Becoming Three

by Cameron Dane

  She pulled her hand out from under his and hid hers under the table. “Do I need a lawyer?”

  Jace's jaw clenched to the point that it ached, and most of the mask of compassionate cop slipped away. “You need to tell me why your fingerprint was found on Ginger's body, Beth. And don't tell me it was from when you saw her at work. I think it likely this girl went home, showered, and changed before she drove out and had her meeting with her john, so you need to tell me how your fingerprint ended up on her body, before I arrest you for her murder.”

  Turning her head away, Beth pulled her lips between her teeth, and her chin wobbled.

  Sympathy filled Jace's gut, but he had a case to solve that he had to care about more. “You need to talk to me, Beth, and you need to do it now. Time is running out for you.”

  She blinked and blinked and blinked.

  “If you're worried about getting in trouble for doing something illegal with her—”

  Beth whipped her head around, and knowledge of where Jace was leading lit her eyes. “I didn't hook with her.” Vehemence filled her voice. “I hated that she did that to herself.”

  “I have your print on her dead body, Beth!” Jace smacked the table, losing patience. “If you weren't selling yourself alongside her, then tell me why I shouldn't arrest you right now.”

  “I can't!”

  “Tell me!”

  “Because I was in love with her!” Beth screamed, her eyes suddenly wild. “And she was in love with me!” Devastation and vulnerability drenched her voice and coated her like a second skin. She slumped in her chair, and her voice dropped to a broken whisper. “She was in love with me.”

  Swallowing the hypocrisy of his own bisexuality, Jace had to force the issue. “I've talked to a lot of cowboys claiming to be a boyfriend of Ginger's at one time or another.”

  “Ginger was running from what she felt for me, even trying to deny it to herself,” Beth answered softly. “All those cowboys were her attempts to hide from what she really wanted and to get me out from under her skin. She was living a lie, pretending to herself, but most of all to her family. She did not want them to know she had feelings for a woman that she could not walk away from, no matter how much she wished she could.” The tears she'd successfully held back filled her eyes, turning the color to glacier. “Half the time when Ginger had sex with a man, particularly lately when it was with one of her johns, she would call me afterward, feeling disgusted with herself. She would plead for me to come to her and help her feel human again. I always came running, even though I knew as soon as it was over she would push me away again.

  “I went to the motel on Friday night after she finished with her client. She needed me; she was desperate. We made love, right there on the same bed where she'd just let a man pay to fuck her.” A hint of hardness slipped into Beth's tone. “Afterward I told Ginger I couldn't keep doing this and that I needed something more from her, something real we could build a life on together. She just kissed me, rolled out of bed, and went into the bathroom to clean up.” A devastatingly sad smile graced Beth's lips, and it revealed her true, stunning beauty. “I can remember lying in that bed watching her wash up at the sink, the door open, giving me an incredible view of this woman I loved, who was about to walk away from me. I think she did it on purpose. She knew I couldn't look away, and she was right. It hurt so goddamn much to know she was probably going to hit a bar and look for a cowboy to help her forget about what we'd just done. It was a vicious circle for her. I told her not to do it, or I wouldn't come running the next time she called. She tried to brush me off with this charming way she had, but I was mad. I got dressed and left her with that ultimatum to make up her mind by the end of the weekend.” The pale column of her throat bobbed visibly as she swallowed down emotion. “Now all I have left of her is a phone message.”

  Jace sat up straight. “She left you a message?” He could hardly believe he managed to keep himself seated when all he wanted to do was leap across the table and grab Beth right out of her chair. “Ginger left you a message on your phone? That night?”

  “Yes.” Beth pulled her cell out of her purse, pressed some buttons, and set it down on the table. “Here it is.”

  “I don't want to love you.” Ginger's voice filled the interrogation room like a symphony in an empty hall. A very long pause crackled through the phone into the air. “But I do.” Another heavy silence. “I'm sorry.” A doorbell rang in the background. “I have to go.”

  Holy fuck. Jace turned to Cade, who had the same thought registering in his dark gaze: that person ringing the doorbell is our killer.

