This is a ten chapter romantic Crime thriller with consenting erotic and romantic sex, male on male violence and a lot of exciting cliff hangers at the endings of each chapter.
As is usual in my stories there are a large selection of colourful characters and not all of the people in my stories have happy endings.
You have been warned -- so if you like the kind of story that combines sex, violence, complicated and interweaving story lines, and that you can sit back each day and read a new chapter -- read on.
*
Jake woke up, his stomach rumbling. He sat up and looked around the bedroom looking for his prison trousers, but couldn't find them. Carefully getting out of the bed, he stood, pulling the sheet around himself like a toga and walked carefully over to the old walnut wardrobe on wobbly legs and opened it. Inside were clothes, a musty smell drifting out from them to him. Reaching in he took out a pair of old worn work jeans and a light blue, frayed at the cuffs and collar, cotton shirt and slipped them on. The jeans were a little tight and short on his long legs, and the thin cotton shirt he slipped on rubbed the sore skin of his back, so he left it hanging open loose, and on bare feet he went to the door and carefully opened it, listening out for a few seconds before going through and walking down the hallway towards a door at the end that he opened into a large sitting room, an old sofa standing in front of him on a threadbare rug that covered a wooden floor.
"There you are...."
He turned at the sound of the soft voice and saw the woman standing there in a doorway leading off into what he guessed was the kitchen, the smell of cooking eggs drifting out at him making his stomach rumble loudly.
"Sit down over there..." and she pointed to a scarred wooden table at the end of the room, "I'll bring the eggs out.....would you like some coffee?"
Nodding he looked down at the clothes he had dressed in, "I'm sorry....I took these from the wardrobe....I couldn't find...."
"Its ok...they were my fathers....sit down....." and she disappeared into the kitchen, the sounds of her movements as she worked coming out through the doorway. "My names Hannah by the way, how are you feeling?" he heard her say from the kitchen. Walking over to the table he sat down at the end, shrugging his back to stretch the muscles under the skin, "A little raw....."
"I need to change the poultice and clean out your wound......I'll do that after you've eaten." And she came out carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and a steaming cup of coffee. "I hope you like it black....Frank hasn't brought in the milk from the cow yet....we're running a little late today on chores." Placing the plate in front of him, she stood there watching him.
"Thanks, blacks fine." And picking up the fork on the plate he took a forkful of the fluffy yellow pile of eggs and placed it in his mouth, "God this is good......I haven't eaten eggs for nearly two years....." and scooping up more eggs and sipping at the hot coffee he ate.
Hannah smiled and walked back into the kitchen, giving him some space to eat and to give her some space to calm down. Just now when she saw him standing there, the tight jeans outlining his slim hips and long legs, the open shirt revealing a strip of warm skin, and the definition of his muscled chest, had made her heart turn over, and a sudden heat had risen up her chest and down from her belly towards between her thighs.
The memory of her erotic dream from last night came flooding back and she leant over the big farmhouse sink, eyes closed, and the flush of embarrassment rushing through her. She heard his deep voice call out, "When I've finished this I'll be on my way.....sorry for making you run late on the chores." Pushing away from the sink she walked back into the room, looking over at him. "You're not well enough yet....you're wounded, you've still got some infection....."
Putting down the fork he looked over at her and in a softer tone said, "I can't stay here....I'm an escaped convict as I assume you've guessed from the clothing you took from me...if they find me here...."
"They won't....besides where do you think you're going to go....?"
"I know someone in town that will look after me.....she's my girl....at least she was before I was arrested."
"And how do you suggest you get there....?"
Straightening up, shoulders back he told her, "I'll walk..."
Laughing lightly in an ironic way she replied, "You're not strong enough....the infection will have you on your knees before you've walked a mile......and you'll get noticed and then caught before you get there....."
"Aren't you afraid of me.....after all I'm an escaped convict from a chain gang....you don't even know me or what I was accused of. I could be dangerous."
Walking over and sitting down opposite him at the table she told him, "I know who you are.....Frank told me. I know what you were accused of....Frank told me that too. He also said that a lot of people say you were set up. I'm not afraid of you Mr Bailey.....finish up the eggs and then I'll see to your wound...." Rising up she leaned forward and told him, "Frank knows people who will help you to move on to safety once you get your strength back, until then you're safe here." Jake looked up into her soft brown eyes, a frown on his face, "Why would you do this for me?"
"Because I know what it is to be between a rock and a hard place, to be lonely with no one to turn to, unsure who to trust. I don't know if you are really innocent....."
Heatedly he interrupted her, "I am..."
"....but I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt......make sure you recover...and then let you go on your way......"
Quietly he told her, "Thank you." And then he watched as she walked out of the front door leaving him sitting there, the plate of half eaten eggs going cold as he felt the release of tension that had engulf him for the past two years lesson considerably from his body.
*
The sheriff put the phone down on his desk and leant back in his chair. His hat hung on the hat stand opposite the desk there in his office, the ceiling fan moving slowly above him, trying, and losing on giving a little bit of coolness in the small confines of the room. The caller on the other end of the line had been from the sheriff in the main town fifty miles up North to warn him that Jake Bailey had escaped from the chain gang, killed a guard and was possibly armed, dangerous and heading his way.
Getting up from his desk, adjusting the belt and holster around his hips he walked out the office, grabbing his hat from the stand as he strode past. His first stop would be the Mayors, the next Abigail Roseaux's, and finally Bailey's ex business partner Rory Kendal.
