Burned

by Gabrielle Gibson

  Jack had been in California for the past couple of weeks on a runaway teenager case, while Jessie handled the less exciting cases back in the office. Right before he’d left they’d had that argument about her marrying Scott.

  Russell was out of the office, recovering from back surgery, or else Jessie probably would have accompanied Jack to L.A. They had been working mostly separate cases these days and that was probably for the best.

  Jack grinned at her. “Awesome.”

  She knew that he loved her potato salad. She watched him load a huge amount onto his plate and then sit down on the other side of Nick, who was already eating.

  Jessie finished her lunch and then stood up, reaching down to pick up Scott’s empty plate.

  “Want to go for a walk?” Jessie asked, smiling at him as she put their empty plates in a trash bag.

  She felt grateful that Scott was so much less complicated than Jack. She didn’t have to twist herself inside out trying to figure out what he was thinking all of the time.

  “Sure,” Scott stood and grasped her hand.

  They disappeared hand-in-hand together away from the campsite, down a path into the woods. Jack watched them until they were gone from his view. Watching Jessie with Scott was fucking torture.

  “You talk to Sean?” Chris asked.

  Jack smirked. “Yeah. Told him again that he did the right thing. We all knew he shouldn’t marry Vanessa. That little cunt would have made his life hell.”

  Sean had shown up ten minutes before his wedding was supposed to start and told Vanessa that he couldn’t marry her after all. She had been furious, freaking out and angrily calling him every name in the book.

  Chris chuckled. “Yeah, he dodged a bullet there, for sure. He could have found a less dramatic way of ending it, though.”

  Chris had been the one to have to make the announcement to the five hundred guests in the huge church that Sean and Vanessa’s wedding had been cancelled.

  “Everything alright with you?” Chris asked.

  “Yeah, man. Why wouldn’t it be?” Jack finished eating the last of the food on his plate.

  Chris shrugged and glanced in the direction that Jessie and Scott had just taken into the woods.

  “I don’t know. I figure it’s probably not easy for you to see them together.”

  “Nah, man, I’m happy for them. He’s perfect for her, I guess. That’s what she tells me anyway. They can go for fucking walks and get married and have babies and picnics and go shopping or whatever the fuck it is that normal people do.”

  “And what about you, Jack? What are you going to do?” Chris asked, shaking his head.

  “Me? I’m going to get back in the game. I’m going to get fucking wasted and get a piece of that hot little brunette over there. That’s what I’m going to do. Did you see the fucking tits on her?”

  “Go for it, brother. If that’s what makes you happy.” Chris chuckled and slapped him on the back.

  “Happy?” Jack asked, smirking. “What the fuck does happy have to do with anything? Happy is for pussies. I just want to get drunk and get my dick sucked by some hot little toy. That’s good enough for me, dude. That’s always been good enough.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  CHRIS WATCHED JACK POUR A shot of tequila, throw it back and then pour another.

  “You okay?” It was almost time to leave for the church.

  Sarah, Beth and Kennedy had spent the night at Jessie’s parents’ house, since they were all in the wedding. Sarah was a bridesmaid and Kennedy and Beth were both going to be flower girls.

  Jack nodded, knocking back the second shot and then twisting the top back on the bottle.

  “A little early in the day for that, even for you,” Chris commented.

  Jack ignored him. He needed a few shots to take the edge off if he was going to get through today.

  Shouldn’t be this hard to think about watching Jessie marry Scott. They had settled everything between them and this was for the best. It was what he wanted. He certainly would never marry her. He would never give her those babies she wanted. Moving on with Scott was the best thing for her.

  There was no reason it should make him feel like drinking himself into oblivion.

  Except that it did.

  “You sure you want to go? I can look after Kennedy if you want to blow it off,” Chris offered.

  Jack shook his head. “No. I have to go. Jessie made me promise I’d be there.”

  Chris hesitated. “Are you in love with her?”

  Jack glanced at him sharply and looked away quickly without answering. He reached for the bottle of tequila, opened it and poured himself another shot.

  “Well?” Chris didn’t let it go.

  Jack shrugged. “What difference does it make? We both know she’s better off with him.”

  “We need to get going,” Chris said, standing up.

  “Yeah,” said Jack, heading for the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

  JACK WATCHED KENNEDY FIDGETING A little in the front of the church as the priest began to speak. Zoey placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to still her.

  “Jessie and Scott, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives? Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”

  “We will,” they said in unison.

  Next they exchanged vows. Jessie’s sweet voice pierced through him as she promised herself to someone else.

  “I, Jessica Ann Sparks, take you, Joseph Scott Campbell, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

  Jack tuned out briefly, memories of Jessie and the many times they had spent together flooding his heart, which was pounding furiously inside his chest.

  The passion of their first kiss.

  Jessie’s arms wrapped around Kennedy in the hospital bed the night he found out she was his daughter.

  The times they spent together with his daughter as he learned how to be a father… snuggling on the couch together watching movies, playing on the beach, making dinner, taking Kennedy to dance class.