  Cade already had his hand reached across the table, hovering over Beth's phone. “May I borrow this for a few minutes?” he asked.

  Beth nodded, and Cade left the room with the phone.

  Loss layered Beth in the way cool control had in their first meeting. “I wasn't trying to deceive you,” she said. “I want Ginger's killer caught as much as her family does, but she had such fear about her parents finding out about us, maybe as much as about the prostitution. I didn't want to blab her secrets just because she's gone.” Her gaze drifted, and her face softened to match the wistful tone in her voice. “Her death made me want to protect her even more. To preserve what she wanted, even though I wished every day, with every fiber of my being, that she would come clean to everyone and let us be together openly.”

  Sympathy swamped Jace. “I understand your desire to protect her.” He took one of her hands again, squeezed, and held it for a moment. “I'm very sorry for your loss.”

  Wiping tears, Beth said, “Nobody has been able to say that to me who”—she had to stop, and it was clear the loss of her lover hit her anew—“who really knows how much I lost.”

  Jace nodded, his chest aching for Beth finally being able to release some of her burden.

  Cade came back in with Beth's phone and returned it to her. Beth pulled herself together enough to give them the names of three of Ginger's clients along with a promise that if anything else came to her, she would contact them.

  After Cade and Jace walked Beth out, Duke emerged from the viewing room and joined them. “Good work, Jace,” he said.

  “Thanks.” Jace leaned against the edge of his desk, still staring at the front door Beth had just exited. “That wasn't exactly what I thought she was hiding, but at least we have a few names to run now.”

  “I'll look at the lives of those men first,” Duke said, “and then I'll decide where and how to approach them.”

  Just as Jace handed the notepad to Duke, the door to the station swung open, and a man with long blond hair entered, followed by Max and Carson. Jace immediately pushed upright, and curled his hands into fists as he recognized Samuel Simmons. Jace glanced at Sarah at the same time Samuel did, and every protective juice boiled right to the surface.

  I will cut his eyes out for even looking at her.

  Cade put a firm hold on Jace's arm before he could take a full step forward.

  “Boss—” Max started.

  “Well what do we have here,” Samuel interrupted, talking over Max. He pulled himself right up to Sarah's reception desk and assessed her openly. “You must be the pretty Sarah I've heard so much about,” he drawled. “And word is right. You are pretty. I understand my baby brother has been sniffin' around you—”

  “Hey!” Jace spat out from his position, Cade's hand still wrapped around his biceps. “Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

  “You shut—Ow, bitch.” Samuel glared at Max as she yanked his arm and dragged him away from Sarah's work space. “Ease up your hold. I was just sayin' hello. No need to get rough. I came without a fight.”

  Max ignored Samuel and looked to Duke again. “Boss?”

  “Interview room,” Duke answered. “Wait with him.”

  Jace narrowed his gaze and bared his teeth at Samuel. “Let's go have a chat with Mr. Simmons.”

  Cade maintained his grip on Jace's arm. “Why don't you let me handle this one?” he said,
no actual request or question in his tone. His dark eyes gave no quarter either. “I'll take it with Max, okay?”

  “Jace, why don't you take a break?” Duke said. “Maybe get some fresh air. Sound good?”

  Shit. Great going, Maxwell. You let your feelings slip up at work, and now you're sitting out of interviews.

  Without glancing at Sarah, Jace knew she had absorbed the tone and content of the conversation too. Goddamn. Shit. Fuck. He probably made her even more nervous about Samuel by overreacting to the bastard's crude comments.

  “No problem.” Jace forced the tension out of his limbs, and only when he did, did Cade let go. “Whatever you want.”

  Jace waited for Cade and Duke to disappear down the hall, with Carson in tow—probably to listen in the viewing room and gain interview tips—and then moved to Sarah's desk, unable to help it. Christ, the pull to guard her from anything that might do her harm overwhelmed him. More so every day.

  Looking up, Sarah offered a gaze full of knowledge and a smile full of empathy. “Are you okay?”

