by AliyahBurke
“Now, Derek. Don’t push me any further.”
He started to shake his head but the woman before him radiated fury. Derek got off and closed the tailgate. He barely got out a goodbye to Caleb when she drove off.
* * * *
Dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, Jacey scrubbed down a room which would soon be housing Derek. She still shook with rage. He and her father planning behind her back. Jacey had avoided her dad since she got home. It was early morning when she finished the room and she went to Caleb’s, where she sat in the rocker. By all rights she should be sleeping, she just couldn’t. With a sigh, she walked quietly to her son’s bed and climbed in with him, needing to hold him. Then she slept.
Jacey woke alone. Even Shadow was gone. Sitting up, her gaze drifted to the clock. Nine twenty-three. The bedroom door was closed, yet she could hear muffled voices through it. With slow and stiff movements, Jacey climbed out of the bed and left the room.
Derek stood at the top step, two large bags in his hands. He was moving in. His gaze burned her and she shivered despite the heat of the morning. And she felt bereft when he tore it away, striding down the hall to the second largest bedroom in the house. Jacey watched Carson, Honey, and even Caleb follow him, carrying some things as well.
She went to her room, grabbed some clothes, and went to shower. They still moved a few things and she waved to Carson and Honey but went to the kitchen and poured herself some juice.
“You okay, Jace?” Honey’s voice broke the silence.
Pasting a smile on her face, she nodded. “I will be.”
“I’m so glad he’s staying. I’ll get to see you more this way.” Honey sat beside her on a bar stool. “We’ll all keep an eye on him.”
She sighed. “I know.”
“Okay.” Honey patted her arm then left.
A nudge to her leg dragged her attention to Shadow. Draining the rest of her juice, Jacey got up and walked outside with him. Sitting on the top step of the porch in the back, she sank her hand into his onyx pelt. His intelligent eyes stared unwaveringly back at her.
“It’s on you, Shadow. Keep my baby safe.”
Shadow yawned and took her forearm in his powerful jaws. The touch was light, then he released her and trotted off down the steps. With a groan, Jacey walked off as well, the tree house her destination. Jacey scaled the ladder with ease and sat on the bed in the corner, grabbing her discarded dress along the way.
Cross-legged on the mattress, Jacey held the dress and closed her eyes. The memory of Derek’s rough hands touching her made her wet all over again. Hands tightening in the material, she swore viciously and damn near ran down the tree trunk in her efforts to get away from the memories.
Desperate to outrun the lingering thoughts of the man who ruled her heart, Jacey began working out. Despite the oppressive summer heat and humidity she pushed herself. Pushed until she bordered on pain. Her exhausted body dragged out of the woods and approached Owl Lake. Jacey ran to the edge and jumped in.
Immediately the cool water revived her. Swimming slowly, she just enjoyed the relief. After doing a couple laps, she headed back to the spot she’d entered. Walking up the bank, Jacey ran a hand down her face and stopped. Derek stood there, leaning on the hood of her Jeep, arms and legs crossed.
Her gaze dropped to the ground and worked its way up. Dusty cowboy boots and skin tight jeans which shot up her core temperature all over again. He wore a dark blue tee shirt that hugged his biceps and torso. His jaw was set and his eyes pierced her.
She wrung the water out of her hair and asked, “What are you doing here? And in my Jeep?”
Like a wild animal he pushed away from the vehicle and prowled toward her. Flames burned in blue eyes and Jacey whimpered as longing stabbed her. He strode up to her unhesitatingly, pulled her into his arms, and devoured her. His tongue thrust between her lips demanding she accept. Derek pressed tightly against her wet body, his hands keeping her there. She felt him wrap one hand in her hair and the other settled on her ass, his fingertips branding the skin right below the hem of her short, wet, shorts.
“Mine!” he growled the brief second he pulled back.
Her senses swam as he continued to dominate her mouth. Jacey slid her arms under his shoulders and held him as tightly as he held her. Fingers dug into him and Jacey poured everything within her into the kiss. All the words she couldn’t say. All the feelings she was not ready to face or acknowledge. All of that got poured into the kiss.
