by BJ Wane
Gripping a small bag in one hand, he took a threatening step toward her. “Why aren’t you with Jackson? I know he went out, his truck’s gone, and you were supposed to go with him.”
“There was a change of plans.” She looked to Alex, hoping to find an ally. “Alex, what’s going on?”
He ignored her, switching his angry expression from her to Matt. “This changes everything. Put that shit back and let’s get out of here.”
“No way, man. We planned too long for this.” Matt whipped back to her, rushing forward to grab her arm in a bruising grip. “Get back upstairs and keep your fucking mouth shut, you got it? You rat us out and I’ll come back for you—”
“Company!” Ryan’s panicked shout came through the open back door loud and clear, as did the crunch of tires on the gravel drive.
Alex’s face went chalk white, but Matt’s reddened in fury. Yanking Julie’s arm, he started dragging her outside, Alex’s alarmed voice following them. “What’re you doing? Let her go!”
Julie would’ve breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Jackson’s truck barreling down the drive, headlights nearly blinding them, if it weren’t for the way Matt thrust her in front of him and wrapped his arm around her neck in a breath-blocking chokehold. Not even the stunned, appalled looks crossing both Ryan and Alex’s faces eased her alarm as she clawed at his arm and kicked back against his shins. The heel of her bare foot went numb from the impact and did nothing to force him to loosen his grip.
“Jesus, Matt, you’ve gone fucking crazy,” Ryan gasped. Flashing lights heralded the arrival of two police cars and drew more curses.
“She’s our ticket out of here,” Matt snapped. Julie could hear the panic in his voice and feel it in his tense body. “I’m not going to jail.”
The fury on Jackson’s face as he slammed to a stop just feet from them and jumped out of his truck worried Julie. She’d never seen him so angry, those dark blue eyes filled with cold contempt and razor sharp, deadly intention when he zeroed in on Matt.
JACKSON HAD EXPERIENCED mind-numbing fear several times in his life: when his parents were arrested, and his life crumbled around him, when he’d been sent to that juvenile camp and thrust among strangers intent on making him change his rebellious ways, and when his grandmother announced he’d be living in Orlando, away from Julie, his last connection to his old life and the one person who meant the most to him. But he’d never felt the soul-deep terror Julie’s text sent spiraling through him. When he’d tried calling, then texting back to order her to get her ass upstairs and discovered she’d turned off her phone, his fear for her amplified, making it impossible to swallow, difficult to breathe. He swore she wouldn’t sit for a week if she got herself hurt.
An icy calm settled over him now as he shifted his gaze from Julie’s frightened face to Matt’s belligerent glare. He heard the cops come in behind him and knew there was no way out for any of them now, and thanked God he’d been close to home when Julie contacted him.
“Don’t be any more stupid than you’ve already been,” he warned Matt. “Let her go. Right now, you’re just looking at theft. That’s a small sentence compared to assault.”
Alex agreed with him. “He’s right, Matt.” He and Ryan both sent pleading looks toward their friend. “Come on, let her go.”
Jackson saw the resignation on Matt’s face when the cops got out with their guns trained on him, but he didn’t see the knife he pulled out until he attempted to slash Julie’s abdomen. Before he could reach him, both Alex and Ryan tackled Matt from the sides, taking Matt and Julie down. Grabbing the hand wielding the knife, Jackson twisted, snapping the bone, then hauled Matt to his feet. Still pumped with rage and fear, he pulled his fist back, preparing to deliver a blow to Matt’s face, but Julie’s small hand gripped his arm, her soft voice sliding through the red haze clouding his mind.
“Jackson, they’ve got him. Let go, please.”
The quaver in her voice sent an answering shudder through Jackson’s rigid body and he flung Matt toward the cops then yanked Julie up against him, gripping her in a bear hug before holding her at arm’s length and giving her a small shake. “Never, never do that again. You understand?” Before she could reply, he pulled her against him again and pressed her head to his shoulder. He could feel her slender body shaking and her rapid heartbeat against his chest. “Christ, baby, you scared the hell out of me. Let me talk to the cops then you can explain yourself.”
