Jackson's Girls by K.N. Casper

Author:K.N. Casper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2003-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

JACKSON WASN’T NEARLY as sanguine about the minimal threat posed by his tumble at the refinery as he’d pretended. True, the incident could hardly have been targeted at him personally, but the idea that someone was willing to hurt blindly, simply to get back at the Fontaines, kept him tossing and turning for several hours that night. That was not the exclusive cause of his restlessness, of course. He kept picturing Leanna playing with the girls, jumping rope, her face flushed with effort, her breasts rising and falling. The image had a stimulating effect that definitely frustrated sleep.

Early the next morning, he made two telephone calls, one to a contact he’d developed in Italy shortly after his parents’ deaths, the second to a friend at the airport, who furnished him the current address of one of her charter pilots.

Chuck Riley lived in a duplex in a part of town that was in transition—in other words, going downhill. The development had looked inviting ten years earlier, but time had not been in its favor. From all the reports Jackson had received, Riley was not doing well, either. Nick had thrown him off the riverboat twice for insulting behavior and disorderly conduct, finally banning him from the premises altogether. The airline owner also informed him that the licensed commercial pilot had been arrested twice, once for DWI and another for starting a barroom brawl. The charter service had suspended him indefinitely.

For his part, Riley had steered clear of Jackson, even though at one point he’d claimed Duke owed him back pay. Jackson could find no record to verify that services had been rendered beyond those he’d already been paid for, and Riley could show no personal records to verify his claim. Riley had since dropped the issue, making Jackson wonder if it had been valid to begin with.

At eight o’clock that morning, Jackson rapped on his door, then did so a second time. He was about to pound still harder when the door finally flew open and Chuck Riley stood before him in skivvies and a rumpled gray T-shirt.

“What the hell are you doing here? What do you want?”

“To talk to you.” Jackson didn’t wait for an invitation, he simply barged past him into the cluttered living room.

“Get out,” Riley demanded, his hand still holding the doorknob.

“Close the door.” Jackson parked himself on the tattered couch. “I don’t think your neighbors want to see you in your underwear.”

Scowling, Riley slammed it shut, strode into the center of the room and crossed his arms over his chest. “Say your piece and get out.”

He was a big man, taller and thicker boned than Jackson and a decade older. Riley hadn’t treated those ten years with respect, however. His nose had been broken at least once, its capillaries ravaged. His dark-amber eyes were bloodshot.

“For someone who claims I owe him money, you’re not very hospitable.”

Riley snorted. “I suppose you’re here to give me my back pay.”

Jackson put his booted feet on the pile of newspapers covering the coffee table.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.