Never Let Go (Brothers From Money Book 9)

by Shanade White

  Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was confused and angry all at once. He glared at her.

  "You're mad."

  "Am I?"

  From her expression, Carla was furious. Whether it was at him or her Jason didn't know. But they had their wires crossed somewhere and Jason was desperate for her to know that he had never done anything criminal in his life.

  He narrowed his eyes, deciding to play what he knew.

  "Who's your client?" He demanded as he advanced on the counter, mirroring Carla's stance as he leaned on it from the other side. "Agent Whitely? I know he's investigating me for money laundering."

  "I was on this before Agent Whitely came on the scene." Carla shot back.

  "And you really think I've been engaging in criminal activity?"

  "You're hiding something.”

  "Just like you with your private eye business?" Jason watched as Carla's eyes widened in shock. "When were you going to tell me you're a private investigator, Carla?"

  *****

  Carla was flummoxed. Jason knew what she was? She hadn't been expecting him to find out at all; despite her popularity there were still a lot of people who didn't know what she worked as. Jason had been one of those people.

  Until now. Carla gulped.

  "How did you find out about that?" She stammered.

  "I did a background check on you." Jason held up a hand before Carla could open her mouth. "It's nothing on you. I do it on everyone. When you're as high-profile as I am you can never be too careful. I also know that Joanie Oldham was the one who hired you." His eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't trust her, Carla. She fed you lies because she's angry with me."

  "You fired her. I'm not surprised."

  "I fired her because she was a lousy editor and she was stalking me."

  Carla watched in stunned amazement as Jason sagged onto a stool and buried his face in his hands, the fight suddenly gone out of him. Her anger also dissipated. She wanted to go to him and comfort him but knew that Jason would push her away.

  She waited as Jason took a deep breath and lowered his hands, not looking at her. He suddenly seemed dejected.

  "I kept her on because she was pretty and she showed interest in me. I'm a shallow bastard and I'm not afraid to admit that. I asked her on a date when she'd been there about six weeks." Jason sighed. "That was a big mistake. She was all over me before we'd even finished the meal. In the middle of the restaurant. Then she practically dragged me to her car and begged me to take her home and have sex with her." He grunted as he stared at his hands. "She wasn't exactly subtle about it."

  "I bet she said she'd wear her kimono as well." Carla muttered.

  "What?"

  "Nothing."

  Jason closed his eyes for a moment, opening them to stare against at his hands.

  "She asked me when the next date would be and I told her we didn't click so there wouldn't be any more dates. This is where I learned that you should never date an employee. I had never done that before but I thought I could bend the rules just this once because she was pretty." His jaw clenched. "I tried to let her down as gently as I could. But she didn't take it well. She attacked me in my office, accusing me of leading her on. I fired her on the spot and security took her away. Even if I hadn't dated her she would have been receiving severance pay before long, she was that bad at her job." He looked up at Carla, his face pained but his eyes still sparking his anger. "The only crime I've committed here is being stupid enough to date an employee who was unstable."

  Carla felt really bad now. But she also felt angry. Joanie had lied to her. There was no doubt about it. Joanie had lied about what had really happened. She had never mentioned having a date with Jason.

  She didn't know if it was because she was in love with Jason or something else but she believed him. And she felt bad for believing for one second that he was behind her attack.

  They were staring at each other when Carla's phone went off in her bag. Tearing her eyes away from Jason's, Carla dug into her bag and retrieved her cell phone, glancing at the caller ID.

  "It's Joanie."

  Jason stood up and moved around to stand at her side. The heat of his body felt good but Carla didn't touch; they were still angry at each other.

  "Put her on loudspeaker." Jason murmured.

  Carla put her phone on the counter and answered the call, switching to loudspeaker.

  "Joanie? You okay? What's the matter?"

  "You've got to come here now, Carla." Joanie was crying. "Jason's here."

  Carla did a double-take. She stared at Jason, who was giving her a look that said 'now do you believe me'. Carla focused on the call.

