Dangerous Defiance (9 page)

* * *

The partial moon lit her way down the last part of the hill. Jess’s leg hurt and she had to limp the final part of the trek. She checked her watch; it was five minutes to midnight. She hoped she was here before whomever it was she was meeting.

Pausing in the cover of some trees, she scanned the site. There weren’t any vehicles but that didn’t mean anything. She pulled her gun out of her bag and walked through the woods for as long as she could until she was close to the bright yellow police tape that cordoned off the damaged part of the dam. She went to it, ducking underneath it, trying to remain as quiet as possible even though rocks crunched under her feet. She gasped when some animal made a sound in the distance followed by footsteps coming up the path. She held her gun ready and ducked behind a pile of rubble when she spotted two men standing in the distance, smoking. One of them carried something while the other spoke into a telephone. She couldn’t quite hear what he was saying though, so she took a step to look around the wall she was hiding behind, but when she did, she set into motion a small landslide, sending loose rock down the hill. She hoped the noise of the river masked the sound, but the men clearly heard it because faster than she would have thought possible, the phone was gone and both men held guns ready, one of them shining a flashlight in the direction the noise had come from—in her direction.

These men were not here to inform her. Their purpose was something else entirely.

Jess’s heart was in her throat as the knowledge of how vulnerable she was at the moment dawned on her. She considered her options and readied her gun.

The men began to approach and just as they did, the animal howled again from another direction. She gasped when someone grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with a big hand and drawing her backward against a rock-hard chest.

Relief washed through her; it was Jackson. She recognized the fading scent of his aftershave, the solid feel of his chest.

“Shh,” he said in her ear, taking a step backward, carrying her with him. He kept his hand over her mouth though and wouldn’t release her as he stepped onto soft grass, making their way into the forest.

“Must have been an animal,” one of the men said. “She ain’t here yet.”

“I’m checking it out,” the other said, both of them coming closer. “Boss doesn’t want this fucked up.”

The flashlight shone on the spot where she had just been hiding. Jackson only released her when he had her well within the trees. They watched the men quietly when the light of the flashlight passed near their hiding place.

“Nothing here,” she heard one say.

“Fucking sticks!” the other said. “How the hell do people live in these ass-backwards towns?”

“Stay here,” Jackson whispered, pushing her to sit on the grass. “Do you understand me? Stay right here. Do. Not. Move.”

She stared up at him, opened her mouth but changed her mind and nodded instead. He walked back toward the men who still had guns drawn. The sound of an approaching car caught her attention and soon the headlights of the police cruiser came into view. The men were clearly not expecting this because when the headlights shone on them, they froze for a moment.

“Run!” one man yelled.

Jess rose to her feet, gripping her gun as Carl climbed out of the car, his gun drawn, shielding himself behind the door of his cruiser. Everything happened so quickly then. The men ran, both of them heading toward the woods in the opposite direction of where Jess had come from. A shot went off and she gasped, looking around for Jackson but not seeing him. She heard running and cursing, but it happened too fast. The next sound they heard was that of an engine from where the men had run into the woods. They had some sort of ATV; there was no way the cruiser could follow.

“Crap!” Jackson yelled aloud, slowing his run into the woods.

Carl ran to meet him, Jess approaching from behind. When Jackson saw her standing there, his glare in her direction had her trembling. Without a word to her, he turned to Carl.

“Call Bill in,” Jackson said. “This isn’t over.”

Carl glanced at Jess, who was following not too far behind. She noticed that Carl’s gaze traveled to her pistol.

“I’ll head back to the station and call Bill. You go take care of Ms. Manning. She looks a little shook up.”

Both men turned to her, Jackson’s expression telling her just how pissed off he was.

“Thanks, Carl. I’ll come to the station in a bit once I make sure Ms. Manning is safe.”

Ms. Manning
swallowed, eyeing his belt. Carl drove off and Jackson went to her, taking the gun she still held and sliding it into her purse.

“What in God’s name were you thinking?” he began.

