“Probably…whether it was Trevor or the badasses he’s tangled up with, that I can’t say yet.”
A loud voice from the hall caused Evie to groan. “Oh, no. Not this. Not now.”
She had no more than uttered the words when her mother swept in, her father trailing behind. Margaret Harper might have just gotten out of bed, but no one would know to look at her. Her hair, or given the time of day, her wig, was perfect, and her makeup had been applied just as judiciously. She wore linen Capri pants that wouldn’t dare to wrinkle and a lightweight coral sweater set. Evie wanted to crawl under the bed and hide.
“What is the meaning of this?” Margaret demanded. “The entire town is talking about this ridiculous incident and saying that Trevor is being hunted by the police!”
“That’s because he is,” Evie said sharply. “Trevor forced his way into my apartment this morning and was hell bent on making me see things his way.”
“I just can’t believe it,” Margaret huffed. “Trevor has never been anything but kind and considerate! This just shows you how desperate he really is!”
“Get out,” Evie said. “Dad, you can stay, but she has to go right now.”
Phillip Harper moved forward and took his wife’s arm, “Margaret, you will go to the car and you will wait for me there…and you will not say another word to Evie.” He waited until she’d gone, before turning back to them, “If he comes near you again, I’ll kill him.”
“You won’t have to,” Jackson said. “She’s going home with me.”
Phillip nodded. “Under other circumstances, I’d probably take exception to that, but right now, I can’t think of anything better. I’m going to take your mother home now, and she and I are going to have a long talk. I’ve allowed her to bully us both for far too long.”
Evie smiled as her father hugged her and placed a kiss on her cheek, much like he always had when she was a little girl. “Thank you, Daddy. I’m going to be fine, really.”
“I know. I talked to your doctor and he’s going to let you leave shortly. I’m also going to have a talk with a private investigator I know who works out of Gulfport. I’ll find out what Trevor has been up to and we’ll put an end to this once and for all.”
Reed stepped forward and placed his hand on Phillip’s shoulder, “Let’s talk about that. I need to make sure you’ve got all the info, assuming that’s okay with Evie.”
Evie nodded and watched them both turn to go. Alone with Jackson, she sank against him, grateful for the solid warmth. She didn’t want to think about her feelings or his. She didn’t want to examine anything. Feeling safe and secure for a few moments was enough.
HOURS later, Evie was settled into Jackson’s big bed and he was in the kitchen making her soup. It was entirely too domestic, but she found that she rather liked the idea of being taken care of by him, so long as it was only temporary. Getting attached to Jackson could be very detrimental to her well being, she thought. She leaned her head back against the pillows, and immediately regretted doing so. The room spun dangerously.
“That’s a bad idea, darlin’,” he said, stepping into the room with a tray laden with soup and a large glass of iced tea. “You never want to look anywhere but straight ahead. If you need to look in another direction, it’s best just to move your whole body.”
Evie grimaced as she raised her head again, “And you know this how exactly?”
He shrugged as he placed the tray over her lap, “I played professional football, Evie. I know a thing or two about concussions. Now, I want you to eat your soup and drink that whole glass of tea. The painkillers will give you cotton mouth from hell.”
They already had. She could have drank the entire gallon of tea. “So what did Reed say when he called?”
Jackson looked at her sharply, “You were eavesdropping?”
“Since the conversation was about me and my jackass of a former fiancee, you can’t really call it eavesdropping.”
“I guess not. He heard back from the PI your Daddy knows. Trevor really is a dumbass. He’s in bed with the Dixie Mafia, thanks to Lisa. She was the one who set him up the bet with her boyfriend.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Jackson sighed, “They found Lisa dead in a motel room in Biloxi, a gunshot wound to the back of the head. At this point, they don’t think Trevor is guilty but they’re pretty damn sure he knows who is. She was his warning, from what I understand.”
Evie shivered, “Poor Lisa. Nobody deserves to end up like that.”
Jackson laid down on the bed beside her, brining her hand to his lips for a quick kiss. “Trevor won’t get near you again. And when all this is over with, you and I are going to have a long talk.”
