Reclaim Me (The Jaded Series Book 2) (21 page)

“I will, but you’re really starting to worry me. Is it something I need to know about right now?”

I can hear the uncertainty in her voice, and I try to lessen it by telling her, “Nothing you need to worry about right now. I just want to be cautious.”

“Alright, I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay, Pix. Bye.”

“Bye, Sheriff.”

Not having any answers is killing me. I hate not knowing what to expect next. Is Tessa done screwing with Mia? If she’s not, what does she have planned next? The cop in me says she’s not done. We don’t normally get cases like this in Jaded, but I hear word of other cases in nearby big towns all the time. Some end good and some not so good. If Tessa is willing to go so far as paying someone to rape Mia, which is a felony, then I wouldn’t put it past her to go even farther. I just don’t know how far she’s willing to go.

T walks out of the bathroom and pulls me from the turmoil going through my head.

“Hey, T, how you doing, bud?”

“I’m fine, Dad. Can you stop asking that?” Irritation laces his voice.

“No, I can’t. I’m your dad, and I worry about you. There’s something going on with you, and you won’t tell me what it is. Until you do, and I know you’re okay, you’re going to have to get used to me bugging you. Got it? And don’t roll your eyes at me. That shit stops now,” I tell him before he can do just that. It’s a struggle, but he manages to keep his eyes on mine, instead of rolling them.

“Whatever. I’m going to bed.” He turns to leave but turns back when I call his name.

“I love you, Son.”

“Love you, too,” he mutters before going to his room.

I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. Tomorrow’s agenda is to sit down with T to discuss what’s bothering him and to find out if he knows anything more about his mother. I never would have thought that my own son could be involved with something so fucked up as this. I feel my blood starting to heat at the thought of Tessa involving him. When I get my hands on her…

I get up from the table and go grab a beer. Loafer follows me cautiously. She senses that I’m not in the best of moods. I’d never hurt my dog, but she’s never liked being around when there’s tension in the air. I guess that stems from the abuse she endured when she was a pup.

I twist off the cap and take a healthy swig. There’s not much more I can do at the moment. I need to talk to Mia first and then T tomorrow. I would talk to him tonight, but I want him to have a good night’s rest before I grill him. I’m not looking forward to it, but I know it needs to be done. I just hope my assumption is wrong, and he knows nothing.

Chapter Twenty

Mia

Her ass…

“Whoa, hey, what’s your hurry there, Mia?” Andrew says, as he watches me rushing around doing last minute finishing touches behind the bar. The last customer of the night didn’t want to leave, so now I’m running late getting to Mac’s. I’ve already texted him to let him know that I was going to be late.

“I’m late. I’m stopping my Mac’s house on my way home. He needs to see me for something,” I tell him and grab my purse from under the bar. I lift the partition and leave it up. “I need you to walk me to my car.”

“Oh, I see. He needs to ‘see’ you for something. Is that a code name for ‘come give me a fuck’?” I turn to give him the evil eye and see a smirk on his face. I want to go over there and smack the look off his handsome face.

“Get your ass over here and walk me to my car. I’m not going over to fuck Mac.”

“Why the hell not?” He asks, walking up to me with a genuine confused look.

“Just because.” I give him the generic answer people use when they want to avoid giving a real answer.

I tell Hoot bye on our way down the hallway towards the back exit. Andrew opens the door, and I walk out into the darkness before him.

“Well, maybe you should. Or…if not, you can always put in a good word for me.” he adds with a big grin.

“What about Jase?”

He lets out a pathetic sigh and says, “He’s not here yet.”

I laugh at his poor boy expression. The man seriously has it bad, and he hasn’t even met the man yet. I really hope Andrew’s not disappointed with Jase when he gets here. He really needs to find someone that will appreciate him and his brand of crazy.

I stop at my car and pull out my keys. Normally I don’t lock my door, but since I found out someone slashed my tire, I’ve been locking both my car and my house. I’d prefer not to take chances.

I turn back to Andrew after unlocking my car and pat his shoulder. “You’ll survive. I’m sure you can find someone to satisfy you until Jase gets here.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he says noncommittally.

I reach over and give him a hug and kiss before getting in my car and starting it. I put down my window.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, young lady,” he tries to say in a stern voice, but he ruins it when his lips twitch.

