“Everything’s
excellent, but you’ve got to try her Rigatoni con la Pajata and
Prosciutto di Parma. They’re fucking phenomenal!”
“Watch your mouth!”
his mother hisses from the head of the table.
“Sorry, Ma,” he
apologizes sheepishly. I can’t help but smile at his reaction to
his mother. It’s another side of the man that I’m just learning
about, and I like it. A lot. He dishes some food onto my plate, and
we dig in. Oh my God! Everything Maria has prepared is unbelievably
good. It’s like a little piece of heaven in my mouth.
I scan the table,
observing Jack’s family as they all sit around eating, talking, and
enjoying each other’s company. I’m thinking I could get used to
this, but then my eyes make contact with Isabelle’s icy stare.
She’s the only one that doesn’t look happy about my presence
here. Suddenly, Jack’s hand tightens on my thigh.
“Look, I’ve got to
get this out in the open. I’ve never been in a relationship before
and seeing you with Jack brought out the worst in me. It was the
second time I’d seen you together, and I jumped to the wrong
conclusion. I’m really sorry about the things I said and
embarrassing you in the restaurant,” I huff out. Wow, apologizing’s
a lot harder than it looks. Isabelle doesn’t respond to my
apology—just keeps glaring at me with her angry, narrowed eyes.
“Izzy,” he warns.
Nada.
“Isabelle, aren’t
you going to say something?” her mother asks.
“Apology not
accepted,” is her response. “Really, Jack. You could do so much
better,” she adds.
I flinch when Jack
slams his fist on the table and yells, “Izzy. Kitchen. Now!” He
then stands up, leans over, and places a kiss on my temple before
leaving the room with his sister.
“I’m so sorry for
the way my daughter’s behaving, Payton. She and Jack have been so
close since their father was murdered. Sometimes she can be quite
protective of her brother. From her actions tonight, I’m sensing
that she feels the need to protect him from you. Although, I don’t
share the same concerns because I’ve not seen my son so happy in a
long time,” she confesses, looking mortified that her daughter has
behaved badly.
Oh, this is a new
development. Jack’s father was murdered. He mentioned that his
father had passed away the other day at our little picnic, but I’d
just assumed that he’d been ill like my father.
“No need to
apologize, Maria. I can completely understand how she feels. I lost
my father, too, and I’ve also got a younger sister and will do
anything to protect her,” I inform her, trying to ease her worries.
“Not only are you
beautiful, but you’re just as kind and loving as Jack told me. I
hope you and Jack will have a happy life together,” she says,
getting up out of her chair and giving me a small hug before heading
toward the kitchen.
I can’t help but
notice the absence of Jack, Maria, and Isabelle as I continue to eat
the wonderful home-cooked meal his mother prepared. For the most
part, his other two sisters keep me preoccupied with their tales of
Jack as a child, teenager, and grown man. Sofie’s in the middle of
telling me about her last boyfriend who Jack scared off, when I see
him storm back into the dining room with a hard scowl on his face.
His mother follows right behind him wearing a saddened facial
expression. Isabelle is a no show.
“We’re done here,”
he angrily tells me, pulling my chair out from the table. I stand up
and tell everyone how nice it was to meet them and hopefully will see
them again soon. Maria walks over and once again tugs me into her
warm embrace and quietly mumbles an apology into my ear.
I thank her for the
lovely meal before pulling out of her arms. Before I can say a proper
goodbye, Jack’s ushering me out of the house with a hand on my
lower back. We both get into Jack’s car, but he just sits there in
silence. I can sense the fury radiating from his body. I don’t know
what was said in the kitchen, but it couldn’t have been good.
“Jack, it’s okay.
Let it go. Nothing she’s says bothers me,” I say trying to
lighten the mood. Sheesh, talk about dark.
“I don’t get it. I
finally find someone who I want to bring home, and she acts like a
fucking bitch. I won’t stand by and let her treat you like you’re
a fucking piece of garbage. Sister or not,” he fumes.
“Jack, you can’t
blame her. I was a bitch to her first. If someone spoke to me like
that, I’d throw down with them right in the restaurant. I didn’t
make the greatest first impression. She’ll come around,” I say,
trying to reassure him. Truthfully, I’m not so sure if things
between his sister and me will ever be okay, but I’m willing to
give it a try for him.
