The Risk Read online

  I slammed my fist down on the counter in frustration. I had to get a grip. This was not going to solve anything.

  “I know,” Gina said. “I feel the same way, but we have to find a better way. You can’t take them all on by yourself. You’d be gunned down in two seconds. Violence isn’t the answer to this one.”

  I grabbed the bottle of whiskey off the shelf and took a swig without bothering with a glass. I replaced the cap and set it back in the cabinet. Then I closed my eyes, breathed in the hot, whiskey-laced air and tried to relax.

  Gina was right. I couldn’t fight all of “The Cobras”. This wasn’t a movie where I could infiltrate their command center and take them all out one by one like Chuck Norris. No, I was going to need a different tactic.

  “Are you going to tell Ronnie?” I asked.

  Gina was silent for a moment. Finally, she answered meekly.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I think he needs to know,” I said. “It’s his decision to make what he wants to do with his life.”

  “I don’t know if I can give him this choice. I’m thinking about just telling the police.”

  “That could be dangerous,” I said. “From the rumors I’ve gathered about “The Cobras” they have several officers on the payroll. And besides, if the cops do ask them about this or try to put the fear of God into them then they might just have Ronnie killed right off to be done with it. And then who’s to say you and your mother aren’t next?”

  Gina lowered her head. I could tell she was trying to hold in the grief she was plagued with. She was a tough woman who hated to show emotion.

  “There might be another way,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Well, my uncle Bob is a bit of a legend on the force. I might be able to use that pull to get some inside information. I’d like to look at those crime scene photos a bit more in-depth and I’d like to see why there weren’t more forensic measures taken.”

  “Why? What do you think that will prove?” Gina asked.

  “Maybe nothing, but it’s a start. I just can’t sit on my hands anymore. I mean, think about it. They basically just booked Ronnie on circumstantial evidence. I mean, it is very compelling circumstantial evidence, but there is no actual proof that ties him to the murder or the crime. Why was he knocked unconscious? What ties did he have to the victim? There was no hard evidence that they’d ever even spoken before that night. The prosecution’s defense doesn’t hold water on several things. It looks to me that they are trying to close a quick case involving a few drug dealers to get it off the books.”

  “They would do that? Just to close a case?” Gina asked.

  I hated telling her the truth, but I nodded.

  “It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it happens a lot more than you’d ever know.”

  “Wow, that’s insane,” Gina said. “That makes me sick to think about.”

  I leaned over and kissed her softly. Pulling back I brushed her hair back off her face gently with my hand to calm her, soothe her.

  “It’s going to be ok,” I said.

  But truthfully, I wasn’t so confident.

  * * *

  The next day I was at the sheriff’s office. Luckily the lead detective on the case was a guy named Marvin Beck. He was a rookie cop who had worked with my uncle Bob many years ago. It was a lucky break in a long line of unlucky ones. I felt like counting my lucky stars.

  “Thanks for helping me out,” I said as Beck laid the crime scene photos in front of me.

  I’d actually attended the academy to become a deputy when I was twenty-one years old, mostly just because my family expected me to do it and follow in my uncle’s footsteps. It wasn’t really for me, though. I’d never done that well with following orders and instructions set forth by other people. Becoming an officer of the law was a lot like miniature boot camp. It was not easy and it was not fun. And for someone like me it was a non-stop headache of butting heads with people who thought they could control me.

  Yep, I’d always been rather unemployable.

  “I’m not sure what you expect to find in there,” Beck said. “But you are more than welcome to comb through them.”

  “Yeah, I’m honestly not sure either,” I said. “But I feel like I have to do something.”

  I scanned over the pictures of the crime scene but from what I could tell they didn’t mean much.

  All I could see was the body of the man who was killed. The area had been marked off with police tape. He was a man about Ronnie’s age and he had a bullet hole in his chest. It was pretty bloody and very tragic. After a few moments of scanning the picture, I turned away from it.

  There was nothing there. Beck was right, but I had to at least be sure. It was a start. From what I could tell, everyone had given up on the case and were pretty convinced that Ronnie was going up the river for a long time. Nothing was going to stop that, right?

  Well, I was never going to stop trying to help my friend. If Ronnie was convicted of murder then Gina would never be the same. As close as they were a light deep within her would be forever extinguished. I couldn’t bear to see that.

  And I knew my best friend was innocent. He was not a saint by any means but Ronnie was not a killer. I had to prove it.

  “What about a forensics report?” I asked.

  Beck sighed. I knew he was getting tired of wasting time with me and if I was anybody else besides the nephew of the legendary Bob Simpson then he would have told me to take a hike a while ago.

  “Well, the ballistics match. That gun fired that bullet that killed this man. The only other thing we found was a gum wrapper. It was a bit different. Something called Black Jack. I don’t see that much nowadays.”

  “Black Jack?” It didn’t ring any bells to me. “Any surveillance cameras in the areas catch up with anything?” I asked.

  “No, we’ve looked through them all. They were in the park just out of the range of any of the cameras of any nearby stores.”

  “Sounds like this was pretty well planned,” I said.

