Against The Wall (3 page)

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Chapter Four

Streetlights and palm trees whizzed past as Tanner drove down Sunset Boulevard. Silence loomed in the car. Jess had already told him she worked as Juneau’s assistant, but that didn’t answer his other question. What did she need with that much money? Or maybe it had nothing to do with need. Maybe it was greed. He’d learned a lot about greed in the past decade. Saw what it did to his best friend and what it did to guys in the pen. How it changed people and made them something different.

Jess wasn’t what he first expected. Her baby doll exterior didn’t mesh with her backbone. She was scared to death of him. He saw it in her eyes, her mannerisms. The way she bit her lip and stuttered words. But she continually looked him in the eye. Faced him head on. Plus she had an attitude on top of it.

The attitude reminded him of three of his sisters. The naïve, scared part reminded him of the fourth. Not that he wanted reminders of his sisters…he didn’t. He had no room for anything but revenge. He had to stay focused.

Prison had hardened him. There was always more to a person than met the eye, so he shouldn’t be surprised that Jess—with her peaches and cream complexion—wanted a piece of Juneau’s pie. But despite knowing that looks didn’t define a person, he’d already judged her. Innocent. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been wrong. Hell, his judgment sucked harder than a category five hurricane.

She hadn’t wanted to tell him about the money. He got that. It was none of his business and they probably wouldn’t be spending too much time together in the distant future. But why would she be mixed up with Juneau in this way if she’d been his assistant for three years already?

“Are you blackmailing him?” It didn’t seem to fit, but anything was possible.

Her jaw dropped as she stared at him. “No,” she said, obviously affronted. “I… You don’t know… I don’t have to tell…” She faced forward, fumed. She played the innocent act like a pro.

Tanner took a closer look, which wasn’t easy since he had to watch the road. Her eyes glittered with moisture. “Are you crying?”

She swiped at her eyes. “No.” Her adamant tone surprised him.

Every time he meant to catch the little fluff ball, she family member lside and gave him the warrior. He didn’t remember women being this hard to read. Of course he hadn’t been around too many women the past seven years. Like zero. Not his sisters or his mother since getting out of prison. He purposely hadn’t seen any of his family for more than one reason…his dad being one of them. If he didn’t see them, he could pretend his dad was still alive. Tanner quashed the errant thought before guilt swamped him.

Besides, knowing his family, they’d try to change his mind about Juneau. They would’ve surrounded him with things like love, support and understanding. At least they would have, before he’d turned his back on them. He had too much anger to face any other emotion. They wouldn’t understand his rage. His intense need for revenge. Juneau deserved to pay for what he’d done, just the way Tanner had paid for a crime he didn’t commit. His family wouldn’t understand that. They’d want him to move on. Forget the past, but Tanner couldn’t. He lived for the moment when Juneau felt fear. Wanted to see the man’s face when he hurt.

“Watch it!” Jess screamed as the car went over the Braille line of the double yellows, and Tanner swerved back into his lane, the street lights coming back into focus. “God, you’re going to kill us before we even get to Maurice,” she complained. “What is wrong with you?”

Just about everything, but Tanner had no inclination to talk about himself. “If you’re not blackmailing him, then what’s the deal?” he asked, completely ignoring her question. If she worked with Juneau then maybe they were having, or at some point had, a fling. Maybe someone was blackmailing her. But why? “Are you married?” he asked.

She shot him a glare. “It’s none of your business. And no.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.

“Then why do you need the money?” When she didn’t answer, Tanner pulled over and shut the car down. Several cars whizzed past. Obviously she had an agenda and he wanted answers. Her timetable seemed a little less flexible than his. Because although he wanted Juneau as soon as possible, he’d rather wait and get it right than screw up a second time.

Jess looked at him, her eyes wide. “What are you doing? We need to find Maurice.” She checked her watch. She was definitely on a clock.

“I don’t drive until I hear your story. Give it.” He shifted in the seat and rested his forearm on the steering wheel.

She blinked, looked like Bambi just out of the smoking forest with no idea where to go or what to do. Yep, she definitely reminded him of Holly. Those big eyes, wide with uncertainty and panic. His youngest sister had taken the brunt of the abuse from her older siblings. Him included. Occasionally he’d stuck up for Holly, but most the time he’d teased her like the others. Tanner shoved the memories out of his mind.