Derek released her hair and gripped her other ass cheek. His fingers prodded in her flesh keeping her flush against his erection. He broke the kiss and sucked on her neck, before nipping her and laving away the sting.
“You make me crazy, Jace,” he rasped.
Likewise, Derek. Her head dropped back while he continued to nibble along her throat. Every inch of her aflame for him. “Derek,” she panted. Her breasts ached and her eyelids were heavy. The throbbing between her legs only increased in power.
He lifted her and Jacey wrapped her legs around him, desperately seeking his mouth again. Their tongues dueled for supremacy while Derek turned and walked with her in his arms. Jacey kept her eyes closed until the warm hood of her car bumped her ass. He ended the kiss and sank his hands into her wet hair, holding her head immobile.
She opened her eyes to find his boring into her. the blue hue swirled with a myriad of emotions. His brows converged as he stared at her.
“What?” she asked.
His chest rose and fell with each ragged breath he took. “Jace,” he said.
She knew they needed to talk, hell, she had a bone of serious contention to pick with him herself. But at that moment, sitting on the hood of her Jeep, Derek between her legs with a blatant erection, talk was the furthest thing from her mind. Damn it all!
Jacey slid her hands up beneath is now spotty wet shirt. “This is where you tell me we have to talk, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” The word sounded dragged out of him.
Jacey ground her jaw but removed her hands. “Fine. Talk.” His hands fell from her hair and his expression became uncertain and wary. “Sheesh. If this is about this scheme you n’ my father cooked up, it’s bound to be a nasty ‘talk’ Derek.”
He stepped back and raked his hands through his hair. “Was he right?”
She sucked her teeth, a horrid habit from when she was a kid. “According to what you said, you must believe so.”
His incredible blue eyes narrowed. “Jacey. Don’t fuck with me on this.”
“Don’t fuck with you?” She jumped off the hood and poked him in the chest. “You’re the one coming to me with some blather my father said about getting married.”
“You want two kids born out of wedlock?”
Jacey closed her eyes and sighed. “Why do you think I’m pregnant? And why do you think I’d tell my dad but not you?”
“Previous experience.”
Agony swamped her. Her heart felt ripped in two. Like all the air got sucked out of her. She could feel the lash of disdain in his tone, but on the heels of his castigation, Jacey found her anger. Found it and held onto it like the shield she needed to protect her.
“Of course,” she said in an icy tone and narrowing her gaze. “I should have known. You know what, Derek Harmon Moser, fuck you. Fuck. You. You can be such an ass. I told you I would tell you if I got pregnant again but apparently my word isn’t good enough.” Her chest heaved as she struggled for control. “So unless my dad has a crystal ball, he don’t know shit. But I learned what you really think of me. Stay away from me and hopefully we can be civil to one another.”
Jacey jumped into her Jeep and tore off, leaving him standing there. Jacey had yet to calm down when she reached the house and she slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt. The dust hadn’t even begun to settle when she jumped out and stormed up the steps.
Everyone was in the living room and she slapped her emotions into a small airtight box.
“A word, Papa,” she force
d out as calmly as possible.
Jacob Thompson pushed to his feet, pipe in his teeth. “Back porch?”
“Works.”
“Can I come too, Mama?” Caleb asked.
“I need a word in private with Grandpa. Besides, I think Papa would love to see you.” She glanced at Honey and Carson. “He’s at Owl Lake. The keys are in the ignition.” Jacey barely kept her anger in check. Her father waited on the porch and she shoved roughly through the door, letting it slam behind her.
“How could you?” she seethed.
“How could I what?” he asked puffing on his pipe.
“You know damned well what I’m talking about.” So deeply enraged, Jacey shook.
“Mind your tongue, Jacey Damia.”
“No, Papa. You overstepped yourself here. How dare you tell Derek we’d better be married before the next child is born. He accused me of keeping it from him like I did with Caleb.” Furious tears pooled in her eyes. “I don’t even know if I’m pregnant.”