  "Jason is?"

  "Yes. He's demanding to be let in. He wants sex and he said he'll kill me if I don't let him in." Joanie sounded like she was hyperventilating. "I don't know what to do! The police are not coming out because they say he's not dangerous but I'm sure I saw him carrying a sword."

  Jason raised an eyebrow. Carla took one look at him and knew for certain who the real liar was.

  "Sit tight, Joanie." She said quietly. "I'm coming over."

  Chapter 8

  The drive up to Miami Shores was silent. Uncomfortably silent. Carla kept glancing over at Jason in the passenger seat but she wasn't able to say anything.

  She had already said sorry when they were back at the apartment but Jason hadn't said anything. He had stayed silent as he waited for her to shower, helping her clean her wounds afterwards and helping her dress - her shoulder felt wrenched after being thrown around. He hadn't tried anything with her, completing his tasks with efficiency.

  Carla had wished he would do something, anything, to show her that he had forgiven her. But Jason remained sullenly silent. So Carla had to sit miserably behind the wheel as she drove them to Joanie's house.

  Luke and Amy were already there, parked across the street from Joanie's condo. Carla pulled up outside and turned off the engine.

  "Now let me do the talking here."

  "Seriously?"

  Carla glared at Jason, who was glowering at her.

  "That's enough, Jason." She snapped. "We can argue later."

  She climbed out before she said or did something she would regret. Luke was coming across the street. His eyes widened and he hurried over to her.

  "Fuck, Carla, what happened to you?"

  "I'm fine, Luke." Carla pushed his hands away. "It's nothing I can't handle."

  The sight after washing away the blood hadn't been any better than before. Her face was swollen on one side, she had a cut above one eye and her nose felt out of joint. Something also cracked when she breathed so she must have cracked a rib somewhere.

  But she wasn't going to the hospital. Not until she had seen to Joanie, at least.

  Amy came to join them as Jason got out and stood on the sidewalk watching them. She gave him a glare.

  "What is he doing here?" She snapped.

  "Getting some answers." Carla glanced at Luke. "You owe me $200, by the way."

  "Why?"

  Carla explained about Joanie's phone call and how she and Jason had listened in on Joanie's lies. When she finished Amy was staring at Jason.

  "Have you got a twin brother?"

  "Younger brother but he doesn't look like me." Jason narrowed his eyes at her. "Why? You single?"

  Amy huffed and looked at Carla.

  "Real charmer, he is."

  "Sorry, love. I'm not in the mood to be charming."

  Carla rolled her eyes and left them to squabble, leading Luke up the path to Joanie's front door and ringing the bell. After a moment of silence she knocked on the door.

  "Joanie? Joanie, it's Carla. Open up."

  A second later there came the sound of the latch coming off and the door being unlocked. Then it opened and Joanie looked out, her eyes wide.

  "Has he gone?"

  "You mean Jason?"

  "Yes. Did you see him?"

  "Hello, Joanie."

 
Carla jumped as Jason stepped up to her side and leaned against the door frame, giving Joanie a nasty smile. Joanie screamed and tried to shut the door but Jason kicked it back open, sending it out of Joanie's hand. Still screaming, Joanie ducked inside. Carla gave Jason a hard look.

  "Nice one. Now we'll have the neighbors calling the cops."

  Jason shrugged and went in, Carla following him. Luke entered third and Amy closed the door behind them. Joanie was cowering in a corner, huddled up on herself with her arms over her head.

  "Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me!" She begged. "Please don't kill me."

  Carla sighed and glanced at Amy. Her friend understood. They went to Joanie and hauled her up by her arms.

  "Relax, Joanie. We're not going to kill you." They deposited her unceremoniously on the couch. Then Carla crouched before her, keeping her voice on an even level. "But we do need answers. You've been lying to me and I want to know why."

  "What?" Joanie sat up and brushed her hair away from her face. "I haven't been lying to you."

  "Telling me that Jason was outside threatening you was a lie."

  "But he was!"

