Dirty Money

by Denise Grover Swank

  “You’re gonna have to trust me,” I said, echoing what she’d told me time and again over the last couple of days.

  I could see she didn’t want to. She wanted to take the money and hand it over to Carson herself. Lowering her face to mine, she said in an undertone, “I need to make this right.”

  “You already have,” I said. “You’re leaving Jed be and you’re lettin’ me handle the money. We’re good.”

  “So this is where we part ways?” she asked, sounding sad.

  If I’d been smart, I would have called the police on the drive back to the garage, but I’d worried Jed and I would get caught up in the mess. It would be impossible to call them and have them arrive in time to catch her now. But I couldn’t help wondering if that wasn’t such a bad thing. Not yet. I knew Kate had unfinished business with a few people back in Dallas. Hopefully she’d put a halt to what she’d started. “You have to get back to Dallas to smooth things over. Who knows what Paula Manchester is up to.” Then I added, “That is, if you want to go back. Maybe you should just run.”

  She slowly shook her head. “I’m not done with Hardshaw yet.”

  I’d been counting on that answer. I wasn’t done with them either, not by a long shot, but now didn’t seem like a good time to tell her that.

  “If we were a normal family, this is where we’d hug,” she said. “But I’m not a hugger.”

  “Too bad,” I said, lifting my arm around her neck and pulling her close, the barrel of her gun pressed against my chest. “I am.”

  She barely hugged me back, but I took it as a good sign that she didn’t shove me away or shoot me.

  “Mr. Sexy’s car key fob is in his pocket. And sorry about his headache.” She wandered over to him, staring down at him as though he were an exhibit at a zoo. My heart started to race when she squatted only a couple of feet away from him, resting the rifle across her thighs.

  I started to reach around my back for my gun. “Kate…”

  “Calm down, little sis,” she said, casting a glance back at me before turning her focus back to Jed. “You better do my sister right, or I’ll come back and make you sorry for the day you met her.”

  Jed’s jaw clenched as he stared up at her. “I’ve never hurt her. Ever. All I’ve ever done is protect her…unlike you.”

  Her mouth lifted into a grin, but she didn’t look as certain as before, which made me nervous. “Things change, Mr. Sexy.”

  “Not for me,” he said. “I will always do whatever it takes to protect Neely Kate, do you understand what I’m sayin’?”

  Kate’s back tensed. “You’re not exactly in a place to be negotiating.”

  “Who the hell said I was negotiatin’?” he spat. “I’m doin’ my damnedest to threaten you.”

  I sucked in a breath, ready to pull out my gun and shoot her if need be. Still, I let Jed say his piece, because he needed to, and I couldn’t help thinking she needed to hear it.

  A smile stretched across her face. “Oh, I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. And as a reward for being so loyal to my sister, I’ll give you a special present.” She leaned into his ear and whispered something I couldn’t hear. After a few seconds, she leaned back and asked, “Can you remember that?”

  He looked up at her with a healthy dose of skepticism. “Yeah. I can remember.”

  “Good.” She stood and gave me one last look. “As long as he’s good to you, I’ll do my best to make sure he’s safe. But if he hurts you, all bets are off.”

  I suspected that was the best I would get from her for now. “Understood.”

  She started to stride for the open garage door, then turned back to face me, giving me a mock salute as she walked out of the garage. Less than ten seconds later, she tore down the long driveway in her fancy car.

  I hurried over to Jed and dropped onto my knees next to him. “What did she tell you?”

  “The PIN to the Murray Portfolio.”

  I shook my head. “The thing you’ve been tryin’ to get out of her for months?”

  “One and the same, but fat lot of good it’ll do me now. That’s Skeeter’s concern—part of his entanglement with Hardshaw, I suspect. I’d never heard of it before he sent me to the hospital to ask about it.”

  “You mean he needs the PIN and you don’t intend to give it to him?”

  “I sure as hell don’t.”

