Chapter 12

"Tall and Caucasian. He just described more than half the population of Ganghaven." Jo grumbled. They had left J-Cane at Sassy's, with a warning not to tell anyone that he'd seen them. If he told, they promised to show the cops the footage they had of him leaving the crime scene.

J-Cane had hastily agreed. Now, they were in the dark alley behind the club, discussing their next step.

"Yeah. I think we should just hand the camera over to the police and let them handle finding out who the Hatter is." Ash said with resignation.

"So you want us to walk up to the precinct and throw the camera at their doorstep." Jo said, cocking an eyebrow.

"No. I have a man on board." Ash said. When Jo raised her eyebrows in surprise, Ash rushed to continue, "It's not like his an inside man or anything like that, actually it's the other way around. Whenever I come across dirty people, I usually tell him so the cops can take care of it."

Jo nodded and smiled, "Me too."

It was Ash's turn to look shocked.

"Yes. I have someone I tell these things too. But fat lot of good that does, huh? Most of the time, the cops aren't even interested in whatever goes on here." Jo said.

"Tell me about it. If the cops had intervened in that drug bust, I tell you, we wouldn't be in this situation." Ash said.

"Do you want your person or mine to handle this?" Jo asked.

"You don't have a problem with me handing it in?" Ash asked.

"Not at all. As long as your person is trustworthy." Jo shrugged.

"He is. I'll send him a text." Ash said, bringing out his phone.

He texted Pascal, telling him about the camera in their possession.

Some minutes later, Pascal replied, giving them a location where they would give it to him.

Ash showed the messages to Jo.

"It's not that far," Jo said, "We can walk."

"We've been doing that a lot lately." Ash said as they set off into the evening.

* * *

They got to the location, which was a little house in an isolated part of the block.

They knocked on the door, and Pascal opened it, smiling as he welcomed them.

With his very muscular body, shaved hair and good looks, Jo thought Pascal was handsome, although not as handsome at Ash. Not that she was ever going to tell Ash.

"Ah, Jo Turner," Pascal grinned, gripping her hand in a special handshake, "I've heard so much about you. You're practically a legend."

Jo felt her face reddening, "Oh, thank you."

Ash saw Jo blush, and immediately changed the subject, "Pascal, who owns this place?"

He asked, looking around the sparsely furnished yet neat house.

"I grew up here. My parents sold it before they died. I bought it back some years ago, although I don't live here." Pascal replied, sitting down on one of the two sofas in the sitting room.

Ash sank into the other one.

"Come sit." Both men told Jo simultaneously.

Ash glowered at Pascal, who grinned back at him.

"Don't worry, I'll stand." Jo said.

"What do you have for me?" Pascal asked, his tone all business.

Ash pulled out the camera and gave it to him, "The footage was originally wiped, but we were able to recover it. In it, you'll see J-Cane and some other person called the Hatter leave."

Jo continued, "We questioned J-Cane and he told us it was the Hatter who killed the cop. According to him, the Hatter is a big manufacturer of drugs who operates out of Gulden."

Pascal looked shocked for a moment before he said, "You two did all of this? By yourself?"

Ash and Jo grinned with pride.

"We had a little help." Jo replied.

"How are you two sure that J-Cane isn't the one who murdered Matteo?" Pascal asked, turning the camera in his hands.

"We were in the room next to them. I remember one voice saying something like 'Gulden dweller, you don't know how hard the cops descend on us when you kill one of their own.'" Jo said, deep in thought.

"That isn't going to convince the lieutenant, but it'll have to do. We might have to start a manhunt for this Hatter guy, whoever he is." Pascal said as he stood up.

Ash stood up too, but Pascal shook his head, "You two stay here. It's safe, and not another soul knows about it. When your names are cleared, you can leave."

"Really?" Jo asked happily. She was tired of running. She just wanted to lay her head down and go to sleep.

"Yes." Pascal said, smiling.

"Thank you." Jo said.

"De nada. In fact, after all this is over, I'll take you to dinner." Pascal said with a boyish grin.

"Good night, man. It's time you were on your way." Ash growled, holding the door open for Pascal, who laughed his way out.

"You're too easy." He whispered to Ash, who surreptitiously flipped him off.

* * *

When Ash closed the door, he turned around to find Jo still smiling dreamily.

"What's that smile for?" Ash growled.

Jo, who was smiling at the hope that she'd soon regain freedom, went on the defensive, "It's none of your business!"

"Yeah? Well, you're not going on a date with him, so you can stop smiling stupidly." Ash stated.

"Oh, like the way you were smiling at those strippers?" Jo asked, getting annoyed.

"Like the way you smile at Rex?" Ash retorted.

Jo shook her head, she wasn't going to have an argument with Ash over inconsequential things.

"Whom I choose to smile at is no concern of yours." Jo said as she walked away.

Ash caught her arm and pulled her back.

"Like hell it isn't!" He raged as his lips descended on hers forcefully.

Jo was about to withdraw from his hard kiss, when Ash changed tactics and softened his lips against hers.

Jo's hands on his chest slackened before they gripped him.

Ash sought to deepen the kiss and gently ran his tongue over her lips, an unspoken plea for her to let him in.

When it seemed like Jo wasn't getting his message, he nipped her lower lip gently.

Jo let out a gasp as bolt of pleasure that shot straight to her core, and Ash pushed his tongue in, groaning with pleasure as his tongue made contact with hers.

Jo ran her fingers through his hair as his hands slid down her body to cup her derriere.

"I'm not letting you go on a date with Pascal." He said when they came up for air.