“
I’ve got time
,” he said, rubbing in the fact that Jess didn’t.

Her eyes brightened with unshed tears and the sight rocked Tanner. Made his stomach flip in an odd way. She averted her gaze and stared straight ahead, quickly wiping her eyes, but the damage was done. A strange sensation flexed his heart. to do thatd l

Her jaw clenched and she swallowed hard. In the next instant she opened the door and shot out of the car. Tanner’s adrenaline soared as he lunged and caught her back leg. They both tumbled onto the roadside. She struggled beneath him as he grappled for her wrists. Hardly any traffic crowded the road since it was dead middle of the night and the few cars that traveled the street zoomed by.

Tanner’s heart thumped hard as he subdued her. “Was it something I said?” he grunted, amused and slightly reverent at her attempt. She finally went limp, her eyes bright with fear as she gasped for air. Breathing hard, Tanner stilled above her. He couldn’t ignore the feel of her soft body trapped under his. The way her chest rose and fell with every ragged breath. Nothing sisterly about his thoughts now. Nope, now all he pictured was naked skin and hot sex. He was a frickin’ scumbag for feeling this way when she was so clearly messed up and freaking out.

“I can’t….please don’t…” She couldn’t get the words out.

“Shh,” he told her. “Shh. I won’t hurt you.” He wouldn’t. He might scare the crap out of her, but he wouldn’t hurt her. Not physically anyway. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t mess with her head. “Tell me why you want that money and I’ll let you up.” Yes, he was a bastard to the tenth power. Make sure the girl is helpless and go for the throat. Prison had been a twisted teacher.

“I can’t.” She hiccupped a breath, something close to a sob. Her face contorted into a mask of pain. Something so fresh and real that Tanner felt the ache in his own chest. The foreign feeling wasn’t anything he enjoyed or wanted to explore. “I can’t,” she whispered again.

“Why not?”

She shook her head, refused to look at him.

“What are you afraid of? That I’ll tell someone?” He leaned close to her ear, felt her freeze beneath him. Yeah, lying on top of her like this had his cock growing hard. Was that a surprise? She smelled so fucking sweet. At least the lower half of his body was on the ground and not her. “You don’t have to worry. I don’t know anyone to tell. I’ve got nobody that wants to talk to me or know me. Tell me your secret, sweetheart. I’ll keep it safe.” Probably because he wouldn’t live long enough to tell anyone, but he’d spare her that information.

Her frantic heart beat hard against his chest, her breath harsh in his ear. “He’ll kill them…if I tell.” Her words came out on a tortured cry. “He told me he would. I can’t say anything, don’t you understand. I can’t say anything.”

Tanner met her gaze. She was for real. Fear and pain filled her pretty brown eyes. “Who is ‘them?’” he asked. “Who is going to kill who? Maurice is going to kill someone?” That seemed too far out of Maurice’s territory. The man was a scumbag who hired guys to do his dirty work, he didn’t do it himself. Jess shook her head, but Tanner grabbed her chin and held her steady. “Tell me, Jess. We have no problems as long as you give me what I want. Tell me.”

When she still didn’t rep carte blanche to hire the mt him ly, Tanner ran his fingers through her soft hair and dipped his lips next to her ear. He didn’t say anything, he just took in her scent, brushed his lips against the softness of her skin at the edge of her jaw, right beneath her ear. Not a kiss, but a caress. His lips on her skin. Goddamn…she felt so good. His heart roared in his ears. It’d be too easy to forget he’d forcefully tackled her to the ground. Too easy to strip her clothes and his pants and ease the pressure in his jeans, take the edge off his insanity.
God, what was wrong with him?

He shifted a fraction, like he might move on her and a tiny little catch sounded in her throat. He smelled her fear and had never hated himself more.

“The sooner you tell me what I want to know, the sooner I’ll get off you,” he murmured, punctuating the words with another brush of his lips along her jaw. “Otherwise…” He let the sentence dangle, made sure his hot breath wafted in her ear, wanted her to worry about the consequences of now.

