Authors: Amy Johnson
He had a point. “Well, still you can’t blackmail me into doing this with you,”
s
he snapped, furious at
herself
for not thinking this through more carefully.
“Why not?” She was feisty as hell at 6:30 in the morning, Jack thought. Now if she could just redirect that energy into something sinful with him… “Isn’t that what you’re doing to me? Blackmailing me? That’s illegal too, Megan.”
He had another point. She hadn’t thought of that. “So what am I supposed to do?”
“Who’s first on your list?” he asked smiling. This was going to be fun.
“Chase Kilborne, Travis McPhillips or Clint Waters,”
Good
,
he knew Chase. “I’ll get started running those names. Be ready at 7:00 and bring your list.”
“Yeah, sure.” Shit. How had this happened? This wasn’t the way it was supposed to work. He was supposed to find them and what? Bring them to her? Like a pimp? Maybe his plan was better. Window shopping he’d called it. Then she could approach them where it wasn’t so obvious. Maybe keep her reputation from going from zero to slut in six seconds. “But first I have to go rent a truck. Mickey and Dr. Ross are going to load it with Ted’s stuff this morning. He’s supposed to get out of the hospital today and I want him gone.” Maybe, she added silently. Ten years was a long time and the way her life had been the past couple days, her monotone, miserable marriage to a pot smoking, cradle robber wasn’t looking as bad as it had yesterday. Of course that was before she’d been kissed so well she forgot her first name and made her list of tutors to help her with the horizontal mambo.
“Okay, I’ll take you to get the truck. Be ready in half an hour
,
” Jack said then cut the connection.
***
Jack arrived about forty five minutes later, dressed in black and looking like a rugged GQ reject. His dark Levi, button fly jeans fit snug and he wore a black tee shirt that fit tight enough to make Megan squeeze her knees together. His thick, black hair was wet and looked finger combed and he hadn’t shaved since she’d seen him last night so his jaw and chin were slightly stubbled
,
which gave him a rustic Bruce Willis kind of look. He looked dangerous and sexually lethal and when Megan opened the door and came face to face with those almond shaped brown eyes for a moment she was dizzy. He smiled and she held her breath. Either he hadn’t ever looked this…dashing and…lustful or she’d never really looked at him before because the man standing in front of her was spectacular. Or maybe it was just all the beer from last night. Either way, today was going to be dangerous. And Exciting.
“You ready?” he asked, but Megan hadn’t heard him. She’d been staring at his lips from the moment he parted them to speak. He asked again, “Megan, you ready to go?”
“Yep, sure, let me get my purse.” She grabbed her purse from the coat rack and took a moment to catch her
breath
. Either she was going to have to swear off beer forever or do something to tame her hormones. When she was getting squishy over a thug, a guy that was probably voted most likely to end up in orange overalls and a jail cell, it was definitely time to make a drastic change.
But the funny thing was Jack didn’t seem like a criminal. Aside from the fact that he unlawfully entered Ted’s Studio- which for all Megan knew was something PIs did all the time- there was no indication that he was a bum. No tacky, jailhouse tattoos protruding from his shirt sleeves or house arrest devices on his ankles. Hell for all she knew he could be an upstanding fine citizen that volunteered in nursing homes and charity events. She turned around to see him melting her with those eyes. Maybe she’d been wrong about him. Maybe she’d try to change that.
“Ok, let’s go,” she whispered, so she wouldn’t wake everyone up.
They made it down the driveway and he opened the passenger door on his Jeep for her, and once she was inside he shut the door. Well if he was a criminal at least he had good manners. Her mother would like that.
“So how big a truck we need?” he asked, in his usual all business tone.
“Whatever a hundred bucks will get us.” He looked at her and grinned. “See
,
we always agreed to only spend a hundred dollars on each other for our anniversaries and since next week will be our tenth I figure I’ll give him his freedom for a gift. And since I can’t put a price on freedom I’ll splurge the hundred on a truck.” She laughed and he kept his eyes on the road to avoid looking at her. Lead with your head, not your heart he told himself. She continued, “Anything that doesn’t fit in the truck I’ll throw in the yard and have a yard sale. I mean
,
after all he gets Tiffany Triple D
.
I might as well make a buck or two.”
“Tiffany Triple D?” he asked just so she’d keep talking and he could hear her voice.
“Yeah, that’s what I call his infant girlfriend because of her…,” she held her hands out cupping an enormous imaginary chest. “Did you know she’s only nineteen?”
“Yeah, but she looks older.”
“I guess,” she said wanting that subject to drop. “So how long have you been a private investigator?”
“About four years. Actually I used to help my grandpa before he died
.
I kind of inherited his clients and I like the work, so I guess you could say I picked up where he left off.”
“He was a PI here?” Megan had obviously lived a sheltered life. She thought PIs were only in big cities or on T.V. screens.
“Yep, for thirty-five years. He mostly worked for lawyers and consulted for the law enforcement agencies, but there’s always the occasional cheating spouse or suspicious fathers. What about you? What do you do?”
She blinked
.
N
o one knew she worked
.
“I maintain the household. Ted never let me have a job, so I don’t have one yet. I plan to get one though.”
“On the phone you said you had to work today.” She had? Shit. She could lie but he’s a private investigator, he could find out anyway.
“Oh that,” she waved a hand as if to minimize it
.
“Promise you won’t laugh?” He looked at her and smiled, then nodded his head. “I write a sex column.” His eyebrows rose and he did he best to hide his smile
.
“Well
,
it’s more of a relationship advice column but there’s a fair amount of smut involved. People send in questions and then my editor emails the good ones to me. Then I write the column and email it to my editor and that’s it. I don’t even have to leave the house.”
“And Ted doesn’t know?”
