Dawn of Forever (Jack & Jill #3) (29 page)

Another nod.

*

Jones

With Lake safe
on a plane back to San Francisco, Luke decided to visit Dodge and Lilith. He also decided to bring coffee and pastries.

The older man at the door gave him a once-over before saying anything. “Is this a special Sunday delivery? Have we been enrolled in the Breakfast of the Month Club?”

“I’m a friend of Jillian Knight.”

“Oh, well, why didn’t ya just say so.” He held open the door. “Come on in.”

Breakfast proved to be unnecessary. Jillian Knight was the secret password.

“I’m Dodge and the corpse over there is my wife, Lilith. You’ll have to get in her face if you want her to hear ya.”

He took the drink holder and bakery bag from Luke.

Lilith smiled and waved Luke over. “I can hear fine out of one ear. Have a seat.”

“Thank you.” Luke sat on the sofa next to her rocking chair.

“Did I hear you correctly? You know Jillian.”

“Yes.”

“Am I supposed to share this with you two?” Dodge asked over a mouthful of Danish, a to-go cup in his other hand.

“What’s your name, young man?” Lilith ignored her husband.

“Luke.”

All remaining color drained from her already pasty-white face. “Downstairs, Dodge. Now.”

“‘Please.’ Have you ever thought of asking instead of ordering me around?”

“Go!”

Dodge grumbled a few expletives that included “old bat” and “bossy cow” as he grabbed the bag and headed toward the stairs.

“Dr. Jones,” she said.

He squinted, with an easy nod. “How—”

“She told me everything. Not on purpose at first. Dodge led her to believe that I’m deaf. I let her think it because I wanted to hear the most romantic love story I’d ever heard … and I could tell she needed to share it, relive it. I think I love you too, but don’t tell old grumpy. Or do.” She winked.

Luke smiled as something inside of him lit up. Jessica didn’t let him go. “Do you know where she is?”

“Oh my goodness. You’ve tracked her down … you’ve come to save her like her knight in shining armor with your trusty steed.” She pressed her hand to her chest, tears pooled in her eyes. “That’s so … incredibly romantic. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I don’t actually have any official armor and I took a plane and rental car.”

Lilith leaned forward and rested her hand on his. With one blink her tears released. Her eyes and smile filled with hope.

He returned a small smile. “Yes. I’m here for her.”

She sighed, sitting back in her chair. “You’re the one. You know that, right? AJ needed her, but you … she’s always needed you. She must need you now more than ever.”

Her words pained him. They confirmed what he already knew—Jessica needed him. But he couldn’t find her.

“Do you know where she is or have you heard from her?”

“No. Sorry. Greta Housby, their neighbor across the street, she said Jillian was taking some time for herself. But I assume you’ve talked to Jackson so you probably already knew that.”

“Yes. However, she left her phone at home and Jackson doesn’t know where she is so we have no way of contacting her. I’m worried about her. I understand she…” saying it was harder than thinking it “…loved him. So she has to be grieving.”

“This must be terribly hard on you? How did you find her? How did you know she’s alive?”

“I saw her at a hotel in Houston.”

“Oh my. You must have thought you were seeing a ghost.”

Luke nodded. “I think I should fly to Portland. I don’t want to be insensitive to his family. I’m sure they’re still devastated. But maybe she said something to them after the funeral.”

Lilith shook her head. “That’s not possible.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because she wasn’t at the funeral.”

“W-what are you talking about? Jackson said she went to the funeral.”

“No. She wasn’t there. I think his family was a little disappointed, but they understood. AJ left treatment to be with her. She was the last person who saw him alive. We all assumed she was worried about their reaction to her, but they weren’t upset. She changed him and everyone saw it. In spite of the tumor, she made him a better man.”

“If … uh … you’ll excuse me. I really have to go.” He tried to keep his fear in check. “Thank you for talking with me.”

Lilith nodded. “Luke?”

“Yes?” He zipped his jacket.

“I don’t know where you’ll find her, or what mindset she’ll have, but I know one thing with unwavering certainty—that girl loves you like no woman has ever loved a man in the history of the world. She called you her heart. And I believed her.”

The words to describe his love for Jessica didn’t exist. He smiled in spite of the pain.

*

Knight

Forever didn’t come
in a text; it came with a knock at the door. It involved the woman he loved leaping into his arms and kissing him with fervor. Ryn, however, texted Jackson.

Can you come over?

He didn’t text her back, but within ten minutes he was at her front door.

Forever didn’t have red swollen eyes that refused to make contact with his. He stepped inside. Ryn stared at him, just short of meeting his gaze. She drew in a shaky breath and held it, but she didn’t say anything. It seemed as if her words were the only thing holding her together and if she spoke them, she would crumble to pieces at his feet.

“This is goodbye,” he said.

She bit her quivering lip and nodded. Pain robbed her beautiful face, and she threw herself into his arms, but not in a forever way. He hugged her back so hard he feared feeling her ribs crack against his. In a matter of days, forever turned into never.

“Maddie h-hates me. I-I can’t leave her. She won’t … come. I-I love you so much, it feels like … like I’m dying inside. But s-she’s my child. If I leave … it will be l-like she died.” A broken sob ripped from her chest. “If you leave … it’ll be like … you died.”

