One Simple Memory

by Jean Kelso

  “I’m sorry, baby girl. I really am. But, yes.”

  Jenn couldn’t believe her ears. He actually admitted it. He came clean to his sins of the past and present. He was a horrible man, a selfish, horrible man. “I can’t believe this. You were my world, daddy. The only parent I had left. But now, I am sorry to say, you’re nothing. You got mom killed. And the same man who killed her is after me. You obviously aren’t man enough to fix it, so goodbye, dad.” She hung up on him, setting the phone down in its cradle and let the tears fall.

  Sean pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her.

  “I hate him so much.” She cried out.

  “Shh, it’s okay. I got you.” He held her head to his chest and rubbed her back.

  She looked up at Sean and wiped her face. “We sure struck gold in the parent gene pool.” She laughed.

  Sean grinned and shook his head. “Yeah, they sure are fucked up, aren’t they?”

  “If or when I become a mom, I don’t ever want to be like our fathers.”

  “You would make a wonderful mom, Jenn.” He leaned in and kissed the side of her mouth, then the other side, then pressed his lips to hers. “Your mom was amazing. I am sure you will take after her.” He smiled.

  She playfully slapped his shoulder. “You are going to make me cry again, and I don’t think I have any more tears left in me.”

  “I’m only being truthful.”

  A few deep breaths, gaining composure, Jenn sat up straight. “Okay, so what now?”

  Sean sat up, putting his hands in his lap and gave a teasing smirk. “Well, we could, you know…” He wiggled his eyebrows.

  Jenn laughed. “You are becoming a fucking horn dog, Sean.”

  “Only with you babe.”

  “Well, no!”

  Sean chuckled and shrug his shoulders. “Okay, well what would you like to do?”

  “Hmm, well Simon knows we are here. He isn’t exactly ramming through the door for me, but I don’t want to hide in here all the time.” She pouted. “How about we go to the casino again, show ourselves out in the open, and have lunch in the diner again. We will see if Simon tries anything.”

  Sean sighed and narrowed his eyes. “Okay, but you need to stay close. I don’t trust Simon, but for you, I would do anything. And, if I go to the bathroom, you come with me.” He grinned wickedly.

  They had been at the casino for an hour, and no signs of Simon. Jenn was still upset, but was beginning to relax a little knowing that Sean was beside her and wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She kept her eyes peeled and her fear below the surface. Simon may be out for blood, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.

  After an hour at the slots, she was breaking even. Her mind kept going back to her dream and to Simon and the whole situation as she played. She wasn’t having the fun she thought she would, but at least she was out of the room. The slots were such a mindless game, just having to insert the coins and pull the lever. She was in her own little world; she didn’t hear Sean calling her name.

  “Jenn!” Sean called and lightly shook her shoulder.

  Jenn was brought out of her daze when she felt her body being shaken. Suddenly all the noise and lights were apparent to her again. She heard Sean’s voice and looked at him. “Sorry, was thinking about things.”

  “That was some deep thought.” He chuckled.

  She grinned at him. “Yeah, sorry.” She finally noticed the alarms going off on his machine and looked at it, then him again. “You won?” A surprised look came to her.

  “Yeah, babe, I did.”

  “That’s awesome, how much?”

  “Five thousand, I think.” He winked at her and smiled.

  Jenn got excited. She jumped up off her stool and gave him a hug. “Holy shit, that rocks.”

  People all around the area were beginning to look in their direction to see what the commotion was about. Members of the casino began to approach them to validate the win and to escort them to the cashier for their winnings.

  Sean

  After cashing in, they took a walk to the nearest pizza place and grabbed a large one to bring back to the room. Sean thought it was best to stay indoors. He wanted to try and plan out his next steps for keeping Jenn safe.

  Back in the room, Sean set the food on the table, grabbed a few bottled waters from the mini fridge and turned some music on with the phone. He kicked his shoes off and sat in a chair across from Jenn at the table. He handed her a bottle of water and opened the delicious smelling pizza, taking a slice.

  Sitting at the table in the room, enjoying a slice of hot pepperoni pizza, Jenn looked like she was in a world of her own again. Sean hoped she would fill him in on her thoughts soon.

  She swallowed her bite of food and looked up at Sean. “Sean, I’ve been thinking.”

  Thankful for the interruption and that she was finally going to open up, he finished his bite and set down his slice of pizza. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked up at her. “Okay, and what were you thinking?”

  “Well, you remember how I used to do those crossword puzzles when I was younger?”

  He narrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. “Yeah, why?”

  “Well, when you disappeared on me, I got more into puzzles and such.” She licked her lips and swallowed.

  Sean leaned forward and set his arms on the table, intrigued to hear what she was going to say.

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about this whole situation and how you said I had to remember something. But, I don’t think I am thinking along the same lines as you.” She scrunched her nose up and bite her lip.

  “What do you mean, Jenn? What I needed you to remember was your mother’s death. Sorry to be blunt, but that was how I took it from my father. When he presented the file, he was blaming your father.” Sean was getting himself confused trying to explain himself. He sat back in his chair and began to rub his neck. “Well shit, I don’t even know anymore. I am sorry, Jenn, I have been schooled by my father on what to say in situations for so long.” He blew out a long deep breath.

