***
Car parked outside the house, I hurry around the side and open the door for Jess. She climbs out and offers me a smile. While I might have work to do now I’ve got a lead on this production company of Lucas’s, the small touches of her hand on my thigh and the sideways glances she kept giving me have got me so worked up, I can’t think straight. I eye her ass as she unlatches the front gate. I lock the car and scowl when she stills, a look of frozen horror on her face.
Hastening to her side, my heart shrinks when I spot what has caused such a reaction.
“Hunter!” Carl barks and swivels from my front doorstep to stomp down the path.
Jess shrinks back from her stepfather and I step in front of her. She tucks herself into my side.
“What do you want?” I demand, blood rushing in my ears. If I glance down, I suspect I’ll see the world crumbling from beneath me. Whatever Carl wants, nothing good will come of Jess have to face her abuser.
“My money.” He stops at the other side of the gate and we face off like a Western show down. “I want to know where the little bitch has hidden my money.”
“Get off my property and stay the hell away from her.”
Carl laughs. “I should have known not to hire a man but they said you were the best. Guess she got under your skin too, huh?”
Behind me, Jess whimpers. “What’s going on?”
He peers around my shoulder and laughs again. “Don’t rely on this guy for protection, Jessica. He’s easily bought. Just give me my money and I’ll leave you be.”
“I don’t have any money!” She inches out from behind me.
“You took my money when you left, you little bitch.” Carl’s heavily lined face reddens with rage and I press Jess back a little, fearful of what the man might try to do to her. I’d rather die than let her get hurt but it might be too late for that.
“Carl.” I give a warning growl. “Get off my property. She doesn’t have your money. If you want to keep all your teeth, I suggest you leave.”
“Not until I have my fifty thousand. I paid you decent money to track it down and instead I find you’ve fucking moved her in with you. Perhaps you decided to go halves with her, eh?”
“What?” Jess squeaks.
A chuckle rumbles from Carl. “Didn’t you know? This guy was trying to track down my money. Probably thought sleeping with you would get you to tell him everything. I was going to give him a nice big chunk of it as a reward too…”
Jess comes out fully from behind me and swings her gaze from Carl to me. “Hunter?”
I scrape a hand through my hair. “I quit, Jess. Before… the other night. I quit.”
Time stills as she stares at me. Pain shatters my heart. Distrust enters her gaze, the quiet agony of betrayal leeches into her features.
“Enough!” Carl interrupts. “Where’s my fucking money?” He snatches her arm and I curl a fist, ready to slam it into his face.
“I don’t have it!” she cries. “I never took your money! Why would I still be in London if I had stolen from you? I didn’t even know you had some money.”
“It went missing when you left. It was in the house for safekeeping and suddenly I’m down fifty K.”
She shakes her head vehemently. “I don’t have it, I swear. If I did I’d give it back, but I don’t.”
The redness seeps from Carl’s face and he studies her. “You always were crap at lying. That’s why I never trusted you to keep—” He glances at me and falls quiet.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss before slamming my ready-curled fist into his jaw. He stumbles back and releases Jess. She presses herself flat against the car as if it will offer some kind of protection. From Carl or from me?
Carl cradles his jaw and draws himself to standing. “I want all my fucking money back from you.” He thrusts a finger at me and steps through the gate.
“You’re not getting anything from me, you sick fuck. You should be in jail.”
He smirks. “Don’t think her bitch of an aunt didn’t try before she left.”
The guy is just asking for it. I throw another punch and strike his gut this time. He doubles over but the throb in my fist does nothing to soothe the anger burning inside. I press him to the ground with my foot and consider kicking his head in until Jess screams at me.
Startled, I step back and she snatches my arm. “He’s not worth it. Hunter, you’ll go to jail. Don’t do it.”
I consider the wheezing man. “Come near Jess again and I will kill you. Touch anyone again and I will kill you. Jail will be an easy price to pay.”
He nods and tries to utter something but only a rasp comes out. I let Jess drag me to the house and I unlock the door, push her in and slam it shut. There, in the shadowy hallway, she props her hands on her hips and faces me. She’s shaking from head to toe.
“You thought I was a thief?”
I sigh and a knot of dread tangles my windpipe, making my words hoarse. “I did.”
“And you were paid to find this money I had supposedly taken?”