Page 40 of Jackson's Redemption
He closed his eyes. “Kate, that isn’t going to happen. I’m not letting you walk out of here alone and unarmed.”
“Then go get your gun. And the keys to the truck while you’re at it. I’ll take both.”
“I’m going to put a shirt on because it’s fucking cold out here. You’re going to sit your ass down on that log, have some coffee and then we’re going to talk. I’ll tell you the whole story. All of it.”
I said nothing.
“Kate,” he snapped.
I sat on the log. It seemed to satisfy him.
I watched him walk back to the cabin. Open the door. My timing had to be perfect to maximize my head start. As soon as the door started to close behind him…
I bolted.
* * *
Jackson
Shit! Fuck! I ran my hands through my hair, thinking about how I was going to get this back on track. She thought I was going to hurt her! After the week we shared, how could she possibly think for one second I would lay a finger on her in anger?
But what the fuck was I supposed to say?I knew your father was dirty. When I saw he’d been executed, I knew what that would mean for you. I was trying to give you an out. A life raft.
I didn’t think I was going to fuck her on the first night. But I did, and once I realized she needed that, I kept giving it to her. But we were getting in too deep. Too fast.
Nothing but the two of us out here for a week. I knew I couldn’t go another day without telling her.
I thought showing her the tattoo would be the easiest way to do it.
But her reaction… Fuck! I thought she would at least listen to me. But now I was forced to look at what I had done from her perspective. Set up a fake contest. Well, fake for me anyway.
I had just read the news about her father being killed. Exposed for what he was. I thought…maybe head south to Marana. See her, find out if she was okay. Then Angel came up with the idea for the contest and it was the perfect solution.
Don’t go to her there, bring her up here. Away from everyone.
I just had to hope it worked. If not, there would have been a Plan B and Plan C and Plan D if I needed it.
Kate was the reason I stayed focused all through prison. She was the reason I kept taking classes. The reason I stopped fighting and worked on my temper. The reason I busted my ass working three jobs and taking classes at night. The reason I followed through on my dream.
Maybe it was stupid or corny, but she was a constant reminder that if I ever wanted to date a woman like her, I had to be worthy. I had to be educated. I had to have a good job.
I hadn’t ever thought there would be an us. No, there hadn’t been a lot of women in my life but that was because of the job. Where it took me. I hadn’t thought about a wife or kids, but that didn’t mean when I left this job that I wouldn’t have thought about it.
Kate was just my version of an ideal woman. She wasn’t real.
She hadn’t been real.
Until I fucked her and made her come. Until I found out she went ape shit over hot dogs and knew a hundred knock-knock jokes. The way she handled herself out here. Competently, not foolishly. The way she captured the spirit of the animals in the pictures she took.
This had been the best fucking five days of my life and she thought I was plotting some secret revenge.
Fuck!
I grabbed my shirt and both our coats. I would go out there and explain. This was supposed to be about helping her pull her life back together. From me, the one person who knew what a dickhead her father was but didn’t hold her accountable for it.
And I didn’t. When she said she didn’t know he’d been dirty I had believed her. I never expected her to believe me when I said I didn’t do it, because she was a cop. She was also right. The people I was in prison with were there because they had committed crimes.
I was an exception.
