28. Cord
28
CORD
I t was after seven by the time Decker returned, and when he came inside, Pete wasn’t with him.
“Everything all right?” I asked when I was the first to greet him.
“Come with me. This is better done at the cottage.”
I followed him out the front door and down the trail.
“You got anything stronger than beer in there?” he asked when we were close.
“Bottle of whiskey.”
“That’ll do.”
In the time I’d known him, I never saw Decker beat around the bush, so the longer he remained quiet, the more worried I got about what family secret was about to be uncovered next. I poured two shots and handed him one. He drank it, then asked for another.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Must be pretty bad.”
“It is.” He shook his head when I offered him a third, then took a seat at the kitchen table.
“Should I have another?” I asked before joining him .
“Nah. You’ll be okay.”
“Is there someone who won’t be?”
“A couple of people.” He took a deep breath. “Sorry, interrogations take a fuck of a lot out of me. Just give me a sec, and I’ll fill you in.”
When he rubbed the back of his neck, rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward, I got up and pulled two beers from the fridge. He might not want one, but I was getting the impression I would.
“Brianna Wilkins made a full confession, not just to coercing her son to commit murder but to everything stemming back to when your mother left New York,” he said when I took a seat and cracked mine open.
I got up again and grabbed the whiskey plus the rest of the six-pack. If whatever he was about to tell me about my mama required two shots of whiskey for him, it was gonna take a whole bottle for me. “Go on.”
“What the hell. I’ll have another.”
I poured for both of us, then rested against the chair.
“First, according to Brianna, Buck is her husband’s child. Joe, on the other hand, was blindsided.”
I sat and listened to the rest of the story, chugging my beer .
As I’d figured, my mom got pregnant in her senior year of high school. According to Brianna, Joe was the father, but even she hadn’t known Patricia was pregnant until the night she saw her for the last time.
“Apparently, your mother asked Brianna to meet her, saying it was urgent and to come to Hamlin Park, where she’d be waiting near the tennis courts. Once there, Patricia said she didn’t have much time and that she was leaving town that night. She gave Brianna a letter addressed to Joe, telling him about the baby and how sorry she was. The other thing in the letter was a phone number Brianna didn’t recognize.”
“She never gave it to Joe, did she?”
“She did not.”
“So Joe had no idea my mom was pregnant.”
“None whatsoever. And, according to him, he also had no idea she’d left town. It wasn’t until a few days later, after being unable to reach her, that he showed up at JD’s place, where Patricia had been living. JD told him your mom wanted nothing to do with him and to get the hell off his property. Now, here’s the part where I admire the guy. He didn’t stop there. By that time, he worried something might have happened to her, maybe even that JD had hurt her. So he paid Miss Cena a call. ”
“Shit.”
Decker nodded. “She told him Patricia was fine but had decided to leave East Aurora and start her life over somewhere else. Joe, of course, was devastated.”
“And Brianna was more than happy to console him.”
“One thing led to another, and pretty soon, Briana told him she was pregnant, and they got engaged. They were married, and a few weeks later, she suffered a miscarriage.”
“I see where this is going and have to ask; what does this have to do with me?”
“Brianna’s sister works at Hoak’s. She was there the day you met with Pete.”
“That’s when he showed me the family tree.”
“You got it.”
“She wanted me dead because she thought I’d discover the secret?”
“And Joe would leave her.”
I hung my head. “Fuck. That was worth me losing my life over?”
“In my experience, anyone who commits murder, attempted or otherwise, isn’t exactly focused on the punishment fitting the crime, if you know what I mean.”
“She’s insane.”
“Yeah, well, let’s hope the DA doesn’t think so. I’d hate to see her get off for this. Not to mention what she did to her son.”
“What will happen to him?”
“He’ll be charged the same as she will. Actually, his will be worse since her role was as an accomplice.”
“What made her confess all this?”
Decker’s eyes bored into mine. “I’m fucking good at what I do. Also, my hands aren’t tied in the same way Pete’s would’ve been. For example, I might’ve led her to believe her son’s sentence wouldn’t be as lengthy if she gave a statement as to her role in all this. Of course I phrased it in such a way that I had no control over what the DA or judge might do.”
“Wow.” I shook my head.
Decker cracked another beer open. “I gotta say, the kid is pretty fucked up too, though. I asked if people called him Buck, and he laughed.”
