Wanna Bet?

by Chula Stone

  Jeep went to the door of the not-too-crowded bar when he noticed Tobin coming in, so he was the first to realize the Sniper was with him and the rest of the party. He tried not to show his tension, but Tobin commented anyway.

  “Stand down, Jeep. He’s a friendly, remember?”

  “If you say so, sir.” Jeep tried to keep the wariness out of his voice.

  “I’ll be at the bar.” Sniper indicated his intention with a nod, then went over to sit with his back to the wall where Jeep figured he could see without being seen.

  “Why is he here?” Jeep asked Tobin under the hubbub of greetings and seatings at the long table.

  “No idea,” came Tobin’s reply. “I invited him and he came. Surprised the heck out of me.”

  At the table, Jenny asked Jeep, “Who was that with Mr. Tobin? The one who didn’t come to the table?”

  “Nobody. And I mean that. To you, he’s nobody and I want it to stay that way.” Jeep couldn’t explain why he wanted his wife to steer clear of Sniper, but he did.

  Drinks and appetizers arrived, then the full meal, all accompanied by fun conversation and laughter. Nothing could have been more normal. Jeep almost relaxed right up until the time Tobin stood up. Jeep knew it was coming—the storm that would be his little wife, in about three minutes by his estimate. She was as calm as the clear sky now, but just like the weather, he knew she could change and usually for the worse.

  “I want to thank you all for coming here tonight to celebrate my homecoming after my little enforced vacation.” General laughter here, the most raucous coming from Feldspar, the cop. “Here’s to freedom.” More applause. “It occurs to me that this is a wonderful opportunity to announce that one of us here tonight is about to lose his freedom just as I regain mine. Jeep, Jenny, if you will.” Here, he gestured for the pair to stand.

  “What’s going on?” Jenny tried to whisper, but everyone heard.

  “You’ll see,” answered Jeep.

  “What’s going on, Jenny, my dear, is that it has come to my attention that you have not been treated with the respect that is your due. I intend to correct the situation. You are all invited to the wedding of Jacob Eep and Jenny Nearfin at St. James Episcopal church one month from today.”

  Jenny blushed bright red, then all the color drained from her face. She sat down abruptly and everyone laughed and applauded. They must think she’s overcome with happiness, he realized. Tears started to trickle down her face and she covered it with her napkin. More laughter and cheering preceded a general buzz of pleased conversation around the table, so Jeep was distracted. When he turned back to check on her, Jenny was gone.

  Chapter Six

  I’ll walk to my old apartment, Jenny thought. It won’t take long and no one will think to look for me there. I’ll find a pay phone and call Sally, or maybe Tay. One of them will come get me out of this whole mess. A wedding! I’ll die of embarrassment, I just know it. And my parents will find out about the whole sordid mess. They’ll never believe I was really married. It’ll break their hearts. Or they’ll think I’m an idiot. They already do. This will just confirm their worst fears—that their child is a nincompoop! Well, they’re right. “I am a nincompoop!” she said this last out loud and no one could have been more shocked to hear an answer.

  “If you’re looking for an argument, change the subject. What were you thinking? Coming out here like this? Jeep will tan your hide.”

  She didn’t recognize the voice, but it matched his look. She realized that right off, as soon as she wheeled around and saw it was the man who had come in with Tobin, then sat at the bar. Rough, disused, as though he didn’t talk much, especially to women. Hard, strong and edgy but not threatening. Not yet, anyway. Then his words penetrated further and she blushed brighter pink. “That’s none of your business. And anyway, he won’t know if you don’t tell him, so I’ll thank you to keep out of my business.”

  His grin matched his voice and look: she could almost hear the rusted hinges creaking open to allow the expression to soften and reach his eyes. “You always this foolish? Sassing back to strange men on the street?”

  “You’re with Sentry. I saw you come in with Tobin.” Her tone contained all the confidence of a woman who knew who would and would not hurt her. “Sentry employees don’t hurt women.”

