Emerald (Steele Investigations) (19 page)

“On it.  We’ll get eyes on Calloway as well.  Your eyes know
whether he’s left DIA yet?  What vehicle he’s in?”

“Don’t think he’s left yet.  He’ll be in a rental. Ring the
airport.  I’m leaving now.”  Travis snapped his phone shut, jumped in his SUV
and started it at the same time as Theo slid into the passenger seat and they
sped off towards Denver.

******

“Jemma, sweetheart.  Lower your hands and move aside to your
left,” Detective Kormier instructs.

Behind me I hear a scuffling sound, and I belatedly notice
that the Detectives gun is actually aimed just over my right shoulder. I bring
my hands down and move out of the way, turning to face the commotion behind
me. 

My blood turns to ice.

“You have the right to remain silent …” the words fade as
everything in my mind turns silent.  I can’t hear.  I can only see.  I watch as
Detective Kormier and a bunch of plain clothes and uniformed police officers
read my father his rights and shove him roughly to the ground on his stomach. 
Frozen, I continue to watch as they snap heavy handcuffs on his wrists and haul
him up by the elbows so he’s standing again.  Then they frog march him to a
waiting patrol car before they drive off.

“Jemma, you okay?” My hearing clears and I look up into the
kind, gentle eyes of Detective Kormier.

“Yes,” I whisper.
No!
 My mind shouts at me.

“I’ve spoken with Travis, he shouldn’t be much longer.  He’s
going to pick you up from the station, so come along with me.”

******

“Jemma,” Travis rushes towards me.  I’m sitting in Detective
Kormier’s office at the station, a blanket wrapped my shoulders, staring
unseeing at the floor.  My eyes snap up at the sound of Travis voice – a
mixture of panic and relief.

“Travis,” the word comes out a broken sob.

“Hey, hey.  It’s okay baby,” he coos as I begin to cry
silently into his shoulder.  He rocks me and holds me tight until the tears
subside.  Not long after the Detective comes in and gives us a rundown of what
is happening with my father.

“Your father is being charged with a good amount of crimes,
Jemma.  Some of those in relation to you, others in relation to subsequent
reports that were filed after you made your statement.  My boys and I wasted no
time looking into your father, and along with the evidence that Travis had
compiled, and the fact that your father is not a very smart man, it was easy to
find incriminating evidence against him. Some of the charges include sexual
conduct with a minor, continuous sexual abuse of a child, molestation of a
child.  Now that’s in relation to what you suffered at home.  There will be
additional charges for the part he played in selling your body.  He will also
be charged with a range of offenses for involvement in the sale of a sexual act
and a whole host of other charges under Federal Law.  I expect upon searching
you family home and your father’s offices that we will also find evidence of
child pornography.  He will be charged with that also.

Also, once faced with a list of charges that he’s facing,
your father sang like the proverbial canary.  He’s given statements to our
officers incriminating at least five other high profile players in his illegal
activities.  That also means we’ve just activated the police department in your
home town and they’re picking up your mother for questioning as well your
father’s associates who he just threw to the sharks.”

I know this is a lot to take in, Jemma but I want you to
know that with the charges your father has copped tonight, he won’t breathe
fresh air again for a long time.  From now on you’re safe, and thanks to you, a
whole bunch of other girls – children and adult – are safe now as well.” 

Ho-
ly
shit. 
Shit.
  That is a lot of
information to take in.  I’m afraid if I process it now, I’ll have nightmares
tonight.  So I push it to the back of my mind, and instead thank Detective
Kormier.

“Thank you, for tonight.  For everything.  I, uh, well, I’m
not sure what would have happened if you weren’t there and I want to say thanks
for that as well. So, uh, thanks.  Although, I was scared out of my brain
because I thought you were pointing the gun at me,” I laugh nervously.

“You pointed a gun at my woman?” Travis asks threateningly.

“No, no.  I thought it was at me.  It was over my shoulder,
aimed at my father.”  I quickly explain.

“Lucky,” Travis mutters with a small grin.  Then he shakes
the detective’s hand and thanks him.

We say goodbye and Travis leads me out to his car. 
Actually, he doesn’t lead me to his car, he takes me to someone else’s car – a
black SUV.