  He tugged the end of her ponytail. “I'm supposed to be asking you that.”

  “I just think about Jasper having that guy as a brother…” She trembled. “And that he's alone when he doesn't have to be.” The same sadness Jace had fallen asleep staring at last night loomed in Sarah just as powerfully today. “I just wish he would let me in, let me help him.”

  “I know.” Brushing the back of his hand against the softness of her cheek, Jace tried to lend support and absorb her hurt at the same time. “He'll come around.”

  She nuzzled into his touch, but he could see the worry still lingering in her eyes. “So you keep saying. But if his brother sticks around in this town, I don't know if he will.” Her phone trilled at a low volume, drawing her attention. “Excuse me.”

  Jace went back to his desk and took a seat, but he couldn't take his eyes off the vulnerable line of Sarah's slender back or the downward tilt of her head. She looked a little like Beth had in the interview room as the realization hit her that she wouldn't be able to protect the secrets of the woman she loved.

  Sitting in his chair, his hands essentially tied to help Sarah, Jace growled under his breath as a feeling of failure pressed on his shoulders. Hunter had given him one job when he went away: take care of Sarah. Jace had done nothing but royally screw that up lately. He didn't know which offense was the worst: Sarah becoming sexually involved with Jasper right under his nose without him realizing, his drinking to excess around her, kissing her, kissing her boyfriend, instigating a three-way, or bending her over the table and fucking her himself.

  “Christ.” When lined up, he saw a laundry list of his greatest fuckups. How had he let his life slip so far out of his strict set of rules?

  Releasing another dissatisfied rumble, Jace dragged his keyboard in front of him, logged online, and typed another terse note to his best friend.

  Send me an e-mail, you jackass jerk. I want to take a drink half the time I'm conscious these days, and a good part of that is because of you. Your sister misses you and is scared for you, and it wouldn't kill you to send her a note or make a phone call and talk for five minutes so she can hear your voice. Do it, damn it. I'm not kidding.

  We love you. We can help you, if you'll let us.

  —Jace

  After sending the missive, Jace let his gaze stray Sarah's way again. Guilt, lust, and tenderness did battle inside him, battering him up one side and down the other until he grabbed his stomach to force the sensation to stop. Impotence boiled anger and impatience inside him to the point where he knew if he sat still for one more minute, he would explode right out of his skin.

  Jace got up and went to Sarah's desk, paused just long enough to tell her he would see her at home later, and then hightailed it out of the station.

  He moved down the sidewalk at a fast clip, barely noticing the displays in the storefronts as he absorbed the sunlight and warmish breeze. Fresh air was good. The sheriff sometimes excused himself at work and took a walk to clear his mind, and he was one of the strongest men Jace knew. Occasionally emotion got the better of a person and swirled too close to the surface, leaving him vulnerable and prone to mistakes.

  Like what I let happen with Samuel Simmons. And it just had to happen right after getting a nod and a good job from the boss too. Fuck.

  Snarling at himself, picturing how that aggression toward a potential suspect must have looked to the sheriff, Jace paid no attention to where he was going and slammed right into a solid line of man.

  “Whoa.” He automatically grabbed the body he collided with, steadying it and himself. The ropes of arm muscles under chambray immediately made Jace's palms tingle, signaling recognition of a person he had touched before. Jasper. He made eye contact, searched Jasper's hazel gaze, and noted shock and embarrassment there. His attention dipped lower and registered the catch of breath that parted his lips too. Jesus, what a mouth. Jace could see those lips wrapped around a breast, suckling…or a cock. His cock.

  “Sorry.” Jasper's cheeks filled with pink. He tucked his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and took a step back. “Caleb and Jake are settin' up a class for some of the older kids to learn to ride bulls.” Jasper glanced toward the entrance to the youth center. “I'm gonna be one of the guys helpin' out when the kids come for the lessons. I came to talk to some of them about it.”

  “Sounds rewarding,” Jace answered. “I hope it's successful for you all.”