“I’m not going anywhere... Let’s have it now.”
Rolling onto his elbow, Jackson met her gaze. It was steady, if somewhat dulled by the pain medication she’d been given. “I want you to move out of your apartment and move in with me.”
“For how long?”
“Dammit, Evie! What do you mean for how long? I’m asking you to move in with me. I don’t have an expiration date for our relationship.” He ran his fingers through his hair in an exasperated gesture. It was one that Evie recognized very well. She’d seen it a dozen times before when he’d been attempting to extricate himself from the clutches of some weeping woman. He had never intentionally broken hearts, and to her knowledge, he’d never been one to break promises, for the simple fact that he had always avoided making them.
“This is where it starts to get a little murky, Jackson Cope. Because my understanding of the matter is that we aren’t having a relationship. You, as a general rule, don’t do relationships.”
“Haven’t... Past tense. I know I have a reputation in this town for being womanizer, but I’ve never made promises to a woman and not kept them. I’ve never lied. I want you to move in with me, Evie and I want us to be together.”
“Monogamously?”
He smiled, “Unless you want to invite Cass over for a little girl on girl action, yes.”
With the tray over her lap, Evie couldn’t hit him the way she wanted to. Instead, she leaned over slightly, grabbed a handful of chest hair and yanked. “A three way with Cass? Really? You think bringing that up in the middle of this conversation is a good idea?”
He laughed and rubbed his chest, “I was only teasing. I don’t want to share you with anyone. Including Cass. Will you move in with me?”
Evie looked around at the rented house that didn’t reflect anything of the man she knew and certainly didn’t reflect anything about her. It was also the place where he’d brought all of his many conquests to. “I will, but not here.”
Jackson looked around at the perfectly functional house, “Why not?”
“If I am going to live in sin with you, I want to do it in full view of the entirety of Gresham County, Mississippi. I’m not hiding out in the backwaters...Besides, I found the house I want to buy.”
He grinned, “Does this mean I get to be your kept man?”
Evie set the tray aside and lay back against the pillows. “Maybe you ought to demonstrate what I might want to keep you around for.”
Jackson didn’t need to be asked twice. He rolled over, pinning her to the bed, but kept his weight off of her. Bruised and battered as she was, he wanted to make her feel better and not worse. “Didn’t the doctor tell you to take it easy?”
“I intend to,” she said with a smile, “I’m just gonna lay back and let you do all the work.”
He kissed her then, catching her bottom lip between his teeth with a gentle nip. He’d kissed more women in his life than he ought to ever admit to, but Evie had the softest lips he’d ever encountered. When his lips touched hers, he didn’t want to stop, and when her tongue slid sensually against his, and he could taste the sweetness of her mouth, there was nothing in the world that he wanted more. Her teeth nipped at his lip in the sweetest retaliation and his whole body shuddered in response. She could drive h
im to the brink quicker than anyone else. Tugging back the sheets, he looked at the long expanse of her gorgeous legs, exposed beneath the hem of the shirt he’d given her to wear. The hem barely covered her behind and the soft mound of her pussy. The fabric strained across her chest, the buttoned placket gaping and offering a tantalizing glimpse of her lush breasts.
“That shirt has never looked better,” he said, as he began to unbutton each button. Every inch of skin that was bared was teased and tormented by his fingertips. He skated the callused pads of his fingers over every inch of her, except the parts that ached for his touch. His touch on her breasts was light, grazing and he deliberately avoided touching her pebbled nipples.
“God, you make me so crazy!”
He laughed softly, his breath hot against her skin. “In a good way?”
She slid her hands into his hair and arched her back, offering her breasts to him. “Sometimes.”
Jackson eagerly accepted her invitation, taking one taut peak into his mouth and scoring it gently with his teeth. He might have though her answering hiss had been one of pain had she not arched her hips against him in a blatant offering. He gripped her arms, bringing them over her head and clasping both her wrists in one hand. “You are supposed to be still and rest... Doctor’s orders.”
“Make me.”
