Page 19 of First Surrender

We’re both watching his driver’s side mirror, holding our breath for different reasons. He’s hoping to avoid a ticket and I’m hoping to vanish into thin air.

We both startle in our seats when a knock comes at my window instead of his. We never saw him approach which is hard to believe since he towers over everything around him, the car included. I don’t need to look closely to know that it’s Jackson. I don’t want to see the smugness on his face.

“Evening, folks.” Somehow his cop voice outweighs the triumph he’s probably feeling right now for catching me in this predicament.

“What did I do, officer?” Ty asks way too defensively. He’s like a kid who got the ball taken away at recess.

“It’s Sheriff. You were speeding. I need both of your IDs.”

“You’re kidding.” I cut him a glare, hoping he feels my wrath. He ignores me.

“I don’t kid,” Jackson says with all seriousness and I believe him. I don’t think he’s finding this as humorous as I thought.

We both hand him our license, but instead of taking them back to his car, he looks at them right there beside my door.

“Ma’am, step out of the vehicle.” He opens my door before I have a chance to reach for my handle.

I didn’t do anything wrong but whether it be because it’s late at night or his red and blues are distorting everything, I’m feeling slightly off balance. He wouldn’t actually arrest me, right?

I step out onto the side of the grassy shoulder but he doesn’t move his arm from the top of the door, making me stand indecently close to him.

“Do you want me to leave?” He asks the question quietly so there’s no way my date from hell can hear him but the depth of his voice vibrates through me, anyway.

There’s a silence that follows and I realize that he’s truly giving me a choice. If I asked him to leave, I think he would go. I’m not sure how that makes me feel but I know one thing for sure…

“I don’t want to go with him.”

Jackson studies me closely for only a moment, his eyes burning into mine. “Did he do something?”

I hesitate slightly and consider telling him that he is creepy and handsy but ultimately decide it’s not necessary. I’ll never see the guy again. “No.”

His jaw locks and pulls out handcuffs. What the fuck?

“You’re free to go, slow down.” He tosses Ty’s license onto the passenger seat and snags my purse from my seat.

“What about her?” Once again, Ty whines like a child getting his toy taken away.

“She’s being arrested for theft. She stole her last date’s wallet and car. Tried to cut his dick off, too.” Jackson snatches my wrists quickly and twists them behind my back, easily holding them together in one hand while the other giant hand clasps the base of my neck where it meets my shoulder. Before I can protest, he’s forcefully leading me from the car and toward his SUV.

The string of noises that comes out of my throat while we walk is nothing coherent.

“Don’t fight me until he drives away. Or, I’ll use the cuffs,” he warns just before Ty’s car pulls back onto the road, gunning it and leaving me in the dust. Jackson drops my arms immediately as if my skin’s on fire.

“Did you have to make me sound like a psycho?”

“Did I? Oops.” He folds his cuffs back into their spot on his vest.

“You’re such an ass. Why did you even pull us over?” I huff and turn toward the passenger door, waiting for him to unlock it. “Can I sit up here? Or, would you rather throw me in the back with those cuffs on?”

The double meaning in my question was unintended, but when he steps up to me, closer than he had been before, he’s looking down on medeviously.

My breath catches in my throat but I don’t look away. I wouldn’t want to give him the satisfaction even though my brain is mistakenly conjuring up all kinds of images involving me and Jackson in the back of his cop car.

His eyes track my facial features fiercely, reading every clue that he can from my demeanor like a predator about to pounce. I can’t breathe, I don’t even blink as he assesses me but I see the exact moment his thoughts shift and he reigns himself back in.

“I’ve been driving around in circles looking for you all night.”

My jaw goes slack. “What? Why?”

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