“Nope, no one knew except for the girls until last night. I told my mom but I doubt she believed me. She thinks I’m taking drugs or going crazy.” The crazy part was not far from the truth.
“So let me get this straight,” Jack said. “You write a sex column, but you believe you lack experience in the area and that’s why you want to find these guys from high school?” He pulled into the U-Haul parking lot and killed the engine, turning his body sideways to face her. She was fidgeting with her hands again obviously embarrassed or nervous about the conversation.
“I know it sounds silly,” she said seeing the irony in it, “but it’s easy to fix other
people’s
problems. From the outside looking in it’s always easier. Plus, I always consult with the girls first. We meet every Thursday night and discuss the topics.” He seemed to be completely focused on her and she liked that. It had been a long time since someone actually listened to her with that type of intensity. Either that or he was mesmerized by the spectrum of colors on her face from her bruises and black eyes. “And the sex questions are easy. Josie knows everything about anything wild or kinky, Mickey consults on the homosexual stuff, Ali’s a newlywed, so she pretty much handles the romance junk and Stacy…well she’s no help in that department. Mickey says she’s Asexual, which to him means boring.”
“Sounds very interesting,” he said opening his door.
“It is,” She said, but not interesting enough.
***
It was almost nine when they got back to the house and everyone was still sleeping except for Ali, who was making omelets and coffee. Josie had called and let them know that she and Dr. Ross were on their way to start loading the truck. Mickey came stumbling down the stairs in a slinky purple night gown that hit him mid-thigh, and purple fuzzy slippers. His hair standing on end, he was missing a fake eyelash, and his cheek was red from sleeping on it. He looked like a used Q-tip, with feet. “Coffee,” was all he said before disappearing into the kitchen.
“He’s not a morning person,” Megan explained to Jack.
“Guess not,” Jack said because he didn’t know what else to say.
“Let me get Stacy up and we can have coffee and get the boxes outside.”
“I’ll back the truck up to the house,” Jack said flipping the keys in his hand
.
H
e turned to leave when a breathless Josie came barreling in the front door with Dr. Ross right behind her. “Sorry we’re late,” she said, “we had an uh busy morning.”
By the smiles on her and the good doctor’s faces that was the understatement of the century. “All we need is coffee and we’ll be ready
.
” She made for the kitchen and stopped
.
“Oh Meg, Jon called in today…”
“Jon?” Meg asked and Josie looked at her like she’d just eaten a canary.
She grabbed Dr. Ross’s shoulder, “Jon, Dr. Jon Ross,” Megan nodded, “So anyway he called the hospital to check on his patients this morning and get this, seems Ted has developed some, uh, digestion problems. Seems he’s got a mega case of the shits.” Megan’s eyes grew wide, her mouth hung open
.
“Yeah, and that’s not the worst part of it, he’s got like a major case of the munchies too, eating everything in sight.”
“Imagine that,” Megan said flatly, guiltily.
“I requested he stay another day so I can keep an eye on things. Plus he still hasn’t passed the marble yet.” Dr. Ross added.
“Keep him as long as you like
,
” Megan said
.
“And I mean that literally.”
Megan went upstairs to the guest room to wake Stacy and found her lying sideways on the bed, face up, her eyes open. She looked like hell’s cousin.
“Stace, rise and shine. It’s too pretty a day to be in bed,” Megan said cheerfully.
Stacy threw her the finger. “Go away. I can’t move. If I do, my head’ll fall off and tequila will spew out.”
“O
K
Stace, but you’d probably feel better if you had some coffee. And Ali’s making omelets. Yum
.
” Megan rubbed her stomach and when Stacy rolled her head to look at her she crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. “Plus you’re gonna miss all the fun. We’re getting rid of Ted today. You don’t want to miss that.”
“Sure I do
.
T
ake pictures and I’ll look at them once I can see in single vision.”
“C’mon Stace, if you stay in bed you
’re
just gonna feel like crap all day. And you gotta hear the latest gossip on Ted.” She grabbed Stacy’s arm and tugged. She didn’t budge.
“Did he die?”
“No, but he probably wishes he was dead.”
“Then come get me when he dies,” Stacy said, putting a pillow over her head.
“Okay, fine. Be a part
y
pooper.” Megan snatched the pillow and turned on the ceiling fan. It started spinning and
within
seconds so did Stacy’s stomach. She came out of that bed like it was on fire and made a mad dash to the bathroom. Megan smiled. The ole ceiling fan trick worked every time.
By ten thirty everything was loaded except the boxes that were stacked up neatly near the top of the stairs. Ted’s stuff from their bedroom.
“That all that’s left?” Dr. Ross asked and Megan nodded.
He and Jack started up the stairs to get them when Josie grabbed Jon’s hand and said, “Save your energy.”
She then stomped up the stairs, rolled up her sleeves
,
and with one violent push she sent the first box sailing down the stairs. Megan’s mouth dropped open and she felt a warm masculine hand lift her chin to close it. Jack. She knew it was Jack, because her insides went squishy. “Josie,” she said, but was quieted when two more boxes came flying down.
“No sense wasting your energy baby, you’re going to need that later.” Baby? Megan couldn’t figure out what scared her more. Josie throwing boxes down the stairs or her calling Dr. Ross baby. And that was after she’d spent the night with him. Any other guy, Josie called asshole or jackass. But baby? Dr. Ross must’ve pulled out all the stops. And then some.
“What the hell is all that noise?” Stacy demanded, after spending the last hour and a half paying homage to the tequila Gods. Once she saw the source of the noise she said, “Oh,” and hefted two boxes down the stairs before going into the guest room and slamming the door shut. So much for reliable, sensible Stacy.
***
After the last of Ted’s stuff was loaded Jack slammed the door of the U-Haul down and dusted his hands.