IT WAS LATE by the time Julie gave her statement to the police and they were left alone to tread with weary steps upstairs. She was so tired she couldn’t see straight, let alone think straight. The fear-induced adrenaline rush that had kept her going had disappeared, and now all she wanted to do was curl up next to Jackson’s warm, solid strength and sleep. Despite her fatigue and lingering anxiety, one thing had become clear to her tonight. She couldn’t keep hiding from the events of that awful day in Montana. She’d overcome one hurdle when she’d refused to cower upstairs while someone was intent on hurting Jackson by getting away with stealing those drugs.
Risking a quick peek up, she saw his face remained granite hard, a muscle still ticked in his rigid jaw and his eyes smoldered with lingering anger. Even though she’d planned to tell him tonight what she’d been holding back about the day Maci and Candace were killed, she needed to wait until morning, when they were both thinking with clearer heads. He appeared to still be struggling to hold back his temper from the students’ betrayal, something she knew he took personally.
She could only imagine what kind of self-recriminations were going through his head. He’d blame himself for not knowing what Matt was up to, how he’d taken advantage of Jackson’s penchant for losing his keys to make a copy of the ones to the storeroom and medicine case when he’d found them the day of the fundraiser. None of the three had a record, until tonight, but Alex confessed Matt had been doing drugs since he turned thirteen. Julie didn’t know how much of the lingering anger reflected on Jackson’s face and in the rigidity of his body as they climbed the stairs was because of her, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to cope with anything else tonight.
Julie should have remembered how astute he was and saved herself the trouble of worrying about putting off a talk until tomorrow. Jackson set her mind at ease when, after one look at her face as they entered the upstairs, he said, “I’m going in to Piedmont first thing tomorrow morning and make sure Alex and Ryan get a good attorney. They came through in the end tonight and deserve a second chance. Come with me and we can talk afterward. You’re too exhausted tonight and still shaken.”
“No, you go, and I swear we’ll talk when you get back. I… I’m not sure I want to see any of them again, even though you’re right about Alex and Ryan.”
“Okay, but you may change your mind in the morning. Go to bed, Julie. I’ll be in shortly.” Sliding his hand down to her butt, he pushed her toward the hall.
She took a few steps then swiveled her head to say, “I’m sorry, Jackson. I couldn’t let them get away from here with those drugs. I knew what that would do to you.”
He looked at her for a long, intense moment before repeating, “Go to bed.” She nodded, let down and relieved at the same time. If her thoughts and emotions were a jumbled mess, she could only imagine what his were.
Julie fell into bed and tumbled into a fitful sleep. Confusing flashes of terror involving her cut off breath, a knife lifted to deliver a downward plunge into her abdomen, then switching to images of Maci and Candace’s knife-slashed, blood-soaked bodies played over and over in her head. As always, it was the horrific screams that jerked her upright in bed, shivering, her body covered in a light sheen of perspiration, her breathing labored as she tried to return to the safety of the present. She whimpered as she blinked against the darkness broken only by the sliver of light in the hall before finding herself sprawled on top of a warm, very large male body. Her first instinct was to struggle against the tight band lodged around her waist, but a sharp, painful
swat on her butt stilled her long enough to register Jackson’s deep voice rumbling in her ear, overriding the residual screams.
“Be still. I’ve got you.” Another spank confirmed his statement, his assurance settling the queasiness but not the trembles from the chill of lingering terror.
“Please,” she whispered. Burrowing closer, she tried to absorb more of his body heat. “Don’t stop.” Need coursed through her, making her buttocks clench and her skin itch to experience again the relief his painful ministrations offered.
Jackson shoved her night shirt up and her panties down and delivered what she’d asked for. With her breasts smashed against his chest, her legs entwined with his, she clung to his shoulders and kept her face buried in his thick neck as he walloped on her ass. She embraced every blistering swat, the building pain and heat abolishing the remnants of her nightmare, the slow throbbing of her buttocks clearing her mind.
