Punt: A British Bad Boy Football Romance (25 page)

T
he words Alpha’s
House rang his ears. Too exhausted to fight for another second, Jasper took Maddie’s hand and tugged her toward the main building. He led her back through the offices, entering the wide glass breezeway that formed the building’s center. The tall glass walls gave the view he remembered so well, looking out onto a spacious, verdant courtyard enclosed on all sides by the breezeway but open to the sky.

The space reminded Jasper of a greenhouse, or an aviary; bright, beautiful flowering trees and plants filled the outer edges of the open space, fully bloomed and fragrant-looking. Birds flitted from tree to tree, chirping. Jasper even thought he saw a stray tabby cat slinking into the shadows of the thicket, though he’d never met a domesticated cat that could tolerate being around Shifters.

The courtyard was quite large, at least a thousand yards wide. In the middle of the expanse, surrounded by a veritable jungle of lush green plants and trees, sat the Alpha’s House. Jasper stopped in the breezeway to take it all in, swallowing the lump of emotion that formed in his throat.

The house itself was breathtaking, a tall butter-yellow Victorian complete with latticework, an immaculate wraparound porch, and a charmingly manicured set of flower beds. Broad bay windows studded the first floor, filling the house with light, while the second floor featured brilliant stained glass windows, offering privacy to the bedrooms.

The whole house was surrounded by a neat ring of white rocks that stood out from the yard’s thick, green grass; the circle hooked up to a series of paths. Several paths led from various points on the glass breezeway, meeting the circle. One path led from the circle straight up to the house.

Jasper watched Maddie closely as they pushed out the glass double doors, exiting the breezeway, and walked down the milky-white path. They passed through the courtyard’s greenery, stopping just before the steps to peer up at the house.

“Whoa,” Maddie said, stopping beside Jasper. Her violet eyes were wide, taking in the splendor of Alpha’s House. “This place is gorgeous.”

“I’ve kept it in perfect condition,” Gwen noted, brushing past them and climbing the steps. “Despite the fact that no one has resided here for three years.”

Gwen didn’t bother trying to hide the disapproval in her tone, and Jasper couldn’t blame her. Her hatred was no more than he deserved. Bringing his new mate back to the Bunker unannounced was just the latest in the long list of his crimes against Gwen.

Maddie flashed Jasper an unreadable look before following Gwen up the stairs. Jasper trailed behind him, shame blooming in his chest at the way his hands trembled as he climbed the steps.

“It’s unlocked,” Gwen said to Maddie, who looked at Jasper for guidance. He shrugged, feeling helpless as Maddie opened the door and headed inside.

He didn’t have to follow to know what he’d see. The picture formed before his eyes, the house just as Ennis McDonough had kept it.

A beautiful, state-of-the-art stainless steel kitchen, leading into stately wood-paneled living room. A spacious playroom, painted a festive yellow, empty except for a few taped-up boxes of storage items. Things Jasper’s foster father hadn’t wanted to see anymore, but couldn’t bear to throw away.

Upstairs, there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. A master suite, and two large bedrooms that could accommodate two or more children each. These rooms Ennis had left just as he’d decorated them, bunk beds and toy chests gathering dust. Near the end of Ennis’s life, Jasper often found him lying in one of the tiny beds, drunk and morose. Muttering about counting his chickens and the wasteland of his life, stuff like that.

“Jas?” Maddie stepped back onto the porch, reaching out and grabbing his hand. Her cool fingers against his warm ones pushed away his self-loathing, allowed him to suck in a deep breath.

“What’s wrong, Alpha?” Gwen asked, her voice half a step from an open sneer. “You should fit right in here, don’t you think?”

Maddie’s head snapped around as she stared at Gwen, her expression turning blacker than midnight in the blink of an eye.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to get the fuck off this porch,” Maddie snapped at the other female. Gwen’s spine stiffened, her face contorting with rage. When she didn’t move right away, Maddie snarled and took an aggressive step toward her.

“MOVE IT,” Maddie boomed, looking every inch the Beta bitch that every Alpha deserved. Needed, in his case.

