Preconception

by Aliyah Burke

  Declan knew she’d be pacing her office. Each step sharp and calculating. “The officer guarding him?”

  “Dead. They’re all dead. Jasmine is my last witness and I need her here. Yesterday.”

  “Get a forty-eight hour extension.”

  “Forty-eight? Are you kidding me?”

  “Do it, Jackie. We’ll be there and meet you in front of the courthouse but you have to buy us the time.”

  “Damn you, McBride. One, stop calling me Jackie, and two, why the hell weren’t you ever this passionate about your career when we were married?”

  “I was. My passion just didn’t need to come with a detective’s badge. I’ll be there in two days with her.”

  “So help me if you leave me hanging out to dry.” Her tone once again was ice cold.

  “I know all about how you are, Jackie. No need for threats.” He hung up and swore. They’d lost another brother.

  “What’s wrong?” Martin asked from behind him.

  “Time for us to leave.”

  “So soon?”

  He faced his old friend. “Yes, I’m afraid so. She has an appointment she can’t miss.”

  “Does she know Jimmy?”

  Declan struggled to hide his distaste at that name. “Why do you ask?”

  “He’s been to Atlanta a few times. Wasn’t sure if they knew one another.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a big city, Martin. Neighbors don’t always know one another.”

  “Sure thing. Just figured it was a possibility.”

  Declan would be lying if he didn’t think it was one now. No way, that’s just too much of a coincidence. Problem was, he didn’t believe in them. Most of the people who lived here had done so most of their lives or had moved from neighboring towns. Not having come from Atlanta.

  “I have to get going, Martin. Thanks for everything.”

  “You do what you have to. I’ll take care of your cabin.”

  The men shook hands and Declan gave him a smile. “Thanks, man.”

  “I know it’s none of my business, son, but I like her for you. Aside from this phone call you seem happy around her. She’s good for you.”

  “I’m just protecting her, Martin.”

  “Sure thing, son. Sure thing. You keep telling yourself that.” They walked to the door.

  She’s a drug addict and thief. “Bye, old man.”

  “See you around, youngster.”

  He waved over his shoulder as he jogged down the shoveled steps to his waiting Jeep. Declan didn’t waste time getting back to the cabin. He’d brought her here to keep her safe but having heard what he had, it had rattled him a bit. He needed to see she was okay for himself.

  The two bags of groceries in his hand, he strode from the Jeep to the door and pushed it open. Both bags slipped to the floor and spilled free. Seconds later he had his service weapon palmed and he searched through the cabin for her. A search that didn’t take long yet ended in a way he didn’t wish for it to. No sign of Jasmine.

  He grabbed his thicker jacket and stared past the overturned table. His rifle was gone from where it usually rested. On the floor were medical supplies, intermixed with broken shards of ceramic mug.

  Shit! He checked his ammunition and went to the porch. Two sets of prints led away from the cabin heading toward the woods. One he recognized as male and the other—more drag marks than anything. He bit off another oath and set out at a trot, weapon in hand.

  The first drop of brilliant red blood upon the pristine white snow was a knife to his heart. Farther on more dotted the crust that he continued to burst through with his progression. Declan picked up his speed.

  A cry pierced the air and he frowned as he broke into a run. It wasn’t a woman’s cry. He neared and burst into the open, weapon ready to fire.

  “Caro?”

  The woman in question stood over a prone body, a large thick branch in one hand. Caro faced him, yet he was sure she didn’t see him. Her left hand had been bandaged.

  “You ever cut me again, you dick sucker, and I’ll feed you that little swizzle stick in pieces.”

  Blatant. “Caro?” he tried again as he approached. Blood dripped down over her hand that held the branch.

  She looked up at him, hesitated for a few seconds before running to him and launching herself into his arms. Her body trembled and he didn’t want to release her. However, he did. He had to deal with this person before he could focus his attention on her.

  “Stay behind me.” His order was brisk and unemotional.