  “Point to the lady. But what about Jeep? You gonna be that brave when he catches up with you?”

  “He won’t catch up. He doesn’t know I’m gone and if you don’t tell him, he won’t know which direction I went or where to find me.”

  “Afraid you’re wrong there. The only thing he may not know is why. Why did you leave?”

  She didn’t understand the look he was giving her. It was not in any way a come-on. His stance held no attraction or even flirtation. Still, his gaze would not let her go or avoid answering. “I was embarrassed. I looked like an idiot.”

  “Ah, the nincompoop non sequitur suddenly makes sense.” He blocked her path without her realizing it. Before she knew they were moving, he had her situated on the corner of a brick planter that also served for a bus stop. His voice calmed her even while he studied her. She didn’t mind his scrutiny, but it puzzled her. It seemed to deepen as they sat there in the brisk evening air. “But you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You were in a rush. Jeep couldn’t wait one more minute to be with you and you, I hear tell, hold a firm line on these things. So your parents don’t know you’re already married. I think we can keep it that way. Jeep will move out until after the wedding, you know. Tobin already ordered him to.”

  Jenny could barely believe her ears, but for some reason, it never occurred to her to doubt that this man could keep his word. He would see to it that this wedding Tobin was planning for them could be carried off without her parents ever realizing it wasn’t the first one she’d experienced. She was amazed at how much she trusted him, right from the first, even though she was not at all attracted to him.

  He continued to study her until she had to ask, “Are you waiting for me to say something?”

  “Just like my sister.” Wonder in his voice. “Her hair. Her eyes. And it doesn’t hurt any more.”

  “I’m sorry?” Sympathy inviting confidence.

  “My kid sister. When she died, it…hurt…It was like…knives…I…” Gestures rolling emotions out that words were not strong enough to harness.

  “I know. I can hear it in your voice. Am I a lot like her? Was her hair brown like mine?”

  “She was a redhead.”

  Jenny hesitated to interrupt. “Blue eyes like mine?”

  “Hazel.”

  She was practically my twin, obviously, Jenny thought sarcastically.

  “Soft hair. Soft eyes. Soft heart, just like you.”

  Jenny’s mental camera lens brought the picture into focus slowly.

  Musing, he continued, almost to himself. “So different from me. Made to be loved. Protected. When she died, the sight of any woman, any softness…”

  Jenny nodded, not sure if she was even still in his world until he turned to her again. “But I see you and I don’t ache. That’s good.”

  “Yes, it’s good.” What more could she say? She’d always wanted a brother. It was nice to do something to help another woman’s brother even if she wasn’t around to appreciate it.

  He turned away from her, just behind her, pushing her forward with the strength of his presence. “Same blush. Same need for a darn good spanking. Hope Jeep is up to taking care of that.”

  “What?”

  He grinned down at her blushing, incredulous face.

  “Does everybody in town know?”

  “No, just everybody at Sentry.” Serious again. Quiet. “My sister’s husband took good care of her, too.”

  When she hesitated at the door, he gripped her shoulder with a bench vise he must have had hidden somewhere on his person, she figured. Probably with his gun and his x-ray vision goggles.

  As they approached the door, they saw Jeep coming o
ut, looking thunderous. “What are you doing out here? With him?”

  Tobin was right on his heels. “Sniper, you know these two are engaged.” Confusion marred his tone. “What in this world were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking she needed watching over until her fiancé would come by and take her in hand. She needs it, Tobin. Just like Sally did.”

  Sally must be his sister’s name, Jenny reasoned. And Tobin must have known her. He looks shocked at the mention of the name. Could he have been involved with her?

  Tobin turned to Jeep. “It’s all right. He wouldn’t touch her.”

  “He’s touching her now,” Jeep replied, staring down at Sniper’s hand on Jenny’s shoulder. Sniper let go and Jeep put a protective arm around her. Or was it possessive. Far from resenting it, Jenny couldn’t help being amused.

