by Susan Stoker
Benny eased his legs to the side and leaned over and put his forehead on the ground. “Mother fucker,” he said more quietly into the dirt. “Mother fucking fucker.”
Dude put his hand on Benny’s shoulder and squeezed.
Pulling himself together, Benny lifted his head and asked, “Brian?”
“Dead.”
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t us. He was dead when we got there. Jess killed him.”
“Mother fucker.” This time Benny’s words were a whisper.
“She had a cinderblock in her hand when we found them. Brian was dead. Looks like Jess must’ve hit him at least a dozen times,” Mozart told Benny quietly.
“Is she okay?” Benny asked, immediately climbing to his feet awkwardly. It was obvious his legs had fallen asleep after being tied to the tree for so long.
“She seems so.”
Benny took a step, then swore. He’d forgotten his feet were bare.
Wolf sat down and started unlacing his boots. Without a word he took off his socks and handed them to Benny. Benny took them gratefully. It wasn’t ideal, but having the wool socks between his bare feet and the rough ground would have to do. They’d done this before in an emergency. Hell, “The only easy day was yesterday” was the SEALs mantra. It was second nature to all of them to do what needed to be done.
While Wolf and Benny got prepared for the trek back to the parking area, Mozart picked up Jessyka’s bra from the ground. “Pretty fucking smart,” he murmured under his breath.
They all understood what she’d done. She knew there was a tracking device in the lining of her bra and she’d somehow removed it so that Tex could track Benny. If she hadn’t left it behind, there’s no telling when they would’ve found him. It looked like Benny probably would’ve freed himself before the night was over, but the tracking device simply sped up the process.
Benny stood up and without a word, took the garment from Mozart and stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo pants.
They left the area much slower than when they’d entered it, leaving the ropes on the ground for the police investigation that was sure to follow the clusterfuck of a night.
The four men didn’t speak on their way back to the car, each lost in their own thoughts. Wolf on how close they’d come, once again, to losing one of their women. Mozart on how thankful he was that they’d decided to tell their women about the tracking devices, Dude about how much he admired Benny’s woman, and Benny on how much he regretted dropping his knife when he’d been knocked unconscious, he could’ve gotten out of the damn ropes holding him to the damn tree way before Jess had been involved. But more importantly, how he couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around Jessyka and not let go for days. She’d scared the shit out of him and he couldn’t wait to see her for himself, to make sure she was all right.
* * *
Jess huddled into the blanket Abe had wrapped around her shoulders when she’d settled into the passenger side of Dude’s car. Abe and Cookie had stood on either side of her, efficiently guarding her and making her feel safe in the process. Abe called the cops and Cookie called Tex. Tex had heard what had happened in the clearing as he’d been on the line, but he also relayed back to Cookie that Wolf and the others had found Benny and were on their way back to the car.
Jess heard Cookie tell her Benny was all right as if she was in a tunnel and he was standing at the end of it. She couldn’t believe it until she saw Kason with her own eyes. She couldn’t get the image of him tied to a tree, helpless, out of her mind. Hell, intellectually she knew that didn’t even come close to the kind of situations he’d probably been in as a SEAL, but she hadn’t ever seen him in any of those situations.
She had seen him tied to the tree tonight, helpless, and she didn’t know how else to get that image out of her mind other than to see him upright and alive and well. She could only see him with a hole in his forehead as Brian had threatened . . . and until she saw with her own eyes that he was okay, she knew she’d continue to see him that way.
Jess heard sirens in the distance, but didn’t bother to look toward the road. Her eyes were fixed on the woods in front of her. She strained to catch a glimpse of Benny and the others. Finally she thought she saw lights winking in the distance. Jess heard Tex tell Cookie that they were almost to them and she stood up.
Neither Abe nor Cookie tried to stop her, but they did wince in sympathy as she painfully made her way to the edge of the forest. Her hip hurt, badly, but nothing would keep her from Benny. She hoped like hell he still wanted to see her after everything she’d said and done.
