Cash Money (Bad Money #4) (8 page)

Chapter 14

Jon

Kate left early the next morning after a long night of snuggling up and talking things through. She seemed to be more relaxed by the time Jon got her out of a hot bubble bath and tucked her beside him. The hope for making love to her died as she fell asleep next to him. He didn't need it to connect them together that night as he had the other nights they'd spent together. Something had changed inside of her, and he prayed like hell she would stay committed to a future with him. Letting go of Marcus wasn't going to be easy, and the beautiful vixen hadn't agreed to anything, but he could feel her desire to.

After changing into a polo shirt and jeans, Jon pulled on his leather jacket and his helmet and headed for the police station. He'd spoken to Mike a little the day before about being reinstated, and was rather put off by the fact that the asshole hadn't ever turned in the original resignation paperwork. He figured he could lure Jon back on the force.

"And he did," Jon muttered as he parked behind the station and locked his bike up. He didn't have many friends on the force simply because of his desire to keep his past hidden. It would seem that every time he got close to someone, the past would inevitably come up. Lying wasn't his style in the slightest, so keeping a comfortable distance from people was key.

Karen glanced up from her computer as he walked in the front door.

"Wow. Look who it is. How was that three-week vacation to the Bahamas?" She stood up and bit her lip like a schoolgirl watching her favorite crush.

"Vacation? No, not me." Jon stopped at the front counter and pressed his hands against the frame of the window. "Mike said to get my ass back in here. How's everything been going?"

"Same old shit. Violence, mayhem and death. Just another day in the office." She smirked, and Jon couldn't help but chuckle. The woman was too much most days, and yet she never failed to have everyone in the office cutting up.

"How's my partner doing?" He lifted his eyebrow.

"Good. He's been working his way up the chain like you used to. Chasing every lead, kissing every ass." She chuckled.

"All right. Keep it up, Karen, and no more roses for you on Valentine’s." He shrugged. "Guess I'll have to find another leading lady."

"No. Heavens no." She dropped down in her chair and leaned back. "Glad you're back, Jon. We missed you, and when I say we... I mean me."

Jon chuckled again. "Crazy thing."

He turned and walked to the back, letting his eyes scan the busy hallway in front of him for Clay. Something about the kid left him a little edgy, but maybe it was for the reasons Karen had mentioned. The guy was hungry for success, and almost reminded Jon too much of himself. Maybe he should work at giving him a break.

"Oh wow. Peterson, they let you out of the mental hospital?" Grabousky stood up from his desk as Jon walked into the large room of desks scattered about.

"Yep. I seduced your momma, and she gave me the keys to my freedom." Jon winked at him before stopping by Clay's desk.

The kid glanced up with a weary smile on his face. He looked like he'd aged ten years in the last few weeks.

"Oh, hey, Jon. What's up?" He sat back and ran his fingers through his messy red hair.

"Just checking in with you before I find a quiet office to start working on a case file. You hanging in there?" Jon couldn't shake the fact that something wasn't quite right with the kid, but just like everyone did, the boy deserved a chance to prove himself.

"Yeah. Just been working double shifts to try and help out." Clay let out a yawn before almost falling backward out of his chair.

Jon reached out and caught the side of the chair before the kid ate it. The phone next to him buzzed, a message from “BT” popping up.

Plantation Home. Now, bitch.

Jon adverted his eyes from the phone and smiled. "You all right? You need to take a day off. I'll cover your shifts for you if you need me to."

"No, I'm good." Clay snatched up his phone, grabbed his coat and let out another yawn. "I'll be sleeping in my car down the street if anyone needs me. It’s my lovely lunchtime ritual."

"All right. We'll chat when you get back." Jon sat down on the edge of Clay's desk and watched the boy walk through a group of cops, no one saying a word to him. It was like he wasn't even there.

"Something is off with that kid, Jon." Grabousky stopped beside the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "He's here most days of the week, rarely takes a break, and I swear to God, he's fucking watching us like a hawk."

