Struggling Free (Hidden Secrets Book 5) (2 page)

Chapter Two

Jacob

I
watch her from just around the corner. She was flustered and I seriously had to work not to try and take her right then and there. Contrary to what she thinks, I did do my research on her. Danger was a good guy, but I’ve only known him for a few weeks. He helped us when we needed it and has been there for Jackson and Shannon since. He’s even taking the boys on the weekends to allow Jax and Shannon time alone. However, in this case, my career and my family were on the line. If this Vicky, decided to tell someone about my problems, everything I’ve worked for would be gone.

“Fuck
him! He may have called the damn shots just now, but we will be playing by my rules!” Her head dropped to the desk and she groaned.

It
was that sound that sent my semi to noticeable, but then I watched as she unbuttoned her shirt fanning herself. The sight of her breasts shoved up together, creating a magnificent cleavage display, sent my erection into unbearable and I hurriedly left the office. Hailing a cab, I jumped in, giving the address to the hotel. My hope was the ride to the hotel would give time for my side show in my pants to disappear, but when I kept seeing her in my head I was harder than I ever was before.

The
minute I get into my hotel room, I run straight to the shower. The minute I saw her at her desk, I was already semi hard, but her feistiness as we bantered back and forth pushed me over the edge. She was one hot piece of specimen. Her red hair and gorgeous blue eyes, and banging hot body, my cock twitches as I strip out of my clothes.

Turning
the water on cold, I hope this will bring down my raging hard on. With the cold water beating down, it didn’t waiver. Turning on some hot, I decided to relieve myself. Grabbing some of my baby oil, I squirted it on my erection. I tossed the bottle behind me, eagerly wrapping my hand around myself.  Groaning as I pulled my hand up and over my sensitive head before running it back down my shaft.

Closing
my eyes, I pictured her kneeling down in front of me right now. My hand was replaced by her mouth. Her cleavage flashed before my eyes. My hips began to thrust into my hand as I worked faster and harder for my release. Picturing her mouth wrapped around my cock as she looked up at me as she dug her nails into my ass. Throwing my head back, I groaned loudly as my climax took over. It was intense and left me needing to brace myself against the wall as my orgasm continued to rock my body.

“Fuck!”
I roared loudly as I reached my peak, slamming my hand on the wall.

Stumbling
backward, weak kneed and drained, I reach out shut the water off and stagger to the bed, passing out the minute my head hit the pillows.

The ringing of the phone woke me from a very peaceful sleep. It was odd to sleep well. Normally I’d have to break out my security stash just to get a few hours of sleep. It was all I could do to get my mind to stop rehashing my mistakes, my failures.

Groaning,
I reached over and grabbed the phone and mumbled a hello, at least I think that’s what I said.

“Sir,
this is your six a.m. wake up call.”

“My
what!”

“Sir,
you have a family function to get to and a lady meeting you here at seven.”

A
smile crept across my face. “Ah, yes. I had forgotten. Thank you.”

Practically
jumping out of bed, I got into the shower again. Forcing the images away from last night, I showered. Today I took care to pamper just as if I was a girl going on my first date. Laughing at myself, but I decided that I was going to push this woman today because her anger turned me on tremendously.

By
fifty after six, I was down in the lobby waiting on Vicky to arrive. She didn’t disappoint either, but she did dress to torture me. She wore this pale blue dress that seemed to brighten her red hair and brought out her piercing blue eyes. Her hair was up at the sides, but hung around her shoulders. There was a delicious amount of cleavage that I just wanted to motorboat in all day and her legs…
Fuck me!
My hands and tongue itched to run up them. Shaking my head, I brought my eyes back up to her face.

“Uh,”
Shaking my head again, a small smile played on her lips.

“You
never told me how to dress. I hope this is okay,” she spoke quietly, while running her hands down her dress.

Sauntering
over to her, I grabbed her hand spun her around then pulled her against me. One arm around her waist, the other holding her hand to my chest, I began to dance her around the lobby. Vicky’s body fit perfectly against me. Feeling her curves, sliding against mine was waking a part of me that needed to stay down, well for now.