“You’re fucking
perfect, you know that?” he says, pulling me across the bench seat
of his car onto his lap. I rub my nose against his neck and breathe
in his unique scent that I love so much. He smells like the outdoors,
soap, and a hint of tobacco. Pure Jack.
His fingers tangle in
my hair, and they pull my head back. His soft lips come crashing down
on mine in a powerful kiss. When I feel the growl escape the back of
his throat I attack him, but he pulls back. “Stop or I’ll take
you here, and that’s not something I want my mother to see,” he
warns.
Oh shit! See what I
mean? I lose all sense of control around this man. Turning my head, I
look towards his childhood home and blow out a sigh of relief when I
don’t see anyone in the windows watching us.
Jack lets out a throaty
laugh, starts the car, and pulls out of the driveway.
I’m still a pissed at
my sister during the drive back to Payton’s house, but I know
eventually I’ll forgive her for the fucking hateful things she said
about my girl. Isabelle better fucking get over herself, and fast,
because if she asks me to choose between her and Payton, she won’t
like my answer.
Glancing over at
Payton, I can tell she’s getting seriously sick of the music that’s
playing on the radio by the is-this-music-for-real look she’s
shooting my way. For all the music my girl likes to listen to,
country isn’t one of her favorites. I tell her to go ahead and find
something she likes, anything to please her and see the smile come
out on her beautiful face.
She flashes me a
stunning smile while she reaches down to connect her iPod to my
stereo. While she’s doing this, I stretch my arm over the back of
the seat to caress the back of her neck with my thumb. I immediately
see the reaction of my touch as the goose bumps break out across her
skin, causing my own bodily reaction. I fucking love that I have that
kind of effect on her. I feel like pulling over and taking her right
now, but I control my urges. We can wait until we get to her place.
Only another four minutes and thirteen seconds to go, but who’s
keeping track? She finally selects a playlist and “Saving Grace”
by Stellar Revival begins playing through the speakers. How fitting
because Payton’s definitely become that for me.
As we pull up to her
house, I see an unmarked police car and a black and white cruiser
parked in the driveway. Fuck! I figured they were going to take her
in for questioning at some point, but a little fucking heads up
wouldn’t have hurt. I find it really fucking hard to believe that
my boss or my partner didn’t know about this. I tried to get them
to go after Dag for attacking Payton, but was told to let it go, that
we were going after him for bigger things. It took every bit of
self-control I had not to explode.
Parking behind the
cruiser, I glance over at Payton, and she looks a little confused.
“What’s going on?” she asks, finally looking over at me.
“Can’t say.”
That’s the God’s honest truth. Fuck! I wish I could tell her, but
I can’t.
“Are they here for
you?” I shake my head no in response.
“You didn’t tell
them about what Dag did to me, did you?” She sounds royally fucking
pissed with me. I nod my head. “Jack, I’m not pressing charges
against him. Nothing you say will change my mind.”
“It isn’t about
that.”
“Well, want do they
want with me?”
“Told you already. I
can’t say.” I really fucking hate not being able to disclose any
information to her, but that goes with the job. You’d think I’d
be used to it by now.
We get out of my car at
the same time that I see my boss and two uniformed policemen step out
of their vehicles. As they make their way over toward us, I notice
that one of the officers has a folded piece of paper in his hand. I’m
going to go out on a limb here and assume that it’s a search
warrant.
“Jack,” my boss
says, looking at me and nodding his head.
“D.W.,” I return
curtly, calling him by the nickname I gave him as a child.
“Payton Clare?” he
inquires, redirecting his attention.
“Yes, is there
something I can help you with?”
“I’m Police
Commissioner Dale Weston, and we’ve come into recent information
that you are an acquaintance of one Diego Gael Sanchez. He’s a
subject of one of our investigations, and we need to take you in for
questioning. We’ve also obtained a search warrant that Judge
Bernard issued this morning, which covers your house and car. We’ll
be conducting the search before heading back to the station,” he
informs her.
“What the fuck?”
she asks, unfolding and carefully reading the document the officer
hands her.
“Can we have the keys
to your house and vehicle Ms. Clare?” D.W. asks Payton.