"You're being paranoid." Jon got up and pulled his phone from his pocket, checking it for texts before walking toward the hallway. "But, let's see what he's up to anyway."

"Yeah, please do," Grabousky called after him. "Where's the pretty piece you keep getting tangled up with?"

"In my bed back at home. Too tired to move." Jon chuckled, knowing he was wrong for being a dick around the guys, but loving to do it all the same. He stopped by Karen's desk and tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped and let out a yelp before pulling out her ear buds and popped him in the stomach. "You ass. You scared me half to death. No one comes back here."

"I know, but I need to borrow your car."

"What? Where is your motorbike?"

"It's out there, but I want to follow someone. Come on. Give me the keys."

"For a kiss on the cheek." She lifted her eyebrow.

Jon rolled his eyes, leaned down and kissed her cheek twice. "The keys."

"Anything for you, Johnny." She popped his stomach again and let out a girly sigh. "When that girl lets you go, come find me. Yes?"

"You know we're going to get married one day, Karen." He jogged toward the exit, hoping that he hadn't already lost the chance to keep up with Clay.

"You and her?" Karen called after him.

"No, silly. Me and you." He stopped at the door and chuckled as her cheeks turned pink. She was too much, and yet he was grateful for the routine of getting back to the office and still finding everyone as they were when he left. It was comforting, and needed.

He jogged around the side of the building in time to see Clay pulling out on the busy side street. The guy didn't get into the road good before traffic stopped.

"Yes…" Jon muttered and ran to Karen's old beat-up Ford. He got in and pulled out, punching the gas and slowing a little as he approached the traffic that Clay was stuck in. The kid was driving a bright blue truck, which would help Jon keep an eye on him if nothing else.

"Why am I doing this?" He growled and pulled out, thanking the guy behind him. "Because Mike said there was a rat on the force, and the last time you didn't follow your gut, you ended up drugged and tied to a fucking chair in a warehouse."

Seth's deceit raced across him, and he couldn't help but feel a splurge of anger. They'd been friends for five years and worked side by side on the force from training school on up. There wasn't much they hadn't shared or talked about. Was it all a lie?

That Seth would not only put Adam in a position to get gunned down, but that he would steal his body from the morgue was almost too much to think through. Jon's stomach turned, and he forced himself away from thinking about it too much more.

He wasn't close to Clay. If the kid was the rat, then he would find proof, turn it over to Mike and move out of the way. He didn't owe the guy anything.

*

Thirty minutes later, Jon let out a sigh of relief and parked the car behind a large group of trees past the rundown plantation house Clay had parked at.

After checking his gun and texting Mike to let him know what he was up to, he turned on his tracker so that Karen would know where he was at all times. He tucked the phone in his back pocket and jogged through the heavy underbrush. The early afternoon sun was working hard to warm the world around it, but a chill sat in the air that wasn't going to easily be destroyed.

Jon rounded an old warehouse and took his chances to jog from tree to tree until he was just beside the house. The front door opened as Clay let out a yelp.

"Stop being so damn rough. I'm not like you guys, Reni. Shit."

Jon stiffened. The idea of barreling out and taking out Billy's right-hand man was appealing. Reni and Jon went a long way back, Benton having brought them both up to be his second in command. Jon was just a little stronger, a lot smoother, and far more deadly. Jon pulled out his phone and lifted it, taping the interaction before him as best he could.

"Gotcha," he whispered, not quite sure he felt good about having nabbed the rat on the force seeing that it was once again his partner.

"Shut up, kid. You're lucky Billy ain't here. He's sick of your shit. You're supposed to be working on getting the captain to believe Kate's involved in these murders. Do your fucking job or I'm going to show up in your bedroom one night and slit your goddamn throat. Got it?"

"I'm telling mom that you keep threatening to kill me. Asshole." Clay's tone didn't even hint at fear, which was odd. He had to be related somehow.

