Jade (Rare Gems Series) (6 page)

“I’m coming home from the doctor
’s now and can be there in about ten minutes. Take her into the office and stay there with her. And the other little girl. Like you, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m not taking any chances. Blair is with me so I’ll let him know, but I think Emerald is talking to him.”
Jade told her she would
. “Jade, see if you can get anything else out of her without upsetting her.”

Taking over the little office in the front of the school was nerve racking.
Every time the phone rang, Angie would jump and the other girl, Alexis, sat and cried softly in the corner. She wasn’t a wolf but a panther, but there were no schools in her family as yet so she had ended up here.

“Am I in trouble?”
Angie looked ready to cry, and Jade wondered if she should call her dad and realized she had no idea what his number was. “She told me that she hated it here, and I only asked on account that I wanted to go here.”

“No, you’re not in trouble
. Not at all.” Jade sat next to her. “What did she say to you? Did she tell you he was only hurting her, or did she say how he was hurting her?”

Jade was
afraid of the answer, and when Angie looked nervous, too, she decided to have her wait until someone else came to talk to her about it. But Angie started talking before she could tell her she’d changed her mind.

“He makes them take off their panties and he touches them.”
Jade felt her blood run cold, then to hot lava. “He touches their private parts, and then he takes pictures of them with him. I asked her if she had to touch him, and she said yes. Daddy said that that’s bad.”

“It is.” Christ, her father had had
to talk to her about this? How did one even start a conversation about perverts and kids? “Did he touch you?”

“No. I would have cut his weenie off.
” Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Jade laughed. “Daddy said he’d hurt whoever touched me and said I was to tell a grown-up when it happened to me or somebody I know.”

“Your dad is very smart.”
Jade told Sapphire what Angie had told her.
“Can you contact Quentin? He’ll need to come here, too. He’s going to be pissed about this.”

Sapphire told her he was aware and should be there by the time they got there.
She told her that they were only about two minutes away. There was a loud noise in the front office and the door slammed open to show that Quentin had made it before they did. And saying he was pissed would be an understatement.

The police were called in
, but things went from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. Ben had barricaded the door and held the kids hostage with a gun. Jade had been moved out of the building to one of the police cars along with Angie. Quentin had only said three words to her when he’d gotten there, and those were clipped and harsh. She knew that things were not going to get any better either.

“Quentin is trying to talk to the teacher.
I had no idea he could do that, but the police said he’s one of the best when it comes to this type of situation.”
Jade was glad that something was going right and thanked Sapphire for telling her.
“He’s trying to get Ben to let the children go and to turn himself in before it gets worse.”

“What if he hurts one of the children?
More, I mean…what if he hurts one of them more?”
Sapphire said that they were handling it.
“I have to do something. I can’t just sit here.”

When Sapphire told her to sit still
, Jade got out of the car and stood up. She reached beyond the woods and found three of her buddies. Two were bears and one was a large snake. Emerald had told her that Ben was a wolf like them. She told them what was going on.

“I’m coming out to work with you.
Jeremy, I want you to get inside the building from the back and open the door for the rest of us.”
Jeremy told her he was nearly inside now. Jade worked her way to the back of the building until she found the door that led to the playgrounds.

When the door clicked unlocked
, she waited several seconds to make sure that Jeremy shifted back to human. Gilly, one of the bears, had brought his clothes with him and tossed them into the room just before all three went in. Shifting to their animals, Jade led them down the hall to the room where she knew the teacher was.

All the kids in the room were shifters of some sort
, so they’d not be afraid to see them come in. She did worry about what would happen to them if any of them had to kill Ben, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. The back door to the room was opened by Jeremy again, and they each slipped inside.

Ben’s back was to the room
as he stood there. He was at the door that led to the main hall, screaming at the person on the other side to get the fuck out of there. He was saying that he’d just leave when they moved. She knew when Quentin told him he wasn’t going anywhere that the negotiations were not going as well as they’d hoped. Especially when Ben threatened to kill a child a minute if he didn’t let him go. She told Jeremy to lead the kids out the back.