  Before he had even gotten to the man, he knew the identity of the one who lay there. Jimmy. He approached, weapon trained.

  “Jimmy.” He ensured there was no danger to him. Jimmy’s hands were out to his sides, so if there was a weapon the man lay upon it. “Jimmy.” Still nothing.

  Was he dead? Declan crouched beside him and checked for a pulse. It was there.

  “Jimmy.”

  The man stirred and groaned. Blood dribbled from the back of his head. Caro had cracked him a good one.

  “You filthy whoring bit—”

  Jimmy’s eyes widened as he stared up the barrel of Declan’s pistol.

  Declan shoved his Glock into the back of his waistband. “I warned you.” His voice trembled with the need for violence.

  From the panic in Jimmy’s gaze, Declan saw that he realized and understood said threat. “It’s not like I haven’t fucked her before.”

  Rage. There was no other word to describe the unending pulse that moved through him.

  Declan punched him in the jaw taking minute pleasure in noting how his head snapped to the side. He longed to do more. To feel the bones in Jimmy’s body shatter and break as he pummeled him. To be witness to the blood streaming from his body.

  He did nothing of the sort for he still had a job to do. Declan stole a glance at Caro. Jasmine. Her eyes sparked with anger and fear.

  “Let’s go.” He stood and hefted the unconscious Jimmy over his shoulder. “Leave the branch.”

  “I’ll keep it, thanks.”

  Declan was furious. At everything. How he’d missed her connection to Jimmy. The fact that another officer had died because of this case. That Jimmy had slept with Jasmine—a woman he was personally becoming way too serious about. The fact that she had never divulged to him her past with the man he now carried through the snow.

  No words were exchanged until they reached the cabin. He secured Jimmy and laid him on the couch.

  Had they had sex on his couch today while he’d been in town? New anger poured in.

  “Pack.”

  She didn’t speak and he turned only to pause. She looked like hell, standing in the kitchen among the broken mug and sticky residue from her drink. Her hands shook, and he walked toward her.

  “Are you okay?” Damn it, his voice was gruff.

  “Do I fucking look okay to you?”

  This was the Jasmine he remembered…and couldn’t stand.

  “You look like hell.” The devil in him stirred to life blowing on the simmering embers of the green-eyed monster within. “What made you decide to hit him? Lovers’ spat?”

  Crack!

  She caught him unawares and he felt the bite of her slap.

  “Bastard.” She was radiant in her fury.

  He stared at her bandaged hand then up to the now exposed cut on her arm. He narrowed his gaze. “What happened?”

  “This is your fault,” she snapped. “Because you didn’t want me in town with you. You left me alone and defenseless. He showed up here, without a vehicle, and forced his way in here. When I wouldn’t strip down for him and fuck him he flipped his shit. Don’t you dare ask me if we had a lovers’ spat.” Her voice shook and this time he knew it was from fear, not anger.

  “What happened to your hand and how did you get cut?” Declan had to focus on her or he’d go back and put another fist in Jimmy’s face.

  “I burned my hand. Was bandaging it up when that fuck showed up.”

 
“But you knew him.”

  “What? You wanted me to say something about it before his wife when we had dinner together? Would that have been better for you?”

  Grudgingly he saw her point. “Could still have mentioned it after the fact. We have to get going. They need you at the courthouse.” He frowned when the clock on his coffee maker went dark. The hum from the refrigerator also fell silent. “We need to go now.”

  He grabbed her uninjured arm and pulled her to the back. “Pack some things quick.” He shoved her in that direction and as she went, he used his foot to nudge the man on his couch. Jimmy stirred and looked up at him, furious.

  “Where’s my rifle?” Declan attuned to every noise and waited for her to return.

  “Fuck you,” Jimmy spat at him.

  “You know you’re a pig. But cutting her and kidnapping her, you’ll pay for that.”