“So, that pretty much leaves nothing then.”

He gives me an evil laugh before replying with, “Yeah, pretty much.”

I shake my head at him and start my car. I drive off to the sound of him still laughing.

It doesn’t take me long before I’m pulling up to Mac’s house. Each minute that brings me closer, the more anxious I become. I’m nervous to discover the information he wanted to tell me. There’s no telling what it could be. His attitude on the phone with having someone walk me to my car makes it sound like it’s not good news.

I called him a couple minutes ago to let him know I was almost there. I see his silhouette sitting on the porch swing. That swing brings back many memories. As teenagers, we sat on that porch swing many times. I even recall some pretty heated make out sessions on it. I feel a tingle in my nether regions at the thought.

Knock it off, Mia. That’s not why you’re here.
I abolish the thought from my mind.

I get out of my car and lock it. I walk across the yard and feel Mac’s eyes on me the entire time. By the time I make it to the steps, he’s at the top waiting on me. I ascend the steps, and he grabs my hand when I’m standing in front of him. The light on the porch isn’t that bright, but enough to where I can see something in his expression. I just don’t know what it means.

He bends his head and brushes his lips lightly across mine. I’m disappointed when he pulls back too quickly after the soft caress.

He leads me over to the porch swing and takes a seat, bringing me down beside him. He takes my hand that he still has and places both of ours in his lap.

“How was work?” he asks in the darkness.

“Not bad. The usual for a week night.”

I feel the swing start to sway.

Getting antsy to know what he wants to tell me, I prompt him with, “What did you want to talk about?”

He’s quiet for a minute, before he answers, “As you know from our conversation earlier, I have T here with me.”

“Yes,” I answer him, which I find a little strange because he wasn’t supposed to get him until next week.

“I tried calling Tessa earlier to set up a time to talk to her. I didn’t want to cause suspicion so I was going to tell her it was about T. She never answered and never returned any of my calls. A few hours after I first started calling her, T called to tell me that his mother was late picking him up from Taekwondo. He hadn’t heard from her either. I picked him up and took him to Tessa’s to pick up some of his things. I had decided on the way to pick him up, I was done being nice. She messed up too many times regarding him.”

I give his hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Mac.”

He’s quiet for a few more minutes. Just looks out into the darkness. I sit beside him, waiting for him to gather his thoughts.

“When we got to her house there was no sign of her. It was strange that she wasn’t returning my calls. And to top it off, she forgot to pick T up. When I went to her room, I discovered clothes thrown all over the place, as if she packed in a hurry. Half her clothes are gone.”

My grip tightens in his. The more he says, the more pissed I become. How could a mother just leave her son like that? There’s no way she could know that something wouldn’t happen to him. What a fucking low down dirty bitch.

“So, she just left Trent at Taekwondo and took off? How in the fuck could someone do that?” I ask Mac, my voice angry.

“Someone that’s scared her game has been found out,” he says quietly.

“That may be so, but it also sounds like a selfish bitch out just for herself.”

“That’s not all I found out. When I got back here, I accessed her financial records. She withdrew the same amount of money the guy received for slipping you the Rohypnol. She also took out five thousand dollars yesterday.”

“Well, fuck me. Guess we know who tried getting me raped then.” My tone is bitter.

The swing shifts as Mac turns my way. I can feel him lean towards me.

“Look at me, Pix.” When I turn my head his way, he continues. “As much as I hate to say this, all we have is circumstantial. None of this proves that she paid the guy to rape you. I can put out an APB on her to bring her in for questioning, but that’s all. From the look of things, she’s not going to just willingly show up.”

I know all this, and it sucks. I may not be in law enforcement or a lawyer, but I know Mac doesn’t have enough to prove she’s to blame.

“I know, Sheriff.”

He cups the side of my face and brings his closer to me. “I need you to be careful and watch your back. She obviously has help, because it was a man that paid the guy and gave him the roofie. All we have is a description of the guy, and a vague one at that.”

“I’ll be careful, but I reserve the right to beat the bitch’s ass the next time I see her. She’s already fucked up my life enough, and I did nothing about it. I’m not the same innocent and scared girl I was before. To top it off, she’s fucking with an innocent child as well. She needs to be brought down a peg or two, and I’m just the person to do it.”

