Hiding Away (Anchored Hearts #1.5) (8 page)

C
hapter Fifteen

~ JANE ~

The next few days passed in their usual fashion.  Except now I had Cal to spend my time with when he wasn’t working.  I got a call on Tuesday that I got the job at the hospital and they wanted me to start next week.  I was ecstatic to be getting back to work.

Thursday night Cal got a panicked call from Cassidy, saying there was an intruder in her home.  Apparently when Cal got there, Cassidy and James were standing outside.  James had decided to pop in and surprise Cassidy and she mistook him for an intruder.  I was thankful that she discovered it was him because Cal could’ve shot him, had he gone in there armed. 

The next morning Cal called as he was headed out of the precinct late.  He mentioned he was getting some odd looks from everyone, but didn’t bother to ask anyone why.  Cal, couldn’t give a shit what people thought of him so he headed home. 

When he pulled in the drive I was standing by the car, I borrowed from mom, waiting for him.  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.  I’d told him earlier on the phone that I was home and planning to stay there.

He smiled at me as he climbed out of his truck.  I hoped that the fear that was still lingering after my phone call with Derek was gone.  I closed the distance between us and he pulled me into a big bear hug, lifting me off the ground. 

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

Whispering in his ear I asked, “Everything okay?”

“It is now. 
Just a rough night.  We got a domestic disturbance call, after Cassidy’s snafu, and spent over an hour trying to get this battered wife to see the light.  I don’t understand why women stay.  He’s not going to stop, they never do.  Not until one of them is dead or in jail.” 

I felt myself stiffen as he made the comment.  If he found out about what happened with Derek, would he think differently of me?  Think me weak, incapable?  Yes, I left, but I should’ve left sooner.  I certainly wasn’t going to tell him about the phone call with Derek now.  Putting my game face on, I pulled away as he walked up the steps before unlocking his door, and I followed.  I decided to wait to ask him about the story in the paper I saw before leaving my parents.  He clearly didn’t know or didn’t want to discuss it. 

“I’m going to hop in the shower.  I’ll be down in ten.  Make yourself comfortable.”

“Okay.”  I waited until I heard the water running to run outside and grab my overnight bag. 

Tip-toeing my way upstairs, I shed my clothes, unable to resist joining him in the shower.  I prayed that he wouldn’t think me intruding.  The bathroom door was ajar and I pushed it open further to find that steam was already filling the room.  When I crept into the shower I found his back to me as he let the water beat down on him.  For a split second I hesitated and debated about getting out.  He looked to be in his own world, but I couldn’t resist touching him and gently pressed myself against his back.  He didn’t flinch.  Did he know I was there before I thought he did?  I wrapped my arms around him and placed them over his ribs.

“Jane, are we moving too fast?” 

I stilled at his words, not sure what to say.  The past few days had been quite a whirlwind.  Did he think we were moving too fast?  I reminded myself this was just supposed to be some fun.  I didn’t know what to say.  “I, umm, do you…” 

He turned around before I could finish my statement.  “I don’t know how to slow this down.  You need to tell me if it’s too much, too fast.”  His hands tucked my hair behind my ears as he examined my face.  “I’ve never moved this quickly Jane and I don’t want to run you off.”  His words were barely above a whisper. 

My heart hurt at his words.  He was showing extreme vulnerability and it made me ache for him.  “It’s not too fast.  We’re having some fun, nothing wrong with fun.”

“This is more than fun to me Jane.  I’ve had my share of one night stands, but this isn’t it.  This is…more.  Please tell me it’s that way for you too?”

I took a moment to process his words while examining his eyes.  “It is more.”  What had I just said?  The words fell from my lips before my brain could process them.  He kissed me softly and pulled me closer.  This
was
different, he was different.  He’d always been tender with me, but this, this was different. 

Reaching behind him, he turned the water off and wrapped a towel around me after opening the curtain.  He quickly ran a towel over his colorful and ripped body, and I couldn’t help but notice him standing at half-mast.  Once he dropped his towel, he began drying me off with another.  My hair hadn’t really gotten wet and soon my arms and legs were dry. 

We walked to his bedroom hand in hand.  We didn’t say anything else and the chemistry between us had clearly changed.  We’d just crossed a line that there was no going back from.  His room was pretty dim due to the blackout shades he had in place.  Leaving me standing in the middle of the room, he walked over to an iPod dock and fumbled with the dials before hitting play and then walked back to me.  I was beginning to think my tatted up cop was a hopeless romantic who loved country music.

I recognized
Wanted
by Hunter Hayes
as it began playing.  Still in my towel, he pulled me to him, one hand intertwined with mine.  He was a dream come true and a dream I didn’t deserve.  I’d gladly float on this cloud with him until he was ready to set us back down on earth.  I just hoped that when we landed, and if he decided he was finished with me, that he’d be gentle about it.  Surely he was just lost in the moment and the music like I was.