  “She was mine long before she was ever yours, Declan. Remember that every time you want to put your dick into her. Mine was there first. I was even with her when she got the heart tattoo on her ass. I used to pull out of her and cover it with my cum. Just like her back and sometimes her face. Marking my territory. You can call her Caro all you want but she was mine first. And you’ll never be able to forget that. We even fucked on your bed. She screamed my name to the roof as I pounded her.”

  “Who did you call?”

  Caro walked into the room, a small bag in hand.

  “Jimmy! Who did you call?”

  “Just someone who contacted me and asked if I’d seen her.”

  “When did you call?” The man shook his head. “When?”

  “Yesterday. They said they weren’t going to hurt her, just wanted to ask her a question or two.”

  “They don’t want to hurt her, they want to kill her.” Declan punched him then cut his ties before beckoning to Caro. “Let’s go. We have to get out of here.”

  “What about him?”

  He ignored his jealousy. “I’ll let Martin know he’s here. Or he can leave when he comes to.” He grabbed what he needed—it took him barely a minute—and they were running across the snow to the shed when the first shots rang out.

  Declan rammed through the door with his Jeep as they took off down his drive. “Keep your head down!”

  She didn’t argue, just crouched low and did her best not to get in his way as they slipped and slid over the snowy ground.

  He drifted onto the road before shifting and gunning the engine. Steering with one hand, he used his other to grab his phone. After placing a swift call to Martin he dropped the phone on the seat by her and concentrated on getting them away alive. Bullets thudded into his vehicle side and windows as they raced away.

  Declan knew he had to get to the plane but figured that route was blocked right now, so he had to get somewhere else first then go there. Whipping off onto an old logging road, he got them up to the small shack that was there. Not much to look at but it would give him what he needed for the moment. Time.

  He hid the Jeep as best he could and led a still silent woman inside. The place had no heat and he watched her shiver.

  “You okay?” He stared at her.

  “Not hit if that’s what you’re asking.”

  He hated the quiver in her voice and wanted to take it away. Still, he couldn’t let Jimmy’s words go from his head. “Did you fuck him in my house?”

  Chapter Eight

  Caro blinked a few times and stared at the man standing before her looking like he wanted to spit nails. Surely he wasn’t seriously asking her that. Not when she’d just been dragged from his cabin, cut, shot at and was currently standing in a cold ass rickety building she wasn’t sure would hold up against the next strong wind. Her mouth moved but no words came out.

  “Answer me.” Declan’s tone brooked no room for argument.

  She was grateful she’d taken the time to slap some bandages on her arm before leaving the cabin for he sure didn’t appear to be concerned about her.

  “Really? That’s what you want to know? Not about how the hell we get those shooting at us off our ass? You want to know if I fucked him in your house.”

  “In my bed?”

  She wanted to snap back at him, truly she did, but she kept it contained behind her teeth—seriously clenched teeth. When Jimmy had first shown up she’d thought he had been lying through his teeth. She had discovered he hadn’t been—apparently her twin truly had screwed this man.

  I could end this right now by telling him the truth. There was no reason to do so. They were on their way back now so—God willing—once they made it there safely, she’d trade places back with her twin and could get on with her own life.

  “Well?”

  “No,” she answered truthfully. “I did no such thing.”

  “He said you did.”

  “If you were going to believe him anyway then why ask me in the first place? Just get me back to Atlanta so I don’t have to look at you again.” She rubbed her arms and wished for a sweatshirt beneath her coat.

  “They’ll be coming after us here. We’ll wait until they do then take their vehicle—we have a better chance of making it to the airstrip if they think we’re one of them.”

  Them. Who the fuck is them? She couldn’t push that question free—supposedly she knew who was after her.

  “Fine.” She gazed around and found a chair, which she sat in.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about you and Jimmy?” He paced back and forth, occasionally checking the window.

  Because I didn’t know. “We all have secrets. Why didn’t you tell me you’d been married before?”

  He froze and whirled toward her. “Who told you that?”

