Hard Charger: Jake & Sophia: A Hot Contemporary Romance (7 page)

He stared at her with almost comical surprise.  “I had no idea you knew
anything
about bikes.”

“My brother runs the only bike shop in Rockport Grove,” she reminded him, her attention still on the motorcycle.  “How could I
not
know about bikes?”

His appreciation for her growing even more, he smiled.  “I converted a 1973 Honda CB450.  It took me about a week of working nonstop.  Alex supplied me with most of the parts.”

“The Honda was a good choice.  There are plenty of old Honda parts out there.”  She turned from the bike and faced him.  “Well, thanks for the talk, Jake.”

“We should have done that years ago,” he replied, and fished into his shirt.  “I have something for you.”

“What?”  She watched him expectantly.

He pulled out his Saint Jude medal, unhooked the chain, removed his dog tags, and then handed it to her.  “Father Al gave this to me right before I went off to war.  I wore it for ten years straight.  Never took it off.  And here I am, in one piece.  It’s lucky.”

Lips parted, she threaded the chain through her fingers and held it up, to look more closely at the medal.  “Jake, I can’t take this.”

“I want you to have it,” he insisted.  “It’s thought to give people courage to face difficult situations in life.”

She sighed, and tightened her fingers around the medal.  “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” he murmured, and then he was leaning closer to her, his attention focused on her deep gray-green gaze, and the secrets he saw within her eyes.  The scent of her enveloped him and he sensed her trembling.  Without quite realizing what he was doing, he put one arm around her waist and another around the back of her neck, and drew her against him.  She struggled briefly, and he loosened his hold, willing to let her go.

But she didn’t go.  She looked up at him, the message in her gaze clear now. 

He lowered his head and his lips found hers.  He kissed her for a long time, tenderly at first, gently pressing and probing, and caressing her soft, sweet-tasting lips with his own.  Gradually that gentleness gave way to urgent demand as his body responded to the closeness of hers and his cock strained and throbbed with excitement against his jeans.  He tightened his arms around her, and she moaned, her arms snaking around his waist, her hands reaching up to explore the muscles of his back, her fingers tangling in his hair and pulling him closer to her. 

All of that wild yearning he’d experienced on the beach with her years ago sprang to life once again within him.  He began to stroke her back, and her shoulders, his hands exploring her body as they once had, and within him he had a sense that balance had been restored, that Sophia was exactly where she was supposed to be: in his arms.  That sense coupled with his deep longing for her drove away his will, his resolution not to hurt her or betray his best friend again.  He ran his fingers along her neck, across her collar bone and down to her breast as he forced her lips farther apart and his tongue tangled with hers.

She was kissing him back eagerly and hard, like a woman starved, and his head seemed to spin.  His cock hardened painfully and he felt a deep, unrelieved tightness in his gut, a need to take her right here, in the parking lot.   He held her more tightly, overpowering her with his strength until she had molded her body to his, melting into him, then rubbing against him, grinding against his leg, nearly riding it so that she could rub that soft, tender place between her legs against his hard thigh muscles.  Boldly she snapped his waistband open with one hand and slipped her fingers down into his jeans.  Seconds later, he felt her warm palm wrap around his cock and begin to stroke him.

Nearly crazy with desire for her, he glanced around, looking for a shadowed arbor, a soft place in the grass between shielding bushes, somewhere, anywhere he could rip her clothes off and lay her down without being seen.  He hadn’t realized how badly they’d needed each other.  He’d forgotten how good it was between them.  He pulled his lips from hers and began kissing the white column of her throat, then the curve of her shoulder, before slipping lower to her breasts.  He wanted one of her pink nipples in his mouth.  He wanted to suck it and see the pleasure she felt at his touch reflected in her face.  Her silky dark curls teased his face as he nuzzled her, his cock growing larger and harder as her firm, warm palm curved around its head before tightening on the shaft and jerking him off.

“Ahem.”

The gravelly sound felt like a bucket of cold water being dumped on him. 

He pulled away from Sophia, then spun around and found himself staring into the face of an elderly man.  The man had an older woman by his side—presumably his wife.

He cut a glance at Sophia and saw that she was quickly re-arranging her clothes.  Her face had turned a shade of bright red.  He quickly zipped up his jeans and faced the elderly couple again.  They were alternately gazing at him, then Sophia.  The man was smiling, but his wife appeared disgusted.

“Get a room,” the wife said baldly to Jake.

Jake grimaced.  “Sorry, ma’am.”

Her husband laughed.  “Remember when we were like that, Doris?”

His wife poked his side.  “Yes I do, old man.”

