Don't Lie to Me (34 page)

TWENTY-FOUR

After what seemed like an eternity of Jack and I glaring at each other, he finally spoke first. “You trying to make me jealous?”

He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow.

I wanted to smack him, and then I wanted to lick him. His neck, his jawline, all the way back to the sensitive part behind his ear that I knew drove him absolutely wild, because hot damn Jack was just the sexiest man I had ever seen or touched. And even angry at me, or me angry at him – and I still was – he was just perfection wrapped up in an even prettier package. Instead, I smiled sweetly, hiding every annoyance and sexually frustrated feeling. “I already told you. I like this band.”

“And Dean?”

God I hated that he couldn’t tell me what was really going on. I hated that he didn’t trust me enough to let me in. But I really enjoyed getting even, even if it was originally unintentional, by playing coy and letting him seethe in jealousy. Immature? Maybe. Deserved? Definitely.

I just turned my head and smiled at Dean on the dance floor. That boy could move, and for the second time that night, I knew Dean was going to make some woman incredibly happy one day. If he could move his hips like that on the dance floor, I could only imagine how he moved them in bed.

“It’s really none of your business anymore, is it Jack?”

“Damn it, Emma.” He took one more step closer to me, closing the space between us and whispered more harshly into my ear. “Have you stopped for one fucking second to think that I’m doing all of this to keep my promise to you? Don’t show up here, in a hotel and bar I own, with some other guy’s hands all over you and pull this game with me.”

I exhaled slowly.

“What promise, Jack? The one where you promised you’d fuck up? Because there were a lot of promises you made to me so you might have to be just a bit more specific.”

“The one where I promised I would keep you safe from all of the Senator’s bullshit because you’re mine and I will protect it at all cost, but you have to put a little bit of trust in me.”

“You fired me!” I hissed back at him. “And you’ve shut me out. If you want to protect me, then tell me what’s going on.”

In one quick second, Jack’s arm wrapped around my waist and I was pressed against his chest. We were both panting heavily, our chests rising and falling at an incredible pace and all I could think about was how amazing he smelled. His cologne mixed with just….him.

I breathed in heavily, and allowed my forehead to rest against his chest and relax. In that one second, everything was perfect all over again. The lyrics in the background, the only other sound I heard above our beating our hearts.

You can run away, but you can’t hide

You duck and dodge, keep it all inside

With a whisper, a wink, a spin of the wheel

At the end of it all, it’s no big deal

Only love is real

Only love is real

I just wanted Jack to let me inside, and to realize that all I needed was his love. But then he did, and I wanted to vomit.

I felt Jack inhale a large breath and then his free hand brushed my loose curls behind my ear. “He has pictures and a video…of us.”

Holy shit! My head snapped up and met Jack’s eyes. All the color drained from my face as I stared at him wide eyed. “What do you mean?”

With his eyes closed, Jack’s face scrunched up in a look of disgust. “Remember that night on the roof?” He choked the words out and I knew instantly what night….and what roof he was talking about.

“How?” My own voice sounded scratchy and barely audible. Oh my god. How in the hell could he have pictures of that night?

“It’s all I can tell you, but just fucking trust me that I’m handling this in the only way I can. And the only way that will keep you, and Logan, safe.”

“Brian?” I asked, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know anymore.

He took another large breath and shook his head. “Rehab. I told him if he didn’t go, I was cutting him off for good. I’m done covering for him, but I wanted him to have one last chance to get help. He’s down in Florida.”

I let that sink in for a few minutes before I slowly pulled away. I reached up slowly, to feel Jack but at the last second he took a step away and glanced around. Slowly the pieces were beginning to click together. He really had done all of this to protect me.

With a safe amount of distance between us, Jack pulled his hands from me and placed them in his pockets. He rolled his shoulders back and erased his emotions, business look finally stamped back in place. But his eyes told another story. I saw the passion and desire he still had for me.

“What I need you to do is stay away from any place that can be connected to me. You can’t come to my place again, or any club or building with McMillan involved. And I need you to stop letting other men paw all over you before I end up screwing up everything I’ve just put weeks into. You got me?”

Slowly, I nodded. I hated it, but I got him.

A slight smirk of his lips was the only indication he gave me that he saw me. Then he turned toward the dance floor, found Dean, and nodded his head in my direction.

“Everything okay?” Dean asked cautiously when he approached us and slowly went to put his hand on my shoulder.

He stopped, wisely, when Jack took another step forward and moved his hands from his pockets.

With the same feral look he gave Dean earlier, he unleashed it again as he spoke deeply. “I’m going to forgive you for touching Emma earlier because she didn’t know what the hell was going on.” Quickly, his eyes went to mine before he looked back to Dean. “But now she knows enough to know that I’m serious as hell when I tell you that if I see your fucking hands on her again, or your lips anywhere near any part of anything that belongs to me, you will regret it every day for the rest of your very short and very painful existence.”

Dean very quickly pocketed his hands in his jeans and rocked back on his heels. “Understood.”

I bit back a laugh.

Jack’s eyes came back to me, and while he was still distant, they were at least slightly softer when he glanced at my mouth before moving up to my eyes.

