Page 12 of Blackstone's Heart
Tony placed his hand on Jerry's shoulder. "That's why we're here. To help prevent that from happening."
Lance frowned, let out a breath then spoke again. "You know we're running a check on you right?"
Jerry smirked. "Yep. In fact, Krista and I were discussing that. She knows every little dark dirty secret in my life. There is one instance that will undoubtedly show up. I told her we could tell Ethan and the rest of you so you know and will save you guys some trouble."
At that moment Ethan walked in with Grant and Gage. Jerry openly stared at the three men. "Soup's on." Krista called stepping out of the kitchen. She stopped short seeing Ethan. "Oh, hey."
"Hey." Ethan said. "This is Gage and Grant." He added.
"Food?" Grant spoke up, offering her his hand.
"Yeah, Krista offered to pay Hawk and I with food." Tony nodded as Gage also shook Krista's hand.
"There's plenty for all of you." Krista smiled, then saw Jerry. "Oh for fuck's sake Jer, stop staring at these jarheads like you're a starving man."
The Blackout guys coughed and looked a bit uncomfortable, but Jerry just shrugged. "You can't blame a guy. There's something about hot Marines that does it every time. For women and men."
"Jesus, get in here and eat. Jackass." She mumbled shaking her head and returning to the kitchen.
Ethan followed her into the open kitchen. The large round table was full of food. Sandwiches, potato salad, two bowls of chips, fruit and a pitcher of cold sweet tea. He moved to Krista's side to help her with the plates. "Let me help you with those."
"Thanks." Krista smiled.
As she handed him the plates, their fingers brushed. Ethan swore he heard her gasp and felt her tremble. She quickly turned away not meeting his eyes, to get the glasses. Smirking a little at her reaction, he moved over to the table. As he sat the plates down he felt eyes on him. When he looked up he found Jerry studying him thoughtfully.
"What?" Ethan demanded.
Jerry just winked and turned to Krista. Feeling ruffled Ethan, moved to sit down next to Gage. Yet, his eyes followed Krista as she played hostess filling glasses and handing out plates. She was just like her mother Debbie. The perfect hostess, yet you piss her off and she's drop you in less than ten seconds.
"Oh wow." Tony moaned leaning back in his chair. "I think I'm in love. This potato salad is divine."
"It's my mama's recipe." Krista smiled brightly. "Dad said he married her just for that alone."
"Oh I'd believe it. This is delicious. It might be better than my mom's." Gage sighed, then sobered and looked at his teammates. "That does NOT leave this table!"
Everyone laughed except again for Lance who just gave another of his smirks. "His ma would kick his ass if she heard that." Grant whispered to Krista making her giggle.
After a few minutes Jerry looked at Krista and nodded. She sighed but returned the nod. "Okay, I have something to tell you. Now, Krista knows this and you will see it on my background, but I figured I'd tell you now and save you some trouble."
Ethan sat up straighter. "Is it criminal?"
Jerry got a thoughtful look on his face. "Kind of. You see, when I was seventeen I had an affair with my married biology teacher, Thomas. Thomas was gay and his wife had no idea. For months we snuck around. Then a week after I graduated his bitch of an ex found out. She pressed charges on statutory rape.
"My parents immediately went to the courts and even bailed Thomas out. The judge listened to our story. All charges were dropped and his record expunged. Luckily, we kept the school board from firing him. He's still teaching there."
"Are you two still involved?" Ethan asked.
"Not romantically. I introduced him to his husband and was their witness at their wedding last year. Thomas and I are friends and he's a fan of Krista, but not a stalker type. His husband Mac, loves Krista's stuff so because they're my friends every year on Mac's birthday he gets what we call a swag pack. Bookmarks, sometimes a signed book, and other stuff we give our fans at functions." Ethan answered.
"Whenever I'm in New York, where they live, me and Jerry try to have dinner with Mac and Thomas. Jerry felt you guys should know. Especially since Thomas has invited us to dinner at their apartment while in New York." Krista added.
"Appreciate the honesty Jerry." Ethan nodded. "Any other skeletons we need to know about?"
Jerry laughed. "Oh I have skeletons hottie Ethan but not the kind you're thinking."
Krista let out a deep belly laugh at the looks on the five Marine's faces. If Marines blushed she'd bet, they would all be tomato red by now. Yet she had to admit that Ethan looked sexy with a slight blush on his cheeks.
Chapter 4
