by Sam Destiny
Her delighted giggle made him take a deep, calming breath, especially since he wanted to wipe that smug smile off her face. He pushed her shirt up and pulled the cups of her bra down until they didn't cover her breasts anymore, but supported them, making her nipples jut out to him. He leaned down, sucking them between his teeth until she all but writhed under him, her fingers digging into the sheets. He let his tongue tease the sensitive peak before switching sides and applying the same treatment to her free breast. Aly panted, goosebumps covering her body as he gently blew on the skin he had just worried with his teeth. Another time he leaned in, now cupping one breast with his hand while taking care of the other. It was a game he enjoyed playing until she cried out his name in a desperate plea.
She wanted more, and he was definitely ready to give it to her.
Aly was sure Jam meant to kill her with anticipation. She wanted them to become one, but instead, he kept teasing her skin until she was ready to take matters into her own hands. As if he had felt the direction her thoughts went, he finally kissed his way lower and lower until his handsome face vanished between her thighs, making her panic. It had been forever since she'd been close to a guy, but never before had she allowed anyone to kiss, let alone do other stuff, where Jam was heading right now.
“Jamison,” she started just when he put his mouth on her and deliberately swiped his tongue up and down slowly. “Oh, my God,” she moaned, her body tingling in all the right places.
“Still want me to stop?” he asked, his eyes shining with mischief. So he had known exactly what she intended to say.
Her thoughts were jumbled, yet she tried to collect her wits enough to reply. “Well,” she started just as he lowered his lips again, flicking the tip of his tongue over her sensitive nub in a few quick successions until she bowed off the bed, drowning her hands in his hair. He pulled her closer, holding her hips still while varying between letting her have his whole tongue and just the tip. She couldn't say what she liked more, but there was no question that both brought her close to a very intense orgasm. Just then, he started to suck her sensitive nub between his teeth, biting down ever so slightly. It was enough to make her call out his name as she came. He didn't stop, drawing her orgasm out until she was a shivering mess.
He looked too damn self-satisfied when he came up to meet her lips, and she absolutely didn't like that. They both should be on the same page.
He actually was cocky enough to smack his lips and rest back against the headboard in all his naked glory; looking like a man who had just cured an incurable disease.
“You feel pretty good about yourself, don't you?” she asked, moving slowly, realizing her voice was huskier than she thought. He just gave her another grin, and she leaned over him, biting her lip while he was watching her.
Jam just popped an eyebrow, looking a lot less smug as she wrapped her fingers around his erection, gently moving her hand up and down, actually lowering her eyes to the task at hand. “Aly?” he inquired quietly and then made her meet his eyes.
She crawled closer, still holding onto him before positioning herself right above his cock. His eyes widened as she lowered herself down on him. It gave her intense pleasure to watch the way he drew in a sharp breath and then threw his head back, his fingers digging into the same sheets she had gripped not ten minutes prior.
She rode him slowly, set on driving him just as crazy as he had done to her. The problem was that she hadn't exactly considered how much it would turn her on, too. She placed her hands flat on his chest, staring into his eyes while she made sure that neither of them was able to think further than those four walls that surrounded them right there and then.
Jam kissed Aly's forehead, knowing they couldn't stay away from reality forever. She was somewhere between sleeping and being awake. “We need to leave,” he mumbled, and she shook her head against his chest.
“If I get up now and you get up now, we need to deal with the fact that our son -” He loved how she now called him that. “- is gone, and that we shouldn't have spent the last hour ...” He hushed her with his lips on hers because the way that sentence would have ended wasn't right.
“We did exactly what we should have done. I'd even let you sleep for a few hours because I don’t think you’ve had much sleep over the last days, but there are lawyers to tend to and solutions to find,” Jam whispered against her hair then kissed her another time before getting up. He pulled his boxers over his hips and then looked back at her. She looked like a mess, and he missed the happy glow from earlier.
