by Claire Adams
I grabbed Jordan’s hand and leaned in to whisper to her.
“We are still going forward with our plan.”
Jordan just smiled at me and squeezed my hand. We both knew that paying Escabar off wasn’t going to keep us or our families safe. The only plan that would work was going to Ramos. I was confident in that.
As we walked outside, my father pulled his checkbook out and started to write me a check. It was the first time in a really long time that I felt like my father actually looked me in the eyes. At least I could thank Captain Bastrop for that. I had longed to see respect in my father’s eyes, and I welcomed every moment of it.
“How much do we need, son? How much to get this creep to leave you alone?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” I said quietly.
“Chase, I know you are a businessman. I know you want to do your own thing. I just wish you would have come to me to borrow the money instead of this criminal.”
“Dad, you cut me off. I hadn’t been respectful to you and your money. I knew that it wasn’t the right time to come to you for money. I’m sorry.”
“Chase, you did good by turning that man in. That showed some real guts. If you want the company, I would be more than happy to give it to you. Maybe a couple of the guys from the board could stay on as your support when I retire.”
It was the offer I had waited on for years. That moment was what I had dreamed about since I had started to work at my father’s company. But I didn’t want to accept it just yet. I didn’t want to accept it until Jordan and I had finished what we needed to do. There was no future for me with his company or with anything, if I didn’t get out from under Escabar’s control.
“Thanks, Dad,” I said as I hugged him. “Do you mind if I think about it for a little bit?”
I saw the shock in my father’s eyes and then a bit of a smile as he looked at my hand intertwined with Jordan’s. Something about his look showed me that he understood I cared about Jordan and I wanted to do right by her.
“Certainly, you two take your time and discuss things. We can talk in a couple of days.”
“Thank you, Mr. Foster,” Jordan said.
“Thanks, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you first.”
“I’m still proud of you, kid. It takes a lot of guts to turn in a bad guy like Escabar. You did the right thing.”
My father leaned in and hugged me before he turned and made his way to the car that was waiting for him.
It was a different kind of hug than I was used to. This hug seemed filled with real emotion. Real genuine emotion, and I almost started to choke up when I let go of him.
Being a Foster son had never really been that easy. I always had to live up to what my brothers were doing and never felt like I was good enough. I still didn’t really feel like I was doing that great at life, but hopefully once everything was settled with Escabar I would be able to move forward.
I could only imagine how perfect life would be with me in charge of Foster Industries and Jordan by my side. Maybe we would even have some babies or something like that. It was fun to fantasize about that kind of life, although I had never really done so in the past. Meeting Jordan had me thinking in a whole different way.
Jordan and I made our way out of the parking garage and drove around town as we discussed our plan.
“I’m scared, Chase,” she said.
“I know, but I think this is really going to work. It’s our best shot at ending this whole thing. And if we do it right, I won’t even have to pay Escabar back his money.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of not giving Escabar $250,000. I had technically already paid him back all the money I owed him, through his crazy high interest payments that he required over the last six months. I really didn’t want to hand over any more money to the man.
“Well, I’m ready if you are,” Jordan said.
“I’m ready.”
Chapter 24
Jordan
“Do you think Ramos will actually show up himself?” I asked Chase, as we pulled up to the park where we had planned to meet up with Salina and Salvador.
“No, he’s got to be suspicious of us. We will talk to Salina and Salvador first and get them to take the message back to Ramos.”
Chase and I held hands in the car while we waited for Salina and Salvador to show up. I felt my heart pounding. I couldn’t help but think we were being watched. My eyes looked around outside the vehicle as I tried to see whoever it was that I felt watching me.
“Do you feel like we are being watched?” I asked as I looked at a hill on the other edge of the park.
“Kind of, but I just chalked it up to feeling really paranoid.”
“Man, I just can’t shake the feeling.”
“It’s possible Ramos has some eyes on use to make sure we aren’t working with the police or anything like that.”
“It was pretty amazing that Captain Bastrop slipped you that black book,” I said.
Chase flipped through the pages of the book nervously as we waited. Although we would have moved forward with our plan no matter what, it did work much better now that we had the actual black book in our hands.
“Yeah, he made a copy of everything and gave it back. But I really think this is a different version of the book. I think some of the names were undercover cops and they rewrote the book to exclude them. I suspect he thinks we will try to give it back to Escabar with the money.”
Chase was a smart guy. I hadn’t fully seen that side of him until we started plotting out how we were going to get out of the mess we were in. It seemed just a little confidence was all he needed to make the change to a fully confident undercover outlaw.
Our plan was to meet with Salina and Salvador and let them know we had information about Escabar that Ramos would want. It was risky because those two could take that information back to Escabar, but we suspected they would want to move up the ladder themselves and get into the good graces of Ramos. Their need to please him would have them working like putty in our hands.
“I’m so nervous. I feel like I might throw up,” I whispered.
My hand shook inside of Chase’s, and I felt like my body just couldn’t take much more of the excitement that was going on. It had been a crazy couple of weeks in America. I just wanted all of it to be over.
