Caught in the Storm (12 page)

Jackson snorted, “Damn stubborn woman. She doesn’t understand and right now she doesn’t even want to try. Nothing I said would make her back off.”

“I’m sorry I’m causing you trouble with your family. Maybe I should …” He felt her try to pull away from him.

“Don’t say it. Don’t go there. Don’t you understand? You are my family too.” He held her tighter and wouldn’t let go even when she shook her head. “This time we face it together. All of it. Jeremy and my stubborn-ass of a sister. We’ll get through this.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve depended on anyone. I’m used to hiding in the shadows.”

He cupped her cheeks and tilted her head, making her look at him, “It’s time to come out of the shadows.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Maybe? Hell girl, you know I am.” He couldn’t help the grin from spreading across his face.

“And modest too,” she smirked.

“All the time. But speaking about coming out of the shadows, I think we might want to do that from inside. It’s fucking cold out here.”

He picked her up, loving the feel of her in his arms and the sound of her laughter filling his heart. They had missed out on so much time; he didn’t want to waste a moment of it now; his sister was just going to have to deal with it.

Jeremy sat huddled naked in the dark corner of the barn, rocking back and forth, staring at the three tables he’d set up for his angels. Once they were his and dead, he could fuck them and get his luck back. He reached down between his legs and put the cool blade of the knife against his cock. He wanted to know how it would feel to them. His cock twitched in response and blood dripped down his tip. He curled up in a ball and his tongue darted out, licking the blood off the tip of his cock. Closing his eyes in pleasure, he continued licking and stroking himself until he came. Lying back on the dirty earth, he looked up at the dust floating in the sunbeams as he shivered from the cold and his release, hoping it was all going to end soon.

She was surprised by her reaction, watching him suck and jerk himself off. She’d never wanted to depend on a man for anything, so she was still a virgin. She had fought and killed to keep her virginity. She wasn’t certain what to do with how her body was reacting to watching him. Tilting her head to the side she wondered how it was even possible and made a note to look it up later.

Once she was left alone at the age of seventeen she knew she’d never have a ‘normal’ life. She was destined to live alone. She was going to make her own rules to live by, and kill by.

Kat knew the next day was going to be no fun. All of the guys had said they had somewhere important to be and left, leaving the women alone. Well, except for the security guards. She knew Evie was going to be looking for her and decided they might as well have their confrontation in front of everyone instead of them all hearing about it second hand.

As Kat walked by the Troublesome Trio on her way to grab a cup of coffee, she stopped and did a double-take at the computer screen. “What in the hell? Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is. Oh, shit! My eyes!” She quickly covered them so as to not see any more of the image.

“Oops, sorry, you shouldn’t move so quietly,” Marie said as she closed the lid to the laptop.

Sighing, Lexi got up from the couch and walked over. “Now what are you all up to?”

“Just doing some research,” Evelyne said innocently.

“You call that research? I call it ‘where the fuck is the bleach’,” Kat said as she backed away, still rubbing her eyes.

Evie came storming into the room and confronted Kat. “What in the hell are you saying to my grandmother?”

“I’m trying to figure out why they were looking at that type of stuff on the computer. Take it down a notch. Trust me, if you had seen what I did,” she shuddered, “you’d be asking the same thing.”

“Really.” Evie crossed her arms and sassed back, “There’s nothing they could show me that would shock me. You forget
I
grew up with them.”

Kat knew this would shock her and wanted her to suffer the pain of the image too. “I triple dog-dare you. No pun intended.”

“Fine.” Evie went over and lifted the lid of the laptop and quickly slammed it shut her face blanching. “Why … seriously … why would you want to look at that?”

“It’s research.” Leigh spread her hands as if it explained it all.

“Research for what?” Lexi wandered over, curiosity evident, and reached out her hand for the laptop. Evie slammed her hand down on the cover so she couldn’t open it.

“Don’t do it. Trust me; you’ll scar the little one for life. Shit, I’m not even pregnant and I think I scarred my future children.” Evie shuddered.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad.” Lexi tried to pry her hand away.

“A little help here ladies since you started this.”

“Well, see honey, it’s like this.” Evelyne reached for a book and handed it to Lexi. “We’ve gotten into reading smut. Did you know there are all these books out there that go into detail about s-e-x?”

Evie snorted, “Since when did you ever need to spell sex?”

