Langston at point blank range.
“Is Devon involved with this shit, too?” Jack inquires.
“No, I’ve been feeding him wrong information. He knows nothing.” D.W. answers.
“How long?” Jack asks.
“How long have I been dirty? Since you were in diapers, boy. I’m doing all right now, but when your father and I first started out, the pay was shit. One day during patrol, I stumbled across something I shouldn’t have and was paid a considerable amount to look the other way. I realized then I could be rolling in it and, before long, I wasn’t only covering things for asshole criminals, I started my own endeavors, and I was doing pretty well for myself.”
“Shit!” Jack hisses.
“You sure you want to hear the whole story, son?” he asks.
“Don’t fucking call me that!” Jack snaps at him, his jaw clenching.
“Your father was much the same as you are—protective and loyal to a fault. He was born to be a policeman and loved every underpaid minute of it. He was also smart like you; too smart. He sensed there was something wrong, and one day tailed me to a weapons deal. He threatened me with going to our Captain, but I laughed at him because he didn’t have any proof. The last words I ever heard from my partner’s mouth was ‘I’ll get the damn proof.’ And I knew he would. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to end him. The next day, he was gunned down by gang members in his driveway in front of his only son,” he confesses.
“You were his partner, his ‘brother’… he fucking trusted you!” Jack shouts, his eyes glassy from the pain of hearing how the man he thought of as another father figure betrayed his father.
“He was, and honest to God, I didn’t want to do it, but if I let him go, he’d turn on me. I wouldn’t make it in prison,” he says softly.
“You can end this now. You’re not going to hurt her. Let Payton go,” he pleads, but I can tell by the grip on my waist that D.W. has no intentions of doing that.
“Still don’t get it do you, son? I’m in too deep now, and there’s no fucking way I’m going to prison, which is exactly what’s going to happen if I let her go. And you’re wrong if you think I won’t hurt her. It didn’t stop me from killing your precious Julie when you were sticking your nose where it didn’t belong. I needed to do something to keep you from looking too deeply. It was supposed to be you—did you know that? So don’t think for a fucking second that I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in her brain,” he says, taunting Jack. “Now, lower your fucking gun!”
I watch in disbelief as Jack lowers his weapon. This cocksucking motherfucker is going down, and I know just what to do.
Jack
I can’t believe he had my family, and the whole fucking police force, me included, fooled. My heart’s heavy and my stomach’s in knots with the knowledge of all this man has robbed from me.
My hand’s shaking against my hip, and I feel like I’m going to lose grip on my gun. My eyes slide over to Payton’s for the first time since seeing D.W. As our gazes lock onto each other’s, her eyes no longer hold fear in them, but absolute trust, and she only verifies this for me when she softly says, “I trust you, Jack.”
That’s when I know he’s done with taking from me. No fucking more. His days are finally coming to an end. Without hesitation, I raise my arm up and take aim again. The shakes disappear once more as I watch D.W.’s finger twitch on the trigger. I fire one shot and hit my target like I always do. Game over, asshole!
Payton screams as his body slumps to the floor. She rushes over to me, covered in his blood, and throws herself into my embrace. The shakes come back big time, and my legs give out. I was so fucking scared that I was going to lose her. She falls with me to the floor, her hands holding onto the sides of my face as she presses her lips over and over again, all over my jaw, face and lips.
I grab her jaw with one of my hands, stilling her movements. “I thought I’d lost you, baby. I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life,” I murmur against her soft lips. My face nuzzles into the crook of her neck, and I breathe in her sweet coconut scent. God, I didn’t think I’d ever get to have this again. This time I didn’t fail the woman I love.