“Lenard told me that there's no legal scenario where I can get Alessandro back. He's not my son by blood nor by law. Besides, I will go to prison if you try to get your son, Jamison. Do you even realize that?” Jam knew it, but he was determined to find a loophole, and the way he saw it, so were Lenard and Shannon. Which was exactly why they needed to move now.
“If you stay where you are, they’ve won. Don't let them win,” he pleaded, and she shrugged; a movement so small he knew how little hope she had left.
“They already did, Jamison.” Suddenly, he knew exactly what Dorly and Phil had talked about when they had sworn Aly needed him. She was worse off than he had guessed.
“Alessia, when in the world did you turn into someone who had no hope?” He knew he shouldn't be challenging her, but he couldn't help it. She had been Miss Optimistic for as long as he could remember. He wouldn't deny that things looked bleak, but giving up the battle before they even started? No, he wouldn't let that happen. Sitting down on the bed, he cupped her cheek, seeing how she closed her eyes.
“Jam ...” He leaned in and kissed her until they were both breathing hard, and then he pulled back.
“Move that cute ass off the bed now and get pretty. We'll fix this. Somehow, we'll fix this,” he promised, and Aly watched him for a long moment before nodding and getting off the bed.
Aly sat next to Jam in silence, letting him drive her car because she wouldn't be able to focus enough. It was crazy, but she didn't look forward to hearing anyone tell her how many years in a federal prison she'd get. Or what Jam would get for having kidnapped his son. At least he hadn't brought Alessandro over state lines. Alessia had made the mistake of looking up penalties on Google, and even though her knowledge of legal speech was very limited, she had read enough to shut down her browser immediately and break out in a cold sweat.
She hadn't told anyone that she had dared to look it up, but the way Jam was acting, she was sure he hadn't.
They parked in front of her café, and she was startled. “Spencer opened up for us. It's just for private business, seriously. I didn't want to do it in your house. I think there are enough bad memories there now. We don't need to add any more,” Jam explained quietly. Obviously, Phil had told them where to find her key. She couldn't help but be glad since the café alone usually offered her solace.
“Let's do this,” Aly said, getting out of the car. Spence welcomed her in the door and hugged her tight. She could tell it was for Jam's benefit, and it made her shake her head slightly. “Don't even start anything with him today, Spencer,” she pleaded in a low voice, and he sighed.
“I'm sorry. Of course, not,” he promised and then shook hands with Jam. It was obvious the two guys didn't like each other much, yet Spencer proved how grand a man he was by telling Jam how sorry he was about this whole situation.
“So am I,” Jam gave back, placing his hand on the small of her back to lead her inside. Just a second later, Aly understood his need to mark his territory because the redhead from the pictures was sitting at a table across from Lenard. It made Aly ready to kiss Jam smack on the mouth. Obviously, she must've tensed because he leaned in and kissed the side of her head.
“Just a friend,” he promised, not really easing her worries. She had never known herself to be that jealous; then again, Jam had never been hers for the keeping before either.
Shannon got up and instantly pulled her in a hug. “Hi, I'm Shannon, Greg's girlfriend and Ja
m's lawyer,” she explained, but Aly didn't like the way she called him Jam. It didn't matter that everyone else did, too.
“Hey, I'm Alessia,” she replied and then focused on the people she actually knew in the room—Lenard and his mother. “Mrs. Cleo.” Aly smiled, being a lot warmer toward those two than she had been toward Shannon. Behind her, she could hear the woman whisper with Jam, but she tried to ignore it.
Eventually, they all settled down, and Jam reached for her hand again. The grave expressions on the lawyers' faces told her everything she needed to know. It took everything within her not to burst into tears at their sight.
“It's legally not possible to get you and Jam out of going to prison unless a mistake is made during the trial,” Shannon started.
“It's legally not possible to get you and Jam out of going to prison. Period,” Lenard corrected, and Aly pressed her lips together, let go of Jam and fisted her hands. She felt her nails biting into the soft flesh of her palm. It didn't help much to ease her heavy heart. Faintly, she heard the key being turned in the lock and looked up to find Spencer by the door.