“This isn’t your ‘regular’ sex, this is dirty s-e-x. And this Grey lady,” Evelyne tapped the cover of the book, “she’s out of this world crazy when it comes to writing about s-e-x. Really good, too. Gets all your juices flowing.”

“Would you stop spelling it, we get the idea,” Evie practically screamed at them. “What does that have to do with your ‘research’ that has now blinded two of us?”

“Well, she mentions something that we didn’t think was humanly possible, so we looked it up. And who would have thought, it is possible. I’ll be damned.” Leigh said as she drummed her fingers on the table.

Kat cleared her throat, “And now thanks to you, I have no appetite for breakfast.” She walked back to the couch and picked up the newspaper to read. “What?” she asked as the paper was crumpled into her lap by Evie, who was now sitting in front of her.

“What are you doing to my brother?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass.”

“Stop fishing for compliments, you know you’ve got a great ass,” Kat sassed back.

“Very funny. Fine, let me put it to you this way. Stay. Away. From. My. Brother.”

Kat sighed; she really didn’t want to do this, but knew that she had to. “Let me put it to you this way. Your brother is a grown man. Your brother knows what he is getting into. Your brother can do whatever the hell he wants to. He has a mind of his own and is just as stubborn as you are. Since you couldn’t get him to back off, you thought you’d try me. I might be quiet; I might hang back in the shadows, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you walk all over me. Back off.” Having said her piece, she stood up to walk away.

Evie stood too, grabbing Kat’s arm to stop her. “Listen here, I won’t let you use him and then toss him away, leaving me to pick up the pieces. That bastard’s got a heart of gold and you’ll just crush it.”

Kat looked down at Evie’s hand still holding onto her arm and then back up at her. “Are you done?”

“Not even close.”

“Evie …” Lexi warned.

“No, Lexi, it’s got to be said. She came here, lied about everything to get a job close to you. She is so focused on revenge that she doesn’t care who gets hurt, as long as she can take Jeremy down. I won’t have my brother be a casualty of her war.”

“Wow, you really are a piece of work, aren’t you Evie?” Kat said as she shook Evie’s hand off her arm and walked away. “I’m only going to say this once. Whatever is between Jackson and me, is just that. Between
us
. We don’t need everyone else getting in the middle of it. What we decide to do, we decide to do. You don’t know everything. You don’t know what we feel for each other. You don’t know every little thing we’ve talked about. You don’t know ‘us’ as a couple. You don’t know shit and that is what really burns your ass. Get over yourself, lady; you have no reason to judge me so back the fuck off.” Kat was so pissed she was shaking.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Where do you get off being so high and mighty? You’re just another person with baggage from their past that they cling to instead of moving forward. Why? Because it’s so much easier than actually living.”

“Evie, enough.” Lexi started moving toward them.

“No, really Lexi, it’s fine. Let her have her say.” Kat folded her arms across her chest.

“So you can’t have kids. That sucks, but you know what? You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last. There are other things you can do in order to have kids. But no, you’ve got to go the whole, ‘the only way I’ll feel complete is to kill him’ route. Well, that doesn’t cut it. Suck it up, babe.” Evie slammed her hands flat on the wall next to her.

“You’ve had your say, now I’m going to have mine. You don’t know me. You know nothing about what happened to me. What I went through to even get to the place I am today. Yeah, I’ve got revenge on the brain; a lot of people would, so you deal with that. This is about Jackson and me, and the fact you don’t like it. Well, I seem to remember a time not too long ago when someone else pretty much said, “fuck it” to her best friend and decided to have a relationship with a man that looks
exactly
like the one who tried to kill her, not once, but twice. I see that’s okay, but not this, not what I did. Well, fuck you, Evie. Fuck. You.” Kat walked out of the room and up the stairs to her room, needing some time to be alone.

A little while later, there was a soft knock on Kat’s door. She turned and saw Evie and let out a sigh. “If you are here for round two, I’ll take a pass if it’s all the same.”

Evie ignored her, walked in and sat down next to her on the window seat. “I’m here to say I’m sorry.”

Kat looked at her in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done with Evie?”

“Very funny. I know. I don’t say I’m sorry that often. Probably not as often as I should, but in this case it’s deserved. I am sorry, Kat. I would really appreciate it if you accept my apology.”

“What brought all of this on? You ripped into your brother yesterday and me today. You seem pretty set in your thinking.”

“Well, I was. Then last night, Anthony tried to talk some sense into me. I woke up in a nasty mood, came downstairs, and there you were.”