“Let go, Julie. I promise I’ll catch you,” Jackson assured her in a gruff voice before running a soothing hand over her burning flesh. She shuddered on top of him, her breathing ragged, her tears dampening his neck. When she remained quiet, he wedged his thigh between her legs, shoved them apart and landed a sharp crack on her vulnerable labia. “Tell me.”
He returned to cup one swollen buttock and Julie lifted her ass into his hand, her voice a soft, tremulous whisper he had to strain to hear. “I… didn’t do anything… my fault…” She hiccupped.
He squeezed the plump softness of her cheek, eliciting a gasp from her. “What was your fault?”
“They… taunted him, and I just… stood there. I could’ve said something… stuck up for… him, but I didn’t.” She finished her confession on a tortured sob. “Maybe… if I had… he wouldn’t have gone after them. I… never wanted you to find out how… awful I…”
“That’s what you’ve been beating yourself up over?”
She couldn’t tell if the disbelief in his whispered voice stemmed from anger at her for the person she’d been or because she’d withheld that part of her nightmares from him. Fear of his reaction, and what he might do, kept her quiet, but she drew comfort from the constant stroke of his hand over her sore buttocks and the tight band of his other arm around her waist, holding her against him. His chest lifted beneath her with a deep inhale and she stiffened, preparing for him to turn her loose, both from his hold and his life.
“Can you get back to sleep now?”
Breathing a small sigh of relief, she nodded, hoping he could feel the answer because she didn’t know if she could get any words past her clogged throat.
“Good. We’ll talk again tomorrow.”
A SWATH of mid-morning sunshine crept through the blinds and splashed across the bed by the time Julie roused several hours later. Stretching beneath the silk sheets, she winced at the pressure on her butt when she rolled to her back. Sitting might be a shade uncomfortable today, but she knew she’d relish the distraction, and the underlying arousal the slight, lingering pain would keep going. The emptiness of the bed weighed on her as she ached to wake being held immobile by Jackson’s big hands and body, now preferring the adrenaline rush of his focused control to always being in the spotlight of strangers. She’d been inching away from her modeling career before the trip to Montana, and the trauma of the murders had kept her from making any public appearances for two years as she struggled with where to go with a life ruled by nightmares.
Now that Julie knew exactly where she wanted to be, and with whom, she wondered if it wouldn’t be those nightmares that would deny her a future she craved with every breath she took. Rolling out of bed, she padded into Jackson’s attached bathroom and took a quick shower that did nothing to calm her raw nerves. He had said nothing else to her last night, and from the silence in the house, she knew he’d already left to see about getting legal help for Alex and Ryan. Without the hired help today, the weekend chores would fall on him, but she’d been here long enough to know what needed to be done. Keeping busy would help pass the time until he returned, and it was all she could do until he let her know how he felt about her now after hearing about her worst failing.
With her stomach still in knots, she wasn’t hungry by the time she dressed and headed to the kitchen, but welcomed the full pot of coffee Jackson had left for her. As she poured a cup, her phone beeped with a text and, seeing Jackson’s number, she tried not to panic as she picked it up. Her knees buckled in relief as she read it, forcing her to sink down onto a counter stool. He wasn’t asking her to leave before he returned but letting her know three new hires would arrive sometime today, asking her to show them around.
“That sounds positive,” she recited aloud, which made it sound more convincing. He’d sent the text an hour ago, and by the time she finished up leftover paperwork in the clinic, she wasn’t surprised to hear a vehicle pulling onto the drive. Grateful for something else to pass the afternoon and for the diversion, she went out through the clinic doors to greet the two young women and one guy getting out of a car together.