The last child was moving out the door when Ben turned.
He had the gun pointed at her and Gilly before she could blink. And as soon as she saw the look on Ben’s face, she knew that he was going to kill himself. Fucking bastard wasn’t going to go that easily.

She leapt at him just as he put the gun under his chin.
When Gilly growled, Jade knew that someone had opened the door, but it was too late to stop herself. She hit Ben just as the gun went off.

Chapter 6

Quentin
was so pissed, he was having a hard time not telling everyone to get the fuck away from him so that he could see to Jade. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do to her, but he knew it wasn’t going to be to thank her. She’d nearly gotten herself killed. He glanced up at the officer that had told him she wasn’t hurt.

“They’re taking her to the clinic.” Quentin looked at the ambulance as it pulled away.
“She’s gotten herself a good-sized knot on her head, and they want to make sure it’s nothing serious.”

“You told me she wasn’t hurt. You assured me that other than her clothes
being muddied, she was just fine.” Quentin had to stop before the man pressed him into the wall behind him. “You lied to me.”

“No
, sir, I didn’t lie. She got the knot on her head when she tripped over one of the other officers’ feet.” Quentin asked him who. “No, sir, I’m not going to tell you that either. You’d kill the man before he got a chance to tell you he was sorry. I know about mates, and all you see is red before you see reason. Jade is fine, but they wanted to be sure. She can be on the stubborn side when she’s got her panties in a twist over something.”

“And what does she have her panties in a twist over?
It certainly can’t be because she went into a hostage situation without proper backup and nearly got herself killed. She can’t be upset because the man she attacked could have hurt one of the others in the room with them. There can be no way that she’s mad because she brought my daughter into this.” Quentin glared when the man snorted. “You think this is funny?”

“No, no I don’t
, but as for her bringing your daughter in on this, I’m thinking you might want to talk to the captain. He seems to think your little girl and mate might have saved untold numbers of little girls being hurt by that teacher. In fact, that little kid of yours has all them others talking. Even the ones in the higher grades.” The young officer laughed. “That kid of yours…if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was Jade’s kid the way she’s barking orders around and telling them kids to fess up.”

He watched the man walk away
, still laughing. Blair was coming out of the room where his daughter was being questioned, and he nearly knocked someone down to get to him. They’d made him step out of the room earlier when he’d been upsetting the other children. Now that he thought about it, Quentin guessed that he had been. He’d been so scared that he’d been a little off his rocker.

“Angie is going to be out in a
second, but you have to straighten up.” Quentin nearly told him to go to hell when Blair spoke again. “You look in the mirror in the past hour? Your hair is standing on end and you have a glazed look in your eye that’s fucking spooky.”

Quentin
took a deep breath. “If I clean up, will they let me see Angie? I’m about ready to tear the door off the hinges if they don’t let me see her.”

“I can see that. But you go in there now and they’ll sho
ot you in the head. They’re all a little on edge and are just waiting to kill something. Jade took that away from them, and they need something to hurt.”

“She could have been killed doing something stupid like that.”
Blair nodded as he followed him to the bathroom. He might have been a little uncomfortable with that, but he noticed that the police were all standing around with their hands on their guns, and decided that if he had another freak attack like he’d had earlier, Quentin wanted Blair there to calm him down.

“The police are saying that your daughter is a hero. They’re keeping her name under wraps because of her being a minor
, but she did just what you told her to do.” Quentin splashed cold water on his face as Blair continued. “She told the first officer that she’d been told by you that it’s bad to have anyone touch them like little Alexis had told her that the teacher had done. You’re a smart man for that.”

