by Hart, Lane
But Harry isn’t that smart. He quickly snatches up Jetta by her beautiful, colorful hair and pulls her in front of him, using her as a human shield. Her eyes are bright red and makeup is running down her cheeks like she’s been crying. No telling what that asshole did to her before we got here! She looks as terrified as the woman in the closet, and I know for certain that we did the right thing killing the guards to get to her. I’ll never regret my decision. I just hope Jetta will be able to forgive me when she finds out I’m a killer.
“Let me leave here unharmed or I’ll throw her down the stairs,” Harry threatens, pushing Jetta forward, making her gasp, and then yanking her back against the front of his body again by her hair. “Maybe she’ll end up with a few bruises or broken bones, or maybe she’ll snap her neck. Do you really want to take that chance?”
Malcolm and the other guys look to me for my answer, which is, of course, fuck no.
How could I ever live with myself if something happened to Jetta because I gambled with her life? So what the fuck am I supposed to do now?
“Drop your weapons now or I’ll throw her!” Harry threatens.
The last thing I want to do is lower my gun, but I still crouch down and lay it on the floor before the rest of the guys do the same while I try and figure out how to outsmart the asshole.
Thankfully, Jetta was way ahead of me. Her fingernails that were digging into his arm to try and pry it from her hair suddenly lowers into a fist that connects with Harry’s groin.
His first reaction, as is every man’s, is to reach down and grab his junk, which allows Jetta to get free. She sprints down the steps as I race up them, meeting her halfway to wrap her in my arms. I just barely get her lowered and covered before gunfire erupts.
Jetta doesn’t make a sound; she just buries her face in my neck and pulls me to her even tighter. Here’s hoping motorcycle helmets are also bulletproof.
“It’s gonna be okay,” I promise her because I’m certain that it was the Aces who retrieved their guns and fired first. “It’s almost over.”
“I know,” she replies once there’s nothing but silence and the ringing in my ears. “I’m sorry I didn’t cancel,” it sounds like she says.
“What?” I ask. Lifting my head, I raise my helmet’s shield to look at her face without the tinted plastic in the way.
“The date. I should’ve cancelled! I don’t want to go out with anyone else. I love you, Devlin!”
“Ah, baby. I love you too,” I reply before ripping my helmet off to brush my lips over hers. A soft kiss turns into a desperate one where our tongues are dueling, unable to get enough until someone clears their throat loudly.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Malcolm says. “But now isn’t really the time or place! We need to go, and you need to put your helmet back on!”
“Right,” I agree, placing one last kiss on her lips. I get to my feet and slip my helmet on, lowering the face shield before I finally help Jetta to her feet. She glances up to the top of the stairs where Harry is laid out and bleeding from several bullet wounds to his chest and stomach.
“Oh my god. He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asks.
“Yeah, he’s dead,” I agree. “Now what the hell are we going to do with him?” I ask, nodding to the guard, who is still lying face down on the floor that he hit when the shooting started.
“I surrendered,” the giant mutters. He grabs the stair rail and pulls himself up to his feet, putting his hands up in the air again. “And I didn’t hurt her. I was carryin’ her to the panic room.”
“Is that true?” I ask Jetta as I throw my arm around her waist to tuck her into my side.
“Yes,” she agrees. “No one hurt me.”
“But would you have stopped Harry from hurting her eventually?” I remark.
“I ain’t stupid,” the guard says. “I didn’t see nothin’ and won’t say nothin’. All I was doin’ was tryin’ to provide for my family.”
Of course that is the perfect thing to say since Malcolm has a new kid and wife.
“We’ll let him and the woman in the pantry go,” our president declares. “They didn’t see any of our faces and don’t know who we are, do you?” he asks the giant.
“Nope. Don’t know and don’t care.”
“Good,” Malcolm mutters. “Now let’s see if we can find some gasoline to light this place up.”
“Can I take her…” I ask.