She opened her mouth to speak.

“You know what? I don’t even want to hear it,” he said, taking her by the arm to walk her down the road. “Not yet.”

“Jackson…”

“I said not yet.” They walked a little ways to where he had parked his truck. He opened the passenger side door and lifted her into it, not even waiting for her to climb up.

“I’m sorry,” she began when he got inside. “I just…”

He looked at her and shook his head. “I don’t know why I expect you to listen to me now. Christ, you do realize those men were not here to give you any fucking information, right?” he asked, forcing himself to take a deep breath when he heard the anger in his tone.

She leaned slightly away, her eyes filling with tears.

He gripped the steering wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white. “We’ll take care of this at home,” he said. “You’ve got the whipping of your life coming, woman.”

She opened her mouth but closed it again, her eyes moving to his belt. They rode in silence to his house.

* * *

If he had been just five minutes later, it would have been too late. If he had not seen the note when he had, he would have been too late. She had known throughout dinner about this. Hell, she had known all day—the note was in the stack of papers she had brought into the office with her! She had planned on going alone all along and hadn’t said a word to him. He glanced at her sitting there, quietly staring out the front window, her body tense. His heart softened but she had to learn. Tonight’s act was the final straw. And it might have been her final night. No, tonight, he had to harden his heart to do what he needed to do.

They pulled onto his driveway and he climbed out. The house was set on a cul-de-sac partially out of town and his only other neighbor was an old man who had been living in New Hope for all of his ninety years.

He went around to her side, noticing how she waited for him. He opened her door and she climbed out, turning to him immediately.

“Jackson, I’m sorry. I just really want you to know how sorry I am.”

“That’s good to know, Jess, because you do realize you could have been killed tonight, right?”

She nodded, tears filling her eyes.

“Good,” he said, taking her by the arm and walking her toward his cruiser which was parked just in front of the truck. “That’ll make this that much more meaningful. Take your jeans and underwear down and bend over the hood of the car.”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I know. I understand my mistake, Jackson. I really do.”

The sound of his belt being unbuckled caught her attention and her gaze shifted to watch his hands work it free of his pants. Jackson kept his eyes on her as he drew it out, the sound of the thick leather sliding through the loops the only one in the otherwise quiet night. He doubled it over in his hand, keeping the buckle in his palm, and held it at his side. She swallowed and looked up at him.

“Oh, I think I do, Jess. Bare your ass and bend over the hood of the car, arms wide. Tonight you’re just going to take it. I’m not going to hold you down and I’m not going to warm you up…”

“Warm me up?” she asked, her attitude defiant again. “So you’ve been taking it easy on me?”

He took a step toward her, “If I have to cuff you, you’ll get double what I’m planning.”

“Double?”

“How many do you want? Sixty or a hundred and twenty?” he asked.

“A hundred and twenty?” Her shoulders slumped a little and she looked again at the belt. “Jackson, I…”

“So a hundred and twenty then?” he said, taking her by the arm.

“No, no, no! Wait. Ok, just a minute. Just give me a minute.” Her hands went to unbutton her jeans. “What if you just used your hand?” she suggested, her tone pleading as she unzipped her pants and gripped the waistband of the jeans. “Please, Jackson.”

“If I were you, I’d just want to get this done,” he said, nodding toward the car once more.

“What if someone hears?” she asked, taking her jeans to her knees.

Jackson found it interesting how she processed, how she resolved herself to punishment. Too bad she couldn’t resolve herself to just listening to reason. She had been completely reckless tonight.

“Guess you should have thought of that before you decided to try and get yourself killed.”

She flinched at his words and turned to face the car. She bent over slowly, extending her arms to the side like he’d said.

“I said panties down. I want your ass bare.”

Without a sound, she reached back to take them down to just beneath her hips. He reached for them and roughly pushed them to her knees. After a moment, she set her arms out to grip the sides of the car.

* * *

The metal hood of the car felt cool against her bare belly, her arms, and the side of her face. Jackson pushed her shirt up farther, exposing even more of her. He pressed on her low back, the action causing her hips to lift higher.

