Page 48 of Desperate Temptations

“How are you doing?”

Jessa looked up at him and tried to smile. She lightly scored her fingernails against his back, knowing he liked when she did that.

“I’m going to be okay, Cain. I know it will take me a while to come to terms with the fact that I took a life, but I will. It doesn’t matter if he was a scumbag.”

He chuckled tiredly.

“You’re right, he was a scumbag.” He bent to kiss the tip of her nose. “It will take some time, but you’re strong, and we’ve got each other.” Cain tipped her chin up because he needed to have all her attention.

He cleared his throat.

“Jessa, there are some things I need to tell you, and you probably aren’t going to like it, but I’d do it again. I put a tracking device in your purse, just in case something like today happened.”

He studied her expression and continued when she just watched him, subdued.

“I know I probably overstepped, but I’m glad I did it. I arrived at the building shortly after you did because of the tracker. I was upstairs watching everything, ready to take out every man in the place if I had to. I wanted to wait for backup because it was safer for you, but if one of them tried to harm you, I was there and ready to wipe him from the face of the earth.”

He didn’t know how she would take what he was going to tell her next. He knew he was piling a lot on her, but he wanted to be the one to inform her, rather than have her hear it from someone else at the station.

“I killed several of them after you shot Martinez.”

Her eyes closed.

“Jessa?”

She refocused on him.

“That’s why they need my statement, too. Because I was there.”

Jessa stared wide-eyed, trying to wrap her head around what he was saying.

“You were there?” At his nod, her eyes teared up again. “Did you hear everything they said? That Gary is the one who killed Drew?”

He rubbed circles on her back, hating to see her hurting like this. He wanted to kill Gary for hurting her, putting her in danger, and killing his good friend. He knew the whole city was looking for the bastard.

“I heard most of it, yes.”

She wiped a tear away and stammered.

“Did you hear how they were all going to rape me ... a-and then sell me? I was going to k-kill myself before they could touch me. I couldn’t allow anyone else, but y-you to ever touch me.”

He clenched his teeth and bowed his head to hide his expression. The force of rage running through him would scare her if he didn’t calm down. She didn’t need to see any more violence that night. He cleared his throat, running a hand down her back, trying to soothe her.

“Yes, I heard what they were saying, but no way was that ever going to happen. I’d kill a hundred men to prevent that from happening. I just wish you had known I was there for you, so you weren’t as afraid.”

She tucked her head under his chin.

“Me too, Cain,” she whispered. They lay quietly together, just holding each other.

Cain roused. “We need to take another shower and get to the station. The sooner we get there, the sooner we’ll get home and back in bed.”

Chapter Forty-Six

They showered and dressed together. When she refused to eat anything, he made her drink a cup of coffee loaded with sugar.

They made their way to the station. On the way, she vaguely heard Cain as he made a call, asking someone to meet them there. Jessa twisted her hands in her lap, gazed out the side window watching the city flash by, and worried about the coming hours.

She didn’t know if she could talk about what happened with anyone besides Cain. She wanted time to come to terms with it, and then maybe she would be able to talk about it. She knew, as a lawyer, that wasn’t going to happen. She kept reminding herself she was a strong woman and had already been through a lot, surviving, and that she'd have Cain there. She was going to get through this. She just had to keep telling herself that.

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