An Act of Redemption: Order & Chaos Book 3

by Wolfe, Samantha

  "Excuse me, sir," she called out.

  I paused and raised my brows questioningly, feeling unsocial and hoping she'd go away soon.

  "I saw you just come out of that tattoo shop," she pointed behind herself. "Is it a good place to get one? I'm thinking about going in, but I'm nervous. I've never gotten one before."

  "Well, you're in luck," I told her with a friendly smile, relieved that this was all she needed. "I'm friends with Nick Pedrosa, the owner. I used to work here and I was his apprentice. He's very good, and he's tattooed me many times. In fact, he just gave me one. You can't go wrong getting one from him."

  "How long have you known him?" she asked curiously as she eyed me intently.

  "I guess a little over ten years now." I wasn't sure why she wanted to know that.

  "Did you work here long?" she asked. "How long ago did you quit? Do you work somewhere else now?"

  Her rapid-fire questions were throwing me off balance, and starting to irritate me. "You're awfully curious about me."

  "Well, maybe I'd like to get a tattoo from you instead." She replied with a slight flirty edge to her tone now.

  Great, now she was hitting on me. My irritation grew. "Good luck with your tattoo," I said dismissively. "I have to get going, or I'll be late," I lied to hurry this along.

  "Late for what?" she asked.

  "I hardly think that's any of your business, ma'am," I said pointedly, not even trying to temper my annoyance now.

  "I was just curious," she replied in a harder tone as her eyes flashed. "It's an occupational hazard I guess." She reached into her purse and pulled out what looked like a business card. "I'm a report for a local newspaper." She held the card out to me.

  I took it and glanced down at it, then froze when I read her name, Marie Hopkins. This was the fucking vulture Jen told me had ambushed her at work, and tried to pump information out of Angel at my shop. Fuck.

  "I'd be very eager to hear your side of the story, Mr. Spencer. It would be a good thing to set the record straight and get the truth out there. Don't you think?"

  I looked up to see a sickly sweet smile on her mouth that pissed me off. "How the fuck did you find me here? Did you follow me?" I snapped out as I stepped closer to her.

  "A woman gets desperate when there's a deadline hanging over her." Her smile widened as she eyed in a predatory way.

  I stepped even closer and loomed over her with a glower. Her smile slipped away as she looked up at me with fear in her eyes. "Don't follow me again," I growled in a low menacing tone. "Leave my girlfriend the fuck alone. Leave me alone."

  "You're awfully angry, Mr. Spencer," she said in a calm tone that belied the trepidation still in her eyes. "Is that temper what led you to escalate from being charged with assault when you were eighteen to raping women now?"

  I jerked away from her. "How the fuck do you know about that?" Icy fear hit me. What else did she know that she could use to make me sound guilty and ruin my career completely?

  "I'm a reporter. It's my job to dig things up." She stepped closer, her fear fading away as she pushed her advantage. "Every dirty little thing." Her eyes were cold and calculating now. Holy hell, I needed to get the fuck out of here. I didn't want to lose it and give her more fodder for her story.

  I turned my back on her and started my bike, eager to get away from this vile woman. I pulled on my helmet then threw my leg over the massive machine and lowering myself onto the seat.

  "People want a story, Ford! Good or bad!" she yelled over the idling engine as I backed out of the parking spot without looking at her again. "And if you don't talk to me, who will?!"

  I popped the bike into gear and twisted the throttle. The motorcycle leapt forward, the powerful engine drowning out whatever else she had to say as I took off across the parking lot. I'd heard enough, enough to know I should have listened to Gareth and never left my apartment.

  Chapter 7

  Jenny

  Ford was sound asleep on his couch as I walked in after work laden with a bag of Thai food for our dinner. The television was blaring out rapid-fire gunshots and explosions, and I had no idea how he was sleeping through all of it. I shook my head and smiled as I walked over to set my purse and the food on the coffee table. I grabbed the remote and turned down the volume on the TV. I looked down at where Ford was laying on his right side facing the television and gasped as my eyes were suddenly riveted to the left side of his bare muscular chest. I stared at it in stunned amazement as I dropped to my knees next to him. The beautiful drawing he had sketched of me sleeping several days ago was now etched into his gorgeous body. He had tattooed me right over his heart, and I was blown away.

