Conquer Your Love(Surrender Your Love 02)

Chapter 13





MY HEAD WAS leaning against the window of Jett’s expensive car, my skin scorching with the promise of another sunburn courtesy of our lovemaking on the boat’s deck. Only thirty minutes to go and I’d be back in my normal world, away from Jett’s presence, and already I felt like I was missing him—even though he was sitting right beside me, steering the car through the country lanes at a leisurely speed.

The sun was setting, coloring the sky in dark shades of red, bronze, and copper. Soon the sky would darken and display the moon and the stars. It was my favorite time of the day—the few minutes between day and night, when it wasn’t quite either. I was ready for my next first with Jett.

“Tired?” Jett asked, shooting me a sideway glance.

I nodded and returned his smile. “A bit. Thanks for the date. I had a great day.”

“So did I. I’d like to do it again.” He winked and turned his attention back on the road.

My cheeks caught fire at his insinuation.

“The boat’s amazing. No wonder you spend so much time on it.” I laughed out loud, thinking how wonderful it must be to live on a boat. Be carefree. Do whatever you feel like doing.

“Once you’ve figured out what to do with the estate and everything’s settled, we’ll set sail for a week,” Jett said. “Maybe even travel the world or, in this case, the world’s waters.”

“That sounds amazing.” I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes for a moment, savoring his presence. It felt so good to be near him, with him. I couldn’t wait to spend more time together and get to know each other. Like really find out everything about him, including favorite color, hopes and wishes, the stuff of his nightmares, and what brought a smile to his perfect face. I couldn’t just ask without seeming to be inquisitive fan girl material, so my best bet was to get him to talk.

“You asked me if I could swim,” I began. “I can, but I wish I could dive. When I was younger I had the dream to live underwater among corals and fish, which is weird because I’m scared of drowning. I bet you can scuba dive, huh?”

His fleeting look shot to the rearview mirror and his foot stepped on the accelerator.

Not the elaborate answer, or interest, I had been hoping for. I held on to the armrest for support and thought of another angle I could go. “What are you scared of?”

“Not sure.” His voice came a little brisk.

Okay.

His sudden reticence was making meaningful conversation difficult. I turned to regard him, but his focus was on the road ahead.

“Jett?” I touched his arm gently to get his attention.

He frowned but didn’t turn. “Yes?”

“Are you tired? Or would you rather not talk? Because I’m fine with the latter.” I tried to infuse as much nonchalance into my voice as I could muster. All guys were weird every now and then, right? If he needed a bit of space, I could give him that.

“No.” He shook his head, his gaze moving to the rearview mirror again. “Sorry, baby, I’m a little distracted right now.”

He was probably not interested in all my boring stuff. Of course, as a woman I tended to drone on forever, so I decided to lighten up his mood.

“There’s still so much thinking to do about the estate’s future, but I want you to know that I’m seriously considering your job offer.” I narrowed my eyes on him. His face was tense in concentration on the road ahead. A deep line had formed between his brows. “The pay raise sounds great and I’ve always wanted to be a team manager.”

It was my clue to him that I wanted to work with him again. I thought the idea would please him.

No answer.

Seriously?

I frowned. That wasn’t quite the response I expected. I had never seen him this quiet. Something was wrong with him.

“Do you want me to switch on the music?” I asked.

He changed gears and the car sped forward. My heart began to hammer in my chest. Even though traffic was slow, a few oncoming cars passed us by, some barely managing to stay on their side of the road.

The muscles in Jett’s arms strained to hold on to the steering wheel while his eyes remained focused on the road.

“Slow down!” Maybe he was into dangerous driving but I wasn’t.

“It’s okay, baby,” Jett said calmly.

“What? No! Slow down. What the hell’s going on?”

A brief pause, then, “I don’t want to scare you, but I think someone’s chasing us.” His words echoed in my mind.

“What do you mean? We’re in a car.”

“Yes, and someone’s following us,” Jett said slowly. I squirmed in my seat. “No. Don’t turn around.”

“Okay.” The tremble in my voice betrayed the sudden unease gripping my heart. My attention moved to the passenger side mirror and my heart raced in my chest, speeding faster than the car.

