“I can’t believe you’re even talking to the bastard,” Hal sneered.
Jess stared at her stepdad for a full minute. Her gaze hardened, and her jaw clenched with determination. Then her eyes filled with tears, and she gulped repeatedly.
Sean frowned. Something’s wrong.
“Why, Dad? Because you decided I didn’t want to waste my life with a pig?”
Chapter 12
All the red rage drained from her stepdad’s face. Color kept disappearing until his skin was ashen. Normally, concern would’ve taken over, but Jessie knew this was no heart attack. Mostly because the man must not have a heart, considering what he’d apparently done to her and Sean.
“Well?” she prompted, glaring at him through her tears. She didn’t dare glance at Sean because she’d fall apart.
“Wh-what?” Hal stammered.
“Don’t play dumb, Dad. I overheard you and Sean in the workshop.”
Hal’s expression morphed from stunned to cautious. “I don’t know what you’re babbling about.”
“That’s hard to believe. You’re lying, just like you lied to me about Sean’s phone call.”
“Jess…,” Sean said softly.
Without looking at him, she held up her hand for him to stop. “This doesn’t involve you.”
“Excuse me? It most definitely does,” he countered.
“I can’t deal with both of you right now, okay?” Her voice cracked. “We’ll talk later. Just…wait for me, please.”
“Always.”
She shut her eyes to regain her composure. Battling the sensation of falling, she wondered if this was how Alice felt dropping down the rabbit hole. After several calming breaths, she returned to questioning her stepdad. “Why did you lie to me?”
He bristled. “I don’t know what you think you heard, but I won’t put up with this bullshit.”
He scooted forward to get up, but Sean was beside the recliner before Hal’s feet touched the floor.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said through clenched teeth. “You owe us both an explanation.”
Hal’s gaze darted between the two while he seemed to weigh his options.
Jessie held her breath. She didn’t want another fistfight, but damn if she didn’t feel like pummeling the man herself.
Probably realizing there was no escape, Hal pushed back into the chair. “Fine. What is it you think you heard?”
Sean looked ready to explode, but she didn’t ask him to sit down. His towering presence might do a good job of loosening her stepdad’s tongue.
She swallowed hard. “You called Sean; he didn’t call to talk to me. You told him that I never wanted to see him again because I didn’t want to waste my life with a pig.”
The unbelievable words hung there.
No one spoke. No one moved.
Finally, Hal scrubbed a hand across his face. “Okay, I admit it.”
Her breath hitched at his confession, her trust in him shattering. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t bother trying to wipe away the torrent. The emotional agony became physical, and she whimpered at the searing pain in her chest.
Sean turned to check on her, but she ignored him. She didn’t want to think about what he was feeling.
“Why?” she whispered.
Hal pounded the arm of the recliner. “Because he’s not good enough for you.”
She saw Sean’s hands ball into fists.
“The asshole wouldn’t give up his plan to be a cop. Moving to LA was more important than being here with you.” Hal’s bushy eyebrows pulled together in a scowl. “No way was I going to let you marry a pig.” He spat the last word.
Jessie’s throat was so tight she wasn’t sure she could talk. She kept trying to swallow, but the lump wouldn’t go away. Her voice didn’t even sound like hers when she finally spoke.
“It wasn’t your decision to make. I was okay with Sean being a cop. Of course, I was afraid of the risks, but I knew I could handle it.” She swiped at her tears as agony gave way to anger. “You. Had. No. Right.”
“A father has a responsibility to protect—”
“But you distorted that responsibility to fit your own agenda. You hate cops. I’ve never understood why, but you’re the hater, not me.”
She dabbed at her tears again. How could this be the man who had been her father for twenty-six years? The man who had swooped in, dazzled her mother, and adopted two children without any reservations. How could he have intentionally broken her heart?
Jessie began to shake. Scrunching her eyes shut, she searched for her happy place. But the events of the past two days must’ve destroyed it, for there was no solace anywhere in her mind.
