Intoxication: Blue Line Book Three

by Brandy Ayers

  Once relative calm was restored, Jon turned on McCracken and Formosa. “This never would have happened if you both hadn’t made me leave the room.”

  Formosa was apparently having none of that, stabbing her finger in Jon’s direction and raising her voice just as high as his. “If you had kept your cool out there, like a professional, the posted officers wouldn’t have had to come try and calm you down. This case has become entirely too personal for you, and you need to step back. You shouldn’t even be in her room right now.”

  Jon’s face became the picture of barely contained fury. “You’re right.” He turned to McCracken. “Effective immediately I step down from my post as Chief and temporarily appoint you acting-chief until Camille’s case is solved. In the meantime, I’m taking her to a safe house, which only I know the location of, and will keep her safe from these dirt bags. You need to talk to her, you go through me.”

  Formosa exploded, while McCracken stood with his jaw on the floor. “You cannot take a witness and disappear with her. That isn’t how this works. We will put her in protection, have officers with her at all times. But just because you have a hard on for a girl half your age does not mean you get to make up your own rules.”

  “Fuck your protective detail. No one will keep her safer than I can. No one. I don’t give two shits about the rules. You can’t hold her because she isn’t being charged with anything--”

  “Because you already brokered a deal with the D.A.!”

  “--and I am now the only person she has in the world. So you either work with me on this or you lose the only witness you’ve got in this case. The decision is up to you.”

  Silence encapsulated the room, Formosa was breathing hard enough that Camille began to worry she would hyperventilate.

  “Okay.” McCracken gathered himself up to his full height. “Jon, I am now appointing you to work as Camille’s protective detail. I leave the specifics of what that will entail to you. However, you must be available to us at all times should we need to talk further with her.”

  “Understood.”

  “I can’t fucking believe this. What the fuck kind of operation are you people running?” Formosa was apparently not happy with the new chief’s decision.

  “The kind that takes care of its’ own.” McCracken turned to Formosa, dismissing her with barely a word. Once she stomped from the room, he turned back to Jon. “To be clear, I am only taking this role temporarily. As soon as this blows over, you’re the chief again, got it?”

  Jon simply nodded.

  Chapter Five

  Jon

  As Chief of Police, Jon might be able to pull a lot of strings to make things happen, but he couldn’t make Camille heal any faster. So, despite pleading with the doctors to let her leave the hospital immediately, she had to stay for three more days to make sure her injuries were on the mend and she wouldn’t need any further treatment, especially since she refused all narcotics.

  He had to admit, the strength this woman showed floored him. To his knowledge, she had never had a drug problem of her own, but just being around junkies for the past few years made her fear that obsession so much she didn’t even want to risk the small chance taking something to ease her pain would entail. She simply gritted her teeth and took the pain as it came.

  It also made him feel guilty as hell. Because Jon quickly realized he had his own addiction, and he did nothing but feed it. Only his came in the form of a tiny, tough as nails woman, not pills or injections. He couldn’t get enough of her.

  Those last three days in the hospital he never left her side. Tests came back on the drug the so-called orderly had tried to inject into Camille’s IV; potassium chloride. The dose he was about to give her, injected straight into her bloodstream, would have stopped her heart within seconds. The thought made Jon sick to his stomach. But they’d stopped the guy, arrested him, and Formosa was raking the guy over the coals for more information on the drug operation.

  Since the incident, only doctors were allowed to give Camille any drugs, and even then she only accepted IV fluids, antibiotics, and oral Tylenol. Still, Jon watched every person that walked into the room, ready to take them out if they so much as looked at his Cami the wrong way.

  His truck bumped and jerked down the weather-worn road, pulling Jon from his nonstop thoughts. It had been far too long since he made it out to the cabin; not since his brother had died.

  “So, where exactly are we going?” Camille had spent most of the ride staring out the window in silence. The air in the truck was rife with tension for the two-hour journey. Not awkward necessarily, just thick with the danger they found themselves in.

  “It’s an old cabin that belonged to a buddy of mine. He died serving in the military overseas about twenty years ago, and since he didn’t have kids or siblings, he left the cabin to my brother and I.” They had made a point to visit the place twice a year, once on Bill’s birthday, and once on the anniversary of his death. But Jon hadn’t been able to bring himself to make the trip since his brother, Mac, had died.

  But now, bringing Camille to the quiet respite away from the modern world lit a fire of excitement inside him that he hadn’t felt in far too long.

  “It might not be in the best shape, I haven’t checked on the place in about two years. But Officer Coy stocked the truck with everything we would need for several weeks, and the generator should give us plenty of the comforts you’d expect from home.” Crap, he damn near had to stop himself from bouncing in his seat of out joy. Sure, they were being hunted by her psychotic brother’s goons, but for the foreseeable future Jon was going to have Camille to himself, in one of his favorite places on earth. She might never want a romantic relationship with him, but he could build something else with her. A friendship. It would have to do since he had no plans of letting her go. He’d cook meals for her, teach her how to play poker, fish, build fires for her, and do anything she wanted to keep boredom at bay.