I wanted to be on a beach somewhere snuggled up to Chase and not worrying about a single thing. Deep down, I knew our plan would work, it just had to – that was the only option. The other outcome was too horrible to imagine.
“Jordan, look at me,” Chase said as he turned my direction. “We are going to get through this. We will be just fine. You and I together will get this finished, and then we will take a vacation to Miami to look for Ana. Okay?”
I smiled as my heart filled with happiness. He was thinking about me, even in the middle of our most dangerous moment. We could be shot by Escabar, or Ramos, or any number of other people that worked for them, yet there Chase was, trying to make me feel better.
It had been two weeks since I came to the United States and, although I had received an email and phone call from my mother the day before, I still hadn’t heard from Ana. I was positive something bad that had happened to her, but I wouldn’t know for sure until we found the guy that she had gone to meet.
Chase had promised me he would even get his brother Jackson, a private investigator, involved if he had to.
“Is that them?” Chase said as he pointed to Salina and Salvador as they walked through the park.
“Yes.”
“Okay, remember the plan. Just stay near me and follow my lead. We just need to get them to go back to Ramos with the information. Don’t get mad at them.”
He knew I had almost exploded with anger when he said we should use Salina and Salvador to get in with Ramos. Those two had pretended to be my friends and then served me up to Escabar without a second thought. They hadn’t known what Escabar was going to do with me, and they didn’t care. To them,
it was a job that they got paid for and that was all that mattered. It made me want to punch them both in the head when I thought about how easily I trusted them.
“I will behave myself,” I said as we got out of the car and walked toward them.
I stayed a step behind Chase and continued to look around as we got closer to them. I still felt like we were being watched. Surely, sending Salina a text message and telling her we wanted to meet and talk about Ramos had set off some serious red flags in their world.
“It’s good to see you, Jordan,” Salina said as she looked around Chase at me.
“It’s not good to see you, bitch.”
Chase grabbed my hand and pulled me back as I started to step toward Salina. I thought I was going to be able to behave myself, but being there next to her had my emotions going wild.
“Now, now, girls, we are here for business,” Salvador said as he turned to face Chase. “Damn women. So, let’s talk. You got something that Ramos wants?”
“Yes, we do. We have some information that will be really valuable to Ramos, and I’m pretty sure it would get you two in good with him if you helped us deliver the news.”
“Or it will get us killed,” Salvador responded.
“I think it will benefit everyone involved if we could just sit down with Ramos. Can you make that happen for us?”
“Why would we do that for you?” Salina said spitefully.
“Shut up,” Salvador said.
“Yeah, shut up,” I added.
“Alright, ladies, let’s keep this professional. Salvador, I think you know that helping Ramos get rid of a scumbag that is working for him will only serve to benefit you in the end. Ramos will be happy to see he has a new loyal man that he can count on.”
“You have real evidence that this man is not serving Ramos and his best interests?”
“I do.”
“Like what?”
Chase needed to tread lightly with the information he actually gave Salvador. We had to give him just enough information so he knew we were telling the truth, but not so much information that Salvador would turn and give it to Ramos himself without bringing us in on the deal.
“It’s about Escabar and some side work he is doing that is putting Ramos in danger. I’m sure you can understand that, with the sensitive nature of this information, we would like to talk directly with Ramos.”
“You know something about Escabar?”
“Yes, I do. Haven’t you heard that I stole his black book of contacts?”
Salvador looked surprised that Chase admitted to stealing the book. I was even a little surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth. But I was confident that he had a plan. I was willing to bet admitting to stealing the book was all part of the larger plan.
“Yeah, I heard. I’d probably get a nice big bonus from Escabar if I just killed you right here.”
“I doubt that. I owe him a quarter million dollars. He’s going to want that money back before you kill me.”
Salvador seemed annoyed by Chase and his logic, but he backed off from the threats to harm Chase or me. The two men continued to stare at each other as they tried to decide if either of them were willing to trust the other.
Chase finally broke the silence with a little peace offering.
“You see this black book,” he said as he pulled the book from his pocket. “It’s got a lot of incriminating information about Escabar. Ramos really needs to see it.”
As Chase pulled the black book out of his pocket, I could have sworn that I saw movement in one of the trees on the edge of the park. My eyes fixated in that direction as I tried to get an eye on who was over there. I really had no idea if it was someone from Escabar’s group, Ramos, or maybe even law enforcement.
“Okay, I’ll get a message to him. But it better be this big piece of information that Ramos wants, or I’ll turn your ass into Escabar and let him deal with you.”
“Trust me, Salvador, Ramos is going to put you on his team after all this. You will be doing him a huge favor.”
Salvador clearly did not trust Chase, but that was fine. He did look very interested in getting on Ramos’ good side.
“Be here tonight at ten o’clock,” Salvador said as he turned and walked away.
