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“The first one is that you stop trying to reopen her husband’s case.”
Since the case was—at this point—cracked open so wide it could swallow this whole town, that one might be hard to abide. Still, Jack nodded as if he agreed. “And the second?”
“Leave my baby brother out of this whole thing. For good. Don’t go making people think he’s a dirty cop. He’s not.”
Jack shivered, CJ’s words making him feel colder than the air around them. And ifhewas this cold, Robin must be freezing in that dress with no coat. He took a slow step toward her, but CJ didn’t like that, evidently, because a flash of silver shone in the moonlight as he lifted his arm. Jack raised his own weapon, every cell in his body on high alert.
“Tell me what happened that day,” Jack said calmly. He hadn’t asked the mayor or anyone else to send help to the skate park, but since they’d known where he was going and why, he had to believe that help was on the way. He had to trust that tonight, unlike the day Matthew was killed, backup would arrive.
The flash of silver arced through the air as CJ gestured wildly, making Robin flinch. It was all Jack could do not to go to her. He wanted to comfort her. He yearned to tell her that they’d be fine, and help was surely on the way. Even if it wasn’t, he’d have been a fool not to grab his personal weapon from the center console before he’d exited the car, and Jack was a lot of things, but a fool wasn’t one of them.
“Man, I didn’t even know I’d killed that cop until after it happened,” CJ said with a long sigh. “I was in a bad way that day. High out of my mind. Holden came and found me at our mom’s place that night and told me what happened, and I was so wrecked. I didn’t even remember leaving the house that morning.”
Jack’s eyes burned as he heard Robin let out a quiet whimper. He strained to keep his eyes on CJ’s dark form even as he wanted to turn her way to make sure she was okay. That couldn’t have been easy for her to hear.
“So, I guess you can’t help us understand what happened that day at the park… but after? Did Holden help you get away?”
CJ took three huge steps forward and lifted the gun, but Jack stood his ground. At this distance, he could tell it was a .38. Whether or not it wasthe.38 had yet to be proven, but there was no way he’d let that gun end any more lives tonight.
“I told you to keep my baby brother out of this,” CJ snarled.
“No worries. Will do. Let’s all just stay calm and talk this out.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. This is simple, bro. I grabbed your girl because I wanted to show you I could. Any time, any place. You drop this whole thing and leave my brother out of it, and I’ll leave her and her kid alone.”
Now that CJ was closer to him, Jack decided to sidestep toward Robin. But CJ mirrored his pose, so he froze, not wanting to take this standoff closer to her.
“What’s it gonna be?” CJ asked.
“I’m sorry, man, I can’t do that,” Jack replied, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he caught sight of movement behind his target.
“You what? What do you mean? You don’t have a choice!”
“He has more than a choice,” a strikingly familiar voice said from the shadows. “He has backup.”
As CJ turned, the night around them was illuminated by red and blue as six police cruisers flipped on their lights. Tommy’s hulking form was right behind CJ, his weapon drawn, and a wry smile on his street-hardened face.
CHAPTER20
Robin
Tommy’ssilent arrival had been shocking enough, but as he and Jack disarmed and handcuffed CJ, Robin’s jaw dropped when Holden stepped forward.
“I’m sorry, CJ. I just didn’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Holden said, tears filling his eyes as he stood before his brother.
Another officer appeared to put Holden in a matching set of handcuffs, and as Tommy and the other officer led the two Snitkers away, Robin finally snapped out of her stupor as Jack reached her side.
He yanked her from her seated position on the ramp, and she curled into the hard wall of his chest. She shouldn’t have felt so comfortable since no one would attempt to cuddle with something that felt as if it were made of stone, and yet there she was, nestling into him as if he were a warm bed after a long day.
Jack pressed rough kisses against the top of her head as he held her close, then his hands moved from her body to her cheeks, and he pulled her away as if he needed to get a good look at her. Robin did her best to put on a brave face, but she knew he saw the truth in her eyes. She’d been terrified, plain and simple.
Not for herself, of course. She hadn’t let herself think about what could have happened while she was alone with the man who killed her husband. No. She feared for Abby, first and foremost. That was how CJ had gotten her away from the ball. He’d threatened to hurt her if she made a scene, so she went with him quietly and willingly, because what else could she have done?
And then, once they’d made it to the skate park, he told her to text Jack and tell him where she was. At first, she’d thought she was clever for not drawing attention to the small wristlet dangling from her arm. She’d hoped maybe someone could trace her cell once they discovered she was missing, and then she’d be saved. But once CJ had told her his plan to lure Jack here and make him promise to let go of the case, she realized he likely would’ve made her leave her wristlet at the ball if he hadn’t wanted her to have her phone.
And when Jack had arrived—just as CJ had counted on—a new source of terror had spread through her chest. Fear for him. That CJ would hurt him… that she’d watch him get shot right in front of her and lose another man she loved to the very same monster.
She’d been so wrapped up in all that ice sheeting down her back, that it wasn’t until Jack drew her closer and pressed a long, warm kiss on her trembling lips that she realized she was legitimately freezing.
