Page 59 of Jasper

The men moved through the house room by room, stopping in the one Sloane had claimed as her own. There was still plenty of her shit lying around, as well as in the closet and in drawers. They gathered in there and stood talking too low for the cameras to pick up, but Jasper grinned when all their heads snapped toward the door.

That’s right fuckers. Cops are on your doorstep.

To the inexperienced eye, it didn’t look like a secure home at all. The cameras he had set up were hidden, even the ones outside. The farmhouse was better covered than most state-of-the-art security systems.

He watched them run down the stairs and pile into their car, speeding away from the house, but not by way of the main road. They cut around the barn and toward the back road Jasper used himself when hauling supplies to fix the fences. It wound around and emptied out onto the dirt road leading to the main one that would take them into or out of town.

He sent up a silent prayer of thanks that he’d called Cole earlier. Had they still been at the house, he would have heard the car pull up and gone to check. If they were as vicious as Cole implied, he wouldn’t have even gotten the door open. He’d be dead, and so would Sloane.

Now he just had to keep them alive until they got back to New York.

Sloane woke up to the feel of tiny claws digging into her stomach. She groaned and tried to move but found an arm thrown across her middle, preventing it.

What the…?

She blinked her eyes open and saw Jasper sprawled out beside her on his stomach and the kittens crawling over both of them.

If that wasn’t disturbing enough, they weren’t at the farm. They were in a hotel room, the TV off and the curtains pulled shut, but that didn’t keep out the outline of sunshine telling her it was probably at least noon, maybe later.

How did they get here? Why were they here?

Patches curled up under her chin and settled herself down for a nap. Sloane scratched her behind the ears absently.

“Jasper?” she nudged him with her other arm.

His eyes opened instantly, and he looked around the room, searching, before settling on her. His gaze was wary but concerned.

“Hey.” He sounded sleepy.

“What’s going on?”

“You don’t remember?”

Sloane thought back to yesterday, and the last thing she remembered was arguing about Christmas decorations.

She shook her head after a minute.

Jasper sat up and stretched, and Sloane’s mouth went a little dry. He didn’t have a shirt on. How had she missed that earlier? His muscles rippled with every moment, and she couldn’t look away.

“I’m not sure I should tell you. We don’t need a repeat of the last two days.”

Two days? That pushed all her lustful thoughts out of her head, and she sat up, poor Patches rolling down into her lap. The kitten blinked up at her, her expression hurt. Sloane picked the kitten up and cuddled her in apology.

“What do you mean, two days, and where exactly are we?”

“We’re right outside Springfield, Illinois. I drove straight through the night and most of yesterday to get here. I stopped when I felt my eyes shutting. We’ve been holed up here since last night.”

“Why don’t I remember any of this?” There was no way she’d lost that much time.

“Because your body and mind went into shock. You’ve been unconscious for almost two days. I was seriously considering taking you to the emergency room if you didn’t wake the fuck up soon.”

“I don’t understand…why was I in shock?”

“See, that’s where the ‘not telling you’ part comes in. I’m afraid if I do, this will happen again. You scared the shit of out me, pretty girl.” He ran a hand down his face. He looked dead tired.

“Why are we here?” She gestured to the room in general.

“Because we’re headed to New York. Driving was safer than the airport or a bus.”

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