Page 26 of Theirs to Love

“After I get my Captain’s okay, you will text Connie to let her know that we are hauled up at a little hotel just outside of town. Whoever is sent to watch you won’t know what hit him.” As far as plans went, it sounded like a pretty good one to her.

“Thank you, Jack,” she whispered.

“Honey, I will do whatever it takes to keep you both safe. You don’t ever have to thank me.” Emily knew that Jack meant what he said but she wasn’t worried about them keeping her safe. She was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to keep Travis or Jackson safe and that thought frightened her.

Jackson

Jack stood outside the little hotel that Em told Connie that they were hidden away in. He had Em text her a few hours ago and he wanted to make sure that whoever was watching fully believed that Emily was inside the room, safe and sound. He hadn’t seen much activity yet, but his gut was screaming at him that someone was watching. He could almost feel the person’s eyes on him and that made him anxious to get this whole shit show moving.

He had plainclothes cops waiting at every exit and ready to move out at a moment's notice. There was no way that they were going to let this thing with Mr. Jude continue. Sooner or later, someone was going to screw up and point a finger at the man himself. Unfortunately, everyone that they had in custody so far refused to name him in any way, not even Cross and he stood the chance of going away to prison for a while. Hate crimes carried a lot of weight and they had enough evidence to put Cross away for a long time. Jack thought that his ex-partner would take the plea deal they offered him to rat out Em’s father, but he had been wrong.

Jackson decided that he had spent enough time outside of the hotel making sure that whoever had eyes on them saw him. He went back into the building and into the room that they rented for the day. He left no stone unturned in his efforts to catch the person who had been trailing them. Jack had Emily safely stashed away at Travis’s shop and he was with her. He knew that Travis would keep their girl safe, he trusted no one more than him to watch Emily.

After they drove for most of the night they ended up staying in an apartment over Manholes. He and Travis knew that they could trust Cash to help them, and he had come through. Cash kept an apartment above the bar in case he wanted to take company up after Manholes closed or if he just needed a place to crash at night. Cash snuck them up the back way, handed them the key, and told them to stay as long as they needed. Jackson was never so happy to lie down and close his eyes in all his life. The past twenty-four hours had been physically and emotionally draining, and he was ready for this nightmare to be over.

He knew that the person who had been trailing them in the white pickup truck was the key to bringing down Em’s father, they just had to catch him. Jackson peeked out from the window that looked over the front parking lot. He asked the manager for the room with the best view of the lot, and he could see every car that would come or go from the hotel. He was about to take a break and find something to eat when a white truck matching the description that Em and Travis gave him pulled in.

“Here we go,” he radioed the rest of the team telling them that the suspect was on the property. “Hold your positions until I give the signal,” he barked. They had to follow the plan otherwise; they might not get a second chance.

The white pickup truck pulled into a parking space towards the back of the lot and turned off the engine. Jackson held his breath waiting to see what the driver would do next. Nothinghappened and Jack was worried that the driver had gotten spooked by how eerily quiet the hotel was. They couldn’t take the driver into custody for just sitting in his truck, they needed him to make a move. Jackson had no choice but to wait him out and hope that sooner or later the guy would take a walk around, hoping to find Emily. Instead, he’d find Jack ready and waiting to take him down.

About five minutes later, one of his men stationed outside radioed that there was movement in the truck. “The person looks like a woman, Jack.”

“Shit,” he barked into the radio as he watched Connie slowly exit the truck with her hands over her head as if in surrender. “Stand down,” Jackson ordered. “I’ve got her.” He ran out of the hotel room and down to the lobby hoping that Connie wouldn’t pull another disappearing stunt. This whole time Connie was the one trailing them and watching them.

He finally got out to the parking lot and Connie smiled and nodded at him as if expecting to find him there. “Jackson, long time no see,” she hissed. Jackson could see the contempt that she had for him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. How could a person that he barely knew be so hateful towards him? The bigger question was how she could be so hateful to Emily. She was supposed to be like family to Em, why would she hurt Emily the way she had?