“Like that,” he said. “Ass up, like you did the last time. Legs wider.” He nudged her ankles apart with the tip of his shoe as he said it until her legs were as wide as her jeans would allow.

“Stay just like that and think about why you’re here bent over my car with your ass bared.”

“Jackson…”

“I said think, not speak,” he snapped.

She swallowed and kept her hips lifted, staring at the side of his house, her bottom exposed and awaiting punishment. The night was completely silent but for the occasional cricket and somehow, some way, she found herself drifting, found a sort of calm while waiting. It was strange, considering what was to come.

But when he stepped to the side ready to begin, that peace left her. She gripped the sides of the car and turned to the windshield. Her face reflected back against the dark glass, as did his form, and she squeezed her eyes shut when his arm moved, the sight registering first, then the sound of leather disturbing air, then that of contact with her tender, waiting flesh. It took a small moment but the next sound was her own exhale.

“Count,” he said.

He brought the second one down.

“Out loud,” he said.

The third stroke landed.

“I’d hate to lose track and have to start at one.”

“Four!” she called out at the next stroke.

The sting of leather was far worse than that of his hand. Those spankings had hurt but this, this was something else entirely. “Five.” She was struggling to hold her position and he was laying them down hard and fast. It wasn’t long before she found herself begging him to stop, to slow down at least. She was never going to make sixty.

“Jackson,” she began, straightening, beginning to turn.

His hand was on her back instantly. “Down. You do not want this belt to come down anywhere but on your ass.”

“One minute. Just one…”

“Down. Now.”

She bent again, her arms tucked beneath her chest, hands balled into fists. “Seventeen,” she said, looking straight ahead at her own face, tears falling onto the hood of the car.

“If you would have told me,” he began to lecture, his arm untiring, not needing to take a momentary rest, not even while he spoke. “We would have gone together. We would have maybe gotten both of those guys,” he said. “Count, Jess, or we start back at one.”

“Twenty-four.” She covered her face with her hands now, each stroke searing a new fiery stripe across her bottom and now upper thighs.

“We had dinner together,” he continued. “When did you get the note?”

“Twenty-seven…” She was squeezing her bottom tight and taking her hips from side to side.

“Soft. Soften or I’ll put something in your ass to make you soften.”

He had barely finished his sentence before her bottom was soft again. She did not want to find out what he was talking about.

“It hurts so much!”

“Well, you earned it. When did you get the note?” Another stroke.

“Twenty-nine,” God, were they not even halfway there? “Yesterday night. After you left.”

She saw him just shake his head. He paused for a moment after the next one, leaning down to look at her bottom. When his fingertips just barely touched the tender skin, she flinched. He rubbed very softly one cheek, then another.

She hoped he had changed his mind, that maybe he was going to stop.

“Thirty to go,” he said.

“Please.”

He switched the belt to his other hand and moved to stand on the other side of her.

“I’m sorry, Jackson. It’s enough, I promise.”

He paused. “Jess, three deaths are enough—they’re too many! I do not intend on adding a fourth to this tragedy.”

She looked at him from her bent position, the expression on his face not angry but more pained as he stood staring at her, his eyes moist in the moonlight. He was right, she should have told him. It was stupid for her to have gone alone. Hadn’t she known the note could have been a trick? She had, she absolutely had. Maybe had even known it all along but some part of her had still wanted to do it alone.

She nodded and turned to face forward, stretching her arms out to the sides again. She hollowed out her back and determined to take her punishment and he must have understood because when he began again, the strokes were no less painful but he no longer lectured and she simply counted. It wasn’t a peace she was feeling as her punishment continued, it was pain absolute, but in a way, his saying what he had said coupled with what she had glimpsed in his eyes, made her accept it, accept her punishment and it made some difference, as strange as that was. Her bottom throbbed as it paid the price for her deception and recklessness but she would take it. She would lie prone and take her punishment.