Love Lost (9 page)

“When I can.  My job keeps me busy.”

She held his hand and laced their fingers together.

“Tell me some more stories about you.  Who was your first kiss?”

“First kiss?”  Jason smirked before he asked her, “What makes you so sure it wasn’t you?”

Jason leaned against a tree near the path and Selene stepped closer.

“I would have made it much better if I knew I was your first.  Besides, I highly doubt I was your first kiss.  So spill.”

“My first kiss happened in junior high. It was at this girl’s house, Jennifer Ortega.  I thought I was in love, or at least my hormones thought so.”

He sat on the ground after he placed the blanket on it and pulled her into his lap.  She leaned back into his chest and waited for him to continue.

“Things didn’t go well the first time we tried. Both of our teeth just smacked into each other, and it was just sloppy. It was not what I was hoping for
, but we worked it out. It was going well until her brother came into the room. I kind of felt bad after that.”

“Did he beat you up for kissing his sister?”

Jason laughed at the memory.

“No
; he was a friend of mine and she was his older sister.  He was a sixth grader and I was an eighth grader, so he wanted to fit in with cool kids.  I had skills back then.  I still do.” 

“Settle down, Mac Daddy.”

“Who was your first kiss, Sel?”

She shuddered at the memory and Jason thought she was cold.  He shrugged off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders.

“Tell me, Selene.  Who stole your first kiss?”

“I was 14 and at a party with some friends.  There was this boy there and everyone knew him.  He was nothing but trouble and he had set his eyes on me.  I was too young to know any better and I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world.  He kissed me and I didn’t know what I was doing.  It was weird and I was waiting for the butterflies to happen in my stomach, like what you read about or see in the movies.  Never happened.”

He pulled her close and kissed her.  She gave into the kiss until she needed to come for air.  She smiled against his lips.

“I found the butterflies.”

She leaned back into his arms and started to run her fingers along his chest.  She stopped at his heart and let her hand stay there.

“Who was the first person to break your heart?”

He put his hand over hers and lifted it to kiss it.

“I’m thinking I should plead the fifth to that question.”

She pushed away from him so she could get a better look at him.

“I object to your pleading the fifth.  Come on, Jay.  Don’t you trust me?”

He gently brushed some of her dark curls that had fallen from her ponytail away from her face.

“I used to work retail when I was younger.  It was my first job and I thought I was cool because I was making my own money. I learned a huge lesson while I worked there.  Never date a co-worker because it will only end badly. I started to like this girl that I worked with and I think she knew it too.  She would ask me to let her take extra breaks or leave early, and I would let her do what she wanted.  I would buy her things that she wanted because I thought she liked me.  She used to invite me on these group dates, and she asked me to go along because her ex was in her group of friends.  I went with her, thinking she cared about me like I did for her.  I later found out she was just using me to make him jealous. She was the first and only girl that broke my heart. Once I see that a girl is lying to me, I end it.  Lies are a rule breaker for me.  I can’t trust you if you lie to me.”

Selene looked away from him and out toward the lake.  She was rethinking on what to say next when he touched her arm.

“Who broke your heart?”

She pulled on the grass to avoid looking at him.

“I was young and stupid.  That bad boy that was my first kiss also broke my heart.  He wasn’t the good guy that I thought he could be.  He was
worse
than I thought, actually.”

“It happens, Sel.  We need to feel the pain in order to appreciate when love comes back into your life.”

She smiled weakly at him, and continued her questions.

“Who was the first person you said I love you to?”

“I haven’t said it and meant it to anyone yet.”

She couldn’t hide the reaction from her face.

“What?  You’re joking?”

He shook his head no.

“I have said it before to girls when I dated them, but I said it because either they said it first or we were together so long that it was expected. I never felt that spark or passion with them that you are supposed to feel when you are in love.  It just hasn’t happened yet for me.  How many times has it happened for you?”

“It only happened once for me and I wish it hadn’t.”

He frowned at her response.