  “That’s because he knew I was going to bolt,” she admitted.

  “Bolt? Bolt where? If he didn’t lure you out of the bar, where were you going?”

  “I was going…” she hated to admit it, secretly wanting to keep her old apartment as her ace in the hole, but obviously Sniper had other plans.

  “To her old apartment. What idiot kept it in her name and told her it was still there? Giving her a place to run. Sheesh!” Scorn dripped from every word.

  “It’s not in her name!” Jeep growled.

  “It’s not? But it’s my apartment.” Forgotten were the security and comfort of her new home. Independence and her old life aroused her pity as they lay suffocating on the street.

  “And you’d go there why? With Van Dyke still out there? And Chalk maybe with another trick or two up his sleeve? You have a safe place to go and by gum, you’d better stay put. No running out on your own, no wandering the streets alone, no walking out with strange men, you hear?” The glare he aimed at Sniper would have taken the finish off chrome.

  “Who died and made you king?” she retorted. “I’ll go where I like with whom I like. You’re moving out and as just my fiancé, I think—”

  “Okay, this has gone far enough. Permission to return to husband status?” Jeep directed this query at Tobin, sounding as if his granting the request was a foregone conclusion.

  “Permission granted. You have,” he glanced at his watch, “two hours. Report back here.”

  Jeep scooped her up and didn’t stop walking until he could deposit her in his car. He snapped her into her seat belt and warned her firmly, “Move and you’ll regret it.”

  She knew his intention was to get her home and spank her. That much was plain, so she considered making a break for freedom, but with so many of her coworkers looking on, she couldn’t take a chance on his throwing her over his lap and administering his form of justice right there on the sidewalk. She stayed in the car.

  The journey took way too little time for her taste. All too soon, they were back in their apartment, now her apartment, breathing hard and glaring at one another. “You will not,” he instructed, “ever disappear on me like that again. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. I know that was rude,” she answered. “But I would think you would be understanding about it and not be so angry. I was upset by Tobin’s high-handed pronouncements. And this whole wedding idea.”

  “Don’t try to distract me. We’ll talk about that later. Over my lap. Now!”

  “But I didn’t do anything wrong. I left the bar for a breath of fresh air. I would have come back. I was just spouting off when I said I was going to my old apartment. I would have gotten about halfway there and chickened out. We both know that.”

  “That may be so. I hope it is. But the end result is still this: I came out and found you alone on the street with the most dangerous, ruthless, soulless man I know. How do you think I felt when I saw you like that?”

  “He isn’t soulless,” she protested. “Did you ever bother to find out why he is the way he is? He’s just—”

  “I do not want to talk about him!” Jeep had never raised his voice to her, but he was perilously close to yelling now. She didn’t like it.

  She had a decision to make. She could press her point, maintain the argument, raise her voice to match his and prove that she was right. Or she could relent, defuse the situation and take what he obviously meant to give her. It would come to that in the end anyway, but if she fought, there would be no peace for a very long while. He wouldn’t hear her talking. He would only hear his own doubts and insecurities. She could tell he was jealous, though what he had to be jealous of, she couldn’t imagine.

  It didn’t matter. Not at that moment. All that mattered was that he was doubting her and she had to prove her love to him. In the beginning, he had proved his love to her by providing the guidance she felt she needed. Now, she had to prove her love to him by accepting his jealousy and making him see that there was no other man in the world to her. Give up speaking to what’s-his-name? Small price to pay to reassure the man she loved.

  “Okay.” Calm. Small. Shy. “I give in.”

  Suspicious. Wary. “I’m going to spank you.”

  “Okay. I understand.”

  “I’m not kidding.”

  “I know.”

  “Okay, then. Get over the back of the couch.”

  He rarely spanked her any other way than over his lap or over his leg. For punishments, which were rare, and for small, everyday things, he kept her close to him. This was different. She took a deep breath and obeyed him.

