TWELVE

My Spidey Senses Are Tingling

“You hear me—Jenn, baby, are you with me? Jenn—Sonofabitch.” There was a ringing in my ears and my chest felt like I’d been hit with a sledgehammer. I could hear Jack yelling, so I blinked my eyes open and tried to focus on his face. Jack had a cut on his forehead, causing blood to run down his face. I couldn’t form words yet, but moved my hands and feet to make sure they still worked. Thank God for seatbelts. I saw Jack exhale, like he’d been holding his breath, and he whispered, “Thank Christ.”

“Jack, we hit a really big rock.” Jack scowled a little, then shook his head.

“Yeah, baby, and you hit your head.” Nodding gently in agreement, I tried to sit up, but Jack kept his hand on my chest to keep me still.

“Lie still, baby. I called an ambulance. We need to get you checked out.”

“Jack.”

“Yeah?”

“First the bird and now this? I think someone is trying to tell us something.” Jack’s head jerked a bit, and then his eyes lost focus as he stared in the distance, lost in thought.

“Jack.”

“Huh, yeah?”

“I lost you there for a second.” His mouth turned into a sexy grin, and he leaned down and kissed me gently, then spoke softly against my lips. “I was just thinking about all the things I didn’t get to do to you… and, baby, it would have been extremely fucking thorough.” I inhaled quickly, my imagination in overdrive. Jack nipped my lip and then smiled at me. Hearing an engine behind us, his head turned, and he pushed up when he heard the siren from the ambulance. He moved his hand and waved, saying, “Looks like the Hardy boys are here, too.”

Jack opened his door. It made a loud groaning noise and wouldn’t open fully. He slipped through the opening, and I could hear him talking to someone. Still lying on my back, I pushed up and released the seatbelt, rubbing my chest where it snapped tight, holding me safe during the impact. Other than a pounding head and bruised chest, I felt fine, so I tried to open my door, but it wouldn’t budge.

I heard Jack say, “We need to get her out and away from the truck in case it catches fire,” which made me turn to look at the crushed hood. I saw the steam from the radiator hissing into the air and decided it was time to move. Jack may be worried I had injuries and that I should lie still, but I wasn’t staying in the cab a second longer. I scooted across the seat, stuck my legs out the door and put my feet on the ground, and then passed through the opening of the driver’s door.

“I’m out, I don’t like fire.”

Jack turned, said, “Shit,” and moved to me, and before I could say stop, he picked me up and carried me towards the arriving ambulance.

“I told you not to move, what if you have a spinal injury?”

“Uh, “truck may catch fire” trumps “spinal injury”. Besides, I feel fine other than a killer headache.”

“Jesus, you’re stubborn,” he grumbled.

“Pfft, and you’re bossy as hell.”

“Get used to it.”

“Same goes for you, Bucko.”

I heard Ben chuckle behind us, so I looked over at him and smiled. He winked at me, then nudged Gerry, who was watching the interaction.

“Got your hands full there, Jack,” Ben laughed.

“Don’t I fucking know it,” Jack growled.

“Hey, I could say the same thing.”

Three men chuckled, and I rolled my eyes as Jack continued to carry me. Just as we made it to the arriving ambulance, we heard a whoosh, and Jack, Ben, Gerry, and me in Jack’s arms turned and saw a small fire coming out from under the hood of the truck.

“Fuck,” Jack said, and I couldn’t agree more: my purse and my satchel that held all of my work and notes were in the truck.

“Dammit, my notes, my purse.” Jack turned to Ben and started to hand me over to him, so I resisted.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting your bags.”

“Jack, no, the truck is on fire, it might explode.”

“Won’t take a second, baby, hold tight,” Jack explained, exasperated, as he handed me off to Ben as I continued to protest:

“Won’t take a second? Jack, don’t you dare,” fell from my lips as he walked right up to the back of the truck, kicked in the rear window with his boot, then leaned in and grabbed my stuff. He then turned and walked right back out from the truck bed and up to Ben and me. He handed me my bags, then took me back from Ben and walked over to the waiting medical team, who were watching the truck engulf in flames.

“You’re kinda crazy, you know that, right?”

“Yup.”

“You could have been killed.”

“I wasn’t,” Jack simply said as he handed me off to the EMT’s.

“Who does that? What if the truck exploded?” I yelled while the tech tried to wrap a blood pressure cuff around my flailing arms. The second EMT, a woman, was dabbing at Jack’s cut as I yelled at him.