  Baseball games and football Sundays.

  That could have been his life with her if only he had been a different kind of man. Scott would get to share that life with her now.

  Making love to her for the first time that night in Las Vegas.

  How beautiful she had been, so innocent and open to him, eager to please him and experience the passion that existed between them that he had never felt with anyone else.

  The devastated look on her face when she had found him in his hotel room the next night with someone else.

  The day she forgave him and they became friends again.

  Wow. It was really over.

  His attention returned to the ceremony and the priest right before they exchanged rings.

  “What God has joined, men must not divide.” The priest’s voice carried throughout the church.

  “Amen,” The congregation responded.

  “Lord, bless these rings which we bless in your name. Grant that those who wear them may always have a deep faith in each other. May they do your will and always live together in peace, good will, and love. We ask this through Christ our Lord.”

  “Amen.”

  Scott placed the ring on Jessie’s finger and said the words first. Then it was Jessie’s turn.

  “Scott, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

  “YOU HAVE TO DANCE WITH me, Jack… just once. It’s my wedding day. You can’t say no,” Jessie teased him.

  He smiled and took her hand, giving in. She was so beautiful it hurt his heart to look at her.

  She looked up at him, radiant and glowing with happiness.

 
; “It’ll be your turn to do this one day, Jack,” she said lightly.

  He laughed and shook his head.

  “No way. I’ll never get married.”

  Jessie smiled softly at him.

  “Sure you will. You just haven’t met the right girl yet.”

  Yes, I have. And I let her go.

  The words pounded inside of his head.

  Jack swallowed, looking into the sparkly blue eyes that had almost changed him into the kind of man who fell in love and wanted to get married and have a family.

  Almost.

  “You’ll meet someone special one day and she’ll change your mind,” Jessie predicted, pressing her hand against his cheek.

  She still loved him so much. Maybe she always would. But she had accepted that he didn’t love her and she had moved on.

  She felt good about her decision. Marrying Scott felt right. She was happy.

  She hoped Jack would be happy too.

  “JACK,” SARAH CAME UP BEHIND him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  He turned around, Kennedy in his arms. Sarah held Beth’s hand.

  “Hey,” he avoided his sister’s eyes.

  Kennedy laid her head down on his shoulder and snuggled against him. It had been a long day and she was getting tired and grouchy.

  “Looks like someone’s all done.” Sarah smiled.

  Her brother looked tired, too.

  “Yeah, I guess. Hey, you mind keeping her for me tonight?”

  Sarah looked at him sympathetically. “Of course I will. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Jack sounded irritated. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?” Sarah asked as Jack set Kennedy down.

  She clung to him, whining. “No, Daddy, hold me.”

  He untangled his little girl’s arms from around his neck.

  “Like you think I’m upset. I’m fine.” He glared at his sister. “Come on, angel, you’re going to go stay with Aunt Sarah tonight.”

  He needed to get wasted and laid tonight, in that order. He had already made arrangements to meet up with Angie, assuming his sister would say yes to keeping Kennedy, as she almost always did.

  “Are you sure?” Sarah asked, her hand on his arm.

  She knew her brother and she could tell he was wrecked. He would never admit it to her, though.

  He nodded.

  “What are you doing tonight?” Sarah asked.

  He stared at her without answering and then averted his eyes.

  She nodded and sighed. He didn’t need to say it. She knew her brother thought he needed to lose himself in two things tonight. A bottle and a woman.

  She leaned in to give him a quick hug. “Call me in the morning.”

  JACK FORCED HIMSELF TO SHAKE hands with Scott on his way out. “You’re a lucky man. Take good care of her,” Jack said simply.

  Scott smirked and nodded. “Count on it.”

  He stopped in front of Jessie, afraid to look at her too long lest his eyes give him away.

  “Congratulations, princess.”

  He leaned forward to briefly kiss her cheek before turning and quickly walking away.

  Zoey caught up to him in the parking lot before he reached his Jeep.

  “What’s up, Zoey?”

  “I just wanted to see if you’re… okay.” Zoey looked at him apprehensively.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Jack asked, looking away.

  Zoey shrugged. “Look, Jack, I know we’ve had our differences. I also know that in your own very strange way, you care about her.”

  He looked at her, his face indifferent, saying nothing.

  “You did the right thing, you know. Letting her go. I know her, Jack. The life she’ll have with Scott is the one that will make her happy. Thanks for caring enough about her to do the right thing.”

  Jack gazed at her for a moment and nodded slightly before continuing on his way.

  JACK KISSED ANGIE, HARD, WHILE his hands ripped at her clothes. She responded eagerly to him, helping him take off his shirt.

  “Rough day?” Her voice was husky as he bent his head to suck her nipples, first one and then the other. He shoved her jeans down her long legs as he backed her against the wall of her bedroom.

  He ignored her question and angrily ripped her panties down with one hand as he fumbled with the button and zipper of his pants with the other. He had one goal in mind and that was to drive his cock into her as hard as he fucking could.

  “You said you had a wedding to go to today. Who got married?” Angie asked as Jack rolled a condom on.