“I
think you look beautiful and you dance wonderfully. My family is going to love you,” I smiled at her.

“Wow,
um, thank you,” she said, blushing and almost sounding confused.

Kissing
her cheek, I lead her out to the car I have waiting. Opening her door, I help her in before rushing around and climbing into the driver’s seat. Starting the car, I reach to shift into drive when she reached over and put her hand on mine.

“When’s
the last time you had anything?”

Shaking
my head at the feeling I was getting with her hand on mine, “Not since the day before yesterday.”

“What
is it that you do?”

“
Oh, you know, a little bit of this and a lot of that,” I joked.

“If
you are going to joke about this then maybe you aren’t ready to quit and this would be a waste of both our time,” she stated flatly but firmly.

“Can
we get through this and then discuss the particulars? Please just give me a few hours to be Jake and not whoever this fucked up person is I’ve become.”

“Fine,
but we
will
talk tonight. Do you understand?”

“Fine.
Now can I drive?”

She
removes her hand from mine and places it in her lap. “Yes.”

The
drive to Mary’s was long, not because of the distance, but because she wouldn’t talk. So in an effort to break the silence, I decided we needed a back story.

“So
we met at a release event six months ago. We haven’t had much time together until these past couple of weeks. We’ve decided to see where things go between us. Sound good?”

“What
was my reason for being at the event?” Vicky said all business.

“You
were the event coordinator.”

“Okay,
I think I can manage to pull that off.”

Thinking
about the workers of theirs, made something boil in my stomach that I’ve never felt before. Whatever it was didn’t sit right with me and caused me to grip the wheel tighter, grind my teeth and give her a warning.

“Listen,
there are going to be some asshats here that are going to try to hit on you. Please don’t flirt back. Honestly, I can’t tell you what would happen right now if you did,” I said darkly.

“Why
would your family hit on me knowing I’m your girlfriend?”

“Not
everyone there is family. Some are employees for my sister and her boyfriend. Trust me, some of these guys are dicks and will do whatever they can to get into your pants.”

“If
they’re so bad, why don’t they fire them?”

“Because
my sister just had a baby and Tobey’s busy with her and Mitchell.”

“Mitchell?”

“He’s my nephew, almost a month old,” I said smiling.

Before
she could say anymore, I was parking the car. I hurried around the car and opened the door for her. Holding her hand, I helped her stand. Once I had the door closed, I leaned her against it. My arms on either side of her head effectively caging her in. I lowered my head to her neck, running my nose up to her ear.

“In
case I didn’t tell you before, you look sexy as hell,” I whispered before biting her ear.

“Damn,”
she breathed.

Taking
her hand, I led her over to where everyone was gathered. When we walked into full view of everyone there, she gripped my hand tighter and wrapped her other hand around my arm holding me close. The smile on my face was genuine when Jackson walked over.

“Good
to see you smiling, brother,” Jax said as he wrapped his arm around me half hugging me.

“Nice
to have a reason to smile for a change,” I said slapping him on the back. “Jackson meet my girlfriend, Vicky. Vicky, this is my brother Jack.”

“N-nice
to meet you,” she greeted him nervously.

“Girlfriend?”
Jack looks at me unconvinced.

“Yeah,
we met a few months back at my release, but because of my schedule and hers, well,” I shrug. “A couple weeks ago we were finally able to get some time together and both decided to just play it by ear and see where it goes.”

“
Mmmhmm. And what is it that you do, Vicky?”

“I’m
an event coordinator hired by all the top celebrities for their functions. Luck would have it that my company was chosen for his release.”

I
watch a red hue run up her neck to her cheeks and she dropped her head down to try and hide it. Damn, she looked fucking sexy as hell when she blushed.

“His,
um, movie release, um,” she stammered.

Leaning
down, I whispered in her ear, “I could use a release right about now. Damn you’re torturing me here.”

She
laughed and hit my arm. The sound seemed so foreign for her, but damn if it didn’t flow straight through me and right down to my dick.  I’m already thinking of excuses for us to leave early.

