Chapter 13

Some minutes later, Ash forced himself to get up from the sofa. Yes, he told himself, he was going to comfort Jo. He knew how hard it was, not to have anyone to comfort you when you needed it.

He steeled his shoulders as he walked into the tiny kitchen and found Jo leaning on the tiny counter, with her head in her hands.

He took a deep breath and went to her. Worst case scenario, she'd tell him to fuck off.

It wouldn't be the first time that would happen, he thought ruefully.

When Jo noticed he was around, she turned and stared at him with eyes swollen from crying, "I want to be alone."

"No, you don't." Ash said, trying to take her in his arms.

"Yes, I do. Who do you think you are, telling me what I want and don't want?" Jo asked belligerently.

"A friend, I hope." Ash said sincerely.

Jo looked up at him and saw that he meant his statement.

A dam she didn't know she had broke within her, and in the next moment, she vaulted herself into his arms, almost knocking him down.

Ash was astonished, "Are you-"

His words were cut off by Jo's mouth on his.

Like before the kiss was soul-searing, wrenching away other thoughts from his mind.

Jo kept her mouth fused with his as her hand went under his shirt, caressing the firm lines of his chest and his taut abdomen before going south to his dick that had hardened immediately they'd collided.

Her hand gave Ash pause, and he broke the kiss to say, "Should we be doing this?"

Immediately, Jo's expression shuttered and she recoiled as if she'd been burnt. Obviously, he didn't want her. And there she was, throwing herself at him wantonly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to-"

Ash interrupted, disabusing of the incredulous notion he knew she was harboring in her mind, "It's not what you think. I want you."

"And I want you too. Then what's the problem?" Jo asked, seeming not to understand why they were even having the conversation.

Ash pinched the bridge of his nose, "Because you're in a ... bad state of mind at the moment. I don't want to take advantage of you."

Jo frowned, "You're not taking advantage of me. I'm the one who started this. I wanted it."

"Okay," Ash nodded, "Also, I don't want this to be something you're using to escape our bleak reality. It has to mean something."

Jo stared at him wide-eyed, "What do you want, a declaration of my undying love?" She asked sarcastically.

Ash gave a lopsided smile and cupped her chin, "No. I just want to know that you care for me."

"Woah, woah! Time out." Jo said, making a 'T' with her fingers, "How did we get here?"

"To caring for you?" Ash asked, quirking an eyebrow, "Well, I care for you. You must sense this sizzling attraction between us. I was going to wait until we were through with clearing our names before convincing you to explore it, but I can't wait."

Jo felt like a deer in the headlights. Ash hadn't proposed marriage to her, but in her book, telling someone you cared for them was close. It was not something she said regularly except to her mother.

She looked at Ash staring at her, lust and a hint of vulnerability at laying himself bare in his piercing green gaze and she thought to herself how distraught she'd feel if anything happened to him. She admitted to herself that she cared for him. How and when it had happened, she didn't know. What she knew was that you didn't run for your life with someone, without feeling close to the person.

She let out a sigh. What she felt for Ash transcended that, she admitted.

"Jo, are you there?" Ash asked softly.

"Yes," Jo said, snapping out of her thoughts. She cleared her throat and licked her lips before telling him words that usually came hard for her, "I ... care for you too."

Ash smiled savagely with male satisfaction before saying, "That's good."

Then, he descended his head and gave her a searing kiss. His hands were everywhere on her body all at once.

He pulled of her shirt again, and she did the same for him.

He was about to unclasp her bra when Jo put a hand to his chest, halting him.

Ash inwardly groaned and asked himself why he got no farther than the bra.

"What?" He asked, "Do you want me to stop? Just say the word and I will."

Jo shook her head, "You always over think things. I just wanted our first time to be somewhere else, not in a kitchen. We aren't acting porn."

Even in his deeply aroused state, Ash laughed, "Nope, we aren't. I'll take us to the bedroom, wherever that is." He scooped her up in his arms and strode out.

The only bedroom in the house was small, but bigger than the one they'd had in Masha's house. The bed was much bigger too, although it wasn't a king size or even close to it.

Ash gently placed her on the cheap but clean bedspreads and finally unclasped her bra, baring the delicious globes on her chest to his view. Just as he'd imagined a few, okay, many times, her breasts were not too big and not to small, firm and gravity-defying.

His mouth watered at the thought of tasting them. He finally removed his gaze from them and looked at Jo, "These are very pretty."

Jo felt her heart melt at his praise. Other men had given her the same words, but coming from Ash, they were a pretty big deal.

Ash touched her breasts tenderly, until her nipples became more erect than they were.

"You like that, don't you?" Ash asked.

Jo nodded.

"Then, you'll like this too." Ash said, bending down his head to capture a nipple in his mouth.

Jo gasped with pleasure and ran her fingers in his hair as his tongue made contact with the sensitive bud, and when he pulled on it with his teeth, she pulled his hair.

He did the same to the other breast, and his fingers slid downwards. He unsnapped the button of her jeans, and leaving her breasts, he unzipped her jeans and pulled them down.

Jo kicked out of them. Her panties received the same treatment as Ash impatiently rugged them away.

When her naked body was open to his gaze, he stared at her like a man mad.

