End of Day (Jack & Jill #1) (39 page)

They managed the last twenty-four hours of their trip without any more casualties. It was an awful thought, but Jillian was oddly grateful for the migraine that seized AJ on the last night. As hard as she tried to be herself, whoever Jillian Knight was supposed to be, it felt too forced. AJ would have noticed had his head not been dealing with such a pounding distraction.

As soon as they arrived home, AJ nearly overdosed on pain meds and collapsed onto his bed. Jillian went home.

“I’m so unbelievably pissed at you,” Jackson scolded her the second she walked through the front door.

She dropped her bags and looked up at him, tears racing down her cheeks. The strength it took to make it home without falling apart in front of AJ almost killed her.

The anger in his eyes vanished the second he saw her pain. “Jesus! What happened?” He pulled her into his arms.

She fisted his shirt while sobs wracked her whole body. “I k-killed him.”

Jackson gripped her arms and held her back. “Who?” he yelled, eyes wild.

“T-T-Trigger.” She sagged in his hold.

“What? How? Look at me!”

“H-he was at a-a rest stop.”

Jackson lowered them both to the floor and brushed his thumb over the mark on her lip from AJ.

“He hurt you. Where the fuck was AJ when this happened?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t hurt me.”

“Your lip—”

“That was AJ.”

Jackson’s body went rigid. “AJ hit you?”

“I told him to—”

“You what—”

“Stop!” She grabbed Jackson’s face “Listen to me…” she sniffled “…this isn’t about AJ. We stopped at a rest stop in Wyoming last night and AJ returned to the truck before me. It was dark and I heard someone in the distance. It was him, Jackson … it was Trigger.”

“You saw him?”

“No.” Pain washed over her face. “I heard his voice. He recognized me.”

“But you didn’t look at him?”

She slowly turned her head side to side, keeping her eyes locked to his. She didn’t have to say it. They both knew.

“He had a gun.”

Jackson nodded once.

“AJ didn’t see anything.”

“He was following you?”

“No. His car was there before us. He was just as surprised to see me.”

“Come on, you’re smarter than that. There’s no fucking way it was a coincidence.”

“His car was there before we pulled off. There’s no way he was following us.”

“Did you see him get in or out of the car?”

“What?” Jillian tried to shake the confusion from her mind.

“What was the license plate number?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“There was only one other car in the lot and you didn’t get the license plate number?”

“No! I didn’t. It was late at night and we were in the middle of nowhere. Why the hell would I need to sweep the area?”

“Because that’s what you were trained to do. It’s been ingrained in you.”

“It was him!”

Jackson held her head, forcing her to look him in the eye. “But was it his car? Is it possible he did in fact follow you? Could he have parked somewhere else?”

“Oh God!” Her jaw trembled. She couldn’t say for sure if it was his car. It was just an assumption—a hasty, bad assumption. “We should call Knox.”

“I’m sure he already knows. It’s been almost twenty-four hours. They have eyes and ears everywhere. Knox knows what move you’re going to make before you do. I’ll search it up.”

Jackson stood and pulled her up then grabbed his computer. Jillian turned her back to him. She didn’t want to see any photos.

“Man found dead at Wyoming rest stop along I-80 East Wednesday night. The thirty-five-year-old male has been identified as Matthew Green from San Diego, California. Investors don’t suspect foul play but are waiting autopsy confirmation. Green has been on the FBI’s most wanted list for over a decade. He is believed to have been the accomplice of the infamous serial killer, Edwin Harvey.”

“Enough,” Jillian whispered as one last tear rolled down her cheek.

“The autopsy report will say heart attack.”

Jillian swallowed. “I know.”

“But you broke his neck.” It wasn’t a question.

She shook her head. “I didn’t. Jessica Day did.” It was what she had to believe to keep her last shred of sanity.

*

Taking the life
of another never came without permanent sacrifice. Everything had a balance. In exchange for Trigger and Four’s last breaths, Jessica had to let a piece of her soul die, a soul that she shared with Jillian.

She left Jackson to deal with Knox and the high probability that she had been followed. None of it made sense. Extraordinary coincidence was more comforting than the idea that their identity and whereabouts had been compromised. But how and by whom?

“Welcome back!” Dodge greeted Jillian as she stepped inside their house escaping the blistering temperature and suffocating heat index.

“Thanks, it’s good to be back.”

“So you and AJ huh?” Dodge grinned.

Jillian felt an uncharacteristic blush heat along her neck and cheeks. “Yes, we’ve become … close.”

“Well, Lilith and Char talked the other day and they’re both real smitten with you. Said they haven’t seen AJ looking this happy since he returned from his last tour before the divorce.”

Of course Lilith and Char talked because Lilith could hear just fine out of one ear.

“You must have a lot of things to catch up on since I’ve been gone.”

“Mainly drinking in peace, but yeah, a few other errands too.” He winked and waved before leaving through the back door.

Lilith sat in her chair reading a book.

“Why did you let me believe you’re deaf?”

Lilith raised her head an inch and placed her bookmark inside. “I hadn’t planned on it.”

Jillian sat down on the sofa beside Lilith’s chair.

“But then you started telling me a story … your story.”

Jillian couldn’t hide the pained look on her face. “No one was supposed to know … I shouldn’t have—”

“I’ll take it to my grave, sweetie.” Lilith held out her hand and Jillian took it.