  Jenn looked at him intently, took a deep breath and sat up straight in her chair. “Do you want your father to pay for what he has done to you?”

  Sean looked at her, still confused. He didn’t understand what she meant. “Pay?”

  “Yes, pay for his control over you, your life, your actions, for his actions.” She tilted her head.

  He leaned forward in his chair, curious to what she was thinking. “What do you mean, Jenn? How does he ‘pay’ for that?”

  She smiled big. “Well, as I said, I like to do puzzles. I have been trying to piece this together in my mind.” She abruptly stood up, went over to the bedside stand and opened the drawer. She took out a pad of hotel paper and pencil, and brought it back over to the table. She began to write a few things down.

  Sean leaned over to see what she was writing. He saw a list form.

  Hired a hit man to murder mother

  Setup boyfriend to seduce and gift a tracker

  Arranged kidnapping and ransom

  Possible hire hit for murder of me and his own son

  When Sean noticed the boyfriend part he looked up at her. “Can that be listed? I mean, can that really be used?”

  “I will use anything and everything against him.” She looked up at him, with a determined look in her eyes. Sean kept his mouth shut and waited.

  “Okay, fair enough. So, explain this to me.”

  Jenn set the pencil down and began. “Well, the memory that I remember, thanks to you, is Simon. Simon killed my mother.”

  “Okay.” He shifted himself in the chair. He tried to think about where she was headed.

  “Well, Simon works for your dad.” She raised her eyebrows.

  “Yeah.” He was sort of getting where she was going, but still didn’t see how that was going to work.

  She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Sean, for fuck sakes. I or we could take your father’s whole damn business down. He kil
led, or rather, had my mother killed. He had me kidnapped. He wants me dead because I know, I fucking know, he set it all up. Don’t you see this?” Her voice was getting louder with every word she spoke.

  It was like a bright light bulb turned on in the darkest of rooms. Now that made sense. The whole situation was pieced together. Of course she knew about it, why else would his father want her dead. Damn, why was he so blind to that piece of information from the get go. He instantly reached for her hand and smiled. “Tell me the fuck how we do it.” As much as he hated to do it to his family, he knew it was the only way to get out from under his father. His brothers be damned, they didn’t give a shit about him, never did. The only thing that meant anything to him was sitting in front of him.

  She grabbed his outreached hands and smiled. “First, we are packing up and going home. If we are fighting back, we are doing it there. He may think he will have the advantage against us, but I don’t plan on giving up or dying any time soon.”

  Sean had never felt so proud of this woman in his life. He could see the emotional walls crumbling down and a whole new fight build up inside of her. He had been the one protecting her growing up. Never once had he seen her stand up for herself. But now, seeing the light shine in her eyes, the determination of not backing down, he got a tingly feeling in chest. He was proud, yes, he truly loved this woman.

  He got up from his chair, rushed around the table and picked Jenn up off of hers. He tossed her over his shoulder and smacked her ass. He adjusted his erection, he got hard just thinking of the things was going to do to her before they left the hotel.

  Jenn squealed. She grabbed the waist of his pants and held on as he carried her over to the bed. “Sean, what are you doing?” She laughed.

  “I am going to enjoy my woman before we have to sit in the car for hours.” He tossed her onto the bed and wiggled his eyebrows at her. He reached down to the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head. He tossed it on the floor and grinned at her.

  She licked, then bit her lip and sat up. She mimicked his actions and removed her shirt as well. She immediately began to undo her pants, stripping them off and tossed them on the floor.

  Watching her strip her pants away and sit on the bed in only a sexy, red bra and panties, Sean’s patience ran thin. He was quick to remove his jeans and boxers. His rock hard erection pointed forth to where it wanted to go. He stroked it twice just to tease her and crawled onto the bed. He moved over top of Jenn and took her lips with a deep seated passion, giving her everything he had and wasn’t going to stop until they were both satiated and unable to move.

  Jenn

  After a shower and packing, they checked out of the hotel and loaded up the car. Neither of them looked forward to the drive, or what they planned to do when they go home, but they knew it would be worth it.

  Sean pulled up to the nearest coffee shop and ran in. He returned with a couple of coffees for them.

  Jenn made herself comfortable in the passenger seat. She offered to take a turn driving, but he declined. It was only about a four hour drive, maybe a little more, so it wouldn’t be too bad. She turned the radio on and sipped her coffee. She was excited to be heading home, but also afraid of what could happen if things didn’t work out as planned. She had to think positive. She glanced at Sean while he drove them out of the city and smiled. She really hoped everything worked out in the end and they could finally be happy, and that Sean could feel free with having his father out of his life.

  Sean looked over to her and returned the smile. He reached a hand over the console and took hold of hers and gave it a squeeze. “I love you, Jenn.” He simply stated and returned his eyes to the road and continued driving.

  “I love you, too.” Jenn looked out the windshield and began to wander into her thoughts again. She wanted to make sure she had everything planned out in her mind, to ensure that Sean was free and clear from the law at the end of the situation. She explained as much as she could to him after their sex marathon. He seemed to understand his part in the fight, and she hoped it didn’t fire back to hurt him.

