by Stormy Glenn
Boone dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys before holding them out to Neumus. “Can you drive the boys home? I need to stay here and get Jackie’s statement and gather some evidence in case the boys decide not to meet with me tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
Boone gestured toward the truck with his head. “Go on, boys. Get in the truck. Neumus will take you home.”
“We’re not going to jail?” Travis asked, hopefulness in his voice.
“Bobby will explain it to you,” Boone said. “Now, go on. You need to be getting home before I get a call from your parents reporting you missing.”
Boone waited until Neumus and the boys pulled out of the driveway before he turned to the man standing on the porch. “Now, Jackie Lee, I have some questions for you.”
Chapter Three
Jackie winced at the intensity in the sheriff’s eyes. He had been avoiding this conversation, putting it off as long as he could. He was pretty sure the guy wasn’t going to let him do that anymore. He just had to figure out how much to tell him.
Jackie let out a sigh before turning toward the door. “You’d better come in.”
He led the way to the kitchen, waving to the small table in the corner before walking toward the teapot. “I don’t have coffee. Maybe something a little stronger?”
It was the middle of the night, after all.
“That’s fine,” Boone said as he went to sit.
Jackie could feel the sheriff watching him as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two glasses out of the cupboard. He carried it all over to the table and sat down across from Boone. He needed a little more courage, so he busied himself with pouring them each a glass.
“Saludé.” Jackie held up his glass before taking a healthy gulp. He tried not to cough as it burned down his throat. It wasn’t rotgut whiskey, but it was close. Jackie didn’t tend to drink often, but every once in a while he needed it.
Tonight was one of those times.
“So, what do you want to know, sheriff?”
“Who’s after you?”
Jackie knew he could lie and probably get away with it, but something twisting in his gut told him that would be a very bad idea. “I can’t answer that,” he said instead. When Boone’s jaw clenched, Jackie held up his hand. “I’d tell you if I could. I swear. I just can’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m not allowed to.”
Boone’s eyebrows rose, and he leaned forward as if he’d just sniffed something tasty. “I’m sorry, but you’re not allowed to tell me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Jackie shrugged. “I’m not allowed to talk to anyone about it.”
“I’m the sheriff.”
“Sorry.”
“You do know I could detain you for interfering in a police investigation, right?”
Jackie smiled as he took another sip of his whiskey. “You could try.”
He wasn’t trying to be flippant with the guy, but there were scarier people out there than Sheriff Boone Marshall.
“I don’t get you,” Boone said. “I’m trying to help you.”
“I know that, and I appreciate it, believe me. I still can’t tell you.”
The tone of Boone’s voice was growing darker. “Why did you even call me if you’re not going to help me protect you?”
“Those kids had nothing to do with what you’re asking me about, and you know it.”
Boone’s sigh was long and suffering. He grabbed his drink and took a long swallow before leaning back in his chair. “You’re really not going to tell me?”
“I can’t.” Jackie almost wished he could just so he could prove he wasn’t feeding Boone a line of shit. “If I could, I would.”
“Can you at least tell me if I’m going to be getting any more late-night calls like this?”
Jackie dropped his gaze to the liquid in his glass. “Probably.”
“Probably?”
Jackie glanced up at the surprise in Boone’s voice. “If it gets too bad, I’ll leave.”
“I don’t want you to leave, Jackie, I just… I’m the sheriff. How can I protect you when I don’t know what’s chasing you?”
Jackie shrugged.
“What can you tell me?”
“My name is Jackie.”
Boone narrowed his eyes. “Oh, you’re a hoot.”
Jackie laughed as he grabbed the bottle and poured some in Boone’s glass again, and then his own. “So, Sheriff, what happened to your nose?”
“Saw that, did you?”
It was kind of hard to miss. Boone’s nose was swollen and reddish purple.
“I had to break up a bar fight earlier tonight.”
Jackie lifted his eyebrows. “With your face?”
Boone shrugged. “Hazards of the job.”
“Do you like being sheriff?”