“Babe, hold still. Jesus, you’re always fighting something.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and hissed, “Fine.” I shoved out my arm and held it level with my chest so Mr. EMT could get my pressure, then I turned my eyes to Jack and glared. Jack, being Jack, just grinned. I’m adding cocky and arrogant to bossy.

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” Jack laughed. Seriously? He thinks he can win me over with that…

“I’m not speaking to you right now.” And I meant it.

“Obliged…all that yelling was giving me a headache.” Grrr.

“I should tan your hide, Sheriff.” That got me a wide grin, and knowing I wouldn’t get through to him, I shut my mouth and looked away, mumbling, “Bullheaded, bossy, reckless and now arrogant and cocky…I should have my head examined.”

Mr. EMT chuckled at me, and I looked up at him and grinned. Wondering where Ben had run off to, I looked around and found him talking with Barry, who had driven up a few moments before. The Gunnison Fire Department showed and was putting out the fire. Thankfully, the engine never exploded, but the truck did catch fire, and my belongings would have been destroyed if not for Jack. Not that I was going to mention that.

After cute EMT girl was finished putting a butterfly bandage on Jack’s head, he walked up to me, looked me over, and then kissed my forehead. I tried to ignore him, but I couldn’t, so I smiled at him. Jack shook his head at me, making it clear he thought I was a nut—whatever—and then he moved to the fire department and spoke with the Captain. I saw him point to the tire that exploded, and the Captain nodded his head. He then spoke to another fireman at his side. That man moved to the back of the hose truck and pulled out a tire iron, then moved to the now flameless truck and started to remove the damaged tire. I found this curious. Why did Jack need the tire? Tires exploded all the time, didn’t they? My need to know everything, a good trait to have if you’re a reporter, kicked in, and I spoke out loud to no one in particular.

“Now why does he need that tire?” Not expecting anyone to reply, I jumped when EMT guy, or Jake Jarred, as I now knew, spoke up.

“Probably because all the department vehicles got new tires last month,” Jake replied. Then he continued, “I bet there was a defect in the tire.”

“So if a new tire explodes, it would have to be from a defect?”

“I’d think so, or someone shot it out while you were driving, but that would take a really good shot, or luck, I suppose.”

“I don’t remember hearing a gunshot.”

“A long-range rifle would be silent from a distance.”

“Who knows how to use that type of weapon?”

“Here in Colorado, in the mountains? Everyone old enough to shoot, including the women.”

Well, that narrowed it down by the number of children in the area. Tapping my finger on my arm and wondering why someone would shoot out the sheriff’s tire, it occurred to me that I might be jumping to conclusions. As Jake said, it was probably a defect in the tire, but it bugged me, and I couldn’t let it go until I’d talked to someone. I looked around for Ben and found him with Gerry. Deciding I would pick Ben’s brain, I thanked Jake for helping me and put out my hand to shake his. Jake smiled and took it, but as he shook it he looked over my shoulder and his smile fell. I looked behind me and saw Jack scowling at our friendly handshake and rolled my eyes. That man had a serious caveman complex!

Saying goodbye to Jake, I jumped down and walked over to Ben. Ben gave me a hug when I arrived, and we stood there and watched the fire department finish with Jack’s truck. Needing to sort out the questions in my head, I turned to Ben and didn’t beat around the bush.

“So, Ben, what causes a brand new tire to explode at a high rate of speed?” Ben looked surprised by my question and thought for a moment.

“Only thing I can think of, darlin’, is he ran over something, or it could be a defect in the tire.”

“Could someone have shot it out with a rifle?” Ben narrowed his eyes at me and then nodded.

“Yeah, I could see that, but they’d have to be a good shooter.”

“Better than most of the folks who live up in the high country all year?”

“I’d think so. Probably the only one around here who could make that kinda shot is Jack, though.” That didn’t surprise me; I was beginning to figure out that Jack was good at everything and didn’t lose often, either. That would definitely make you cocky and self-assured. So, if Jack were the only one who could make that shot, maybe it was just something we ran over.

“What’s running through your mind, Jenny?” Ben asked.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but Jack took an interest in the tire and had the fire department remove it from the truck, so I asked myself why.”

“Good question to ask. Maybe we should be asking ourselves if this is connected to the killer. You being in the truck and doing an investigation? Could be it was you he was after.”

“Ben, until right before I got in his truck, I didn’t know I would be there, so how could the killer know?”