  “Yeah.” Jasper tapped his black Stetson against his thigh. “I kinda got to know some of the kids when I came to the center with Sarah—” He froze in place, as if he'd broken a cardinal rule by speaking her name aloud. Clouds filled his eyes, and his lips thinned to a pale line before he next spoke. “You know, for her art classes. While she was teachin' her kids, Ty had me—How'd he say it?—interactin' with the kids. He wanted me to play pool or air hockey or basketball with them because he says it's good for some of them with rough lives to see adults they can trust.”

  Jace lifted his mouth in an attempt at a smile. “Ty's a smart kid. Young man now, actually. He speaks from experience, and what he says makes good sense. Most everybody connected to the station donates some time, and it's nice to hear other people are getting involved too. That you're involved.” Yet another reason on the ever-growing list of why Sarah would fall for this man.

  “Thanks.” Jasper glanced down the road. “Anyway, I gotta go. Bye.” He moved at a brisk pace across the street and headed up the sidewalk, probably for the small parking lot a few storefronts down.

  Almost to where he would turn, Jasper looked over his shoulder, right into Jace's eyes, and held for a prolonged moment. Goddamn. The muted heat in that hazel stare went right to Jace's cock. No amount of distance could hide that kind of wanting. Right then, Jasper jerked his gaze away and disappeared around a corner.

  Oh no, you are not bolting from what you just showed me.

  Half-hard, Jace took off at a full sprint run, a panther after his prey.

  Chapter Seventeen

  After crossing the street, Jace rounded the building and paused. He assessed the quarterfull parking lot and the backside of one lanky cowboy nearing his beat-up blue truck.

  All alone. Perfect.

  What Jace had to say didn't need an audience.

  “Hey!” Jace shouted, and Jasper looked over his shoulder. “Hold up!”

  Jasper picked up the pace in the direction of his vehicle, his keys dangling in his left hand.

  Goddamn it. Jace ate up the distance between them with fast strides. He grabbed Jasper's hand and ripped the key away from the lock. “I know you heard me and saw me.” A fist formed under Jace's hand, and visible tension ran all up and down the other man's body. “Why did you run?”

  Tugging his hand out of Jace's, Jasper answered, “I already know what you're gonna say.”

  Metaphorical hairs on Jace's spine rose on end. “Oh you do, do you?” He dropped his focus to the ground,
started at Jasper's cowboy-boot-covered feet, and worked his way up long, fine legs encased in jeans, swallowing hard when he reached the bulge behind the zipper. He remembered this man's cock well, all long and hard and slick with saliva as it pushed into Sarah's mouth. Damn, Jace hadn't sucked dick in a long time but figured he could come to appreciate it again with Jasper. As he stared, his balls swelled with the beginnings of arousal, and Jasper twitched visibly behind his denim too.

  Sucking in air, Jasper shifted and slid his hand over his crotch.

  “Oh, cowboy, uh-uh.” Jace looked up and made eye contact, held it, but also wrapped his fingers around Jasper's wrist and tugged his arm back to his side. “Don't hide it from me.”

  “Please.” Jasper's voice rose unnaturally with emotion. “We can't be doin' this.”

  The scuffle of shoes on concrete drew Jace's attention, and over his shoulder, he saw two women pass on the sidewalk. They didn't look into the parking area, but it knocked enough sense into Jace that he kept hold of Jasper's wrist and pulled him behind a building, out of sight.

  Shading from the rooftop overhang cast Jasper into partial shadow, but the wariness in his eyes shone clear as in full daylight.

  “Don't—” Jace started. Don't what? Now that he had Jasper's back riding a brick wall, he suddenly went mute.

  What the hell am I doing? If I say what I want and push this threesome, I risk everything and certainly lose my friendship with Hunter forever. If I convince Jasper to come back, I won't be able to stay away. I'll lose any chance of numbing myself back into full control.

  Jasper grabbed Jace's shirt. “Sarah… She… You need…” Heartbreak washed over Jasper like water streaming down an ice sculpture on a blistering summer day, and it moved Jace to action like only Sarah's equal sadness could. There was simply no way he could walk away from these two people, no matter the potential carnage in the end.