“Yeah, get her out of here,” Malcolm agrees. “You two can escort the guard and chef off the premises.” He nods to Fiasco and Silas rather than blurting out their names aloud. “We’ll take care of the rest,” he adds gesturing to Nash and himself.
“Thanks, prez. Thanks guys,” I tell them before I guide Jetta down the steps and out the door.
She blows out a heavy breath when we reach the front porch. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you showed up! I wasn’t sure if I would ever get to leave that place,” she admits quietly. Stopping, she turns to me and says, “Wait. How did you know I was here?”
“Because I followed the car when you left the apartment. When it started in this direction, I knew shit was going sideways because Harry isn’t a nice man. So I called your brother, and he said he made a deal…”
“Sean made a deal? What kind of deal?” Jetta asks with her brow furrowed. “No!” she exclaims. “He wouldn’t have set me up with this guy if he had known what he wanted!”
“Jetta, Sean is a gambling addict. He’s selfish and doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself! He knew. He told me it was ‘only one night’, like that made it okay.”
“I can’t believe that he would do that,” she says, her eyes blinking back tears.
“He did. And he’s not going to get away with putting you through this shit,” I tell her as I swipe away the tears falling from each of her eyes. “What if I hadn’t been waiting outside your apartment and followed the car? What if Harry had hurt you?”
“Sean knew what would happen? What he wanted to do to me…”
“Yes!” I exclaim. “That asshole knew and knowingly put you in danger. Harry Cox is a known sex trafficker! What if he decided he was going to keep you for more than one night? Do you think your brother could’ve got you back? Fuck no!”
Jetta grabs her forehead and then shakes her head. “This is all too much right now. I just want to go home.”
“I’ll take you back to my place,” I tell her. “But you’re not going back to Sean’s.”
“Okay,” she agrees, surprising me as I expected her to argue.
“Okay? You’ve never been to my place.”
“Okay, Dev. Take me to your place and hold me until I forget everything that happened tonight.”
“Absolutely,” I agree as I take her hand and lead her down the front steps. “Just look straight ahead, though. You don’t want to see the mess we made earlier.”
“Oh god,” she mutters softly. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” I ask as we walk back toward the road where we all stashed our bikes. “Baby, the only person that should be sorry here is Sean.”
“But you…you had to hurt people.”
“It was worth it. You were worth it. I would’ve done anything to get you back safe and sound,” I say when I give her hand a squeeze, glad that she’s here with me.
“Thank you,” she says, stopping just long enough to lift my face shield, stand on her toes and kiss my lips. “I owe you so much for saving me. But please don’t hurt Sean. Just give him a chance to explain, okay?”
How the hell could someone go through what she went through and still not want to beat the shit out of the person responsible? That’s just how Jetta is, though — too sweet and kind for her own good. It’s also one of the things I love about her.
“Devlin?” she asks when I don’t answer.
“We’ll see,” I respond, which will hopefully be the first and only lie I tell her.
Epilogue
Devlin
* * *
�
�Please let me go! I’m sorry, okay?” Sean exclaims frantically as Fiasco and Silas strap him to the wooden table in the basement of the Aces’ pool hall. It’s the one we rarely use unless absolutely necessary to get someone to talk or to inflict punishment. Today is all about punishment. “I was a self-centered prick who pulled Jetta into my mess! It won’t happen again, I swear!” he practically screams. His pleas fall on deaf ears. The words of a man like this mean nothing.
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you go. First thing tomorrow morning,” I assure him. “It’s just one night, Sean. No big deal. Isn’t that what you said about Jetta?”
“I was stupid! I know that now!” he shouts.
“Too little, too late. Hand me the shears,” I say to Silas, making Sean’s eyes widen in a panic.
“Sheers! No way, man! If you lay even one finger on me, Jetta will never forgive you!”
“He’s right,” I agree with a sigh before handing the sheers back to Silas. “Will you do the honors?”
“Sure thing,” Silas agrees, opening and closing the long metal scissors.