He beeps the locks open, “Hope in, mama,” he says opening
the door and boosting me up by my behind, giving it a squeeze.

“You’ll do anything to cop a feel, won’t you?” I shake my
head as he climbs into the driver seat.

“Only your ass, baby.  And I would do
anything
for
you,” he says sweetly.  I lean across the seat and press my lips to his. 

“I missed you,” I say between kisses.

“Missed you too, baby.  Like crazy,” he replies and I resist
the urge to smile like a lunatic.

“Take me home,” I smile tiredly at him.

He looks at me funny, like a half frown, half confused with
a dash of relief and a sprinkle of something I can’t name mixed in kind of
look.

“Yeah, baby.  I’ll take you home,” he replies huskily.

I lay back into the seat and let out a sigh of relief.  The
drive back to Travis’s doesn’t take long and before I know it he’s rounding the
hood and helping me out of the car.

“Who owns this car?” I ask.

“The company.”

“What about your Camaro?”

“Not real fond of putting criminal in my girl, babe,” he
smirks.

“Oh,” I grin. 
Of course.

He opens the door and we walk through.  My lips part in an O
shape and my eyebrows climb.

“What the …?” Travis mutters as suddenly I’m wrapped in his
mother’s arms and she’s kissing my air.  I hug her back, her arms around my
shoulders, mine around her waist.  Kami and Rae both hug me from behind.

“Oh, darling girl.  Are you okay?” Judy whispers in my ear. 
She pulls back to search my face and I swallow the lump in my throat.  Tears
prick my eyes when I notice hers are shining with unshed wet.

“I’m fine,” I whisper.

She lets me go and I turn to face Kami and Rae.

“Carl called Elliott and we came right over. Mom wanted to
go straight to the station but dad convinced her to wait for you here.  She’s
been wearing a hole in Travis’s carpet with all the pacing she’s been doing,”
Kami tries to joke at the end.

I smile as my heart stutters.  I can’t believe they all care
so much.  It’s a feeling I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.

“Do you guys know?” I ask quietly.

“We know some things.  But we also know you’ll tell us in
your own time,” Rae says gently.

They both back away as Tom comes to hug me.  His voice is
broken when he says, “Oh, girlie.”  He doesn’t say anything else.  Neither do
I.  I just hug him tight.

Next, Grant envelopes me in a hug.  “You’re safe now, my
girl.  Nothing can hurt you now.”  He gives a little sniffle and that undoes
me.  The tears fall from eyes and I cry into his shoulder.  I’m so overwhelmed
and I’ve never, not ever, felt so loved in my life.

 “Oi, what are you doin’ makin’ my girl cry, Dad?” Travis
asks as he pulls me from his father’s arms and into his own.

“Settle, son,” his father replies.

“I’m okay. Really.” I smile up at him because, really, I am
okay.  With all that has happened, okay would be the last I would have expected
to be, but it’s exactly what I am.

“I think,” I take deep breath and continue, “I think , now
that everyone is here anyways, I want to explain my past.  This way I only have
to do it once, and they deserve an explanation, from me, not from one of your
men.” I bite my bottom lip, slightly unsure.  Travis uses his thumb to release
my lip and place a soft kiss where my teeth were.  “I just want them to hear it
from me.  Is that okay, do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Baby, whatever you want to do, I’ll be by your side,
standing there supporting you.  You want to tell them, all of it, some of it,
whatever.  They’ll take it, keep it safe and share the weight around.  That’s
what family is for.”

“Okay.  Alright.”

A load shared is a load lightened
.  Tom’s words come
to mind.

******

“I think my family loves you more than they love me,” Travis
remarks as he shuts the door behind his parents.  They are the last to leave
and only did so because I spent the last twenty minutes convincing them that
I’m alright.  This was after I sat them all down and told them about my past,
not in great detail but I did fill them in.  After living my whole life being
fiercely secretive, I wanted to be open and honest with these wonderful people
who have changed my life.  I told them that Tom was the first friend I had ever
made in my life.  This caused him to cry, which in turn caused Kami and Rae to
cry.  I told them about what my father had been doing to other women and girls and
how he also inflicted the same damage on me when I was growing up.  I didn’t
tell them about the night I lost virginity and I didn’t mention the amount of
money I have been paying my father.  I think what I gave them tonight was
enough for a few weeks.  They need time to process the information I gave
them.  I don’t know how they feel about me now, whether anything has changed
for them.  But what I do know is not one of this wonderful family looked at me
disgust or revulsion when I told them of the filth I was born to. 

