“That’s because I’m not a sick criminal, Jade.”
I laughed out loud. Couldn’t help myself. “You do know that we have ample evidence against you.”
“I had nothing to do with that other guy’s disappearance. I don’t know how his things got into my possession. As for the other stuff, I was coerced. I’ve told the police the whole story. They’re offering me a deal if I name the two others.”
“First of all, you were not coerced. You’re a sick pedophile, Larry. If you were truly coerced, you wouldn’t have taken your turn with him like the other two did.”
“I’m telling you, they forced me.”
“They forced you to get a hard dick for a little boy? Sure.” This conversation was rapidly coming to an end. “Look, I’m not here to argue the point. I know exactly what you did. Talon told me everything. What I’m here for is to ask you to take that deal. I want those other two brought to justice.”
Larry shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Why not? You’re going to prison no matter what. Are you afraid of them from prison?”
“I won’t roll over on them. They would do the same for me.”
“Really? You think they would? Didn’t you just say you were coerced? And aren’t they the ones who had you beaten to a pulp when you helped Talon escape?”
His eyes lit up. “You’re right. I helped the boy escape. Don’t I deserve some compassion for that?”
“Jesus Christ. This wasn’t just some kid. It was heinous no matter what, but he was your nephew, for God’s sake.”
Larry’s lips trembled. “He wasn’t supposed to be there. When the other two brought him back, I begged them to let him go.”
“So you weren’t one of the ones who was at that little shack that day with Luke Walker?”
He shook his head. “No. Those were the other two. When they brought him back and I recognized him, I told them they had to let him go. That the Steels were important people.”
“Larry,” I said through gritted teeth, “tell me who they fucking are.”
“I can’t. They’ll kill me.”
“Is one of them Nico Kostas?”
Larry gave me a poker face. I couldn’t read him at all, and I was pretty good at reading people. He wasn’t going to budge.
“This is a waste of time.” I started to hang up the phone, but Larry held up his hand.
“Jade, wait.”
I put the receiver back to my ear. “What do you want now?”
“They held him for a little less than two months. When it became clear that he was near death, I started giving him more food. I was the one in charge of feeding him. I was just a lackey, Jade. A lackey.”
“A lackey who sexually abused a little boy. An innocent little boy. Your nephew.”
“I regret it, Jade. I regret all of it.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me? To Talon? To his parents, may they rest in peace?”
“Brad and Daphne forgave me. They didn’t turn me in. If they were willing to let me go—”
“Brad and Daphne are dead. Daphne took her own life because she couldn’t live with what you had done to her son. She left her children without a mother. One of them doesn’t remember her. Talon needed his mother, Larry. And because of you, he didn’t have her.”
“Would you please just let me explain?”
“How do you explain this? How do you explain your sick mind?”
“Talon was never supposed to be taken.”
“And you think that makes this all right? What about the other six kids?”
“I wasn’t involved with any of those.”
“You expect me to believe that? No one’s going to believe that, Larry.”
“Jade, I let Talon go. Talon is alive because of me.”
“This conversation is over.”
He stood again, urging me to wait with his hand. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you? That he’s alive because of me? They killed all the others. Cut them up like firewood. It was sick, I tell you. Sick.”
“I know. Except for the one body that was found. I know what they did to the others because Talon told me. They made him watch as they carved up Luke Walker. They made a ten-year-old boy watch that sickness.”
“I…I had nothing to do with that.”
“Sorry. I don’t buy it. You were just as much a part of this as they were. So do yourself a favor and name the other two.”
He shook his head. “They’ll kill me.”
That was a great argument as far as I was concerned. If Larry ended up toes up, I didn’t really care. “I’ve got to tell you, Larry. You’re lucky to be locked up. If you were out, Talon and his brothers would make quick work of you.”
“Steels. They think they own the place.”
“Do you listen to yourself sometimes? You want them to grant you mercy, and you talk about them like that?”
“I’m…sorry. Just… He really is alive because of me, Jade. I drugged his food and let him sneak out. When he lost consciousness, and I put clothes on him and drove him to about half an hour away from his ranch at night. I knew when he woke up, someone would find him. And someone did. He’s alive. He was allowed to grow up. Because of me.”
“Because of you, Larry, he grew up never dealing with this. It was all brushed under the rug because you wouldn’t name the others and because Brad and Daphne made the decision to let you go.”
“They let me go because I saved their son. I had to leave the state.”
The five million dollars. Of course. “They paid you, didn’t they? They gave you a chunk of their millions to get you out of Colorado and away from their children.”
“No, no, they didn’t. They didn’t give me anything. But yes, they did make me leave. Said they’d have me arrested if I didn’t stay far away.”
Liar. I’d have to push Wendy some more about that transfer. Of course they’d paid Larry. Where else could it have gone? “I don’t believe you.”
“I left. I didn’t come back until after Brad died. I was broke, dead broke. My wife had left me. I needed a job, so the mayor appointed me city attorney. I was a good city attorney, Jade.”