“You see, Silas doesn’t give a shit if Jetta gets pissed at him,” I tell Sean with a grin.
“What? No! I’ll tell her! I’ll say you made him do it!”
“Dev didn’t make me do shit, you sorry son of a bitch,” Silas tells him while snapping the sheers in his face before taking off a chunk of his hair right down the middle. “Shit. I missed. I meant to take off the tip of his nose.”
“No, this is good. Let’s give him a new ‘do, you know, bald down the center with a little hair on either side like Bozo the Clown?”
“Nice!” Fiasco chuckles.
“Fuck it, let’s get some red dye and make it look exactly like Bozo,” I decide.
“You’re evil,” Silas says with a grin before he chops away more of Sean’s chestnut brown hair, making me wonder if Jetta’s natural color is the same. If so, I prefer all of her various dye jobs to the plain brown.
“I’ll go to the store and get the color,” Fiasco offers.
“Good. Get the one that stays in the longest,” I tell him before he heads out laughing.
“What should we do while we wait?” Silas asks. “Want me to cut off something else of his? Something small like a finger or toe? Maybe his fucking balls?”
Fuck that dude is dark. “Not yet,” I tell him. “Now I think it’s time for the razor. Silas, if you want, you can shave his eyebrows off.”
“Hell yeah,” he agrees with a manic cackle just as my phone begins to buzz in my pocket.
I know who is calling before I even check the screen. “Shove a rag in his mouth first,” I tell Silas, who complies with a nod.
“What? No, man! That’s fucked up!” Sean says before he’s silenced thanks to the cloth in his pie hole.
That’s when I finally answer the phone. “Hey, baby. What’s going on?” I ask my girl.
“Not much. Just lying here in your bed completely naked with a bucket of ice beside me.”
“Oh fuck,” I mutter as my jaw drops at the image and my dick twitches. “But I, ah, I thought you were working until six.”
“I was,” she replies. “Left early because I was so freaking hot. Are you going to come home and cool me off or not, Dev? I want you to rub me down with the ice, lick the water off, and then fuck my brains out.”
My girl is usually insatiable, but it’s unlike her to skip out on work for some D. No, she wouldn’t have missed work unless there was a damn good reason – like she was worried about her fucking idiot brother.
“How did you know he was here?” I ask with a sigh.
“Because my phone stopped blowing up with his apology texts and voicemails. Figured you had finally found him.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” I say as I narrow my eyes at the bastard in question. At least he’s sorry and has been apologizing for screwing over his own sister. Jetta hasn’t forgiven him yet, but I know she will eventually because she’s too amazing and kind to hold a grudge. “I love you,” I say sweetly since I assume I’m in trouble.
“I know you do. Which is why you’re not going to harm a single hair on my brother’s head.”
“Too late,” I admit with a wince.
“Devlin!”
“Only his hair has been harmed!” I assure her in a rush. “It’ll all grow back and then you can even it up for him.”
“You promise?”
“Yes. He’s a dickhead piece of shit, but he’s still your brother, luckily for him…”
“Good. So send him on his way and come home.”
“Stay naked. I’ll be there in ten,” I assure her before ending the call. “Well, it’s your lucky day, punk,” I tell Sean when I walk over to him and wrap my fingers around his throat. “If I didn’t love Jetta, you would be bloated and floating in the ocean right now. And I’m warning you, if you ever do anything to hurt her again in any way, shape or form, I will cut away at you with the sheers, one little piece of skin at a time until your heart gives out. Understand me?”
Sean nods his goofy-looking head since he can’t speak until I finally let him go.
“Dye his hair and then let him go,” I tell Silas. Pointing my finger at Sean I warn him, “As penance, you’re going to keep the ugly fucking haircut until Jetta forgives you, even if it takes years.”
“Fine,” he mutters with a huff.
“Can I at least beat his ass before we cut him loose?” Silas questions as I start for the basement stairs.
