Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 58: Gunning for Jake

-Caleb-

I brought up the information I had on Jacob Ramacher and handed my phone to Masterson. “He’s the son of Gregory Ramacher, head of Ramacher Industries.”

Masterson grimaced. “What are they worth?”

“Enough to be expensive to buy, but not impossible,” I said reluctantly.

“Good. Call the lawyers and tell them to make it happen,” Masterson responded. He looked Jacey up and down in a way I did not like. Not that I would have liked any way he looked at Jacey. “You certainly are a miracle worker, young lady. It used to be like pulling teeth to get this one to do anything.”

Jacey swallowed uncertainly. “Thank you, sir?”

“You’re welcome. Sorry you missed the funeral, but it’s not as though there was anything said that you hadn’t already written down,” Masterson said.

“True.” I put an arm around Jacey. “Would you like me to make that call now, sir?”

“Yes. Oh, are they profitable?” he asked. “What about their debts?”

“They have very little debt and are very profitable,” I replied.

“Excellent. Make it happen. I’ll leave you two here while I go make sure they put Will in the ground properly. Make the necessary calls.”

I looked around to see we were already at the cemetery. One of the guards opened the door for Masterson, who plastered on a solemn face. The guard grinned at us and closed the door, leaving Jacey and me alone.

“You’re going to have to do it, aren’t you?” she asked, putting a hand on my arm.

I picked up my phone from where Masterson had left it on the seat and gripped it in my lap. “Yes.”

“Jake will be in a very precarious position when it’s over,” she said worriedly.

“You think I don’t know that?!” I snapped.

Jacey recoiled, and I closed my eyes, taking several deep breaths. “Baby, I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s me and this whole situation. I feel like I’m marching a guy to the guillotine.”

She returned to my side then and laid her head on my shoulder. “I love you, Caleb. Nothing you do to keep us safe, to keep our family safe, is ever going to make me think less of you, okay?”

I kissed the top of her head and pressed the contact for the lawyers. Masterson was a man whose calls were taken even on the weekend.

“Hello?” a gruff voice asked when the line connected.

“Hey, Brad. It’s Caleb. Masterson wants to buy Ramacher Industries. He wants it to happen as soon as possible. And it doesn’t matter if they’re selling or not,” I said.

“Got it.” Brad scribbled something down in the background. “How is Mr. Masterson? It’s a terrible thing, what happened to his son.”

I ground my teeth. I wished Masterson had at least the same casual sympathy toward his own son that Brad did. “He’s hanging in there.”

“Good. I’ll talk to you when I’ve made the necessary arrangements.” He hung up.

I set my phone down on the seat next to me and pulled Jacey into my lap, burying my face in her chest and letting out a muffled scream of frustration.

She stroked my hair and the back of my neck. “It’s okay, Caleb. It’s going to be okay.”

When? my mind despaired, but I didn’t dare share my defeatism with her. She needed hope. And I needed to keep fostering that hope.

Masterson got back in the car, and I let Jacey slide to my side once more. He grinned at us. “Can’t keep your hands off each other even for a minute, huh?”

“I called Brad,” I interrupted whatever sick path he was going down. “He said he’ll make it happen and get back to me when all is ready.”

“Good.” Masterson licked his lips and looked at Jacey's exposed calves. “You truly are a beautiful woman, Jacey.”

Her face flushed. “I… um… thank you, sir?”

I removed my suit jacket and casually draped it over her legs. “Wouldn’t want you to get distracted, sir.”

She gave my hand a grateful squeeze.

“Of course.” He yawned. “Ugh, it’s been a long day. Funerals are so tedious, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” I replied through gritted teeth.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to plan any of it.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “We’ll be dropping you at the apartment first.”

“Where is Will Jr.?” Jacey blurted.

I winced, but I also wanted to know, so I was also proud of her for asking.

Masterson peeked an eye open. “With his nurse, of course.”

“Am I ever going to get to see him?” she asked.

“No,” Masterson responded. “Now let me sleep.”

Jacey drew a sharp breath and turned her face into my shoulder. I knew she was trying not to cry.

Masterson was soon snoring.

I thought of suffocating him with my shirt. Or breaking one of the scotch tumblers in the back of the limo and slitting his throat. But the guards were keeping a close watch from the front of the limo, as the partition was down. There would be no opportunity to finish the job.

Instead, I stroked Jacey’s hair and plotted a million and one useless ideas about how to kill Masterson. The biggest problem was that his guards were always there. Watching. Waiting. Doing his bidding.

