Statistic (25 page)

I lose track of time and the next thing I know, the sun is coming up. I spent the entire night away from Liam and Max and my first worry is to get home to them for their morning routine. I didn’t think I would end up being here as long as I do and I am sure I also look like hell.

As I stand up to go looking for Craig, I feel a small pull at the corner of my shirt. Instinctively I think it is caught on something, maybe snagged on the fancy sides of the bed when I got up in such a hurry.

I turn back around to look for the snag, but my shirt frees and there is no snag. I look around dumbfounded, and that is when I see it. Jackson’s arm is bent at the elbow, straight up and his fingers are stretched. It takes me a minute to realize it was actually his hand that pulled on my shirt and not something else.

When I look up to his face, I can see his bright blue eyes open and I scream in excitement. As my yell echoes down the halls of the busy hospital people come running from all directions. Doctors, nurses, cops… everyone needs to know what is going on inside Jackson’s hospital room.

“Oh. My. God. Jackson…” I whisper as the tears begin once again. My eye make up is smeared all over my face. His hand reaches up slowly, and pulls at my arm and I give him my hand. He squeezes my fingers, and winks at me.

My heart thumps against my chest as medical staff come from all directions to work on him. One nurse removes the tube from his throat. Another presses buttons on the fancy machines all around him, and a tall gentleman in a lab coat leisurely strolls into the room.

So Mr. Revere. This must be the lady you were waiting for huh?” the man laughs as he turns to me and introduces himself. “Dr. Noah Taylor. Nice to meet you.” I try and blink back the tears as the doctor starts checking out Jackson’s condition now that he is finally away.

“Your throat is going to feel a little raw and you might not be able to talk for a little while. I will get you some water after Dr. Taylor is finished examining you.” a nurse says as she disposes of all the tubes Jackson had shoved down his throat.

“Aurora,” he whispers.

“Shhh…” I say as I put a finger up to my mouth. “Take it easy, I’m not going anywhere.” I say. “Except to go call your mother and let her know you are finally awake. You know you gave her quite the scare.”

“You got very lucky Mr. Revere. The bullet that went through your chest narrowly missed your heart, and all your main arteries. Only two centimeters to the right and you wouldn’t be with us right now. Time you invest in a new bulletproof vest.”

“He won’t be needing a vest anytime soon, because he won’t be going undercover or working a beat.” a tall man says from the back of the room. “Those days are over for you Jackson, time to get comfortable with a nice promotion with a cushiony desk job.” the man laughs.

“And you must be the one and only Aurora everyone has heard so much about this past month.” he says, and I just nod. “It is good to see you here. A pity Jackson had to go and get himself shot to actually get your attention. But I wouldn’t put it past him, he was getting kinda desperate.” The older man cracks a joke and Jackson smiles.

“Ya got me,” he whispers.

It took two weeks for Jackson to be released from the hospital, and another two weeks for him to be home from the inpatient rehab facility he was in once released. While he had been shot in the chest, that was a pretty clean wound that thankfully would require minimal long term care. His leg on the other hand had been shot, and one of his bones had been shattered in the process.

The doctor tried to explain it to me in details, but it quickly turned my stomach so I just smiled and nodded at him. Something about steel plates being screwed in or something or other. Sounded like it all belonged in a hardware store and not holding together Jackson’s leg.

I made an effort to visit Jackson every day during that time. We had the opportunity to hash out the details of our relationship. What the problems were, and would become without open communication. The biggest change was the fact that Jackson could never go back to what he was doing before. Between being made on his last assignment, the news coverage surrounding Brent trying to kill me, and the break in his leg, his career as an active officer was virtually over.

He was upset. Rightfully so because it was all he had known for so long. But, the silver lining of it all was the fact that he would continue to be a police officer, just in a different capacity. Yeah, desk jobs aren’t as exciting, especially for an adrenaline junkie like him. I am pretty sure if he ever got seriously injured again his mother would actually off him this time. It was a win-win for me, and even more of a win-win for his mother who constantly worried about his safety.

“Shhh! Everyone! He is going to be here ANY second. Get into your hiding places and don’t make a damn peep! I know all you officers know how to keep your mouths shut, so don’t try me!” I laugh as everyone scurries in different directions.

As everyone runs and hides in different directions, I open the front door of Jackson’s home and wait for him with Liam and Max out on the front porch. The boys smile at each other, bursting at the seams with the secret welcome home party inside the house. If I hadn’t paid them both heavily in Ninja Turtle figurines this morning, they would have spilled the beans the moment Jackson hobbled out of Ann’s car.