  I studied him for a moment, wondering if he felt any guilt about turning his back on his best friend, but the way Jed saw it, Skeeter had turned on him first. ”Okay. So you keep it safe until maybe you find a use for it?”

  “Exactly. And we keep it to ourselves. Just the two of us. Not even Rose can know.”

  She didn’t need the reminder of Skeeter’s betrayal. Plus, if she changed her mind about him, she might let it slip. “Agreed.”

  Jed winced, reminding me of what Kate had said about giving him a headache.

  “Did she hurt you?”

  “She got the jump on me. My own fault for underestimatin’ her.” His eyes hardened as they trained on the open garage door. “You’re seriously lettin’ her go?”

  “Yeah,” I said, grabbing my phone out of my back pocket and turning on the flashlight. “I’m lettin’ her go.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Neely Kate.”

  “I understand why you think so, but I’m goin’ with my gut. She’s gonna help take down Hardshaw from within.” His hands were bound to the heavy table leg with a zip tie, and there was no way I could get it off with my bare hands. Nor could I lift the table, which turned out to be bolted to the floor. “Do you have your pocket knife or did Kate take it?”

  He fumed for a moment, then said, “It’s in my pocket.”

  The bag on my hip put me off balance when I squatted, so I slipped it over my head and set it on the work table.

  His gaze, still dark with irritation, sought mine. “What are you plannin’ to do with the money?”

  “Do you want to know the truth or the lie I just told Kate?”

  “The truth,” he said. “Always the truth.”

  I squatted in front of him. “It’s half counterfeit.” When he started to protest, I pressed a kiss to his lips to silence him. He remained still for a second, then groaned and started to kiss me back. I nearly forgot where we were and what I was doing, but I finally rocked back on my heels and said, “The counterfeits have about twenty different serial numbers and are mixed with real bills.”

  “I didn’t see it.” The disappointment on his face hurt my heart.

  “Jed, it fooled South American drug lords, and Hardshaw gave them hundreds of thousands of this stuff. Why would you pick up on it when all you had was a measly ten grand?”

  “Still…”

  I kissed him again, keeping it shorter this time but showing him how much I loved him. “I missed you,” I whispered against his lips.

  “I missed you too. Now cut me loose so we can get out of here before Kate changes her mind.”

  “She won’t.”

  “You don’t know that,” he insisted. “You can’t trust her.”

  “I trust her in this,” I said. “Do you want to know about the money?”

  “Tell me as you cut me loose.”

  I slipped the knife out of his pocket and cut the plastic band as I told him about the abrupt ending to Carson’s partnership with Derrick Smith and how Pearce had stolen the money and planned to use most of it to buy me.

  As soon as Jed’s hands were loose, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap.

  “So what do you plan to do with the money?” he asked.

  “You’ve always worn gloves when you handled it, haven’t you?”

  A leery look filled his eyes. “The bills but not the bag. Why?”

  “I know how to take down Hardshaw from the inside out.”

  “How?”

  “Carson Roberts’ fingerprints are all over the money. It’s the evidence connecting him to the counterfeiter ring.”

&nb
sp; “So Carson gets arrested and weakens the group.”

  “Carson doesn’t have an heir to take over his position, not to mention he and his dad before him seemed to be the brains of the operation.” I gave Jed a hopeful look. “A weakened Hardshaw could save Fenton County.”

  “Or,” Jed said, “it could make them come at us with a vengeance.”

  “It’s better than just handing the money over to them.”

  “What about Kate? It sounds like she’s in thick with them. Won’t you set her off?”

  That was the part that worried me. Kate was unpredictable, and when it came down to it, I just wasn’t sure. While I hoped she’d help bring Hardshaw down, I certainly couldn’t count on it. “She doesn’t love him, so unless it interferes with whatever she’s got cookin’ up, I don’t think so. What I don’t understand is what she’s after now. She wanted revenge on J.R., which was why she started this whole ball rollin’, and she got it. But now…I don’t know why she’s invested other than keepin’ me safe.”

  “Handing the money over to the authorities…” He was silent for a moment as he pondered the ramifications, then said, “It’s risky, Neely Kate. Risky to you.”