“Witch,” he murmured, turning his attention to her other nipple, treating it to the same sweet torment.
“Slut is probably a more accurate description at this point.”
He laughed then, “Jesus, you say some things! Slut isn’t a very poetic term... How about Jezebel?”
“You can call me anything you want as long as you do it with your cock inside me,” she said with a taunting grin.
With that simple statement, she sent every drop of blood in his body straight to his cock. He didn’t even take off his clothes, he simply unzipped the jeans he’d tugged on that morning and took her. It should have been more gentle. He should have been more careful with her, but his emotions were running too hot and so were hers. They clung to one another, riding out the surge of passion and adrenaline. As she came, her body shuddering around him, the words were just there. He wanted desperately to tell her how much he loved her, but it was too much and too soon. So he bit them back and contented himself with holding her while they both trembled together in the aftermath.
Chapter Nine
Evie strolled through the Oak Room of the country club. Her back ached, her feet were killing her, and she had smiled so much she felt like Jack Nicholson in Batman. Fundraising was a part of her job and she normally enjoyed it, but given the events of the past week, it was hellish to be the center of the gossipy crowd’s attention. It was not exactly how she’d wanted to spend her evening. Not only was she fielding questions about the wedding that wasn’t, but she was having to field the questions about Lisa’s murder and all the questions about what had happened to her face. Then there were the hungry eyed cougars who kept talking about how wonderful Jackson looked in a suit and tie.
Cass approached her with a glass of champagne. “How the hell do you get al these rich people to just open their wallets for you?”
Evie chuckled, “I appeal to their love of Gone With the Wind. Everyone in this room secretly fancies themselves as Scarlett, Rhett or Ashley.”
“And you’re their Melanie.”
“Say what you will about Melanie, she managed to get all of them to do what she wanted,” Evie replied. “Let’s step outside for a minute. I need to stop smiling before my face breaks.”
Cass led the way to the terrace. The humid air actual felt good after the chilly air conditioning. “So, Jackson looks good enough to eat in that suit. How’d you convince him to come here? He hates the country club.”
“I just asked,” Evie responded. They were alone on the terrace. Most people, especially those that had been partaking heartily of the champagne, preferred the indoors. “I think I’m in trouble, Cass. I’m in so far over my head, I can’t even tell which way is up.”
With an eye roll, Cass responded, “Honey, you’ve been half in love with him your whole life. Did you really think you could get tangled up with him and not get your emotions involved?”
“I’d hoped. He asked me to move in with him. I know it’s quick. I mean, it was just over a week ago that I was supposed to be marrying Trevor!”
“Evie, darlin’, Trevor was never right for you. You only ever went out with him because your mother kept pushing you in that direction. Move in with Jackson, have lots of amazing sex, and take a chance for once in your life. Even if it doesn’t work out, isn’t it worth it?”
“You’re right. I need to stop worrying and just enjoy the ride.”
Cass’ smile faded, “Oh, shit! Evie!”
Evie glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Trevor step out from behind the hedges. The gun in his hand sent cold chills racing up her spine. “Trevor--”
“Just shut the fuck up! Not a word!” he hissed and reached past Evie to grab Cass’ arm. He pulled her roughly to him and shoved the barrel of the gun against her ribs. “Since I know you would do anything in the world for your slut friend, you are going to walk in front of us to my car. If you balk, if you scream, if you so much as twitch, I will put a bullet in her.”
“Don’t do it, Evie,” Cass said. “If he gets us away from the other guests, we don’t stand a chance!”
Trevor gripped Cass’ hair and pulled it hard, making her stumble. “You don’t stand a chance now, you fucking cunt! I have nothing left to lose!”
Knowing that it was true and knowing just how desperate he was, Evie nodded. “I’ll go with you, Trevor, and I won’t make any trouble at all. Just promise me that when we get to the parking lot, you’ll let Cass go. By the time she gets back here, we’ll be long gone.”