An expression that looks a lot like pride comes across Mac’s face before he clears it.

“You need to let me take care of it. As much as I love that you’re upset on my and T’s behalf, we need to do this the right way to make sure she receives the punishment she deserves.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t promise I can hold back if I see her. She’s fucked me over one too many times. She’s already stolen too many precious things from me.”

I turn my head away from Mac and stare out into the darkness. The hatred I feel for Tessa is all-consuming. That woman has ruined so much for me. So much hurt has been caused from her obsession with Mac. Never have I wanted to hurt someone so much.

Mac puts his hand on my chin and turns my face back to him. “Baby, I know the pain she’s caused you. I carried the same pain. I lost something precious as well. You have no idea how much I want to handle Tessa a certain way, but I can’t. If it’s not handled the right way, she could get off scot-free. I’ve already bent the rules getting her bank statement. I can’t bend anymore.”

He’s right and I know it, but it doesn’t make it any less hard. Tessa deserves to suffer just as much as Mac and I have. No, she deserves to suffer more.

I nod my head at Mac because I can’t verbalize my consent. My anger is too raw to say whether I can hold my temper or not the next time I see her, but I’ll try.

“Come here,” Mac murmurs, and I scoot closer to him. He puts his arm around my shoulders and I place one of my hands on his thigh. I lean my head against him, and we just sit in silence for a few minutes, both in deep thought.

“I missed this,” Mac says into the silence.

My heart hurts at the tone of his voice. I know he’s thinking about all the times we would sit out here, sometimes quietly. We would discuss what we wanted our futures to be like and we always agreed that our future would include each other. In those times, I couldn’t imagine my life without Mac beside me. I would imagine an older version of us sitting on our own porch swing watching our kids play in the yard.

Sadness hits, and I have to clear my throat before I can talk.

“I have, too,” I tell him quietly.

Mac starts running his fingers softly against my shoulder. His other hand reaches over and grabs mine that’s resting on my lap. He starts playing with my fingers. It’s relaxing, and I lean even more against him. From the light of the porch, I look down and watch as he runs a finger down between mine. The feeling is erotic, and my heart rate kicks up.

I take my hand from Mac and get up off the swing. Being so close to him in light of everything that’s going on is too much. I’m unsure of my feelings toward him. I’m still trying to determine if what we did the other night on his couch was a mistake. Obviously, my body wants to be with him, and even some of my heart does as well. I’m still scared though. Scared that something will cause it to fall apart again. Realistically, I know it’s stupid to think that way because it was Tessa that caused our break up, and she has no say so in our relationship if we choose to have one. However, a small part of me fears that there would be no recovering this time.

I hear the creak of the swing behind me, and I know Mac has stood up. A couple seconds later, I feel his warmth at my back right before he slides his arms around me and places his hands beside mine on the railing in front of me. He runs his nose along the back of neck, which causes goose bumps to appear on my arms.

“What’s wrong?” he asks at my ear.

“Nothing. Just thinking if starting a relationship with you would be smart.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? You’ve got to know I would never hurt you.”

He brings his body closer to mine, and I feel his erection come into contact with my ass. With him so close, it’s making it difficult to think straight.

“I know you would never hurt me on purpose, but we both know that shit happens sometimes that we have no control over.”

He starts placing small kisses along my neck. Of its own accord, my head shifts forwards, allowing him better access.

His voice is husky when he replies, “That’s true, Pix. But with everything I am and everything I have, I’ll make sure that never happens. Wouldn’t we be worth the chance? What we had, what I know we can have again, would be worth anything. Take a chance on us, baby. Take a chance, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

I stand there and take in his words, wondering if I should give in and hope for the best. Such a big part of me wants to give in, turn around, and throw myself at him. I know that if we could get back what we had, it
would
be worth it. Can I be courageous enough to give us another chance?

Yes!
My mind and heart screams simultaneously.

I lean my head back against Mac’s shoulder and tell him softly, “Okay.”

I can feel his lips against my neck form a smile, which causes my own to tip up. I reach one of my arms back and twine my fingers in his hair to hug him closer. He releases one of his hands from the rail and brings it around my stomach right below my breasts. He squeezes me to him and continues to trail his lips up and down my neck, nipping away at the tender skin there.