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Chapter Ten
Jennie retrieved her car keys, last minute she grabbed her firearm, and slipped out of the dark house. Driving to Kane’s place, she made up her mind that she would be insisting on answers. If they weren’t the ones she needed, he would be sorry.
Once she arrived and saw the darkened exterior and no lights showing inside, she sat on the rickety porch steps and looked around at the disgusting yard. Stacked-up garbage had collected on one side by the poor excuse of a fence while weeds and plastic beer bottles lay scattered everywhere else. How dismal?
Thinking back to the boy she’d known, who had fathered her wonderful child, she couldn’t envision him living here like this. It made her sad and that sadness weakened her resolve not to let memories have any power over her emotions.
Sitting in the darkened place with just the streetlight for company, Jennie couldn’t fight off the strong urge to remember. Brooding, she let herself go back in time to the day they’d spent together, the day she’d invited him into her body and her heart.
They’d been careful until then not to let their affection for each other get out of hand… but that last day had been perfect. They’d gone on a picnic to a place where the trees had sheltered their blanket, the birds had serenaded them, and the sun’s warmth had heated their bodies. That setting excited their passions so neither could deny their need to belong to each other.
The sweetness of their actions had stayed with her long after he’d left until looking back became too dangerous, and she’d blocked it from happening. Now, here in this place, darkness surrounding her, she revisited that time and her heart sped up. Breathing harshly, she again felt the joy of being with the love of her life, giving herself to him so it felt as if they’d become one.
That vision of young love had been like a talisman for any other relationship she’d been in, and the men had always come up short. Earlier, seeing the boy as the man he’d become, she refused to believe that her heart had rejoiced. Never again would she give that asshole a chance to hurt her like he had before. All she needed from him was the assurance that he would leave Lisa alone… stay away for good, no matter what. Then she never wanted to see him again.
Swiping at the tears she suddenly found on her cheeks, she sniffed and straightened her spine.
“You looking for me?”
***
Kane hadn’t been able to ignore Jennie in tears. Pulling his truck around the corner, he’d sauntered back in the direction of the house and arrived as if he’d just shown up. Seeing the woman breaking down had been more than he could bear. Calling himself all kinds of a fool, he’d known it would have been better for both if he’d stayed hidden.
Yet here he was. Idiot with a broken heart and a soft mushy core she mustn’t see. Fuck! His acting skills were nil. He’d have to rely on her dislike of him to stiffen his spine.
“Why are you here?” Even to his ears, his words sounded curt and unfriendly. Good. His skills were better than he’d reckoned.
Jennie stood quickly, too quickly, and her heel caught on the broken step. Before she knew it would happen, her body lost its balance. If not for his arms catching her close, she would have toppled over headfirst.
He smelled the scent from her freshly washed hair and the hint of perfume near her face. If he could just close his eyes and draw her near, hold on, and never let go, life would suddenly right itself. He sensed that so strong that he pretty much pushed her from him a bit too roughly and stood back. He couldn’t ruin months of work for everyone on the task force. It wasn’t in his nature. Work had always come before anything personal. Then again, nothing personal had ever been more important… well other than Dave.
He lashed out at her. “You shouldn’t have come. This is a rough neighborhood.”
“Tell me about it! How can you live here?”
He waved away the words he sensed she’d said just to give her time to get focused. “That’s not why you’re here.”
“No. I came because I found a notebook our daughter wrote in, describing her visit and what she’d overheard. Earlier, I wanted her to go to the authorities if she felt there was anything unlawful. But I hadn’t read her notes yet. Once I did, I understood what had happened. I want you to promise to go to the police yourself. Before I take this… this goddamn disgusting plan to the boss.”
Kane had half expected her lecture, only he’d figured that Lisa would have told her mother what she’d overheard. Then finding out she’d become a reporter, he fretted that she’d write the story rather than tell her mother. Now it seems she’d done neither. Jennie had only found out by reading the notes. He had to keep those pages from ever being written up for the public.
“Jesus, Jennie. You have to stop her. She can’t expose what she overheard. Those men she wrote about aren’t playing games. They’re dangerous criminals and would think nothing of silencing her for good.”
“Are you threatening us?” The disgust in Jennie’s voice was palpable.
“Yeah, I am. You don’t need this kind of trouble. Trust me, spray a live hornet’s nest and it would be nothing in comparison. The men she saw won’t let anything stop them.”
“And… you’re one of them.” Jennie’s face crinkled, her expression visibly screaming her position on the subject. “I’m disgusted, Kane. How could you let yourself sink so low? I remember the days when Trevor and you were inseparable. It’s unthinkable that the same person could be so twisted today. How could you want to hurt his people? This isn’t just waving a few banners as a right to free speech. This would be a violent act that would result in multiple murders.”
As if a knife had entered through his ribs and pricked his heart, her words were as effective. Sentiments he couldn’t argue with because he felt exactly the same way. Trevor had been more of a brother to him than his own, who mostly ignored the fact that he existed. Getting the old man’s attention had been the important thing and look where that got him.
Pretending not to care, Kane slouched away from her and leaned back against the porch post. With his voice filled with derision, he flipped her off. “You know what, I don’t care if you hate me. And yesterday I didn’t even know Lisa was alive. I need to get back to my world. And you need to get back to yours. It’s that simple.”
“Jesus!”
That one word held a shitload of insult, and his heart split open from the pain.
Standing straight, meaning every word, he ground out his final warning. “Just one thing, that’s all I ask. It’s what’s important, Jennie. So, promise me that you’ll stop her from taking her knowledge any further. Or at least until I give her the green light. That’s all I want. It’s for her own safety.”
Jennie started to walk away but stopped, turned back, and got right into his face. “One more thing that’s important, you prick. You let anything… I mean anything… happen to my kid, and I’ll hunt you down like the scummy rat you are and make you sorry for changing your morals and becoming such a bastard.”
Her finger pushed its final dig into his chest, and he had to forcibly stop himself from gripping her in his arms and kissing those hurtful words from her lips.
Instead, he pushed her away from him, as gently as he could yet still using force, and left her there as he took the steps two at a time and unlocked his door. Stopping in the now open entrance, he turned back and grunted the words she needed to hear. “Talk to Lisa. For her sake, don’t let her write anything about what went down. I mean it.”
“Oh, I’ll be talking to her, you have my word.” She started toward her car and stopped. “From what I read about the people you choose to hang out with, I don’t understand why you bother locking the door to that mansion.”
If she only knew.Back turned, lip tight between his teeth, he insultingly waved his hand over his head, understanding her last dig. Lisa must have described the inside of the place. Leaning against the now closed door, as broken as he’d ever been, he let his guard drop. He thought about her last words and a humorless grin appeared before his head dropped into his hands.
Hell, he’d never bothered to worry if anyone wandered into the joint because there had never been anything there worth taking. Truth was, other than Dave, nothing in his life held any importance… until now.
