Lead Me On

“They gave me some papers to fill out for a court-appointed guy.”

“Don’t talk to the cops unless he’s present. I’ll do my best to find you a good lawyer by Monday, okay? And I’m going to try to find out more about this Michelle. Don’t say anything else.”

“All right.” He flinched when the one-minute bell sounded. “Tell Mom and Dad I’m sorry, all right?”

“I will. But you’d better start thinking about what you’re going to do when they release you. Dad’s not going to let you back in the house.”

He nodded and the tip of his nose turned red as if he was holding back tears. “I’m sorry, sis. Honestly. I didn’t mean…” One of the cops began to approach from the other side of the room.

“I love you, Jessie.”

“Yeah, me too.” The officer took the phone from his hand and hung it up. Jessie’s eyes were damp, but he put on a crooked smile as the guard grabbed his elbow to urge him up.

She tried to catch the man’s eye, but he didn’t look at her. She was no one. Just some piece of trash involved with a criminal. She remembered that, too. The way the officers would look through her and her mother, or—worse—glare at them or shake their heads in disgust.

Jane hung up the phone and pushed numbly to her feet. It was Saturday afternoon and she had to find Jessie a better lawyer. Her mom couldn’t do it. She played possum in the face of trouble—she always had. And her stepfather wasn’t the type to work the phones and puzzle out a problem. He was strong and steady and worked with his hands.

Jane was the one who lived in Aspen. She was the one who’d been dating a man in the D.A.’s office.

She’d hardly spent any time at home for the past few years, had tried her best to separate herself from them without giving them up entirely. Maybe if she’d spent more time with Jessie he wouldn’t have turned into a thief. Maybe if she hadn’t turned her back on him, he wouldn’t have thought it was okay to steal money from careless women.

But whatever he’d grown into, he was still her brother even if she’d never consider introducing him to her friends. He was her brother and he still had a good heart…and she’d help him if she could find a way.

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_c3a81726-f806-5bc9-ba5d-cf2053fde8e4)

CHASE CLUTCHED the steering wheel hard. He breathed deeply. Counted to twenty. But every time he glanced toward the Jennings Architecture office, fury rose in his gut.

His first reaction when he’d stepped from the bathroom on Friday with a stupid grin of anticipation on his face…his first reaction had been confusion. Then, once he’d realized Jane was gone, he’d jumped straight into abject worry.

A woman out walking by herself in the middle of the night? He’d paced for a few minutes, then pulled on jeans and rushed out to look for her.

Nothing. He had no address. She hadn’t left so much as a note, and her phone call showed on his cell as “blocked,” something he hadn’t had the attention span to notice when she’d called and invited him out.

With no way to contact her, Chase had stayed awake for hours worrying. The next morning, when the newspaper hadn’t reported any injured or dead or missing women, Chase had let his worry turn to anger.

Unbelievable. He’d been used.

Okay, he’d known he was being used, but he hadn’t known he was being used used.

Chase shifted, rolling his shoulders back. He felt…strange. Uneasy. As if someone had slipped something into his drink and, well…taken advantage of him.

Ridiculous, of course. He’d been fully aware and more than willing the whole time. But he’d thought they were having a genuinely good time together. And then she’d yanked the rug out from under him. While he’d still been naked and basking in the afterglow.

In Chase’s opinion, that had been uncalled for, and he deserved an apology.

The digital numbers of the dashboard clock jumped from 8:14 to 8:15 a.m. Jane was late. He’d arrived before eight on Friday and she’d already been working. Suddenly his worry was back, though he tried to beat it down.

Jane Morgan was fine. She was just a stone-cold bitch.

His mouth twitched at the lie. No. She wasn’t cold. She’d rocked his fucking world on Friday night, and if he was being honest with himself, that was part of the reason he was so pissed. When he’d stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, Chase had been downright giddy. Exhausted, but giddy. Like a goddamn little girl.

“Shit,” Chase muttered, running a hand over his eyes.

At the very moment he decided to salvage his pride and drive away, a car turned into the lot. A little white BMW zipped past him, Jane Morgan at the wheel. She didn’t glance in his direction. In fact, she seemed totally lost in thought, brow furrowed as she pulled straight into a space and jumped out of the car.

By the time Chase got his door open, she’d already unlocked the office and slipped inside. Being late probably didn’t sit well with a girl like Jane.

And the sight of her, all prim and proper again in a dark gray suit, wasn’t sitting well with Chase. She looked the way she always did. Unruffled. Unmoved. Cool and composed as she turned on lights and moved toward her desk. She looked as if Friday night had never happened.

Until Chase walked through the door.

Jane’s eyes flew wide as she swung toward him. “Oh!” she yelped. “What are you doing here?”

She sounded so absolutely incredulous that Chase felt a jolt of fury. “Seriously?”

“Well…” He watched her gather up all her shock and will it away to nothing. It took only a few moments before her expression settled into calmness, and she was prim Jane again. “Yes, I’m very serious. What can I help you with, Mr. Chase?”

“Look at my face, Jane. I’m not in the mood for this. You took off in the middle of the night. While I was in the shower.”

“Er…” Her face stayed impassive, but she had the grace to blush, anyway.

“First of all, I was terrified something had happened to you.”

She shook her head, drawing his attention to the way she’d rolled her hair under at the nape of her neck. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you were out walking in the middle of the night!”

“It wasn’t the middle of the night. It was nine-thirty. In Aspen.” When he opened his mouth to cut her off, she raised a hand to stop him. “I only walked the two blocks to Main Street, and I had a can of mace with me. I grabbed a cab as soon as I reached The Lodge.”

He crossed his arms. “And how was I supposed to know that?”

A flicker of confusion crossed her face, and Jane dropped her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Secondly,” he growled, uncrossing his arms and moving forward until his thighs hit her desk, “that was really fucking rude, Jane.”

“I… I suppose it—”

“Kind of cruel, as a matter of fact.”

“Cruel?” she whispered.

“I was okay with being your little birthday gift to yourself. Use me. Fine. But I don’t appreciate being treated like a worthless piece of garbage afterward.”

“I’m sorry. I… I thought you’d be glad I was gone.”

“Now, that’s just a lie, Jane. If you thought I’d be glad, you would’ve stuck your head in my bathroom and said, ‘Thanks for the ride, stud. I’ll call you sometime.’ Instead you waited until I’d turned my back and then snuck away so that you wouldn’t have to speak to me after you fucked me.”

That brought more color to her cheeks. He felt a moment’s happiness that he’d gotten to her, and then the unthinkable happened. Jane Morgan began to cry.