Desperation clouded her pixie face. “My whole family, okay? He’s going to kill my whole family if I don’t get his eight stupid-million dollars back! And he means it. I don’t have much time.”

Since she wanted eight million from Maurice, that meant someone else had her family. An unknown player he didn’t want to particularly deal with. As that news sunk in his brain, bright headlights sent a harsh stream of white light over Tanner’s head and he glanced over his shoulder to see the flashing reds of a police car.

His luck sucked.

____________

Jess’s whole body trembled as Tanner moved off her and pulled her to her feet. One minute she’d been pinned beneath his hard, hot body and the next she stood with his arm draped possessively around her waist, holding her tightly to his side.

The flashing lights of the police cruiser caused a wave of hope to flood her veins. Seeing the police officer rounding the hood of his cruiser with a hand on his weapon sent her stomach into a tizzy. She could get away from Tanner! Run, scream and tell this officer that he had tried to kill her boss tonight and
still
planned on killing him. Hell, he’d shot
her!
But where was Tanner’s gun? Would he kill this officer if she said something? He hadn’t hesitated firing before so why would he now?

As if reading her mind, Tanner squeezed her waist. The pressure kept her silent.

“Everything okay, folks?” The officer looked older up close. Short salt and pepper hair with matching mustache. With a body still fit and healthy, the only thing that belied the man’s age were the dozens of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth.

“Fine. Everything’s fine,” Tanner answered with another sharp squeeze. “I was trying to help her and I tripped on something…took her down with me. Sorry honey,” He looked down at her with apologetic eyes. But there was a warning in his gaze.

The cop looked directly at her. “Anything you want to tell me, miss?” His brows lifted and a tiny smile curved his lips. Her stomach carte blanche to hire the mt him hit the asphalt. Her hopes vanished in a flash. She’d heard the same words from a different cop yesterday. He’d stopped her last night before she’d reached the door to her apartment. The cop had backed her up against the building and told her flat out that if she said a word to anyone, Facinetti would find out and he’d start taking lives. This officer had to also belong to Paul Facinetti. She knew it just as she knew she was safer with Tanner than with this cop.

Was Facinetti having her followed? Testing her? He must be. Making sure she wouldn’t talk by sending the men he paid to scare her. He wanted his money and because he couldn’t get to Maurice, he was keeping her close. There wasn’t a cop she could trust. Because if she talked to the wrong guy, her time frame went to hell and Facinetti would start executing immediately.

Oh God. This guy must have followed them from the studio, but how? Had there been someone on the lot watching Maurice the whole time? Someone who saw what happened on the stage? Facinetti had men everywhere.

Tears pricked at Jess’s eyes and just as quickly, anger reared up and made her chest heavy. She blinked back her emotions. “No, everything’s fine. I wasn’t feeling well and just needed him to pull over. I’m better now.”

Tanner looked down at her, suspicion in his eyes. She moved past him and into the passenger seat. “C’mon, let’s go. I’m okay.” She shut the door, leaving Tanner to wonder if she’d bolt again as soon as he left her side of the car. Clearly he realized he didn’t have a choice if he wanted out of here and he hustled to the driver’s side and got in. He cranked the engine and a sharp rap on the window made Jess jump a mile.

The officer had his face close to the window and motioned her to roll it down. Jess did, reluctantly. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked. “You look like you’re bursting to tell me something.”

Too parched to speak, Jess simply shook her head. “No,” she finally eked out. “Nothing. Everything’s fine.”

The cop tapped the doorframe with a fist and smiled. “Good girl,” he muttered as he straightened. “Drive carefully,” he said loud enough for Tanner to hear. “Wouldn’t want to see either of you injured on a beautiful night like tonight.” A veiled threat if she’d ever heard one.

Tanner rolled up the electric window from his side and glided onto the street without looking back. Jess’s stomach turned upside down. “Here,” Tanner reached into the back and handed her a bottled water.

Jess gulped a third of it down, trying to calm her pounding heart and run-away emotions.

Now what?

She’d blurted, told him her problem. Fear and desperation had driven her to it. Lying under Tanner had brought a whole new world of problems she wasn’t ready to deal with.