Arm in arm, the pair walked to the car Jake had parked his bike next to.

Jake moved to get between Sophia and the couple, so they couldn’t stare at her any more.  He let out a quick, exasperated breath. “I’m sorry, Sophia.  I know you have a boyfriend.  I don’t know why I di—”

She pressed a finger against his lips, silencing him.  “Don’t apologize.  You couldn’t help it any more than I could.   We can’t control what’s between us, Jake.”

He frowned.  “I promised Alex I’d stay away from you.”

“Then stay away.”  As if to emphasize her words, she began to back away from him.

“What about that guy Alex said is steady, smart, and good for you?” Jake probed, afire with jealousy over this other man in her life.  “Steve, right?”

She looked confused for a moment, but then raised an eyebrow.  “So you’re wondering why I’m kissing you, and not my boyfriend?  Because when you’re close, I can’t help myself.  And neither can you.”  After about five steps, she turned and headed back toward the restaurant.  “Goodnight,” she called out, seconds before she disappeared into its brightly lit interior.

“Goodnight,” he replied; and with her disappearance, loneliness closed in on him.  His stomach was in knots over how the night had unfolded.  He mounted his bike, started it, and then drove toward Jersey Avenue.  He needed a real ride tonight, one on the county routes, and he had no intention of taking Alex or Lucas with him.  He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t even want to think.

He just needed to
ride
.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked.
 

He’d just finished a punishing ride across the county, and during the ride he’d managed to contain the worst of his loneliness and uneasiness. As soon as he’d come home, however, he found his mom sitting at the kitchen table crying.   All of his disquiet immediately came back at him full bore. 

He quickly pulled a chair out at the table and sat down, too.  “Look at me,” he demanded. 

Laurie’s shoulders shook with sobs.  She had her hands wrapped around a beer.  Slowly, she tilted her head upward to face him.  He saw it then: puffiness around her right eye. 

“Goddamn, you have a shiner!” His heart suddenly pounding, he jumped out of his chair and moved her side.  He grasped her shoulders.  “What happened?”

“I slipped and fell o—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” he said, cutting her off.  “I want to know who did this to you.  Was it someone from Beach Waves?  A customer?”

Her tears slowed down.  She regarded him with narrowed eyes.  “I’m not
that
bad of a stylist.”

“Then what happened?”  He pulled a chair around the table and sat down directly next to her.

She stared at him, but said nothing.

“I’m not going to let this go,” he warned her.

Her lips parted, as if she planned to say something, and then she just crumbled.  “I can’t tell you, Jake.  I just can’t.”  Her elbows on the table, she put her face in her hands.

His heart still pounding in his chest, he forced himself to speak calmly.  “Why not?”

“Because you’ll be disappointed in me.”

“What did you do—kill someone?”

“No, of course not!”

“Then tell me.  Because if you don’t, my imagination will make up something much worse than the truth.  Who punched you in the eye?”

“It was an accident.”

“All right, who
accidentally
punched you in the eye?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know,” he repeated, then shook his head.  He was obviously going to have to pull it out of her, inch by inch.   “Was it a
he
or a
she
?”

“A
he
,” she admitted.  “Two guys.”

“Two guys.”  He nodded slowly, as if he understood.  “Why did two guys punch you?”

“Well, just one guy punched me, but two guys stopped by.”

“Two guys, here in this house?”  He sat up straighter.  “Were they trying to steal something?”

“No, Jake.”  She let her hands drop to the table and stared at him with a tortured expression.  “If you really want to know, I’ll tell you.  But there’s nothing you can do.  Nothing
anyone
can do.  You’re just going to get frustrated.”

“I’d like to know who my enemy is,” he replied softly.  “Because your enemy is mine, too.”

She gazed a moment more, then slowly brought her tears under control.

“Go ahead,” he urged.

“Okay.”  She paused and visibly swallowed before focusing on him again.  “You know that Hurricane Sandy blew this town to shreds.”

“Yes, I know.”

“A lot people lost everything—their homes, their businesses, everything.”

He nodded.

“Well...both this house and the salon were heavily damaged.”

“I remember you telling me,” he said.  At that time, he’d been deep in Afghani territory, scouting by day and sleeping in a bivouac by night.

“I
did
have insurance,” she told him.  “And I received a government payout, too.  But they weren’t enough.”

Not enough.

“So where did the rest of the money come from to finish the repairs on the salon and the house?” he asked.

She pressed her lips together and her eyes darkened.  Jake realized they were finally getting to the heart of the matter.

