Sweet Vengeance (17 page)

Allie
wanted to cry at the injustice of it all.  "Okay."  She wiped the
stray tears from beneath her eyes.  "Thank you."

He
sent her a half-grin as he leaned back against the cushioned head rest. 
"I'm glad we're in the air and someone else can be in charge for a
while."  He yawned. 

He
was exhausted, Allie thought.  She'd napped in the car, but he'd had a rough
morning, too.  Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and she could see the toll
everything had taken on him.  She wanted to ask about Jenna.  But later.  It
could wait.  They'd found their way back to comfortable ground, and she didn't
want to mess it up.  She owed him that much.

"You
should sleep.  We're safe up here."  She liked watching him as he
relaxed.  It was good to see the tough guy being a bit vulnerable.  Not that
she wanted to see it when there were guns around, but since it was only the two
of them flying high in the blue sky, it was nice.

"I'd
like to sleep if I could get my brain to shut off."

"I
could give you a hand massage."  She hoped he wouldn't take her offer the
wrong way.  "As friends?  It would help you relax."  It would also
give her a chance to give back to the man who'd risked his life for her. 

Without
waiting for his reply, she undid her seatbelt and stood.  "Do you have any
lotion?"

He
raised an interested eyebrow.  "There might be some in the
bathroom."  He indicated the rear of the plane.

Allie
smiled and walked past Boo who'd found his bed on the side of the leather
couch.  She should have known it was a private plane.  Who else would have a
dog bed onboard?  "You should come lay where you can get
comfortable," she said to Jase.

The
bathroom was rich.  Plum carpet and towels gave the room a luxurious feel, and
the plane even had a shower.  Awesome.  She opened the cabinet and found a
bottle of pear-scented lotion.  Perfect.

By
the time she returned, Jase had found a pillow and had stretched out on the
couch.  The length of him took up the entire space, and he gave her a lazy
smile as she approached.

"You
don't look like you'll need that massage after all," she teased.  He
looked pretty comfy, and she wished she could curl up next to him while he
slept.

"Oh,
yes, I do.  You promised a hand massage, and I'm looking forward to the
experience."

That
made her happy.  The awkwardness after their kiss had disappeared, and it was
nice to know he welcomed her touch.  She knelt on the floor in front of him and
put a squirt of lotion in her hands.

She
took one of his strong hands in hers and began to rub.  The scent of spiced
pears rose between them.

"Mmm,"
he muttered as she pressed her thumb into the palm of his hand.  "Where
did you learn to do that?"

"My
mom.  Before she died."  Thinking of her mom was always bittersweet.  She
loved the memories, but it hurt to know she wouldn't see her on earth again. 
"She always gave me hand massages when I was sick or sad."  Allie
smiled.  "Sometimes, she'd do it for no reason at all."

"What
happened to her?"

"Breast
cancer.  She was thirty-five."  She glanced at Jase's face, liking the way
he watched her.  "What about you?"  She hoped she wasn't pressing the
issue.  "You've mentioned your sister...and others.  Does that mean all of
your family is gone?"

He
paused, and, for a moment, she was afraid he wouldn't answer.  "Yeah,
they're all gone.  My mom, my dad and my sister, all in one fell swoop." 
He looked away and focused on their hands. 

She
massaged the length of his thumb from the wrist all the way to the tip. 
"You don't have to talk about them if you don't want."  She looked at
their hands, too, avoiding a visual connection with him.  When he didn't
respond, she risked a glance.

He
watched her with heavy-lidded, dark eyes.  "They were murdered."

"Oh,
my God."  She stopped rubbing.  "That's horrible."  His whole
family?  "How old were you?"

"Nineteen."

The
same age she was now.  "What happened?" she whispered, not wanting to
force him to talk, but needing to know all the same. 

He
wiggled his hand, and she started rubbing again.  "The Trasatti family
murdered them."

She
couldn't imagine his pain.  "Like a mob war or something?"  His hand
relaxed again in hers.

"Everyone
always assumes."

She
wrinkled her brow.  She'd obviously missed something.  "What do you
mean?"

"People
assume that's how they died.  They think my family was corrupt, too, and
somehow they asked for what happened."  He held out his other hand to
her.  "My family had nothing to do with the mob.  My parents were good,
honest people.  I grew up in a town in Oregon where it's still safe to leave
your doors unlocked.  My sister was only fifteen years old."  He swore
under his breath.  "I didn't even realize mobsters were such a force until
they wiped out everyone I loved while we were visiting Chicago.  My family
didn't deserve what happened to them.  Nobody does.  Except the
Trasattis." 

"Were
you there on vacation or something?  What happened?"  She squeezed more
lotion into her hand. 

"Yeah. 
Wrong place.  Wrong time."  Jase scrunched his shoulders and then relaxed,
as though it was a technique he'd used many times.  "I try not to think
about it too much."

"So
you decided to stay in Chicago after that?"

He
nodded his head, his eyelids almost completely shut, his breathing growing more
even despite their conversation.

"Why?"

"To
make them pay."  His drowsy whisper left her shivering.

The
sun was low in the sky when Allie and Jase's plane arrived at a small airstrip
somewhere near the coast in Oregon.  Allie had seen the ocean as they'd circled
overhead, and she hoped she'd have the opportunity to see it up close.  They
weren't in Portland, that much she figured out.  The airport was too small, and
if she remembered right, Portland was inland, away from the ocean.  Her
question was answered as they taxied down the runway, and the pilot welcomed
them to Tillamook.

Allie
had watched Jase sleep through the remainder of their flight, while she'd
fretted about the past, her future, and tried to figure out why the mob wanted
her dead.  She'd also spent considerable time thinking about the choice she'd
made to give up her baby.  By the time the plane bumped to the ground and Jase
lifted his head, she knew she'd made the right decision.

