by Cat Johnson
They clung to each other, Nicki still panting so loudly, still so thrown by what had just happened, she barely heard the tap-tap-tap on the windshield.
Then the sound repeated louder and she heard Jack mumble, “Ah, crap.”
Pulling back, she twisted to try and see what was making the noise.
Once she did, she had to agree with Jack. Crap.
CHAPTER 11
Two things hadn’t happened to Jack since he’d been a teenager.
The first was being with a girl and coming before he even got his pants off. The second was the local deputy sheriff busting him with that girl while they were parked and half-naked.
Yet here he was, reliving his teen years.
Jack reached for his T-shirt and draped it over Nicki’s bare breasts before the deputy leaned down and peered into the open passenger window—they had always been considerate about giving those couples caught parked by the river a few seconds to cover up.
“Jack? Jack Gordon, is that you?”
The flashlight was blinding, but Jack recognized the voice. Frowning, he shielded his eyes against the glare with one hand. “Bobby Barton? You’re with the sheriff’s department now? You got to be kidding me.”
The light switched off and Bobby leaned a forearm on the open window. “Yup. Got hired as the deputy sheriff a few years back. What’re you doing back here? You home for good?”
Jack overcame the surreal feeling of having a conversation with an old school chum while holding a topless Nicki in his lap, all the while ignoring his own now warm, wet boxer shorts. “Nah, I’m home on furlough for a few weeks.”
Bobby nodded. “How’s your mama? And Jared and Jimmy? I heard Jimmy got a bit banged up.”
“Yeah, he’s recovering. Everybody’s fine.” Enough with the chit-chat. Jack had a girl in his lap, but it was as if Bobby hadn’t noticed.
“So, who’s your friend?”
Or maybe he had.
“Um, this is Nicki Camp. Jared hired her to help around the farm. She’s great with the horses.”
Bobby extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Nicki.”
“You too.” Nicki had to clutch the T-shirt to her chest with her left hand while pulling back from Jack far enough to shake Bobby’s hand with her right.
Yeah, this wasn’t too weird at all. Even so, Jack had to smile. Nicki was a real trooper. Not all women would take this sort of situation in stride the way she was.
“It was good seeing you again, Jack. I’ll radio to the other car and tell them to give you two some privacy.”
Thank God, Bobby was finally wrapping this up.
“Thanks, Bobby, but I think we’re about to head home anyway.” Privacy or not, Jack wasn’t about to continue anything with Nicki here now.
Bobby nodded. “All right, then. Night, Jack. Night, Nicki.”
Nicki nodded back as Jack answered, “Night, Bobby.”
When the sheriff’s car pulled away, Jack let out a long, slow breath and dared to glance at Nicki.
He felt her shaking but he couldn’t see her face well in the dark. It took a moment before he realized she was silently laughing . . . and then not so silently as she laughed out loud.
Jack joined her. The more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed, until he had to wipe his eyes.
Finally, he caught his breath enough to speak. “I was going to ask if you were all right, but I guess you are.”
With the back of one hand, Nicki swiped at her own eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing, but this is the craziest thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
He ran a hand up and down the bare skin of her back. “Don’t apologize. It’s good to see you laugh. But besides good old Bobby, are you okay with . . . you know. What happened between us?”
She nodded, more serious now. “Yeah. That was pretty crazy too, but I’m fine. Are you okay with it?”
“Besides performing like an untried youth—” and really needing to get out of his boxers, “—yeah, I’m fine. I usually do have a bit more finesse in that department. I promise.”
“You’ll have to show me some time.” Her soft voice affected him like no other female’s had.
Jack smiled. “With pleasure.”
Nicki leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips and, just like when he was a teenager, Jack was hard as a rock again.
Enough with making out in the car. She had a whole apartment above the barn all to herself with a bed in it.
Jack decided it was time to go home and hopefully get naked, in private this time so they could get to know each other a whole lot better. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.”
Reaching out, he grabbed Nicki’s tank top from where it had landed on the dashboard. He held it out to her, exchanging it for his T-shirt that she handed back to him.
They pulled their respective shirts back on and Jack worked his way out from beneath Nicki and back over to the driver’s seat.
He started the engine and put a little distance between them and Lover’s Lane, as the locals had always called this spot.
It had been a hell of a good night so far, but he was old enough now to appreciate the qualities of a good mattress and the privacy of four walls and a door with a lock.
The closer they got to home, the more he anticipated all the pleasures that would await him with Nicki there.
He drove a bit over the speed limit and was just about to turn onto the road that led to his mama’s farm when his cell phone rang.
It had to be after twenty-three-hundred hours. The only calls that came that late at night were bad ones. He pulled the cell out of the console and saw Jimmy’s name on the read-out. His heart nearly stopped. What the hell had happened at home?
As fast as he could safely manage it, Jack steered to the side of the road, shifted into neutral and yanked up the emergency break. He flipped open the phone. “Jimmy, what’s wrong?”
“Now, Jack, it could be nothing, but my sixth sense kicked in and I wanted to run it by you right away.”