"Tell her. She ain't gonna do nothing. She's as scared as you are of me." Reni laughed, which turned into a long, nasty coughing session.

"Yeah, well fuck you, too." Clay glanced around as Jon ducked back behind the tree in front of him. "I'll do my part, just keep the cop off my ass."

"His days are limited, Clay. Do your job and stop being a pussy." Reni turned and walked back to the house as Clay jogged to his truck just beside the road.

Jon waited until the coast was clear to run back through the trees to Karen's car. He got inside and called Mike as he pulled back out on the main road. Something inside of him wanted to wait in the shadows for Billy, to just pull the trigger and be done with it, but he wasn't a murderer.

At least not anymore.

Chapter 15

Marcus

"What do you think?" Zak glanced over at Marcus as they rode back to the hotel.

"I'm not sure, honestly." He rolled his shoulders, hating how quickly his heart was closing back up. He never should have let Kate see him break down. He never should have stayed the night. There was no way to leave without crushing her. Or maybe he was overthinking it. He'd told her several times that he loved her, but she'd yet to say it to him in a way that left him believing her.

"What's on your mind, man?" Zak patted Marcus's chest. "You look like a man with far too much weighing him down."

"It's Kate." Marcus rolled down the window and leaned back, closing his eyes. "I can't imagine my life without her, but I don't want this new thing that's happening with us either. I want things to get back to the way they were. We were silent about our feelings and just took care of each other. She had her place, and I had mine. Now... fuck. I don't know."

"What's different now? The cop?"

"Yeah, and the fact that she's seeing something in him that makes her want a relationship, a family, all the shit that I couldn't even fathom trying to live up to." He let out a long exhale. "I don't know. I'm leaving if we decide this is a good gig. I need to get my head out of the clouds. I'm not the kind of man who has a happy ending. It just sits wrong on me."

"Damned to be damned?" Zak gave a sad smile as Marcus glanced over at him.

"Yeah. Something like that." He ran his hands over his bald head. "What about you? You like what they had to say, or are you thinking the future might be better back in Nawlins?"

"I'm going to take you up on running the drug cartel up here if you're offering it." Zak rubbed his hands down his legs. "We could kill the cop, you know. Just take him out while we're taking Billy out. No one would have to know, and Kate could be yours again."

Marcus smirked. "Would you believe me if I told you I actually care about the bastard? He's starting to become more like the punk-ass brother I never had. Just leave it be. Someone has to lose."

"Why you? I can tell you that if I had a choice to shift the emptiness inside of me from losing Katrina to someone else... I would." Zak shifted and shrugged.

"To me?" Marcus glanced over at him.

"That's not fair. I'm finding a friendship with you like the one I had with my own brother years before his death." Zak shook his head and grumbled, "Point taken."

"Naw, it's good. Jon's a good man. He'll take care of Kate. I'm just going to have to close my eyes every time I kiss a woman, touch her, fuck her. I need them all to be her." He closed his eyes as devastation pumped through his chest. Lust was easy. Love was a sick bitch that deserved to be locked up forever.

"Does she know?"

"About Chicago? No. I'll tell her when we get home. I need one more night in her arms before I walk." Marcus pressed his hands over his face and took a long, shaky breath. "I'm praying to God that I have the strength to walk away."

"What if she doesn't want you to, Marcus? Then what?"

The car stopped and Marcus sat up and cleared his throat. "Then nothing. It's not her choice. It never has been."

*

The club was dark and smoky when they walked in later that night. Sitting around the hotel talking about Zak's loss or Marcus's situation got old far too fast.

"I'll grab us a couple of beers. Find us a table, preferably away from the dance floor." Marcus turned from his new friend and walked to the bar. A pretty blond with far too much titty for the top she was wearing leaned over and smiled.

"What can I get for you, big man?" She bit her lip and tried hard to look cute.

"Two beers. Bud Lights if you have them." He lifted his card. "Start a tab too."