“What did this guy do to you?  You’re making me hate a guy that I’ve never met in my life.”

Selene jumped up and dusted herself off. 

“Nothing worth mentioning right now.”  She looked at the lake and then smiled at Jason. 

“What are you planning, Sel?”

She smiled and kicked off her shoes. 

“Selene…..”

She smiled as she caught his gaze roaming her body.

“Do I have to worry about anyone catching us?”

He shook his head no as he stood up.  She grabbed the top of her pants and slowly glided them down her legs, his lustful eyes never stopped watching her.   She kicked the pants
toward the blanket and walked toward the lake. 

“You coming?”  She asked as she took off her shirt and threw it before jumping into the lake.  She swam out and looked back to see that Jason had disappeared.  She started to swim back when she felt a tug and he came up behind her.  He pulled her
toward him and she dunked him in the water.   He grabbed her waist and pulled her down with him.  They splashed around some more before he pulled her toward him again.   The kiss was sweet and it set her on fire.  She wrapped her legs around him and the kiss quickly turned heated.  She hadn’t even noticed that they were back on shore until he picked her up and carried her toward the blanket. 

As he placed her down, Selene started to kiss his chest, outlining his tattoos with her tongue.  She was reaching back to unsnap her bra when his hand went to her stomach.  She froze at his touch.  He was staring at her and his sexy gaze was gone.   As his hands traced her scars, she could see the questions building in his mind. 

“What the hell happened to you?”

Lucio was sitting at his desk when someone knocked on the door. 

“Come in.”

He was not expecting anyone, and with the mood he was currently in, it had better be life or death.  He looked up to see Eddie standing in the doorway.

“Boss, Carina’s body was found.”

Lucio leaned back into his chair and put his hands behind his head.

“I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

“Lucio, her body was found blocks away from his house.  She was wiped clean.”

Lucio frowned.  “Really?  This is interesting.  Call him and have him come in immediately.  I think I have a job for him.”

Eddie left and Lucio checked the camera feed in Selene’s apartment.  She hadn’t been home since the shooting so he decided to rewind the feed a few hours.  As he was about to hit play, there was a commotion coming from the dance floor.  He walked to the window overlooking the club and he saw a familiar face.  Lucio leaned against his desk waiting for him to make his appearance.  He barged in and slammed the door shut.

“What do you think you are doing?  This is my city and I run it.  Not you.”

Lucio crossed his arms and smirked.

“Is that so? So why don’t you arrest me then?”

“You went overboard, Lucio.  Why did you shoot that lawyer?  Her father is a judge and he is not going to stop pushing this until her murderer is caught.  I can’t fix this.”

Lucio got in his face and screamed.

“I don’t care what you have to do to get rid of this judge, because if I have to handle it, it will be bloody.”

“I will handle it.  Just don’t do anything like that again.”

He laughed and flicked the Captain’s badge on the man’s chest.

“I will do whatever I want, Captain Kayhill.   You do what I tell you to do, not the other way around.”

The captain left and Lucio returned to the video footage.  He hit the play button and as the footage played, his anger started to build up until a face appeared on the screen.  

“Well, well.  I guess I do have a job for you.”

Selene felt herself close up.  She reached for her shirt to realize that it was nowhere near her.  
Dammit! 
This was not what she was expecting to happen.   She looked back at Jason and he had a concerned look on his face.

“Jason, I can’t.”

“Tell me.”  His voice broke as he uttered those two simple words.  He sat on the blanket, giving the space she was desperately needing.  He grabbed his shirt from the blanket and handed it to her.  As she put it on she leaned toward the tree.  She was going to need the support as she got this out.

“My life growing up wasn’t always picture perfect, Jason.  I was born in Brazil and my parents split up by the time I was 5.  I don’t remember much about my father and maybe that’s why I found Luke so appealing.  He was strong and commanding like a father would have been
, and he was only 17 when I met him.  I later found out he was more obsessive and controlling.  He was my first…everything.  I knew no one else but him, and that is how he preferred it. He didn’t want me to have any friends since all my time was meant for him.”

