Jamie Hill Triple Threat (17 page)

She cocked her head. “Is that how you see yourself? Because I see someone totally different. I don’t see that guy at all.”

Jack started to interrupt but
Crystal
wouldn’t let him. “I see a cop who cared enough about two little boys to bring them really cool toys after they witnessed something no child should ever have to see. And when he found out how those two little boys lived, he went out and got them food and warm coats and enough clothes to get through the winter.”

He started to interrupt again and she put her hand to his lips. “I don’t know if you even have a sister, and I don’t really care. You saved us, Jack, and I can’t imagine where we’d be without you. I understand why you’re telling me all this. You can’t make us any promises because you don’t know what’s happening with your own life. I understand that—shoot, it’s the same situation I’m in with Mark and
Devon
. But I know what we have right here and now is good. Let’s hang on to each other for a little while longer and see what happens. Maybe when you’re done saving us, we can save you back.”

He looked at her, then slipped his arms around her and held her close. They stayed that way for a few minutes, and he finally said, “You make me out to be such a hero. What if I did all that stuff so I could get into your pants?”

Crystal
laughed. “Then I’d say: success! Looks like we’re both winners.”

Jack chuckled and kissed the side of her head. After a few minutes he told her, “I want to check the house one more time before I turn in. I’ll be right back.”

She nodded as he got out of bed, pulled a robe from his closet and slipped it on before leaving the room. She yawned and snuggled into his pillow, then closed her eyes.

* * * *

Jack awoke wrapped around
Crystal
the next morning, and realized that neither of them had shifted during the night. They'd both been exhausted, physically and mentally. He studied the flowing red hair and the sexy neck of the beautiful specimen next to him, and felt himself growing harder by the second. He glanced at the clock. It was still early. Maybe they had enough time. He kissed her sexy neck and
Crystal
stirred.

“Um, nice way to wake up,” she murmured.

“I’ve been lying here thinking of a nicer way. Would you like to hear about it?”

“Oh, yeah.”

He whispered in her ear, and she repeated with a sultry inflection, “Oh, yeah!”

* * * *

Jack stomped his feet at the front door of the city office building which housed the WPD homicide bureau. He wanted to finish up a few things in his office before he went to the loading dock and talked to Dave’s coworkers again. He really needed a break in this case. It’d been over a week and the trail was as cold as the snow he traipsed through to get from the parking lot into the building. He wiped his feet on the floor mat and stepped into the elevator, all the while wondering why the city couldn’t do a better job of snow removal on the sidewalks. Of course, why the powers-that-be did anything was beyond him. He hated politics and the groveling that went with the bureaucratic part of his job. He wanted to help people and catch bad guys. He often thought he should have been a cowboy.

He got a cup of coffee and sank into his chair, speaking to no one as thoughts continued to roll around in his head. The boys were getting too attached to him. He knew in his mind that wasn’t a good thing. His heart told him something different, but he tried to tamp that down. He needed to solve this case so the boys and Crystal could get on with their lives. He wondered for a minute where she would live when this was all over. The type of residence would depend on whether the boys lived with her or not, of course, which would be up to her. He couldn’t get a read on how she was leaning.

He shook his head to clear it. He needed to concentrate on the facts of the case, and stop letting his mind drift back to his house, picturing what was going on there.
Crystal
getting out of bed, wandering around his room naked with those black glasses on, until she had time to get dressed and put her contacts in. He loved her green eyes, and he loved those damned black glasses.
Love.
It was a word he hadn’t let himself use much. Why did he find it so easy to use when describing
Crystal
? He closed his eyes and envisioned her rising above him that morning, so beautiful and uninhibited he almost groaned aloud. He shook his head again.
This is not working.
He grabbed his coffee and his jacket and left for the loading dock. Talking to people, keeping busy, that's what he needed to do.

* * * *

Crystal
stretched lazily before slowly climbing out of bed. She hadn’t felt this good in ages, if ever. Making love with Jack far exceeded anything she'd previously experienced. As she moved around his room she realized she had muscles aching that she didn’t even know existed. She felt sore in a good way. And she couldn’t believe that after being completely sated the previous night, they'd made love again this morning. Yet she
still
felt aroused as she touched his things and smelled his cologne in the air. She smiled, knowing she only had to wait until that evening to feel him wrap himself around her again. Jack would want it as much as she did. She had no doubts that his desire equaled hers for him.

Her day progressed much as the previous day had. Feed the boys, watch TV with them, and now she had video games to play with them. She generally found those a huge time-waster, but she seemed to have time to burn these days. She was feeling a little cranky when the afternoon rolled around.

The boys were also feeling the effects of their seclusion. They started bickering and wanted her to play referee. She frowned at them, never having settled an argument between them before, and unsure of the best way to handle it. She sided with
Devon
and Mark got mad, so she sided with Mark and then they both got mad. She yelled at them. They slammed the door on her. Everyone sank into rotten moods. To top it off, the dog chewed up one of her shoes. By the time Jack got home, she was about ready to explode.

“Hey! How are you doing?” He walked in the door and kissed her cheek.

“How do you think I’m doing, cooped up with two kids and a dog that can’t go outside all day? It sucks, I hate to tell you.”