“Dude,
get yourself under control.  The boys are here you know? Once they know you’re here they’ll come looking. They don’t need their eyes poked out.”

Vicky
looks down at my crotch causing my cock to twitch in my pants. Jackson starts laughing when I groaned. Excusing us, I pulled her back toward the car only to be stopped by my mom calling my name.

“Fuck,”
I mumbled.

Vicky
steps in front of me with her back to my chest and leans her head back on my shoulder, turning her head into my neck.

“Get
it under control. I can only stand here for so long.”

Her
breath washed against my neck as she talked and it only turned me on more.

“Hey
baby,” My mom said, hugging me as Vicky leaned out of the way.

“Hey
mama. I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Vicky. Vicky this beautiful woman is my mother Jane. Though I think she could easily pass as my sister.”

My
mom smacks my arm, smiling at me, before hugging Vicky. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad my Jakie has found someone. He’s seemed so lost lately.”

Just
then my mom was called, she said her goodbyes and walked off. Just as I was about to pull her away again, the music started playing and we were pulled out on the dance floor.

“What
the hell, Jacob? Get that shit under control,” she hissed at me as we danced.

“I
can’t,” I hissed back.

The
music ended and then Tobey came out in a suit. He clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“The
reason that Mary and I asked everyone to be here is because we have decided to have a surprise wedding…today. We’ve already had everything planned out and are ready to tie the knot and make it all official.”

“
You’ve got to be kidding me!” I hear yelled, but can’t find him.

Without
seeing his face, though, I knew who it was. We all did. No one seemed to acknowledge it though. Not that we didn’t care because we all did. Nate was family, but we weren’t going to lose sight that our little sister was getting married and without even announcing she was engaged. I think tonight was the night I had a talk with Nate. Thinking about it more now, Vicky would be the perfect person to help me too.  My heart broke for Nate, but it was time he saw that Mary was moving on. It was his turn too as well.

Chapter Three

Vicky

This
was such a scary situation. I thought I was going to walk into a small little get together, but now I’m part of a very intimate moment surrounded by so many people. As I look around, I find myself wondering what would push Jacob to think he needed to resort to drugs. His family was amazing. They all seemed to welcome me which made me feel guilty for lying to them. Of course guilt didn’t rear its ugly head until Jacob’s erection wasn’t pressing against me. I don’t know what it was about that man, but damn did he have a button straight for my libido.

“Excuse
me?”

Turning,
I find a short, stocky man with dark hair and even darker eyes standing in front of me. He was actually almost a head shorter than me. I knew I was on the tall side for a woman, but never have I felt like a giant like I do right now.

“Yeah.”
Something about the way he was looking at me set me on edge. It was then that Jacob’s words came back to me.

‘Trust
me, some of these guys are dicks and will do whatever they can to get into your pants.’

Remembering
his words put me on edge even more. Well, I didn’t get to where I am today by getting intimidated by a man. Looking up, I saw Jacob was still busy helping his brothers get things set up for the nuptials.  He was busy, so I would have to handle this on my own should it get to that point.

“Who
you here wit?” His eyes traveled up and down my body as he asked.

“I’m
here with my boyfriend, Jacob Williams,” I said, hoping that would stop the way he was leering at me right now.

“Hmm,
well you shouldn’t be. You’re too good for him,” he sneered.

“Well,
I don’t think so. If you’ll excuse me,” I turned to start walking away when the guy lifted my dress up.

“You
bastard!” I yelled, unable to control myself.

“How
abouts we disappear in the barn for a bit?” He licked is lips.

I
punched him, then kneed him, hard while yelling at him to keep his dirty grubby hands off me. The man collapsed to the ground. When I looked up, I saw all eyes were on me. Completely embarrassed, I ran off toward the car.

My
arm was grabbed just as I reached the front of Jacob’s car. I knew who it was that grabbed me without even having to look. When he turned me round and tried to hold me against him, I began pounding my fists to his chest.

“Is
this your way of getting me to do it your way? To get me under your control?”

