Jacked (67 page)

Adam tossed the length of rope aside and then brushed my hair over my shoulder. “You’re not like that, Erin. You could never be. Is that what scares you?”

Oh God, yes
.

He must have sensed my discomfort because he grabbed the thin blanket from behind his head and pulled it around my shoulders.

“Look at me. Tell me the truth. Let’s lay it all out. Did your mom ever hit you?”

He was dead serious asking.
Do I look as though I’ve been physically abused? Maybe he thinks…

“No. Never.”

He nodded once. “Your dad? He ever hurt you, or your sister?”

“No. My parents never hit me or Kate. They yelled plenty but never smacked us or anything.”

He pulled the front of the blanket together, covering my exposed chest. “Sweetheart, that’s my point. You didn’t come from an abusive home and neither did I. What makes you think that you’d ever be capable of doing that to yours?”

He didn’t understand. “Why does it happen then? So many women just snap. They lose their minds. I’m sure not all of them came from abusive homes or whatever, but they do it anyway.”

“You have a fear. I get that. But you’ve also dedicated your entire life to taking care of sick people. You honestly think you’d turn into the exact opposite of who you are now? I can’t see that happening, Doc.”

“She poisoned her baby, Adam. Medical exam said it had been going on for a little while. She kept on adding it little by little to her formula and then every time I babysat she’d have
me
feed it to Hannah so it looked like I was the one trying to kill her. Mrs. Morton didn’t seem psychotic, but she was. Her new boyfriend didn’t even know she had a kid at home.”

Adam rested his hands on my upper arms. “You’ll never be like that, Erin.”

“How can you be so sure?”

His mouth smashed into a hard line. “You remember a few weeks ago when I had that head cold? One sign of a sniffle and you were all up over here with vitamins and saline shit for my nose, making soup and hot tea for me. Remember?”

He’d really had an upper respiratory infection which I was worried might turn into Bronchitis when he started coughing. Then he’d need corticosteroids and…

“Erin, remember?”

“Yeah. So?”

“My own mother never made a steam tent with a towel for me, Doc. You think someone who would do all of that for a grown man would be capable of doing any less for an infant she grew in her own body?”

His brow tipped up.

My mouth poised to argue but I had nothing. “But…”
Oh hell. Was I really this pathetic?

The reality of my fears felt heavy, making my shoulders slump. Defeat was exhausting. And there he was, completely naked underneath me, still giving a shit. His compassion for my mental breakdown was written all over his face.

I rubbed the bands of rope still around my calf between my fingers. “What are these ropes made out of anyway?”

Adam dropped his gaze.

“You put truth serum on them or something?”

He chuckled softly, tracing the braid under his hand. “Something like that.”

I took a few regrouping breaths, relieved to see the severity that marred his face earlier had subsided. That’s when it dawned on me. Not only did the truth spill out of me while bound in his magical rope, so did his.

I traced my finger around the curve of his pectoral, delving into the area of his heart, circling the spot. “You really want children, don’t you?”

He met my eyes. “Yes. Eventually.” He covered my hand with his, pressing it flush to his warm skin. His other hand reached up, his thumb softly brushing the edge of my jaw. “But I want to have them with you.”

“Even after all of that?”

“Yes. We may have to live with our guilt, Erin, but together we won’t let it define us.”

I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve this man but I now knew I’d kill to keep it. Both of us, damaged and flawed, and yet together we were more than the sum of our fears.

Words he’d spoken to me rang true and snapped all the pieces together—he made me want to be a better woman.

This is what love was truly all about.

TABITHA MORTON HAD
been indicted by a grand jury on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police.

I scrolled down the screen, seeing justice had been served when she’d been sentenced to life behind bars. Erin had been named as a witness for the prosecution but all other information and original charges had been expunged from record.

Good. That’s good.

I rubbed my forehead, imagining her at sixteen, scared shitless, facing murder charges. And now she was dating a cop who loved seeing her wearing his handcuffs. That was something I’d have to curb going forward. I probably forced her to relive some dark moments while testing her limits.

“Erin all moved out?”

Marcus leaned on the cubical wall divider behind me, coffee mug in hand.

I closed the link to the judicial system web portal. “Yeah. Got everything out yesterday.”

“Sorry I couldn’t help ya.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Now that they extended the hours at the bank, Cherise has been working every other Saturday.”

“No worries, man. We had enough help. She didn’t have that much shit actually.”

“You sure about moving her into your place?”

“I moved her into my house; her furniture and stuff is all in storage.”

Marcus tossed his eyes. “That’s not what I mean.”

“I know what you mean.” I wasn’t stupid. “Let me ask you a question—were you sure about marrying Cherise when you did?”

His eyes widened a smidgen. “You at that point already?”