He finally breathed again. At least the barn wasn’t on fire or something, but Jimmy’s instincts were rarely wrong. He’d been on too many missions with his brother to ignore one of Jimmy’s gut feelings.
If Jimmy’s warning bells were going off tonight, it wasn’t good news.
“Okay. What’s the situation?”
“Two thick-necked bruisers in cheap suits stopped by. They spoke like the guys in the mob movies. They were asking about Nicki.”
Jack’s training kicked in and he started formulating a plan while he turned off the car lights. Cradling the phone on one shoulder, he pulled the car back onto the road.
He kept a bug out bag in the trunk. He could disappear with her if he had to, but he could not take her home now.
“What exactly did you say to them?” he asked.
“Nothing. I told them I’d never heard of her. Something’s not right. Who the hell comes knocking unannounced this late? Besides that, I didn’t like the vibe I got from them. I’ve been out of action for a little while, but I’m not stupid. I know Nicki’s hiding something. I figured she was just running from a bad relationship, but if these guys are any indication, she’s in big trouble and needs help.”
“I’m on it. I’m heading for the old hunting cabin. I’ll call Matt and Trey. They’re both still at the base. They can be here in a couple of hours if they drive fast enough. You get a hold of Jared and explain things. And see if you can get Mama out of the house without scaring her. Send her to Aunt Lydia’s for the next few days.”
Jack remembered the physical state his brother was still in and added, “And you go with her, Jimmy.”
“No freaking way.” Jimmy sounded adamant.
That was the exact response Jack expected from him, but he was prepared for it. “Jimmy, they’re probably watching the house. I don’t want Mama driving alone and getting picked up by them.”
It was true, but also a way of keeping
Jimmy out of harm’s way.
He heard Jimmy huff out a big breath. “All right. Keep in touch.”
“Jimmy.”
“Yeah?”
“Take your gun with you,” Jack reminded.
Jimmy snorted. “Are you kidding me? I strapped on my holster the moment I closed the door on those assholes. I only wish I had my body armor here.”
Jack was feeling pretty naked himself without the benefit of at least some Kevlar and his weapons. “I hear you. Talk later.”
“Later.”
As he wrapped up the call with his brother, Nicki was practically vibrating next to him in the car. An obvious reaction to the half of the conversation she’d heard.
Taking a deep breath, Jack forced himself to ignore her for the moment and stay focused on the task at hand. He’d get to her soon, but now he had a call to make.
While driving he hit the name in his contact list to call Matt.
His teammate answered after the first ring. “Jack. What’s happening?” Matt’s voice came through the phone sounding wide awake in spite of the late hour.
He could always count on Matt to be wired for technology at any time of day or night.
“It’s come to a head. Two men came to the farm looking for her. We’re safe for now, but I need you, and Trey too if possible, down here ASAP.”
They discussed logistics for a minute, then Jack ended the call.
This time of night Trey and Matt could break a few speed limits and hopefully cut the drive time down to an hour and a half, barring any speed traps and state troopers.
Two New York mobsters against two, soon to be four, highly trained special operatives. Jack liked the odds. What he didn’t like was the risk for collateral damage. Nicki, his mama and both his brothers were in danger.
He glanced sideways at Nicki. She was watching him wide-eyed. He sensed her trembling increase.
“Jack,” she whispered. “What’s happening?”
“That’s what I need you to tell me, darlin’. All of it.”
He said a quick prayer for her sake as well as his own that what she was about to reveal wasn’t going to be too bad. He’d let himself get attached to her, and he didn’t think his heart could stand another break soon.
CHAPTER 12
Nicki’s stomach clenched. She feared she might lose it out the car window as Jack sped down the dark road with the lights turned off.
It wasn’t his driving making her feel ill. There was enough moonlight for him to see the road and he seemed to know where he was going. It was that they had found her somehow. How?
She’d made one call to her father from a pay phone she was lucky enough to find before she even met Jared and started working on the farm. Did they track her from that?
It didn’t matter how they got here. All that she knew was she was no longer safe. Maybe she never had been.
Things were bad. Very bad. And not fifteen minutes ago she had been happy in Jack’s arms.
Time to tell the truth, before her lies got Jack’s entire family killed.
She took a deep breath to steady her stomach.
“My real name is Niccolina Campolini. My father breeds and trains racehorses near Belmont Park in Long Island. You’ve heard of Belmont, right? It’s the third leg in the Triple Crown after the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.”
He glanced at her like she was a babbling imbecile, so she continued, “Sorry, of course you’ve heard of it. Anyway, this guy was putting pressure on my father to throw a race. Tell the jockey to pull up, make the horse lame . . . whatever. He didn’t care, as long as this horse didn’t win the race. My father was pretty tired of being a pawn for these guys. He’d owed them some money, but he’d paid it all back plus a ridiculous amount of interest. In his mind, his obligation was done, but they kept demanding favors. He decided to end it there and then and his horse won.”
“And they weren’t very happy with him,” Jack guessed correctly.
“No, they weren’t. They took me as collateral . . .” Nicki paused as her voice started to shake. She drew in a breath and blew it out before she continued. “I was leverage so my father would have to do what they said. And I guess it was also to teach him a lesson for crossing them.”