She couldn’t look at Jason, so she looked
toward the lake and hoped it would distract her from crying.  With her hand on her stomach, she continued the story.

“When I was 16, I had an aunt that lived in New York City and she had agreed to take me in.  My mother didn’t want me to stay in Brazil, especially not with this particular boyfriend.  When you’re in love, you only see what you want to see.  So imagine my surprise when I go to his house and find him in bed with another girl.  I yelled and screamed at him until I had no voice left.  I think I
even threw something at him.”

A nervous laugh escaped her.  She felt Jason’s hand around hers, but she couldn’t look at him.  She would break if she did.

“He didn’t take too well to being embarrassed, especially not by me.   I was in my room when he showed up to my house later that night.  My mom refused to let him in, so he left.  I didn’t think anything was wrong until I woke up to my mother’s screams.  I tried to leave my room but someone grabbed me and threw me on my bed.  They punched me so hard I passed out.  By the time I woke up, I felt pain everywhere.  He was on top of me.”

Jason turned me to face him.

“He raped you?”

“No.   He had me pinned to the bed.  He could have raped me, and he made sure to tell me that over and over. What he did was much worse.  When I yelled at him, he kept count of the number of words that I disrespected him with.”  

She traced her scars with her fingers.

“A slice of pain to remember every word so I wouldn’t ever do it again.  They beat my mother so bad, she fell into a coma. I went to see her every day and begged her to forgive me for what I
had caused. After a few months, she died. I left to live with my aunt after a year.  I needed to find a way to leave without him knowing where I fled to.  I was at his mercy until I left Brazil.”

Jason didn’t say a word for what seemed like forever to her.  She was on the verge of getting up to get dressed when he stood up and extended his hand.  She took it and he pulled her to her feet.  He walked and started to pick up their clothes. 

“Jason, please say something.”

He dropped the clothes on the blanket and turned sharply toward her. 

“What do you want me to say?  I want to strangle the bastard that did this to you.  I would kill him and not think twice about it.”

She was shocked to hear him say the words she once thought about doing herself.  She walked around him to grab her clothes when he grabbed her arm.

“Wait.  Is this who has been threatening you?  The case you can’t talk to me about?”

She pulled her arm from his grasp and grabbed her pants to put them on.  She took off his shirt and threw it at him and grabbed her shirt.   She opened up to him, and he was acting like a typical man with the need to protect her like she was some fragile doll.  She could handle herself.  She felt him behind her as she finished buttoning her shirt. 

“We should get back.  They might start wondering where we went.”

She nodded her head in agreement and walked off without looking back.   She could never tell him about Lucio.   If Lucio didn’t kill him, Jason would ruin his own life by killing Lucio. There was no way she was going to allow that to happen. 

Jason watched her walk ahead of him as he grabbed the blanket.  He jogged up to catch up to her and she refused to look at him.  They walked in silence back to the house, and as they approached the back entrance he saw his family outside with the fire pit lit.   Selene nodded to them as she walked in the house.  Vin laughed as Jason walked toward him.

“Damn, Jason.   Did you have fun on your little walk?”

Jason smiled at Vin and threw a punch to his gut as he walked past him.  He doubled over in pain and Jason’s brothers laughed at the sight.  Jason heard his mother yell at Vin, but was too preoccupied with Selene to care.  He ran up the stairs and she was in her room, taking off her wet clothes.

“Do you mind?  I gave you enough of a show by the lake.”

“That’s not why I’m in here.”

“Fine.  I’m tired and cold so I would like to take a shower and go to bed.  Is that ok with you?”

“Why are you mad, Selene?”

“I’m not mad.”

“Fine.  Good night.”

Jason walked back downstairs, sat on the patio chair, and Vin handed him a beer.

“We cool?”

He tipped his beer
toward Vin and gulped it down.  His parents had already called it a night and that left him with his brothers and his best friend. 

