Lance, page 27
Hopefully I’ll see you soon!
xoxo,
Janice
Also By Janice M. Whiteaker
The BIG Series
Think you know the truth about the legend of Bigfoot?
You don’t.
Hagen
Magni
Lance
Jerrik
BIG Holiday
Joel
The Lost Boys MC Series
Tracking Numbers
Hawk Wild (Coming Soon)
Sinners or Saints Series
Out Bad (Coming Soon)
Sneak peek at book 4, Jerrik.
1
Spirit’s house was quiet as Jerrik pulled up in front of the tiny shack stuck into the side of the mountain. He slid out of his cruiser and scanned the thick wall of trees surrounding the tiny scrap of yard at the front of the building, listening for anything out of place.
It was silent. Not a thing that should make him think anything sinister was happening.
But it was. Jerrik felt it. Somewhere the bastards who tried to take his niece were lying low, waiting to make their next move.
And there was no way to know what it would be. When it would happen.
It was why he was here every damn morning knocking on her door.
Because she couldn’t fucking keep staying up here like this.
Jerrik flipped the toothpick in his mouth end over end, pinching it tight between his teeth before sucking in a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes to focus as the beast tried to push his way to the surface. It was a battle he never expected to fight and he was doing his best not to lose.
But still usually came up short.
Especially around her.
Jerrik gave the woods one last glare before turning his attention to Spirit’s home. It was silent. Still. None of the soft vibrations that floated through the air around him when she was close. The beast simmering under his skin paced. Why couldn’t he feel her?
His eyes snapped to her car, parked beside his cruiser. She had to be here.
Unless.
Jerrik spit out the toothpick as he hurried up the worn path leading to the tiny porch. He pounded on the heavy door, senses pricking, praying the soothing feel of her would come before he lost the stranglehold he had on the beast.
And kicked down the door.
But the soft, sweet feel of Spirit never came.
Instead, a tornado of high-strung intensity whipped across his senses, making Jerrik take a step back. The door jerked open and Spirit jumped through the narrow opening onto the small bit of the porch he didn’t already take up, slamming the door shut behind her.
She was breathing hard and her hair was mussed, the pale blonde strands wild around her perfectly angelic face.
The beast he’d always allowed to prowl just below the surface took notice of her rumpled clothes and flushed cheeks.
It wasn’t happy.
And neither was he.
“What were you doing?” Jerrik tried not to imagine what might have been happening on the other side of that door.
He didn’t have to imagine.
He could know what was there.
Who was there.
All it would take was giving the beast the freedom he wanted. The freedom he’d always been allowed. But that was a risky move when Spirit was so close. And Jerrik wasn’t willing to chance it.
“Sleeping. I worked late at the bar last night, remember?” Spirit’s eyes narrowed at him. “Why are you here?”
“Because I want to be here.” The beast pushed back and Jerrik couldn’t stop himself from listening for anyone moving inside. It was an invasion of her privacy but his willpower was already wearing thin.
And he’d only been here three minutes. “It’s my job to make sure everyone in town in okay.”
Spirit’s nostrils flared. “And like I told you last night, I am not your responsibility.”
“Everyone is my responsibility.” Jerrik leaned against the narrow railing surrounding the porch and pulled out his silver toothpick container, trying to look more relaxed than he felt with the war raging inside him. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
Spirit threw up her hands. “I don’t even know what to say to you anymore.” She managed a few steps to the other side of the porch before turning around to face him and pacing back his way. “You are making me shitting crazy.”
Jerrik looked up from the stack of picks in his hand. “What did you just say?”
Spirit stepped right in front of him, her head tipped almost all the way back so she could look at him, the fire in her green eyes helping build the beast’s case against him. “I said you’re making me crazy.”
“That’s not what you said.” Jerrik straightened, pushing off the rail to his full height, forcing her to tip her head back even more to keep that doe-eyed glare on him. “I want to hear exactly what you said.”
Jerrik could swear Spirit said a word he’d never heard pass through those sweet lips before. Not in all the years he’d known her.
And he wanted to hear it again.
“I said you’re making me shitting crazy.” She dragged the words out, putting an extreme amount of emphasis on the one she omitted the second time, making his beast stand up and take notice.
Jerrik shoved the beast down, something he wasn’t very practiced at doing. Not until recently anyway.
When the beast decided this was the woman he wanted.
This perfect, sweet, innocent, naive woman.
A woman who would never in a million years be able to handle a man like him. And shouldn’t ever be asked to.
But that didn’t mean Jerrik couldn’t still do right by her. Keep Spirit safe. Protect her in the way she deserved.
That’s why he was here now. Torturing himself. Fighting the beast.
For her.
Jerrik forced his gaze off the eyes glaring at him in the most fucking enticing way. “I’m not trying to make you crazy. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
Spirit snorted. “Yeah. I know.” She spun away from him. “And you can stop now. I am fine. I have always been fine and will continue to be fine.” She stopped at the door and turned back to face him. “Please, stop coming here.”
