But before the fury set in, before she realized his plan…
She’d been looking at him as if she wanted nothing more than to pick up where they’d left off all those years ago, with his fingers in between her legs. Damned if he didn’t want to, too. But he wouldn’t. There had been a reason he stopped before fucking her, and those reasons still held true.
She deserved better.
He wished he could go back in time and do things differently. He’d have never touched her, because all these years he’d been unable to get over her. Unable to move on. And now, he was about to fuck it up even more. She’d always been there for him, and now he was doing this. Repaying her kindness with blackmail.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, guilt choking him.
“I’ll look at you any way I want to look at you,” she snapped. “Does your big sister know you’re playing with extortion now?”
“I don’t normally have to,” he returned. “But with you, it’s the only way to win.”
She cocked her head. “Sure it is. Tell me. How is Christine nowadays? I haven’t talked to her since the night we got arrested.”
His big sister, Christine, had been so fucking pissed off at him that night. She’d been away at college, but had threatened to fly home to kick his ass. She was only a year older than him, but man, he’d felt like a small child that night on the phone. “She’s fine. Stop trying to distract me from the real topic at hand. It won’t work.”
She crossed her arms, clearly intending to ignore his warning. “Did you ever tell her about your abusive foster father, or did you keep her in the dark about that, too?”
He clenched his fists, his anger at her and the memories she was bringing back choking him. “No. And I never will.” He ground his teeth together so hard it hurt. “I did what it took to survive until I got caught. After that, I never stole a damn thing again.”
“Except my freedom. You’re stealing that now.”
“Until now,” he agreed, his voice hard. “But if you’d stopped thieving like you promised me, you wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“Let me get this straight,” she said through clenched teeth. “You’re threatening to get me tossed behind bars, and then daring to blame me for it?”
The way she said it, as if he’d claimed her first-born child for slavery, almost had him backing down. But he refused. He knew what he had to do. “Yep.”
“Bullshit.” She clenched her fists. “You won’t report me to the police.”
He cocked a brow. “I will. I might be the Jake you used to run with on the streets, but I’m not the same boy you once knew. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I am.”
“Go ahead, then.” She tilted her head back and glared at him. “Do it. Call it in.”
He’d known she would call his bluff. She hadn’t changed much in that aspect over the years. Back then, she would have won this little wager. He wouldn’t have turned her in. But things changed—and people did, too.
After one long, piercing stare he lifted his phone and dialed the number for his boss, Cooper Shillings. She fidgeted, but didn’t try to run for it. Hell, she probably thought he would still cave in and show her he didn’t really intend to turn her in.
She’d be waiting a hell of a long time.
Cooper picked up on the first ring. “Yeah?”
“Remember the independent contractor I mentioned bringing in on the Soltese case?”
“Of course.” Papers shuffled. “Is she resisting?”
“She is. What should I do with her? Bring her into the station?”
Tara cursed under her breath and stepped closer. “Don’t even think about doing th
is to me, Jake. Not to me. You promised you’d always be there for me. That you’d always have my back.”
The guilt almost did him in. Almost. “I still do.”
“Prove it,” she said, not dropping his stare. “Let me go.”
“You know what to do with her,” Cooper said from the phone, his voice low. “We already discussed this. If she won’t help, then she has to go in.”