He smiled lightly. “I need you to tap your shit down and trust me. And trust that this will be over soon and I’ll explain the rest.”

“Okay, Jack.”

“Good.” He looked to Dean with a visibly pained expression. “Get her home. And keep her safe.”

As we walked away, I heard Jack shout, “And keep your hands off her.”

I laughed and from behind me, I knew Dean was doing the same. “He’s an intense asshole, isn’t he?”

He really had no idea.

“Sorry!” Logan shouted with glee as he picked his card from the top of the pile. We were in the middle of our fifth and never-ending game of Sorry!.

I moaned into my hands and cried out, “You’re killing me kiddo!” He really was. How a five year old could kick my ass in Sorry! I had no idea. But he did, almost every single time. Currently he had three of his blue guys at home, while I had all four of mine – make that three, now, spread throughout the board.

My phone rang on the kitchen counter, but I ignored it. I hadn’t spent nearly as much time with Logan as I was used to. With him spending more time with Marcus and having sleepovers, I was missing my favorite little man.

Logan simply laughed and filled his mouth with a handful of popcorn, half of which ended up in his lap and on the floor, while he moved his last piece from Start and kicked my red little piece back to home.

“You know, buddy,” I said teasingly while wiggling my eyebrows. “Someday you’re going to beat me so bad, I’m not going to play anymore.

It was a lie and he totally knew it. Smart little kid that he was.

He shrugged a shoulder and wrinkled his nose, a move so similar to Marcus that it now made me smile. It really was amazing how much of a mirror image he was to his dad. “Dad will play.”

“Ouch!” I said and reached across the coffee table, tickling him.

I don’t know what brought on the feeling, but suddenly as we were laughing and rolling over the floor, a tingle went down my spine and my head snapped up.

And my jaw dropped at what I was seeing on the television.

Oh my god. Marcus was right. Shit was about to get fun, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Completely forgetting about Logan or the game we were playing, I sat back down on the couch, vaguely heard my phone ringing on the kitchen counter again, and turned up the volume so I could hear what was going on.

I had the television muted while Logan was awake, but I had to hear this.

Because on the screen, on a stage in what looked like a press conference, was Senator Whitmore, and behind him, Marcus. He looked grim and all sorts of pissed off as he stood still as a statue with his shoulders tense and hands shoved into his pockets. A scowl on his face showed he was not happy with whatever the hell was going on.

As soon as the volume was high enough to hear, Logan turned to the TV.

“Hey, that’s daddy!”

“I know buddy,” I shushed him, rudely, but was too enraptured in the scene taking place to apologize. “Go put your pajamas on, Logan.”

“But mom!” he whined, as soon as I heard something that surely couldn’t have been anything about leaving office come out of the Senator’s mouth.

Oh my…..shit.

“Now, Logan.” I shot him my most serious don’t-mess-with-me look and turned back to the screen as he walked down the hall.

It was just in time to hear the Senator’s closing remarks. “I ask that you respect my family’s privacy as we get used to finding our new normal outside of our public office. To my constituents and the voters and others who have supported me for the last twenty five years while I’ve been in office, thank you for helping me make Illinois the great state it is today.”

He closed his eyes briefly before turning his head to Marcus. He nodded once while Marcus stayed as still as he had been the entire time. Had I not known that they didn’t have any sort of relationship to speak of, it would have looked almost resigned, and like a father needing comfort and support from his son.

Instead, he looked defeated, and as the Senator’s – or now former Senator’s jaw tightened – I saw the briefest flash of anger and malice he shot towards Marcus. Whose expression didn’t change. Not one single bit.

Marcus may have refused a relationship with his dad, but damn, in that second, I knew how much he had learned growing up a Whitmore and I thanked God that he wasn’t the man his father wanted him to be.

But that realization and thankfulness did nothing to stop the sudden rampage of questions flooding my mind. What in the hell did Jack get on the Senator, that was powerful enough to not only stop the photos of me and him from being released, but caused him to step down from his beloved throne of power midterm?

I was still sitting there, watching the newscasters and political analysts discussing Senator Whitmore’s decision to step down when Logan came out dressed in his pajamas.

“Why was daddy on TV?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and trying to stifle a yawn.

“He was just working, honey.” I scooped Logan up in my arms just as my phone began ringing again. I stopped in the kitchen to see Macy calling.

Assuming she had seen what was on TV as well, I decided to ignore her call until Logan was in bed. I was going to need wine, or something stronger, to talk to her about this.

Senator Whitmore stepping down from his Senate seat, but I didn’t know why. This was huge.

Would this fix things between Jack and I? Did I want it to? Of course I wanted Jack back. But did he have to end a man’s – granted, an asshole of a man – career in order for that to happen between us? Was I worth that?

Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I leaned down and gave Logan a kiss on his temple.

“Come on, buddy. Bedtime.”

“Can I call daddy and tell him I saw him on TV?” He asked with wide-eyed wonder.

Shaking my head again, I carried him down the hall. “He’s busy working. We’ll call him tomorrow. Okay?”

He wrinkled his nose and I pretended to bite it off, causing all sorts of laughter. “Fine.”