“Vicky…”

“Why did you bring me here?” My voice cracked as memories came back to haunt me. “Why?” The fight leaves me.

He
held me tightly to his chest. As he spoke, I could feel it rumble against my face. “You want the truth?”

My
body tensed and I pulled back, looking at him. “Nothing less,” I said, hoping I wasn’t going to regret saying this. However, I was fully prepared to drop him as a client if the answer was what I feared it was, regardless of how much my body seemed to want him around.

He
dropped his arms from holding me, right away I felt the chill of his warmth leaving me. Running his hand through is hair, he kept his head down. It was then I noticed his ticks. I could tell now that he wasn’t lying to me about not having had anything in a while. The problem was I didn’t know if he had a stash back in his room. Most addicts I have come across in my career have a backup or a just in case stash. The one thing that was common in all of my clients was that there was always a reason for them starting. Whether it was because of their upbringing or an event, to fit in, whatever there was always a reason. What was Jacob’s?

“You
work with a lot of celebrities, right?”

“All
my clients are public figures.”

“Have
you ever put yourself in their shoes?”

“What
do you mean?”

I’m
pretty sure I knew what he meant, but I wanted him to explain it. Sometimes having to go into details about something helped work toward a solution to solve the harmful feelings it caused.

“As
an actor, I play roles on film or commercials. But then reporters and the like, they turn my real life into a constant movie. They sneak up on you when you are just trying to relax and let the bright lights of stardom fade from your eyes.” He looked up at me. “I love doing what I do, but…,” he shrugged. “Try having a girlfriend when every time you turn a corner a camera is flashing trying to catch you doing something that would bring in loads of money. Or worse, they post pictures that never happened and state a completely fabricated story by an unknown inside source that seems to know more about you than you do.”

“You’re
lonely? That’s why you brought me here?”

“No…Yes…
It’s a bit more complicated than that. Never did I think that bringing you here would lead to something like that,” he said, looking back over at where a guy stood ripping the pervert a new one.

“When
we leave will you tell me?” I asked quietly.

“Yes,”
he looked back at me with an intense jaw dropping look. “When I saw you in your office with your head on your desk, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful you were,” he laughed softly. “Then you walk into the hotel lobby looking like a vision straight from my dreams. If nothing else, at least for one night I am graced with a beautiful woman on my arm and no agenda.”

Without
warning, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. Once contact was made, I couldn’t pull away. It was too powerful. A surge of electricity shot straight through me and burned me up on the inside as it traveled down to my center. Opening my mouth, he growled as our tongues touched.

“Jake?”

He groaned dropping his head to my shoulder. “I just can’t win.” He smirked, “Sorry.”

I
could only stare wide eyed at him, unable to form any words. Such a simple kiss and it left me brainless. What the hell was happening to me?

“I’m
sorry to interrupt, but I’d like to apologize to…” The man started.

“Sorry.
Tobey, this is my girlfriend Vicky. Vicky this is my sister’s soon to be husband, Tobey. They own this ranch.”

“Vicky,
I’m sorry about Rex. He won’t bother you again. After talking with Mary…”

Jacob
started laughing. It was a pleasurable sound, only adding to how horny I was. “What’s so funny?” I asked, confused and trying to distract myself.

“When
he says
talking
to Mary what he really means is she yelled and he listened,” Jacob said through his laughter.

Tobey
started laughing. “Yeah, well, I’m sure Vicky here will have you by the balls here soon too. Then my friend, I will be laughing at you.”

That
caused my heart to freeze in my chest, I had to work real hard to keep from turning pale or fainting. My stupid heart wished for it…longed for it. My brain, thankfully, was still working properly.  It knew that this wasn’t going to happen.

“Like
I was saying though, we’ve decided to reconsider our staff. Just not sure what we’ll do now because from the looks of it half these guys may not be panning out. I don’t want Mary working. I’d rather her take care of Mitchell.”

A
light bulb went off in my head. Business, now that I can safely talk and think about. “Wait a second.” I almost yelled.

Walking
a few steps away, I could feel Jacob’s eyes on me. Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until I found the one I was looking for. Pressing send, I waited for her to answer.