“Alpha?” Gwen asked, turning to Jasper for support. He shook his head, unwilling. Despite his guilt over their shared past, it seemed that he’d let Gwen run unbridled for too long.

“Go,” Jasper ordered. Gwen hissed, her face turning red at his response. Without another glance at either of them, she fled the porch. Only when she’d left the courtyard did Jasper turn his attention back to Maddie.

Maddie gave him a hard look, clearly curious about Gwen’s attitude. Jasper shrugged, ushering her into the house. Once inside, he passed through the kitchen and walked into the gleamingly polished living room, turning and heading for Ennis’s study.

He found the room precisely as he’d left it on the morning of Ennis’s funeral. It was a very masculine room, with a large hardwood desk as its main feature. Bookshelves lined the back wall, and a brace of brown leather couches lay before the desk. Aside from a fine antique rug that stretched between the couches, the floor was bare.

Jasper considered sitting in the large leather chair behind the desk, but pushed the thought away. Instead he dropped onto one of the sofas, more tired than he’d ever felt.

“Is this where you lived as a kid?” Maddie asked, exploring the bookshelves and furniture. She placed a finger on the huge wooden globe and spun it in the metal stand. After watching it turn for a moment, she stopped it again with a touch and checked the spot under her finger. It was a game they’d played long ago, picking a spot at random and talking about what it would be like when they visited.

Not that either one of them had ever gone farther than a few states away. Still, the memory warmed him against the study’s chilling memories.

“I lived here with my foster father for four years,” he said at last. “I moved into the barracks as soon as I was eighteen. Needed the space.”

“I know what you mean. I moved out of the orphans’ cabin the second I could talk Spade into it. Jace hated living apart, but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

Jasper nodded in agreement, rubbing a hand over his face. Maddie checked out the framed photos sitting on the shelf behind the desk. Most of them were of Ennis and Jasper together. Taken back when Jasper was still young, eager smiles plastered on both their faces. There were only a couple featuring Ennis and grown-up Jasper though, and both men looked decidedly less happy. Watching her examine them, Jasper realized that the photos played out their own sad story.

Maddie picked up one and turned to show it to him.

“Who is this?” she asked.

The photo was older, probably snapped in the late seventies, and showed a much younger Ennis with a beautiful blonde. She was thin and tan, with waist-length hair and a simple knee-length shift dress. The female was grinning up at Ennis with an expression of untamed adoration, and he looked much the same.

“That would be Lindy,” Jasper said, turning away from the photograph. Just looking at it made his stomach turn, made his fingers start to tremble again.

Maddie replaced the frame with a sigh, and came to sit next to Jasper on the couch.

“You don’t seem very happy to be in this place, Jas.”

Jasper gave her a sad smile, reaching out to finger a tendril of hair that had escaped from her ponytail.

“I’m not. This is not a good place. Not for me,” he said, trying to keep the dam in place that held back all the dark memories. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Maddie reached out and clutched his battered hand, pulling it into her lap, palm up. She studied his palm for a moment, as if it held all the answers.

“I think you should to tell me anyway,” she said.

Jasper blinked in surprise, having expected some kind of sarcasm or maybe awkward silence. Instead, she was all softness. She stroked his palm with her thumbs, putting him at ease when he shouldn’t be. He shouldn’t tell her anything about Ennis, or what had happened in this house. No one should have to carry that burden except Jasper.

Still, he found himself talking to her, rambling really.

“I killed him, you know. Three years ago. I had to do it, no one else would challenge him. He just went over the edge one day, and he wasn’t going to come back. And it was right there on the porch that I finally caught him. Every damn time I look at this house it makes me ill,” Jasper said, biting back a wave of nausea.

J
asper waited
, waited for her to shrink from his touch, to fling burning-hot accusations. He expected recrimination, disgust, even horror.

What he did not expect is what she gave him. A practical response, skirting Ennis’s death entirely.