Jo looked into his eyes. They were filled with lust and possessiveness, or so she hoped.

"I wasn't going to anyway." She replied.

"Good," Ash said with savage satisfaction, a scant moment before he captured her lips again.

Jo moaned into his mouth, and he pressed her more solidly against him. Jo made a sound deep in her throat when she felt his hardness on her belly.

Jo distantly wondered why it was always different with him. Kissing Ash always took her to a place none of the other kisses she'd received did.

"What are you thinking about?" Ash whispered against her lips when he noticed she'd checked out.

Jo decided to go with the truth, "How it's different with you."

Ash leaned back a bit and held her gaze with his beautiful green eyes, "It's different for me too."

This time, it was Jo who instigated the savage kiss.

* * *

Ash felt like he was high on some hallucinogen. Yeah, he thought. He was high on the potent drug that was Jo. Nothing came up close to the way she kissed him deeply as she ran her hand through his hair.

And to think they were only kissing. If they ever moved passed this stage, he was sure the real deal would be explosive.

Then, he wondered, why not?

As if sensing his decision, Jo bit his lower lip and his already erect dick got harder. The way he was going, his zipper would be permanently indented on his dick if something wasn't done.

Suddenly, he looped his hands under Jo's legs and lifted her up, without breaking their kiss.

Jo put her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulder as he gently brought her to the wall.

At the back of his mind, Ash noted that Jo weighed little to nothing.

He released her and looked at her arms.

"What?" Jo asked, feeling self-conscious of her tattoos for the first time in her life.

"The first time I saw you, I wondered what your tattoos would taste like. I want to find out," Ash rasped out, and Jo felt her panties get drenched.

Ash smirked at the look of desire on Jo's face before he lowered his head to run his tongue over her arm, making sure to trace the outline of the rose flower tattoo sleeve she had.

Jo let out a gasp at the tingle his tongue sent through her, and wondered if it was possible to come just from what Ash was doing to her.

Ash went over to her other arm, alternating between kissing and gently nibbling at her tattoos. All the while, Jo ran her fingers through his hair, disheveling it.

Ash kissed a path up to the nape of her neck, before placing a kiss on her sternum.

"Raise your arms up." He ordered in a low voice.

Jo did as he asked and he pulled her shirt off of her.

His eyes feasted greedily on her bra-cupped breasts. Ordinarily, Jo knew she was a B cup, which meant that her breasts were not points of interest to many men, but Ash stared at them as if they were the most beautiful things in the world.

"Pretty," he muttered as he put his hands behind her to unclasp the bra.

They were interrupted by the shrill ringing of a phone.

It took Jo a minute to realize that it was her phone that was in her jeans pocket that was ringing.

She pulled it out and left Ash, who looked like his hair had been combed with a fork, and checked the caller ID.

She winced with guilt when she saw it was her mother calling. With all the dangerous situations she'd been through, calling her mother had totally escaped her mind.

She swiped the screen and answered the call.

"Hello, Jo. Is that you?" Ruth asked.

Jo's guilt doubled as she heard the concern that bled out of her mother's voice.

"Yes, it's me." Jo replied.

"As soon as I heard about the bounty, I called. I've been calling but you haven't been answering my calls. I thought something bad had happened to you." Ruth said in a tearful voice.

"Don't cry, mum. I'm okay. I'm sorry, I haven't been checking my calls." Jo apologized.

"Why is there a bounty on your head? I know you didn't kill that cop. Tell me you didn't." Ruth pleaded.

"Of course not, mum. I'd never kill in cold blood. I didn't kill that cop, but someone else did, and I'm being framed for it." Jo explained.

"So what are you doing? Where are you? Wouldn't it be safer for you turn yourself in to the cops and tell them you're innocent?" Ruth asked.

"First of all mum, I can't divulge my current location, for your safety and mine. Secondly, do you actually think the cops will believe me if I handed myself over to them? I'm a gangster, mum. They've already made up their minds. I can't go to them without proof." Jo told her mother.

Ruth sobbed at the thought of her daughter as a fugitive, "There are many people in Ganghaven who'll vouch for you."

Jo shook her head as tears slid down her cheeks, "No, mum. I don't think they'll listen to anyone from Ganghaven. I have to do this my way."

Ruth took a deep breath before she replied, "Some time ago, I made you promise you'd come back to me, safe and sound. Do you remember?"

Jo chuckled through her tears, "How could I forget?"

"Good," Ruth said with determination, "I'm holding you to that promise. I love you, bye."

Jo replied, "I love you too, bye."

When her mother hung up, Jo switched off her phone, put her head in her hands and bawled like a baby for the first time in years.

She wondered how her mother was coping with everything that was happening.

Jo knew it would be difficult for her mother if anything happened to her.

Her mother motivated her to clear the mess she was in very quickly.

Which won't happen if you sit here crying like a kindergartener, she admonished herself.

She quickly wiped her tears and switched on her phone. She went to her logs and found a slew of missed calls and text messages from her mother, Sia and Andrea.

She tried calling her two friends, and got no response, so she sent them text messages telling them she was okay.

She remembered she was only wearing a bra and went back to retrieve her shirt from where Ash had tossed it in the throes of passion.

* * *

Ash saw Jo's reddened eyes and his heart went out to her. Although he hadn't meant to, he had overheard her side of the call and knew how sad she was.

He wanted to hold her and comfort her and whisper in her ear that everything would be okay, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Instead, he sat stoically as she picked up her shirt and put it back on.

She murmured a 'goodnight' to him and left.

Ash sighed, wishing he could be more courageous.