“Good point, so let’s assume the sheriff is on to the killer, but he doesn’t know it yet, and the killer doesn’t want him to figure it out.”

“I don’t think Jack has found anything yet. He said there’s no evidence pointing to anyone.”

“Then it’s probably just a fluke accident and us standing here speculating is just that: speculation.”

“Okay, Ben, you’re right. I must have hit my head harder than I thought.” Ben ruffled my hair and smiled at me. Then he put his arm around me and pulled me into his side.

“Glad you’re ok, Jenny. Would be a dull place again if something had happened to you.” I nudged his shoulder, ‘cause that sweet old man had no idea his words made me happy. Building something for myself here in Colorado, even if it was just a family of friends, was what I needed, and I’d adopted him as my father figure pretty much from the start. Lorraine taking me under her wing and giving me advice was putting her in the lead as my mother figure. Mandy definitely won the younger, crazier sister role, but where would Jack fall? Boyfriend? Lover? He said that after we slept together there was no going back, that I would be his, so I was thinking “significant other.” Maybe I should get clarification of this before we slept together. If I was not supposed to date around, that sure as hell went double for Mr. “I’ve-never-been-married-and-dated-half-the-population-of-Gunnison-County.” Watching Jack while thinking a talk was in order before we moved forward any more than we already had, Jack turned to our group and started moving toward us.

Looking around, he spotted Barry and called out to him to grab a lift to the station. Jack then made it to Ben and me and put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed.

“I gotta head to the station, Jenn. Can you catch a ride with Ben?”

“I’ll take her straight home and put her to bed myself Jack, don’t you worry.”

Jack gave Ben a chin lift, then said, “Walk with me.” He took my hand and walked me a distance away where no one could hear.

“Seems we’ve been interrupted again,” Jack said grinning down at me.

“Seems we have, but maybe that’s a good thing. I think we need to talk more.”

“Talk about what?” he questioned.

“About what we’re doing, Jack. I think we’re rushing this thing between us.”

“Jesus, leave you alone for thirty minutes and you start over-thinking things.”

“I’m not over-thinking things. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page, Jack.” He stared at me a moment and then nodded.

“Ok, I get that. I’d take you home myself so we could talk, but as you can see, I’ve no vehicle and I need to file a report.”

“Don’t worry about it. Go do your job. This can wait until another time. I’m not going anywhere.” I meant that too. Something clicked when I was riding in the truck with Jack, and I knew I would stop running from him; but I wasn’t moving forward until we had some ground rules in place.

“Better and better,” he whispered on a grin.

“What?”

“You, babe, keep getting better and better. You’re not busting my balls ‘cause I have to head to the station or pissed off that I’m leaving you in someone else’s care instead of taking you home so we can talk. You understand I have a job to do, and you don’t hesitate or have to think about your answer when I tell you I have to leave. It means you’re not playing games and saying what I want to hear, so you keep getting better and better.” Wow, that was direct and to the point and almost on the verge of insulting. Why would I have a problem with him doing his job? Yet, insulting or not, it was charming my pants off for some damn reason.

“Jack, it’s already a given. You don’t have to try and charm my pants off.” His grin changed to a full-fledged knock-your-pants-and-panties-off smile, and then he pulled me close and buried his head in my neck.

“I intend to charm your top, bra, pants, and panties off you, and, depending on my mood, it may involve ripping, definitely biting… and a whole lot of sucking too,” he whispered. I had no words for that. Nothing. I was completely void of speech. I shivered, and he moved to my neck, nipping and kissing, then he moved to my mouth, putting both his hands to my face, and kissed me deeply. I was a puddle of goo when he was done with the kiss, so he wrapped an arm around me and walked me, on shaky legs, back to Ben.

“Take care of her, old man,” Jack instructed.

“Like I would my own daughter.” Jack smiled at Ben then turned to me, cupped my face again and gave me a quick kiss.

“Later, Sweetness,” he whispered against my mouth.

“Later, Jack,” I whispered back and watched his eyes go soft before he pulled back and kissed my forehead, too, and walked away heading to Barry’s truck.

I turned and watched him climb into the truck with Barry, then I looked at Barry and gave him a small smile and a wave. Barry raised his chin, but no smile. Sighing, because it seemed I’d lost a friend, I looked back at Jack, and he winked at me. So I smiled bright and winked back. In for a penny, in for a pound, my mother always said… I couldn’t agree more!