“What’s bothering you?”

Jason shook his head.  He wasn’t in the mood to talk. 

“Well, I’m out then.”

Jason looked up from his beer.

“You’re leaving?” 

“Yeah, I got a call before you came back with Selene and I need to head back.  No worries.  Your brothers are heading back into the city and are giving me a ride.  Hit me up when you get back.  I might have some info for you about the club.”

He watched them leave before he finished the beer and walked inside to grab another one.  He almost made it to his bed when Selene knocked on his door.  She had showered and changed into a t-shirt and shorts.  He took a sip of the beer and left the door open for her to come in.

Jason sat on his bed and leaned against the headboard as she took a seat at the edge of the bed.  Selene watched him drink his beer and he offered her some.  She took a sip and handed it back to him.  He gulped the rest of it and put the bottle on his night stand.  She leaned toward him and wiped some beer from his chin.  Jason gripped her hand and she let out a gasp.  He sat up and brought her fingertips to his mouth, sucking the beer from each fingertip.  He felt her shudder and kissed her mouth before she could protest. 

Jason didn’t want to talk.  He just wanted her. He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her harder.  Selene returned his kisses with the same amount of need that he felt.  He turned her to pin her to his bed and she moaned.  He kissed down her neck, and he heard her say his name.

“The door, Jason.” 

Jason stopped to look up and realized they had left the door open.  He got up, closed the door and locked it.  He took off his shirt and threw it on the floor.  He approached the bed and grabbed her feet.  He slipped the socks off and kissed her legs as he made his way
upward.  He grabbed the hem of her shorts, and slowly maneuvered them down.  Her shirt was the next target.  Selene brought her hands up to cover her stomach and he moved them away.

“Jason-”

“Let me,” he pleaded.

Jason watched as she stiffened but moved her hands as he had asked.  His fingers traced one of her scars as Selene held her breath.  He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on each one.  When he was done, he looked up to find a single tear fall down her cheek. He found her lips as she reached for him.  His pants along with her underwear hit the floor quickly.  Every movement and every kiss was passionate and tender, bringing them over the edge over and over again.  Jason collapsed on top of her as she yelled out his name. 

He felt her laugh and raised his head to look at her.

“What’s so funny?”

“I guess the third time’s the charm for us.”

He laughed at the realization and stood up to shower.  She followed him into the bathroom.  She lathered him up and he eventually pinned her to wall.  He couldn’t get enough of her.  Her touch, her taste.  He was addicted to her and wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside of her and stay there.  After they finally finished their shower and Selene was fast asleep in his arms, Jason couldn’t stop thinking about the mystery guy from Selene’s past.     

Lucio tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel.  Eddie was quiet in the passenger seat, swiping the screen on his phone.  He was going through the footage from the video.   He had been shocked when Lucio showed him the video with Vin in Selene’s apartment.  He was positive the cop was there, too, but he only saw the back of his head. 

Lucio had planned this carefully.  He was going to make sure that Selene was his again even if he had to wait for a few months to do it.  In the meantime, he needed to convince Vin that he trusted him and it meant bringing him into the club business. 

As he went over the details in his head, a car had pulled up in front of Vin’s house.  Vin got out of the back seat and shook hands with the two guys inside the car before walking toward the front door.  As the car pulled away, Lucio pulled up and called out.

“You like to party hard, I see
.”

Vin turned around and had his hand behind him before quickly removing it after seeing who it was.  Lucio frowned at Vin’s instinct to go for his gun and made a mental note to have his men keep a very close eye on this guy. 

“Why are you stalking me?  Don’t you have girls at your club that need to be laid or something?”

Lucio shook his head.

“Get in the car.  I have a job for you.”

Vin walked
toward the car and climbed into the backseat. 

“Where we going?”

Lucio looked at Eddie and Eddie turned around and pointed a gun at him.

“What the fuck?”

Lucio watched him from the rearview mirror and there was a flash of panic before he composed himself.