Wanted: County Knights MC (18 page)

              “Get the fuck off of me.” I pushed against him, but he was heavier than he looked and all it earned me was a yank of my hair.

              He reached over and pulled at the top of my dress, popping off several buttons and opening it until my breasts popped out. “Ah, that’s what they look like.” He moved his hand off my knee, and grabbed one breast, squeezing it just as hard. I yelled out from his nails.

              He yanked my hair again. “Yell like that gain, and I gag you.”

              The door behind us flew open, and before he could look behind him to see who was there, he was being pulled off me and thrown to the ground in the aisle. I pulled my dress together and stood up, grabbing my things to run out. It took one look to see it was Jackson. He was on top of Martin, pounding his fist into his face.

              “Don’t kill him,” I yelled, and Jackson stopped mid punch to give me an incredulous look. 

              He focused his glare back on Martin. “Touch her again, and you fucking die. You got me?”

              Martin smiled, showing his bloody teeth. “Fuck you.” It took one more punch from Jackson to knock him out.

              I slumped back into the seat, holding my dress closed. My body quaked, and the spot where his nails had dug into my knee had started to bleed. Jackson left Martin and came over to me, looking at the small cut on my leg, then took in the sight of my dress.

              He didn’t say a word, he just pushed my hands away and buttoned what could be buttoned back up, mostly covering me up. He wiped the hair from my face, and looked me in the eyes. I needed his touch at that moment, his lips to cover mine, to let me know I hadn’t completely ruined us. 

              “Let’s get you home.” He helped me stand and took my bag from me. When we came to where Martin lay unconscious he pulled me to him, capturing my mouth beneath his. Not gentle, but not demanding either. Exactly what I needed. I belonged to him.

              He wrapped his arm around my waist and walked me up the last few steps to the doors. The students for the next class started to trickle in. A girl screamed, and someone flew out of the room, running down the corridor, but Jackson just kept walking with me slowly toward the parking lot.

              How many times did this man have to save me? After all the years I took care of myself, gotten myself into crappy situations and managed to get out of them on my own, why did he still need to save me from men like Martin?

              I let him help me get into the cab of his truck and shut the door, leaning against the window and not caring about the heat in the truck. He drove us back to his house, and I didn’t argue. I didn’t want to go back to my place, where that note had appeared, where the reminder of how much danger I was in, how much danger my mom could be in, all because I’d gotten that internship.

              No, it was more than that. It was because after I couldn’t find Jackson, I’d met up with Grayson, I’d worked for him. I ran messages, packages, anything really between him and his associates. I didn’t know who they were or what the messages said. I didn’t know anything. Grayson wouldn’t tell me even if I asked. It was my innocence. People trusted me. And because I’d earned enough money to pay for college, and because Grayson pulled strings to get me into the architecture program, I had people out for me. I’d taken what wasn’t mine, I’d reached for things outside my grasp.

              And now I’d pay.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JACKSON
 

              Anna was still asleep after three hours of napping. When I’d gotten her home, she didn’t fight me as I picked her up and carried her to my bedroom. Once she was under the covers, she closed her eyes and fell right to sleep. 

              When I took her dress off of her, I’d seen the claw mark on her breast from where that bastard put his hands on her. I wanted to go back to campus and beat the fuck out of him again, but she’d stilled my hand and kissed it. She whispered a quiet thank you, and lay against the pillows.

              Sitting in my kitchen, I gripped a beer in my hand. Something was going on, something more than just a goddamn internship. 

              Jerry finally got some news for me. Martin’s father, Justin Owens, owned a mechanic franchise that had taken on popularity in the suburbs. He wanted to bring a new store in the city, start building up his empire in Chicago.  Ian McCleary, the president of Chicago Reapers, was his brother-in-law, and had been loaned a shit ton of money a few years back. Since Ian ran a garage, Justin wanted to turn it into his first store.

              I knew Ian, he’d never agree to turn his club into some chain. But the pressure was being put on heavy; he needed money to pay back the loan or he was going to have to give into his brother-in-law.  His club wouldn’t take it lightly, they’d see it as a betrayal, letting a personal issue like that dictate club business.  

              Jerry heard that Ian made a deal. Help Martin with his little internship problem, and Justin would look elsewhere for his garage. 

              I took a big swig of my beer. That may explain why she was being harassed about the damn internship, but it didn’t explain why Sam Fuller was involved. Ian reaching out to him for help didn’t make sense, and didn’t sit right with me. Jerry agreed. Something stank, and he was keeping an eye out at the club.

              Something Anna mumbled in her sleep ate at me. “Grayson. Need Grayson.” 

One, who the fuck was Grayson, and two, why would she need him. I was there. I may have run out on her the night before, and I wouldn’t forgive myself for that pussy hissy fit just yet, but I was back.

              Of course she’d be insecure about me leaving her, I had basically said just as much to her. After this was over, I’d go away. But fuck if I could stomach the idea of that anymore.