“Sure, knock yourself
out,” she says, throwing the keys on the ground. She’s definitely
pissed and not going to make this completely easy for them. “Nice
‘stache. Very Magnum P.I.,” she taunts. I can’t help the smile
that spreads across my face as I watch him stroke his mustache. I
think my girl hit a nerve.
He orders one of the
uniformed officers to pick up the set of keys then walks back toward
Payton’s Charger. He personally searches the interior of the car
and the trunk, but finds nothing. When they enter her house, Payton
asks if we should go in after them, but I tell her no. It’s better
if we stay out of their way. We both sit on the hood of my car not
saying anything to each other. Finally, Payton breaks the silence by
asking, “Jack what’s going on?”
“Fuck, Payton. I wish
I could tell you everything, but I can’t. It’s already bad enough
that we’re involved in a relationship. That alone can still get me
thrown off the case, and I don’t want to give them anything else
that might jeopardize it.” I really hope that’s enough for her
because it’s all that I’ve got to give her right now.
She shifts over closer
to me, so I put my arm around her and tuck her into my side. “I’ve
done nothing wrong,” she mutters against the base of my throat.
“I know, baby,” I
whisper against her hair, resting my chin on the top of her head. Her
arms snake around my waist, and she squeezes me tight. I hold her
like that, and we remain silent as we wait for the search to be
completed. After what seems like an eternity, they finally exit the
house.
“Everything’s
clear. We found nothing,” D.W. says with obvious disappointment.
“Now if you’d get into the cruiser, we can take you into the
station for questioning.”
She looks at me unsure.
“Get in, Payton. I’ll follow you down there,” I tell her. She
does as I say, but doesn’t look happy about it.
* * *
I’m watching her on
one of the monitors as her interview’s being recorded. After asking
her a few basic questions about Diego, it doesn’t take long before
things start turning nasty. My anger builds as I witness the abuse
Payton’s enduring at the hands of one of the ATF agents. My hands
are gripping the edge of the table so hard my knuckles are turning
white.
“Jesus Christ! This
isn’t fucking right. She’s got nothing to do with this, and you
fucking know it!” I yell at D.W. Not only is he my boss, but he’s
also the man who became my mentor and father figure since the death
of my father. He graduated from the police academy with my dad, and
they became partners when they entered the force. After the murder,
he took it upon himself to make sure his partner’s family was taken
care of. I’ve known the man, his wife, Donna, and their two
daughters, Klaire and Tina, my whole life. I consider them all a part
of my family.
“I’m pulling her
the fuck out of there, now!” I add, heading for the door.
“Stand down, and let
that agent do his fucking job. It’s not like he’s arresting and
charging her with anything. He’s just questioning her to see if
she’s got any information. Maybe lead us to where the guns are
being stored.”
“Jesus, do you even
hear what you’re saying? That woman in there knows fuck all.”
“Maybe so, but …”
“No fucking buts
about it. She. Knows. Shit!” I snap.
“Jack, stand the fuck
down! That’s an order!” he roars. “You’re letting your
feelings lead this investigation. You know as well as I do that if it
were anyone else in there, you wouldn’t have an issue with it. Am I
going to have to take you off this case?” he asks in a calmer
voice, his anger dissipating.
“Fuck no.” I’ve
put too much of my time into this case to get thrown off of it now.
The sad thing is I know
he’s right. If it were anyone else in that room, I wouldn’t have
a fucking problem with it. Hell, I’d probably be the one in there
conducting the interrogation, and I wouldn’t go easy on them
either. My eyes go back to the monitor as I focus my attention on
Payton to see how she’s coping.
“Come on, Ms. Clare.
You admitted to being in a relationship with Mr. Sanchez. You can’t
honestly expect me to believe that you know nothing about the man.
Give us something.”
“I’ve got nothing.
I already fucking told you, I don’t know anything about the guy,
obviously. I didn’t even know his real name,” she concedes,
clearly frustrated with the man. “And for the record, we weren’t
in a relationship. We were just fucking. I can tell you four fucking
things about him: He owns an Escalade, has an apartment off of Fallon
Circuit, had a girlfriend who has a child with him, and last but not
least, isn’t circumcised. I’m well acquainted with his anatomy
and didn’t really care to get to know him, to be honest with you.”