Bounty(95)

No one knew if Bianca had gotten her hands on the cake to pay Caswell and that was why he’d disappeared.

All they knew was that there was no sign of Caswell anywhere in the county and the BOLO on him hadn’t brought them anything.

And they knew that Bianca had burned through the huge trust fund her folks had set up for her, burned through more with friends she’d asked for loans she didn’t pay back, that had dried up and now she was broke. She was also not in contact with any friends or family, was addicted to partying in all its incarnations (booze and dope, however she could get them) and way the fuck out on a limb.

Decker reported directly to Deke and Thurston and they both made the decision together to give Jussy all this information.

She was not weak. She was the kind of woman who felt knowledge was power, not ignorance being bliss. The details on her friend were a hit that Deke delivered while they were on his couch and she was in his arms, but she did what he had come to know was the only thing Jussy knew how to do.

She absorbed them, felt the pain, sorted her shit and kept on going.

And today he had to help her keep on going.

He had a plan that would culminate in her behind the fortress of security Callahan gave her, Deke there with her, that night being the first night she spent back at her house.

It had to come and Deke felt it was not only prudent to put her behind Callahan’s security, with the cruiser that Chace was setting on her house, but it was also a big fuck you to Brendan Caswell if the moron actually showed that he might have gotten to her and taken her down, but she didn’t stay there.

And anyway, she had a king-size bed. His was a double. Good enough for sleeping. But he’d be wanting room to move when they’d had their conversation and were doing a fuckuva lot more than sleeping in a bed.

“I do not understand why, on a Sunday, when you aren’t working, I sure as hell am not gonna be working, that we’re up this early,” Jussy stated and Deke pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused on her.

Christ, all that hair, even prettier when it was a mess after she slept on it.

It’d be good they had the conversation they were going to have so Deke could do all he wanted to do with that hair.

“See the caffeine kicked in and you can speak English again,” he joked.

“Deke, it’s seven thirty,” she told him something he knew.

“Which means we did sleep in. Nearly an hour and a half.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Suck more of that back, gypsy princess, so I can get my Jussy back.”

That bought him a narrow look, one she took her time giving him, one he knew behind it she was wondering just what the fuck was going on between them.

She’d get that tomorrow.

He had to focus on getting her through today.

And tonight.

“Brunch at Krys’s,” he finally answered her question. “Remember?”

“I remember but we’re not supposed to be there for three hours.”

“We need to take the water tanks to Tate’s to fill ’em, bring them back, then you need a shower and I need a shower and after that we need to get to Krys and Bubba’s. For that I need you caffeinated and on the other side of your morning grump because Tate and Laurie like you but they won’t if you hand them a dose of your morning sass.”

“I’ve been really good keeping a lid on my morning sass, Deke. And you know it.”

“I do. I also know it took effort and I further know today that lid has slipped.”

She released her mug with one hand so she could toss it out, saying, “It’s Sunday and seven thirty. Unless you’re going to church, which we aren’t, it’s law not to be up this early on a weekend, especially Sunday.”

Law.

Fuck, his gypsy was funny.

“We could shower at your place,” he told her. “That way we won’t need to fill the tanks before we do it.”

“We can also fill the tanks at my place. Which would eradicate a bunch of time driving and in turn would mean we can go back to bed for an hour.”

We can go back to bed.

No way in fuck he was getting back into bed with her. He was awake. He was not going to be able to go back to sleep and he was not going to have Justice, her hair, her ass, her legs and her tits all pressed into him the way she pressed into him when he was unconscious, getting all that fully conscious and knowing in detail all he wanted to do with it.

Fuck, he’d been forced to try to find sleep with a rock-solid hard-on he took pains not to let her feel for days.

No, they were not going back to bed.

“Baby, get dressed,” he ordered.

She glared at him.

“Dress or I dress you,” he threatened.

Right there and open, she gave him the knowledge that she would be down with him trying that before she hid it, pushed out of the couch and grumped as she trudged through his trailer, “Oh, all right.”