Finally the lights got closer and Jess could make out the forms of the men coming toward her. She dropped the blanket and made her way as fast as she could toward the bobbing lights.
Benny looked up and cursed. His crazy woman was obviously in pain, but she was coming at them as fast as her limp would allow.
He jogged ahead of his teammates and gathered Jess into his arms. He pulled her off her feet and buried his head in her neck. “Fuck,” was all he could say. Benny knew when his teammates passed him and continued on to the cars, but he didn’t care. All he could do was feel Jess’s heart beating against his own.
Finally pulling his head back a fraction, Benny put her on her feet and put his hands on each side of Jess’s head and forced her head up to meet his eyes. “Are you all right, gorgeous?”
Jess could only nod. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She was in Kason’s arms. She didn’t know if she’d live to be here again, if he’d live to be there again. Finally, she said the only words she could, “I love you. I love you so much.”
Benny crushed his lips to hers with a short but intense kiss, then tucked her back into his arms. With one hand on the back of her head and the other around her waist, he picked her up again and started toward the cars and his teammates. Jess’s legs bumped against his as he walked, but he didn’t give a damn.
Jess knew she should probably put her legs around Kason’s waist to help him walk, but she couldn’t. Her hip was screaming in pain and the thought of moving it was just too much. So she dangled in his arms and let him carry her however he wanted.
By the time Benny got to the cars, the police had arrived, along with an ambulance and a fire truck as well.
He carried Jess over to the ambulance and motioned with his chin for the paramedic to open the back doors. Benny climbed inside, never letting go of the most important thing in his life. It wasn’t until he shuffled over to the gurney in the vehicle, that he loosened his hold.
“Let go, gorgeous, let’s let the paramedics look you over.”
Jess didn’t loosen her hold. “I’m fine, Kason. Promise,” she murmured against his chest.
“I believe you, but humor me.”
At that point, Jess would’ve done anything Kason asked of her, so she finally pulled back and lay back on the crisp white sheet.
“Don’t leave me?” Jess whispered as Kason stood up.
“I’m not going anywhere. Just moving out of the way.” Benny moved up to the very front of the small space until he was kneeling next to Jess’s head.
Benny watched as the paramedic asked Jess questions about how she felt and if she hurt anywhere. She claimed she didn’t, except for her hip. She explained how one leg was shorter than the other and when she overdid it, her hip would ache.
Sometime in the middle of the examination, a crime scene investigator stuck her head inside the ambulance and asked if she could take pictures of Jessyka. She’d agreed and closed her eyes as the flashes from her camera went off. The crime scene tech took at least a thousand pictures, at least it seemed that way to Jess.
After she finally left, Benny asked the paramedic if he could have an alcohol wipe. He used it to gently wipe the splattered blood off of Jess’s face, neck and hands. Finally, once she’d been thoroughly cleaned and the EMT was satisfied that she wasn’t in imminent danger of passing away, Benny allowed the man to take a look at his own head
.
The wound on Benny’s head was shallow and not life threatening, even if it had bled a lot.
After refusing to be transported to the hospital and they’d both signed a piece of paper called an “Against Medical Advice” form that absolved the ambulance employees and medics of responsibility over them if they fell ill, Benny helped Jess shuffle out of the vehicle. As soon as she stood on her own feet by the bumper, he picked her up again and headed back to his friends and the police.
He wanted to talk to Jess alone. He needed to lay her on his bed and just hold her. He’d come way too fucking close to losing her tonight and he needed to feel her skin on skin.
“Benny, Lt. Walker needs your statement. Jess’s too,” Wolf told him in a soft voice.
Benny nodded, he’d expected it.
“He needs to talk to you separately.”
Benny felt Jess’s hand convulse against him, then loosen, as if she forced herself to let go. He hated this. Ignoring the officer and his teammates standing next to him, he put Jessyka’s feet on the ground and leaned back and waited. Finally her eyes came up to his.