“Did you ever care about Emily or was it always about the money, Connie?” He knew that he was letting the case go a little sideways, but he had to know for Em’s sake. This woman had single-handedly torn Emily’s heart out and she didn’t seem to give a fuck, the way that she was standing in the middle of the parking lot smiling up at him.

“It was always about the money, Jack. That spoiled, rich, brat never deserved everything that her father gave to her. She had the whole world at her feet, and she threw it all away, and forwhat? To become a doctor and take care of people? She made bad choices; ones that were all wrong for her and her family. Falling into bed with you and that other caveman was just the icing on the cake. When her father contacted me and told me what she had been up to, I felt physically nauseous. I knew that I had to help him in any way that I could. She needed to be put back in her place. Emily’s father and I won’t tolerate her disobedience any longer.” Jackson barked out his laugh. It sounded like good old Connie was in deep with Mr. Jude.

“So then, it was the money and the sex. How long have you been sleeping with Em’s father?” Connie took a step back and gasped as if Jackson slapped her across the face.

“You have no idea what you are talking about. It was never just sex between us, he loves me. I’m like a mother to Emily and someday, we will all be a family.” Jackson almost felt sorry for Connie. The poor woman seemed to believe every lie Em’s dad ever fed her.

“I pity you, Connie. You will never know what real love is and Emily has that with Travis and me. You’re just a jealous housekeeper who fell into her boss’s bed and chose the wrong side to be on.” Jackson hooked her arms behind her back and cuffed her handing Connie off to a waiting officer.

“It doesn’t matter now, nothing does. You are about to lose the two people that you love, Jackson and then what will you have?” Jack froze, and panic swelled up inside of him. “Yeah, that’s right lover boy, we didn’t fall for this little ruse. I knew where Emily was this whole time, and her father is taking care of the loose ends over at Travis’s shop as we speak. We win.” Jackson didn’t wait for her to finish, he ran to his truck and jumped into the driver’s seat speeding out of the parking lot. There was no way that he was going to let Em’s crazy father take away the two people that he loved most in this world. Connie was wrong about one thing—he’d never let them win.

Travis

It was too quiet and that made Travis a little jumpy. He had Emily up in his office above his auto shop and she looked like she wasn’t worried about a thing, but he knew that she was. She was terrified that Jack wouldn’t come back to them or that he’d get hurt trying to protect her from whatever danger her father had planned for them. Em had her doctor’s face firmly in place and that pissed him off. He didn’t want her to pretend around him. He wanted all of Emily, even her fears and she wasn’t sharing right now. He knew that he was spoiling for a fight, he always did when he was nervous about something. It was one of the ways that he coped with not being able to control the situation, but Em didn’t need that right now. Instead, he channeled his nervous energies towards making sure that no one got past him to hurt Emily.

“Has he texted you?” Em held up her phone and checked it for what felt like the millionth time for a text from Jack.

He sighed, “No. You just asked me two minutes ago.” Emily shot him a look and stuck out her tongue at him making him chuckle. His girl always knew how to defuse the situation, but she still looked too calm. He knew that she was screaming on the inside.

“Em, it’s okay to let go and not pretend that everything is okay. You know you can fall apart with me, and I’ll just help you pick up the pieces.” Emily stood and crossed to where he had been pacing, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Thank you, Travis but I’m good. I just want this all to be over,” she whispered. “Everyone that I trusted from my childhood lied to me and that stings a little.” Travis kissed the top of her head and held her to his body.

The door chimed that he had a customer, and he growled, “We’re closed. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.” He turned to see who had come in and Emily gasped when she saw a man with a gun standing by the side entrance.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Emily’s father smirked at her.

“Hello, Emily. I’m sorry to just pop in on you like this but I figured with your cop boyfriend out of the way I’d come here to personally take care of boyfriend number two.” He motioned for them to both back up pointing the gun at Emily as if daring Travis to make a move.

Em’s father was a tall, thin man and he dressed in a three-piece suit even to hold his daughter at gunpoint. “What’s the plan here Dad? You shoot Travis and then what, go on with your day as if nothing happened?”

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