There was a vehicle behind us but it wasn’t driving too close—not like you see in action movies. It wasn’t possible that anyone was chasing us. We were in Italy, and not in a Hollywood movie.

“Are you sure it’s not just heading the same way?”

“I’m ninety-nine percent sure. I’ve taken several turns, passed several villages, and it’s still behind us.” He checked the rearview mirror again. “Can you note down the license plate?”

His calm tone, which I suspected was supposed to comfort me, only managed to make me even more nervous.

I fished my phone out of my handbag and typed in the numbers and letters I could decipher from the rearview mirror, damning my phone for having small buttons that made typing with trembling fingers a nightmare.

“Should I call for help?” I asked, figuring even if I knew the emergency number, I didn’t speak a word Italian.

“I’ve got this,” Jett said. “Just get the plate.”

As I made sure to save the registration number, the car behind neared us with full speed, closing in. A hundred feet, thirty, twenty, ten, three—all in a matter of seconds.

“Oh my god, Jett. Watch out!” I screamed a moment before the car bumped ours, giving us enough of a nudge to send me forward in my seat. The engine roared as our pursuers pushed to overtake us. For a second, they were almost driving next to us, the side windows so dark I couldn’t see inside.

“Shit!” Jett hit the gas pedal and sped past them. My fingers buried in the armrest, I stifled a scream as the car behind us bumped us again, trying to steer us off the road.

“They’re going to kill us.” My breath came in labored heaps. It wasn’t fear talking; it was knowledge. I just knew we were about to die.

“Not happening!” Jett floored the gas pedal, putting some distance between our pursuers and us.

We reached the narrow roads winding up the mountains. Jett slowed down a little as we entered the first bend.

“Go, go, go!” I screeched as the other car picked up in speed again, trying to close in on us. Any hope that we might not be a target dissipated into thin air.

“What are you going to do?” My breath came shallow.

“Are you wearing your seatbelt?” Jett’s eyes narrowed on the road as we drove higher up the mountain. The car behind us didn’t seem deterred by the poor road conditions, nor the steep stony wall on the driver’s side and the edge followed by a plummeting abyss on my side.

“Yes.” I held my breath.

“Then hold on tighter.”

The road ahead seemed to narrow and merge into one lane. At our speed, the bends appeared to twist like menacing snakes. I completely forgot about those. But what worried me more was the one-way road that barely provided enough space for one car, let alone two. I grit my teeth and pressed my hand to my heart, praying no oncoming car would head our way, in which case we couldn’t possibly halt on time. We’d collide, we’d crash, and we’d die.

Please dear Lord, keep us safe.

A scream formed in the back of my throat, but the sound never made its way out. Fear grabbed me, strangled me, until I could do nothing but hold on for dear life.

“Oh god, oh god,” I chanted to myself as Jett maneuvered the bends, each time jerking the wheel to the max, each time sending my body through hell as we neared the edge on my side of the road. I couldn’t even look behind, because each time I glanced in the mirror, all I could focus on was the abyss below. If the other car collided with ours, we’d plummet hundreds of feet into whatever was down there. Or we’d crash against the mountain cliff.

“You okay, baby?” Jett’s voice was surprisingly calm in the midst of the storm. “We’ll make it out of this.”

How? They’re still behind us, I wanted to scream, but all that came out of my throat was a whimper. Fear held me paralyzed and it was nothing like in the movies. I was sweating, the car was roaring excessively, and were those holes beneath our tires? I could feel each bump; I could feel the gravity of the car; and there was no way one could stay composed, relaxed, and cool.

The car was driving at a high speed—fast enough to send us over the edge if Jett lost control of the wheel even for a nanosecond or didn’t slow down enough at the right time. Yet he maneuvered expertly through each nightmare turn. There was no way on earth somebody with normal driving skills could ever do that.

Already I could see two officers knocking on my mother’s door, relaying the news that I was dead, the headline reading ‘speeding couple crashing on picturesque Italian vacation’ followed by the words ‘tragic accident.’ Poor Sylvie would blame herself. Knowing her, she’d probably blame Jett, too, thinking he tried to kill me on purpose. Life was so unfair I wanted to scream.