CHAPTER NINETEEN
JACKSON

When she didn’t come out of the lecture hall with the other students, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There was no logical way to explain it other than I knew something was wrong. 

              Remembering the look of panic on her face when I opened those doors would forever be etched in my mind. It was as though she were frozen. That asshole had his hand on her knee, digging into her skin. Her dress had been torn open, and his fucking fingers groped her breast. My body reacted fast, but not as fast as I wanted it to. My brain just about exploded when I saw what he was doing. All I could think of doing was getting him away from her. So that’s what I did, ripped his ass off her and beat him senseless. As usual for Anna, even after he’d attacked her, fucking tried to rape her, she didn’t want me to kill him. I wanted to rip his head off his body, but hearing her behind me pulled my attention back to her. She needed me. 

              In hindsight, I should have left him conscience and dragged him with us. I was sure he had all the fucking answers I needed to tie all the loose ends together. Instead, I left him bleeding on the steps of a goddamn lecture hall. I was sure campus security was called, so bringing Anna back to school might be tricky. If I even let her go back there.

              I tried calling Belby again, there had to be more at stake here than just a goddamn internship. The rich prick couldn’t be after that particular internship this badly just because he wanted it; there had to be more. 

              “Jackson.” Her soft voice called to me from upstairs. 

I dropped my phone on the table and ran up to my bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed, her hair tousled as though she’d had a rough time sleeping, and what little makeup she wore was smeared around her eyes. She’d been crying. I wanted to throw my fist through that fucker’s face again.

              I knelt down in front of her, pushing the hair away from her face and wiping away the trail of tears on her cheek. “What is it, baby? Have a bad dream?” 

              She shook her head. “Not while I was sleeping.”

Her grated voice tore at me. I hopped on the bed with her, scooting her back against the headboard and holding her to my chest. Cradling her in my arms soothed my temper, at least a little, because I could feel her breath against my neck, I could smell the shampoo she’d used that morning.

“Jackson.” She buried her face further into my chest.

              “What is it, Anna?” I kissed the top of her head and smoothed her hair back. A shiver ran through her body, and her fingers dug into my shirt. “Anna.” My voice went hard. My girl didn’t need soft right now, she seemed to be warring with herself about letting go, and damned if I’d let her fight that battle alone. “Tell me what’s going on.”

              A soft sigh, then a nod. “Okay.” She snuggled against me, but didn’t try to look up at me. The last time she’d acting in such a way was when she confessed to me that she had thrown away all the beer in the house in order to keep her step-dad from drinking. I had thought the act bold for her, but she’d been ashamed because her step-dad blamed her mom and her mom took the punishment. Whatever was coming out of that pretty mouth next wasn’t going to be something I liked, that much I knew.

              “Anna.” I gave her arm a light squeeze when she went quiet.

              “You can be such a bully sometimes.” She rubbed her arm.

              I smiled over her head where she couldn’t see me. “Don’t change the subject. What’s going on?”

              “I fucked up.”

I squeezed her harder for her language, but didn’t comment on it. Sometimes cursing was the only way to express the enormity of something, and I had a feeling she didn’t use say that sentence as an exaggeration.

“While I was checking out a few bars I’d heard you’d been seen at, I ran into a guy. He, well, he tried to pick me up.” She snorted. “But when I told him I was looking for someone he backed off, at least a little. He listened to me, asked around the bar for me to see if anyone had seen you. Guys in that bar didn’t want to tell me anything. Might have been the way I was dressed.”

              I remembered what sort of places I hung out at when I was running with the club, and picturing her walking in wearing jeans and a pastel sweater, her hair tucked up in some messy ponytail with only the bare makeup on made my nerves jump. She would have looked like the lamb walking into the wolf’s den. No one would have told her anything because she probably looked like some innocent little sister looking for someone who didn’t want to be found.

              “Remind me later to spank you for all the harebrained shit you did trying to find me.” I held onto her tighter.

              She ignored my comment. “Grayson, that’s the guy, he tried to help me a little. He sort of took on your role, started acting like my shadow. I’d get out of work and there’d he be, waiting. But then he offered me a job. I was only cleaning offices back then, so I wasn’t making much money. I lived in a studio crap hole of a place.”

              “Was Grayson the guy you met yesterday?”

              “Yeah. That was him. I was telling the truth that he ran into Justin and found out about my accident.”

              I nodded, my chin bumping her head when I did. “What job did he offer you?”

              “He’s not exactly a good Samaritan, Jackson. He, well, he sells drugs, and I think he sells guns, too. I saw something one afternoon, but he shoved me out of the room before I could understand what was going on and told me never to go back in there. You have to understand, I had no money. Mom was barely getting by herself, I’d moved out so she wouldn’t have to worry about taking care of me, but I could barely make rent some months. I’d gotten a scholarship that covered the year of school, but it only covered the class fees.”

              “What was the job, Anna?”

              “I delivered stuff for him. Packages to the offices in the loop. He said no one would bother me, that it wouldn’t be noticed with such an innocent girl walking into the office asking for some vice president that I was delivering anything more than mail.”

