A Reason To Breathe (30 page)

Jack stood with the boot and handed it off to a highway patrolman, instructing him to be careful and to call in the bomb squad. Jack turned back and helped me stand, and I pulled off the other boot so I could walk. I noticed Jack was looking me up and down; then he barked, “Barry, find me a fucking blanket or coat.” I’d forgotten about the stripper costume; Jack clearly had not. I leaned into him on weak legs, and without a moment’s hesitation he picked me up and carried me to the back of the truck. He jumped down, landing on two feet, and without breaking step, moved to his truck, put me in the cab, then climbed in, turned to me and pulled me back into his arms.

“Jack, Charlie was Gerry’s son.”

“I know.”

“How’d you know?”

“Bailey took a picture at the party and he was in it. Called Ben, and he recognized him from the Nickel. Called the Nickel and got his name, then ran a check on him.” I burrowed deeper into his body and told Jack, “He thought he was in love with me. He needed help, Jack, his grandfather beat him the whole time he lived with him.”

“Seems everyone who meets you falls in love.”

I looked up at him and saw his face was warm, a small smile on his lips. Then he made my heart skip a beat when he told me, “I know I fell the moment you opened your mouth.” 

“Jack,” I mouthed since I had no voice.
 My heart was pounding, and a lump had formed in my throat.

“Love you, Jennifer, don’t know what I’d have done if something happened to you.” I shook my head to stop the tears from falling, then lunged into him and buried my face in his neck. Too many emotions were coursing through me; I wasn't looking for love when I moved here, but I sure as hell found it, and after kind, gentle and sweet, Doug, I knew what I felt for him was just a shadow of what I felt for Jack.

Jack completed me, made me whole, and sparked a desire in me that I didn't know existed. So with no voice to express my own love, I moved to his ear whispering, “I love you too, Jack.” 

Jack’s hand came up to the side of my head and cupped my face, tilting it back. His eyes had gone dark, and his breathing deeper. He leaned in and then brushed my lips, his tongue tasting them. I opened for him, and he deepened the kiss, pulling me harder into his body. Time stood still; while I poured the love I had for this man into the kiss, trying to express the depth of my emotions. The kiss went hot and wild, my hands moving up the back of his shirt, clawing his back lightly with my nails. Jack moaned in my mouth, then broke the kiss and put his forehead to mine. “Jesus,” Jack choked out then buried my head in his neck and held me tight.

Someone knocked on the window, and we pulled apart to see Barry standing there with a blanket. Jack rolled down the window, grabbed it from Barry, and I leaned over to the window. 

“Thanks, Barry.”

“Glad you’re safe, Jennifer.”

“Thanks for coming to the rescue.”

Jack interrupted by growling, “For fuck sake, cover yourself before I shoot Barry too.” Barry chuckled at Jack being possessive then moved off to talk with the highway patrol. I hadn’t known for sure who’d shot Charlie, but now I knew. I searched Jack’s eyes to see if he was hiding any pain from killing the man, but only saw the irritation for my outfit. I leaned in and asked, “You OK?” Jack’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “About shooting Charlie. If you need to talk I’m here for you.” His face warmed, and he kissed my lips quickly then answered, “He drugged you, stole you from me, scared you, scared Bailey, threatened to blow you up, was going to kill you with a pipe,
and
I have no doubt got an eyeful of you in that outfit, so yeah, I’m fine, I’d shoot him again if I could, but that’s frowned upon in a law man, apparently overkill isn’t allowed in Sheriffs.”

I didn’t know if he was serious, or joking to lighten the mood of a shitty night, so I kept my mouth shut by biting my lip. Jack saw it and stared, then looked at me and smiled.
 
I’m thinking he was serious.
 I was just about to say something when his radio crackled to life.

“Gunnison this is base come in.” Jack grabbed his handheld and answered.

“Base this is Gunnison.”

“Jack, Bailey wants to know if you have her?” I was so caught up in everything; I'd forgotten to have Jack call Bailey. Damn.

I grabbed the handheld from Jack and replied, “I’m here; I’m fine. Tell Bailey she still has to go back to school tomorrow, and we’ll be home in a few hours. Oh and tell Bailey I’m picking my own costume next Halloween.” I turned to Jack and smiled, and he threw his head back and laughed, then pulled me to him.

“I’ll pick your fucking costume next year,” he bossed. I looked at his smiling face and thought about his possessiveness. Deciding it was sexy just like his bossy, I shrugged and answered him, “Ok, Jack.”

“How do you feel about goin as a pregnant woman?”

“I’d prefer going as something scary.”

“I’ll rephrase that, how do you feel about being a pregnant woman next year.”

I considered his words, heard the change in his sentence and then froze. I looked up and asked. “You want me to
 
be
pregnant 
not
 dress as a pregnant woman?” Jack smiled at me and said, “She finally gets it.”

I started breathing hard, a little freaked out to be honest, then I thought about being a mother again. The thought of having Jack’s baby made me feel warm and happy and I started to smile. Jack saw my face change and whispered, “The thought of you carrying my child is sexy as hell, and it’d beat that costume you’re wearing by a mile.”

Staring at his smiling face, I envisioned a little boy who looked like Jack, running around my house, dark hair, blue eyes, following Jack around wanting to be just like his daddy and knew my answer.

“Ok, Jack.” Just like that, no doubt in my mind.

How we’d ended up talking about having kids after I’d been kidnapped, only weeks after having been attacked and put in a coma, was beyond me, but nothing since we’ve met has been traditional or normal, so why not?

“Ok?” He questioned.

“Ok, but under one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want to be an unmarried woman when I get pregnant again.”

“You asking me to marry you?” He smiled.