  I reached out with a shaking hand to touch it as my love for him overwhelmed me in a warm wave of elation. When my fingers touched his poor abused skin, he flinched and let out a grunt of pain as his eyes flew open.

  "I'm sorry," I blurted as I jerked my hand away.

  "Fuck that hurt," he grumbled out irritably. It took a moment for his bleary eyes to focus on me as I smiled down at him like an imbecile. "Jen...wha-"

  I flung myself at him, and kissed him fiercely as I slid my fingers into his soft blond hair and gripped it tight. Startled, it took him a few moments to reciprocate, but when he did our kiss turned blistering and passionate beyond anything I'd felt with him before. When I finally pulled away I was breathless and lightheaded.

  "Oh Ford," I whispered. "I love you so much, baby." I leaned in to kiss him again, and inadvertently bumped against his tattoo making him hiss in pain. "Sorry," I said apologetically.

  "If you keep touching it, I'm going to restrain you," he said with a suggestive smile as he took one of my hands.

  "Okay," I said impishly and reached out to touch it again with my free hand.

  "Hey," he growled out as he grabbed my other hand and glared at me, but then his face softened immediately. He brought my hands to his lips and kissed each one reverently. "I love you too, honey. And now, not matter what happens, you'll always be with me. "

  "It's beautiful, Ford," I replied, ignoring his unspoken implication that he'd gotten it just in case he went to prison. I didn't even want to entertain that line of thought. "Did Angel do it?"

  "No," he said sheepishly. "Nick did."

  "Nick?"

  He looked away. "I...I kind of left for a while this morning."

  "What?" I asked in surprise. "But Ford, Gareth said you needed to stay here," I added scoldingly.

  "I know that," he replied irritably as he sat up. He sighed and met my eyes again with a pleading expression. "I just couldn't take being trapped here anymore. It was starting to feel like I was in jail all over again. I needed to get out of here." He looked away again. "But I fucked up."

  "What do you mean?" I asked warily as I sat next to him.

  "That reporter, Marie Hopkins, she...she followed me to Nick's shop and cornered me in the parking lot when I left."

  "Goddamn that bitch," I growled. "Why can't she leave us alone?"

  "Jen," he met my eyes fearfully. "She knew about that assault charge against me when I was eighteen. How the fuck does she know that? I was granted restricted access to my record at the time since I wasn't convicted. She shouldn't have been able to find that out."

  "What did Gareth say?"

  Ford got quiet and stared at the floor for a moment. "I haven't told him," he finally admitted in a subdued voice.

  "Ford-" I began scoldingly.

  "I know. I know," he interrupted. "But he's going to be pissed, and I just didn't want to deal with it."

  I reached over to pick up Ford's phone off the coffee table and held it out to him. "Well, you're going to tell him now," I told him in a tone that brooked no argument.

  A stubborn look fell over his face as he glowered at me and crossed his arms. We weren't in the bedroom so it didn't work on me. I stared right back at him and continued holding his phone out.

  "You're calling him," I said firmly. "He's your lawyer. He can't h
elp you if he doesn't know everything that's going on. You know I'm right."

  "Well, he wasn't done shit for me," Ford replied acerbically. "His investigator hasn't found squat, and I'm still stuck in this fucking nightmare." I saw pain and fear ghosted across his face as he continued glaring at me.

  He was so lost right now, and I felt helpless to do anything for him. He was angry because he felt powerless. For a man like Ford, that was the worst part of this whole mess. I feared what this would do to him if it dragged on as long as I was afraid it might. I think part of him was starting to give up already.

  "Fine," I replied evenly as I woke his phone up and went to his contact list. "Then I'll call him myself." I called Gareth, and stared back at Ford challengingly as the call began to ring through. Ford glared even harder at me for a moment, then snatched the phone from me with a growl. He put it on speaker and set it on the couch between us still staring daggers at me.