“Hold on,” Jett said. I opened my eyes, only now noticing I must have closed them at some point. We were nearing another bend on the wicked road to hell, after which the road seemed to decline.

We had reached the top of the mountain and now we were heading back down.

This is it. My life ends here—but not before he knows my feelings.

“Jett, I need to tell you something.” I tried to remain calm, which was impossible with the shaking in my voice and the freezing sensation in my limbs.

“Not now, baby.” His voice oozed confidence and composure. We took the turn, after which he hit the brake—hard. My head jerked forward and a sharp pain shot through my neck.

“What are you doing?” I screamed when he unbuckled his seatbelt. The other car was out of view, but I was sure it was still behind us. Everything happened so fast, I doubted more than a few seconds passed. He placed his right arm around my seat and turned to get a better view as he went into reverse in full speed, swerving like a madman. Before I knew it, we were on a narrow byroad I didn’t see before. It wasn’t asphalted, and barely more than a running track with bushes scratching the sides of the car. Probably private property—but who cared?

Jett stopped the car and switched off the lights, then signaled me to stay quiet. I held my breath as I listened for any sounds. Eventually, I heard an engine and then a car passed us by, oblivious to our hiding place.

We were alive!

But it didn’t feel like success.

I spun to Jett, my hands shaking so bad, I felt like crying. He leaned over and brushed my cheek, composed. Except for the tense muscles and set jaw, there was no indicator of any sort of nervousness, as though no one had trailed us mere seconds ago. Searching for us. Trying to kill us.

“You’ll be okay, baby.” Jett’s lips pressed against mine in a tender kiss, and then he pulled back and started the engine. “I know what I’m doing.”

Before I could ask him not to drive again, to just stay hidden—because I couldn’t bear another rollercoaster ride—he reversed and we returned to the main road, speeding off in the direction from which we’d come.

“We’re staying at a hotel,” Jett said. “Better we stay together tonight.”

“Okay,” I whispered, the sound barely making its way out of my throat.

I didn’t argue with him. I doubted I could even if I’d wanted. My body was frozen from shock. Not even the bumpy road and Jett’s speeding managed to wake me from my daze.

During the drive to the next city, my eyes remained glued to the rearview mirror, always checking, always praying no one was following us. Even when Jett parked in a hotel’s guest parking lot, I couldn’t stop looking behind my shoulder. Jett had to lead me, his gentle words not quite reaching my mind. Only after checking in, away from the road and the twilight chasing scene, did I realize he’d saved my life.



***



Resting on the hotel bed, it seemed to take me forever to wake up from my comatose stage, but eventually my heart and mind jolted back to life and reality. Maybe it was because of Jett’s strong arms around me, soothing me, breathing his strength into me as he gently kissed my forehead. He had booked us a room for the night, and as usual, he chose to go for the most expensive option available, claiming the security was better. I wasn’t convinced.

“There’s nothing to worry about. It’s over now. You’re safe, baby,” Jett whispered and pushed a glass of water into my still trembling hands, silently urging me to drink up. I forced myself to take tiny sips and swallow them down, even though my throat still felt choked.

He took the half-full glass out of my hand and placed it on the bedside table. “I need to find another parking spot for the car. Will you be okay if I leave you alone for a few minutes?”

I nodded.

“Don’t leave the room and don’t answer if anyone knocks. I won’t be long.” He stood but hesitated.

I shot him a fake reassuring smile. “Just go.” Truth was, I didn’t want to be alone but Jett’s car wasn’t exactly standard. Our pursuers would be able to spy it from a mile away.

He left reluctantly. I leaned back against the pillows but didn’t dare close my eyes. My ears strained to listen for any strange sounds. Apart from the ice vending machine in the hallway whirring once, everything remained as quiet as a tomb. After what seemed like ages, Jett returned.

“We should call the police,” I said.

“No. We can’t. It’s too dangerous.” Lying down next to me, he pushed a stray strand of hair back from my face and pulled me into his arms. Inhaling his scent, I settled against his warm body.