  They were about an hour and half into the drive when Jenn got the creepy tingle she got when she was being watched or followed. She didn’t want to mention anything to Sean, so she just looked in the side mirror. There was a car behind them. She didn’t recognize it, but then again, it was a highway, and it could have been anyone. She was going to let it slide, but when the other cars were passing them in the passing lane but that car remained behind them, she began to get a little creeped out.

  “How much longer till we’re home?”

  Sean glanced at her in the darkness and back to the dark road ahead of him. “A few more hours, why?”

  “Well, don’t change what you are doing, but we are being followed.” She remained sitting as she was in her seat, trying to act casual. Casual was not an easy feat, especially when her pulse started to accelerate.

  Sean glanced in his mirrors. “Are you sure?”

  “Yep. That car has been behind us for a while, while other cars have been passing us.”

  Sean blew out a breath. “Fuck.”

  Jenn turned her head and looked at him. “What?”

  “It’s Jake. It has to be him. He’s the one who’s with Simon. I should have known.”

  “How do you know?” She looked at him curiously.

  “We don’t have the tracker anymore, so how else would Simon know what car to follow?”

  “What do you mean, Sean?”

  “Simon doesn’t know my car, Jenn. It’s not often that I see Simon. He was always called in when I wasn’t around. My brothers know him more than I do. But Jake knows my car.” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

  Jenn narrowed her eyes in thought. “Jake is your brother. The brother that was at the house?”

  “Yes, the fucker that hurt you.” He growled again. He quickly looked at her. “I feel stupid for not realizing that he would be there, too.” He looked back at the road.

  “You can’t know everything, Sean. Try and relax. We are going home, and we are going to fix this.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it in reassurance. She hoped he didn’t feel how clammy her hand was. She didn’t want him to realize just how scared she was.

  Taking a few deep breaths, he nodded.

  Jenn got comfortable again in her seat, kept hold of Sean’s hand and waited out the rest of the ride home. She did everything she could to keep her mind settled, to calm her racing pulse and keep her breathing steady. She hoped that nothing bad would happen on the drive. The last thing she wanted was to be in a car accident, but she supposed, worse things could happen.

  A few hours later, they arrived home, Jenn’s place. It was the early hours of the morning. Nothing exciting happened on the drive. Simon and Jake remained behind them the whole way and even followed them to Jenn’s. They speed off when Sean pulled into her driveway.

  It had been a long drive; they were both exhausted and were in need of sleep. Sean grabbed the bags from the trunk as she requested, while Jenn unlocked the door to her house. She stepped inside and flicked on a light, and Sean followed behind. He set the bags down by the door and stretched.

  “Home sweet home.” Jenn turned to him and smiled.

  “You have a great place, babe.” He pulled her into a hug and gave her a peck on the lips.

  “Thanks.” She yawned. “Now, let’s try and get some sleep before the shit storm starts.” She went and locked the door, put the chain on and took hold of Sean’s hand. Together they walked to her bedroom.

  Both were beyond exhausted, they only hoped that they could get an hour or two of sleep at least before trouble came. Neither were sure what kind of fight they had in them at the moment. Stripping down to almost nothing, they crawled under the blankets of her bed, cuddled up and fell right to sleep.

  Jake

  Connor was sitting in his den sipping on a glass of dark amber whiskey when Jake and Simon walked into the room. Connor looked to t
hem with a sneer on his face. “What the fuck is Simon doing with you, son?”

  Jake walked up to the bar and poured himself a drink. He went and sat in the chair across from his father. “I took him with me. I thought I could get the job done faster with him there.” He sipped the dark liquid, feeling it burn while he swallowed. He needed the shot because when he told his father the job was not done, there was going to be hell to pay.

  Connor looked to Simon, narrowing his eyes at him. “Did she recognize you?”

  Simon looked at Connor, he scrunched his eyebrows. “No, boss, I don’t think she did.”

  “You better fucking hope she didn’t, you fucking idiot.” Connor growled.

  Simon remained by the door and listened.

  Jake looked between the two men. He didn’t know what the men were talking about. “What the fuck, man?” He asked Simon.

  “I killed the girl’s mother.” He answered simply and shrugged.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Jake growled. “You didn’t think to tell me that before I took you with me?”

  “And miss out on the fun? Fuck no.” Simon grinned.

  “Enough!” Connor yelled. “Well, where are they?” Connor looked between the two men.

  Simon looked up to the ceiling, and Jake leaned down and put his head in his hands.

  Connor chugged the rest of his whiskey down and slammed the glass down on the table beside him. “Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” He yelled.

  Jake finally looked up at his father, he knew his father’s anger was coming for him next. “They outsmarted us. They’re home. At Jennifer’s place right now.”

  Connor’s breathing increased, and he clenched his fists tightly. “You mean to tell me, the girl saw Simon and you let them get the fuck away?” His voice rose with each syllable he spoke. He stood and began to pace the floor in front of Jake.

  “We will fix it, don’t worry.” Jake looked to Simon for reassurance and back to his father. “Relax, we got this.”