“No.” It was the same answer Jerrik gave her last night when Spirit tried to convince him to end his daily visits to her porch, and it was what he would keep telling her. No way was he leaving her up here to fend for herself.
Especially not after what happened with Lance and Vanessa less than a quarter mile down the hill.
“Why can’t you just move into one of the houses in town?” Lance eyed the tiny front elevation of Spirit’s house. “Is it money? Because I can help you.”
“Why in the world would you do that? And no, it’s not money. I am just fine thank you.” She rolled her eyes. “This is ridiculous.” Spirit’s hand was on the knob.
Why was she being so difficult? All he wanted was to be sure she was safe, and Spirit was acting like he was a fly circling her lunch and would leave her alone if she swatted him enough times.
It wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t giving up until she was safe.
And he also wasn’t leaving just yet. “Then let me make sure your place is safe.” Jerrik stepped in close behind her, closer than he should if he knew what was good for him.
The soft scent of lavender that perfectly suited how gentle and sweet Spirit was floated around him. Jerrik breathed it in, a guilty pleasure he shouldn’t be partaking in.
But he’d been doing a lot of that lately too.
Like coming here, pretending it was just for her. That all he wanted was to keep her safe from a danger she didn’t know existed.
“Spirit?”
She didn’t move. Hadn’t since he stepped close behind her. Her tiny body was perfectly still. Frozen. “What.”
Was her voice breathy?
“Look at me.”
Her pale blonde hair swayed as she shook her head. “I don’t want to.”
“Why not?” Jerrik braced his hands on either side of the door. “I want you to look at me.”
Spirit’s delicate shoulders straightened. She spun fast and hard to face him. They were so close. Too close. He should step back. Give her some space. Get her away from the beast.
Instead he inched forward.
“What do you want from me Jerrik?” Spirit tipped her chin up and stared right at him. “I have shit to do. I’m tired and I have to work at the bar again tonight.”
Twice. She said that word twice now.
“Do you like living up here all alone Spirit?”
“Yes.” The word was clipped and short.
And a lie.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. I can’t leave.” She swallowed as her eyes skimmed down his front. Spirit pressed her back tighter against the door.
“Can’t leave or won’t leave?” Jerrik inched closer.
He should do what Spirit claimed she couldn’t and leave.
But he wouldn’t. Not just yet.
Not when her big green eyes were fixed on his mouth like they were. Not when her cheeks were flushed with a perfect peachy pink that was only getting deeper by the second.
And certainly not when Spirit was pulling her lower lip between her teeth and sinking them into the plump bit of flesh he’d imagined tasting a thousand times.
Her lip slid free, making Jerrik want to replace her teeth with his.
“Does it matter?”
Jerrik held back a sigh as Spirit’s question sank in, digging up the truth he always found himself trying to avoid when he was with her. He dropped his arms and took a step back. “Everything matters.”
Spirit blinked up at him, her eyes narrowing more with every step he took away from her. “Whatever. I have things to do.”
“Spirit wait—”
She slipped back inside and slammed the door in his face, locking the deadbolt.
Jerrik let his head fall back.
Shit.
All he wanted was to get her off this fucking Godforsaken mountain until all the shit going on up here was over.
But it wasn’t. And that was on him. He’d lost whatever it was that made him good at this job and it was putting everyone in town in danger, including Spirit. That’s why he had to get it together and end this. All of it.
Then Spirit could go back to her life, however she wanted to live it, and Jerrik could go back to his.
Pretending he hadn’t wanted his sister’s best friend since he was five.
Pretending he hadn’t tried like hell to find another woman who was half what she was. One that could handle a man like him.
Pretending he could keep trying.
Jerrik dropped his head down to her front door.
Why was he doing this to himself? Why couldn’t he find his way back to the place where he knew what he was?
And what she was.
The place where he knew they would never be together.
Should never be together.
Because Spirit was an angel.
And he was a beast.
And now he was still standing on her porch, wishing she’d come back out. Just for a few seconds longer.
Because he was also a glutton for punishment.
Jerrik shoved one hand in the pocket of his grey work slacks and fished back out his toothpick case, stabbing one between his teeth as he walked down the steps to the cruiser. He had to get a fucking grip somehow. On his life. On his job. On his dick.
And most importantly, on his fucking beast.
He backed out of Spirit’s tiny gravel drive and pulled onto the unmarked pavement. The road that ran past her house circled around, climbing higher before angling back down to intersect with itself. Jerrik drove slow along the worn path, forcing himself to finish the loop, checking the rest of the mountain that he could reach by car even though it was the last thing he wanted to do right now.
Which was part of the problem. It all felt useless. He felt useless.
Incompetent.
Incapable.
A failure at the thing he used to be most proud of.