“She was in a daycare center when one of the aides was arrested for molesting one of the children.
It was all over the paper for weeks and she wasn’t able to go back there. I had to tell her something, and decided that knowing the truth of what happened might save her one of these days.” Quentin looked at Blair in the mirror as he told him the rest. “That’s one of the reasons we came here. I didn’t want her to go through what one of the other kids had gone through when it leaked out what her name was. It was horrible for the little girl.”

“I bet.” Quentin started for the door and stopped when Blair stood in front of it.
“There’s something else you should know. I don’t know how you feel about it, but here you go. That girlfriend of yours is here. Sapphire just told me. She said she’s hanging around right outside this door to see you.”

Quentin took a step back from it and laughed when Blair did. “I’m going to have to have a talk with her I guess. She has to know that I’m no longer interested in a relationship with her.
Jade told me that…she explained to me that Debra might be Roger’s mate.”

“I would say she’s right. But she’s here now
, and so are the police. As I’d said earlier, they’re a might on edge and could hurt either one of you. I don’t care much for the bitch out there, but Jade might get a tad pissy with me if you get hurt. What do you want to do?” Quentin wanted to see his daughter, and then he wanted to see Jade. He looked at Blair.

“I’m going to have to face
her again sooner or later. I just wish she’d listened to me when I told her the other day she should go back to Texas. I was going to have a talk with her there.” Blair nodded and moved from in front of the door. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to shift to a big wolf and scare her off, can I? Just until I can work this out with the police and all.”

“Sorry
, buddy, but for as much as I like you, I’m not going to stand in front of you when a woman could be pissed. Not only could that woman hurt me, but Sapphire would tear her hair out one follicle at a time if she hurt her poor husband.” Blair grinned. “Might be fun to watch, but not today.”

When he opened the door after calling Blair a
traitor, he saw her before she saw him. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a salon, not a hair out of place and her makeup looked like she’d spent the past hour making sure she looked perfect. Not at all the way Jade had looked when he’d last seen her.

She’d been in the kitchen
with her grandmother arguing about something. Her ponytail was all askew, and her pajamas looked like something she’d had since childhood. There were giant strawberries all over the pants and a little girl with a strawberry on her head on the tee-shirt. When he realized she had no bra on, his cock hardened. Her grandmother made him take a step back when she smiled. Christ, he’d been ready to throw Jade on the counter, not caring at all that his daughter was there, too.

As soon as Debra saw him
, the transformation was immediate and profound. She looked as if she was going to sob right then, and her face screwed up into what he could only surmise as pain. He took a step back from her when she nearly leapt in his arms, remembering at the last moment what Jade had told him the other day about being marked.

“Quentin? Are you all right?”
She reached for him again, and he dodged her hand. When her face began to change into a grimace, he looked at Blair, who, despite his earlier threat, didn’t leave him. “What’s going on?”

“I just don’t want you to touch me.”
He’d said it low, but she heard him. “I don’t even know why you’re down here, Debra. I’ve asked you time and time again to go back to your home. Why are you still here?” He looked around, then at her again as Blair was called away. “Is it because of Roger?”

Her face took on so many changes that had he not been looking directly at her
, he would have missed them. She looked as if she was shocked for a second, no more, and then she was mad. The anger that surged from her had him take a step back, then another. Milliseconds later, she was as serene as though nothing had happened. Her smile, however, was brittle and harsh.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
What would…why would you think that Roger held anything for me that I’d stay? I’m in love with you, Quentin. I think I have been my whole life.” She took a step toward him, and he took another back. “Quentin?”

She was mad. Not pissed
, though he was pretty sure she was that as well. But stark raving mad, mad-as-a-hatter mad. When she smiled again, Quentin felt something move along his mind and he tried to shy away from it, suddenly very afraid. But when Jade spoke, he nearly looked for her.

“I can feel that
something’s wrong. What is it? Has something happened?”
He looked around and saw Blair coming to him, walking very quickly.
“Blair is coming to find you. He’s going to help you until I can get there.”