We swayed back and forth to the music, my head on his chest until the song was over and another began.  I didn’t recognize the song playing, not being a huge country fan, but it was beautiful.  The song was poignant and was a duet that spoke about taking things slow.  As we turned by the dresser where his iPod was, I saw that the song was
Just a Kiss
by Lady Antebellum
. 

I looked up into his eyes and stopped breathing as I saw the look in his eyes.  No one had ever looked at me the way he was looking at me.  I felt entirely exposed, like he could see me down to my bones, like he saw every flaw and mistake I’d ever made.  But there was no judgment in those baby blues of his, just acceptance.  He cupped my face in his hands and I closed my eyes.  His lips found mine and finally I could breathe again.

His kiss was soft and passionate, and left me aching for more.  No one had ever been so gentle with me.  He wasn’t being gentle in a hesitant way; he was being gentle in a way that made me feel cherished.  Slowly he turned me away from him and pushed my hair aside so that he could kiss my exposed shoulders.  He kissed his way down my spine until he met the edge of the towel.  Running his hands down my sides until he reached the edge of the towel around my thighs, he then ran his hands up and under the towel, scorching my skin along the way. 

As his hands found my abdomen, I pulled the towel off my trembling body and let it fall to the floor.  Dropping my head back to his chest, once he was standing again, he began suckling on my neck as his hands explored every inch of my body that they could reach.  The spasms were already increasing inside me as I began panting.  He seemed to understand how close I was and guided me back to the bed.

Grabbing a condom he sheathed the thick length of his dick, before dropping to his knees, once he had me sit on the edge of the bed.  His mouth found me instantly and I fell flat to the bed as he licked and lapped me into near delirium.  When I was almost
ready to come he pulled away and slid me up the bed as he sank into me.  He thrust into me with slow, determined strokes that had me building again instantly.

“Calvin.”  It wasn’t a whisper or a scream, but more a plea of surrender.  “Kiss me, please.”  He gave me his lips and I greedily sucked and licked away what was left of me there. 

“Jane, baby doll, you’re so beautiful.” 

I kissed him deeper as he picked up his pace.  “Calvin, I can’t hold on…oh, god.”  I let the feelings wash over me as the waves flooded my entire body.  My nipples hardened as a flush spread over me.  He rocked back and forth inside me for a little bit longer before his release took him, evident by him pulsing inside of me.  His head dropped to the side of mine as I kissed on his neck and ear. 

The exhaustion that swept over me was overwhelming.  I was vaguely aware of him rolling off me and pulling me to his side.  Being curled into him was all I needed before sleep claimed me.  I was safe with him, I trusted him and it terrified me.

C
hapter Sixteen

~ CALVIN ~

I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I’d never experienced sex like that, ever.  The feelings I had for Jane were so potent and immediate that the only thing I could do was to give into them.  She was brought into my life for a reason, and I didn’t have any plans on letting her go.  Her small frame was burrowed into my side and she was fast asleep.  But there was something she wasn’t telling me.  There was worry in her eyes earlier.  It was something big, maybe something in her past, and the longer she held out on me the bigger the feeling of dread became.  I wished I could get her to open up, but I didn’t know how to do it.

Later in the morning I was scanning my phone in disbelief.  I felt her peer over my shoulder as I took in a sharp breath.  “You didn’t see the paper this morning did you?”  I looked to Jane confused.  “Someone leaked the story about your mom and Mayor Calhoun.  I didn’t want to bring it up.  I’m so sorry, Cal.”

“So I guess it’s time for me to spill my dirty little secret.  It was bound to happen.  With Cassidy dating your cousin and the public’s obsession with him, I should’ve anticipated this.  That explains all the peculiar looks at the precinct this morning”

I told her all the gory details; Mom and Dad’s marriage falling apart, mostly because of my mother’s drinking, the affair with the mayor, which all led to mom’s death.  I’d already told her of my mother’s passing, but nothing about the affair and everything else.  I didn’t tell her about how badly Cassidy dealt with it, feeling it wasn’t a detail for me to share.  That was Cassidy’s secret to tell.  We managed to fall back asleep for a little while.  I was off work that night and grateful for it. 

Worried for Cass, she had been ignoring my calls, I finally called James.  I offered to pick up carry-out and bring it to Cassidy’s place for dinner.  I tried to confront Cass, asking if James knew everything.  She refused to discuss it with me.  The four of us spent a few hours together, eating and laughing, but Cass was definitely on edge. 

I woke the next morning to my cell phone ringing.  When I looked at the screen I saw that it was Cassidy.  Answering the phone I wasn’t prepared for the question she asked.  It’d been fifteen years.  Dad and I assumed she never heard the news about moms condition, at the time of her death, and we weren’t about to tell her.  All these years we thought the secret was dead and buried and I now knew that we should’ve told her at some point.

“Yes, mom was pregnant.”  I waited for her response, but didn’t get one.  “Cassidy, are you there?” 