Jackson slowly makes his way up the walk on crutches. His mother grabs his arm and helps him up the three steps to the front door. I waste no time wrapping my arms around his middle and pressing a quick kiss on his cheek.

“How does it feel to finally be home?” I ask him with a huge smile plastered on my face. His smile almost matches mine, only cloaked with the pain I know he is still having.

“It would be even better if you moved in here like I asked you to while I was still laid up in the first hospital.” I laugh at him and swat his arm. His mother smiles as she watches our interaction.

“I told you… we’d talk about that down the road.” I smile, but laugh to myself thinking about how shocked he is going to be when he actually makes his way inside the house to see all my shit. His old smelly frat boy couches are gone, replaced with a brand new sky blue sectional set. After the attack in my house, blood splattered all over the back of my couch and I knew immediately it was the first thing to go. I cringe just thinking about the sights of my rental when I finally was released to go home.

The boys run around the side of me and pull on Jackson’s arm.

“JACKSON! Can we go inside and play? Mommy got us new turtles!” Liam yells, and I am just waiting for Max to give away the other surprise on the other side of the door.

“I’m hungry,” Max says, and the nudge him towards the door.

“Okay boys. Let’s get our turtles on.” Jackson says as he opens the door.

“SURPRISE” Echoes through the entire first floor of the house as people come from all angles. I was worried about the sheer amount of people inside the house actually fitting. Police officers, Marines, and all kinds of people Mr. Popularity knew, greet him in the living room.

He turns to me with a big smile on his face, “what happened to my furniture?”

“That smelly old shit? I decided to re-decorate. Wait till you see our room.”

One year ago I was following a man branded a serial killer. Yes, he was a bad person, a tortured soul, but deep down I am no better. I hide behind the smiles and the uniform of a police officer when in reality I made that man take the rap for all of my own crimes. Our crimes. The lives we took in the grand scheme of a game. Brent wasn’t a bad guy, but I corrupted him. I played on a vulnerable man who only wanted love.

Those women were nothing more than collateral damage in the power game we were playing.

In their eyes, I am a hero. A modern day Mother Theresa. The reality is that I am the devil himself. I am the dark shadow that creeps outside their windows at night. I am a monster who goes bump in the dark. I never thought there would come a time in my life when the voices would become too loud to live a normal life, but as the days go by it gets harder and harder.

The only bit of light in my life is Aurora.

The one woman I wish I could erase my entire past for.

All the bad choices. All the ghosts that haunt me.

I want to tell her. To come clean with Aurora before our daughter is born, before we make that trip down the aisle, but I know there would be no coming back from this. The damage is done and the secrets must be kept because my life would be over in the blink of an eye if I ever revealed all the lies.

The one promise I can make right here and right now is that I will never hurt this woman who has brought light back into my life. I swear to God as my witness that I will be a better man for her and my daughter who both deserve better from me.

They deserve a stand up man.

And I will be him.

I hope.

My name is Jackson Avery Revere and I am the reason Aurora Alexander almost became a statistic.

The End…

A
L
ETTER FROM
D
AWN

Ok.

I know. Y’all hate me right now.

Pick your jaw up off of the ground, and let me explain.

The ending I originally wrote, just… well it didn’t go with the book at all.

I am sorry if you were expecting something different from me since this really is a different kind of book for me.

But, I can assure you that this book will NOT be the last time you see Jackson.

That is all I can tell you right now. But, you will get more of him.

I promise.

S
INK YOUR TEETH INTO THIS TEASER FROM

DOMME
FOR
HIRE

Prologue

Everybody lies.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, well. That is on you.

I learned it long ago, right around the time my husband started to lie to me. Simple lies about where he was going or what he was doing for the night. White lies, half truths, that all started to mount to big lies. Lies that tore us apart. Lies that ruined the dreams we once thought we could built together.

As time went on we chose to live our own lives. Cole chose the whores of Wall Street while I made the decision to indulge in a kink I’ve always had. It isn’t something I am proud of, but I am not ashamed either. It just became second nature for me. Dominating men for money. Demeaning them for a good time. Punishing them for pleasure. The high I get from topping them is exhilarating. The low I get when I go home is downright painful.

Ten years have passed and neither of us care enough to enter a court room for a divorce. We have fallen into this comfortable lifestyle of virtually doing whatever the fuck we please. I guess that is alright, or at least it was until he walked into my life. A client that took me by surprise. A man that changed all the rules when it came to Domme-client relations.

He became more than a sub. He became an obsession that almost cost me everything I’ve so carefully worked for in the past decade.

My name is Mandy Frank, and I am a professional Domme.

A Domme who committed the cardinal sin in the world of domination.

I fell in love with a client.

And it changed my entire life in a split second.