Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (19 page)

Two days had passed since she and Jason had sex. He hadn’t mentioned it since then and neither had she. Because of that, she wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about their encounter. He was very hard to read most of the time and she sure wasn’t going to ask, so she decided to just stare quietly out of the passenger window of the truck; it seemed to be the safest thing to do at the moment.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

She was so deep in thought, she barely heard him. “Nothing.”

He remained quiet for a moment before he responded. “Hopefully Chandra has something good for us.”

Chandra had called Jason this morning claiming to have information about the origin of the photos that were taken of him and Amour. She was glad for the call because it could possibly distract her from the conflicting feelings she had about Jason. They didn’t have sex the last two days but it didn’t stop her from wanting to. In fact, she could still feel him inside of her. She closed her eyes for a moment and slightly shook her head in an attempt to banish the images of them being together out of her mind and focus on the business at hand.

“What exactly did she say to you?” she asked softly.

“Just what I told you. She said that she had a lead on the photos that could possibly help us out a lot.”

“Well, I hope it does because I’m getting sick of all this, and don’t say we can stop at anytime because I know that and I don’t want to.”

“I wasn’t gonna say anything,” he said.

“Good.”

“Why are you so grouchy?”

Maybe because he had made the most incredible love to her two days ago and has yet to even acknowledge it or maybe because he was acting like a complete jerk.
“I’m not, I’m just ready for this to be over that’s all.”

“It will be soon.”

They’d arrived at Chandra’s home to find Mack’s car in the driveway. The job he was out on must be over much to Amour’s delight. She and Jason could use all the help they could get at this point. When they entered the large two bedroom apartment, Amour caught a whiff of what smelled like food coming from the kitchen. “Whatever you’re cooking smells great,” she said before taking a seat on the sofa in the small living room area.

“Thanks,” Chandra replied. “I’m cooking a special welcome home dinner for Mack.”

It was obvious that Chandra flat out refuses to give up on this man that clearly didn’t want her.
“Oh, how sweet! What are you making?”

“Mexican food, it’s his favorite.”

Mack appeared from one of the back rooms and joined Amour and Jason in the living room just as Chandra disappeared into the kitchen. He looked as if he’d just showered because his hair was obviously damp and his clothes were comfortable. Judging by the way Chandra was glowing and how mussed her hair was, it was pretty obvious what they’d been doing before she and Jason arrived.

Jason stood and gave Mack a brotherly hug.
“Long day?”

Mack let out a chuckle and winked. “You know how it is man.” He turned and extended his arms to her.
“Hey Amour! How’s it going?”

When he hugged her, the dark waves of his shoulder length hair wet her cheek. “I’m fine. How did your job go?”

“It was work, nothing too exciting.”

Amour was starving so she graciously accepted Chandra’s invitation for the two of them to have dinner with her and Mack. After Chandra cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher, she entered the living room where everyone had gone after dinner and placed a large white envelope on the coffee table before sitting next to Jason on the sofa.

“Are those the photos I gave you?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, there were no prints on them but I did find out something interesting though.”

Jason leaned in closer to her. “I’m listening.”

“I can’t tell you who took the photos but I do know where the photo paper came from.”

“How is that gonna help us?”

“A whole hell of a lot.
Just as I was sliding them back into the envelope, I noticed the imprint on the back of each of them.” She took one of the photos out of the envelope, flipped it around and handed it to Jason. “Look what it says.”

“
Blue Star International
. Who’s that? And why does that name sound so familiar?”

Mack took a sip of the beer he was drinking and then swallowed. “Remember man? We were all hired to do a fundraiser for them about three years ago.”

Jason frowned. “I remember but what does that have to do with us? So they made the paper, I still don’t get why this is so important.”

“You will when you find out who owns Blue Star International.”

“Okay…”

Chandra looked up at Jason giving him a half grin.
“The man of the hour, Mr. Pierce Harrington himself.”

Amour’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“Yes ma’am. He owns the manufacturing plant that makes it. It’s listed under one of his many corporations.”

Amour quickly rose to her feet. “Where’s your bathroom Chandra?”

“It’s straight down the hall to your left.”