“Let’s go to bed, baby.  You’ve had a big day,” Travis says
as we walk back toward the living room.

“Want to shower with me first?” I ask.

“Love to, baby,” he places a light kiss on my lips.

“God, your hands are good,” I murmur as Travis washes my
back and massages my shoulders at the same time.

“Glad you like them,” he says laying a small kiss behind my
ear.

“I’m glad you know how to use them,” I reply cheekily.

He slaps my behind and I yelp then giggle.

“Get out and get dry, woman,” Travis orders.

“Yes, sir,” I salute.  “Eeek,” I shriek when he takes me by
surprise and backs me up against the bathroom wall.

“Baby, you being sassy is turnin’ me on, even more so
because you’re naked when you’re givin’ me attitude,” he says as he presses his
hardness against me. “You’ve had a big day and we’re not having sex tonight, so
stop turnin’ me on.”

“Okay, sorry,” I say as I try to fight the gleeful smile
that’s tugging on my lips.

“Now you’re turning me on ‘cause you’re being cute,”

“Okay, baby.  I’ll stop being sassy and cute.  I don’t want
you to go to sleep stiff,”  I place a small kiss on the edge of his mouth.

“Now you’re bein’ sweet.  Fuck me, I’m fucked.  Sweet,
sassy, cute – it don’t matter.  I’m hard all the fuckin’ time when I’m around
you anyways,” he growls his reply then lays a hot wet, deep kiss on my mouth.

“Bed, babe.”

“Okay.”

We hop into bed and Travis tucks me tight against his front.

“You did good today, mama,” he tells me, softly running his
fingers through my hair.  “I’m proud of you.”

I freeze momentarily but Travis doesn’t miss it.  He tips my
chin so my eyes meet his.  He searches my face, finding my huge grin and watery
eyes, he leans in to kiss me swiftly.

“No one has ever told me that.  Thank you.”

“Get used to it, baby,” is his reply.

“I like it.”

“Anyone ever told you that they love you?” he asks,
seemingly nonchalant.

“Not that I can remember,” I answer quietly.

“Well, baby, buckle up ‘cause you’re just about to hear it.”

“I am?” I whisper, and I swear to God my eyebrows are
touching my hairline.

“I love you, baby.  You’ve been under my skin for a while
now and I like you there.  Don’t think I ever want you to work your way out.  I
miss you even when I’m gone for a couple ‘a hours, I think about you all the
time and I’m not gonna ever let you go.  I love you, Jemma.”

Tears fill my eyes and quickly spill over, running unchecked
down my face as I stare into the eyes of the most beautiful, sweetest man on
the Earth.

I called it eons ago, girlfrien’.  I love Travis!  Said
it at the beginning.  But would you two listen to me? No! 
Selfish Jemma
sits cross legged on a bar stool, filing her nails and squinting her eyes as
she smacks her bright pink colored lips as she talks.  Ghetto Chic is the color
of the day, apparently.

I love Travis too
, Rational Jemma shrugs. 
I knew
it from the beginning but I wanted to make sensible choice; that doesn’t mean I
turn off my feelings.  Some people make decisions based on their head or their
heart, or a mixture of both.  Or, in your case, your vagina.
She snaps as
she peers over my shoulder to Selfish Jemma. 
I wanted to make a sensible
choice based on both my head and my heart.  It worked out in the end.

Told you so!
Selfish Jemma quips, always happy to
have the last say.

“I love you too, honey,” I say as I look deep into his
eyes.  They crinkle at the corners and he crushes me to him, holding me tight.

“Thank god,” he whispers as he kisses my hair, “I wasn’t
sure whether it was too soon to lay that on you.  I was worried you’d run,” he
says in a thick voice.

“Never,” I state emphatically, “I hope you like me, ‘cause
you’re stuck with me.”

“More than like,” he replies loosening his hold slightly.

“I really want to make love now,” I mutter into his chest.

“Me too, baby.  But you’ve had a rough day.  Means we got
somethin’ to look forward to in the morning,” he winks at me.