Sinful (The Sin Duet Book 3)
Page 17
I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for; maybe I just wanted to look at it and remember a simpler time. Then I’d noticed the edge of the small picture inside was slightly bent. Peeling the picture away revealed a small map.
Of the county of Northumberland.
My grandmother had been trying to give me a way back to her all along.
Gemma didn’t know about any of this yet. In some ways, my search for my past was even harder for her than it was for me. She loved me. It still gave me a thrill just thinking about it. But love made her want the best for me. To be happy. Cared for. She wanted these things for me even more than I wanted them for myself, so I didn’t want to tell her about my search and possibly get her hopes up. We’d both had far too much disappointment in our short lives.
She wasn’t even old enough to drink yet and she’d already lived through horrors that some didn’t see after living for decades.
The whistle of the train brought me out of my thoughts. Gemma looked over at me and smiled.
“Are you ready to explore? This area is more rural, so I looked up some guides online about good trails for walking. This should be a fun day trip.”
Her determination to make this fun for me only made me adore her more. She thought that we were there so I could explore my roots a bit and see the countryside I remembered from my childhood. My memories were so sketchy now and just as much imagination as actual recollections, so she thought we were there to fill in the gaps.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I stood with her and we gathered our things and walked off the train. Everyone else scurried off the platform, eager to get where they were going or rushing into the arms of relatives who had come to pick them up.
“That must be our car!” Gemma pointed excitedly to the small black car that was all I could arrange for at such short notice.
“I’ll drive,” she said quickly.
Despite the fact that it was inconvenient, her fear of letting me drive again was amusing. “Driving on the wrong side of the street is very common when you’ve been out of the country for as long as I have. I’ve got it now. Besides you don’t even know where we’re going.”
Ignoring me, Gemma wrenched open the driver’s side door. “That’s true. But it’s going to take me a while to get over the image of you almost running over an old lady with a cane.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was nowhere near that lady. So melodramatic. Look under the seat; the key should be there.”
The man I arranged to bring the car promised to drop the car off only half an hour before we were due to arrive and leave the key under the seat. I chuckled a little thinking that if we were in New York, the car would have been stolen and probably stripped if left unattended for more than five minutes.
Gemma looked at the directions I pulled up on my phone before we set off. It was a beautiful drive, and my face was practically glued to the window as we ambled down narrow streets and passed farms and animals grazing. Nothing looked familiar in particular, but it felt right.
Like home. Something in me knew we were close.
“Turn here,” I instructed as we approached a narrow opening on the right. The hedges hadn’t been trimmed and the branches and foliage scraped the car as we passed. The house up ahead was a delightful hodgepodge of shapes. There was a line of laundry blowing in the wind in the field to the left of the house.
Gemma parked the car a few feet in front of a small barn and turned off the engine. “This is an interesting bed and breakfast.”
I reached over and grasped her hand. “This isn’t a bed and breakfast.”
She stared at me for a long moment and then her eyes moistened. “Oh Matthias. Where are we?”
Before I could answer, there was movement behind the line of laundry. An elderly woman appeared, holding an armful of sheets. She paused to shake out a sheet and then took something from her mouth and clipped the fabric to the line.
The white billowing away from her was like a beacon of hope.
My legs didn’t listen to the rest of me that warned to be cautious, to take things slow, not to frighten her. No, my legs propelled me from the car with no explanation to Gemma and carried me across the yard toward the beckoning white flag of linen.
When she saw me, the old woman let out a soft cry of alarm. Then she did a double take.
“It can’t be,” she said finally.
Overcome, I found that I couldn’t speak, so I searched my pocket and pulled out the locket. It dangled in the air between us. Her eyes filled with tears, and then her face softened.
“I always knew you’d find your way home.”
And when she opened her arms to me, I knew that she was right.
THANK YOU for reading the SIN duet.
Have you read Jonas and JJ’s story? Keep reading for an excerpt of the steamy and suspenseful, FORCE.
Excerpt of Force
For years I’ve existed on the edge of the dark, protecting innocents who can’t protect themselves. Until… her. Jessica JJ Jones. The bane of my existence. A bright light in the dark. The crack in my armor. A loud, argumentative beautiful crack in my armor.
But first, there’s a more immediate concern. JJ is running scared. And to protect her I might have to break the vow I made years ago.
Excerpt of Force © August 2017 M. Malone and Nana Malone
Jessica Jones closed her eyes, exhausted. Day after draining day of pulling double duty while her bestie and partner in crime was on maternity leave was starting to take its toll. Like hell was she going to start complaining, though. If anyone deserved happiness, it was Lucia. Her best friend had been to hell and back and deserved the time off.