THE LONG, tedious portion of his day was finally over and as Jackson drove back to his rescue, he looked forward to the enjoyable aspect of setting Julie straight on a few things. The easy part had been taking advantage of Trevor’s position as a DA in Pensacola to get a referral to a good attorney for Alex and Ryan. The decision to assist the students hadn’t come easy, nor would he want them to escape consequences for their actions. But given their interference when their planned theft went sour, gratitude propelled him to see they earned a second chance. Their future careers as veterinarians were over, but that didn’t mean they still couldn’t finish their education and start over once they served time. How much would be up to the plea bargain he heard was already in the works, at least for Alex and Ryan. As for Matt, he didn’t waste time worrying about his fate and hoped they threw the book at him. It would be Jackson’s turn now to endure plaguing nightmares, which kept his anger stirred up.
The more difficult and time-consuming task had been interviewing students to replace the guys. Having been unable to get back to sleep after hearing Julie’s confession, he’d reached the college before 7:00 am, after having posted the openings online. He knew how coveted positions like the ones he offered at the shelter were by students, and several already waited to be interviewed. After the poor choices he’d made last time, he was pickier today and insisted on extra references. It helped to call on Troy’s friendship to ensure none of his choices had concealed juvenile records, as was the case with Matt, he’d learned last night.
Now he could focus his energies on setting Julie straight on a few things, namely how it would be between them from here on out. As he digested what she’d told him last night, his first inclination had been to shake and scold her for questioning whether he’d be so put off by her behavior he’d ask her to leave. She hadn’t said that in so many words, but he was good at reading between the lines, especially Julie’s lines. He’d had time today to think it over and realized if she’d come clean about all the events on that fateful night when she first arrived, he very well might have asked her to leave. The years they were estranged were difficult enough to get through, and he hadn’t been receptive to her sudden reappearance in his life.
Anticipation flowed through his veins in a warm rush as he pulled in front of his house by late afternoon. Jackson had always been grateful for the close bond he shared with the gang of seven, but never more so than today. Not only had the Carlsons come through for him, but Sean took the time to meet up with him, hear him out and diagnose Julie with suffering from survivor’s guilt, and Zach didn’t hesitate over his request for a last-minute play party tonight. Their unquestioning support proved just how much their friendship meant to him. Of course, given his penchant for staying away from the big city unless a trip was necessary, every one of them had taken the opportunity to rib him about making the forty-minute drive twice in one day.
Now all he had to do was demonstrate what a damn good Dom he was, leaving
Julie with no doubts about where they were going from here, or his feelings regardless of her past. Grabbing the package off the seat, he went in search of his little sub, wondering what her reaction would be when he showed her what she’d be wearing tonight.
JULIE RETURNED to the living room red-faced with consternation. “You don’t honestly expect me to wear this in the truck all the way to the marina, do you?”
Jackson pushed away from the counter and stepped toward her, his slow perusal sending shivers of delight up and down her body despite her unease over wearing the pleather corset out of the house. The front zipper enabled her to don the braless lingerie herself, and she admitted to a flare of excitement when she’d looked in the mirror and saw the way the corset pushed up her breasts, putting them on display, and how long her legs appeared wearing high heels again for the first time since she quit modeling. The tiny black thong that left her butt cheeks bare was the only other garment in the bag he’d handed her after insisting she eat a light dinner. His bossiness since he returned tended to either grate on her nerves or, when accompanied with one of his laser-sharp, probing looks, send frissons of pleasure dancing under her skin.
“Yes, I do. But in the interest of playing it safe, I also bought you this to wear over it until we get on the yacht.” He lifted a dark blue fall jacket draped over a chair and held it up for her. “See? It’ll reach your mid-thigh and you can keep it buttoned up.”
She let him slip it on, enjoying the softness and perfect fit. The lightweight coat would look great with either jeans or slacks and was something she would’ve chosen herself. “I would thank you for the gifts, but you’re being too evasive for me to be too grateful right now.”
Jackson shrugged, nonplussed by her rebuke. “I’ve told you all you need to know. We’re meeting my friends on the yacht and Zach will take us out just far enough to clear the marina. You know the safewords, and you know me. We’ll either return here after the party or spend the night in one of the staterooms.”