“No, don’t hurt him,” I say while enthusiastically nodding my head yes and giving a thumbs up that Sean can’t see. He hasn’t been punished enough yet for my liking.
Sure, Jetta might be pissed at me if she sees his bruises, but the best part is, I highly doubt she’ll be speaking to him again before they all heal.
Jetta
* * *
As soon as I step into Devlin’s apartment, I quickly pour some ice into a big cup and take it with me to the bedroom, stripping off my clothes as I go to cover for my slight exaggeration.
It would be silly to think that Devlin wouldn’t inflict some amount of pain on Sean after what he pulled on me along with the dangerous situation he put all of the Dirty Aces into. And I’m not opposed to a little pain, because yeah, I’m angry at him…but mostly, I’m hurt.
I thought my brother loved me and would do anything for me because he’s the only family I have still around. Turns out he’s a selfish twat. One of these days I’ll try to forgive him and be there while he gets help for his gambling addiction. It’s what sisters and brothers do. We fight, we hurt each other, and then we make up. Although, I doubt there are many other siblings who would whore out their sisters for a night…
I shake those thoughts from my head for now, looking forward to spending my afternoon with Devlin, who is usually busy working on a construction site while I’m working my normal shift at the water park.
Even though I’ve been searching for a better position, I haven’t had any luck, so I still put on the silly bikini every day and sit in my chair to watch over the guests enjoying the day with their family and friends.
Other than my job, I couldn’t be happier. Dev gives me the best reason to get up in the morning from the bed we’ve been sharing for the past week. And honestly, I can’t believe I waited so long to have an overnight sleepover with him.
After all he and his brothers did to save me, I’ll never doubt his feelings again. I was the one who was scared of commitment, putting myself out there and getting hurt by someone I love. Not Dev.
The front door of his apartment opens and quickly closes. “Baby, I’m home! Are you really here?” Devlin calls out before he appears in the bedroom doorway. “Goddamn, I’m a lucky man,” he says when he sees me stretched out in his bed without a shred of clothing on. “I thought you were bullshitting me and were still at work.”
“I would never deceive you like that,” I tell him straight-faced.
Shrugging off his leather cut, he sa
ys, “You just got here, didn’t you?”
“Yes. But I made it before you!”
He laughs while yanking his shirt over his head.
“And I’m the one who is lucky,” I say as I take in his muscular chest and arms down to his amazing abs.
Dev’s hands on the front of his pants freeze before he undoes them. “Hold on. I’ve got something for you,” he says. Turning around, he goes over to his closet and retrieves a wrapped box from the top shelf, a place I could never dream of reaching without a stepladder.
“It’s not my birthday,” I remark.
“I know.”
“So what’s the occasion?” I ask.
“The occasion is I’m sorry your brother fucked you over.” Sitting the black gift-wrapped box with a bright yellow ribbon in front of me, he says, “Here’s something to help you try and forget.”
“Okay…” I say as I pull the end of the ribbon to untie it and then lift the top of the box. Inside, there’s tissue paper that I peel back to reveal…an envelope addressed to me from the Cosmetology School of Wilmington that’s already been opened. “What’s this?” I ask as I remove the letter inside and read it. “I’ve been accepted?” I gasp. “But I never applied!”
“I saw that school pulled up on your laptop, so I applied for you and already paid the tuition,” Devlin explains when he kneels on the bed beside me in his jeans. Wincing, he adds, “No refunds, so I really hope it’s what you wanted.”
“That’s…incredibly sweet of you,” I tell him. “But it’s not as easy as just paying the tuition! I have to pay Sean my half of the rent and utilities or get a place of my own and pay full rent and utilities. Not to mention health insurance and groceries…”
“I’ve already talked to Sean, and he’s going to cover those extra costs until you graduate as part of his apology, unless you decide to stay with me at no cost,” Devlin explains. “So you’re out of excuses. It’s time for you to finally pursue your dream.”
“But…what if I suck at it?” I whisper.