I remembered that he thought the police were involved in the club, consequently I agreed it might not be a good idea.

“Do you know who those people were?” I asked.

“I’ll try to find out tomorrow.”

He made it sound like there were many options, when the lead was pretty obvious: I inherited a property that used to be a gathering place for weirdoes. I just didn’t realize their way to handle problems was killing the heir. Why couldn’t people just get together to resolve problems through talking, preferably over coffee and cake—and not behave like war seeking apes attempting to silence us by sending us into an early grave?

I propped on one elbow and regarded Jett’s beautiful face. “It’s the club, isn’t it?”

“Mmh.” He avoided my gaze.

“I have to call Sylvie.”

“Not happening.” His arm wrapped around my waist, holding me in place. “In fact, switch off your phone.”

“I need to warn her.”

He shook his head. “People can track down a GPS. Keep it switched off.”

My chin shot up defiantly. Sylvie was my best friend. I had dragged her into this mess. If something happened to her, I’d never forgive myself.

“Brooke, listen to me. They’re after you and if you reach out to her, they might harm her to get to you.” His tone was grave, reinforcing the warning in his words.

They.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Jett sat up and squatted in front of me. His hands squeezed mine and our gazes interlocked.

“I know you’re scared, Brooke,” he said calmly. ”But you have to trust me. Sylvie will be okay. I’ll text her in your name so she knows you’re not coming home. And I’m sending someone over to watch the house. We stay here just this one night. Pretend nothing happened. And tomorrow I’ll take care of things.”

How, I wanted to ask. He didn’t know who those people were. We had no idea where to begin.

And pretend nothing happened? I snorted. Not likely. I could maybe forget the car chasing us and be grateful that we were still alive. But as sure as the sky’s blue, I couldn’t push the images of our various close encounters with death out of my mind, nor the endless possibilities of what could happen to us—or Sylvie.

Just because we escaped didn’t mean the nightmare was over.

“Nothing happened. No one was killed.” Jett’s fingers began to massage the tense muscles in my shoulders. Somehow his touch calmed me a little until I felt the waves of fear slowly dissipating.

“You’re safe and that’s all that matters,” he whispered. God, I loved that voice.

I leaned into his touch and regarded him.

“Where did you learn to drive like that?”

He blinked once, twice. “What?” Confusion crossed his features, as if he wasn’t expecting my question. The reaction intrigued me.

“I don’t know anybody who can drive like you. Except for my ex but he had lots of training.”

“Your ex?” Jett’s brows shot up. Was he jealous? Amidst the surrealism of the situation, I smiled because his sudden scowl was priceless.

Jett and jealous?

Who would’ve figured?

It wasn’t like me to talk about previous relationships, but something told me Jett wouldn’t let this one go.

“Yeah, my ex is a professional racer.”

“When did you—“

“It’s long over.” I waved my hand. “Weeks ago.”

“Weeks?” A nerve began to twitch on his forehead. He sat down on the bed, making sure not to touch me. Now he was angry.

“Jett, it’s over. It wasn’t even a relationship, or anything.” I took his hand. “It wasn’t the real deal.”

It was the truth. Cameron wasn’t looking for commitment. Neither was I. We had an on and off relationship, a friends-with-benefits thing—more of the benefits, less of the friendship part.

“It meant nothing. I never loved him,” I whispered. “He couldn’t compete with you even if he wanted.” His expression lit up a little bit.

“I’m the better catch, huh?”

I punched his arm playfully, my eyes willing his beautiful lips to smile. “I’m glad he and I broke up,” I said.

“That’s good to hear because I want you all for myself.”

I wrapped my arms around Jett and buried my face against his broad chest in the hope my embrace could convey the magnitude of my feelings for him. His tension was still palpable and hundreds of unspoken questions lingered in the air. But I could also feel his unwillingness to start a senseless argument, for which I was grateful.

“Let’s focus on the present.” My fingers traced the contours of his chin. In spite of his stubble, his skin felt amazingly soft beneath my fingertips. He smelled so good, so manly, I could be with him, and only him, forever.