When Sean knelt in front of her, she opened her eyes.
“You should go to bed,” he said. “We can talk tomorrow.”
Her eyes cut to her stepdad, but she couldn’t stand the sight of him. “I…I can’t stay here tonight.”
Sean’s eyes searched hers. “My place?”
She nodded. “I’ll get Callie.”
Jessie raced into her bedroom to grab the duffel bag that was still packed from spending last night away from home. In the other bedroom, she scooped her daughter into her arms and hurried back to the living room. She found Hal brandishing the fireplace poker at Sean.
“Jessie is not spending the night with you.” He jabbed the makeshift weapon at the younger man. “She’s upset. She’s vulnerable. I know your type. You’ll take advantage of her.”
Sean didn’t seem concerned, but he was circling, staying just out of reach.
“Stop it, Dad. Put that down.”
When Hal glanced in her direction, Sean snatched the poker from his hands in a flash. Cursing, Hal lumbered to the front door and turned to face them with his arms outstretched, blocking their exit.
“I’m leaving, Dad. I can’t stand to stay in this house tonight. I suggest you spend the time figuring out how you’re going to convince me to forgive you. Because right now, I sure as hell don’t see how I can.”
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re gonna sit down and listen to me.” Hal’s chest heaved with labored breaths.
“We’re leaving, old man,” Sean growled. “Get out of the way. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
The doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
It rang again.
“Mr. Freeman, it’s Deputy Luke Johnson. I need to ask you some questions regarding your wife’s disappearance,” a voice called from outside.
Hal spun around and yanked the door open. “Arrest this man, Deputy. Sean Burke threatened and…and assaulted me. Arrest him. Do your job, goddamn it.”
Sean gripped Jessie’s arm and pulled her and Callie with him to the door. He elbowed past Hal and pushed through the doorway. Surprised, Luke and a second deputy stepped off the front stoop to make room.
“Question him real good, Deputy Johnson. If you decide to arrest me, you know where to find me,” Sean said as they passed.
* * *
Sean checked the rearview mirror for the hundredth time and let loose a long sigh of relief. Jess wasn’t having problems driving. He didn’t really think she was in any condition to drive, but she’d insisted on taking her car.
Thankfully, Callie had remained asleep through all the commotion and the transfer into her car seat. He rolled his eyes. The contraption had more straps and buckles than an F-16 pilot’s seat.
After parking his truck, Sean jogged over to Jess’s car so he could carry Callie. Halfway to Glenn’s apartment, the little girl opened her eyes and instantly began to wail. Once inside, Jess took her daughter straight to the master bedroom. Did this mean Callie wouldn’t go back to sleep? God, I hope not because Jess and I really need to talk.
Crooning the lyrics to some kid’s song, Jess’s voice drifted into the living room. He marveled that she was able to tamp down her emotions and deal with Callie so calmly. Must be a parent thing.
He fou
nd a beer in the fridge and settled on the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table. After a long swig, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
What a clusterfuck the evening had been. The only good—admittedly, a major good—to come out of it had been the revelation of the truth about their breakup. He frowned. How did he feel now that he knew the truth?
Without opening his eyes, he took another drag of beer. Hard to sort out the influx of emotions, especially for a guy. He groaned mentally and started the inventory.
Relieved? Hell, yes. Jess hadn’t broken his heart; her stepdad had. Cheated? Damn right. The eight years they could’ve been together were gone forever. Resentful? Shit, yeah. How dare that son of a bitch screw up their lives? Hopeful? Maybe. He still loved Jess, but what did she feel for him? Although he’d felt protective of Angela Reardon while investigating her case—which was long before she was Stone’s girlfriend—Sean hadn’t loved Angela or anyone else since Jess. But she’d fallen in love with Drake Hargrove, married him, and had their child. Of course, now she knew the guy was a prick, so at least she wasn’t pining for him. But what scars had her failed marriage left? Had she sworn off love? Or was she looking for a second chance?