I couldn’t even respond to that. The man was delusional.
“Please, Jade. Brad and Daphne chose to let me go.”
“I don’t think Talon is as forgiving as his parents were. And I can tell you right now I’m not. So unless you tell me who those other two were, I’m leaving and I will see you in court.”
Larry rubbed his forehead. “I wish I could. I can’t.”
I hung up the phone, turned, and walked away.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Talon
“To moving forward.” Jonah lifted his glass of red wine.
I sat at one of the tables out on our beautiful deck, surrounded by the four people I loved most in the world.
My older brother, always so steadfast and strong, always the first to take any blame and possessing such a fierce desire to protect the rest of us. That he hadn’t been able to protect that day me haunted him still, even though I’d begged him to give up the guilt. To move on. Perhaps his toast meant that he would, finally, commit to letting go himself.
My younger brother, the one who’d followed me around when I was a kid, had been a royal pain in my ass but always wanted to slip his little hand in mine and go wherever I went. I was so thankful he had gotten away that day. And because I had protected him and told him to run, I was forever his hero. He would always have my back. But he needed to move on too, just like Joe and I did.
My baby sister, who in her own way had saved me. When I came home, she had just come home from the hospital. Everyone had thought she would die because she was so premature, but little Marjorie was strong. Strong as an ox. So beautiful and so innocent. A tiny porcelain doll who stole my heart as soon as I laid eyes on her. She was the only proof I had back then of any good left in the world. I would’ve done anything for her, and I still would.
And Jade. M
y beautiful Jade, whose mother was on the mend and with whom she was beginning to make peace. She’d been fighting her own demons, but still, she’d been here for me since she arrived in Snow Creek. I’d tried so hard to push her way at first, but I never had the strength to let her go. And even if I had, she would’ve come barreling back into my life. Because she wasn’t going to let me go. It was through Jade that I had finally learned that I wanted to live. Not just to exist but to live—to embrace life, to hold on to another person. Life would never be easy for me, but with Jade, I would make it. If I started to drown, she would pull me out of the water.
And I would do the same for her.
She was my forever. And it felt so good to finally want a forever.
I raised my glass in tandem with the others. “To moving forward,” we all said together.
Marjorie and Felicia had cooked a celebratory dinner of beef tenderloin with fresh Colorado peach salsa from our own orchard, broccoli rabe, mashed potatoes with garlic and cilantro, and wild mushroom ragout. The table was decorated with three vases of multicolored roses that Marj had brought in from the florist in town. My brothers and sister smiled. Jade sat next to me, squeezing my thigh every now and then when I got quiet, just letting me know that she was there.
That she would always be there.
We didn’t talk about Larry Wade or the fact that he refused to roll over on the other two. We didn’t talk about anything of import really. We just laughed together, cried a little bit together, and committed to moving on.
When it got quiet, I turned to Jade. “Blue eyes?”
“Yeah?”
“I want you to move back in here. Please.”
She bit her lip.
“Oh, please, Jade, please,” Marjorie echoed.
Her beautiful lips burst into that smile I had grown to love so much, that smile that could fix anything that was wrong with my day, with my life.
“All right. I’d love nothing more than to be back here. It’s what I always wanted. But it wasn’t the right time before now.”
We all toasted again while Felicia served us peach cobbler, hot from the oven, topped with vanilla-bean ice cream.
There was a word for how I felt at that moment, a word I hadn’t used in ages to describe anything about myself.
Happy.
* * *
Later, I took my lovely Jade to bed and let her undress me.
“I want to take care of you tonight,” she said.
I smiled. “Only if you do it while you’re naked.”
She let out an adorable giggle. “If those are your terms, I accept.”
She undressed, more quickly than I wanted her to, but what did it matter, as long as she ended up naked?
“Lie down, baby. On your back. I’m going to worship that gorgeous body of yours.” She smiled.
My cock was already hard for her. I could take her now and be ready for more in no time. “Come and sit on me first,” I said. “I need to be inside you.”
She shook her head, her eyes mischievous. “Oh, no, you don’t. You always get your way in bed. Tonight I’m getting mine.”
My nerves jumped a little. I wasn’t comfortable being submissive. She knew that. I grabbed her and pulled her on top of me for a passionate kiss, reminding her of who was in charge in this room.
The kiss left us both breathless, but she was not to be swayed.
“Please, Talon. Let me take care of you.”
I could deny her nothing. Even though the situation made me uncomfortable, I relented.
“Relax,” she said. “You know I would never harm you.”
And when her soft lips caressed the sensitive skin of my neck, I untied my muscles and let go. She trailed kisses over my shoulder and then down my upper arm and lower arm to my hand, where she kissed each finger and then massaged my hand with her own. She kissed back up to my other arm, repeating her movements, until she stroked her sweet tongue over my chest, licking one of my nipples, which hardened under her touch. She sucked a bit at them, and my cock hardened even further.
She continued downward, kissing my abdomen, burying her nose in my bush and inhaling.
“God, you smell so good, Talon.”