Jo had always felt conscious about her body; she always thought her ass was too small and her stretch marks were too many among other things, so she sought to cover herself.

"Don't!" Ash rasped, holding her hands, "Why would you do that?"

"I know my body isn't much to look at." Jo said bluntly.

"Not from where I'm standing." Ash said, "I could tell you how beautiful your body is, but why do that when I could show you? Actions do speak louder than words."

He released her and removed his jeans. Jo took in the impressive appendage that shot up from between his legs and rested flat against his abdomen.

"This is how beautiful I find your body." He said as he rejoined her on the bed.

He fused his mouth to hers as his fingers slid downwards, palming her breasts before he moved to her clit.

Jo moaned into his mouth as he further probed, sliding one finger then two, into her slick heat.

He pulled out his fingers and showed them to her, "Look how wet you are."

Jo grinned, pushed him on his back, straddled him, and after two tries, successfully impaled herself on his dick.

"Look how hard you are." She said as she moved down on him, her pussy walls clenching around his dick.

"Fuck!" Ash said as sweat beaded on his forehead. He was going to come at any moment in her tight pussy, but he didn't even have a condom.

"Stop!" He told Jo.

Jo gave him an "are you crazy?'' look and peered at him with eyes hazy with lust, "That must be your favorite word." She said as she stopped moving.

"Far from it," Ash swallowed, "I actually hate that word, especially where this is concerned."

"Then what's the problem?" Jo asked, folding her hands over her breasts.

Ash thought it was a hell of a way to a conversation, with him inside her. As much as it pained him to, he knew he had to say the words, "We don't have any protection, and with how tight you are around me, I don't know if I'll be able to pull out."

Jo smiled at him and began moving again, sliding up and down slowly, "Is that what's bothering you?"

"Huh? Uh ... yeah, yes!" Ash said as she clenched around him. Gosh! But he loved it when she did that.

"Don't worry, I take shots and I'm clean." Jo smiled.

"Thank fuck! I'm clean too." He said as he switched their positions. When Jo was underneath him, he pistoned in and out of her, touching rubbing his thumb against her clit and hoping she came soon, because he was about to burst like a volcano.

Jo felt it building up, steadily then fastly. All of a sudden, she was standing at the precipice, needing only a little nudge to take her all the way.

Ash provided that when he moved and at the same time bent his head to nip at a nipple.

She screamed as she exploded into a thousand tiny fragments.

Dimly, she heard Ash groan as he spilled his seed into her and lay fully on her. He looked as spent as she was.

* * *

At the precinct, Lieutenant Baines was frustrated at the lack of results he was getting. He shouted at anyone and everyone he saw. He couldn't believe that two gangsters had outdone hundreds of cops who were being aided with acme technology.

The more they ran, the more determined Baines was to catch the cop killers. It would be wrong if he didn't bring them to justice. That would mean failing and disappointing Matteo's family; something he'd sworn to them he'd never do.

He was still brooding when one of the pesky goody-two shoes rookies the academy had dumped on him entered his office.

"What the fuck do you want?" Baines asked, in no mood to be polite.

"Sir, I was able to find evidence that might help us catch those who killed Detective Salvador." The man said.

At that, Baines brightened, "What do you have for me?"

The man pulled out a black oval object in an evidence bag and passed it to Baines.

Without touching the bag, Baines asked, "What's that?"

"That's a camera. I found out it at a dumpster near the crime scene. It had been wiped for prints, but I had a hunch about it, so I brought it in and had our tech guys look at it." The rookie said as he sat in a chair. Baines wondered absently if he'd told the young man he could put his ass in his chair.

"What was on it?" Baines asked, trying not to get his hopes up.

"It showed two other suspects, entering the crime scene at the same time as Detective Salvador." The rookie said, sitting up straight in his chair.

"This I need to see." Baines said, already out of his chair. He walked out of his office with the rookie at his heels.

When he got to the precinct's tech lab, he wasted no time with pleasantries and bluntly asked them to show him the footage.

He watched the screen raptly as he saw a man wearing a baseball hat, glasses and face mask walk into the building with his crew. Some minutes later, he saw a gangster and his crew enter. Minutes later, Matteo entered, and after that, a gunshot was heard.

"This rubbishes our first theory that those two gangsters we saw fleeing the crime scene were the killers." The rookie explained.

"I want facial recognition ran on these two and I want it yesterday." He said to the technicians who nodded and got to work.

Then, Baines turned to the rookie, "Yes it does, but we'll have to question them. Who knows, they aided and abetted. We both know sometimes, that's as good as pulling the trigger yourself."

The rookie nodded.

"But you did well. You said it would help us catch Matteo's murderers, and I think it will. It has to be one of those people who entered that room. We're going to bring them all in.

It was remarkable of you to search that dumpster. What's your name?" Baines asked.

"Pascal Eden, sir." The rookie said.

"You have a bright future in the force." Baines patted hid shoulder and left.

Pascal winced as Baines left. This was not how it was supposed to have gone. Baines was supposed to call off the bounty on Jo and Ash, and focus on those two in the new footage.

Instead, Baines wanted them all brought in for questioning. Pascal wondered how Jo and Ash would take his news.