Amour was five seconds away from hyperventilating by the time she’d reached the bathroom and shut the door. She was incredibly hot all of a sudden and an emotional wreck but she refused to cry again. Instead, she splashed some water on her face and dried it with one of the paper towels Chandra kept on the counter. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered exactly what kind of woman had given birth to her. Was her mother really that horrible to her father? It all made sense though; if Pierce Harrington was
having an extramarital affair, that would’ve ruined him if he’d gotten caught especially back then. Politicians often ran campaigns on family values and what was for the “good of the people” and having a mistress definitely didn’t qualify. Did her mother threaten to expose him? Did he kill her? That was a huge assumption on her part though considering the fact that the only thing linking him to any of this in any way was the photo paper. That paper is probably sold in every office supply store in town. It
was
quite a coincidence though, be it a very small one but a coincidence all the same. Maybe it wasn’t him who killed her. Maybe it was someone that worked for him in one of his manufacturing plants that he’d hired to do the job. Hell, it could’ve been anyone at this point. This whole thing was becoming just too weird.

The ruby and platinum bracelet sparkled around her wrist in the light of the bathroom. She stared at it, but this time with different eyes. This bracelet was probably nothing more than a hush gift brought for her by Pierce Harrington to keep her quiet. Maybe she refused his request so he decided to have her permanently kept quiet. She couldn’t wear it anymore, not after all of this. After quickly removing the bracelet from her wrist, she dropped it in her purse before taking out her hair brush and running it through her hair a few times. She wasn’t going to let this get to her; not this time. What she also wasn’t going to do was let some asshole politician potentially get away with murder. If Pierce Harrington did kill her mother, she was definitely going to make sure he paid for it.

* * *

“What’s up with her?” Chandra asked.

Mack looked up at her and frowned. “What do you think? She’s been lied to by the police, shot at, found a dead maid in her room and found out her mother was screwing around on her father with a man that could potentially be involved in her murder all within a week’s time. I would say she has every reason to be freaked out right about now.”

“I guess you’re right,” she said in a low tone.

Mack turned to Jason. “There’s more.”

“What?”

“Now don’t get pissed at me but I also did a little digging on her as well.”

“Are you talking about Amour?”

“Yes.”

Jason’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Why?”

“Because man, I wanted to make sure you weren’t hanging out with a psychopath or something. You’ve only know this girl for a week. I’m just trying to look out for you that’s all.”

“And did you find anything?”

“Well for starters, she’s been in rehab and has been in therapy for the past year.”

“And?
So have I. Maybe not a year but I have seen a therapist. She already told me about her former drug habit anyway.”

“That’s not all.”

“What else could she have possibly done Mack?”

“Well it seems Miss Graciette is pretty handy with a knife.”

Jason frowned again. “What are you talking about?”

Chandra turned and faced Jason again. “I looked into her background and it seems a man by the name of Simon Allister pressed assault charges against her about three years ago.”

“Assault?” Jason responded.

“Yeah, with a deadly weapon.
It seems the charges were dropped but the guy did end up in the hospital with serious injuries though.”

Assault with a deadly weapon?
Amour? What the hell was that all that about? What kind of woman was he dealing with exactly? Mack was right though, he barely knew her. But it had to be an explanation for this and was willing to let her do just that. “Alright thanks for the info guys. I’ll talk to her about tonight if she’s willing to.”

“Alright man,” Mack said. “But what are you gonna do in the meantime?”

“Well first I’m going to find out how I can get in contact with Pierce Harrington. I’d like to ask him a few questions.”

“Jax did some work for the mayor a few times so he may have some connections in that department. You should ask him if he can hook you up.”

“I plan to. In the meantime I have to make sure Amour’s okay with pursuing this. She keeps telling me she is but whenever she freaks out like this I don’t know. I know she’ll just tell me she’s fine but I just want to be sure.”

“I feel you man.”

Chandra put her arm around Jason’s shoulders. “If you need me, you know where to find me.”

“Me too man,” Mack said.

“Thanks guys. Let me get her home. I’m sure she just wants this day over with by now.” As Jason walked towards the bathroom to check on Amour, he started to worry. He could see that this was breaking her down but he knew she’d be too stubborn to admit it. When he reached the door, she opened it before he had a chance to knock. “Are you okay sweetheart?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you ready to go now?”

“Yes please?”