I couldn’t believe I had missed my opportunity to punch Salina in the face. As she walked away, my eyes stayed focused on her head as I imagined what it would have felt like to punch her right in the back.
“Someone’s out there for sure,” I said to Chase as we walked back to the vehicle.
“I know. I felt it, too. But whatever they are watching for, they didn’t kill us. So they must want to see us giving this book to Ramos.”
“Or, they are waiting for Ramos and us to all be in the same spot so they can kill us all.”
“You are getting the hang of this mobster stuff aren’t you?” he teased me.
“We could be the new Bonnie and Clyde.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled it up to his lips as we got to the car. The way his eyes looked at me, I felt exactly what he was thinking. The adrenaline of the moment had my blood pumping, too, and I wanted to find a fun place for us to play around.
“Get in the car,” he said as he smiled.
“Oh, yes, sir.”
Chase drove around for a little bit to make sure no one was following us before he pulled into an old, run down hotel. It certainly wasn’t my idea of a perfect evening, but then again, nothing between Chase and I had been perfect.
He ran into the office and got us a key to our room, then pulled around back to the parking area. He purposely left the car as far away from our room as possible, which I assumed was so that no one would know which room we were in if they happened to find us. But I seriously doubted that anyone was going to come to The Lucky Motor Inn looking for us.
As we made it to our room, Chase looked around quickly and then opened the door and pushed me in. He locked the door behind him and started taking off his clothes as his eyes peered into mine. There was no talking – it wasn’t needed. I could see the pure lust in his eyes, and I knew he could see the same in my own.
His eyes locked with mine and he walked closer to me. I fumbled with getting my clothes off and his hands were there quickly to help me. Then, his hands were wrapped around me, holding me close to him as his lips moved down my neck and toward my nipple.
The moans that came from him as he kissed and sucked on my nipple drove me absolutely wild. My body ached to have him inside of me. I couldn’t wait another moment, so I turned him around and pressed him back onto the bed playfully.
Chase wasn’t about to let me be in charge, though. By the time I crawled into the bed, he had grabbed me and flipped me so I was face down. His hands held tight onto my hips and soon his mouth started to kiss my ass gingerly.
My body shivered at the touch of his wet lips and I pressed my hips toward him to get even more of him. His lust for me continued as I felt his finger slide inside of my wetness, and his thumb started to play with my clit.
Our movements were quick and deliberate as we were both so pumped full of adrenaline, we couldn’t contain ourselves. I just needed to have him thrusting inside of me. There was nothing else that mattered to me in that moment than feeling his hardness inside of me. It was like he purposely held himself back from fucking me just to torture me a little longer.
“Fuck me,” I moaned out in an urgent desire to have him.
Chase didn’t waste a single second of time after he heard my request. He pulled himself up onto his knees and pressed his hardness into me roughly. It was firm, and I loved every moment of it.
Urgently, we moved against each other as his hands held tight to my hips. I gripped onto the sheets for leverage. Hard. Fast. Deep. That is how we moved, as our bodies searched for a finish to release all of our pent up energy.
Chase reached down, grabbed my long brown hair, and pulled me back toward him. He was firm, yet gentle as he used my hair as a guide for thrusting insi
de of me. His firm hold on my hair only served to heighten my arousal. I found myself moaning even louder than I had ever moaned before.
“Yes. Yes!” I screamed out.
His hips moved harder and deeper at the sound of my acceptance of him. He grabbed my hair with both hands and thrust his hips as deep as he could. It sent my body into an ecstatic orgasm that made me lose my balance and lay flat onto the bed.
Chase stayed on top of me and thrust hard over me as his body urged him on to get to his finish. His hands held onto the bed for leverage as his thrust moved deep inside of me. I was still moaning and shivering from my orgasm when I felt his final thrust.
“Fuck, yes,” he moaned as he came deep inside of me.
My body pressed back toward him, and I relished the skin-to-skin contact. We were both wet with sweat and breathing heavily from the exertion, it was fantastic.
As we lay on the not so fancy sheets of our motel, I had never been happier. Sure, we were in the midst of possibly getting murdered by Escabar for turning him into Ramos, but I had never felt more alive than I did at that moment.
“I’m afraid to go look at the shower,” I teased.
“Me too.”
Chase laughed and then pulled me up to force me to go with him to the bathroom. The orange hue of stain that ran around the tub was a weird rust-like ring. The ceiling was extremely low and had wet stains around it. I felt dirtier in the bathroom than I did just staying out in the noisy old bed that we had just screwed each other on.
“I’m not getting in there alone,” I said.
“Deal, we will just hurry and wash off.”
Chase turned the water on and it made a crazy loud noise as the flow of water made its way to the shower. I half expected some brown disgusting water to come pouring out. Luckily, the water appeared perfectly clear, so I jumped in first to get it over with.
There was no soap or anything like that. I just quickly washed up so I could get out of there. Chase stood at the other end of the shower watching me as he tried to decide if he was going to get under the water or not.
“Well, it’s not quite my six-person shower now is it?” he teased.