I leaned back in my chair. “No. Just trying to make a point.”

Marcus bobbed his head. “When you know, you just know.”

“There you have it.”

“You ready for marriage? That takes shit to a whole new level.”

The rickety chair protested when I leaned back farther. “Slow down and let me enjoy living in sin for a while. We got time. For now, going to sleep and waking up just got a whole lot nicer.”

“Yeah, well. Enjoy that shit while it’s
nice
. We’ll have this conversation again when your balls are blue from too much hallway sex.”

“Hallway sex?” He stumped me with that one. I hadn’t fucked Erin at the top of the steps yet, but I could move that location up on the to-do list if it was recommended.

“Listen, there are three different types of sex in a marriage. There’s exciting sex, necessary sex, and hallway sex. Exciting sex is the kind of sex you’re having right now, when you first hook up and can’t wait to get at each other. Necessary sex comes along after you’ve been married a few years and your woman sees it as more of chore than anything. And hallway sex is after you’ve been married so damn long, you pass each other in the hallway and say ‘fuck you!’”

I cracked up laughing.

“There’s actually a fourth kind of sex,” he continued, “but we don’t like to talk about it. That’s courtroom sex—where your wife and her lawyer fuck you in public. Ain’t no man want to get anywhere near that kind of sex.”

My gut started to hurt. “You’re too much.”

“That’s what she said.” He grinned broadly at me.

I hopped up and gave him a pat on the arm. “Any lawyer tries to fuck me, I’m capping his ass.”

“Damn straight. Trick is not letting it get there by picking the right one.”

I stopped. “You don’t think she’s the right one?”

“Didn’t say that. She’s as right for you as they come. Shit between you and Nikki was toxic. I think Erin keeps you balanced. Just don’t let yourself get off course.”

I adjusted my utility belt, forcing myself to focus. Someone out there was threatening to ruin everything I held sacred.

Someone had fired twelve shots into Erin’s house.

She didn’t know about the two rounds I’d found embedded in her bedroom wall yesterday, but thankfully she didn’t argue when I said I was driving her to work tonight.

Somebody had been watching her house, watching her, and there was no telling how long it had been going on.

The anger seethed inside me, begging for an outlet; someone was stalking the woman I love.

Worry also compounded on top of that, knowing the fucker was still at large.

I climbed into the passenger seat of our rig, fighting the remorse. Nikki was psychotic to a certain degree and extremely vindictive, but I’d never thought she’d go this far.

IT WAS ALMOST
two in the morning when dispatch relayed the call that alarms were going off at another dealership.

When Marcus heard the name and location, one look between us made him punch the gas pedal. Control gave me the callback number as I’d been requested by name by the caller.

We were about a mile away from Novak Ford when I turned on the two jackasses in our back seat. “You cannot film any of this. I see you even touch your equipment and I will arrest you both for obstruction of justice.”

Ritchie held up his hands. Scott was too busy fucking with his phone to acknowledge me.

“Scott, you copy?”

Fucker twitched when I yelled. “Yeah, yeah.”

I didn’t have time to figure out what his problem was. Other units were already on scene when we rolled up. After checking in with them I assumed tactical command. This was my show now. Erin’s dad, Steve, was standing near his car with an officer while others cleared the scene.

“Steve.” I shook his hand and gave him a manly hug though it was clear he was stressed. I’d seen him just yesterday when he moved his daughter into my house, and was getting familiar with seeing his scowl.

At least he was cool about it, though Erin’s house getting shot at was not making me his favorite person at the moment.

“Thanks for coming, Adam. Guess it was just a matter of time, huh?”

I pat his shoulder, hating we were meeting like this, and completely pissed this bullshit was now touching those I’d consider family. This shit had to stop, like yesterday. “Hang tight a sec.”

As I’d suspected, the maintenance area of the dealership had been breached. The door locks had been snapped with what looked like a crowbar wedge.

It was going to be a long night.

ERIN’S FATHER RUBBED
his forehead. “Well, it looks like they just got the five new deliveries that were in for premaintenance inspection.”

It was eating me alive that I hadn’t been able to stop them before they struck again. Saying I was sorry didn’t alleviate my guilt.

“This isn’t your fault, Adam,” Steve said.

Yeah, it kinda was. “I’ll check in with you later. I have to go pick up Erin.”

I could sense Marcus was ready to roll. He’d taken Dumb and Dumber back to Headquarters hours ago, dumping them off of our watch. Both of them had been squirrely—Scott especially. Guess if they weren’t busy making my life fucking miserable, they were bored.

Steve glanced at Marcus and then back at me. “Adam? A word?”

“I’ll be waiting outside,” Marcus mumbled, eyeing me.

Steven closed his office door. I knew what was coming next.