“Jacey, I—”
“No! You tried to railroad me. After going to such lengths to keep us apart as kids, now you’re trying to force us together. It must truly be a CIA thing that y’all do so well. Although, I should thank you for showing me what Derek truly believes me capable of. Did you even tell him that you and Uncle Frank knew was Caleb’s father? And kept it from both of us?”
He stepped towards her but froze when she leveled a stony look at him.
“I thought being your daughter outweighed being a heartless bastard like the CIA taught you. Guess I was wrong.”
Jacey spun around and walked back into the house, past her mother who stood by the door listening. Straight through the house and back outside where she headed up the road. She stayed away until a little before dinner when she returned and went to her room. Jacey changed and opened the door to find Caleb and Shadow there.
“Ready, Mama?”
“I sure am. Let’s go.”
Taking his small hand in hers, they went to her vehicle and drove to town. More of their ritual. Dinner together before they left. Tonight they went to a small diner on the other side of town from Rosie’s and sat at an outside table, Shadow on the ground by Caleb’s feet.
Jacey listened to Caleb talk about the things he would be doing with Derek while she was gone. Her gaze wandered and she saw Jenkins, who had taken over as commissioner, talking to Bubba, who had become sheriff in lieu of the Reed Davis incarceration.
“I’m gonna m…miss you, Mama.”
“I’ll miss you too, Caleb,” she said, stealing one of his fries and eating it.
They played in the park before heading back. She found Derek sitting on the porch when they returned. Caleb ran to him and told him all about what he’d eaten for dinner.
“You need to get ready for bed, Caleb,” Jacey said when her son paused for a breath.
“’Kay, Mama. I’ll finish telling Papa while I bathe.”
She refused to even look at Derek, just headed inside. “Fine.” In her peripheral vision she could see her father begin to rise. Jacey hurried to her room and pulled out her bags. Shutting the door, she started to pack.
“Mama?”
Jacey jumped when her son’s voice jolted her from her daze. Swallowing, she turned to see him in the doorway one hand buried in Shadow’s thick coat. Derek stood behind them. “Yes, Caleb?”
“You’re packing without me.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I wanted to be able to read to you and so I was getting this out of the way.”
He ran in, wearing his camouflaged pajama bottoms and scrambled up on the bed. “We don’t have to read, Mama. I like helping you pack.”
Shadow jumped up as well and she smiled. “Okay then.” Jacey gave Derek her back. “Let’s finish packing.”
Her son flashed her a hundred watt smile. Her heart broke. Caleb meant so much to her. Still she grinned when he put on her eight corner hat and peered at her from under the brim.
My baby the Marine.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Derek stood in the doorway and watched Caleb and Jacey. She’d changed into a pair of heather gray cotton pants and a navy blue shirt. Flat slippers were on her feet. He hated her look of indifference when her eyes fell upon him. He hated the hurt she’d shown at the lake with his callous words. And he hated she was leaving soon and hadn’t said more than “boo” to him.
This Jacey was an empty shell compared to his Jacey. Derek longed to insert himself into the conversation but he didn’t. He waited silently until the packing was done and Jacey carried a laughing and squealing Caleb to his bed. After tucking him in, she read him not one but two Chapters.
Jacey kissed Caleb goodbye, patted Shadow, and turned off the light. She brushed by him.
Derek followed her into the hall, pulling the door almost shut behind him. “Jace,” he said. Without looking at him she strode to her room and grabbed her bags. He blocked the doorway. “Jacey.”
“Move.”
“Look at me.”
Her eyes were empty. “Move out of my way, Derek.” Her voice was quiet and resigned.
“Jace, I didn’t—”
She shouldered past him. He followed her outside where he saw Honey in the passenger seat of her Jeep.
“Honey?” he asked. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, fine. I’m taking Jace to the airport.”
Derek swore softly. He’d wanted to, in hopes of talking more to Jacey. Explaining better about his stupidly spoken words. “I can take her.”