“I’ll be right here. You’ll be able to see me the entire time. Tell him everything, Jess. It’ll be okay.” He watched as she nodded and took a deep breath.
Jess let go of Kason and took a step backward. She could do this. She lived through the night, this was nothing in comparison. She might have to go to jail, but she felt comforted in the fact that if she was arrested, Kason and the guys would do what they could to get her a lawyer and hopefully get her out on bail. It scared the shit out of her, but Kason was alive . . . she could do anything now.
Lt. Walker gently took Jess’s elbow in his and helped her over to his car. He sat her down in the front passenger seat of his cruiser and he crouched down in front of her.
“She okay?” Abe asked Benny softly, watching from a distance as the officer spoke with Jess.
“Yeah, she’ll be sore for a while. She overworked her hip tonight, but otherwise she’s remarkably good.”
“She’ll probably need to see a therapist after what she did to Brian.”
Benny thought about it. Jess hadn’t seemed to be traumatized to him, but he didn’t really know for sure. “I’ll talk to her.”
“If she needs someone, she can talk to Dr. Hancock. She’s done wonders for Fee,” Cookie spoke up.
“Thanks, man.” The voices fell away and all Benny could see was Jess. She was huddled in on herself in the cop car and he needed this to be done so he could see to her. He hoped like hell the man wasn’t planning on cuffing her and hauling her off to the station, but he didn’t know what Cookie had told the cops when they’d been called. But knowing Cookie, he probably explained the situation in a way that Jess would be safe from immediate arrest. Finally the police officer stood up and put his hand on Jessyka’s shoulder. He walked back over to the SEALs.
“To put your minds at ease, I don’t see any reason to bring her down to the station and arrest her tonight. But, she’ll have to come in and give a complete statement. I’ll need to get all of your statements as well, but I’m thinking it can wait until the morning. We’ve taken pictures of her and the crime scene techs are out in the park taking pictures there. Anyone have any objection to coming into the station tomorrow and officially talking with the investigators?”
The men were relieved. It was late. Their women were still at the bar waiting to go home. Wolf had called Caroline and let her know that Jess and Benny were safe. They all wanted to go home and hold their women.
“No problem, Lieutenant. Thank you. We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Wolf answered for all of them. He also knew Tex would be gathering any and all evidence to deliver to Lt. Walker as well. What he’d dig up would go a long way toward exonerating Jess and Benny.
“Appreciate that. The crime scene techs should be done with the scene in there . . .” the officer gestured into the woods, “. . . soon. We’ll see you tomorrow . . . well, later today.”
All Benny could think was, “Thank God.” He turned on his heel and headed to Jess. She held up her arms as he came toward her and waited for him to get her.
Benny leaned down and picked her up with one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. Jess wrapped her arms around him, as she had before, and tucked her face into his neck. He carried her back over to Dude’s car and got into the backseat. The other men quietly climbed in as well, Abe in with Dude, Jess, and Benny. Mozart and Cookie joined Wolf in his car.
Dude turned on the engine and pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the bar. Not a word was spoken as they traveled the short distance. Finally pulling into Aces parking lot, Dude shut off his car and said, “I’m fucking proud of you, Jess. I don’t know all that went on out there, but you obviously used your head and you survived. From what I can tell, you protected Benny. We found the tracking device you left behind, it led us right to him. Good job.”
Jess buried her head deeper into Kason’s neck and simply nodded, too overwhelmed to even answer the big man in the front seat. His voice had been gentle, but it was still too much for Jess right then. All she could see was the pictures Brian had put in her head that night. Of Cheyenne and the other women, hurting, or dead.
Dude climbed out and opened the back seat of his car for Benny. “You need any help?” he asked Benny.
“I got it. Thanks man. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe us dick, and you know it.”