He didn’t know what to say. If he stayed he’d put her in danger. Luke’s trip to Omaha opened the door for their past to find them. There was no way to stay and guarantee anyone’s safety. He’d rather die than leave her, but he’d never be able to live with himself if something happened to her. She needed to come with him, soon, or he needed to get as far away from her as possible—completely dissociate himself from her life for her own safety.

Ryn fisted the back of his shirt, her tear-stained face buried in his neck. “Say something. Please.”

“I’ll come back.”

She shook her head. “Don’t say that unless you can promise me.” She cupped his neck and pressed her forehead to his. “Can you promise me you’ll come back?”

Her tears dripped between them. He fisted her hair.

“Say it.” She sniffled. “Promise me.”

“I can’t.”

Jude would have said that moment—the heart-breaking dream-shattering moment—was the reason to never get emotionally involved.

Not Jackson.

He loved Ryn Middleton with something bigger than his heart. She dug deep and found his soul, and she would forever have a piece of it.

He kissed her, wanting her to be the last thing he ever tasted. He slid his hands up the back of her shirt, wanting her skin to be the last thing his hands ever felt.

“Stop.” She turned her head to break their kiss. They stood as one, two bodies clutching each other, begging the world to not tear them apart.

“Let me be with you … one last time. Let me make love to you,” he whispered in her ear.

“I can’t.” Her body shook in his arms. “I can barely breathe. This hurts so
fucking
bad.”

Ryn looked up at him. Her fingers feathered over his lips. He closed his eyes.

“Making love … knowing it’s the last time, would literally Stop. My. Heart.”

Step One: Confess the mercy killing first.

Step Two: Wait for Ryn to acclimate to Jackson’s ability to take another’s life.

Step Three: Make her fall so deep in love with him that not even the assassin confession could drive her away.

Step Four: Be prepared to gently hold her in captivity until she snaps out of her inevitable conniption fit because realistically there is no way Step Three would ever fly.

Step Five: Let her go.

“Okay.” He swallowed every ounce of fucking reality and took a step back.

She hugged herself. He fisted his hands, hating that they would never touch her again. Then he opened the door.

“Jackson?”

He turned.

“Tell me to wait for you.”

Forty. The stunning woman before him was forty. She survived years of abuse. Her best friend was a dog. Her daughter hated her. If only one person in the world deserved true happiness, it was Ryn. Waiting for a maybe, a complete shot in the dark, would only lead to more misery. He loved her too much.

A long, slow sigh deflated his lungs like life itself tried to escape his body. Lowering his chin to his chest, he refused to look at her. “Don’t wait for me.” He said his final words in a thick voice and closed the door.

J
ackson needed to
break something or someone. As if the universe heard his need, Luke’s rental car was parked in one of the spots between the townhouses. He pulled into the garage and hopped out just as Luke got out and walked into the garage.

“Jess—”

“Inside.” Jackson cut him off, leading him in the house. “Jillian has been gone too fucking long. I need to
exercise
. You know how to throw a punch, Jones? Or take one?” He inwardly smirked. That crawling-out-of-his-skin feeling wore on his last nerve. He needed to destroy something. Why not start with the reason for his leaving Ryn?

“I’m not going to fight you.”

Jackson shrugged off his shirt and walked into his bedroom. “That’s fine. All I really need is a body. I just need to feel the pain of my knuckles cracking against bone. You don’t mind, do you? After all, you showed up and ruined my whole fucking life.”

“Call Knox.”

Jackson grabbed a pair of shorts then pulled at the button to his jeans. “I did. Haven’t heard back. He’s a prick that does everything on his time.”

“She wasn’t at the funeral.”

Jackson froze then inched his head up. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“I talked to Lilith. Jessica wasn’t at the funeral.”

Jackson pulled his phone from his pocket and called Knox again. Again, it went to voicemail. “Where the fuck is she?”

Next he texted him.

I’m coming for you, asshole.

Jackson grabbed a small bag and shoved a few items into it, including his computer and a thick wad of cash from his dresser drawer.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m going to get my sister. You’re going home and I don’t want to see you again. Are we clear?”

“I’m going with you or you’re going to kill me. It’s one or the other.”

Jackson looked up from his bag. He didn’t hate Luke. He hated that life. Luke brought it back.

“I’m tired of living without her.”

Jackson nodded. With the fresh image of Ryn emotionally shattered in his arms, he knew how Luke felt, which meant it was best to put him out of his misery. “I can break your neck or I’m good with a knife too. Your choice.”

Luke’s temporary stay of execution came from a knock at the door. Jackson sighed, aggravation building to an all-time high as he came close to tearing the front door off its hinges. A lethal dose of adrenaline poisoned his bloodstream.

“Open up.” Preston Iverson called from the opposite side of the storm door.

Jackson gave him no other response than a slow blink. Preston was nothing more than a tiny dick in a suit sucking air into his lungs that he wasn’t worthy of breathing.

“Maddie visited me. She’s a little distressed and a lot confused. Seems my dear Ryn has been sharing some things that she should not be sharing. I have this feeling you put her up to it.”

Jackson gave him another slow blink.

Preston pressed a photo to the glass storm door. Jackson squinted, leaning forward a fraction. It was a photo of a barely recognizable Ryn with a lacerated lip, one eye swollen shut, and her cheek mottled in hues of blue and purple.