He seemed surprised at her tone, but tried to be understanding. “I’m sure it’s not easy for you. I know—”

“What do you know?” she snapped. “Do you know how it feels to be plucked out of your life and stuck someplace else, in a situation you have no control over? Along with two kids, whose one goal in life is to drive you up a frigging wall? You can’t go outside or even send them outside, so they’re underfoot
all damn day.
” She evaporated into a puddle of tears. “I’m sorry, I just need a few minutes. Do you think you could watch them so I could take a break?”

“Of course. I’ll just go change, then take them outside.” He walked to his room and unbuttoned his dress shirt.

Crystal
followed him and lay on the bed, watching him undress.

“You checking me out?” he teased, trying to improve her mood.

“Like there’s anything we could do about it now. Even sex has to be scheduled when you have two automatic kids.”

He sat on the bed next to her. “Did last night feel ‘scheduled’ to you? It sure as hell didn’t to me.”

“I don’t know. I’m tired.” She flopped over on her side and faced the wall.

“What happened to put you in this mood, Crys? Don’t say nothing. It had to be something.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Doesn’t make it very easy for me to fix, then.”

“Maybe you can’t fix everything, Jack.”

“Maybe,” he stood up, voice hinting at irritation. “I’m taking the boys outside.”

She waved a hand at him without looking up, and he left her alone.

* * * *

He bundled up the boys and took them and Zeus into the backyard, where they ran off some energy and tossed a ball and a Frisbee for the dog. The snowman got tackled and decimated. Jack had worked off some of his own frustration by the time they went back in the house.

He looked in on
Crystal
and found her asleep, so he made grilled cheese sandwiches for the boys’ dinner. Afterward he popped a movie in the DVD player and made them some popcorn. He went in and sat next to
Crystal
, rubbing his hand over her back.

She stirred, and he said, “I can leave if you just want to sleep.”

“Not sleeping,” she murmured and rubbed at her eyes.

“Yeah,” he smirked. “And I’m not stinging from your earlier mood. I
am
hoping it’s improved somewhat.”

She rolled over and looked at him. “Sorry. Everything kind of piled up on me today. I guess the boys aren’t used to being together twenty-four/seven anymore than I am. They were picking at each other, and no matter which one I sided with, someone got mad.”

“Welcome to parenthood.” He smiled, still rubbing her arm lightly.

She gave him an irritated look. “That damn dog chewed up one of my shoes.”

Jack bit his lip and tried not to laugh. “I’m sorry. I’ll replace the shoes.”

She looked at him. “It’s not funny. I think I’ll go stir crazy if I have to stay cooped up like this one more day.”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday. I have some things to check out at work, but I might be able to spend part of the day with you.”

“Great,” she said dully, and Jack’s eyes flashed irritation.

“I’m doing the best I can for you, here, Crystal. I’d love to be able to blow off work and spend all my time with you, but this case isn't going to solve itself.” He stomped into the kitchen and she followed him.

“You don’t know how oppressive it is to be stuck here like this! I really think I’ll lose it if this goes on much longer.”

He opened the cabinet and grabbed his bottle of Crown Royal, and slammed it on the counter with a thud. “I think you’re being melodramatic. You’re in a safe, comfortable house. You don’t have to wait tables. You get to relax and take it easy. Doesn’t sound that damned hard to me.” He reached for a glass and glared at her.

“Spoken like someone who gets to come and go as he pleases!”
Crystal
glared back. “And don’t you dare crawl into that bottle at the first sign of an argument! How could you even
think
about doing that with the boys in this house? They had a father who got loaded every chance he got. Now he’s dead and all they’ve got is you!”

“I am
not
their father,” he snapped as he poured himself a tall shot. “And I told you up front that I like to drink. I drink a lot. If you want to mother someone, mother them, but leave me the hell alone.”

“Who said I want to mother anybody?” she hollered at him. “I never asked for them to be dumped in my lap! But here we are, and what the hell are we supposed to do about it?”

“We can leave,” Mark spoke up from the doorway, his arms wrapped around his crying brother. “We’ll just go.”

“Oh, my God! Mark,
Devon
…”
Crystal
looked mortified.

The children turned and ran into their room, and their door slammed. She looked at Jack in horror.

He shot her a look that could kill and downed the last of his whisky.

Crystal
sighed. “Okay, I screwed up. It’s my fault. I forgot they were even here.”

He continued to glare at her. He was irritated with her for a myriad of reasons.

She sighed. “I admit it. I messed things up royally. But for their sake, could you help me, please? We’ve got to undo the damage.”

“That ought to be pretty easy,” he growled at her sarcastically as he passed by and went to the boys. “Zeus, come,” he snarled and the dog headed with him for the bedroom.

Jack knocked once and went in. He looked around and didn’t see the kids at first glance. He heard sobbing and opened the closet door. They were huddled on the closet floor together, tears streaming their faces. Jack sighed and leaned back against the closet door, then slid down on the floor in front of them. He brought Zeus down next to him and rubbed the dog's back as he spoke.

“You could have really freaked me out. Did you know there’s a hidden crawlspace behind that back wall? It’s probably just big enough for the two of you. And maybe a few spiders.” He smiled at them hopefully, but they weren’t going to be so easily consoled. Jack sighed. “Well, obviously Crystal and I aren’t used to arguing with children in the house. We said some things that we shouldn’t have said. Now I guess we need to talk about them with you.”

Crystal
sat down on the edge of their bed and tapped her toe nervously. Jack shot her an irritated glance. How was he going to talk their way out of the mess she’d stirred up?

Mark held on to
Devon
possessively. “We just want to leave.”