I raised a brow. “Do they?”
“No, and that’s the sick part. He said it just to fuck with you.”
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a guy who’d take a pickax to a man’s head and leave him for dead was just as messed up as his mother .
“The East Aurora PD took over at that point, and I got myself out of there. That statement, along with him meeting up with you outside the estate’s perimeter, lends itself to premeditation.”
“What about the father?”
“I don’t believe he played any part in it. Pete agreed and planned to tell him he was free to go. I was gone before he did.”
“Why did my mom go to Colorado? Did the mother say who she left with? It couldn’t have been on her own.”
“All she said is that after she gave her the letter, Patricia got up, walked across the lawn in the opposite direction from where she’d left her car, and climbed into another one. Brianna said it was too far away and too dark for her to see the make or model. She also said she didn’t see who was driving.”
I told him about the entry in Miss Cena’s journal and how she’d written she hoped she’d done the right thing.
“No doubt she had a hand in this. The other entry Gray sent over was a big help. When I asked Brianna if she had any idea what it meant, she said one of the last things your mom said to her was that her brother—that would be JD—was pushing her to get an abortion. ”
I poured another shot and downed it.
“Are you supposed to be drinking that much with the medication you’re on?” Deck asked.
“You started it.”
He chuckled. “I guess I did. I’m also sure that, if I were in your shoes, I’d have finished the bottle by now.”
“Brianna had no idea how she ended up in Colorado?”
“She said your mom didn’t tell her where she was headed.”
“What about the phone number in her letter to Joe?”
“Brianna burned it and says she has no recollection of the area code.”
I snarled. “Of course she doesn’t.”
The personal ramifications of everything I’d just learned came barreling at me. If my mom hadn’t gotten pregnant, if her brother had succeeded in pushing her into having an abortion, if she hadn’t gone to Colorado and met my dad, Buck, Porter, Holt, Flynn, and me wouldn’t exist.
“What do you want to do?” Deck asked.
“If you mean when do I want to leave, that’s up to you.”
“Is Juni going with us?”
“She wants to.”
“First thing tomorrow morning. I don’t have it in me to tell this story again tonight, and I doubt you do either.” When he stood, I did too, and he put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re doin’ the right thing by telling Buck all this in person. I admire you for that. Just don’t have anything more to drink before you do.”
I already felt woozy. “Yes, sir.” Before Decker got to the door, I stopped him. “Can you ask Juni to come down?”
“You got it.”
I’d never understand why this woman and her son thought killing me would result in her actions all those years ago remaining a secret. Worse, I still had no fucking idea who’d sent me here or why.
If it was just to uncover the secret about Buck’s real father, why not send him? Why had the burden of exposing my mother’s lies fallen on my shoulders?
In every memory I had of her, and there weren’t many, she was loving and kind—the nurturer our father wasn’t and could never be. Why did the precious time we’d had with her have to be tainted now? Why couldn’t we live the rest of our lives believing we’d had one parent who loved us ?
I even dreaded setting foot on the ranch I swore I’d never leave—willingly, anyway. Could my brothers, sister, and I ever purge that earth of what we’d all suffered at the hands of Roscoe Buchtold Wheaton? Especially after I heaped my mother’s lies on that pile of horseshit? I couldn’t keep the secret, though. Buck deserved to know the truth regardless of the questions it brought, most of which we’d never get answers to.
When I heard a soft knock, followed by the door creaking open, I stood and met Juni halfway. Once she was in my arms, I felt the anger and sadness inside me leave as quickly as it had come.
I closed my eyes and stroked her hair, thanking God she’d given me another chance, that she loved me even with all I’d done to hurt her. I just wished to hell I hadn’t had so much to drink in the short time it took Decker to tell me what he’d learned.
“I, uh, might be a little shitfaced,” I admitted.
She smiled when I weaved back and forth. “A little?”
“Would you mind if we lie down?”
Juni kept one arm around me and led me into the bedroom .
“Here we go again, you taking care of me instead of the other way around.”
“We have the rest of our lives for you to take care of me, Cord,” she said, stretching out beside me on the bed after she’d pulled back the covers.
“Did you just ask me to marry you, Juniper Rose?”
“I don’t recall asking you anything.”
“Damn, I love you.”
