“Holy shit. Did she go?”
I nodded and grinned like a fool. “Yep and stayed with me the entire time. She heard every detail as it was recorded by the police in my statement. She got the dates, the name of the hospital I rode the bus to get to. Every minute bit of information—I wrapped it up in a nice neat little bow and handed her the package.” I wished I had a camera to capture his expression. I couldn’t tell if he was confused or proud. “And, Jase, she was kind to me. I got the impression maybe she’d been on the receiving end of similar treatment somewhere along the way. I know I took a chance not talking to Hart to get legal advice, but I don’t think she’ll spin this any other way than in my favor.”
“I don’t know if we just killed our chances at winning this or sealed the deal, but I can tell you this—regardless, I’m proud as hell to call you my wife.”
“We’ll find out in the next day or two. I’m sorry I didn’t discuss it with you, but I knew you’d argue and I couldn’t risk that. I’ll call Hart in the morning to tell him and apologize.”
The next day, I did just that. Jase finally went back to work, and after he left, I called Hart. He lectured me about the reasons for paying an attorney, Jase’s exorbitant retainer, and why Jase bought the best money could buy. But in the end, I could tell he was proud of me, too. He promised to be in touch after seeing the piece on the news that night. As I disconnected the call, Jase walked back through the door, ill as a hornet.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to work all day.”
“Yeah, that had been the plan.” He tossed his stuff on the kitchen table and pulled at the knot in his tie at the base of his neck. “My grandfather, however, had different ideas.” His features were taut, highlighting his anger in a small space.
“I’m not following.”
Plopping down in the kitchen chair, his butt made a thud on the wood. “The board has asked that I take a leave of absence to protect the company. They will announce my sabbatical this afternoon to the entire company.”
“Can they do that? And why would they want to? I don’t understand.”
“They’re afraid the shareholders are going to lose faith in my ability to manage the business. Until my marital and family issues are resolved on a personal level, they don’t believe it’s in the best interest of the company for me to remain associated with Faston.”
Every word I’d ever known, since the day I’d started talking, was gone. My brain couldn’t form one complete word, much less a composed thought. I opened my mouth to speak—nothing came out but the stale air I’d apparently been holding in. Like a fish out of water, I gasped for something to say.
When words finally made their way to my mouth, they came out so fast I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to understand them. “Is this permanent? Oh my God, Jase. I’m so sorry. I’ve cost you your friends, your family, and your job.”
“Gianna, I’m pissed off, and I’ll get over it, but none of this is your fault. My parents are pissed they haven’t met you, they don’t know Derrick or the other kids, and they haven’t talked to me in weeks. They had no idea I’d gotten married until they saw the press release. My mom ran her mouth to my grandfather, and when his little girl is upset, he fixes it. It’s not permanent; my family will get off their high horse and pick up the phone, and my friends are still around. Minus one.”
“So why don’t we try to mend fences with your family? And what makes you think your friends are still around?”
“I’ll call my mom when I’m in a better mood. And I got a call from Max this morning.”
I stuck my hand on my hip, and with a bit of a protective attitude, I asked, “And where has he been?”
“The same place Willum and Drake have. Silent. Holland went to them after he became intimately introduced to my fist and tried to rally them. They thought he was a moron and suggested he let it go. They didn’t believe it was worth destroying friendships. Said he knew he was playing with fire and deserved what he got. But the flip side of that was they were afraid they were going to be implicated in the solicitation of prostitution, which of course none of them want anywhere near their name…especially since none of them ever touched you. They all lawyered up and shut their mouths.”
“So what made him call today?”
“Holland was arrested last night.” The look on his face changed. Suddenly, his brows arched, and he appeared just as smug as Holland had on TV. “For rape, distribution of a schedule four controlled substance, and a slew of other charges Max didn’t remember.” His feet crossed at the ankles as he finished his sentence. He was ticked off by the situation at work, but he believed we’d won the war against Holland. “They’re on our side, Gianna. If we need it, we will have their support publically. Each one will speak to the truth of their time with you, your friendship, and my long-standing feelings for you.”
“Wow. I had no idea they’d get him that fast. I figured he’d find a way to worm out of actually doing any jail time. I didn’t think he’d even spend a few hours behind bars.”
“Don’t get too excited. At this point, he hasn’t been convicted, only charged. He will likely get out in the next day or so on bail, and he’ll likely be pissed the fuck off. As you can see, Holland does not react rationally, and we need to be prepared for his next stunt.”
Suddenly the room seemed really hot, my lower back broke out in a cold sweat, and I almost didn’t make it to the toilet. I’d never reacted to stress this way. I hated to throw up, but the thought of Holland being out and angry didn’t sit well with me.
Jase was right on my heels. “Do you think you need to see a doctor about this? You’ve thrown up a couple of times recently. I’ve never known you to get sick to your stomach.”
“No, I’m fine. It’s just the stress. I’ve never dealt with this kind of thing before. I was clueless when things happened with Ryan. There wasn’t a single detail he’d ever shared with me. This is different—it’s in my face, and I know every sordid bit of information. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Tonight on the ten o’clock news, you’ll hear the catalyst that sent Jase Lane after Holland Hanks, and the charges they’re both facing. We have an exclusive with Mr. Lane’s new bride, Gianna Lane—you don’t want to miss this.”