Chapter 24
Serenade
The men D.W. worked with are all in jail awaiting trial for kidnapping and gun smuggling charges. Evidence on the jump drive hidden in my car linked them to California’s largest illegal weapons shipment. They’re looking at twenty-five years to life in prison. The ATF and Jack’s team are fighting tooth and nail to make sure that happens. I hope that they never see daylight through free eyes again, but unfortunately, that might not happen. The District Attorney thinks it’s a slam-dunk case. Hopefully, I’ll be sleeping easy soon with the knowledge they’re going to be serving a minimum of twenty-five years before being eligible for parole. Those fuckers deserve every bit of torture I’m sure they’ll receive in prison. It doesn’t hurt that my man has a few contacts behind those walls and started a few nasty rumors.
Since the truth about Jack’s father’s death and everything about D.W’s secret life has come out into the open, his family has refused contact with the De Lucas. His mother is absolutely devastated by their actions because they’ve always been considered an extended part of their family. He was the father Jack and his sisters never got to grow up with. He helped heal the wounds of Mr. De Luca’s death, and to find out he was part of the reason for it, well, it shattered Jack and his family. For Donna and her daughters, to just stop all communication hurts them immensely. In a way, I can see it being their way of coping. The death of a husband and father is a lot to take in, and the fact that Jack was the one who killed him doesn’t help matters. I hope time will heal their wounds and they can repair the relationship between themselves and the De Lucas.
Jack struggled with his emotions after he shot and killed D.W. and was required to attend some mandatory counseling sessions with the department’s psychologist. The doctor determined that he wasn’t suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and was cleared to return to active duty.
After having invested almost a year of his life to the gun smuggling case, Jack took some much needed time off and surprised me with a trip to Hawaii. We spent two full weeks soaking up as much sun and each other as possible.
That was over a month ago, and since then, I haven’t seen too much of my best friend. Between our work schedules, her kiddies, and of course, our possessive alpha males, we just haven’t been able to arrange the time to see each other. Ella called me earlier this morning asking me to meet her for a drink at Wilde Ride around two o’clock. I can’t wait to see her again because I really need me some quality Ella time.
Stepping out of my car in the parking lot of their bar, I notice Ella’s ginormous truck already in the parking lot. I casually walk up to the front entrance and push the door open. Someone should’ve really prepared me for the sight that I’m witnessing. It takes every bit of strength I have to keep standing upright.
In the darkened bar sits hundreds of candles in varying sizes on every imaginable surface. The place is filled with all of the people I love. All of mine and Jack’s friends and family are filling the room,
looking at me with happy eyes and wide smiles. What the fuck’s going on here? Suddenly, my heart starts rapidly thudding in my chest, my palms are sweaty, and butterflies are fluttering like crazy in my stomach.
I glance around the bar, looking for the one person I really want to see. Jack. He’s nowhere to be seen. That is, until Ryder, Ella, and Jack’s sisters shift to the side, revealing him. Jack’s sitting on a bar stool with his guitar resting on his lap. He’s looking all kinds of sexy right now—wearing his usual faded low-rise jeans, motorcycle boots, and a snug white t-shirt. His hair’s got that whole just-rolled-out-of-bed look that I love so much, and his eyes are bright and happy. His mouth pulls at the corners into a sexy, lopsided grin. What the hell is he up to?
I watch, still in shock, as he suddenly goes serious and starts strumming his guitar. The melody he’s playing is so beautiful. Then he adds his amazing voice by singing the song, “So Sweet” by Casey James. As Jack’s low tone serenades me, I absorb the meaning in the lyrics. He’s telling me through music that he fell in love the moment he saw me and can’t imagine what life would be like without me. Goose bumps spread all over my body.
Our gazes never stray from each other throughout his whole performance—even after the song has ended and he’s walking toward me. I just stand there, transfixed and mesmerized by him. Why is he kneeling? Is he doing what I think he’s going to do? Yep. I’m definitely going to have a heart attack now. My trance is broken when I see him pulling a ring out of his jeans pocket. Then he speaks, “I found love when I was seventeen, but I lost it. Never thought I’d ever feel it again, but then you came into my life, and the moment I saw you, I knew that I found it again. Took us way too long to get our shit together, and like I told you before, I’m done wasting time. I love you, Payton. Will you marry me?”
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