She unfastened the buttons of my shirt, and I rolled to my side. When she slid it off my shoulders, down my arms, and onto the floor, then unzipped my jeans, I raised my butt, and when she pulled them off, both our eyes opened wide when my erection sprang out and hit my stomach.
I looked up at the ceiling, then at her. “I gotta thank you and God.”
She raised a brow, but rather than ask what I meant, she removed her clothes in the same order she had mine. Once naked, she pulled the covers over us and pressed her nude body against mine.
I couldn’t say whether it was her bare skin touching mine or my relief that my cock chose this particular moment to work again, but I immediately sobered up. I reached around her to the drawer of the bedside table and pulled out a condom.
“Let me,” she said, taking the packet from my hand.
Every muscle in my body tensed, and I squeezed my eyes closed when I felt her fingers touch me. “Juni, I?—”
She leaned forward and swirled her tongue around my nipple as she rolled the latex down my shaft. I grabbed her wrists and shifted both of us so she was on her back. I let go, spread her legs, and eased my body down hers until my mouth was close enough for me to take my first taste. Before I did, I looked up at her.
“I love you, Juni.”
She smiled and ran her fingers through my hair. “I love you, Cord.”
I scooted farther down, then kissed from the inside of her knee up her thigh, then repeated it on her other leg. Using the fingers of both hands, I spread her open, then licked from her opening to her clit. When I swirled it with my tongue, then clamped my mouth to her and sucked, she came off the bed. I wrapped my arms around her legs to hold her still, then continued to ravish her pussy, fucking her with my tongue in the same way I soon would with my cock, settling her legs over my shoulders so I could reach up and cup her breasts. I caught each nipple between my thumb and forefinger, pulling until she cried out and her essence flooded my tongue.
Unable to wait a moment longer, I raised my body, positioned my hardness where my tongue had been and thrust into her as deep as I could go. Her hands gripped my arms, and her fingernails dug into my flesh.
When she writhed, I stilled her, then raised my head and looked into her eyes.
“The very first time you blushed and lowered your gaze, I thought about this. I wanted to fuck you then, Juni. It was all I could do not to sweep you off your feet, take you back to the inn, and strip you bare. Every minute I spent with you only made me want you more. But as difficult as it was to wait, I’m so glad we did.”
Her eyes were wide. “You are?”
I nodded. “Do you want to know why?”
She nodded too.
I began to move, slowly at first. “Because, the way this feels, knowing you love me as much as I love you, transcends everything else I’ve ever known.” I increased my tempo, and Juni clung to me. “I long for the day there is nothing between us. When I can fill you and truly make you mine. ”
She wrapped her legs around me and pressed deeper, harder, and faster.
“Come, Juniper. Let me feel you.”
She cried out my name as her pussy clenched me, and her wetness drenched us both. Her skin glowed with the sheen of our combined sweat, and her eyes, at first glassy and unfocused, bored into mine.
“Let me feel you now, Cord.”
When I started to move again, she put her hands on the cheeks of my butt, stilling me.
“Really feel you.”
I studied her.
“Make me yours tonight. I don’t want to wait. Unless…”
I pulled out of her body, reached between us, removed the condom, then rubbed the head of my penis back and forth, coating myself.
“You’re sure this is what you want?”
“If you do.”
I couldn’t wait a moment more. When I eased myself into her, knowing for the first time in my life how it felt to be flesh to flesh, with nothing between us, I knew I wouldn’t last. “Wrap your legs around me,” I demanded as much as said. When she did, I thrust hard again and again. “Come with me, Juniper. Now .”
I felt her squeeze me, drenching me like she had before, at the same time I buried my face between her shoulder and jaw, nearly weeping as the most powerful climax I’d ever experienced had me shuddering.
Juni held me tight with both her arms and legs. Her fingers stroked my skin, and she leaned up to brush the side of my face with her lips. I turned my head, brought my mouth to hers, and we kissed.
It didn’t matter why I was sent here; I knew now why I’d come to East Aurora. Whatever secrets were left to be discovered no longer mattered to me. I was here to meet Juni. The love of my life. Whether I stayed here with her, or she came to Colorado with me, or we went somewhere new to both of us, we’d be together. Nothing in this world was more important than being with the woman I loved. Nothing.
I’d made the decision to go to Colorado to tell my brother what I’d learned, but while Juni and I were there, I had something far more important I needed to do.