  "He was standing right next to me when you called." Carla raised her eyebrows when she saw it hit home. "He may be talented in many things but being in two places at the same time is not one of them."

  She heard a cough behind her but ignored it, focusing on Joanie, who was looking like she was floundering.

  "He did it earlier." Was the response she finally came up with. "I just got my tenses wrong."

  "Sounds like you got a lot of things wrong." Luke grunted. He was leaning against the wall with his big arms folded. Joanie gave him a haughty look.

  "Who's he? Another goon?"

  "This is Special Agent Whitely, FBI." Carla glared at Joanie, who was slowly turning white. "He was close to locking up an innocent man because of you."

  "And her?"

  Joanie glanced nervously at Amy.

  "I'm a friend." Amy advanced on the couch, sitting beside Joanie. She spoke softly, almost as if she was talking to a little child. "And I'm very good at getting people to talk. Do you know what you've done, Joanie? You've committed a crime. Jason would have been going to prison having done nothing wrong because you planted evidence for Carla to find so you could incriminate him. We want to know why."

  Joanie looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. She shook her head.

  "I have nothing to say."

  Carla bit back a groan. She hated it when people who were clearly guilty tried to get away with their crimes by saying nothing. It never worked.

  "You do know this comes with a prison sentence?" Luke said gruffly. "It's a criminal offense. And obstructing an FBI investigation makes it a federal offense. Care to try again, Miss Oldham?"

  But still Joanie kept her head bent, staring at her hands. Normally Carla was prepared to wait but not this time. Her nerves were frayed and she wanted answers now.

  "I'm going to count to three, Joanie. You had better be ready to tell us by the time I get to three or Agent Whitely is going to arrest you." She held up a hand and began to count. "One. Two. Thr..."

  "It was Rick's idea!" Joanie's response came out in a rush. "He just made me go along with it. I swear!"

  "Rick?" Jason had been silent until then, sitting on the nearest armchair. Now he was sitting forward, staring at Joanie. "Rick Stevens?"

  "He's my boyfriend."

  Carla glanced at Jason, who looked stumped.

  "He's also the one who paid for all of this, I take it?" Carla indicated the condo and Joanie's designer velour suit. "I thought everything looked beyond your means with your previous salary."

  "He looks after me." Joanie sat up straight and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "But he was the one who was laundering money and hiding it in the company. We just put everything in Jason's name and pretended it was him. Rick handled the books and finances for the company; it wasn't hard to hide it." She glanced over at Jason, who was staring at her. "Then when Jason got arrested Rick would transfer all the money between us and completely take over the company. We'd have more money than we could hope for. Jesse Taga promised us that."

  "So you made a deal with the devil." Amy said slowly.

  It sounded like it. Carla watched as Joanie's frightened exterior slipped away and was replaced with a cold, hard demeanor that hardened her features. This was the true Joanie Oldham coming out now.

  "What's wrong with wanting more money?" She demanded haughtily. "Rick loved money. He showered me with it. But he wasn't about to let his old friend find out." She fixed a glare on Jason, who was looking stumped at the revelation. "You were getting too close to the truth by asking questions about the figures and Rick was getting nervous. He told me to hire Carla since she was one of the best to finding all the dirt." She swung her nasty scowl back around to Carla. "It was working perfectly until you started falling for him."

  Carla felt her face going red. What a way to tell someone you loved them - through someone else when you weren't ready. She diverted attention by plowing on.

  "You made yourself suspicious when you kept going after Jason and Stevens and getting yourself into trouble." She shot back. "Any sensible person would stay at home and let me get on with it. You seemed determined to make it worse for yourself."

  Joanie snorted.

  "You don't get it, do you? I got paid virtually nothing. My salary was shit. Shit!" She shouted at Jason. "Rick had the money. He had the looks. I wrapped him around my little finger. If you hadn't gotten distracted by Wonderboy then we would've had millions to ourselves."

  "Not anymore." Luke pushed away from the wall and pulled out his handcuffs. "You're going to be separated from that money for a very long time."