  “I know, but I haven’t touched the layer on the bottom. Maybe we could leave it with the dead body out in the field.”

  “No. We’d need to make it more direct.”

  “So maybe we mail it to them. We could just send them a few bundles, not all of it.”

  “And hope Carson Roberts’ fingerprints are on them? He might not have touched it all.”

  “It’s still worth the shot if we can get them to arrest him. He’ll be too distracted to care about Fenton County.”

  He nodded after a few seconds, although he looked grim. “I guess it’s worth the risk.”

  “Good, now let’s go,” I said, getting to my feet, then reached out to help him up. “I’m ready to get out of here.”

  He stood and wrapped an arm around my back, steering me toward the open garage door. When he saw Ronnie’s car, he did a double take, probably mistaking it for my older clunker of a car, then shook his head. “Ronnie’s?”

  “Yeah.”

  His back tensed. “That’s a message if I ever saw one.”

  I stopped short. “What’s that mean?”

  He turned to face me. “Ronnie Colson may have used you, but he loved you in the end. It was either hurt you or run, and he chose to run.” He paused. “You didn’t kill him, did you?” he asked, slowly reaching for my hand and threading our fingers together.

  “No,” I said, looking up at him. “I didn’t. But I did kill Sebastian.” What worried me was the lack of suffocating guilt. While I was sure his eyes would haunt my sleep for a while, I knew he likely would have killed me and Ronnie both. That made the whole thing easier to live with. Or maybe I was just getting used to killing people.

  Maybe I really was a Simmons at heart.

  “Do you still love Ronnie, Neely Kate?” Jed asked quietly, for the first time sounding uncertain about where he stood with me.

  Still holding his gaze and his hand, I shook my head. “No. I never really loved him. I just thought I did.”

  “And now?”

  I took a step closer and pressed my chest to his. “Jed, I meant what I said to Kate. You’re my soul mate. This is real love.” I gave him a watery smile as his face turned blurry through my tears. “I love you so much. Don’t you ever doubt how much you mean to me.”

  He gave a single nod and swallowed, then said, “I had to be sure.”

  “Now that that’s settled, take me home.”

  “Gladly.”

  Chapter 26

  We didn’t head directly home, instead driving into to Fayetteville, Arkansas to spend the night. During the drive, I told Jed everything about the trip and the information Kate had given me. He asked questions, but by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the nice hotel he’d booked online while I drove, it was clear he was good and tired of my half-sister.

  Kate had driven off with my bag of clothing and toiletries, but Jed always kept a packed bag in his car, a leftover habit from when he’d be sent away at a moment’s notice at Skeeter’s orders. Each of us carried a bag—him, his overnight bag; me, the money—as we walked hand in hand into the hotel to check in.

  When we reached the check-in counter, he wrapped his arm around my back, holding me close. I gave him a questioning glance, and he leaned into my ear and whispered, “Sorry. I need to hold onto you so I know you’re not gonna disappear on me.”

  I smiled up at him. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it,” he said, tugging me closer.

  We finished the paperwork and got the room key, then headed to the elevator. Once we were inside, a wave of exhaustion flooded me, but it was balanced by another sensation: relief. I finally had answers. We had a weapon to use against Hardshaw. And the most understanding man in the world had his arm around me.

  I glanced up at him, and when his gaze instantly found mine, a new wave slammed into my chest. Jed had endured so much with me and he’d never once blamed it on me, instead, offering unwavering love and support. My thoughts went back to Ronnie’s behavior tonight, and it struck me again that the men were like night and day.

  Ronnie Colson had done me a favor the day he’d run off. Otherwise, I’d never have known the love of the man beside me.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  His arm tightened around my back, pulling me closer to his side. “For what?”

  “So, so many things,” I said, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. “First, thank you for loving me, despite the chaos of my life.”

  He leaned over and kissed me. “Neely Kate, loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It’s like breathing.”

  I stared up at him in amazement. “How do you always know the perfect thing to say?”