“A guy named William Hansen moved into town a few years back.  He’s been very generous with his money, and he apparently has a lot of it.  He’s supported a number of town projects, like the Veteran’s Wall that was erected in the Community Garden.  Your name is on the wall, by the way.”

“I’ll go visit it later,” he said.  “Tell me about William Hansen.”

“Well, he lent me money to finish the reconstruction on Beach Waves.  He said I wouldn’t have to pay interest if I paid the loan back within a year.  But I wasn’t able to pay it back.”  She paused and took a deep breath before continuing.  “So now I owe him most of the original loan, plus interest.”

“How much did he lend you?”

“Twenty thousand.”

He groaned.  “How much interest?”

“Fifty percent.”

“Fifty percent!”  He stood and started pacing.  “How can it be legal for him to charge that much interest?”

She sighed.  “It’s not legal at all.  He’s clearly not a legitimate businessman.”

“What is he, then?”

“A loan shark?”  She shrugged.  “I don’t know, Jake.”

He stopped pacing and sat down next to her.  “How much do you owe, in total?”

She hesitated, appeared to think it over, and then said, “Fifty thousand.”

He let out a low whistle, and noticed how his mom was refusing to look at him.  “That’s a lot of money.”

“I know.”

“Tell me the rest,” he said, and almost wished she’d refuse to.

Her shoulders sagging, she nodded.  “When I wasn’t able to make the payment to close the loan, a couple of men visited me.  They told me that they represented Will Hansen, and that Hansen in turn represented others who had a stake in my loan.  In many of Rockport Grove’s loans, in fact.  They said that if I didn’t find a way to pay that loan, it would go badly for me.”

Jake had a sinking sensation deep inside.  This was bad.  Really bad.

“Earlier today, they visited me again,” she continued.  “Said that if I allowed them to use my salon for dealing prescription drugs and money laundering, ‘the boss’ might go easy on me.  I refused.  Things got physical, and one of them punched me.”

“Fuck!”  He put his hand on her arm.  “I’m sorry.”

“They said they’ll be back,” she admitted, and then started crying again.

He felt trapped.  “Tell me something about these guys.  Do you see them around town?”

“No,” she replied, her voice trembling.  “They had heavy accents, though.  As though they were from somewhere over by Russia.”

From Russia with Love.

“We need to pay that money back,” he said, the apparent calmness in his voice at odds with the anxiety rolling through him.  “Quickly.”

“I know.”

“How do we pay it back?”

“Win the lottery?”

Jake frowned.  “Not funny.  What about a second mortgage on the salon?”

She shrugged.  “It’s possible.  But that’ll take time, and I don’t have time.  They want their money
now
.”

“So we need time, as well as money.”  He tightened his lips.  “We gotta go to the police.”

His mom instantly put a hand on his arms.  Her eyes wide, she shook her head.  “No, Jake. Don’t go to the police.  They told me they’d know and would punish me if I did.  And anyway, the police are corrupt.  So is the mayor.  You’ll do nothing but make it worse if you involve the police.”

“That can’t be true.”

“It is,” she insisted.  Her lips parted, and Jake waited for her continue, but a long pause developed between them.  He stared at her, sensing she was about to drop another bomb on him.

After almost a minute, she dropped it.  “The best place to go for help is the Guardians.”

“WHAT?”  Shocked, he jumped out of his seat.  “You want me to go to the same motorcycle club that killed dad?  What the hell can
they
do?”

She stood as well.  “Jake, they’re the only ones who can help.  In fact, your Uncle Martin is already aware of what’s been going on, and the club’s been trying to help.  He’s insisting on moving in with me until we get the situation straightened out.”

He drew back.  “What’s Uncle Martin going to do, stand guard with a shotgun?”

“Martin’s got the club behind him.”

“So what?”

“Both of us will be safer with him around.”

He frowned.  “I don’t need him to defend me.  Or you.”

“I don’t
want
you to defend us.  I don’t want you to get
killed
.  You’re my son.  You’re all that I have left.”

He clenched his fists.  “I’d like to find these two goons who’ve been blackmailing you.”

“You see?”  She threw up her hands.  “This is why I didn’t want to tell you.  I was afraid you’d go off half-cocked.   And here you are, doing exactly that.”

“Don’t you
ever
keep anything like that from me again,” he warned her, his gut bubbling with a need to set things right.

Frowning, she stood to put a pot of tea on to boil.

“Sit down.  Let me do that.”  He shooed her back to the table, then got a mug out and dropped a tea bag into it.  He would take care of her first.  Then, tomorrow morning, he was going straight to the police.  Unlike his mother, he had faith in the men in uniform.  He’d been one himself, after all.