Chapter Seven
Jacob turned back onto Main Street after his third circle around the city, still agonizing over what to do about Cherry. He couldn’t force her to forgive him. If she needed time to figure out what she really wanted, he would give it to her. But the thought of her luscious lips kissing another man brought a growl from his throat. Her amazing curves and emotion filled eyes, hilarious wit, open to another man’s loving? His grip threatened to pull the steering wheel out of its base. Damn, he had screwed up. He should have told her why he was there as soon as he’d had an opportunity. Before having sex with her.
He would kill any other man who dared try to take her as his own. No one deserved her. Not even him. He had fallen in love their first morning together, when she had fallen to pieces on his lap, and then in a display of strength, awesome enough to fill the boots of any of his soldiers in his squad, had shaken it off and moved on. And the way she had stood up to him about the sleeping arrangements. She had also talked him into opening up a bit more with his doctor and accepting the help the man offered instead of trying to force his way past all of it. She was so perfect for him. He also loved the way they connected over old movies. Cherry was the woman for him, and he was the man for her. He just had to get her to see it too.
He grabbed his cell phone when it rang. Shit. Things were about to get a bit more complicated. It was Chance.
“I love her, man.” He growled into the phone, not giving his best friend a chance to speak. “And there’s not a fucking thing you can do about it. I’ll give you the first three punches when I get back to base, but after that, you stand down.”
Chance laughed into the receiver. “It’s about fucking time, and I’ll only take one. So, did you talk to her yet?”
“No. I’m still giving her some space. She bolted down to her kitchen this morning, and I’ve been driving around like an idiot. I just got the results back from a test I had done the morning after I arrived. Someone put Rohypnol in her wine bottle. Luckily, I was there that night. The only prints on the bottle besides hers, were her asshole ex-boyfriend, Brandon Mason. And I just got back the results from a few of the letters and boxes she received. All had his fingerprints. I already called the state police. I’m not trusting the knuckleheads in this town. They’re meeting us at the bakery soon. And as soon as they are gone, I’m taking her out of town for a few days. I don’t like where this is leading.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, I don’t know how he got into her apartment, though. Did she ever give him a key?”
“No, but she mentioned losing them for a while last week. Did she also tell you about the
dead roses and the note?”
“No, dammit.”
“Wait. You haven’t been back since this morning?” Chance’s voice took on a more urgent pitch.
“I told you I was giving her a few hours to settle before I spooked her again.”
“Someone’s in the kitchen with her.”
“What?”
“We were talking a few minutes ago, and she said that you had just come into the kitchen. She was hiding out from you in her office and heard someone come in. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”
“Fuck!” Jacob turned the truck down the first side street he saw and turned around, racing for her little bakery on the other end of Main. “I’m two minutes out. I’ll call you back.”
“J.” Chance’s voice was low and calm, much calmer than the panic he felt about his sister being in danger. “Ground yourself, Sergeant. I know how angry you are still about losing two men, but you forgot something huge.”
“What?” Now wasn’t the time. He pressed down the accelerator, and willed the truck to go
faster.
“You saved the rest of our squad and the ten hostages in that infirmary. You did what you
had to do. Now get a grip on your emotions and take charge of the situation. Don’t let it cloud you. She’s going to be okay,” Chance said.
She had to be. He nodded, then gave Chance a quick affirmative, before hanging up. He parked his truck on the side lot and took a deep breath to center his energy. His woman could be in danger right now, so he wasn’t going to go in guns blazing. He was going to do what he was trained to do. Assess the situation, then take control and diffuse the matter. He would do this by the book and would not chance hurting Cherry in the process.