  Joanie didn't say anything as she was brought to her feet and Luke put the cuffs on her with her arms behind her back. She smirked at Carla.

  "Rick will get me out." She said smugly. "He'll keep me out of trouble."

  Carla felt heat against her back as she stood and she knew that Jason was there.

  "Considering he'll be trying to save his own skin," he said sharply, "I don't think he's going to worry too much about you, Joanie."

  Joanie's smirk snapped off, her eyes icy cold. They watched as Luke hauled her away and out the house. Carla knew it wouldn't be long before he called in reinforcements to search the house. She was tired and in pain; she just wanted to go home.

  Amy touched her arm.

  "Go home, Carla." She said softly. "You need the rest. Luke can interview you at a later date."

  Carla nodded. She hadn't felt this relieved in a long time to be told to go home.

  *****

  Jason insisted on driving back and Carla readily agreed. She wasn't in a fit state to drive. Now she had dealt with Joanie, the adrenaline was wearing off and she was feeling woozy. Maybe she should get her head checked out at the ER. But she didn't want to leave Jason until they had cleared the air.

  Jason was silent as they drove back. Carla let him have his space until they pulled into Carla's parking lot. Jason parked the car in her usual spot and turned the engine off. Then he sat back staring straight out the windshield. Carla sat up and touched his arm.

  "Jason? You okay?"

  "Yeah." Jason sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I just can't believe Rick would do something like this. We built our publishing company together. He was so driven." He gulped. "I had no idea he felt like this."

  Carla could understand where he was coming from. The two of them had been friends for years, trusted each other with everything. And now one had turned on the other because greed was bigger than their friendship.

  "Sometimes those we keep the nearest to us are the ones we don't truly know." She said quietly. She took his hand. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't be." Jason turned his hand over and encased her hand in his. He shifted in his seat as he turned to look at her. "I'm sorry I treated you the way I did."

  "How did you
treat me?"

  "Badly." Jason closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them he looked pained. "I don't do that to women. I should've treated you better."

  Carla smiled and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm not."

  And she wasn't. She really was falling hard if she wasn't worrying about the way he claimed he had treated her.

  Jason stared at her.

  "How can you be so forgiving?" He asked. "I'm confused."

  "I don't know. I'm not normally."

  "Then why with me?"

  Carla looked down at their joined hands, admiring his bronzed skin against her dark brown one. She brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed his knuckles one by one.

  "Probably because I'm glad my hunch was right." She said. "That you were innocent."

  "You believed me all along?"

  Carla smiled. "I did."

  Jason's eyes darkened. He growled and pulled Carla towards him. Their mouths met in a furious dance, desperate to take the dominant role from the other. Carla rose up onto her knees, Jason's hands coming up to support her waist as she leaned over him. Her hands ran over his chest and stomach before going to his jeans. His cock pressed against the denim and Carla ran her hand over the ridge. Jason moaned and bucked against her hand.

  With one hand she undid the button and then lowered the zipper to reach inside. She brought his cock out and pumped it slowly with her hand. Jason moaned again and thrust his hips up, his cock moving in the confines of her hand.

  Carla pulled away suddenly. Pushing Jason's hands away, she dropped to her knees and leaned over his lap. His cock was thick, very thick, but Carla managed to get her lips around him and sucked him into her mouth. Jason groaned. His hands went to her head, running his fingers through her hair, guiding her as she bobbed her head over him, running her tongue over the soft skin.

  "Fuck, Carla, you feel amazing."

  Carla sucked on him a few more times before pulling away. She could feel Jason trying to pull her back but moved just out of reach. She adjusted her seat's reclining, putting it all the way down. Then she lay down and wriggled out of her sweat pants and panties. Jason gave her pussy a hungry look.

  Carla kicked her pants away and clambered across the car to sit across Jason's lap. She didn't care they were in a public area or that there were security cameras around. At this time of night no one would be using the parking lot and the security cameras had their blind spots, her parking space being one of them.