I sat huddled next to Jase in bed watching the news, praying this went in our favor. Leslie Bayne had the power to make or break me, and if she chose to make me the victim, we’d end up rallying support. His arm was tight around my waist. Jase didn’t want to say it, but he was nervous—I’d put myself out there for him and risked it all. If it backfired, he was afraid I wouldn’t recover.
I wondered if Hart was watching as well. There was no doubt in my mind he was glued to the same program we were, but it was odd to think anyone cared about what I was doing with my life. It was Jase and Holland that were the story, but I’d come from out of nowhere and thrown a monkey wrench in Holland’s tale. I’d called his bluff. His prey had lashed out, and he hadn’t been expecting it.
Fear ran through me as the news anchor began to recount my story and showed clips of our interview outside the police station last night. She handled it with care and dignity—she told the story exactly the way I’d told her. There were no twists and turns. She included the part where I said until the rape kit was matched up with Holland’s DNA, there was no proof of anything other than I’d been with him and ended up at home with a large sum of money in my pocket. I didn’t state anything as a fact that I couldn’t plainly recall, and she made sure to share that with the viewers.
When the piece finished playing, she spoke with her partner and said, “Mrs. Lane had to take a bus to the hospital the next morning, hung over from the effects of the Rohypnol she’d been given because she didn’t have a car. Can you imagine?”
“No, I can’t, Leslie. It’s a heartbreaking story, but hopefully, it will have a happy ending.”
They closed the program out, and I waited for Jase to speak. I was ple
ased with their delivery—it was accurate and honest, but it certainly leaned in my direction. The Rohypnol was what would end up doing Holland in. The sex could’ve merely been his word against mine, in which case, I might not have a favorable outcome. But having been drugged changed the entire scenario. Nothing about that could’ve been misconstrued. I certainly didn’t dose myself.
When he turned his head so I could see his face, he was struggling with an emotion I couldn’t identify. “More and more every day, babe.” He shook his head in disbelief. “You did that for me.” He lost the battle as his eyes filled with tears.
“I love you too, Jase. And I did it for us.”
“I’m just in awe of your spirit and your bravery. You never stop fighting. I hate that you’ve had to, but I love your willingness to do it. Every man should be lucky enough to have a woman like you by his side.”
“How do you think Hart’s going to feel about the segment?”
“There’s no way any of that hurt us, so I can’t imagine he’ll be upset…maybe irritated you didn’t involve him so he could take the credit.” He chuckled to himself.
Lying there listening to him, my stomach started to churn. I got super hot and couldn’t get out of bed fast enough as my body glistened with sweat. I threw up in the sink and glanced up to see the sheen on my face. My eyes were tired, my cheeks were flushed, and as quickly as it came, it passed. Jase hovered behind me; I could see him in the mirror, but he didn’t say anything. The look he gave me was filled with apprehension and concern. I ignored his stare, rinsed out the sink, and then brushed my teeth.
There were only two other times in my life I’d felt like this, and both of them had nine-month expiration dates. I didn’t need to take a test. This miserable feeling would soon be accompanied by tender breasts and my inability to keep anything down. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I was pregnant, but I wasn’t sure how to communicate that to Jase. There was already so much going on in our lives with Holland, waiting on a court date for the adoptions, a new marriage—adding another thing to the plate with him not working seemed like bad timing.
Those stormy gray eyes softened in the mirror, and a hint of blue surrounded the edges. I could get lost in the windows to his soul. They’re so expressive—the color told me more about his mood than his words frequently did. The hue called to me, enraptured me.
“When are you going to tell me?” He leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded over his chest and his feet crossed at the ankle. The smirk indicated he was proud of himself for figuring it out and maybe even happy about it.
I played coy. “Tell you what?” I asked as I pushed by him and went back to bed.
“Gia…” I loved the way he drew my name out. Instead of responding, I watched the way he moved across the room, the way his muscles flexed with each step, the pull of the tendons in his neck. There was nothing about this man I didn’t find to be sheer perfection. I adored every inch of him.
“Jase…” I laughed as I mimicked his tone.
He stalked toward the bed, his eyes narrowing as if I’d become his prey. The mattress dipped when his knee hit the edge, and he crawled toward me in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. My husband was gorgeous. Every time he got near me half-dressed, all I wanted to do was strip and let him have his way with me. My chest heaved in anticipation, my heart raced with desire, and the warmth between my legs turned into a tingle I didn’t want to ignore.
“Do you have something you want to share with me?” The playful lilt in his voice kept the situation light.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“How long are you going to make me wait?”
The tingling turned into a dull ache, and when I refused to give him what he wanted, he retaliated by denying me what I craved. When he nestled his body between my thighs, it took everything I had not to give in. As he rolled his boxer-clad hips into my center, I almost came undone. It had become a game, but I didn’t think either of us could win or lose. But that wouldn’t stop me from trying to get what I wanted before I rewarded him.
