Deceived (Free Indeed Book 2), page 14
“Uh yeah, that’s quite sufficient,” Cara replied still trying to process everything the other woman had told her.
“Good. Bye then.” Without another word or backward glance, Daphne turned and walked from the room. A couple of seconds later Cara heard the front door open and then close, followed by the sound of her car leaving the driveway.
Cara snatched up the laptop and quickly flipped open the lid. She powered up the screen and smiled as monitor flashed on. “Hello old friend, how I’ve missed you.” It felt so good to have a computer in front of her again and a keyboard beneath her fingers. When she had technology in front of her, she felt like she could do anything. It felt like she finally had control over something again, and it was empowering.
Now she only had to figure out what she wanted to do first.
Jake sat out on the back deck of the cabin not staring at much other than his empty glass of whiskey in front of him. He grabbed the bottle sitting on the table next to him and poured another shot. After it had been filled to the brim, he threw it back like the others before it.
He failed her. She was his responsibility, under his protection in all of this mess, and now she was dead because he failed her.
Gideon and Paul would both pay for what they’d done. He’d see to that. Even if he had to tear them apart piece by piece until there was nothing left to distinguish them as human beings. Cara would get justice for what had been done to her, and he’d take great pleasure in administering it.
The glass door slid open behind him as he poured another shot. The voice of satan himself came out of Gideon from over his shoulder, “I’m going to need you to ease up on the alcohol, Jake. There are some things I’m going to need you to do today.”
“I’m busy,” Jake muttered under his breath as he shot back another drink. “Get your little minion to do it.”
“Paul’s busy. He found Allie last night, so he’s going to be following her around, possibly searching her apartment for the locket if he gets the chance. Besides, this is a job for you, not him.”
“I’m really not in the mood for your commands right now, Gideon.” Jake kept his focus on the whiskey in front of him. If he looked at the older man right now, he’d lose his shit and kill him right here. His hand was clenching the glass so tightly like it imagined Gideon’s neck in his grasp instead. The temptation was so great just to spin around and choke the life out of him without anyone being the wiser.
The bottle in front of him disappeared as Gideon’s hand snaked out to grab it. With a hurl of his arm, Gideon sent the bottle flying into the woods in front of them. The sound of crashing glass was a small comfort to his foul mood and did nothing to sate the anger billowing inside of his soul.
“I said, you have a job to do.” This time the words came out clipped and forceful, leaving no room for negotiation. “And when you’ve finished, you’re going to find a room in town and stay there for the night. I’m disgusted to look at you right now, the way you’re moping over that bitch of a girl.”
Jake clenched his fists so tightly he thought his nails would draw blood. But he bit his tongue and kept silent while the man continued.
“Get a room and take tonight to yourself to get your head on right. Maybe find yourself some female companionship or something to get your focus back on the task at hand.”
Despite the fact he hated the man and everything he stood for, at least in this one thing they were agreed. Jake couldn’t spend the night in this cabin under the same roof as the two men who murdered an innocent, amazing woman. He’d agree to this job for Gideon, if for no other reason than to get out of the house faster.
“Fine. What do you want?”
“Paul tried to get to Allie last night, but apparently she already has friends here. Trying to get her away when they’re surrounding her would be messy. We need to get her to come to us.”
“And you want to do this how?”
“Get in touch with your boss, Sheriff Bowman, back in West Virginia. Have him arrange an extradition for Allie with whoever the sheriff is in this shit of a town. They’ll bring her into the station, and we’ll be out of there before anyone can bat an eye.”
A grunt of humorless laughter flew past Jake’s lips. “They’re not going to arrange extradition for Allie.” He sighed, trying not to piss Gideon off any more than he already had as he explained, “She stole ten thousand dollars. That’s not grand larceny by any means. And on top of that, she’s your daughter. Since she’s not a minor, all they’re going to see is a family squabble. Definitely not serious enough to bring her in and turn her over to another jurisdiction’s supervision. I can have Bowman file an indictment and make contact with the local police, but there’s no guarantee it’ll hold up under scrutiny. It’ll probably be enough to have Allie brought in for questioning, but as to whether or not they’ll release her into our custody, well that’s up in the air.”
“Then have Bowman increase the theft amount.” Gideon waved his hand in annoyance as if the details were beneath him. “Make it two hundred fifty thousand. Enough to make them take notice.”
Gideon grew silent for a moment causing Jake to turn to see what had distracted him. The man had a sinister look in his eye, and Jake knew whatever was coming wasn’t going to be good.
“Let’s tag on murder to that, shall we. Specifically, one Ken Thompson. That should accomplish our purposes very nicely.”
Shortly after Gideon’s meeting with his accountant, the man had very suspiciously turned up dead. A sick grin slowly spread across Gideon’s face at the thought of framing his daughter for the murder of a man that Jake was pretty sure Gideon was behind himself. God, he hated this guy so much.
“Tell Bowman to take care of the details, and he’ll be handsomely compensated as usual.” At that final comment, Gideon considered the conversation over. He turned and walked back into the cabin, sliding the door shut behind him.