“No,” Honey said. “I’m doing it.”
Jacob and Etta Mae came down the stairs. He watched her hug her mother and noticed the stiffness when her father hugged her. She barely glanced in his direction, just got in the driver’s seat.
“Jace,” he said hurrying to her side. Not giving a damn how it may look.
She started the engine and looked at him, her gaze sharp with anger and betrayal. “What? Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if our last fuck results in me being pregnant.” Jacey spoke loud enough everyone there heard. Then she drove away without a look back.
Speechless, Derek stood there, staring at the dust trail left behind. Jacey! He missed her already.
“We need to have a talk, Derek,” Jacob said to him.
He didn’t want to talk. He wanted Jacey. “Yes, sir. Now?”
Jacob sighed heavily. “Yes, now.”
“Alright.”
Derek followed Jacob out to the fence where he’d told Jacey he wanted Caleb to be with him. Jacob leaned on the fence and propped a foot up on the railing. Derek mimicked him, staring across the land while the day’s last light faded away. Stars popped up in the clear night sky.
“I need to apologize to you, son,” Jacob began.
Surprised, Derek turned to look at Jacey’s father. “For what?”
“This whole fucked up mess.”
Derek couldn’t find any words. Jacob Thompson didn’t cuss. That was an unspoken rule both he and Uncle Frank had instilled that in the children. A real man didn’t cuss. Neither did a lady.
“I’m sorry?” he asked, still not sure he hadn’t misheard.
Jacob pulled out a match and struck it before lighting his pipe again. He puffed in silence for a few moments. Derek watched him shift from foot to foot, looking entirely uncomfortable.
“If you want to blame someone, blame me, not Jacey.”
The way Jacob said that phrase had so much embarrassment and disgust in it, Derek could only stare for a second. “Blame you for what?”
Jacob looked at him, the moon allowing him some visibility as well as the light from the front porch. “You not knowing about Caleb.”
“Jacey could have found me,” he bit off.
“But I did.”
Those three words nearly stopped his heart. “W…what did you say?”
“I’ve known since before Caleb was born you were his father.”
His legs trembled. “How could you possibly know?�
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“When Jacey told us she was pregnant, I looked up her last mission, found your unit, and as soon as I saw your name I knew.”
“It could have been anyone in there,” he snapped out, completely nauseated at the mere thought of another man’s hands on his woman.
Jacob released a short dry chuckle burst. “No. No it couldn’t have been. Jacey has always had a deep connection to you. Too deep, we thought.”
Too deep? “We thought? Who thought?”
“Us adults. That was part of our reason for leaving. I had to give my daughter a chance to live her life and not be totally enamored by you. I used to follow her when she snuck out to make sure she wasn’t meeting you. I knew we’d made the right decision when the whole declaration bit happened.” Jacob smoked in silence for a bit. “Anyway, when I saw your name, I was ninety-five percent sure. When Caleb was born, I lost all remaining doubt. He looked so much like your baby pictures, and then there were the eyes.”
Bile rushed up and Derek gripped the rough wood of the rail. “So you deliberately kept my son from me.”
“Jacey told us about the ‘no-strings’ and we respected it. I told your Uncle Frank, though, just in case something happened to me and Mother.”
So this is what betrayal feels like. Derek was beyond livid and yet, by some miracle, he kept his voice modulated. “This must be killing you then, knowing I spawned your grandson. After all you did to keep us away from one another.”
“I deserve the anger,” Jacob said. “But you are wrong, Derek. I’ve always known you and Jacey belonged together. I didn’t want her to know that when she was twelve, not even when she was sixteen. I wanted my baby to see the world. Not spend her whole life here without experiencing other things.”
“And I would have kept her a prisoner?”
“In a way. Jacey was blinded by her teenage infatuation with you. She would have stayed and even been happy. But she never would have had the opportunity to bloom. Jacey need to come out of her shell.”
Jacob made sense, Derek grudgingly admitted that. “Doesn’t excuse the fact you kept my son from me. Not just you but Uncle Frank too.”