“There is, however, a possibility you will only have to spend a few days in there, but for that, Aly needs to return to Townsend with us,” Shannon whispered, lowering her voice in secrecy.
“I can't. Alesandro's grandmother made that quite clear,” Aly replied.
“She threatened you, that's right. She will have the police take you in. This town's as corrupt as it gets. We need to hope for a mistake by the police,” Shannon went on, and Aly got up. She couldn't possibly sit.
“So you are saying you count on a mistake by the police to keep Aly out of prison? Do you even hear yourself?” Jam asked, and Aly saw how Shannon threw Lenard a glance.
“I'm going to be frank here. The mishandling of cases happens more often than you think. Miranda rights forgotten, the subject handled too roughly, or evidence not properly processed—those are all things that make it necessary for a judge to dismiss a case. Aly would be in prison for no more than a week at max, and she could never be tried for Alessandro's kidnapping again.” Lenard tried to soothe Jam, but Aly could tell it wasn't working.
“She didn't kidnap him. I won’t let her go to prison for something I did. You're hoping for a technicality to keep her out of prison. The Karmisons will make sure that everything, and I repeat everything, will go according to law. They'll be eternally happy if Aly and I are locked up. While I don't give a shit what happens to me, I'm not gonna let her suffer for me!” he cried out, the rage obvious in every rigid line of his body.
Aly moved back to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “If you go to prison, Alessandro stays with Collene. Do you really want that, Jam?” she inquired, and he let his head drop forward, his shoulders slumping. Defeat had never been written more clearly across a man's body than it was right there at that moment with Jam.
“As it is, Collene has every right to her son, and Jam barely has any. If he wants a chance at sole custody, he can't be tied to the kidnapping,” Shannon explained carefully, and Aly felt her body go cold. “Even then, we need to prove that Lesso has an abusive mother or chances are slim to non-existent regardless of his participation.”
“So let me do a quick recap,” Aly mumbled, making everyone shut up. “If I go to prison, saying I did it all by myself, I'm going to be tried by a federal court since I took the child across state lines. I can be sentenced up to a death, depending on what they think I did to him. Either way, Jam will not get custody of his son unless Collene beats the child so bad she's taking him to a doctor. Let's face it. That won't happen. Absolutely no outcome will result in Alessandro being fine, right? Because if Jam takes some of the blame for this kidnapping and we can prove Alessandro was being abused, he's not gonna go to his dad, but end up in foster care, which is probably equally as bad as Collene having him,” she concluded, watching for the reaction of the lawyers.
“They never said anything about a death sentence,” Jam said the same moment Shannon reached out to grab her hand.
“Not many states have a death sentence for a case like yours. They'd most likely sympathize with you and reduce your sentence. We could always try to negotiate a deal or something,” she remarked, and Aly hugged herself, before starting to pace. This wasn't just bad; this was worse.
Jam felt frozen to the spot. No one had ever bothered to mention there was a chance they'd die over this. How had Aly known, though?
“I Googled,” she replied, and Jam realized he had obviously spoken out loud. “I needed to know what I was facing. I don't know. I guess I was hoping it said Blackmail the bitch and you'll get the kid back without problems,” she then admitted, and Jam finally got up to walk over to her. He needed to hold her, touch her, feel her. She evaded his arms, though, and it pissed him off. Didn't she understand they were in this together?
“This, of course, would only happen if there'd be a kidnapping case to begin with,” Mrs. Cleo suddenly interrupted the silence, and Aly spun around almost smashing into Jam.
“What?” she asked, and when he reached for her another time, she actually let him draw her close.
“Tell them, son,” Mrs. Cleo insisted, and Jam almost growled at the suspense.