  “Yeah, it does,” Beck agreed.

  “I mean it was pretty well planned as a great set-up.”

  Beck sighed and leaned forward.

  “Look, I know you hate to think that your friend might have done something this heinous. I mean, we like to think we know those nearest and dearest to us, but one thing I’ve learned in the twenty years of this job is that people change and you never know what is really going on inside someone’s mind.”

  “Not this time,” I said. “I know Ronnie didn’t do this. Haven’t you checked out “The Cobras” at all? Ronnie told you about the gambling trouble he got into.”

  “We have and we don’t have anything concrete to go after them for on this,” Beck said. “I’m sorry, but we need more than just a story to go on. We have to have proof.”

  “How hard can it be to pick up these guys on something?” I asked.

  “The Cobras aren’t just criminals by the standard definition. They are a criminal enterprise. They run it like a business and they are very good at what they do. Most people don’t have the faintest. They have the best crooked lawyers in the business. Their legal team makes them almost untouchable. We’d almost have to see one of them actually shoot someone in a courtroom in front of the jury to convict them of anything.”

  I burst out laughing. This was ludicrous.

  “Wow, what am I hearing? It sounds like you are all afraid of them. I guess the rumors are true that they do have the police in their pocket.”

  “Hey!” Beck said.

  Good. I’d touched a nerve.

  “What?” I asked.

  Beck took a moment to calm himself.

  “Listen, I wish I could help you, but the law is the law. Sometimes that means our hands are tied about how to proceed.”

  “So criminals get the law on their side? That’s just great.”

  I stood up to leave. As I got to the door Beck had one more piece of wisdom to lay on me.
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  “No, the law is not on their side. The law is on the side of the citizen. And they are still innocent until proven guilty.”

  I smirked.

  “Tell that to my friend Ronnie Breyer.”

  I walked out the door.

  Driving home I felt a bit defeated. I didn’t think I was going to get any true answers there, but it still felt awful to come away totally empty-handed. I felt a bit defeated. It wasn’t often that I felt that way and I knew I needed to find a way to regroup and get things back into perspective.

  The cabin.

  Yes. I had not been to my family’s cabin in quite some time. It was a little oasis like place in the middle of the desert close to Lake Samco. There weren’t many lakes in southern Arizona, but this was one of them. And my family happened to own a nice cabin out there. It was quiet and peaceful. It would be the perfect place to get away from everything.

  But only if Gina would come with me. I knew she had Fridays off from classes and a long weekend at the lake would do us both wonders. And it would be romantic. It would be blissful. It would be perfect.

  I just hoped she would be as excited about the idea as I was.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Gina

  “Now isn’t this just what the doctor ordered?”

  I looked up into Joe’s warm smile and allowed myself to get lost in his beautiful sweet gaze for a few moments. He handed me the glass of champagne and sat down beside me in front of the swimming pool. I watched every inch of his naked, muscular body disappearing slowly beneath the warm water. It was a hot night and but even in the Arizona summer heat the water felt good.

  From the pool you could look out and see the moonlight shimmering off the darkness of the water. I almost laughed at the irony of having a nice, luxurious pool built just feet from a huge lake. But then again, this place was very isolated. The lake was huge, with plenty of space for several cabins alining up alongside the perimeter, but the nearest neighbor was hundreds of yards away and I could barely make out their cabin. Plus the convenience and cleanliness of swimming in a pool just couldn’t be matched.

  The weekend getaway so far had been perfect. We’d arrived early the day before. Joe had one of his upper students take over his classes for the day and he picked me up bright and early for the three-hour drive into the desert.

  The drive had been beautiful and serene. And now that we were here isolated, in total peace and harmony with our surroundings I already felt as if a huge weight had been pulled up off me. I knew that nothing had actually changed; my problems were still there, but it was just nice to step back and breathe. There was nothing I could do right then that was going to help matters.

  I still didn’t know what I wanted to do about telling Ronnie, but I was hoping it would come to me sometime this weekend.

  One thing I did confirm, which I’d been realizing all along, was just how much I’d fallen in love with Joe. I’d moved from infatuation and total lust, to an actual need for him. I couldn’t imagine him not being in my life if something ever happened. The very thought made me sick to my stomach. I was falling in love with him. And this realization brought something else to light inside of me—I’d never been truly in love before.

  But did Joe feel the same way? I wasn’t sure, but I thought he might. I hoped he did. I’d been thinking about it all weekend and I had to know. It had to come out into the open. But I wasn’t sure I was prepared for the answer.

  “How is the champagne?” Joe asked.

  “Oh, good,” I said. I’d barely sipped it. My mind was on other things.

  “What’s the matter?” Joe asked.

  How did he always know?

  “What makes you think something’s the matter?” I teased.

  “Because I can tell when you have too much going on in that sexy mind of yours.”

  I laughed and took a sip of the champagne. It was actually excellent.

  “Well since you brought it up,” I said. “I was just thinking about us.”

  “What about us?” Joe asked.

  I took a deep breath.

  “Well, this is hard for me to say, and I’ve never said it before to anyone. But I love you.”