Her heart squeezed with anguish, thinking how close Jackson had come to ending Lilith’s life to save theirs. “If you ever tell anyone it would put your life in danger.”

“It’s not my story to tell. I promise.”

Jillian nodded.

“Why are you in Omaha? I have to know why you left the love of your life,” Lilith pleaded with her own pained expression.

Jillian felt the burden of Lilith’s sympathy and knew the right choice, the only choice, was to never say another word to Lilith about Jessica Day.

However, Jillian thrived on bad choices.

“I didn’t leave the love of my life. Jessica did because she died.”

The soft wrinkles around Lilith’s eyes deepened with confusion.

“It’s complicated.” Jessica made lemonade and then made Lilith swear on the lives of her grandchildren that Jessica Day didn’t exist.

Day

“I
swear to God …
if you say a fucking word—” Luke glared through narrowed eyes at Gabe.

“You’ll lose your license. I get it. Once again … not stupid. Wish I could say the same about you,” Gabe mumbled as they trekked to the hotel like oxen hauling full loads.

“For the record, she’s not my patient anymore, and we’ve never had sex.”

“Thanks for that, but just so you know, I’m not keeping record. I’m your best friend. I know more about you than you know about yourself. But I think Kelly might be my
one,
and I don’t want to screw it up because our best friends can’t get their shit together.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Well, work faster. And tell Jessica she needs to say something to Kelly about your trip to Tahoe before she hears about it from my parents when we go to visit them next week. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

Kelly and Jessica were waiting in the lobby.

“So, Jess and I were going to share a room, but she said we could stay together.” Kelly leaned up and kissed Gabe. “The other room has two queen beds, are you okay with it too, Luke?”

“Yeah, are you two okay with staying in the same room?” Gabe gave Luke a tightlipped grin.

Luke looked at Jessica who was staring at her feet. “We’ll survive.”

Jessica looked up, wetting her lips then rubbing them together.

“Let’s go then, ladies. We’re not going to stand here holding all this shit forever,” Gabe said.

“Oh … here, babe.” Kelly took a few bags from Gabe as Jessica jumped to ease Luke’s load as well.

They took the elevator to their rooms and made plans to meet up for carbo-loading after Kelly and Gabe took a “nap.”

“So…” Jessica shoved open the curtains to their ocean-view window “…I think I’m ready to talk about the bag you left at my place.”

After weeks of the silent treatment since he’d left that bag, Luke was rethinking his unconventional plan to find intimacy with Jessica that didn’t involve him losing blood.

“Is this the point in our ‘relationship’ that you confess you’re into kink?” she asked, turning back toward him.

He grinned with his lips twisted to the side. “Yeah, about that …”

She plunked down in the swivel chair, throwing her feet up on the desk, reminiscent of their time at his office—minus the leather chair.

“No. I’m not into bondage. You were going to be my exception.”

“You’re afraid of me?”

“No.” He leaned against the wall, hands shoved in his pockets. “It was intended for you not for me.”

“So … you thought after my experience with Four that I might like to be restrained during sex?”

“I thought you might want to be with me and not feel guilty for making me bleed. I thought we could use the idea behind bondage to establish trust.”

“I see. So you don’t trust me?”

“I trust you implicitly.”

She drew in a slow breath. “How can you say that?” she whispered.

“Because I believe you.”

“What do you believe?”

Luke pushed off the wall and bent over, resting his hands on the arms of her chair—his face inches from hers. “I believe you love me.”

He looked at her lips and she looked at his.

“Kiss me, Jones.”

*

How could he
trust her when she didn’t trust herself? His lips met hers and it didn’t matter. Jessica needed him beyond passion, beyond reason, beyond breathing.

Her hands went straight for his hair as she dropped her feet to the floor. She fell so deep into his kiss her lungs screamed for air, yet her tongue reached for more. The harder she tugged, the louder he moaned. His taste brought her to life. His smell drowned all thought. His touch felt like a whispered promise.

“Luke …” His name floated from her lips—a fervent plea—a prayer. The heat of his mouth drifted down her neck. She arched her back begging to feel him anywhere and everywhere all at once.

Luke wrapped her tight in his arms until their bodies cursed the clothes between them. He laid her on the bed, her hands tugging and pulling at his pants, his drawing the straps to her top down her arms.

She closed her eyes. “What if I—”

“Do it.” He freed her breasts and sucked one nipple while kneading the other with a firm grip. “I’ll die if we stop.”

Want.

Need.

Trust
.

“I’ll hate myself if we don’t.”

He stilled. Releasing her breast, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“You hate me?” She grimaced, not really wanting him to answer.

Eyes still shut, he shook his head.

“But I’m killing you.”

He nodded then looked at her. She rolled to her side and sat up, pulling her top back in place.

“Dammit!” she yelled and pounded her fists into the bed. “What is wrong with me? I’ve been thinking about this for months. I’m a freaking statistical phenomena. Who goes from less than zero percent to one hundred in two weeks’ time?”

He reached for her but she stood and pulled away. “Jessica …”

“No.” She began to pace the room. “Don’t try to down play this. I’m a cock tease, plain and simple. How did this happen? I’m the RSVP girl and you did. You RSVP’d and both times you’ve been denied access. Cock. Tease!”