The steering wheel creaked under his strangling grip. Jerrik took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax, fighting to calm the anger that didn’t used to be so quick to bubble up. Forcing his attention back where it should be.
Keeping his town safe.
There was only one house after Spirit’s, sitting just beyond the bend as the road angled back down toward town. Jerrik pulled to a stop at the end of the long, gated driveway and rolled down his window.
The house was barely visible from the road and just like always, the metal gate was shut and locked. At some point he figured he’d run into the owners either coming or going, but never did. Jerrik still checked in on the place every day anyway. Just in case.
Because it was his job.
Just like finding those bastards who took Lance and Vanessa was his job. And a hell of a job he was doing there. He’d gone over that cabin a hundred times looking for something, anything to give him any idea who they were. Why they were doing what they were. Where they came from. Where they went. There was nothing.
Jerrik climbed out of his car and stood at the gate, trying to get a peek through the trees at the newer-looking house tucked against the mountain side. It was strange he’d never heard about the house being built. The LLC and P.O. box listed on the tax records didn’t give him any clues either.
There wasn’t much he missed around here. Until recently anyway.
He needed to find a way to get closer. Check the place out. Make sure it wasn’t the perfect place for two sons of bitches to hide out right under his nose. Maybe tonight he would let the beast out to run. See what he could find.
Jerrik gave the house one last look through the filter of the trees and climbed back into his car to finish his loop around the mountain. When the road met back up with itself he forced the car to the right instead of left toward the tiny house stuck into the mountain.
Spirit was fine.
She made that very clear.
But Spirit didn’t know what was going on, he was fairly sure of that. If she did, no way would she still be stubborn enough to stay up here alone.
Hell.
She would. Probably just to spite him at this point.
But maybe if Spirit knew what was happening at least she might be more careful. Take more precautions. Not that he imagined she was running around the woods alone at night, but at least she might install an extra deadbolt.
Jerrik turned into Magni’s driveway, tires crunching over the gravel as he parked beside his uncle’s truck. Before he could get all the way out of the car Magni was on the porch.
Grinning.
“How’s Spirit this morning?”
“Fuck you.” Jerrik slammed the door shut.
“That good?” Magni sipped at the cup in his hand. Probably filled with the liquid tar he pretended was coffee.
Jerrik ignored him. He wasn’t here to talk about Spirit. Not directly anyway. “Anything going on?”
Magni’s mood sobered immediately. “No.”
As bad as what happened was – the animals, Lance and Vanessa’s kidnapping – what was going on now was worse.
Nothing.
Not a fucking thing. And it was making him crazy.
Jerrik stopped at the base of the steps and squinted up at his uncle. “Has Christine said anything that might help us?”
It was a risky question to ask, but could be worth it. Especially if it didn’t land Magni’s fist against his jaw.
Magni shook his head. “All she said was faith has to be built before it can be tested.”
Jerrik gritted his teeth to keep from saying something that would land him on the wrong side of this conversation. Christine was touchy territory when it came to Magni. His uncle would protect that woman from anything, at any cost.
But the fucking riddles she spoke in were enough to drive a man insane.
Like it did Hagen.
While it worked out for his brother, Jerrik didn’t see this going the same way.
Not even close.
“We just have to wait.” Magni dropped his feet down a couple of steps and sat on the porch. “It’s all we can do. Wait. Watch and hope like hell it’s over.”
“How could it be over?” Jerrik’s tone was short but he couldn’t help it. He was fucking frustrated. Frustrated there wasn’t a scrap of evidence to give him the first clue who these bastards were. Frustrated he couldn’t protect the people he loved the most when they needed it.
Frustrated he couldn’t be the kind of man Spirit could want.
Could handle.
“Maybe Kari scared the shit out of them and they moved on.” Magni set his cup on the porch beside him. “Decided this wasn’t the kind of place to be sneaking around the woods at night doing dumbfuckery.”
Jerrik couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They fucking kidnapped Vanessa and Lance because they were pissed. How could you think for a second they would just walk away after being willing to do something like that to get their point across?”
Magni straightened. “What is it you think their point is? Crazy people are just that, crazy.”
Jerrik shook his head. Magni didn’t get it. No one fucking got it. “They aren’t crazy.”
Magni snorted. “What in the fuck do you call someone doing the shit they are then?”
“Psychopaths.”
These people were so much more than crazy. They were smart. They were careful. They were calculating.
They were doing this for a reason.
If Jerrik could find the reason, then he could find them.
Magni sat back down. “Same difference.”
But it wasn’t. That’s why Jerrik had to figure out how to get Spirit to let him protect her. Because there was no way to anticipate what these people were capable of.
Because they were capable of anything.
“I need to get Spirit somewhere safe.” Jerrik knew bringing her back up would open the door for Magni to be an ass but he needed his uncle’s help. Or at least his advice. “Maybe you can have Christine talk to her.”