He remembered the feel of her beneath him on the hallway floor. The way she’d responded like she wanted him. And he’d made her come last night on the couch with just his fingers. Yeah, their chemistry was still hot.
But those situations could’ve been nothing more than lust. They didn’t tell him a damn thing about what she felt for him. His heart squeezed. Even learning their breakup had been bogus didn’t mean her love would return. Unlike his love, which had never gone away.
“May I join you?” Jess asked.
He opened his eyes. Leaning against the hallway door frame, she looked ready to collapse. No surprise. First her mom, then Drake, and now Hal. Who wouldn’t be on the verge of a total breakdown?
“Sure. Make yourself comfortable,” he said, hopping up. “Wine or beer?”
She straightened. “Wine would be great.”
When he came back, she’d curled up in a corner of the couch, her bare feet on the cushions, her arms wrapped around her bent legs, holding them to her chest. Yep, she was hurting bad. Even her body language was setting up barriers.
Sean handed her the glass of wine and sat down at the opposite end of the couch. He didn’t want to invade her space if she was feeling that vulnerable. And he also decided to wait her out on talking about…anything. As a result, they sat in silence for at least a half hour.
“Dad told me that you said you’d outgrown me,” Jess finally began, so softly Sean had to strain to hear. “Going to college in a big city had opened your eyes to all sorts of opportunities Ramona and I couldn’t offer. He stressed your point that a small-town girl like me would be a burden in a big city like LA,” she continued without looking at him.
When she stopped to take a drink, he responded, “I didn’t say any of that shit, Jess.”
She shrugged. “I know that now, but at the time, it played right into my insecurities. I don’t know how many times I confided in Mom or cried on her shoulder because I was afraid of those very things. Dad might’ve heard me or she could’ve told him.”
“Hal took advantage of your fears.”
“Yeah. It was a smart strategy because it made me believe you were breaking up with me. If he’d said you’d found someone new, I probably wouldn’t have believed him. If he’d said you got cold feet about our relationship, I would’ve known he was lying.”
“Why didn’t you call me? To yell at me if nothing else.”
“Because ‘your’ reasons played on my existing fears, it shot my confidence to hell. I…I just couldn’t bear to talk to you, to hear those awful words from your own lips.” She turned her face toward him. “Why did you believe what Hal told you?”
Sean massaged the back of his neck. “I struggled with it for months, long after I moved to LA and got into the LAPD. What made it marginally believable was his tying it to his own hatred of cops. I figured he’d finally had enough time to brainwash you into feeling the same way.”
“And you didn’t call me because…?”
He grimaced. “Are you sure you want to know? It won’t make you feel any better about what he did…to us.”
Jess squared her shoulders. “I want to know everything.”
“Okay.” He sighed and hoped she was really ready for another dirty little secret. “Hal threatened that if I tried to contact you, he’d accuse me of…” He gulped.
“Of what?”
“Of…raping you.”
She gasped. “Was he out of his mind?”
“Didn’t sound like it to me back then. Of course, I was only twenty-one. He was very convincing. He said that if he couldn’t get me actually charged with rape without your cooperation, he could still make enough of a stink to keep me from ever getting hired by any law enforcement agency.” He shrugged with defeat. “I believed him. And when you never called, I decided you agreed to go along with his threat. Then, well, I gave up hoping…for a miracle.” He ran his hand across his mouth and chin. “Look at the bright side. Now we know the truth.”
“But it’s too late for the truth to set me free.” Jess’s lips quivered. She put her hand over her mouth to try to still them. One tear and then another and another created a stream to her chin. Her chest jerked with silent sobs. “You don’t understand the extent of the consequences of what Dad did.”
Oh God, he wanted to scoot across the couch and take her in his arms, kiss her until her pain went away. But her body language still said Don’t touch me. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I do.”
