a reason to live(80)

Jack froze, Max froze, and Shane hung his head when they turned and found the cell door closed. They knew they’d been had.

“Song number three if you please, Barry,” Jenn giggled as she handed him the CD.

Barry, one of Jack’s deputies, was a nice-looking man with mousy blond hair and green eyes. He shook with laughter when he took the CD and dropped it into a portable CD player. He selected the track she indicated as I watched the screen. Max started arguing with his mother. Jack was glaring at her with his hands on his hips, and Shane was smirking at the camera, shaking his head slowly.

“Open the door, Barry,” Jack ordered, knowing full well we could hear him.

Barry’s response was to click play on the CD player.

The same lyrical song from that morning blared through the speaker, announcing we should let it go. Barry held down the switch for the microphone and filled the cell with the music.

Jack jerked, then turned slowly toward the camera. Jenn leaned in, looked him straight in the eyes as if he could see her, and stuck out her tongue. Jack, who clearly had a sixth sense, narrowed his eyes.

“Can he see me?” Jenn gasped.

“Nope,” Barry answered.

Jack raised his hand then and crooked his finger at the camera, ordering Jenn to come to him.

She snorted. “Not likely.”

He raised a brow as if he knew she’d denied his request.

“He’s kinda scary,” I whispered.

“You have no idea,” Jenn confirmed. “He’s always one step ahead of—”

As if reading her mind, he pulled keys from his belt and dangled them in front of the camera for Jenn to see.

“SEE!” she shouted. “Retreat! Retreat! Go, go, go!”

Maxine saw Jack pull out his keys as well and took off down the hall as we exited the control room. She passed us on the way to the front door, proving once again, that age is just a number. She outran all three of us.

“Keep up or spend the day in jail,” she hollered over her shoulder as she headed on swift feet for the Jeep.

We all dove in after Maxine, and Jenn started the Jeep, squealing her tires as she backed out. I turned around as she threw the Jeep into drive and saw all three men standing in front of the Sherriff’s office with their arms crossed on their chests. I waved at Shane and grinned. He raised a brow at me, then flicked a two-fingered salute.

“Shane doesn’t seem mad,” I told the car.

The ladies scoffed.

“What?”

“If he’s like Jack, he’s already planning retribution.”

“Retribution?”

I looked back and saw Shane still standing at the curb watching us leave. His right hand twitched and he flexed it, and his face looked darker, hungrier.

Was he aroused?

“Punishment is probably a better word,” Jenn replied.

“Punishment?”

“Bare hand to bare ass,” she replied in a breathy voice.

Hearing that, my core tingled and my breasts swelled.

I looked in the rearview mirror at the sound of her voice, and she grinned, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Good to know,” I replied in an equally breathy voice.

***

Shane lounged in a booth at Mike’s Burger, his arms relaxed on the back of a seat, chuckling as he and Max discussed how the women had gotten the best of them. If anyone had told him a week ago he’d be this relaxed, he would have called them all kinds of crazy. Sage had turned his life upside-down, in the best possible way, in a week’s time. After two days as a couple, he barely remembered the pain. The guilt was there, would always be, but it didn’t rule his life, consume his every thought. Protecting the treasure he’d found in her had taken over his focus.

“That took balls,” Max grinned.

“It did,” Jack agreed. “And help from one of my staff.”

“Barry?”

“Had to be. Jenn has the man wrapped around her finger so tightly if he had to choose sides, I know exactly where his loyalties would lie . . . Not with me.”

Shane cocked a brow. “How’s this man still breathin’?”

Jack shrugged, then pulled a radio from his belt loop and placed it on the table, turning it on. “He’s still breathin’ ‘cause he isn’t stupid enough to act on how he feels. That, and I know Jenn only sees him as a friend. He was the first person she met when she moved here and she’s loyal to those she cares for.”

“Would he cover for her if she was up to her neck in trouble like she’s been in the past?” Max questioned.

Jack shook his head. “No. There the loyalty lies with safety first. He wouldn’t hesitate to contact me if he thought she was placing herself in danger.”

“Does that happen often?” Shane asked.