Benny just smiled at his friend. He settled Jess into the front passenger seat of his car and buckled her in. He kissed her forehead and closed the door. He jogged around to his side, still in Wolf’s borrowed socks, and climbed in. He eased out of the lot and headed back to his apartment. He couldn’t wait to hold Jess close and forget how they’d both come way too close to being killed or seriously hurt.
Chapter Nineteen
Benny held Jess against his side as he fumbled with the key to his apartment and opened the door. He didn’t take his arm from around her waist as he took most of Jess’s weight and propelled them inside. He dropped the keys in the bowl by the door and shut and locked the door behind them.
Without letting go of her, Benny walked them to the counter and snagged the small envelope off the counter that held two pain pills left over from Jess’s hospital visit the night Tabitha had died. She hadn’t needed to use any more after that first night, and Benny had put them in a large bowl filled with odds and ends on the counter.
Benny then turned and made his way down the hallway to the master bedroom. Jess hadn’t said a word, she simply clung to Benny’s side and went wherever he led her.
He took them inside his bedroom and into the master bathroom. Benny walked her over to the toilet seat.
“Sit, gorgeous, give me a second.”
Jess did as he asked. She eased down, with Benny holding onto her waist. Once she was sitting, Benny took his hands away from her and grabbed a cup from the counter and filled it with water. He shook out the pills and held them out to Jess along with the cup of water. She took both without protest and quickly swallowed the pills. She drank half the glass of water before handing it back to him.
Jess watched as Kason turned from the sink and pulled the shower curtain back. She fidgeted on her seat. She couldn’t quite read Kason’s mood and she was getting worried. She didn’t think he was mad at her, but since he wasn’t talking to her, she didn’t know for sure.
Kason tested the temperature of the water and Jess kept her eyes on him as he then grabbed his shirt and tore it off over his head and dropped it on the floor. He eased the socks off his feet then turned to look her in the eyes as he unbuttoned and unzipped his cargo pants and dropped those to the floor as well. Jess’s eyes widened as Kason then dropped his boxer briefs to the ground. He stood in front of her completely naked, the most handsome man she’d ever seen. He was hard in all the right places. He had muscles on top of muscles. Jess was confused, as it was obvious Kason wasn’t aroused, and
wasn’t getting ready to have shower sex. His manhood hung flaccid between his legs. Jess hadn’t often seen him when he wasn’t turned on, and she wasn’t sure what to make of whatever was happening.
Benny knew he was probably freaking Jessyka out, but he couldn’t think of anything other than getting her clean and then holding her safe in his arms. The words she’d hurled at Brian tonight kept pinging around in his brain. He knew exactly what she’d been doing and he’d never felt more helpless in his life. He was very rarely helpless, and found he hated the feeling.
When the water was a comfortable temperature, he stepped over to Jess. She hadn’t moved, that alone told him she was probably in more pain than she’d ever admit to.
“Arms up,” Benny told her in a low voice. Jess immediately complied, and he helped ease her shirt over her head. Once the shirt was removed, Benny held out his hands palm up. “Let me help you stand.” Jess wasn’t wearing a bra, it was still in the pocket of his cargos, so there was no need for him to help her to remove it.
Jess put her hands in his and he took most of her weight as she stood up. Benny kneeled down, feeling Jess’s hands rest on his shoulders for balance, and untied both her shoes and eased them off her feet. Then, still kneeling, he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and carefully pulled them down her legs. He tapped her right foot and she shifted until it was off the ground. Benny steadied her as she stood on one foot. He pulled the leg of her jeans off that leg, then repeated the same actions on her other side.
Benny meant to keep everything clinical and medicinal, but he couldn’t help himself. Having her so close to him, and in one piece, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching forward and drawing Jess to him. Benny lay his cheek on her belly and wrapped his arms around her and rested the palms of his hands on her back. He felt Jess’s hands go to his head and gently caress him as he took comfort from having her safe in his arms.
Finally Benny looked up from his crouched position in front of her. “You’re okay, aren’t you, Jess?” he whispered, feeling raw inside.