“Most of the time.” Boone gingerly touched his nose. “Not all the time.”
“Do you want some ice for that?”
“No, it should be fine as soon as I sh—” Boone’s eyes rounded.
“As soon as you what?” Jackie asked.
“As soon as I get some sleep.”
That wasn’t what Boone had been about to say. Jackie would bet his life on it. But, considering he was withholding information from the man, he didn’t feel as if he had the right to pry.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask,” Jackie replied. “I can’t promise to answer.”
“Do you always paint your nails hot pink?”
Jackie smiled as he glanced down at the vivid pink color. “Not all the time. These just happen to be this week’s color.” Jackie lifted his leg, wiggling his bare toes. “They match my toes.”
He looked up quickly when he heard Boone gulp. The man was staring at Jackie’s toes as if mesmerized. Jackie wiggled them again.
Boone flushed and glanced away. “Sorry.”
“Do you like my toes, Sheriff?” Jackie had no idea what made him ask that, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“They are very pretty,” Boone replied.
“They look better in my high heels.”
“I…uh…saw you in your high heels at the store.” Boone stared down into his glass. “Hot-pink stilettos, if I remember correctly.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Jackie knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. There was something about Boone Marshall that called to him. “And what did you think of my hot-pink stilettos?”
“I don’t know much about high heels.” Boone’s face flushed again. “I’m gay.”
Jackie almost danced in his chair, but that might have come off wrong. Instead, he stuck his leg out and rubbed his toes along Boone’s jean-clan thigh. “Then my question remains the same. What did you think of my hot-pink stilettos?”
Boone grabbed Jackie’s foot, but instead of pushing it away, he pushed it against his thigh. Jackie pressed his lips together to keep from groaning when Boone’s hand moved along his bare leg.
“Jesus, your legs are smooth.” Boone slid his hand up as high as the bottom edge of Jackie’s sleeping shorts.
Jackie grinned at the heat he could hear in those words. “I wax.”
Boone swallowed tightly. “Everywhere?”
Jackie raised an eyebrow.
Boone seemed to suddenly get ahold of himself and realize what he was doing. His eyes rounded and he pushed back his chair before jumping to his feet. His hand was shaking as he thrust it into his hair.
“I am so sorry, Jackie. That was totally uncalled for. I had no right to touch you like that.”
“You didn’t hear me arguing, Sheriff.”
“No, but I told you I was gay. I have no business messing with—” Boone’s lips pressed tight as he shook his head.
“Messing with what?”
“A woman.”
Jackie’s jaw dropped. “You think I’m a woman?”
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Boone’s gaze went to the hot-pink nail polish. “Aren’t you?”
Jackie laughed. “No.” He’d been accused of it more than once, but just because he liked women’s clothes and was a bit feminine looking didn’t mean he was one.
Boone snapped his gaze to Jackie’s. “You’re not a woman?”
Jackie shook his head. “No.”
Jackie’s eyes rounded when Boone grabbed him and slammed their mouths together, and then they slid closed as his world turned on its axis. He groaned as he buried his fingers in Boone’s hair, holding the man close as his mouth was ravaged. His heart danced with excitement as he gave himself freely to the passion of Boone’s kiss.
Jackie groaned and opened his mouth, allowing Boone in. He moved his tongue against Boone’s, touching, caressing. Each small touch, each lick felt like heaven. Jackie never wanted it to end.
Jackie yelped when he was lifted and then set down on the counter, the suddenness of the movement startling him. He almost protested when Boone pulled away, but then he felt the small kisses pressed against the skin of his throat.
When Boone pulled his shirt up, Jackie eagerly lifted his arms. The mouth that latched on to his nipple made Jackie cry out in ecstasy. At the base of his throat, a pulse beat and swelled as though his heart had risen from its usual place, wanting to be near Boone.
Jackie wiggled closer, needing to feel more of Boone’s exquisite touch. Long fingers slid into his sleep shorts and wrapped around his aching cock. “Boone!”
