Dirty Ugly Toy (42 page)

I narrow my eyes at him, calling his bluff. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re obsessed with your political career. That would ruin you.”

He leans in as if we’re lovers and pulls me to him, kissing my forehead. “I’m obsessed with
you
, Peach. The rest can fuck off if it means I’ll get to keep you.”

The finality in his voice is what leads me to follow him through the airport to a different gate. Not a gate that leads to Texas but one that will take me back to Georgia. The game has changed.

I’m going to have to kill him.

“Everything’s just as you left it, Peach. Even that stupid nursery. But don’t worry. I’ll knock your ass up and soon you can use it again.”

I follow him as he rushes through the cold home as I attempt to formulate a plan. I could sneak away and try to reach Brax but I don’t even know his phone number. That seems like a stretch. My best plan of action is to kill Jimmy in his sleep.

“Now, I’m glad you didn’t put up a fight,” he tells me with a wolfish grin. “Tonight is the annual Georgian Senator’s Ball. I’ll be announcing my run for presidency. The crowd is going to go nuts once I announce I rescued you from London where you’d been sold into sex slavery. They’ll eat out of my hands and I’ll gain the sympathy of so many voters. It’s in your best interest to comply and cry if you fucking have to. I don’t care. Make them believe. Because if you don’t, I’ll drag Brax’s goddamned name through the mud. He’ll be a national mockery. A disgrace. You don’t want that do you?”

I shake my head. “Of course not, honey. I’m actually relieved to be back home. My life’s been a mess for the past six years.” I let the honesty of the second part of my words drag the emotion from me. Tears well in my eyes and I accept a hug from him. His body is firm and I try not to cower under what I know is the strength to hurt me behind his clothing.

“Peach, I thought I’d have so much to do but it’s like you never left. We’re going to get along just fine,” he mutters into my ear. His hand slips to the front of my yoga pants and he grabs me possessively there. “And when we get back, I’m going to have you. You owe me a lot of fucking pleasure to make up for the past.”

His threat makes me dizzy but I remain steadfast. “What do you want me to wear?”

My hand shakes but I clutch my purse to me. Jimmy may have trapped me in his house by setting the alarm before he showered, but he couldn’t stop me from sneaking a knife from the kitchen into my purse. I waited for the other ball to drop. For him to get physical with me but his excitement of revealing my return at the ball seems to overshadow his desire to hurt me. Jimmy is first and foremost a showoff. He’s about to be the star of the fucking show.

I glance down at the shimmering royal blue evening gown and sigh. I’d worn this exact dress for another political event nearly a decade ago. It didn’t surprise me that Jimmy kept everything of mine, assuming he’d always find me. I’m curious to know how much money he spent hunting for me.

“Everyone is gathering in the banquet hall enjoying appetizers, sir. Allow me to escort you and Miss . . .” the security man stalls as if unsure what to call me.

I lift my chin and smile gracefully at him. “Mrs. Dixon. I’m his wife.”

His eyes widen and he nods. Jimmy flashes me a triumphant grin as he guides me down the hallway by the small of my back. “Someone’s grown up into quite a lady. I’d thought your whore ways would have ruined you. Looks like Kennedy was good for something after all.”

Swallowing, I ignore his words and straighten my back. I have to convince Jimmy that I’m here to please him. That everything will be just fine. I’ll probably have to suck his dick or let him fuck me. But by God, the moment that motherfucker falls asleep, he’ll never see the light of another morning again.

The thought causes me to beam like an idiot.

“Right this way. Ma’am, you may wait over there with those other ladies while Mr. Dixon makes a speech.”

Jimmy squeezes my hand and presses a kiss on my cheek. “Don’t fuck this up, Peach.”

And with that threat lingering in the air, he stalks off, flashing his sly grin to every gullible man and woman in the crowd. He climbs onto the stage and begins telling a very moving story about the disappearance of his wife six years ago. How we’d both been devastated by the loss of our Grace. The way he suffered with depression at having lost me.

I want to flip him off but instead smile like the puppet I’ve grown so used to being.

His speech drones on and on, with him weaving parts of his personal life with that of his political career. I keep waiting for him to reveal having found me. But, turns out, his big reveal is his announcement for presidency. The crowd roars as people cheer with happiness. They all want this monster as their president. He’s fooled them all.

“A beautiful lady shouldn’t stand all alone. Like a little bunny in the forest, she becomes prey to big, bad wolves.”

My heart stops and my eyes shimmer with tears. While everyone is cheering on Jimmy, I’m suspended in time, inhaling my favorite scent in the world.

“Who says I’m a lady?” I question in amusement.

Warm arms encircle my waist from behind and his presence soothes me. The past couple of days have been a whirlwind but the waters calm now that he’s here with me.