He heard the voice of another male and was relieved to hear her higher-pitched murmurs. He entered quietly through the back door and propped it open with the brick she used on delivery days. The damn door always clunked when it hit the door frame, and he didn’t want to alert them to his presence. He would get in place and use only the minimal amount of force necessary to take down this threat, but if it came down to it in the end, Jacob would kill the other man if he had to. Anything to protect the woman he loved. Cherry sat perched on top of her bar chair while the greasy-haired, gaunt-looking man paced back and forth in front of her, his hunting knife glowing in the sunlight. Shit. Why wasn’t she leaving her spot? Jacob needed to get the weapon away from the man and figure out what was holding her still. He made eye-contact with her through the doorway, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“Let me get this straight, Brandon. You broke up with me. Then you got pissed off that I didn’t come crawling back to you, so you decided to freak me out?” She was keeping the asshole busy, so Jacob could come up with a plan. Good girl.
“You deserved it.” Brandon’s face looked weary and pale as he paced.
“So, after weeks of sending me threatening messages, breaking my boxes, trying to run me over—yeah, I finally figured out whose car that was: your mom’s—and doing stuff to freak me out like putting real worms in my gummy case, you’ve got my one hand tied to a drawer, so you can kill me?”
That’s why she wasn’t moving. She could get off the chair, maybe even duck to the floor if need be, but she wouldn’t be able to go far. Thank God he had assessed before storming in.
Her crazy ex stopped and leered at her, a maniacal look in his eyes. “I wasn’t planning on killing you. I just wanted to cut you up a bit, make you see yourself for the ugly trash you really are.”
“What is wrong with you?” She grimaced. “You broke up with me. You came into my bakery and taunted me with a new girlfriend, and made fun of me.”
“You bitch! You drove Beth away. She left me because of you. You’re both just like my bitch of a mother! Always judging, always better. Mocking. Laughing. I’m going for her next after I finish with you.”
“You really are a piece of work. So how did you get my wine drugged?” She carefully picked up her tiny, metal measuring spoons, and tossed them toward the swinging door toward the front of the bakery.
When the crazy asshole turned toward the sound of the noise, Jacob sprinted through the door and rolled behind the island.
“That was easy. I stole your keys and put the stuff into your wine bottle while you were working. I was going to play with you a bit, humiliate you, and maybe take some videos and pictures to put online. But then your visitor showed up, so I had to leave. You ruined all my fun. You ruined my whole life, you stupid, fat bitch.”
“Well, I’m sorry about your miserable life, Brandon, but I do have to thank you. If you hadn’t become an asshole stalker, my brother would never have sent Jacob to keep an eye on me. I wouldn’t have found that special person to connect with on so many levels. I wouldn’t have had the best orgasms of my life. And I would not have allowed myself to be vulnerable enough to let someone truly protect me. I’ve got someone here for right now at least. And he does all of that. Say hello to my leetle friend.” She smiled.
Yeah, leave it to his woman to come up with a godfather quote in a crisis. Jacob stood up behind her and from the other side of the island, the asshole looked up and paled. Since she still had one damn hand tied to the island, she wasn’t going far. But he could get her out of the way. He pressed his back against the counter and placed his hand next to the industrial fan on the counter. He met Cherry’s gaze and said one word. “Quack.”
She nodded and ducked off her barstool. At the exact moment, her crazy ex swept forward, Jacob hit the high control on the fan, and placed the full flour bag in front of it. Flour exploded from the fan’s high wind right into Brandon’s face, sending him toppling backward with an angry howl.
While he rubbed his white eyes and screamed, Jacob dove over Cherry and knocked out her flour-caked attacker with a hard punch to the face. Then he picked up the knife and set it in the sink, just as the police burst into the room. Damn, he would have liked to have gotten a few more punches in first.
Jacob cut the rope holding her in place.
“Thank you for making it easier to prosecute you.” Cherry smiled and picked up her phone from the counter and pressed a button.
“You recorded all of that?” the asshole shrieked like a little girl as the police cuffed his hands behind his back.
“The tech support lessons from the new guy came in really handy. You’re going to jail, you big jerk.”
Her ex, champion that he was, chose that moment to burst into tears of rage. “I have flour in my eyes. Help me!”
Jacob grabbed Cherry into a big hug and scowled at the pitiful man. “I can’t believe you dated that.”
“I was bracketing.” She shrugged and wrapped her arms around him so tightly he could barely breathe. But he’d take a cracked rib just to have her safe and in his arms. His woman. His Cherry.