“Well, let's say Jam had full custody of his son. Then he could take him wherever he wants, whenever he wants ... like, for example, to raise him with his girlfriend out of state. No one could press charges anyone for anything because it's totally legal for Aly to raise him then. Plus, maybe one day she could actually adopt him so he'd be legally hers if the real mother would be willing to give up her rights,” Lenard mentioned, looking at them as if it wasn't a big deal. Only it was.
“I don't have sole custody, and we just settled I won't get it, either,” Jam stated while Aly turned in his arm, hiding her face against his chest. She was giving up, and he was tempted to follow close behind, even though the lawyers seemed to look pretty confident.
“How? How in the world should that work?” Spence asked, throwing his hands up. Jam almost liked him then and there. Almost.
“Well, for that we would need leverage on the Karmisons,” Shannon whispered as if she feared someone would overhear them.
Jam raised a brow at that. “Leverage? That doesn't sound exactly legal.”
Lenard shook his head. “It doesn't even end there. We'd need a judge in this, too,” he allowed, and Jam felt how Aly took another deep breath against his chest.
“I'm pretty sure the leverage isn't the problem at all, but the judge would be,” Shannon whispered sadly, shaking her head. “That's the only flaw of the plan we developed now. We need to legalize Jamison's claim to Alessandro, and for that, I fear we'll have to go a not so legal way, but ...”
Aly suddenly jumped away from him. “What would the judge have to do?” she asked almost breathless.
“Sign a custody form that was backdated to when Alessandro was born. It basically means he would have to do something illegal, and we'd have to risk outing you to him. There's a good chance he’d have you arrested, after all,” Lenard explained.
“Especially if we consider that the Karmisons probably bought everyone who matters,” Shannon injected, and suddenly, Aly was laughing. It was crazy. Jam worried she had lost her mind fully now.
“Alessia,” he whispered, cupping her cheek. "Are you okay?"
“If I get the form, can you get the Karmisons to sign it?” she asked, her eyes bright as if she had caught a fever. It made him swallow.
“How?” Shannon interrupted, but Aly just spun around, holding a finger out.
“It's better if you know as little as possible. What would we need to have the document legal? Besides the judge's signature?” she wanted to know, her breath exhilarated.
Jam wished he could read her mind because she was just not making any sense.
“Well, the mother would have to sign in the presence of either said judge or a lawyer,” Shannon announced, and Aly clapped her hands together, laughing agai
n.
“There's hope, Jam! There's hope! You can get your boy back!” She was pinching his cheeks in a moment of total excitement, and he grabbed her wrists.
“Calm the fuck down, Aly,” he demanded, but she just shook her head, her dark waves flying excitedly from one side to the other.
“Get the dirt, Jamison Loane. We need to get our son back.”
Aly didn't want Jamison to go back, yet she knew he had to. He and Shannon had a flight booked late morning the next day, and it hurt her not to know what would happen next. She had a plan, and before she told everyone else, she wanted to make sure it worked. There was a judge she hoped would help her, but if, against everything she believed him to be, he turned her down, she didn't want to involve anyone else.
“I can feel you thinking, Alessia,” Jamison mumbled. She laughed as he combed his fingers through her curls.
“How am I supposed to stop when tomorrow you'll go back to Townsend while I have to stay here?” They had decided it wasn't worth taking the risk of the Karmisons having Aly prosecuted just because she couldn't stay away. “I'm not gonna see you, or Alessandro, for quite a while. I miss him so much, but right now, I'm trying to focus on taking it one day at a time. You being here helps, but …”
Jam grabbed her chin and made sure she met his eyes. “You’ll get him back,” he promised, and she rolled her eyes. She knew he didn’t deserve her doubt, especially since the hardest part was on her, but still, she just couldn’t help it. Jam actually sat up, almost looking hurt. “I mean what I say,” he insisted, and she sat up, too, hoping to soften the anger on his features.
“I don’t only want Alessandro back. I might have gotten greedy in the last weeks,” Aly admitted, and even though she had been sure it was obvious to Jam, he looked at her with a questioning expression.