“Don’t.”
He had no idea what the fuck was going on, but her coming to him right now would not be good. Quentin was afraid she’d be hurt. Thinking about how he was speaking to her this way made him think he was a little off, too.
“I’m fine. I can see Blair. He’s coming to me now. It’s Debra. I think she’s lost her mind.”

“If she ever had one.”
He smiled and sobered when Debra cocked a brow at him.
“You’re very confused, aren’t you?”

“You think?”
He felt her laughter and relaxed with it.
“She’s telling me that she loves me and that she’s only still here because of me. I asked her about Roger and she, of course, denied it.”

“She would.
He will, too, I would imagine.”
Quentin moved toward Blair when he was close and walked away with him, leaving Debra standing there alone. He looked up at the man and let go of the breath he’d been holding.

“Jade said
that I was to protect your human ass.” Blair grinned as he chuckled. “Not in those words, mind you, but she did ask me to make sure you’re fine. Are you?”

“I’m not sure.”
And he wasn’t. The only thing he was sure of was the little girl running at him full tilt. When she leapt into his arms, he held her to him. “I’m all right now. Everything is just fine.”

~~~

She was stalling. Jade thought her sister knew it too and was laughing at her. When she got up and went to the smallish bathroom again to check the lockers in there, Sapphire finally asked her what the hell she was doing. There wasn’t enough room in this hospital room for her to move like she felt she needed to.

“He’s pissed off.”
Sapphire nodded as if she already knew it. “I don’t want him to hit me in front of everyone. It would piss Blair off, and he might hurt him.”

“Who
might hit you? Quentin?” Jade nodded at her sister’s question. “You don’t seriously think he’d hit you, do you? Christ, Jade, the man is nearly rabid for you. You should have seen him at the school. I thought he was going to tear Blair up when he didn’t let him in to see you. And when he found out you’d been hurt again, he nearly tore a cop’s head off.”

Jade wanted to believe her
, but she was too nervous. Men that she dated liked to hit. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if he didn’t. Smiling, she thought of Quentin tearing into the cop. Sapphire was saying something but Jade didn’t pay any attention until she said Debra’s name.

“What do you mean she said she’s in love with him?” Sapphire took a step back
, and Jade realized her wolf was surfacing. “I’m sorry, but do you think he loves her?”

“No, I do not.
The man is your mate. And besides, I think she’s mated to Roger, Quentin’s brother. Did you know that?” Jade nodded but still wasn’t entirely sure. “Jade, what is really the matter? It’s not just Quentin being upset with you.”

“He has a lot of money.”
Sapphire nodded. “And I don’t. Plus, and I know you know about them, there are all those bills that Kent took out for me. He’ll not want to be straddled with all those. I suppose you told him about them, too.”

“I didn’t have to. He said you mentioned Kent’s name and he took it from there.
He told us when we gave him what we had that he was going to take care of it.” Jade wandered around the room again. It was time to go, and she knew it. “Jade?”

“I don’t want to start this thing out, whatever it might be
, on the wrong foot. I have to tell him everything, and I don’t think he’s going to be very happy about it.” Sapphire sat down in the chair but said nothing. “He’s going to think I’m stupid.”

“Who’s stupid?”
Jade turned to the door when Quentin spoke. “Who’s stupid? If you think that guy is, you’re right, but I have a feeling that’s not who you were talking about, is it?”

Sapphire kissed her on the cheek and left them. Quentin looked like he was upset
, but not mad like she’d thought he would be. Instead of demanding she tell him anything, he sat down in the chair and waited. Jade wanted to go with her sister but knew this needed to be said.

“I’m in debt. A lot of it. This guy I
knew before you, before moving here, found my personal information and used it to get sixteen credit cards and—”

“Nineteen.
He got nineteen credit cards with your information. As well as two bank accounts. The second one he applied for was denied. Thankfully you’d contacted a lawyer by then and he was nearly arrested.” Jade sat down on the bed as he continued. “Of the nineteen credit cards, only twelve of them are still active. But I’m having that taken care of right now.”