Throwaway by Heather Huffman Read Free Book Online Page B

Maybe it wasn’t surprise so much as a shock to the system.
Either way, it left her looking like a deer in headlights for the
briefest of moments before she recovered her calm demeanor.
    It took him a little longer to control the
waves of emotions crashing over him. It was hard to say who the
rage on his face was aimed at. Maybe it would help Jessie get over
her ridiculous crush if it was geared towards her. All the same,
she wasn’t sure she could survive that.
    “Are you okay?” he strode towards her.
    “Fine, thank you,” she gave a barely
perceptible head nod.
    “Don’t pretend you don’t know me, Jessie.
I’ve been worried out of my mind about you.”
    “I can’t imagine anyone here would be happy
to hear that I do know you,” she reminded him.
    “To hell with them.”
    “You don’t really mean that. Not really.”
    “How do you know what I mean?”
    “Jessie Jones,” a voice full of authority
broke into their conversation. “We’ve wanted to talk to you for
some time now.”
    “So talk,” she motioned for him to sit down
as if she were inviting him to share a spot of tea at her
table.
    He began to sit—then realized he’d just
handed control over to her and jumped back up with a scowl. Gabe
looked away too late to hide his smirk.
    “What are you laughing at? You had a week and
couldn’t bring her in—it took Thompson one night. I wonder… is
there a reason for that?”
    “Absolutely,” Jessie jumped in before Gabe
could. “I’m not feeling all that well tonight. It has my brain a
little fuzzy.”
    “Very funny,” the man snarled. Jessie knew
who this man was without introduction; his reputation on the
streets preceded him. Detective Brunner was a cliché—from the
waistline that had seen one donut too many to the cocky attitude
that probably masked all kinds of inadequacies. “Gabe, you don’t
want this one. Lord only knows what crawls on her.”
    Gabe took a step towards Brunner, only to
still at the calm in Jessie’s voice when she spoke.
    “I’m a lot cleaner than your wife.”
    “What do you know about my wife?” Brunner
laughed at the thought.
    “Her name is Riley. She’s a petite little
redhead, although, from what I hear, that’s not natural. Trust
me—I’ve heard all about her… and that girl has stuff Ajax won’t
take off.”
    Jessie was fairly certain it was words coming
out of Brunner’s mouth, but all she could make out was angry
sputtering. Gabe stopped laughing long enough to grab Brunner when
he lunged for Jessie.
    Outwardly, she didn’t flinch. Inside, she was
really glad for Gabe’s quick reflexes. He was growling something in
Brunner’s ear as he dragged him out the door. Jessie could guess
what it was. Of course, his chivalry was probably getting her in
trouble again as it was prone to doing.
    “Jessie, as much as I enjoyed that, you
aren’t helping yourself here.”
    “I didn’t take Thompson’s money.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “It’s sitting on his dashboard. I’m never the
first one to break the law. Go check it out. Then you can either
charge me with a crime or let me go.”
    “Jessie, I wish you’d listen to reason.”
    “I’m not sure what you think you can
accomplish by keeping me here,” she sat back and folded her arms
across her chest.
    “He hurt you again,” Gabe lowered his voice
to a strained whisper, resting his face in his hands as if to
shield himself from the truth.
    “I told you to leave him alone; you’d just
make it worse.”
    “What are you talking about?” he looked up at
her, his eyes speaking of great pain.
    “He did this to draw out whoever vindicated
me.”
    “I have no idea what you are talking about,”
he shook his head.
    “You didn’t punch Spence?”
    “I’d like to draw and quarter him, but no—I
didn’t lay a hand on him. I figured he’d just take it out on
you.”
    “Oh,” Jessie wasn’t sure if she was
disappointed about that or not.
    “Hey, if you want me to beat the bastard to