He nodded jerkily and motioned for her to walk. With every step Evie took her heart got heavier. Fear clutched at her, for herself and for Cass. By the time they reached the parking lot her heart was pounding frantically in her chest and cold sweat trickled down her spine, in spite of the heat. She headed toward’s Trevor’s Volvo. It was covered in mud and dust. “Get in the car, behind the wheel,” he ordered.
Evie followed his directions and then screamed as she saw him bring the gun crashing down against Cass’ temple. When he climbed into the car, Evie was frantic, but he put the key in the ignition and turned it on. “Now drive, or I will fucking shoot her where she lays!”
Evie clenched her shaking hands around the steering wheel and eased out of the parking space. In the rearview mirror, she could see Cass’ crumpled body slumped agains the other car. “Trevor, I don’t know what you’re planning--”
“I’m planning,” he said, “To ransom your fat ass back to Jackson and use the money to disappear before I wind up like Lisa!”
“What happened, Trevor? What’s this all about?” Evie demanded, hoping that if she could keep him talking she might be able to come up with a plan.
“I made that stupid bet, but I had this hot tip from Lisa’s boyfriend... They’d paid off one of the refs to make a couple of bad calls during the game. It was supposed to be a sure thing and I would have made a fortune. But then they made that fucking tackle and the ref got hit! The stupid fucker got knocked out and they had to bring in someone else and it all went south... I had put a quarter million down, but I could only come up with half. So, Lisa’s boyfriend offered to let me make the rest in payments, if I would shuffle some funds around for him, make the money look a little cleaner!”
“You were set up from the get go,” she said, hoping to placate him. If she could appease him, she thought, maybe she could convince him to let her go.
“Exactly! That fucking bitch hung me out to dry! She helped me forge the loan documents to borrow the money and I paid off everything I could. Did a few deposits and withdrawals for them, and then told them I wanted out...But these aren’t the kind of people you just walk away from. They made it abundantly clea
r that I was their bitch from that point forward. Still, I could handle that. Once I got the debt paid off to them, I was making a shit load of money at it... But once again, Lisa had to fuck it all up! She and Tony got into it, he dumped her crazy ass, and the bitch called the feds!”
“Is that why they killed her? Because she talked to the FBI?”
“Yes, and they’re going to kill me too. These people don’t like witnesses and I saw that fucker shoot her in the back of the head. Not to mention, that I know where all the money is. I’m screwed, Evie. Jackson had damned well better pay up, cause I’m not going down alone.”
He had lost his mind. He had completely lost his mind, she thought.
“Take the next right... Route 9,” he ordered.
They were driving out into the middle of nowhere. He would kill her and they would probably never find her body. The fear congealed in her, forming a hard knot in her gut. It made it difficult to breathe and she focused as much of her attention on that as she could. As if sensing that she was on the verge of doing something reckless, Trevor said, “All he has to do is pay... If he gives me the money, I’ll let you go. But if you make this difficult, if you don’t do what I tell you to, I can hurt you without killing you, Evie, and I will.”
Evie drove, panic keeping her going. She wanted nothing more than to open the door and dive out, to take her chances. But she couldn’t afford to doubt Trevor. He’d already gone further off the deep end than she’d ever imagined possible. Fear for Cass clawed at her. Was she still alive? Had someone found her yet? Other thoughts, fleeting and panicked, assailed her. Would Trevor actually let her go?
CHAOS ensued at the hospital. Cass was in the emergency room getting stitches. They’d done a CT scan and diagnosed her with a concussion and planned to admit her for the night. Jackson paced the waiting area as he waited to talk to her. The police had already questioned her, but they weren’t saying anything to him. They wouldn’t even given the information to Evie’s parents. They were playing everything very close to their chest and that was escalating the stress of the situation to even greater heights. Cursing, mildly, he paced back to the small bank of hard plastic chairs and took a seat. His hands were clenched into fists as he leaned his elbows on his knees and stared down at the tile floor. He wasn’t one to pray, but in that moment, he made a silent request. Evie was finally his, and the very idea of letting her go was more than he could take. He should never have let her out of his sight, he thought bitterly.
Bad Girl Lessons Page 8