The
pilot opened the door and descended the stairs with Boo trailing behind him. 
Allie tried to follow, anxious to see what Oregon looked like beyond the
airplane window, but Jase put a hand on her arm, stopping her. 

"There's
something you need to promise me before we leave this plane."  His words
seemed ominous, but she nodded without hesitating.  "Once you go down those
stairs, you cannot say one word about Chicago or anything that happened there
unless we're completely alone.  I'm trusting you and praying I'm not making a
huge mistake."  His expression was stern, and he watched her as though he
were probing to see if she was trustworthy. 

She
was.

He
raised his brows.  "Not one word."

Allie
swallowed.  He was dead serious.  "You've already risked so much for me. 
I won't say a word.  I owe you that much.  I promise."

"That
world doesn't touch this one.  Ever.  Understood?"

She
nodded.  "You can trust me."  She wouldn't let him down.  That was
how he survived, she realized.  He lived in two separate worlds.  One filled
with violence, and the other one?  It looked like she was about to find out
what the other side of his life was like.

"Let's
go, then.  Robert should have the car here by now, and if we're lucky Carole
will have a dinner waiting for us when we get home."

Home. 
He'd brought her to his home.  His sanctuary.  Did he realize how much that
meant to her?  Allie couldn't wait to see it.

The
first thing she noticed when she reached the tarmac was the cooler
temperature.  Granted, Chicago was in the middle of a heat wave that year, but
Tillamook was downright chilly.

And
refreshing.  Already, everything here seemed slower, safer and cleaner.  It was
a relief to be away from Chicago.

*       
*        *

It
seemed they had been on the road forever.  Allie rode in the backseat next to
Jase, with Jase's driver, Robert in the front.  Boo rode shotgun next to him.

Allie
would have checked her watch if she'd had one.  All she knew was the sun had
long since set, and they had to have been driving for hours.  Robert, an older
black man with a deep, engaging voice seemed to be a pretty nice guy.  Jase had
kept her engaged in general conversation for the most part, with Robert chiming
in from time to time.  She'd tried to keep her attention on the majestic pines
that flanked the road as they drove through some kind of forest, but Jase and
Robert kept distracting her.  She was tired of being stuck in a plane or car,
and itched to get out and explore her new surroundings.  But now, everything
had faded to black outside her window.  

Earlier,
they'd left the quaint farming community of Tillamook, heading away from the
setting sun.  Everything seemed so green, from the towering pines to the lush
trees and grass.  Jase had asked Robert to turn on the heat to compensate for
the cool outside air, and Allie was reminded once again that other than the
clothes on her back, she had nothing.  Not even a jacket to cuddle into.  She
refused to think about what had happened to her previous jacket.  It was easier
to put each horrific thought of the past few days into a mental box and lock it
away.  She was on her way to a new life.  A better life.  Remembering what
she'd lost to get to that point would do her no good.

She
closed her eyes, weary from travel and was almost asleep when Jase announced
they were home.

Allie
perked up and tucked her long bangs behind her ear as she peered out into the
darkness, trying to get a good glimpse of what Jase's home looked like.  At the
end of a long drive that wound between tall pines, she finally spied a
sprawling ranch house glittering with large windows.  The house and his
property were the exact opposite of what she'd had growing up.  The rambler was
huge, and there was so much space around it.  Tons and tons of empty space. 
Nothing like the crowded, dilapidated homes she'd had with her mother and with
her aunt.  At least she'd been happy with her mom even though they didn't have
much.

But
here?  What did people do with so much room?

Allie
couldn't see lights from any other houses anywhere in the vicinity.  The car's
headlights showcased the manicured lawns and gardens of Jase's home as they
pulled around a circular drive, stopping in front of the house.

She
wanted to say something to Jase about how nice it was, but words escaped her. 
Everything was so fresh and green.  The closest thing she could think of was
the city park her mother had taken her to as a child.  And she hadn't been
there for years.

Allie
glanced at him and found him smiling.  He looked more relaxed than she'd seen
him since they'd met, and his expression wiped out the last bit of anxiety
she'd felt for leaving Chicago. 

It
was good to be home.  Even if it wasn't her home.

"Come
on," he said, motioning for her to climb out his door.  "There's
someone I'd like you to meet."

At
first glance, Allie knew Carole Henrie was not somebody to mess with.  Jase
made the introductions while Carole surveyed Allie with the eyes of a police
sergeant.  Almost as tall as Jase, Carole had broad shoulders.  Bouncy auburn
curls softened her look, but her piercing green eyes intimidated Allie.

Until
Carole smiled.  Then soft wrinkles skirted the edges of her eyes, making her
more...pretty.  The older woman held out her hands.  "Welcome."

Allie
reached out to her, not surprised to find the woman's hands were strong,
masculine.  But they were warm and comforting, too.  "Thank you."

Carole
put an arm around Allie and led her into the house.  The foyer was filled with
warm woods, green potted ferns and a wall-mounted water fountain.  A lovely
pine scent followed them in from outside.  "We always knew Jase would
eventually bring home a girl, and we're glad to see that day has finally
come."  She squeezed her shoulder as they stopped inside the door.

Bring
home a girl?  "Oh, no.  I'm sorry.  I think—"

"It's
not like that, Carole."  Jase spoke from behind them, and both she and
Carole turned to him.  "She's just a friend."

Carole
snorted as she gave him a doubtful look.  "She doesn't look like just a
friend."  She turned to Allie.  "Look at her.  Long, dark hair,
gorgeous eyes.  If you gave her some clothes that fit, she could be Miss
America."

Allie
almost choked.  Heat crept up her face, and she'd never seen Jase look so
powerless.  If she wasn't in the hot seat with him, it might have been funny.