“No, I’m telling you to marry me.” I explained.

“Look who’s bossy now?” He whispered as his mouth came to mine, then before he kissed me he whispered again.

“Marry me, Baby.”

“Ok, Jack”

“That's my girl, now kiss me and seal the deal.”
So damn bossy.

Epilogue

Three months later…

       “Bob, I’m telling you the trail leads back to the Mayor.”

You could have slapped me, and I wouldn’t have felt it when I made the connection between the fires at the old mine, and the new casino proposal. Bob, my editor, after promoting me to Lorraine’s position, gave me an assignment to investigate the new casino proposal. He wanted me to find out about other small communities and how it affected them and their economies, and also their crime rate. In doing so, I called the developers of the casino, and by luck, talked with someone who was chatty, and they told me that the land they were looking at for the casino, was the land around the old gold mine. As you can imagine, having been attacked there and then a mysterious fire, this caught my attention. My spidey senses kicked in, and I looked into the owner of the mine. Found the Mayor purchased it a month after the fire from the family who owned it, and was now looking to make some serious dough on this deal.

If I’m right, he used his position as Mayor to not only negotiate this deal, but also find out what property they wanted. And
then
he lucked out by a mysterious fire that made it possible to purchase the very land? It smells of scandal; it reeks of corruption and it screams of arson for the sole purpose of purchasing the property for a song. Wait till I tell Jack….

One month later…

“You fuckin’ bitch.” The Mayor roared in my face. My article about what I’d uncovered went to print the night before, and all of Gunnison was waking to find their Mayor a suspect in the arson at the mine,
and
that he was an opportunist of his own making. By allegedly setting the fire, he was able to take advantage of the owners because the fire had made the mine unsafe, and the owners didn’t have the money to exact repairs.

The story goes like this. The casino was interested in the mine; the owners didn’t want to sell. A mysterious fire destroys the mine making it unsafe, and expensive to rehab for the owner’s. In steps Mayor Hall, “I’ll buy it from you and preserve the history,” he’d told them, but had no intention of doing so. He intended; I found out through communications with the casino owners, to bulldoze the mine and sell it to them for a song. That brings us to now, and the enraged man in my face.

Everyone at the paper got quiet, and I was so shocked by his anger, for once I said nothing.

“I’m suing this paper, I’m suing you, and if you think the Sheriff won’t see termination for investigating this bullshit, you’re sadly mistaken. I will bury you both.”

I heard Lorraine on the phone whispering as I kept myself on the other side of my desk, afraid the control he was holding onto might snap. He leaned into my desk and hissed, “You’re through in this town Mrs. Gunnison, you, and your brute of a husband.”

Did I mention I’d gotten married? Jack wasn’t kidding when he said marry me, and he wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted a baby. It had been four months since Charlie abducted me and since then, Jack had hauled me to Vegas where we’d gotten married with Bailey, Grady, Mom, Dad, Jack’s mother, and Ben and Lorraine all in attendance. Neither of us wanted fuss. So one month later, instead of the traditional thanksgiving, we all flew to Vegas and had a short wedding at Cupid’s chapel, then had a long weekend of gambling and shows. Well, the rest of our wedding party did, we surfaced once for a Garth Brooks show, ‘cause honeymoon or not, it was Garth and I wasn’t missing him.

Anyhow, back to our story. The Mayor ended his threat by taking his hand and swiping it across my desk, knocking everything to the floor, then he prowled around the desk as I backed up, putting my hands up in front of me to keep him back. I heard running in our direction but kept backing up, tangling my foot with my chair and sending me to the floor just as Jack rounded my desk.

And since I’d informed him two days prior that we were having a Halloween baby, he kinda lost his shit when he saw me fall.

Jack grabbed the Mayor, threw him to the side, reared back his fist, and nailed him right in the jaw. Then he followed with a leg to his stomach, bringing the Mayor to the floor, and out cold. I was trying to get to my feet to stop him, but he turned to me, picked me up, put me gently in my chair, and then looked me over searching for injuries.

“I’m ok, Jack.”

“How hard did you fall?”

“Jack, I’m fine; I took spills with Bailey; my pride is bruised not my body.” Jack took a deep breath then leaned his forehead against mine.

“I wanted to kill him when I saw you go down.”

“You may have, he’s not moving,” I replied as I looked at the Mayor lying on the floor.

Moments later the Mayor started moving and then rolled to his back, trying to breathe through the pain. His eyes finally opened, and he turned his head to Jack and sneered, “You’re finished, I’m pressing charges for assault; I have a room full of witnesses, and the council will have no problem with my recommendation after this.” Lorraine walked up about then and looked down on the Mayor with a look of disgust, and informed John how it really was.

“You threatened and advanced on a pregnant woman causing her to fall. You continued to advance on her, even after she was down. I have no problem telling the council that a man protecting his wife or a Sheriff protecting a defenseless pregnant woman was well within his right as a husband or a Sheriff.”

When Lorraine finished her speech, Bob stepped up.

“I didn’t see anything, sorry, Mayor,”

“I don’t have my glasses with me today, sorry, Mayor, I didn’t see anyone beat the shit out of you with one fucking punch.” Laughed Thomas our print editor.

Grady, who had come with Jack, was standing to the side with his arms crossed over his chest, scowling at his father. He stepped up and helped him off the floor, then pulled his arms behind his back and stated, “You have the right to remain silent—“

“What the fuck are you doing, Grady?”

“Reading you your rights, we have a warrant for your arrest. Got it this morning from Judge Thompson. We found the evidence you started the fire at the mine in your barn, you stupid fucking sonofabitch… Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law,” Grady continued as he walked his father out of the newsroom and out the door.