“Hey
work wench, what’s up?”

“Hey
doll. Well, I’m actually calling with good news for you.”

“Oh,
I like this call,” she laughed.

“Are
you and the others still looking for work?”

“Yeah,
but not many people will give us a chance. You know how it goes.”

“Well,
I might have work for you guys. Considering you can get Axel under control, that is.”

“He’s
getting better, but getting him to trust people is still hard.”

“Well,
these are good people. You’d be working on a ranch. I haven’t told them about you guys yet, I wanted to call and see if you’d even be interested first.”

“Give
me a second and I’ll ask the guys.” A few seconds later she came back on the line. “It’s a go for all of us.”

“Great.
I’ll tell them and give them your number. Expect their call.”

“Thanks
Ms. Lancer. I can’t tell you how good it is to know we at least have one person out there that cares.”

Looking
back over at the party, my gut tells me something. “I have a feeling you’re about to have a whole lot more looking out for you,” I smiled at the thought.

“Would
be a nice change.”

“We’ll
talk soon.”

We
ended the call with our normal banter and I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down their number on there, before walking back over to the guys, holding out the piece of paper to Tobey.

“This
is a number to a possible solution to your problems. The woman that will answer will be Carmen. There are about fourteen others there. They are looking for work, all of them have experience working farms, so I’d like to think they’d slide into here rather well. Here’s the catch. They are recovering addicts. But before you judge them, please don’t. They are good people and they deserve a chance. Carmen, Axel, Shelby, Skyler, and Hunter, I know personally and they kind of took the others under their wings. It’s an idea is all.”

“Uh,
wow thanks. Is it okay if I call after the ceremony?”

“Yeah,
I called her to make sure they were still available. They do live a distance away, but I will pay for them to live in a hotel if need be.”

“No
that won’t be necessary, we had cabins built for the new staff. Thank you, Vicky. Hang on to her Jake.” He said his goodbyes a hurried away.

“What
do you say we continue to enjoy our time here and forget about that asshole?” Jacob asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“That
sounds like a plan I can live with,” I answered without thinking.

# # #

Being here for such a private moment didn’t sit right with me. Everyone here thought that I was
with
Jacob. Lying was not something I liked to do. Even when I was younger, I couldn’t even lie to my friends. Now here I was lying to very lovely people. Guilt was eating me alive right now.

For
an impromptu wedding, it made even my cold heart melt. Tobey definitely loved his now wife. The tears in his eyes as Mary came walking down the aisle spoke volumes. The ceremony was about over when a guy came running down the aisle screaming.

“Mary,
please don’t do this! Please!”

“Nate,
you promised,” Mary said sadly.

“I’m
sorry Tobey. I mean no disrespect, but I know you’d do the same if the roles were reversed. Mary, I love you. Really love you. You keep telling me that there’d be no one else if I did and there hasn’t been. Please don’t marry him. My heart can’t take losing you. You’re the reason it beats in the first place.”

“Nate…”
Mary started before turning to Tobey, “Give me just a second.” Tobey nodded his head and gave Nate a sad compassionate look.

Mary
gathered up her dress as she stepped down from the little stage they had set up and walked toward this Nate guy. The smile on his face as she walked toward him showed everyone else present exactly how much he did care for her. Details were something I paid attention to at all times. The look on her face told me that she cared about him, but not in the context he’s going to like.

“Hey,”
I turned to find Jacob standing next to me. “I need you to help me please.”

I
nodded my head, unsure of what I could help him with, other than the obvious of course. Grabbing my hand, we walked down the aisle behind Nate.

“Nate,
I love you.” Nate’s smile widened and tears shimmered in his eyes. He started to reach for her. Mary grabbed his hands. “You’re my best friend. You’ll always have a place in my heart, but I’m not your girl. You’ll find her. She’s out there. I know she is, but she’s not me. When you find her you’ll see that the love you feel for me isn’t the love you think it is.”

His
grip on her hands tightened. “How can you possibly know that? How can you possibly know that we aren’t meant to be? You haven’t even given us a shot.”