“You’re my lady and I’m taking you back home with me.”

I turn in his arms and melt upon seeing him. Shadows from the overgrowth of unshaved hair obscure his face. His eyes are the bluest they’ve ever been as he drinks up my face but dark bags from lack of sleep sag beneath them. The man is clearly a mess but now that I’m in his arms, his strength seems to be quickly returning.

“You said you don’t love me.” My reminder causes him to wince.

“Jessica, baby, I told you I’m a fucking liar. I will never love another. Not ever. You’re the only one.”

His lips drop to mine and he kisses me with a ferocity that only he can possess. I moan into his mouth and for a moment, everything seems to freeze around us as we’re allowed this moment together.

That is, until Jimmy’s enraged voice thunders through the room.

“Get your hands off my wife!”

J
ames’s voice blares into the microphone over the crowd. I pull away from our kiss to see him leap from the stage. His face is bright red and he’s fumbling with something at his belt. I’m about to push Jess behind me when a young voice fills the room.

“Hi. My name is Cheryl Martin,” the girl says from the stage. “I’m seventeen years old.”

The room becomes quiet. Her eyes find mine and I nod for her to continue. Once shit hit the fan, I had Dubois check into the note I’d found in Jessica’s bag. Turns out, the girl was underage and James had done some serious damage to her. Dubois and I brainstormed on the way back to Washington about what a fuckwit James was, especially around Jess. The timeline of events confirmed my earlier ascertains that it had to have been him that beat the hell out of her, not some fictional blond man as she claimed, and would have had the private access with no video surveillance. Jessica had followed Cherry to the bathroom and then she disappeared shortly thereafter. The pieces started to connect.

Then, while all five of us sat around the dinner table after I’d sent Jessica to London and I’d explained to my dad my entire fucked up life, Christine’s mouth popped open. I mentioned James was the senator of Georgia to which she revealed information about a surprise gift basket of peaches which she’d assumed were from me. But she was confused when Jessica reacted negatively to the gift. I vaguely remembered him calling her Peach during the evening of our dinner.

Dubois, shamefully then revealed how she told him she was from Georgia. In an effort to keep me happy, he begged her—to the tune of fifty thousand dollars—to keep up the façade that she was British. By that point, Cartier had pulled up an Internet search on Jessica Dixon on his phone and her haunted eyes graced the photos next to that monster. His obsession with “my toy” suddenly made a lot more sense. He must have threatened her in some way in Vegas that had her lips zipped.

Everything snapped together at that point. Her insistence on my selling the company. The way she never seemed to fear me—clearly James had done a number on her, I mean, he was the reason her baby died. In the end, she left to protect me. The same reason that I pushed her away. Yes, she found the scrapbook and what the evidence pointed at, but deep down, she wasn’t afraid of me. So, at the same time that I was trying to protect her from a man who was hell-bent on hurting her, she was protecting me from him. It’s almost laughable.

While she was on her way to London, Dad called a private investigator he’d hired long ago to search for Mama and me. He was able to trace a trail on James showing that he flew from Seattle to London. I wanted to have a shit-fit but Swan and the other girls took great care of her. Gorgi is a policeman there and had constant eyes on that fucker for me. Knowing that James was there following her made me freak the fuck out but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he dragged her ass back to Georgia. A stop on his Facebook page indicated the Senator’s Ball coming up, and the bastard is too damn full of himself to miss an event where he’d announce his run for presidency. With my financial clout, I was able to earn a ticket into the sold out event. The healthy donation I offered didn’t hurt my cause at all.

Once the clues came together, we could fuck that bastard over once and for all. With the data burned in the fire, Trevor out of our hair, and eyes on James, neither Jessica nor I were sitting ducks any longer. The bastard is going to prison. Especially now. One phone call was all it took to Cheryl’s mother. I explained about the dating service and my hotel; that I never wanted anything like that to happen. I told them the same man who hurt Cherry was the one hurting my woman. Cherry was already loyal to Jessica for what she’d done for her and they were eager to help. Of course the half million I wired to their account didn’t hurt either.

“James Dixon not only coerced me into having underage sex with him, but he assaulted and drugged me as well,” she tells the crowd bravely. “This happened multiple times over one weekend. I have emails from him threatening me after I managed to escape with the help of his wife, Jessica Dixon.” She waves at a stack of papers. Because of her proof from the hospital and her testimony to the police, all it’ll take is one DNA test from him and that fucker is going to jail for a long time. APD along with two Federal agents are waiting on the other side of the doors to serve him a warrant for his arrest. Since he’s a politician and his crimes take place in multiple states, we made sure to involve the feds so he didn’t get off on any technicalities.