I heard the phone clatter to the floor before James came on the line.  He assured me that he would make sure she was ok.  I sat the phone down on my nightstand and felt Jane’s hand on my back.  Sitting on the edge of the bed, I buried my head in my hands.

“Cal?”

I looked to her and knew immediately that she’d heard my conversation with Cassidy.  “So I guess you heard all that?”  She didn’t deny it.

~<>~<>~<>~

Later that day Jane and I were in the kitchen eating lunch when my cell rang again, and this time it was James.  He said there were things we needed to discuss and asked that I head to his office.  I left Jane at my place and headed downtown to see James.

When I walked into his office, after knocking, I found a petite blonde, probably in her late thirties, holding his hand as they sat at a small conference table.  She spotted me and eyed me like a piece of meat before making her exit.  I eyed James, with a hint of disgust, and he told me she was just a friend and his attorney.

“Dude, what’s going on?  You’ve got me all suspicious.”  I was suddenly nervous and began twisting my hands together. 
Why was his attorney here?

“I need you to think like a cop and not like a brother.”  I digested his words before agreeing.  “You’ve seen the papers.  You know Dan.”

“I know of him and his record of drug abuse.  Of course I didn’t find out until
after
the shooting.  Cassidy wouldn’t have been dating him had I known.”

“I’m partly to blame there too, man. 
Anyways.  This is where it gets messy.  Dan is the nephew of Brent Calhoun.”  He paused to give me a minute and he saw the change in me as I put the pieces together.  My jaw clenched as he continued, “Calhoun had custody of Dan when this all went down fifteen years ago.”

“Custody?
  Wouldn’t Dan have been an adult?”  I didn’t like the sound of what I was hearing.  My nerves jumped up on edge all at once.

“I believe he was seventeen at the time, a year younger than me.”

I couldn’t help but begin to pace his office floor.  “What the fuck?  You’re sure about this?”  He confirmed.  “Is this some revenge plot?”

“Not sure, but it seems that way.  There’s more.”  This couldn’t be real.  How could there be more?  “I’m not sure if you know or not that Calhoun died a few months later.” 

“I’m aware.”

“Did you know his cause of death is listed as an accidental overdose?” 

“Holy shit.  You think he killed his uncle?”

“
Suspect.
  I’ve known Dan since we were kids.  He’s never sat well with me; there’s always been something off about him.  Calhoun gave Dan a life of prestige and privilege.  I wouldn’t doubt that if he felt threatened by your Mom…”

We both paled as his words resonated with us both.  It just kept getting worse and worse.  My throat became irritatingly dry and I grabbed a bottle of water and began chugging it down.

“Cal, I’m sorry.  I didn’t think this through.”

“No.  It’s fine.  You think he killed Calhoun
and
my mother?” 

Sitting in silence for quite a while, he let me process everything we’d just discussed.  If what he was saying, and what he’d discovered were true, it meant that Dan played a part in my mother’s death and was probably targeting Cassidy all along.

“Cassidy needs to know.  As much as I want to keep this from her, she has to know.”

James adamantly objected.

“Dude, you don’t know everything.”

Now James was the one chugging down some water.  “How much did she tell you about Mom’s death and what happened after?”  James explained what he knew as I tilted my neck from side to side eliciting a few pops and cracks. 

“It broke her.  She blamed herself for Mom’s death for a long time.  It was the most vulnerable time in any girl’s life, but to have that guilt on her, too, destroyed her spirit.  She was in therapy for years.”

“Nothing wrong with therapy.”

“Did you try to kill yourself?”  James was speechless.  “She swallowed half a bottle of pills, James.  Dad found her just in time.  Another ten minutes and she would’ve been gone.”

“I had no idea.  I never…”

“Don’t hold it against her.  She was so young and lost.  She worked really hard for a long time to overcome those demons.  If she finds out what we know now about Dan…well…I…she has to hear it from us sooner rather than later.  The more prepared she is, the more proactive she can be in dealing with it.”

“Okay, that makes sense.  Shit, I wanted to keep this from her.”

“I feel ya, dude.  Is she home?  I can follow you.  Afterward, I’ll call Dad to fill him in.  God, this timing sucks; the wedding is less than three weeks away.”

“She should be home.”

“You need to be prepared for firestorm Cassidy.  You got a glimpse last weekend, but she’s got one hell of a temper.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

He laughed, “Dude, I’m telling you.  Prepare yourself.”  He didn’t have a fucking clue about my sister’s volatile temper.  This might be fun watching someone else be on the receiving end of her wrath.

When we got back to Cassidy’s place we filled her in on what we knew.  She was heartbroken and infuriated, rightfully so.  After she went on her tirade and I was sure she’d be ok, I left her with James.  When I got home Jane was still there and had dinner waiting.

As I walked to the kitchen she said, “I thought it would be nice to go out, but after everything that’s happened I decided against it.  I rented a movie and picked up some food.  That fridge of yours was practically barren.”

Smiling ear to ear I wrapped her in a big hug.  “It sounds perfect.  Just like you.”