JJ could deal. After all Lucia would do it for her. Besides, JJ wasn’t letting a prima donna fashion designer run her into the ground and call uncle. She’d rather burn her Jimmy Choos first. She could handle anything their boss Adriana could dish out.
It felt like she’d only shut her eyes for mere seconds before she frowned in her sleep.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
When she peeled her eyes open again, she was in hell.
“Oh my god,” she screamed.
But that scream was her first mistake. It meant emptying out her lungs, which meant she needed to breathe... and that meant lungs full of smoke.
It was so hot her hair plastered against her head and her sheets clung to her naked breasts from sweat. Yeah, she slept topless, so what? It had been so hot lately.
Frantic, she looked around the room trying to find the source of heat. It was so dark she couldn't see anything. But she could feel the smoke all around her, cloying and thick, wrapping around her and constricting her lungs.
“Don't panic.” The sound of her own voice out loud scared her out of her frozen state. Fear immobilizes. Anger motivates. That’s right, get pissed off!
If there was anything JJ was good at, it was being hot tempered. What the fuck was smoke doing in her room anyway? She’d just had a goddamned blowout. She needed to charge that color and cut to whatever or whoever was the source of this fire.
Move your ass girly.
She had to move because she was not dying in this room. She did not survive her past to die like this. Fuck that noise. Besides, if she died like this, Lucia would resurrect her ass and kill her all over again. After Lucia had survived being stalked and almost killed, JJ had a new appreciation for the meaning of life.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting out a sigh of relief when her toes met the carpet. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark somewhat, she could see the faint hint of an orange glow from down the hall. Which meant the fire hadn't reached her room... yet.
But the bedroom door stood open to the hall, which was probably why she could already smell the smoke.
It was weird that the door was open. She always closed the door before going to sleep. It was one of the things Lucia’s husband had drilled into her. Noah owned a security company, and his overprotectiveness toward L
ucia had spilled over onto JJ. Now she always had one of the annoying, albeit sexy, guys who worked for him trailing her to and from work, and her apartment had been subjected to a thorough security ‘review’ by Noah’s resident IT wizard. Matthias had deemed her place ‘merely acceptable.’
JJ was pretty sure they'd have asked her to move if they hadn’t known from experience that she didn't take suggestions well. The last thing she needed was some man trying to tell her what to do. Maybe Lucia was okay with that, but she wasn't interested. JJ knew from experience that she didn't want any man having control over her life. Never again. That alpha-asshole shit didn't work for her, so they could shove their over protectiveness where the sun didn’t shine.
With a quick glance at the open door, she realized it was actually lucky she'd left it open, otherwise she might not have woken up until the flames were closer. What the hell had woken her? You can think through that shit after you’re safe. Yeah, good point. She grabbed up her comforter and wrapped herself in the thick fabric, bringing it up over her head as she stepped into a pair of slippers.
How far to the door? The window might be an option if the fire escape hadn’t been welded over some years ago. She looked up and then squinted in the darkness. And then she saw the shadow in the hall. The man-sized shadow.
Fuck me. She opened her mouth to scream then reached into her bedside drawer for the nearest weapon she could find. She’d been aiming for the retractable baton she kept in the top drawer. But instead she’d come up with a gag gift from a bachelorette party a couple of years ago. A giant purple vibrator.
What are you gonna do with that? Fuck him to death? Well that was a thought.
“Who the hell are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my apartment?”
He stepped forward slightly, his body still half-hidden outside the door, and JJ raised her makeshift weapon.
“I'm here for you, Jessica. I’m always here for you.”
JJ clutched the blanket closer, and her fingers curled around the vibrator as his voice washed over her. The low tone of his words sliced through her veins. That voice. It had been so long since she'd heard that voice. She'd hoped to never hear it again, except in her nightmares.
“How did you find me?”
His chuckle was almost as terrifying as the words that followed. “I never lost you.”
JJ screamed and backed up so fast that she stumbled and fell on the bed. The comforter tangled around her and she fought against it, certain the next touch she'd feel would be the last.
Strong hands wrapped around her flailing arms.
“Damn it, you crazy woman, I'm trying to help you!”
It took a few seconds before she recognized the voice, her terror distorting it into the one she feared most. When she finally spoke, her voice was tiny.
“Jonas? Is that you?”
The comforter was pulled back away from her eyes, and Jonas’s handsome face appeared. Jonas Castillo worked for Noah’s security company and was a regular fixture in her life. He was routinely assigned to protect Lucia, and by default JJ, during the workweek. She took great pleasure in giving him hell, and he was usually cursing her name or bickering with her.