“Look how you burn for my touch, Jackie.”
Jackie wanted to look, but he was too busy going out of his mind. He didn’t even care when Boone pulled his shorts off.
Boone stroked him, slowly at first, then with more vigor. Every time he got to the head of Jackie’s cock, he rubbed his fingers over the top. The gentle touches sent shivers of delight through Jackie until he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Jackie cried out as his body arched into the air, his cock thrusting through Boone’s grip as an orgasm of epic proportions raced through his body, stealing his breath.
Jackie felt melty, blissful. He blinked several times as he looked down to see Boone licking away the evidence of his pleasure.
That was hot.
The sudden flush on Boone’s face was arousing but not as much as the desire burning in the man’s brown eyes. Jackie moaned softly. One of Boone’s hands slide down his stomach to the soft curve of his hip as the man explored.
Jackie grinned at the sudden inhale of breath from Boone, and he let his legs fall apart. Boone seemed mesmerized, then suddenly started looking around almost frantically.
“Boone?”
“We need lube,” the man said. Boone abruptly leaned over Jackie, reaching for a jar of olive oil sitting on the counter. He opened the bottle and poured some out on his fingers. Before Jackie could question him, Boone put the lid back on the bottle and set it aside.
A moment later, Jackie inhaled sharply when two slick fingers slid into his ass. There was a brief moment of pain, but it quickly turned to pleasure. By the time Boone started moving his fingers around, Jackie’s cock was hard again and he was pushing back against the man’s intruding fingers.
Jackie groaned when Boone pulled his fingers free and wiped them on a nearby dish towel.
Boone slowly moved his hands down Jackie’s body, skimming his side to the curve of his ass, then down to wrap around his thigh. “Lift your leg up, Jackie.”
Jackie did as Boone directed, pulling his leg up as close to his chest as he could. He could feel himself opening up, ready for Boone’s possession. The soft nudge of Boone’s hard cock took the breath from Jackie’s lungs. Boone groaned as he slowly sank into Jackie’s ass.
He moved so slow that Jackie could feel the very veins lining the man’s cock brush against him as he was impaled. Jackie groaned as the man filled him to the brim.
Boone started moving and Jackie thought he was going to pass out. Each thrust, no matter how small or how large, sent pleasure burning through his body. He’d thought that Boone jerking him off had been pretty damn good.
This was better.
Boone’s fingers burned into Jackie’s tingling skin as he explored the lines of Jackie’s waist and hips. His lips traced a sensuous path of ecstasy along Jackie’s throat.
The man seemed to be doing everything he could to drive Jackie crazy. It was working. Jackie squirmed each time Boone thrust into him, trying to get closer. He panted, his chest heaving with each breath he took.
“Boone, please!” Jackie begged when he felt himself teetering on the edge of another orgasm.
Boone’s thrusts increased in tempo until he was nearly ramming into Jackie. He groaned when Boone wrapped a hand around his cock again. The pleasure was explosive and just what he needed to send him over the edge. Jackie cried out, his head falling back as a second orgasm ripped through his body.
Boone gripped his hip so hard that Jackie knew he would have bruises in the morning. With one mighty thrust, Boone roared out Jackie’s name as his cock swelled and hot liquid filled him.
The sudden blinding pain he felt in his shoulder as Boone’s teeth sank into him started to bring him down from his orgasm, but just as quickly as the pain came, it faded away to be replaced by pleasure so intense that stars danced in front of Jackie’s vision until they shattered into a million glowing lights.
A strong masculine scent filled Jackie’s senses, cradling him, comforting him. Boone wrapped his arms around him, adding to Jackie’s sense of safety. A warmth filled his body, radiating out until all Jackie could feel was Boone.
“Shit,” Boone whispered. “You’re my mate.”
Jackie froze before slowly lifting his eyes to Boone. Deep, bone-jarring fear filled him. “You’re a shifter?”
Chapter Four
Boone was stunned. Elated, but stunned. His mate. He was holding his mate in his arms, and Jackie was clearly a man, which was even better.