  Jon’s damn dick twitched in his pants without his permission. No. She wouldn’t want that kind of distraction from the long lonely hours in the woods. What twenty-three year old beauty would want to get naked and sweaty with a man pushing fifty?

  Best not to even think about those deep desires. He would ignore them, and take whatever he could get from sweet Camille.

  “Sounds good.” She fell silent once again as they finished the trek across rough terrain to the cabin. In actuality, the place wasn’t very far from civilization, but the winding roads through mountains, and unpaved back paths added a significant amount of time to their trip.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity locked in the cab of the truck, completely enveloped in Camille’s soft scent of vanilla and sugar, they arrived at the cabin. Thanks to the lack of care over the past few years the underbrush had grown like wildfire, almost obscuring the gravel parking pad. From his quick assessment, Jon thought the place held up pretty well, all things considered. The roof was holding strong after he and Mac had replaced it five summers ago, the shutters on the windows were still closed tight, and other than the weeds and overgrown plants, the yard didn’t look too bad. Strangely, Jon looked forward to doing some hard labor around the place, getting it back in order.

  Jon jumped down from the driver’s seat and jogged around to the passenger side to help Camille maneuver her way down. The extended stay in the hospital had helped to heal most of her wounds, but her ribs were still sore, and her fingers and toes not quite up to the dexterity of before. The bruises and swelling on her face had faded to almost being non-existent, thankfully. Jon never thought her beauty had been lessened by the harsh black and purple bruises, but their presence did nothing to help the raging fury he barely kept contained. And he knew she was self-conscious about them.

  “Jon this place is amazing.” The awe in her face made his chest puff out with pride. Secluded outdoor living wasn’t for everyone, so he was relieved Camille had decided to at least keep an open mind about the place. Her eyelids slipped closed,
and she pulled in a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. Her hair gently danced in the breeze, and the midday sun shone down on her chocolatey locks, giving her an angelic glow. “I know we don’t exactly live in the city, but it’s so nice being out here, where it’s totally untainted. The cabin totally blends into the woods, if you weren’t looking passing by, you’d never even notice it.”

  Jon shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from gathering her in his arms and pulling her close to his body. It had to be enough to just have here in his space. “Yeah, Bill’s family built this place a couple generations back, totally by hand. We helped him fix it up when he was on leave a couple times, then about five years ago my brother and I totally renovated the inside. Added a generator and a tankless hot water heater, so as soon as I get everything fired up we’ll have lights, TV, hot showers, you name it.”

  “Honestly, I would have been happy with a bed that isn’t tethered to the remote control, but I’ll take all that too.” Camille smiled, this shy little curl of her lips that still managed to light up her entire face.

  “Well, let’s go get settled. I’ll show you around and you can take a nap or something if you like.” Jon grabbed the bags of food Coy had packed up for them and led Camille into the cabin.

  The place wasn’t nearly as bad as he feared it would be after so many years. Dusty, in need of a good airing out, but more or less just as he had left it right after his brother’s funeral. “Think you could start unpacking the groceries while I turn on the generator?”

  Camille didn’t respond, and Jon turned to find he had lost her someplace during the walk through the first floor. He dumped everything onto the kitchen island and went to find her. The breath stalled in his lungs. Camille stood in the center of the great room, light streaming in through skylights and large windows. Sparkling flecks of dust floating around her, giving her an ethereal appearance. Her eyes were wide as she turned in a circle, taking everything in.

  “When you said we were going to a cabin in the woods, this is not what I pictured. It looked so small from outside.” She ran her fingers along the solid wood fireplace mantel, admiring the carving his brother had commissioned from an artist down the road.

  “What you can see from the outside is the original structure. It was one bedroom cabin, no plumbing or electricity back then. That is now basically the entryway and dining room. This part of the cabin was added by Bill’s parents.” Jon tilted his head in the direction of the hallway next to the kitchen. “The bedrooms and second bathroom were added by Mac and I because Sophie refused to come up here with us if she had to share a bathroom with us as a teenage girl.”

  Camille laughed, another sign that the pressure and darkness she had been living in was slowly starting to wash away. “Smart girl. She’s the one that was bringing you food in the hospital, right?”

  “Yup, my niece. Sophie.” If it hadn’t been for Sophie, Jon may have starved sitting next to Camille in the hospital, refusing to leave her side. The nurses weren’t allowed to bring him meals since he wasn’t technically family. But Sophie had made the trip every morning with a bag full of food to last him the day.

  “She seemed nice.” Camille stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, twisting her fingers together and avoiding his eyes.

  Guilt slammed into Jon’s chest. For some reason, he hadn’t wanted Sophie and Camille to meet. He met his niece at the hospital room door every morning and took the food from her without letting her inside. He just wanted to keep Camille to himself. Sophie would have peppered her with questions, and demanded to know why Jon had been acting so strange about the mysterious woman. Sophie had never seen him act this way over a women before, and he didn’t feel like dealing with her fussing just yet.

  “She is nice. You’ll get to know each other after this dies down.” Jon had no doubt the girls would be best of friends. Sophie had a hard life before she met Luke, not as hard as Camille, but hard enough that she would understand where the undoubtedly traumatized woman was coming from.