“Please, baby, suck my cock.”
She lifted her head and met my gaze. “In good time.” She smiled.
I was on edge, ready to go fucking crazy. I grabbed fistfuls of the comforter to keep from grabbing her, turning her over, and fucking her into oblivion.
She massaged my thighs with her hands and her lips down to my calves, to my feet, my toes. And then back up again. She spread my legs and pushed my thighs forward.
I tensed.
“Shh,” she said. “Let me.”
She kissed the inside of my thighs, the crease between my thighs and ass, and then gave me tiny kisses on my balls, which were bunched up and ready to release at any moment.
Then, finally, she took my cock into her mouth, as slowly she trailed her finger down the crease of my ass.
Until she found that place.
I jerked.
“Shh,” she said again. “Let me. Trust me.”
I did trust her, but tension filled me.
She moved her lips from my cock and began to work it with her hand. She withdrew her other hand from the crease of my ass and wet it with her tongue. Slowly, that hand drifted down to where it had been.
Still tense. Still afraid.
But again her soft voice. “Take it back, Talon. Take your body back. It was never theirs. It’s yours, and it’s mine.”
And she gently probed through the tight rim of muscle.
I gasped.
“Easy,” she said. “Getting through that ring of muscle is the hardest part.”
I’d said the same words to her.
Her voice soothed me as I eased the tension from my muscles. Determination surged through me, determination to do what she had asked. To take my body back. To give in to the pleasure.
“Let yourself go. Let this feel good,” she said.
I lifted my neck, keeping my eyes open, so I could watch her, to know that it was her.
Needed to know it was her.
She worked farther in, still pumping my cock with her other hand.
I was still hard, still wanted her so goddamned much.
And as I watched her, her steely blue eyes fixed upon me, her gentle hands working parts of my body, I began to relax.
I began to feel pleasure.
“That’s it,” she said. “It’s me. Always me. No one but me. And I love you. I love you so much.”
My breath caught, and I leaned back onto the pillow, closing my eyes.
Her mouth replaced her hand on my shaft, and she continued to probe my ass as she sucked me.
Oh my God. So fucking good.
When my balls bunched up and the tiny convulsions started, I groaned. “I’m going to come, baby. I want you to swallow all of me. Swallow me, baby. Make me yours.”
And when I climaxed, and she lapped up all of my essence, I finally, finally…let go.
* * *
We woke together the next morning, sunlight streaming in through my window, Roger nestled at her feet.
She looked up at me as I stroked her soft cheek.
“Okay?” she asked.
“Better than okay. This was the first night we slept all night together.”
She smiled. “And nothing bad happened.”
I pressed my lips lightly against hers. “From now on, we sleep together, in my bed—our bed—every night.”
“I’d love nothing more.” She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
One of the bouquets of roses that Marj had brought home from town yesterday sat on my night table. I grabbed a red one, and slowly I trailed the soft petals across her cheeks, her lips.
“Mmm”—Jade opened her eyes—“that feels nice. I love roses. Even when you threw me out of the house that night, I knew I’d be back someday. I knew you felt something for me. Because of the
rose you left on my pillow.”
I jerked, dropping the rose onto the bed next to Jade. My pulse raced. “What?”
She sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“What are you talking about, blue eyes?”
“The next morning, after you asked me to leave the house. You left a rose on my pillow.”
I swallowed, my heart thundering. “Baby, I love you. But I didn’t leave a rose on your bed that morning.”
Epilogue
Jonah
I hadn’t seen Bryce Simpson in a couple of years, so when I got a phone call, I was surprised. He’d run off to Las Vegas and married some woman he’d only known a couple of weeks. He was my age, thirty-eight, and like me had been a bachelor most of his life. Now he was coming home to Snow Creek to visit his parents—the mayor and his wife. Not only that, but he had a new baby boy, nine months old.
I was sitting in Rita’s café, drinking a cup of coffee, when he came in to meet me, toting his new son.
I stood. “Bryce, man, so good to see you.” I gave him a man-hug. “Quite a little guy you’ve got there.”
The little boy was adorable, with light-blond hair and blue eyes. Bryce’s blond hair had turned a silvery gray.
“So where’s the missus?”
“We split up.”
“Oh? I’m sorry to hear that.” Though I was not surprised. I’d always thought Bryce more level-headed than to run off to Vegas with somebody he didn’t know very well.
“Yeah, it was a mistake. But I got Henry here out of it. She didn’t want custody. In fact, she hardly ever requests visitation.”
“Doing the single-dad thing?”
“It was never my plan. In fact, I never thought I’d have kids. But now that this little guy is here, I don’t know how I ever got along without him. You ever think of settling down?”
A loaded question if ever there was one. For the longest time, I had never wanted to saddle anyone with my life, as filled with guilt as it was. But now my brother Talon was moving on after twenty-five years from the abduction that had occurred when he was ten, the event that had affected both me and our younger brother, Ryan, as well.
Possession: Steel Brothers Saga: Book Three Page 21