“Yes, of course it's me.”
Before she could question what he was doing there, she felt herself being lifted. She clutched his shoulders automatically, disoriented after her fall. Now she wasn't sure if that had actually happened. Had she been dreaming? It was so hard to tell.
“Jonas, did you see anyone else in the apartment?”
“Like who? Don't you live alone?”
Was that jealousy in his voice? Even under these circumstances, JJ couldn't resist the urge to screw with him a little.
“Actually I don't. We can't leave without my favorite guy.”
“Who? And if you have a boyfriend, where is he? Some help he is during an emergency.”
“Well, Fluffy has never been much help during emergencies, but he blows the best wet kisses.”
Jonas didn't pause. “I'll come back for your dog, I promise. But I have to get you to safety.”
It must have been the smoke affecting her brain, because at first JJ didn't realize what he’d said. It wasn't until they were at the front door that she understood he meant to leave.
“No! I have to get Fluffy!” JJ swatted at his massive chest. She must have surprised him because his arms loosened around her legs, giving her the room she needed to jump down.
“Damn it, JJ! This is serious. We don't have time to stop.”
“It'll just take a second.” JJ raced back to the guest bedroom and grabbed Fluffy, covering him with the comforter as she ran.
Jonas picked her up as soon as she hit the hallway and ran for the front door. They passed a crew of firefighters in the corridor outside her apartment. The smoke was thicker out here, so JJ buried her face in Jonas’s shoulder, making sure to keep Fluffy covered too.
When they got outside, Jonas set them down carefully on the grass, safely away from the building. An EMT approached, and Jonas pointed at JJ. She was going to protest, but dissolved into a coughing fit as soon as she opened her mouth. The young man frowned and knelt on the grass next to her. Then his eyes widened when her comforter slipped and she almost flashed an entire boob at him.
“Hey, eyes up, kid.” Jonas glared at him before yanking his shirt off. He put it over JJ’s head, and she maneuvered carefully to get her arms in without dropping the comforter completely. If she hadn't felt so crappy, she'd have told him exactly where he could shove it. She didn't need anyone speaking for her.
Just to annoy him, she gave the EMT a bright smile that had the young man blushing furiously. Jonas scowled at both of them.
After a flurry of activity, blood pressure cuffs, and oxygen, they finally left her alone. That's when Jonas got a good look at her again. Her and Fluffy.
“A fish? You risked your life to save a fucking fish?”
JJ scooped up Fluffy’s bowl protectively. “Fluffy is not just a fish. He’s a Japanese fighting fish. A total badass.”
Jonas looked like he wanted to strangle her. Normally that was exactly the effect she was going for, but strangely, it wasn't as satisfying as usual.
“Thank you, Jonas. For coming in after me.”
He looked as shocked as she felt by her sudden gratitude.
“Of course. It's nothing. The fire department would have gotten to you soon. I just happened to get there first when Matthias said your alarms were triggered.”
The talk of alarms brought back memories of the man she'd seen in the smoke. It had happened so fast, and she couldn't be sure what was real and what had been a dream.
“Did you see anyone in there?” At his confused look, JJ clarified, “In my apartment?”
Jonas knelt and looked her in the eye. “Was there someone in there with you, Jessica?”
It was all such a blur, and she didn't like the way he was looking at her. Noah’s entire crew was extremely overprotective, so if she said the wrong thing, she'd end up on house arrest with Jonas as her jailor. Plus, it was likely it had all been a dream. Jonas had been in her apartment. He would have seen if anyone else was there. The man in the smoke was nothing more than a shadow from a past she'd rather forget.
“No, I meant in the building. I just want to make sure all my neighbors got out okay.”
Jonas looked like he wanted to say something else, but Noah arrived just then with Lucia right behind him.
JJ accepted a hug from her friend, and that was when it really hit her.
“I guess I'm homeless now.”
Noah’s voice carried from behind Lucia. “You'll stay with us, of course.”
JJ’s eyes met Jonas’s, and she knew he was thinking about her earlier question.
“It’s for the best,” Jonas said.
She glanced over at Lucia. “Free rent and a house full of hot men. Count me in.”
Read FORCE now at malonesquared.com/force
More from The Malones
- The Shameless Trilogy -
Shame (prequel)
Shameless, Shameful, UnAshamed
- The Force Duet -
Forcful (prequel)
Force, Enforce
- The Deep Duet -
In Deep (prequel)
Deep, Deeper
- The Sin Duet -
Beyond Sin (prequel)
Sin, Sinful
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