We pulled into the apartment complex, and two of the guards got out of the limo to escort Jacey and me to our apartment. The last one stayed with Masterson.

“You kids have fun,” one of the guards snickered before locking us in.

Jacey was still quiet. I hugged her and rubbed her arms, trying to get a little life back in her. “Hey, baby. I’m sorry about Will Jr.”

Jacey looked up at me with wide, wounded eyes. “I don’t want Will going to the other side knowing his child is in the hands of a monster.”

“I don’t, either. But an opportunity we can use just hasn’t presented itself,” I sighed.

“I know.” She shook her head. “I feel so trapped, Caleb.”

“We’ll find a way,” I reassured her, even though I wasn’t sure I believed it myself anymore. “Together, there is nothing we can’t do.”

She sniffled. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, baby.” I rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.

“But I know you don’t believe it,” she continued.

I stiffened. “I mean, sure I do…”

“Please don’t lie to me, Caleb,” she whispered.

My shoulders fell in defeat. “I don’t see a way out.”

“Will found a way out,” she replied quietly.

I felt my heart seize in my chest, and I pushed her away from me, holding her at arm’s length. “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you even think it!”

Tears streamed down Jacey’s cheeks. “Then what else are we going to do?”

Determination swelled in me. I might not believe it could be done, but I had to try to get us out if Jacey was so far gone she was thinking of doing something that stupid. “I tell you what,” I responded. “If I can’t get us out within a year, we’ll revisit this, okay? But either way, we go together.”

“Okay.” She stepped into my arms again and tucked her head under my chin.

I couldn’t imagine this bright, brilliant woman dying at the tender age of nineteen. I was just going to have to step it up a notch.

“I love you, Jacey,” I said quietly.

“I love you, too, Caleb,” she replied with a sniffle.

That decided, I brought Jacey to the sofa. “If Masterson has given us cable or something instead of just the all-Caleb-and-Jacey-sex channel, I think we should watch a movie and just unwind, okay?”

“I can try,” she said. She sat down on the sofa, and I sat next to her, snuggling her into my side and pulling a blanket up around us.

Mercifully, Masterson had gotten tired of tormenting me with images of Jacey and Will in bed together, so we did have a few channels to choose from.

I put on a rom-com and leaned my cheek against Jacey’s hair while her head was resting on my shoulder.

“Remember the last time we did this?” she asked wistfully.

“The last thing we watched, I think, was an action movie, and we weren’t really watching it at all,” I recalled.

“No. When we just sat under a blanket together?” she clarified.

I smiled at her and kissed her nose. “It was before your dad knew about us.”

Under the blanket, Jacey pulled down my zipper. “We did something very private.”

I groaned as she circled my cock with her fist, releasing me from my boxers. “We did,” I agreed. “Then we went to our bedrooms–I can’t even remember whose we chose–and finished what we started.”

“Nobody’s here to stop us now,” she said, pumping her hand up and down my shaft just the way I liked it. “And I’m still not wearing underwear.”

That fact made something in my head snap. I pulled her into my lap and sank into her warmth.

She gasped and gripped my shoulders. She moved herself slowly up and down on my cock, and I let her decide the pace, putting my hands on her hips just to keep her balanced.

A whimper escaped her as she got close, moving faster.

I sucked her neck, groaning as we came together, my dick erupting inside her.

She cried out and then sagged against me, her arms around my neck. Both of us tried to catch our breath.

I wasn’t sure what happened in the plot of the movie, but I sure as hell knew I’d enjoyed myself immensely. “Baby, that was spectacular,” I murmured, kissing her shoulder.

“Me, too,” she answered, and I had to laugh. She wasn’t even stringing sentences together coherently.

“Do you want some water or something to eat?” I asked.

She raised her head a little. “You have the strength to go get it?”

She made a good point. I took stock of my legs and torso, then nodded. “I probably won’t after what we do tonight, but right now I can get us fed.”

“Okay.” We both carefully got her off my dick. I helped her lie down on the sofa with the blanket over her, then kicked off my pants and boxers, going to the kitchen in just my shirt and socks.

I scared us up a plate of crackers and cheese and two water bottles then returned to the sofa.

Jacey already looked sleepy.

“Here, baby, eat something. It’s been a long day,” I encouraged her.

With the cutest little scrunched face, she sat up. She took the water bottle I brought her from me and then began to eat.

I ate, too. Not because I was necessarily hungry, but because I needed the sustenance.

I never knew what I was going to face at work the next day.