  Joe was silent for a moment and I wasn’t sure he heard me. Just listening to the words come out of my own mouth was a huge relief for me.

  Joe was still silent.

  “Did you hear me?” I asked.

  “Yes, I heard you,” Joe replied. “And I think you are amazing, too. Everything is going perfectly with us.”

  “But you don’t love me?” I asked. I was determined to make him say it one way or the other. No cop outs here.

  “I care very deeply for you,” Joe said. “But I’ve never said I love you either. I’m not sure exactly how to tell when it’s right.”

  “Well, you either feel it or you don’t. It’s not that complicated.”

  I knew I was getting defensive but I’d just laid my heart out for him and I felt like it was being smashed. The tears were on their way and I felt powerless to stop them. Dammit.

  “Hey, I don’t want to say I love you and then realize it’s not the real deal later,” Joe said. “I’m not one of those guys.”

  “Really? Well, what kind of guy are you? Are you just going to string me along until you get tired of me? What are we doing here? I thought we had something special?”

  I was turning into a mess. All of my emotions were pouring out of me and I felt so spent. I wasn’t sure if I was angry that Joe wouldn’t say he loved me, or if I was angry that I wasn’t getting that comfort that I felt I needed. Was that what it was about? Why did I have to rush this? Did I care if it was love yet? Or was I just so scared that I felt I might lose Joe somehow and then I would be left to my own devices to handle the fragile emotional state I was in?

  My head felt like it was about to swell to its maximum capacity and then fall off my shoulders.

  “Hey, it’s ok,” Joe said pulling me close.

  He kissed me softly and whispered in my ear. Oh, his voice sounded so soothing.

  “When I say ‘I love you’, I want it to be with the woman I am going to spend the rest of my life with,” Joe said.

  He stared deeply into my eyes and I knew right then and there that whether he said those words to me now or six years from now, I was going to be that woman. Joe Simpson and I would always be together. I felt it in my bones.

  A dark, twisted urge came over me. I was powerless to resist it. I wrapped my legs around Joe’s torso and leaned in planting my lips hard on his, parting his mouth with my eager tongue hell-bent for total lust. Joe kissed me back but not as forcibly, perhaps caught off guard by my insane sexual appetite that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

  When we reached the side of the pool in the shallow end I released my grip on Joe’s torso and climbed up his body until my naked pussy brushed against his face starting at the chin and moving up past his eagerly awaiting mouth.

  The moment my feet hit the ground I jumped out of the pool and commanded Joe to follow using a “come hither” motion with my fingers. Yeah, he was my bitch tonight.

  Joe smiled and quickly exited the pool. God, I loved the way the water clung to his hard body, and I wanted so badly to savor the droplets that fell from his long, thick, hard cock which was always primed and ready for action.

  “Lie down,” I ordered pointing at the lounge chair.

  Joe did as ordered and the second the back of his head hit the chair I was smothering his mouth with my pussy, ramming it downwards as if trying to force it inside his mouth. He moaned with a mixture of passion and discomfort as he struggled to breathe around my fleshy mound.

  After suffocating him for a moment, feeling my wetness growing by leaps and bounds I decided to give Joe a bit more air. Grabbing the top of his head to hold him in place I began to bounce up and down on his mouth rubbing my crotch deeply with every thrust.

  Joe’s tongue was going wild trying to keep up with the frenetic pace. I was ca
refully positioning my clit to hit his tongue at just the right moments, my hips becoming wilder and more enthused by the moment. I was going to come so hard over his mouth. He was going to be drowning in my juices by the time I was done.

  I’m not sure where the passionate hate sex had come from within me, but I was on fire and I was only getting started.

  Without warning I spun myself around on Joe’s mouth until my back was towards his. He continued to lick and eat my sweet honey while anticipating what I was going to do next.

  I leaned forward until my face was right in front of his rigid prick. Before he even realized it was about to happen I shoved his entire member deeply into my mouth pushing until I was almost gagging from it and then pulling back to focus on that beautiful head.

  Joe was moaning excitedly now. His cock was raging hard, trembling with every single touch. I loved to tease him. My fingers lightly danced up and down his shaft and then cupped the head between my thumb and forefinger and just when he thought he was going to get my mouth I would pull down on it with my hand. I did this several times but occasionally punctuating it all with my mouth sliding down just behind the fingers until my nose was resting on his tight ball sack.

  He was so big. I’d never had one so big in my mouth before. My head was practically spinning with desire and I knew I was ready to come. But I didn’t want to come yet. It wasn’t time.

  I pulled his cock out of my mouth, gave it a few more strokes with my hand and then stepped up off his mouth, moving to the side allowing him to view my body in all its glory.

  The look in Joe’s eyes was one of intense hunger. It was rabid, animalistic, and almost out of control. I had the feeling that if I made him wait much longer he would lunge off there and do me good and proper.

  I loved having that much control.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “Yes…” Joe grunted.

  “How do I know you’re ready?” I teased.

  Joe took a deep breath and grunted again.

  “Please…” Joe begged.