When they got back to Jason’s apartment, Amour just went straight to the bedroom and shut the door. After showering and donning her night clothes, she plopped on the bed, pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed her father’s number. She needed to talk to him. She needed to hear the sound of his familiar voice. She needed his comfort right now. After three rings he answered.

“Hey pumpkin!”

His voice sounded gritty. “Hey dad. How are you?”

“Much better.
That damn cold is gone thank god. What’s going on with you honey? When are you coming home?”

“Soon dad.”
This time she meant it. Jason was right about finding out things that you wish you hadn’t. It was not an easy thing to deal with and she was almost sure she didn’t want to find out anymore and she definitely was no longer in denial about this.  “I plan to book my flight tomorrow afternoon sometime.”

“I’m glad pumpkin. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”

And she was most certainly going to be glad to get back to Nebraska and away from all this drama. She should’ve listened to her father in the first place and left well enough alone. It was foolish of her to come here. But oh well. At least she could consider this one of life’s lessons learned. “Daddy can I ask you something?”

“Sure baby.”

“Did you know one of mom’s friends by the name of Angela?”

She heard him take in a short breath and then let it out. “Yeah I knew her. She worked at the lounge with Carly why?”

“Well because I talked to her and she said that she warned mom to stay away from you.”

“What?”

“Yes. She told me and Jason that you were crazy and possessive towards her to the point it got both you and her fired. She thinks mom had that heart attack because of you.”

“That fucking bitch!”

That fucking bitch?
Amour can’t recall ever hearing her father use that kind of language before. “Dad?”

“I’m sorry pumpkin. I just can’t believe she’s still at it after all these years.”

“At what exactly?”

He fell silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Before I met your mother, I asked Angela out on a date. She agreed to go out with me but after our first date she told me that she couldn’t date me anymore because I was too poor for her and that she needed someone that can take care of her. She made me feel like shit but I got over it. About a year later, Carly started working at the lounge and you know the rest. Angela didn’t like the fact that I was more attracted to Carly than I ever was to her even though she had no interest in being with me so she tried to paint me as some kind of mentally unstable loser who wasn’t worth any woman’s time.”

“She seems to be good at doing that because she did the same thing to mom.”

“What do you mean?”

“She also painted mom out to be this vindictive slut who did nothing but cheat on you with all the wealthy men there.” She knew saying that to her father would possibly strike a nerve but she wanted to see if he would say anything about Pierce Harrington.

“That’s not true Amour!” her father exclaimed. “She was nothing of the sort! She was a very kind and beautiful woman inside and out. She loved me and I loved her that’s that! Angela is just still bitter because Carly attracted quality men and most of the time she was just used for sex. Don’t listen to anything she says alright.”

“Do you think she was ever capable of doing really horrible things?

He yawned. “Anything outside of trash talk, I doubt it. Her bark was much bigger than her bite.”

She guessed her father didn’t know about her mother’s affair with Pierce so she kept that information to herself. Jason was right, it would just hurt him and she definitely didn’t want to do that. It was getting late and she could see that this conversation was starting to upset her father so she decided to end it. “Okay.”

“Good. Now please hurry home baby, I miss you.”

“I miss you too daddy. I’ll be home soon. Get some rest.”

“Alright pumpkin, call me when you book your flight.”

“I will. I love you dad.”

“I love you too pumpkin.”

When the call disconnected, she immediately felt bad for him. As it seemed, he was completely unaware of her mother’s indiscretions. She felt like shit for not telling him, but maybe it was necessary. And again like Jason said, nothing will come of it but heartache. Her father’s had enough of that in his life and with his illness, he definitely didn’t need more. This will be a secret she’ll take to her grave.

The next morning Amour decided to get up early and go for a run on one of the treadmills in the small gym in Jason’s complex. She figured the run would do her some good and help to push all of this madness out of her mind before she returned home to Nebraska. Jason promised her that he would continue to work on the case until he found the answers she needed and for that, she was grateful. He decided to get a good workout in as well while making sure he stayed in close proximity to her.
Jason…what about him?
What indeed. Leaving him was going to be the hardest thing about giving up on this quest even though he’s been carrying on the past few days as if nothing had happened between them. She waited patiently for him to at least give the fact that they’d made love an honorable mention. Nothing. Not even a “Thanks for great piece of truck ass lady!” Oh well, who cares anyway? Well, she did. She couldn’t help it.