Damn. Jake needed to get that locket. If he could just get to it first, he’d take it and run with it, hopefully taking their attention off of Allie. Depending on whether or not Cara had secured the data, it could be really simple to get the dirt on Gideon, or he may actually need to get the card to the FBI office in Portland to decrypt it before he could have the man arrested. He had to play it smart. If he acted too soon, Gideon would be gone and disappear where he’d never find him. And that was unacceptable. The man had to pay, and Jake was going to make sure he did.
Jake pushed himself to his feet and walked down the deck to the oversized garage off to the side of the cabin. Since Paul had the SUV on his Allie hunt, he’d have to settle for one of the four-wheelers inside to get him to town. From there he’d find a place to stay for the night and put Gideon’s plan in motion. At least he wouldn’t have to see either of them or hear their voices until tomorrow. God, he couldn’t get out of this place fast enough.
Jake sat perched on a stool at the counter of BB-Dub’s. His order was placed, and he was just waiting for Annie to package it up so he could leave and find a place to stay for the night. Based off of the information Annie had given him, there didn’t seem to be a lot of overnight options around Serenity unless he wanted to rent out an entire cabin like Gideon had. He’d probably just have to find a hotel in Jensen, the next town over. It’d take longer than normal to get there on a four-wheeler, but whatever, it’s not like he was in a hurry right now.
“Here you are, darlin’.” Annie’s cheerful voice proceeded her out the swinging door from the kitchen. Her hands held a to-go box full of food he had ordered which she placed on the counter in front of him and swiftly moved inside a bag for him to carry. Before folding the bag closed, she reached underneath the counter and pulled out a much smaller container which she also added to the bag with a sly wink. “Another slice of pie for that girl of yours, on the house,” Annie grinned. “Chocolate-Peanut Butter this time. It’s good stuff if I do say so myself.”
“Oh no, ma’am, that’s really not necessary.” Jake tried to stop her. God, the last thing he wanted to choke down along with his food was another reminder of Cara. He already thought about her constantly. He didn’t need this too.
“Nonsense, son,” Annie just waved his concerns away with a wave of her hand, “you need to keep that woman of yours happy.”
It would probably just be easier to agree with the friendly woman than to try and fight it. Jake got the impression Annie wouldn’t take his refusal without a darn good reason. Like explaining that his woman got murdered by a cock sucking bastard. Yeah, that would probably do it.
Instead, he gave the older woman as much of a grin back as he could muster with his heavy heart as he grabbed his bag of food. With a quick wave goodbye, he turned and walked back outside. He could toss the pie later. Right now he just needed to get out of there before he drove his fist into an undeserving wall or something equally destructive.
Jake trudged up to his borrowed four-wheeler and stowed the bag in the back. Then he threw one leg over and straddled the seat. For a moment, he just sat there. Not starting the engine or moving one iota. He just sat there staring off into space, his eyes not really focusing on anything. His heart hurt. A literal, aching pain pierced the center of his heart, and then like a virus it spread until it consumed the entire thing. He wasn’t sure if it would ever go away. One thing he did know, the world was a whole lot shittier of a place without Cara and her easy going smile and randomly cute geekiness. It wouldn’t be the same without her. Hell, he wouldn’t be the same without her.
He clenched his eyes tightly closed as he tried to get his emotions under control. He could do this. He had to. Gideon would be stopped, and Jake would see to it that he and Paul were both punished for what they had done. The breath he had been holding gradually exhaled past his lips. His eyes slowly fluttered back open and focused on the woods in front of him.
Jake blinked. Then closed his eyes and reopened them again. His entire body froze into a rigid state where he sat. He was hallucinating. He had to be. There would be no other excuse for him to see the woman he had just been mourning peeking out at him from the cover of the trees twenty feet away.
Even after he blinked again and his eyes refocused, she was still there. Her head sticking out around a tree and her hand gesturing emphatically for him to hurry over and join her where she was standing.
Hallucination or not, he didn’t need to be asked again. His leg flew over the seat, and his long strides covered the distance quickly. In front of him, Cara stepped back deeper into the woods to give herself more cover from the street in case anyone may have been watching. Jake’s walk turned into a sprint as he ran the remaining distance to where Cara stood.
Without pause or preamble, he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms as tightly as he could. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Cara gasp, but he couldn’t even process that right now. She was real. She was here. She was alive.
Not fully believing it yet, his head pulled back just enough so he could again see her face. Both of his hands came up to cup her face, one palm against each cheek. His thumbs gently caressed her cheekbones as he stared deeply into her amazingly beautiful mocha latte colored eyes.
“Hi,” she whispered, the right side of her mouth slowly raising in a half grin.
He didn’t know what to think or even what to do. All he could focus on was the fact this woman was once again in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go. His jaw clenched so tightly he thought it might break, but he didn’t care. Her soft tiny hand reached up and touched his jaw as if trying to smooth away the tension there.