              “You were making drops for him.” I kept my voice steady but felt my body tense inside. If she had been caught with those packages, the cops wouldn’t have cared that she was so fucking innocent.  Worse yet, dealers always had competition, and if those assholes had figured out what she was delivering, she would have been just one more casualty in the war on drugs.

              “Yeah. I didn’t realize it at first, at least I didn’t want to admit that I knew what I was doing. But eventually I figured it out. The money was good, Jackson. I was able to pay my rent and put money aside for the next year’s tuition. I don’t have student loans. Grayson is funding my entire education.”

I heard her sniffle, but didn’t make any move to comfort her yet. My Anna was a drug pusher. My mind couldn’t seem to catch up to her words.

              “Do you still work for him?”

              “No. I stopped a year ago, maybe more. A delivery went bad. The guy said the package was light. I didn’t know what he was talking about; I never weighed anything or looked inside. Grayson just gave me the package and an address. That night I had to deliver it to the guy’s home. I could tell when he opened the door he was really high, or maybe he was coming down from being high, either way he was in a bad way. Real desperate. He didn’t grab the package; he grabbed me and dragged me into his apartment. After he started accusing me of shorting him, I panicked and tried to run, but he grabbed me. Said that I would have to pay him back for what I took. But I didn’t take anything, Jackson. I swear. I never opened those packages.” She pushed away from me to meet my stare. Puffy, red eyes stared at me, looking desperate for me to believe her.

              “I know, Anna.” I wiped a lone strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her hear. “What happened then?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I knew she needed to tell me. The thing that hid inside of her, the thing she’d been trying to hide from me, this was it.

              “He tried to rape me. He got me to the ground, pulled my stupid skirt up and nearly had my underwear off when the door flew open. Grayson was there. He got him off me, took me home.”

              “How’d he know—”

              “After I left his apartment he realized he’d given me the wrong package. He was bringing the right one to exchange.  I forgot my cell that night so he couldn’t call me, and I couldn’t call for help.” She looked away. I could lecture her on how stupid all of what she’d done was, but she already knew it, and probably had already had given herself the lecture.

              “You stopped delivering for him after that?”

              “Yeah. I told him I wasn’t going to do it anymore. He agreed, apologized over and over again for getting me involved with guys like that. He really is a lot like you.” She half smiled at me.

              “No. He’s not. I never would have given you drugs to deliver. I sure as fuck wouldn’t have let you go at night to some drugee’s apartment alone.”

              “Don’t get pissed at him. If it weren’t for him, I’d never have gotten into the architecture program. I never would have been able to pay for college or my rent. I have enough stashed to get through this semester. If I don’t finish school this term, I won’t finish. The internship is the last piece; after that, I graduate and hopefully will have a job in place.”

              “There’s more. What is it?” My chest tightened when she stood up and walked over to her bag I had left in the room. She dug around for a moment then pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. I held out my hand for it; at first she looked like she might not hand it over, but then placed it in my palm.

              I smoothed it out and read it, my heart racing faster with each word, and my temper starting to get the better of me. “When did you get this?” I reminded myself to be calm. Yelling at her wouldn’t get us anywhere, but damn if I didn’t want to punish her ass for being so goddamn reckless.

              “This morning when I left for school it was taped to my door.” She sat back down on the bed beside me, tucking her feet beneath herself.

              “Why didn’t you call me right away?” I ground my teeth together, trying to focus my energy somewhere that wouldn’t cause me to flip her over my lap so I could lay into her ass with my hand.

              “I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I did, but I didn’t want to. I figured I’d deal with it later. But then Martin—” she took a deep breath, “—Martin got all handsy with me.”

              “Handsy? Is that what you call what I walked in on? That boy has some balls. The next class wasn’t too far away, and those other kids would have walked in on him.”

              “I think he was just trying to scare me.” She looked at me then. “It worked.” Tears pooled in her eyes, and she laid her head on my shoulder. 

              Completely torn as to how to deal with her at that moment, I tossed the note down and wrapped my arms around her.

              “I should take my belt to your ass. Those five little lashes I gave you the other day would be nothing compared to what I should give you right now for all this shit.”

              “You weren’t around, you can’t punish me for things I did when you weren’t around.” She snuggled deeper into my chest. She didn’t object to being punished, just for that specific thing?

              “And for this morning?” I tested the waters, seeing how chilly they were.

              “For not telling you about the note? I was mad at you. I don’t think you can punish me for that either.”

I looked down to see her face. She was scrunched into my chest pretty good, but I could make out a small smile. 

              “Oh, like hell I can’t. I shouldn’t have left last night. I was pissed and…well, I shouldn’t have left last night, but that’s no excuse for you to not tell me about that note. Just ’cause we had a fight last night doesn’t change things between us in the morning.” No other woman in the world could make me feel that way. One fight and we were done. I didn’t have time for bullshit and games, but with Anna—she was worth the effort.