Chapter Nine

JESSIE WALKED INTO THE OFFICE. Jack was already there, working at his computer.

“Morning,” she greeted him, walking passed him a short, pink dress and smiling as she put her purse down on her desk.

She set a bag on his desk. “Here. I made you a breakfast sandwich this morning when I made one for myself. Sausage, egg and cheese on a bagel, right?”

He turned around in his chair to face her. “Hey,” he smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”

He grabbed the bag and opened it, unwrapping the sandwich from the plastic and taking a bite.

“This weekend was fun, wasn’t it?” Jessie rambled, anxious to get rid of the strange feelings that had developed between them on the camping trip. “I think Chris enjoyed his birthday.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, it was fun. Chris had a good time.”

“How come you haven’t accepted my friend request on Facebook?” Jessie asked, smiling. “So rude.”

“When did you send it? I don’t get on Facebook that often,” Jack answered her, keeping his eyes locked with hers.

“A few days ago, I think,” Jessie replied.

“Yeah I haven’t looked at it in a while.”

Jack turned in his chair to face his computer, opened Facebook and logged in. There were numerous friend requests waiting, as well as a few messages. He clicked on the friend requests and skimmed down to “Jessie Sparks” and clicked to accept it. He noticed a request from Brittani, too, but he ignored it.

He clicked on Jessie’s profile picture. In it, Jessie wore Minnie Mouse ears and had her arm around an older, good-looking man who was smiling proudly. Jack smirked when he read the caption under the picture: “Disneyworld with the family! Still Daddy’s little girl!”

He turned to Jessie. “Happy?”

She smiled and nodded. “How come you don’t have a profile picture?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really put anything on there. People tag me in things sometimes but that’s it. I’m going to look through your pictures. Hoping for some bikini shots,” he joked, laughing as he clicked on her profile.

Jessie laughed, blushing. “Jack!” she said reproachfully. “There’s probably more pictures of Libbie than of me.”

But there were definitely some beach shots of her and her girlfriends. She was sure Jack would enjoy checking them out. She rolled her eyes.

When she looked at Jack’s profile, she couldn’t help but notice how many hot girls he had in his friend list. Scrolling down his timeline, she scanned the pictures and posts that Jack had been tagged in by other people. Lots of pictures with Chris, Nick and the other guys, at baseball games, football games, in bars, the beach.

Lots of pictures with different women. Sexy women. Drop-dead gorgeous, some of them. Jessie closed Facebook with a sigh, unable to stomach anymore.

“Russell gave us a case this morning. Rachel Dennison. Her husband died in a boating accident recently. She says some men showed up last week to collect money her husband owed them. Gambling debts. Thing is, the wife says some very large withdrawals were made from her husband’s account in the last couple of months. Like, quadruple the amount he owed. She assumes he paid the debt and these guys are trying to scam more money from her. Apparently she’s rich on her own account. She doesn’t want to call the police because she doesn’t want any scandal. Doesn’t want anyone to know about her husband’s gambling addiction. We’ll head to New York tomorrow to meet with the client.”

“Okay. What can I do?” Jessie asked, excited for what sounded like her first big case.

“You can go talk to Amanda and ask her to book us flights and make us a hotel reservation.” Jack glanced at her, his eyes, as usual, hesitating briefly where her dress ended mid-thigh.

“Any chance we could drive?” Jessie asked. “I mean, it’s not that far, and I don’t really like flying unless I have to.”

Jack shrugged. “I guess so. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”

“How long will we be gone?” Jessie asked.

“Hard to say. Tell her to book the rest of the week. Why don’t you meet me in the morning at my place and we can leave from there? There’s no reason to come here tomorrow,” Jack suggested.

“Okay, what time do you want to leave?” Jessie agreed.

“Let’s plan to leave around ten. I can drive the Escalade home tonight, and we’ll take that.”

“Okay,” Jessie agreed. “I’ll probably have Zoey drop me off at your house tomorrow.”

Jack nodded and turned back to his computer.

Jessie was already thinking about what she should pack for this trip. The rest of the day dragged by and was fairly quiet. They went to lunch together across the street to Castle Pub, as they usually did. Jessie chatted energetically, with Jack quiet, as usual, listening to her ramble on about random things.

After they said good-bye at the end of the day and Jessie was on her way home, she found herself looking forward to going on a trip with Jack to work on a case. She felt a rush of anticipation. She absolutely loved this job.

JACK’S PHONE BUZZED. HE READ a text from Angie.

Angie: Are u busy? Want to come over?

Jack: Can’t. Come to my place.

A minute passed. The phone buzzed again.

Angie: Okay. On my way.

She had been to his house once before and spent the night. Of course after she fell asleep, Jack had left her in his room and slept on the couch. Usually he preferred to avoid the overnight, and rarely did a woman spend the night at his place, but Angie was wild as fuck.

He had met her at Whiskey Rocks a few weeks ago and gone home with her. Her roommate, a cute blonde named Dawn, had appeared in the doorway of the bedroom as Angie was blowing him, wearing a little pair of shorts and a tight t-shirt.

She had poked her head in the room and said, “I’m bored. Mind if I join you guys?”

Angie had looked up at Jack and smiled. “Is that okay?” she’d asked, in her low, gravelly voice.

Jack had nodded, unable to believe his luck. Dawn had joined Angie on her knees, finishing him together.

For round two, Jack had watched Angie bury her face between Dawn’s legs while he fucked her from behind, giving him quite a visual as he pulled the condom off and came all over Angie’s incredible ass. Just the memory of that night was starting to get him hard.

Angie arrived about an hour later. He opened the door and she came in, wearing a short, tight skirt, low-cut top and hooker heels. As she walked inside he noticed Dawn walking in behind her.

“Surprise,” Angie said, smiling salaciously.

Angie reached for him, pushing him gently backward toward his bedroom. She was the perfect girl. No conversation, just straight to the point. She even brought a friend.