  He looked stricken. “I’m not feedin’ you lines, NK.”

  “I know,” I said, resting my hand on his chest. “I didn’t mean it like that. You just always seem to know what I need.”

  Adoration filled his eyes. “Now look who knows the perfect thing to say.”

  The elevator doors opened on our floor and we stepped out. It was well after midnight on a Sunday night, so we were the only people in the hall. Jed didn’t waste any time letting us into our room and locking the door behind us. He tossed his bag onto the dresser, then pulled the strap of my bag from over my head and dropped it next to his.

  He turned to face me and the raw hunger in his eyes stole my breath.

  “I don’t have any clothes to wear tomorrow,” I whispered. “I don’t have anything to sleep in.”

  He slowly reached for my face, his thumb brushing my cheekbone. “If you think you need somethin’ to sleep in, then I’m doin’ this wrong.”

  I laughed, despite the fact he was in full-on seduction mode.

  He grinned. “Do you know why I call you sunshine?”

  I stepped closer and reached for the hem of his T-shirt, letting my fingertips brush the skin on his taut stomach. “No.”

  He gently placed a finger under my chin and lifted my gaze to his. “Because you fill my life with so much joy and happiness. You warm my heart and make me feel like I’ve finally found a home. You’re the closest thing to sunshine I’ll ever get.” He leaned down and kissed me, softly at first, but his hunger for me took over. His hand sank into my hair, deepening our kiss as his free hand reached for the zipper at my back.

  As soon as he had it unzipped, he pushed the dress over my shoulders, then stepped back to look at me. The top half of the dress rested at my waist, so I pushed it over my hips and let it fall to the floor.

  “You’re so damn beautiful,” Jed said, his voice tight with emotion.

  A shiver ran down my spine. “You’re pretty gorgeous yourself,” I said with a smile. “But this is a bit unfair.”

  He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side, where i
t landed on the floor, then reached for the button of his jeans.

  “Let me do it.” I brushed his hand away, taking over. “It’s like unwrappin’ a gift.”

  He grinned at me.

  I slowly lowered his zipper, making sure to tease his growing erection with my knuckles.

  He sucked in a breath and a fire ignited in my groin. His reactions to me always turned me on even more.

  Slipping my hand inside the front of his jeans, I wrapped my hand around him, over his underwear, making slow even strokes.

  “I want to touch you, Neely Kate,” he groaned, keeping his hands fisted at his sides.

  I looked up at him, amazed that he still respected and loved me enough to ask to touch me every time we made love. He knew that my previous trauma still haunted me at times, and he was understanding enough to realize my now-decreasing moments of panic had nothing to do with him and everything to do with my PTSD from my multiple rapes.

  “Touch me, Jed,” I whispered, removing my hand from his jeans. “Show me how much you love me.”

  He reached behind my back and unfastened my bra, slowly dropping it to the floor. His mouth lowered to mine as his hand cupped my breast. His thumb brushed lightly over my nipple, teasing it, but it was enough to send a jolt of electricity straight to my groin. I moaned into his mouth.

  “Bed,” he murmured against my lips, suddenly scooping me up into his arms and carrying me the short distance to the bed. After pulling down the covers, he lowered me to the bed, then stripped off his underwear and crawled in next to me. He lay on his side, smiling down at me as his gaze swept over my nearly naked body. “How do you want me to show you how much I love you?”

  He often asked me that too, giving me control, but I gave him the answer I’d been giving him more lately. The answer that gave some of my control to him. “Surprise me.”

  His gaze was so full of love and pride that it stole my breath. I’d meant it when I’d told Kate that Jed was my soul mate. I could search the world over and never find another man who could treat me half as good, who could love me half as much.

  He pressed a line of kisses from my shoulder down to my breasts, kissing, licking, and sucking until I was breathless and arching off the bed. Then he worked his way down my stomach until he reached my panties. I sucked in a breath as he slipped them off, then released it as a moan when he started stoking my already burning fire of passion with his fingers and his tongue.