Unable to speak for fear that it would somehow shatter his hallucination, he instead lowered his head and claimed her lips in a hard, demanding kiss. His lips invaded hers, touching, commanding, controlling. They took what they needed to prove to him that she was, in fact, alive and standing here with him. Everything his lips asked for she returned just as passionately. She stood up on her tiptoes to push her body closer to his. One of his hands left her cheek to trail back around her neck and up into her hair. As he angled his head to kiss her even more thoroughly his tongue darted out to touch her lower lip. A breathless gasp escaped Cara’s lips giving him the entry he needed. Their tongues tangled together as their kiss deepened. With the one hand at the back of her head, his other trailed down her body, caressing past the side of her breast and down her trim waist to her hip.
A sharp inhale broke their kiss. Jake pulled back to look into her eyes and saw a flash of pain. A hiss escaped her tightly clenched jaw as a grimace covered her face. Instantly, Jake froze.
“What’s wrong? Are you ok? What happened?” God, he didn’t know what question to ask her first. He closed his eyes briefly as he leaned forward and gently rested his forehead against her own, before softly stating, “They told me you were dead.”
Both of her hands reached out to clench his forearms. She squeezed them reassuringly as she whispered back, “I got away.”
It was such a simple statement, but the words almost seemed to bring him back to life just as she had suddenly been brought back into his.
“Are you hurt?”
A wry smile stared back up at him. “Kind of,” she replied.
“How kind of are you hurt?”
“Um, Paul kind of shot me.”
Jake’s head snapped back so he could see her face. His gaze dropped down as he searched her body for injury. Not seeing anything visible, he cautiously lifted her shirt and saw the bandage there.
“Shit!” he exclaimed. “I’ll get you to a doctor.” He reached around her as if to pick her up and carry her, but her arms came up to stop him.
“It’s ok. Really. Someone found me and helped me. They got me to a doctor, and he already patched me up and put me on some awesome pain meds. I’m ok.”
“You’re not fucking ok. You shouldn’t be out tromping through the woods by yourself after just getting shot. You need to be in bed resting. What the hell are you thinking?”
“Well excuse me, I was thinking I needed to find you,” came her indignant reply as both of her hands jerked back to rest on her hips.
He missed her touch instantly. Having her hands on his body had felt so good. It made her feel real, and that was something he desperately needed after thinking she was dead. Granted, she was real; she was here. But he still needed her hands back on him like he needed his next breath.
“Find me?”
“Yeah, Deputy Badass, I tracked your phone to the diner so I could let you know I was ok. So don’t you give me crap about it.”
“As glad as I am you did that, darlin’, and as relieved as I am to see you still alive, you still should be in bed recuperating,” he countered leveling her with his gaze.
“Fine,” she threw both hands up in the air, “let’s go back to where I’m staying so I can rest, and we can still talk.”
“You have a safe place to stay?” At her nod, he asked, “Did you drive here?”
“Yeah, I borrowed a car from the people I’m staying with,” she answered back. “Well, kind of anyway.” At his arched eyebrow in her direction, she continued sheepishly, “Ok, so I didn’t technically ask. But trust me, they won’t mind.”
“Keys.” His hand was outstretched waiting for them before she even finished her sentence.
Her cute little nose crinkled in irritation at his demand. “I’m more than capable of driving.”
“You’ve been shot,” he stated as if that was all that needed to be said. “Now give me the keys.”
With a huff of annoyance, she stuffed her hand into her pocket, pulled out the key, and slapped it into his palm. The left side of his face quirked up in a grin. He loved it when she got all sassy on him. It was so dang cute. Damn, he couldn’t believe she was alive.
Jake narrowed his gaze giving her a pointed look to indicate he meant business. “Stay right here. I need to grab some stuff from my four-wheeler then I’ll be right back.” At her eye roll, he reiterated, “Seriously, don’t move. I’ll be damned if I got you back just to lose you again.”
At his sincere words, her gaze softened slightly before she nodded at him in agreement. “I won’t budge.”
Jake gave her arm one last squeeze before he spun and jogged back to his four-wheeler. He grabbed the keys and the bag of food from the back, and then rushed back to where Cara waited for him.
Even though he had only been gone a couple seconds, he still felt immense relief when he saw her still standing where he had left her. Jake reached out and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers as he said, “Where’s this car of yours?”
“Follow me,” she said as she led him through the trees.
His smile got even bigger. Anywhere. He would follow her anywhere. Even if it meant leaving this mission and his job behind. If it meant she was safe where nothing evil could ever touch her again, he would do it happily and without regret.
“Wow, these new friends of yours have pretty sweet digs,” Jake muttered as they pulled up to the front of the guest cottage.
“I know, right?” Cara shot him a grin. “Of course, I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. More like courteous acquaintances out of fear of being blackmailed.”
A grunt sounded from the sexy man sitting next to her. When she told him about what had happened to her, from her escape from Paul to being hit by Daphne’s car, he hadn’t been thrilled to say the least. Needless to say, Daphne was not on his Christmas card list. As he parked the car, he shot her a disgruntled sideways glance. He was firmly in the corner of reporting the accident if for no other reason than to get Daphne to take more care while driving.
Cara just grinned back at him. What could she say? She was so happy that he was here with her and that they were out of Gideon’s clutches. Trying to get Daphne’s license revoked wasn’t on her list of most important things to accomplish before moving on with her life.