  “Doesn’t matter. You didn’t tell me.”

  “My life isn’t up for debate. My past is my past.”

  She crossed her arms and held his intimidating stare. “So is mine.”

  “You slept with Jimmy.”

  She hid her shudder. As if that would ever happen. “I also did drugs according to the file you have on me, so why don’t we chalk it up to my making stupid asinine decisions and let it go.”

  “You didn’t touch him?”

  “I can’t say that.”

  His gaze narrowed and for a moment she allowed herself to believe he was jealous.

  “Why not?”

  “You saw me standing over him with a branch. I touched him all right. Hit the bastard, that’s touching.” She held up a hand to ward off what she knew was coming next. “No I didn’t sleep with him while you were gone. I didn’t want to let him in your cabin but he shoved his way in.” She swallowed. “For a while I kept him on the other side of the table talking then he got bored with that and…” Nope, she didn’t want to go through it again. He had seen the mess in his place. “I already told you this.”

  “Are you okay?” Declan’s tone was softer this time and she wanted to have him hold her but refrained from any kind of movement.

  “Fine.”

  “Good. Get under that table and don’t come out until I tell you it’s okay to do so.”

  He chambered a round in his pistol, and she followed his order immediately. Faintly, she could make out the sound of an engine. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed for this to be over.

  I’m never leaving Wisconsin again. Stuff doesn’t happen to me there. I’ll work and I’ll go home. That’s it. Nothing more.

  Doors slammed and she jerked once the shooting started. Bullets thudded into the floor around her. Glass shattered above and wood splintered as the walls barely slowed the projectiles as they cut through. Making herself as small as possible, she bit her lower lip and did her best not to scream aloud in fear.

  The sounds of fists hitting flesh reached her. It seemed it fell silent as swiftly as it had begun. She remained crouched beneath the metal desk, ducked as far into the corner of it as she could. Behind the side of drawers. Solitary footsteps neared and she burrowed her head against her knees, continuing to keep her eyes scrunched.
/>   “Come on out, Caro.”

  Declan’s voice sent a rush of relief through her. Unfortunately, her limbs wouldn’t move. She’d wedged herself in there so tight and had sat so tense, now they weren’t cooperating.

  “Caro?”

  “I can’t move.”

  A few seconds then his face filled the opening as he stared in at her. Those amazing eyes of his held concern. He offered her his hand and she shakily took it, allowing him to tug her free. Once out, her legs still didn’t want to cooperate and she reached for the desktop to keep from falling only she didn’t quite reach it.

  Declan, however, was there. He smelled faintly of gunpowder, sweat and man. She didn’t even pretend she didn’t need his strength right then. Just held onto him and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped both arms around her and held on.

  “You’ll be fine, Caro, but we have to move.”

  She may have imagined the brush of his firm lips along her ear but she had no intentions of letting that go. He didn’t let her pull completely away from him.

  “No need to stare at this all,” he whispered as he led her through the room and out into the cold.

  She didn’t argue and trusted him to guide her to where they had to go. The strong beat of his heart soothed her. When he opened a door and helped her up into the passenger seat, she opened her eyes and looked around. Christ, it looks like a movie. All the bodies lying on the ground, their blood mixing with the snow, churned her stomach. She averted her gaze and stared out over the hood of the blue and white older SUV.

  It roared to life and she groaned with relief as heat pumped through the vents. Holding her hands over the nearest one, she sniffed as Declan shifted the vehicle into gear and backed up, turned around and got them back on the road.

  Darkness covered them swiftly and she tried not to cry. This day had just been a bit much for her. No, she didn’t need coddling but she wouldn’t say no to a nice warm shower and bed. Perhaps some nice comfort food as well.

  “Fuck!”

  Declan’s single word had her tensing all over again. What was going on? She hadn’t a clue.

  “This guy really wants you dead.”

  Great. She kept her mouth firmly shut, well aware if it opened, she’d puke all over the interior.