Boone frowned when Jackie started to push away from him. “Jackie, wha—”
“Get away from me!”
Boone’s jaw dropped when Jackie started striking out at him with his fists. He grabbed Jackie’s wrists and pinned them to the countertop. “Jackie, knock it off.”
Jackie stilled.
“What’s wrong with you?” Boone didn’t understand why Jackie was so upset. He should be just as elated as Boone was.
The hatred and fear in Jackie’s eyes as the man turned to look at him cut Boone to his soul. “You’re a shifter.”
“Yes, I am.” And, until this very moment, he had always loved being a shifter.
“Get off me!” Jackie started struggling again. “Get the hell away from me!”
“I can’t.” Even if he wanted to, which he didn’t. “Not until my knot goes down.”
Jackie narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t believe Boone. “Knot?”
“When a shifter meets and claims his mate, a knot forms at the end of his dick, keeping him locked inside of his mate.”
“Make it go away.”
“Baby, I can’t.” When Boone reached up to smooth the auburn curls back from Jackie’s face, the man flinched and jerked back. Boone pressed his lips together and lowered his hand as anguish filled him.
This wasn’t how a mating was supposed to go. He didn’t understand why it had all gone to shit. Jackie obviously knew about shifters. How could he be denying their mating?
“Jackie, I—”
Boone groaned when the knot receded and he was able to slide free from Jackie’s body. Jackie must have felt it, too. He began pushing at Boone’s shoulders. Boone’s heart sank, and any hope he had for a future with his mate crashed and burned.
When he stood back, Jackie jumped down from the counter and grabbed his shirt. He held it up in front of him like a shield.
“Get out.”
“Jackie.”
“Get out now, Sheriff, unless you want me to call the council and report you for rape.”<
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Boone sucked in a painful breath. “I didn’t rape you, and you damn well know it. You were just as into what we did as I was.”
Jackie’s look was pure venom. “I didn’t know you were a shifter.”
“Why do you hate shifters so much?”
“Because you’re all evil, vile creatures.”
Boone stiffened at the revulsion in Jackie’s voice, in his face. The sorrow that had been circling his heart turned to stone. He yanked his pants up and buttoned them. After making sure he hadn’t dropped anything, he started for the door.
He paused in the archway of the kitchen and glanced over his shoulder. “I used to watch my brothers with their mates, the love that seemed to be so much a part of what was between them, and I was jealous. I wanted what they had. I wanted a mate who loved me unconditionally, one who I could love back.” Boone’s lip curled back as bile rose in his throat. “Now, I wish I had never met you.”
The look of loathing on Jackie’s face pounded in Boone’s head over and over again as he stalked out of the man’s house and down the driveway. His anger and hurt spurred him on at a fast stride. The horrible words Jackie had spewed swirled around in his head and kept pace with the painful, thudding ache in his chest.
God knew he hadn’t grown up in a world where matings were happy. His parents weren’t even true mates. His asshole of a father had forced his mother. Up until a year ago, he hadn’t even known a happy mating was possible. All that had changed when his older brother met his mates. He had watched the strong alpha melt like butter in his mates’ hands.
Since then, Boone had been exposed to several happy matings. He had seen how it was supposed to be between mates, the love and acceptance, the understanding, the caring. He wanted that. He had thought he was going to get that when he eventually found his mate.
Now, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.
Caught up in his thoughts, Boone didn’t realize how far he had walked until a vehicle pulled up beside him. When he glanced over and saw his truck, he pulled the door open and climbed in. He didn’t bother putting his seat belt on. It was unlikely he would die in a car crash, and if he did, he would welcome it at the moment.
“Boone?”
“Just drive.” Boone wasn’t ready to give voice to his heartache. He leaned his arm on the windowsill and watched out the window. He couldn’t exactly see anything. It was still dark out. But he wasn’t looking anyway. Jackie’s face as he shouted at him still dominated Boone’s thoughts. He doubted he would ever forget it.