  He sighed, frustrated.

  Why the fuck was she talking so much? He had come over here for some pussy and to not think about the fact that the only girl he had ever given a shit about had married some other guy today.

  He kissed her, hoping to shut her up. She pulled away.

  “Did you hear me? Who got married?”

  Jack plunged his cock inside of her as he answered. “Jessie,” he panted as he thrust into her against the wall.

  She gasped and moaned. “You’ve really got it bad for her, don’t you?”

  “Please shut the fuck up,” Jack sighed.

  To his relief, she did. He grunted with each thrust as he fucked her against the wall, clamping his mouth down her shoulder.

  He moved her to the bed and pushed her onto her knees. Then he fucked her from behind, pounding mercilessly into her over and over again, his fingers circling her clit until she came loudly, screaming his name.

  He slapped her ass over and over as he continued to fuck her, trying to relieve his frustration with her willing body. He grunted and groaned loudly when he came, pushing her down roughly on the bed as he filled the condom.

  He flopped beside her on his back, his chest heaving up and down as he enjoyed the moment of euphoria that provided temporary refuge from thinking about Jessie and wondering if letting her go had been the biggest fuck-up of his life.

  Too soon the moment passed and she was on his mind again.

  She was probably letting Scott make love to her right now. Scott’s dick was probably buried inside that sweet golden pussy at this very moment and he was likely kissing those candy lips.

  Of course he knew that Jessie had been sleeping with Scott for a while now, and he tried like hell not to think about it. But tonight was her wedding night. There was no doubt it was happening, probably right at this moment.

  She was probably smiling as Scott droned on and on about his fucking feelings. He was probably saying all the right things as he enjoyed that sweet body. He probably told her that he loved her, and said all the words a girl like Jessie wanted to hear.

  Words that Jack wouldn’t be able to sputter out even if he had a gun to his fucking head. He had always secretly thought that Scott was kind of a pussy, but he was the one with Jessie tonight. So really, which one of them was the pussy?

  Jack sat up and made his way to the bathroom to throw away the condom and then returned, lying back down on the bed.

  “Wow. That was so fucking good,” Angie remarked as she stretched her long, lean body out beside him.

  He glanced down at her. Her breasts were nice… smaller than Jessie’s, with larger, darker nipples. Jessie’s were perfect… the standard by which he would likely compare all others moving forward.

  Angie had a small triangle of dark pubic hair between her legs, trimmed short. His dick started to get hard again already as he eyed her pussy. Nothing could compare with Jessie’s soft, perfect sweetness, with her barely-there strip of silky blonde curls and the softest skin he had ever touched, but Angie’s was a nice distraction. In fact, the complete opposite of Jessie was just what he needed right now.

  He rolled on his side and started rubbing his fingers over the swollen lips of her cunt.

  “If it makes you feel any better, my friend Kelly is on her way over.”

  “Yeah?” Jack felt his dick swell harder. Finally, something that might distract him long enoug
h to stop thinking about Jessie. “What’s she like?”

  “Don’t worry… you’ll like her a lot.”

  Jack had no doubt that he would.

  A half an hour later he sat on the end of the bed enjoying a close up view of some hot girl-on-girl action. They were both moaning and panting, and Jack stared, mesmerized, as they went wild on each other.

  Soon they were both begging to be fucked. He rolled a condom on and got started, joining in the fun.

  Finally, Jack had what he wanted.

  Jessie was finally off his mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO do today?” Scott asked, as Jessie sat on the balcony of their hotel room overlooking Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

  They had two more days left of their three-week trip to Europe. This honeymoon had been a gift from her parents. They had spent a week in France, a week in Italy, and this final week they had been in Spain.

  They had done so much sightseeing. Scott had itineraries planned out for each day, leaving a day or two open each week for relaxing or spontaneous adventures.

  Jessie sighed. If he was a different guy she might have said she wanted to stay in bed and make love all day. But this was Scott, who had very little interest in sex. In fact, aside from the obligatory consummation on their wedding night, they had only made love one other time during their entire honeymoon.

  Jessie had worn silky, sexy, baby doll nighties to bed each night with high hopes, but Scott either didn’t notice her at all or he patted the bed next to him, inviting her to snuggle in and watch a movie.

  Last week in Italy, after a romantic, candlelight dinner, Jessie had made a move. Scott had responded at first, but after a couple of minutes of intercourse he had lost his erection.

  Jessie had insisted he let her try playing with his cock, but despite her best efforts, nothing was happening. Jessie felt completely inadequate, rolling his soft cock around in her hand. He refused to let her try sucking it. In fact, he’d gotten angry when she suggested it.

  Then she had felt guilty for remembering Jack’s huge, hard-as-steel erection and how good it had felt when he stuffed it in inside of her, making her moan with pleasure. The way his tongue had lapped at her pussy, the dirty words he had whispered that made her body come alive. She had locked herself in the bathroom hours after Scott had fallen asleep and rubbed her clit until she came, missing Jack so badly it made her chest ache.