“Why not change it, then? Your Bunker is as Faerie-made as our Den. You can change anything by just wishing it so,” Maddie said, looking puzzled.

Jasper let out a low laugh, guttural and cruel. If she was going to ignore his confession, he would damned well let her.

“The bastard built this place out of human materials. Brought it all in from outside and built most of it himself. That was before I lived here, though.”

“Why the hell would he do that?”

“To build his legacy,” Jasper said, bitterness seeping into his chest, filling his mouth, his throat. “My legacy, since there was never a true son to inherit.”

“I’m not sure what to say to that,” Maddie replied.

“And I’m not sure how to explain it any better,” Jasper sighed, tension creeping up his spine and neck, curling around his whole body.

“Maybe you should just start from the beginning. Tell me a story,” Maddie said, still rubbing his palm in soothing circles.

“Are you sure you want to hear all of this?” Jasper asked, chest tightening. This kind of thing, this talking and telling secrets… it wasn’t what he wanted to share with Maddie. He wanted her to see the good things, not all the shameful parts that he carried around inside.

“I’m sure,” she said. Her tone was firm, her expression set.

Jasper sighed again and pulled his hand out of hers, cracking his knuckles. He’d already told Maddie about the murder, so it couldn’t really get too much worse.

“Ennis took over this pack in the late seventies,” he started, his eyes drifting up to the photos behind the desk.

“I wasn’t here, obviously, but I’ve heard stories about it. This was sort of a hippie colony of free spirits, more of a commune than a pack. There wasn’t even an Alpha, I heard. Just a count of hands to decide things. Ennis never talked about where he came from, but I gather that it was very different than that. Harder, like him. When he showed up here, he scattered all the members he saw as weak. Bullied everyone to get his way, even shed quite a bit of blood. Within a few months of becoming Alpha he’d run off every family with kids, which he saw as a weakness. He’d run off most of the females, too.”

Maddie nodded, her expression intent as she listened.

“Shaw’s family came from here originally, did you know that?” Jasper asked. Maddie looked surprised, shaking her head.

“I didn’t,” she replied.

“Shaw’s little brother Jameson had just been abducted, and his family was a mess. Shaw’s father ran off, looking for Jameson. Ennis basically just told Mrs. Geaudreaux to pack her things and get out. Luckily Spade took them into the Louisiana pack.”

“I had no idea,” Maddie said, her eyes wide.

“Yeah. It got pretty quiet around here after that, I guess. The only female that stayed was Lindy,” Jasper said, pointing to her photo.

“How did the pack not just die out, then?”

“Ennis recruited constantly. He had the idea that he wanted to start his own Shifter army, although he never said it outright. He brought in all kinds of males, practically anyone who was big and willing to fight. He’d even take Shifters who were exiled from other packs. Thieves, bullies, killers. Worse than them, even. Ennis didn’t discriminate.”

Maddie shuddered, sinking back into the couch as she listened.

“Ennis made a new set of rules, harsh ones. They were in place until the day he died,” Jasper said, his eyes hooded.

“Like what?”

“Like having pack members fight hand to hand to establish ranking in the pack. If they didn’t like it, they could leave. If they didn’t participate, they became the pack’s bitch.”

“What about Lindy? She couldn’t possibly fight against guys like that,” Maddie thought aloud.

“She was off limits. She belonged to Ennis.”

“As his mate?”

“No, he called her his ‘old lady’, but he wouldn’t take her as a mate. Said he didn’t believe in that stuff. Even when I lived here and he’d softened toward her, he never took her as a mate. The other Shifters in the pack turned to human women for their physical needs. Ennis was no stranger to them, either. It drove Lindy crazy with jealousy.”

“But she stayed?”

“She stayed as long as she could. She helped run the security company in the early days, doing whatever needed to be done. That’s probably about when that photo was taken,” he said, nodding at the wall.

“She must have been a hell of a lot nicer than me,” Maddie said, frowning.

Jasper smiled, shaking his head.

“Lindy wasn’t very strong-willed. Staying with Ennis was the only thing she wouldn’t give up.”