  "Yes, Ford?" Gareth answered.

  "I'm on speaker with Jen," Ford began, sounding annoyed.

  "Alright," Gareth replied suspiciously.

  "Um, something happened that I need to tell you about." Ford's face turned pained. "I...I went out this morning."

  "What?!" Gareth snapped out in sudden anger. "I thought I made it perfectly clear I wanted you to stay put."

  "I was tired of being a goddamn prisoner in my own fucking apartment, Gareth," Ford shot back in irritation.

  "Well, far be it from me as your lawyer to know what the fuck I'm talking about," Gareth replied snidely. "I'm guessing from this call that something happened while you were out wandering around against my counsel."

  "I wasn't wandering around," Ford defensively. "I just went to visit my friend Nick at his tattoo shop." His face turned sheepish. "But I was followed," he added softly.

  "By who?" Gareth demanded darkly.

  "That reporter, Marie Hopkins." Ford answered quietly.

  Gareth snarled loudly. "That fucking cunt," he growled out menacingly. "Tell me exactly what happened."

  Ford began explaining the entire incident to Gareth, and I listened, incensed by her attempts to manipulate Ford and me into talking to her. When Ford offhandedly mentioned her coming into Apex Ink and grilling Angel yesterday, Gareth reacted badly.

  "Why am I just hearing about that now?" he asked angrily. "At any point during our call this morning did it occur to you to tell me that?"

  "I...I'm sorry, Gareth," Ford said sincerely. "I haven't been thinking straight since the cops showed up with their search warrant yesterday. I forgot about it."

  "It's okay," Gareth said tightly, like he was trying to rein in his temper. "As long as you didn't tell her anything she can use for her fucking story." He let out a deep breath. "I think we're okay."

  "There's something else," Ford added dejectedly.

  "What?" he asked in a low growl.

  "She knew about that assault charge from when I was eighteen," Ford explained worriedly. "How did she know that, Gareth? The record of that is supposed to be restricted." A long moment of poignant silence followed, and it scared the shit out of me.

  "She shouldn't have been able to," Gareth finally said in an uneasy tone. "Unless someone on the inside leaked it to her."

  "Are...are you suggesting that someone with the police told her?" Ford asked fearfully.

  "That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Gareth sounded uneasy now, and I didn't like it one bit. It was terrifying. So far, he'd always been confident and unflappable.

  "It would make sense," I said, finally joining the conversation. "From what I've gathered about Carter on-line, quite a few people who've crossed him have ended up in some kind of legal trouble. Maybe he's paying off someone with the police for information," I sighed, "or blackmailing them."

  "Well, that seems to be that bastards M.O." Gareth sounded pissed again. "That sick whack job makes me want to be a prosecutor." He growled threateningly. "I'd love to drill his ass to the wall."

  "I'd like to kick him in the fucking balls," I snarled out vehemently.

  "I'd pay to watch that," Gareth said in dark amusement.

  "What are we going to do now?" Ford asked fearfully, his face pinched with worry.

  "I'm going to tell my investigator," Gareth answered. "I'm going to have him discreetly start looking into that possibility. If there's a dirty cop involved we don't want them to suspect we're trying to find them. Then I'm calling Miss Hopkins' boss to warn him that I won't tolerate my clients being harassed or stalked again." He growled. "I'm so sick of that bitch," he added under his breath. "And Ford?" he asked meaningfully.

  "Yeah?" he asked in a quiet tone.

  "You're going to stay fucking put like I told you to."

  "I will," he answered apologetically.

  "Good. I'll be in touch." Then he was gone without another word, leaving both of us reeling. Ford pulled me into his arms, and we held on to each other for a very long time after that, feeling even more terrified and unsure than we were before.

  **********

  Ford had an actual smile on his face when his doorbell rang at noon on Sunday. It was so good to see. I followed him down the steps to answer the door. He opened it to find Natalie and David standing there smiling. She was carrying a bag of groceries. He was holding their son, Daniel, in his car seat in one hand and a diaper bag in the other. Natalie called Ford this morning to tell him they were coming over and that David was cooking us all lunch. Ford was excited about it all morning. It was good for him to have something to focus on besides the case against him and being stuck in his apartment.