  He positioned her even further forward over the couch, so her feet dangled above the floor. He began over her skirt and spanked for several minutes. Then he lifted her skirt and continued with hardly a pause. When she started to squirm, he held her with one arm, never slackening his pace. At last, he stopped and she thought it was over, but he was just taking the time to lower her panties to her knees.

  “I was scared when you weren’t there. I thought maybe Chalk had one more ace up his sleeve. I still think that, so no wandering around by yourself. We have to be cautious in our line of work. I know you’re not in the field, but you are still married to me and that makes you a target. I hate that, but there’s nothing I can do.”

  The heat had built to an unbearable level and she started to cry. He spanked a few more minutes, slower and more deliberately, but with less urgency. She could feel his doubts ebbing away as reason returned.

  Finally, he let her up and helped her off the couch back. As he was holding her, he murmured, “You took that well. At first I didn’t think you were going to cooperate. I thought you were going to fight me. But you didn’t.”

  “I realized you were just mad and I had given you reason to be mad. I hoped if I took what you thought I deserved, it would clear the air between us. We can talk about it more tomorrow, maybe. I need to know what you expect of me. I mean, if you don’t want me talking to other men, I will have to go back to teaching.” Her tone was accepting, though she knew he didn’t want that.

  “You can talk to the other guys. It’s the Sniper who spooks me.”

  “He’s not soulless, you know. He wouldn’t hurt me.”

  He looked down at her and she could tell he wasn’t feeling the jealousy and doubt as before, but still he seemed compelled to ask, “You don’t want a guy like that, do you?”

  “What?”

  “He’s rich. He’s mysterious. He’s the ultimate bad boy that most women go for. But you’re not afraid of him.”

  “Oh, please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not afraid of ninety per cent of the male population, but that doesn’t mean I’d want to be with them. You’re my husband and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She grinned and held him closer. “You’re stuck with me, Jeep.”

  He picked her up and twirled her around. “And I never want to get unstuck, but we are going to have to be apart for a few weeks until Tobin fixes this wedding up.”

  “And he’s serious about involving my parents? He doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.”

  “I don’t know what he’
s getting us into, either. I’ve never met your parents.” He cocked an eye at her and she suddenly found her shoes extremely interesting.

  “And when you meet them, you’ll understand why.”

  The next day, nothing would do but for Tobin to take Jeep to meet Jenny’s parents. As soon as they walked in the door, Jenny took one look at her mother’s face and knew they were in for quite an afternoon. The unmovable smile, the vacant stare. Jenny knew her mother was in full southern belle mode, ignoring anything that was slightly unusual, including the fact that her daughter’s future husband barely fit through the doorway.

  Jenny began awkwardly, “Mother, Father, this is Mr. Tobin, my boss, and this is Jeep. He’s worked…”

  “Excuse me, dear?” interrupted Mrs. Nearfin with that particular brand of pointed vagueness to which Jenny hoped her mother had the patent and sole rights. Jenny did not want to inherit it. “I didn’t quite catch the name.”

  Jenny changed tacks. “Mr. Eep, Mother. Jake Eep.”

  “Is that short for Jacob, Mr. Eep?” Mrs. Nearfin enquired serenely.

  Apparently, the only way she was going to use the word ‘Jeep’ was if she needed to drive into battle or the wilderness, neither of which places would actually exist in her world anyway, so the point was moot. ‘Jeep’ was problematic, so it went into the ‘Do not disturb’ file in her mind.

  Jeep had obviously not caught on yet. “No, Mrs. Nearfin. It’s just Jake and you put it together with Eep and get Jeep. Like a nickname, see?”

  Nicknames in general were obviously fodder for the file, Jenny realized.

  “And what is it you do, Mr. Eep?”

  “I’m a security consultant, Mrs. Nearfin. I do some bodyguard work and…”

  Another item for the file, it seemed. Jenny’s mother plowed over Jeep yet again. “How interesting. And Mr. Tobin, how long have you been in Hathville?”