Amour stared at the computer screen as she sat at Jason’s desk. Her flight to Nebraska was chosen for tomorrow morning and ready to be booked. All she had to do was click the button but why couldn’t she? Why was purchasing an airline ticket so hard? She knew why. This was no rubix cube. It was
him
, that’s why. Him and stubbornness that she inherited honestly from her father is what was keeping her from clicking that button. She couldn’t leave tomorrow. What was she thinking? She knew if she stayed she’d be acting like an indecisive crazy person but there she was, changing her mind again.  Two weeks…She will leave in two weeks. That should give her enough time to solve this case with Jason and satisfy her father because she’d be able to give him an actual date for her homecoming. She changed the date to fourteen days away and clicked the button. There. Problem solved.

“Hey!” Jason said as he walked up behind her.

“Hey.”

“Are you all done?”

“Yes, why?”

“Because I want to see if I can somehow get a hold of Pierce Harrington today.”

“Oh…” she said softly.

“Alex is working tonight so I don’t want to take you there so you’ll have to come with me and Jax.”

She didn’t want any parts of Pierce Harrington. “No…Can I just stay with Shyla again?”

“Well you see what happened the last time you stayed with her.
Absolutely not Amour. I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

She got it, he didn’t trust her completely. But did he have to be such an ass? “There won’t be Jason. Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll stay put.”

“No, I’ll feel much more comfortable having you with me. That way I can protect you. Let’s go.”

Was he actually bossing her around? What a jerk! “Jason!”

“Let’s go Amour!”

She breathed in deeply and then let it out.
“Fine.”

They arrived at Jax’s place in about fifteen minutes and pulled up in the driveway. It was a large two story home with lots of greenery around. It reminded Amour of the homes in Nebraska. When they reached the front door, Jason rang the bell and an older but very attractive silver haired woman answered.

The woman’s eyes widened. “Jason! How are you
sweetheart?”

“Great. How are you Mrs. Blake?”

“Perfect.” She turned to look at Amour and smiled. “And who do we have here?”

Jason waved his hand in her direction. “This is Amour. Amour, this is Mrs. Blake, Jax’s mother.”

She held out her hand to Amour. “Good to meet you dear.”

“Nice to meet you as well Mrs. Blake.”

She opened the door wider. “Now come in and have a seat my dears. Jackson will be out in a jiffy.”

The two of them sat at the kitchen table while Mrs. Blake continued to do whatever she was apparently doing before they’d gotten there. Jax joined them after about ten minutes.

Jason stood up and gave Jax one of those half hug slap on the back things that guys do. “Hey man.”

The two of them sat at the table. When Jax faced her, she was sure he’d said something but she was so distracted by his eyes she didn’t quite comprehend it. They were the most beautiful shade of grey. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I asked how you are holding up; apparently not too well judging by the freaked out look on your face.”

“I’m fine. So what’s on the agenda for today?”

Jax turned to face Jason. “Yeah man, what is it that you need me to do again?”

“I have reason to believe the Pierce Harrington is somehow connected to her mother’s death and I was hoping since you’ve done work for political figures in the past maybe you can help me get inside.”

Jax gave a curious frown. “As in our state senator Pierce Harrington?”

“Yeah.”

“What makes you think he’s involved?”

Jason explained everything about what Mack and Chandra had shown and told them regarding the senator. “Can you do anything for me?”

“Well I have an ex-girlfriend who works in the mayor’s office. In fact, he’s having a function for charity coming up this weekend. She’ll get us in. I’m sure Senator Harrington will be there. He’s up for re-election.”

“Good looking out man. Thanks!”

“No problem brother.”

“You guys are not planning on having my baby on some dangerous mission are you?” Mrs. Blake asked while stirring something in a huge pot at the stove.

Jax rolled his eyes. “Mom!”

“Well, I get worried sweetie that’s all.”

“I know mom and you know I’m always careful.”

“Mrs. Blake walked over to the table and gave Jax a peck on the cheek. “I know dear.”

“Is your ex working now?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, we can go see her if you want.”

Jason rose to his feet. “Let’s roll.”

Mrs. Blake looked over her shoulder and frowned. “No no no…Not before you guys get something in your tummies.”

Jax gave his mom a wink. “Yes ma’am!”