She set her glass down with a distinct thunk. “No, you don’t. No one can. I never admitted this to anyone.”
What is she talking about? He waited.
She drew a tremulous breath. “I…I never loved Drake.”
Sean swallowed the cheer rising in his throat. C’mere, Jess, come to me, he pleaded with his eyes.
But she didn’t move.
“He’d been hitting on me for months. He was hot and rich and drove a convertible BMW. Other girls on campus thought it was cool that he was from Chicago and fawned all over him, but I wasn’t interested. I became a challenge, and he just wouldn’t give up. Later, I figured out he wasn’t used to being told no…by anyone.”
Sean’s jaw tightened. And he still isn’t.
“After the breakup, I agreed to go out with him. He swept me off my feet easily because I was so vulnerable on the rebound. Before I knew it, we were married, and I was living in Chicago. I hated it. But I tried. I honestly did. I just didn’t fit in with his wealthy friends and relatives. Drake’s family shunned me. I became the burden I believed you said I’d be in LA. It was like the prediction came true, just with another man in another city. Drake resented that I wasn’t what he’d hoped for. He became verbally abusive. When I got pregnant, he was even angrier, although his parents’ attitude changed immensely. They doted on Callie, but they couldn’t run interference for either of us. The last straw was when Drake started being verbally abusive to Callie.”
Her dark chocolate eyes swam with tears and pain when she looked at him.
“God, Jess, I’m sorry. I’d do anything to erase those bad times.”
“But you can’t, and neither can I. And worse, they changed me. Some stupid stuff, like fear of the dark and being isolated. But also in ways I can’t really explain.”
His eyes narrowed. What is she trying to tell me? I’m not going to sit back and let her push me away. Not after what she just admitted about not loving Drake.
“Babe,” he breathed, “maybe I can’t erase your past with Drake, but I can make your future better.”
She shook her head, hopelessness flowing off her in waves. “I have too much baggage. And it’s only getting worse.”
Enough. He couldn’t stand to see her in agony a second longer.
Sean scooted across the couch. Be
fore she could react, he lifted her onto his lap and enveloped her in his arms. His lips found hers, and he let his kiss do the talking.
At first, she resisted. But slowly, very slowly, she went from board-rigid to relaxed to melting. She wiggled around until she straddled his lap. Her hands went behind his head, her fingers playing in the hair at his nape.
As their tongues tangoed, desire shot to his groin. He couldn’t stop his dick from swelling into a lightning rod, but he didn’t have to act on it. He refused to prove Hal right by taking advantage of Jess when she was so vulnerable. But it was going to be damn difficult because he wanted to make love to her so badly.
Her breasts pushed against his chest like she couldn’t get close enough. Through their clothes, the heat in her crotch burned his dick. If she didn’t quit riding the rigid line, he was going to embarrass himself.
“Sean,” she gasped, “help me escape for a while.”
He came up for air, too. “Like last night?”
Her head lolled back, and he left a trail of kisses down her neck to the hollow at the base. “No. More.”
“Babe, it wouldn’t be right.”
She pressed herself harder against his dick. He groaned as his hard-on went into overdrive.
“It was always right with you, Sean.”
“Jess,” he pleaded, “have mercy.”
“No.” Her hands dug between their bodies and found his zipper.
He covered her fumbling fingers with his hand. “Are you sure this is what you want? Are you sure it’s a good idea?”
“Damn sure.”
“Well, hell, who am I to disagree?” he murmured.
He swatted the two sofa pillows, sending them to the floor. Grasping Jess’s waist, he lifted her off him and laid her on the cushions. She unzipped her own shorts while he undid his.
The moment his stiff dick sprang free, the doorbell rang.
Chapter 13
What’s that noise? Jessie’s mind tried to focus through the sexual haze, but her hands continued to tug at her shorts to get them down her hips. The sound interrupted her frenzy again. She shook off the confusion. Screw it. I want Sean.
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