"Of course." She took the card and turned, putting long legs and a short skirt on display. He kept waiting for his cock to twitch, his stomach to tighten.

Something.

Anything.

"Fuck, nothing." He turned around and growled softly as his eyes scanned the dance floor. There had been many women in his bed before him and Kate settled into a routine, but not since. Getting back in the swing of things should have been something to look forward to, but it wasn't.

He didn't want anyone else, and yet the future was forcing him to walk.

"Here you go, handsome. The girl at the end of the bar bought these for you." The bartender smiled and nodded toward the end of the bar.

A bombshell sat on a stool by herself, her long dark hair covering her shoulders and hiding her face. The strong slope of her shoulder and thick swell of her breast was appetizing, but not enough to walk down and thank her. Marcus would send Zak over later.

He walked through the crowd and found the smaller man at a table, talking to a couple of rough looking guys who stood around him.

"Excuse me." Marcus pushed his way through them and dropped down beside Zak. "Friends of yours?"

"Yeah, crazy enough. Paulk, this is Marcus. Marcus, my brother's best friend from when we were kids. They're all here in Chicago now." Zak laughed and shook his head. "Small fucking world."

"We're going to shoot some pool. You guys wanna join us?" Paulk asked.

"Naw, you guys go catch up. I'm good taking in the scenery. Besides, how am I supposed to get laid with all you ugly bitches crowding the view?" Marcus smirked as the guys laughed.

Zak got up and turned back. "You sure about not playing?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Marcus nodded as he lifted his beer to his lips. He needed some time to himself to digest what he was going to do about Kate. He pulled his phone out and called her, wanting to hear her voice.

"Where are you?" She didn't sound too thrilled. Good. He liked that she was testy that he wasn't there with her.

"I'm in Chicago. There was an opportunity out here that I wanted to check out." He licked at his lips. "I wish you were with me."

"I would be if you had asked me to, asshole." She was pissed. He chuckled at the thought.

"You know why I didn't tell you, Katie." He scanned the crowd, finding the brunette gone from her barstool.

"No, actually, I don't understand it at all. You show up here torn the fuck up, make love to me all night and then leave the next morning with a lie on your tongue as your parting words? Fuck you for that," she barked into the phone. His body roared to life as the image of her taking his cock so well the night before seared his memory.

"I need you. I'll be home tomorrow. Be ready." He licked his lips and tried to catch his breath. Fucking six years of being beside her nonstop and he still couldn't seem to get over her.

"No. I'm not opening my legs to you just because you ask me to. You lied to me. We promised each other we wouldn't do that."

"What was I supposed to do?" He sat up and reached for his beer. "Tell you that I can't do this shit with you and Jon forever? Is that what you want to hear? I'm good sharing you in the bedroom here and there, Katie, but for forever? What is that? A joke?" His skin was heating, his body twitching for release.

"I would never ask that of you." Her voice broke and he hated himself for jabbing at her. He knew better than to start a fight with her over the phone. There was no ability to reach out and hold her or tell her just how sorry he was.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm just trying to figure this shit out. I don't know what's best for you, but that's what I want to do. I've been living my life with doing what's best for you almost always at the top of the list."

"You're a fucking liar. Stop playing the martyr, Marcus. You told me no eight years ago as we stood beside that railway. You freed me from the trap I'd slipped into and waved goodbye. You could have come with me. You still could." The tears in her voice ripped his soul in half.

He wanted so badly to tell her that he'd only said no all those years ago because he had no choice. His life for hers. That was the deal. She was free to run - to go, but he wasn't. And here she sat thinking that he'd simply waved her away.

Never.

"I gotta go, baby. I'll see you tomorrow night when I get home. We can talk about this Chicago stuff, and I'll come clean with you." He cleared his throat.

"Bye, Marcus." The phone went dead, and he sat there, listening to the dial tone as a million emotions raced through him.

There was only one way left to go... forward.