“I want to say that sounds sweet, but I don’t think it’s that kind of story.”

“No, unfortunately. Ennis built her this house as a place of honor for Lindy. A place for their children to grow up, he said. I think he loved her the best he knew how, back then. That was before…” Jasper trailed off, his expression dark.

“Before…” Maddie prompted, wrapped up in the story.

“Ennis brought in all those thugs to work for him, but he never considered the consquences. One of them caught Lindy alone late at night, and hurt her bad. You don’t want to know the details, trust me,” he said, holding up a hand when Maddie started to interrupt.

“Okay,” she nodded, blanching. “Was this when you lived here?”

“Yeah. I was about sixteen when this happened, so I guess I’d known Lindy for about two years. She was really nice to me, made me blueberry cobbler all the time,” Jasper said, his voice getting a little rough as he thought about that small detail.

“Poor Lindy,” Maddie breathed, her face flushed with distress. Apparently Maddie was a little more empathetic than she let on.

“Ennis dragged the guy out in front of the house and killed him in front of everyone. Literally ripped him to pieces. I’ve never seen anything so brutal. And he made Lindy watch. He kept telling her she didn’t need to be afraid, because he knew how to protect her. If she wasn’t already traumatized, after that she was terrified of everything. She couldn’t sleep, didn’t eat, wouldn’t leave her room. It went on like that for weeks,” Jasper said, his voice breaking on the last word. He took a deep breath, rubbing his hands over his face, collecting himself before he continued.

“What happened to her?” Maddie asked, scooting closer and rubbing a calming hand over Jasper’s back. The sensation was so comforting; he wanted nothing more than to put his arms around her, curl up beside her.

But he’d started telling her the story tonight, after years of keeping it inside. If he didn’t get it all out here and now, he was afraid that he’d never have the strength to finish it. If it stayed inside him any longer, Jasper was sure that it would fester, corrupt his soul even further.

“I found her upstairs, swinging from a rafter,” he said, a tear breaking free and rolling down his face. Shame burned in his gut, hotter and more painful than a thousand fires.

He was so gods-damned weak, blubbering just like he’d done when he’d found Lindy that day. All his efforts to harden his heart had failed. A violent layer of anger comprised his outer shell, but inside he was every bit as soft and worthless as he had been that day.

He remembered the hot, wet tears coating his cheeks as he’d pulled out his pocket knife. He remembered the creak of the rope, the way her lifeless body had swayed, a gentle motion. He’d dragged a chair over and climbed up, using his little knife to saw at the thick rope. He’d lost his balance and tumbled to the ground, vomit filling his throat when his hand landed on Lindy’s ice-cold thigh.

“Jasper, Jasper,” he heard Maddie murmur. She reached up and brushed her fingers over his jaw, her eyes brimming with tears. Jasper swallowed, the knot of pain in his throat moving down, constricting his chest, choking him.

“I’m sorry, Jas. I’m so, so sorry,” Maddie said. When he chanced a look at her, he was relieved to find compassion in her gaze rather than pity. Only Maddie could have given him that. Maddie was the only one who would ever hear the whole story, and that was the very reason.

“I’m not the one that died!” he protested. He dashed away the traitorous tear, giving himself a sharp mental shake.

“What did Ennis do then?” Maddie prompted. She seemed to understand that the story needed to be told, and that they weren’t nearly done yet.

“Nothing, really. He drank a lot. He found a mousy, submissive Shifter female and coerced her into being his mate. He was always talking about the family he was supposed to have, about the legacy. I moved out shortly after she came to live here, but I still knew what was going on.”

“What was her name?”

“Sarah.”

“Did he… did he hurt her?”

“Every month when she had her cycle, Ennis beat her half to death. She hid it from the pack as much as she could, not that anyone was going to step in anyway. Eventually Ennis slipped up, though. He went too far, got too drunk. He beat her so badly one night, it turned my stomach. We weren’t sure if she was going to recover, even with Shifter healing abilities. He flogged her with a thick piece of electrical wire, Madd,” Jasper said.