  “Let me show you your room.” Jon picked up the duffle bag of clothes he had asked Sophie to pack for Camille and led her down the hall to the bedrooms. For a moment, he paused at the door of the room he planned to sleep in, but shook his head and continued to the next door down. As much as he might crave Camille in his bed, where he could watch her at all times, he knew it was an impossibility. “Here you go. I’m right next to your room. So if you need anything while we’re here, you just need to come knock on my door.”

  Camille stood next to the queen sized bed and nodded her head, looking around at the decor. Shabby chic, that was what Sophie had called it. Jon just thought it was a bunch of new furniture that some company had painted to look old, which was dumb as hell, but whatever. It had made Sophie happy to plan each room.

  “Thank you. It’s very nice.”

  They stood a mere two feet apart, silence settling around them, a not quite awkward tension building in the air between them. Camille’s beauty nearly knocked his feet out from under him. She had a hard time meeting his eyes, which tore at him a little bit. The last thing on earth he wanted was for her to be afraid or intimidated by him. After everything she’d been through he understood it, but it still killed him. Even under the uncertainty and vulnerability, there was no mistaking the strong core that rested at the heart of this remarkable woman. She had survived something most people wouldn’t. And the fact that she still stood before him, ready to hide away until the day she could testify in court, well, it humbled Chief Jon Gallo beyond measure.

  “Um, would you mind if I take a shower?” Camille rolled onto the outer edges of her feet, her fingers twisting together. “I saw Sophie picked up some beauty supplies that don’t come in tiny little bottles, and I’d love to take a shower someplace that doesn’t have a fold down bench attached to the wall.”

  “Yes, of course. Sure. You take a shower. I’ll get the supplies all unloaded and we can have dinner when you’re done.” Jon showed her the door across the hall which led to the bathroom, and left her to do her thing.

  The cabin might be updated and with everything you could want in a normal house, but it was still a cabin, and he could hear the water running in the shower despite being down the hall and in the kitchen. His cock had a fucking mind of its own, standing tall and hard behind his zipper as images of the water slouching over her naked, olive toned skin plagued his mind. Fuck. This wasn’t good. He couldn’t get her out of his head when she was fully clothed, let alone naked and just down the hall. It took the willpower of a thousand men not to stomp down that hall and rip the door of the hinges, taking her into his arms and showing her how a woman should be worshipped, despite what those shit bags had done to her sweet body.

  He needed to keep his hands busy. After unpacking everything from the truck, then putting it all away in its proper place in the kitchen, Jon turned to make dinner. He grabbed two huge steaks from the fridge, rubbed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic, then threw them on the grill on the back deck. Next he took out two sweet potatoes, wrapped them in foil, and tossed them onto the outer edges of the coals, where there wasn’t as much heat. A salad and some crusty bread would round out the meal.

  Preparing the meal hadn’t done a whole lot to fix the problem in his pants. It seemed the idea of caring for Camille turned him on just as much as the thought of her naked and wet. Resigned to the fact he would be sporting an erection for the duration of the time they were together, Jon tucked his dick under the belted waistband of his jeans to keep it from tenting the front, just in case Camille came downstairs.

  Just as Jon began to chop up the vegetables for their salad, he heard small voice call his name from the bathroom. He padded down the hall to see what Camille needed, and almost passed out at the sexy vision of her body wrapped in a towel invaded his entire field of vision.

  “I’m so sorry Jon, but do you have a hair dryer anywhere? My hair is a curly mess if I don’t tame it while it’s still we
t.” Her tiny hand gripped the towel to her chest, preventing it from falling open and exposing herself to him.

  Jon watched in awe as a drop of water dripped from a strand of hair and rolled down her collarbone, then disappeared between her small breasts. Fuck. He had never wanted to be water so much in his entire life.

  “Jon?”

  Shit. He needed to stop staring. “Um. Sorry. No, I’m not sure if there is a hairdryer here. Maybe Sophie left one in a cabinet somewhere?”

  “I already checked everyplace in the bathroom. Oh well. I guess if roughing it during this trip is just dealing with my crazy hair, I can’t really complain.”

  Jon tried to chuckle along with her, but his mouth was suddenly dryer than the little creek out back at the height of summer. There was just so much skin showing. All his protective instincts toward this girl, no woman, apparently did not extend to himself, because he found himself wanted to shove her against the wall and maul her with his mouth.

  “Dinner is just about ready. Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll get everything on the table.” He turned his back on the most delicious sight he had ever seen, and walked with purpose back to the kitchen.

  Ten minutes later, Camille seemed to glide into the kitchen wearing these tiny sleep shorts and a t-shirt so thin he could almost see the outline of her nipples under it.

  “I’ll have to send Sophie a thank you note. She packed my favorite PJ’s ever.” Cami folded herself into one of the chairs sitting around the kitchen table, and watched Jon finish up dinner. Her eyes on him, following his every movement, did not help his painfully intense erection. “Although, she didn’t pack me much in the way of underwear.”

  The knife in his hand clattered to the countertop as he imagined her bare pussy under those fucking miniscule cotton shorts. Sophie was trying to kill him, it was the only explanation.