“You’re right.” He lay back and pulled me on top of him. I relaxed in the comfort of his arms, but my question still burned on my mind.

“So, how did you learn to drive like that, Jett?” My fingers gingerly played with the buttons of his shirt. “And don’t say through driving lesson, or courses, because training alone isn’t enough. What I saw is experience—and lots of it.”

He heaved an exasperated sigh. Hesitating, he ran his hand through his hair, as if considering how much to tell me. “You’re right. I did stuff.”

Lifting up on one elbow, I tried to make sense of his cryptic statement by reading his body language, which was difficult from the way he lay on his back with his hands propped under his head, staring at the ceiling, his eyes expressionless.

“You said that before,” I prompted.

“I was involved in underground car races,” Jett mumbled, hesitating again.

“Okay,” I prompted again.

“They’re not like what you see on sports channels, Brooke. There’s no one to inspect your car and change your tires. We raced for money and reputation, mostly in huge storage halls and parking buildings. Sometimes outside on quiet streets or mountain roads.”

His eyes narrowed on me and a glint appeared. Sensing the magnitude of what he was about to tell me, I held my breath, not daring to move or touch him in case he changed his mind and bottled up again.

“It started after…uhm…my father threw me out when I was sixteen.”

“Why did he do that?”

“Ever since my mother left, I’d been harboring a grudge against him, you know, questioning his authority and the way he used to demand respect when he had never really behaved like a father. My tendency to confront him in front of other people embarrassed him. He kept saying I was endangering his company with my behavior, so I chose to do the opposite of what he wanted. And in the end he threw me out. I stayed with my friends, many of them older than me. They kept me off the streets and taught me how to drive and how to fight, which is how things started. The fact that my life didn’t mean a damn thing to me made me bold and reckless, and hell bent on winning. At some point, I was addicted to adrenaline.”

“You mean fighting, like Kung Fu?”

He laughed. “Let me guess. You were just thinking of Bruce Lee?”

I smirked. “More like Jackie Chan. I used to love that guy.”

“I hope not in the literal sense.” His eyes bore into me. So beautiful. So deep. “It was nothing professional. No gloves, no protective headgear.”

Hot, hot, hot!

Did the temperature just soar? Or was it my blood pressure sending me into the scorching desert at the images running through my mind?

“That’s pretty rough,” I said.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Direct body contact is rough. And you?” The sudden attempt at changing the subject didn’t escape me. I wanted to hear more about his past. I wanted it so bad it hurt, and yet I knew pushing him wasn’t the right way to go. Not with a man like Jett.

“Did you like sports?” he insisted.

Seriously? Did he ever look at me?

“Uhm.” I laughed. “I used to swim and run, until I grew those boobs.”

“So heavy lifting then, judging from your breasts…” His gaze traveled to my chest and remained there. He didn’t even pretend not to be staring.

“Oh my god, you’re such a jerk.” I punched him playfully.

“Quite the contrary. It was meant as a compliment. But just to make sure I’m not wrong, may I touch them?” He grinned that panty-dropping smile of his that always made me want to beg him to do naughty things to me. His hands cupped my breasts and his thumbs began to caress them through the thin material of my top and bra. My nipples instantly hardened, sending a jolt of pleasure through my body.

“You may not.” I slapped his hands away, pretending I didn’t want it, but my shallow breathing was a dead giveaway. Jett rolled on his back and pulled me on top of him. His knee pried my legs open and settled between them, rubbing gently against my sex. I suppressed a moan at the wet sensation pooling down there.

“I made sure to book a room with a whirlpool,” Jett whispered. “You wanna try it?” His voice oozed sensuality and countless promises of pleasure. “We could order dinner, and then we could have desert. You get to choose. I’m game for whatever you want.”

His hand trailed down my stomach and squeezed under my shirt, as his mouth began to place heated kisses on my neck.

I moaned. “No alcohol.”

“You think that’s the only way I can get you into bed?” His hoarse chuckle reverberated through me, making me shudder with want.

Obviously not.

“I’m in,” I whispered. “Let’s do this.”