“You think this is funny?” The head of his penis pushed through his boxers and my panties, nudging the fabric into me. He pulled away and slid his shaft up my slit, making sure to hit my most sensitive spot. “Do you really want to play this little game? Or do you want relief?” He lifted my shirt and bit my nipple before sucking on it. My back arched in response.
“I’m good.” I lied. The words didn’t even sound legitimate—they were breathless and more of a moan than intelligible.
Another roll of his hips and the tweak of my nipple while his mouth teased the other nearly did me in. He kissed his way down my tummy and pulled the fabric of my panties aside. The warmth of his tongue in my folds was unrelenting. He made love to my vagina with his mouth, but just as I was about to near the crest, ready to ride the wave, he pulled away. The shine around his lips turned me on as I crashed, never having reached the climax I desired.
“Do I need to keep going?” he teased.
With no verbal response, he dove back in, giving special attention to that little nub, and this time, he added two fingers. My fingers grabbed at the sheets, twisting them in my hands. He worked me back up to the same spot, and again, left me hanging in the wind to fall back down unfulfilled.
“How long do you think you can hold out, baby? I can do this all night long, but you’re not going to reach the peak you’re searching for until I hear the words from your mouth. What’s it going to be?”
I shook my head with a naughty grin, thoroughly enjoying the torture. He knew he’d get his way in the end, but until then, I was having fun. The end came sooner rather than later when he upped his game. Freeing himself from his boxers, and my panties still pulled aside, he lined himself up and asked how hard I wanted to play. I didn’t know what he’d meant until he brought me so close to orgasm and then abruptly pulled out. My stomach clenched trying to reach my destination before he recognized how close I was, but my efforts were in vain. He added a thumb to my clit during the next round of torturous delight. My back bowed, thrusting my breasts in the air, and just before he pulled out again, I blurted out the words he longed to hear. “I’m pregnant, Jase.”
With my admission, he grinned and finished me off. After he’d spilled himself into me, he rolled me on top of him and looked into my eyes. Brushing the hair from my face, he stared at me in disbelief. “Really?”
“I haven’t been to a doctor, but I’m sure. My period is late, and the signs are all there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I shrugged the obligatory woman shrug. “I didn’t really think about it until today with everything else going on. I just thought maybe later would be a better time to tell you, when we weren’t talking about Holland and the things he’d done to me, after the hearing for the adoptions. I hadn’t planned it out, but I wanted it to be special. I didn’t want you to figure it out with my head in the toilet.”
“I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am. How happy I am. I was serious when I said I’d take as many babies as you’d give me.”
“You aren’t worried about the timing? The issues at Faston?”
“No, baby, I’m not. I have more than enough money for all our kids to live on. I work because I love what I do and that I’m able to give back to the community, but I don’t have to have the income. Have you been worried we were going to be in trouble financially?”
“I wouldn’t say worried, but the thought crossed my mind.”
His thumb traced my cheekbone, and he lifted up to meet my mouth with a sweet peck on the lips. “Don’t worry. We’re taken care of. But we might want to use this to make amends with my parents. My mom will be over the moon about a grandchild.”
“Can we enjoy it as a secret for just a couple days before we tell anyone else? I like us having something no one else shares.”
“Absolutely. I’ll call my mom tomorrow and see if we can go see her this weekend and take the kids. She’ll lov
e them, and God, she will adore you.”
~~~
A couple of days later, we got the call from Hart we’d been waiting on. He had a date for the finalization for the adoption hearing, and Holland had agreed to drop the charges and lawsuit if Jase paid the doctor’s bills. Begrudgingly, he agreed, but I think he would have rather fought it out in court. He refused to put me in that situation, especially knowing I was pregnant. He’d become so overly protective I felt like I couldn’t pee without him watching. It had been sweet at first, but now he was hovering, and it irritated me.
“Jase, you realize I’ve done this pregnancy thing twice, right? I know what I can and can’t do and how my body will respond. You can step back and stop watching me like a hawk.”
“And you realize I’ve never done this pregnancy thing, and it’s my first baby and I want to be a part of everything that goes on.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his hands on my belly.
“If you don’t give me a tad bit of space, I might have to hurt you before the baby ever gets here.” I laughed but part of me was serious.
He kissed my cheek and let me go. “Are you excited to meet my mom next weekend?”
“Nervous, but yes.”
“Don’t be. She’ll love you.”
I’d been dreading having this conversation, but he was obviously in a good mood and now seemed like as good a time as any. “I want to drop the charges against Holland,” I announced rapidly.
“Are you kidding me? Why would you want to do that?” His eyes went dark, and his mood went somber…quickly.
“Because I only did it to get him to stop harassing you. I’ll never be able to prove what happened that night. The only person who knows the truth is Holland, and he’s obviously not going to admit anything, so why drag myself through the torture of a trial. I don’t want the kids going through that or you either.” I’d yet to admit the real reason, and I knew it wasn’t true, but until the day the baby was born, no one else would believe it. I sighed, seeing I hadn’t convinced him this was the right thing to do. “I don’t want people assuming I’m carrying Holland’s baby, Jase.”
Fallen Woman Page 25