Jack took his eyes off the road long enough to look at her for a few seconds. He put one hand on her knee and squeezed. “Go on, darlin’. Tell me what happened.”
In the dark, she could see the firm, angry set of his jaw as he waited for her to finish. “The head guy had always liked me, so he decided he would make me his woman, then he would have control over my father forever.”
She glanced at him. The next part was going to be very hard to say, especially to him. Particularly now, after what had happened between them. “I—I was under constant guard until one night when he summoned me to his bedroom. The bastard dismissed the guards for the night, so we were alone.”
Her heart pounded just remembering it. Jack squeezed her leg again. “Don’t, darlin’. It doesn’t matter what you had to do. You got away. That’s all that matters.”
She shook her head. “No, I need to tell you this. I went along with him until he was . . . in a vulnerable position. Then I bit him. Hard. Down there.”
Cringing, Nicki remembered too vividly the metallic taste of his blood in her mouth.
The car jerked a bit as Jack, obviously surprised, turned to look at her.
She continued with the sordid tale. “He didn’t have a chance to call the guards before I grabbed the brass lamp next to the bed and smashed him over the head. I don’t know if I killed him. I didn’t check. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out. I’d spent my time memorizing the location of the security cameras and where the guards were usually stationed. I managed to slip out of the house unnoticed. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore then I walked after that. I made it to town and stole a woman’s purse. I’m not proud of that, but I had nothing with me and I was desperate. I got to the train station and bought a ticket with cash.”
Jack turned onto an unpaved, very bumpy and winding path, not even a road. He flipped on the lights again and slowed the car to a crawl. She assumed they were nearing their destination.
“I ended up in Pigeon Hollow with nothing but the clothes on my back and a few dollars in a stolen purse. I was about to spend the last of the money on food when I heard your brother in the diner saying he wanted to hire more help on his horse farm. So here I am.” She shrugged with the completion of the story.
Jack brought the car to a stop behind an old cabin that looked like it had seen better days. She doubted they’d be found here and that was good enough for her.
He yanked up the parking brake and turned in his seat to face her. Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, darlin’. But you did good. You were very brave.”
“But they found me and now your family is in danger because of me. I should have told you all the truth sooner. I shouldn’t have stayed in one place for so long. I meant to keep moving, but everyone was so nice here. Then I met you . . .”
He pulled back and held her face while he gazed at her. “Shhh. Regrets do nobody any good. I’m glad you stayed. I can help you.”
She was about to protest again when he silenced her with one finger on her lips. “Listen to me now. This is what I do for a living. I fight bad guys and I’m darn good at it. And with my friends on their way here to help, those guys after you don’t stand a chance. Trust me. Okay?”
Her eyes filled with tears making it even harder to see his face in the darkness. “I do trust you.”
“Good.” He smiled and kissed her, quick and hard, before pulling back too soon.
Jack got out of the car and then jogged around to open her door. Grabbing her hand, he led her to the cabin.
The door creaked open and she was hit with the musty air from within the dim interior. She didn’t care if it was a bit run down and smelled like it might not have been aired out in years.
It felt sa
fe. Or maybe it was just being with Jack that made her feel safe.
The problem was, she knew the feeling was only temporary. As long as they were after her she’d never be safe again.
CHAPTER 13
“So let me get this straight. The one guy’s name is Paulie the Pudge and the other guy’s name is Vinnie Don’t Know?” Trey’s wide-eyed gaze moved from Jack to Matt.
Another call to Jimmy right after he’d arrived at the cabin had provided Jack with enough of a physical description of the two men for Nicki to identify them.
Now Jack’s quickly assembled team had names to go with the bad guys chasing Nicki, but he still didn’t know how they’d finally been able to locate her at his family’s farm.
“That’s what Nicki said.” Jack nodded before once again checking his cell phone for any updates from Jared on the farm or Jimmy on the road with their mother.
“Yeah, but you gotta say it like you’re from Brooklyn. Vinnie Don’ Kno’.” Matt, being from New York himself, had mastered the proper pronunciation of the ridiculous nickname.
He’d arrived at the cabin toting his laptop plus a bunch of other electronics and was currently tapping away on the keyboard. Hopefully finding something they could use against these guys to get Nicki away from them for good.
Trey let out a long breath. “This is like a really bad movie.”
Jack glanced over to make sure Nicki was still lying down on the cot in the corner of the cabin. Poor thing had been so exhausted she’d been barely able to stay upright When he finally convinced her to just rest for a bit after Matt and Trey had arrived, she’d eventually given in.
Judging by the look of her now as she curled on her side, breathing deeply, she’d fallen asleep. Jack kept his voice low as he asked, “Matt, what have you got on Vinnie and Paulie’s boss? This Tony guy.”
“It looks like he recently dropped out of sight.” Matt glanced in Nicki’s direction before saying, “After what you told me Nicki did to him, I’m sure he crawled away to lick his wounds in private. No mobster is gonna want that story to leak out.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Jack grimaced at the thought of the wounds Nicki had inflicted on Tony. Not that the bastard didn’t deserve that plus more.