  "Hey, big brother," Natalie said as her smile widened. Ford surged forward and pulled her into a fierce hug, practically knocking the grocery bag out of her hands. I took the bag from Natalie before she dropped it. He held her for a long moment, and she hugged him back as she eyed me with a worried expression. Ford had been talking to her on the phone almost everyday, but I don't think he'd been honest with her about how badly he was coping with everything right now.

  I gave her a wan smile. I'd been trying my best to be here for him, and I was doing everything I could to help him, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't make it go away, and I couldn't fix it. I still felt guilty because none of this would have happened if it wasn't for me. I worried that even if the charges against him were dropped, that his career was going to be ruined anyway, and then he'd end up resenting me.

  Ford stepped away from his sister and turned toward David, pulling him into a hug too. David looked startled, but hugged Ford back when Natalie took the car seat and diaper bag from him. He looked over at me with a deep worried furrow between his brows. I shrugged. Ford was in a bad place and feeling needy, and who could blame him.

  "Hey, little peanut," Ford said after he released David and glanced into the car seat. Little Daniel's eyes immediately lit up when he looked at his uncle, a smile spreading across his adorable little lips as he started to coo excitedly.

  The kid was a little over two months old now, and just kept getting cuter every time I saw him. His tiny head was covered in soft dark curls just like his father's hair, and his dark-blue eyes reminded me of Ford. Ford reached toward his nephew and unbuckled him, then pulled him up out of the car seat and cradling him in his massive arms. Natalie, David, and I stared incredulously at her brother, but Ford was oblivious. He was far too busy having a conversation with Daniel.

  "How's my favorite handsome little man?" he asked in a happy voice as he smiled down at the baby. Daniel waved his arms around as he babbled out an immediate reply that had all of us laughing. Ford turned and carried the baby upstairs, the two of them talking to each other the whole way. The rest of us trailed behind him, floored and grinning like idiots at each other. Who'd have thought that all I needed to cheer Ford up was his two-month old nephew? I was even happier for his sister's visit now.

  When we got upstairs, Ford settled into his recliner with Daniel. Natalie and I sat on the couch, watching Ford in amusement as he continued f
ussing over the baby. David went to the kitchen to start on lunch, smiling indulgently at Ford and his son as he walked out of the living room.

  After a few moments, Ford seemed to realize his sister and I were staring at him. "What?" he asked in honest bemusement.

  "I think you've hogged Daniel long enough," Natalie told him with a grin. "If you hold him much longer, I'm going to assume you've volunteered to change his diaper when he poops again." Ford made a horrified face, and immediately stood to hand Daniel to his mother.

  "I'll hold him," I offered. I liked Daniel's baby smell, and holding him felt good. Ford carefully lowered Daniel into my arms, smiling softly at me. The warm look on his face made my heart race, and my insides flutter with estrogen. It was hard not to imagine Ford doing this with his own child, our child. Daniel smiled up at me happily and waved his arms around. I let him grip my finger in his little fist, and I smiled when he cooed at me.

  "Have you talked to Mom?" Natalie asked her brother as he sat back down on the recliner.

  Ford sighed, the smile fading from his lips. "Yeah. She keeps insisting she needs to come check on me, but I've been putting her off." He looked down at his hands.

  "She's really worried about you," Natalie said with a worried frown. "So am I."

  "I'm fine," he answered without looking up at her. She glanced at me for confirmation, but I frowned and shook my head. He wasn't fine, and I wasn't sure why he was denying it.

  "I call bullshit," Natalie announced as she eyed her brother sternly. "You're anything but fine, and you know it."

  Ford finally looked up and glared at his sister for a second, then sighed deeply. "Alright, I'm not fine, not in any way at all, but I don't want to talk about it today. It's consuming my whole goddamn life right now. I just want one day not to talk about it. Okay?" His voice shook at the end as his voice became emotional and his eyes glittered. He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath to rein himself in.