Take Down
Attraction sizzles when Danny Jones sets eyes on Deputy Jake Perez, despite meeting over the discovery of a mutilated corpse. But being with Jake could cost Danny his family, and being with Danny could cost Jake the very thing that brought him to Everness, Texas—revenge against the man who killed his brother. How much will Jake sacrifice to take down a psychotic criminal and finally see justice served?
After college, Danny thrived as a gay man in Houston. But when his mom’s cancer brings him back to small, conservative Everness, he must go back into the closet or risk the wrath of his abusive father—a choice made even harder when Danny starts to see a future for him and Jake.
As the body count rises and Danny becomes a target, Jake is caught between his vengeance and protecting the man he loves. He never wanted to end up in a backward town like Everness, but Danny is the best thing that ever happened to him. Jake needs to keep Danny safe as his secrets catch up to them—especially when the threat might be closer to home than they imagined.
“Hey.” Gina clinked her beer into his as Danny leaned on the wall next to where she was sitting on a stool. “Here’s to being alive.”
“You heard about that, huh?” He took a long swallow from the beer, watching the antics happening around the pool tables.
“Everyone heard about that.” She eyed him as though looking for some evidence of the accident. “They said you almost died.”
“Well, that’s probably a slight exaggeration. I totalled my pickup truck, but I’ve only got a few bruises to show for it.” His neck was stiff, and his chest was sore. He’d noticed a faint diagonal bruise from the seat belt when he’d been changing earlier, but it was nothing compared to what could have happened, if not for Jake.
“I heard the cars exploded. Come on, Danny. I need details. It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened since Linda Hanson got pregnant.”
“Wait, Linda Hanson got pregnant? By who?” She’d been a quiet girl who always sat in the back of his English class. He thought she’d gone to college in San Antonio or something.
“Never mind that, it was months ago.” Gina waved her hand dismissively. “She’s probably popped that kid out by now. Tell me about the explosion!”
He huffed a dramatic sigh, and she grinned at him. “Fine. There was a minor explosion. But the police are investigating, got a detective in from Conroe, so I don’t think I’m supposed to say anything about it.”
Jake hadn’t told him to stay quiet, but he was going to keep the guy’s confidence anyway. It just seemed like the thing to do when someone had been gruesomely murdered. He covertly looked around to check if Jayla Williams was here. He didn’t even know if she lived in town anymore. Either way, she wasn’t going to be at a bar the night after finding out her dad had died.
“How close were you when the cars blew up?” Though Gina was obviously trying to make light of it, he could see the concern in her eyes.
“Close enough that a deputy had to tackle me for cover. If it hadn’t been for him—”
“Oh my God!” Gina reached out and clamped a hand on his forearm. “You don’t mean the new deputy? The hot one?”
“Jake?” he asked in return, maybe a little too fast.
But Gina didn’t seem to notice as she bounced in her seat. “He came into the salon the other day and I swear he charmed every woman in there. Even cranky old Mrs. Welch, who always complains that we don’t put the right color in her hair.”
“Sounds about right,” he mumbled, thinking of the way Jake had winked at the high school girls and sent them into a fit of giggles that morning.
“Except Connie was in this afternoon and told me she saw him wearing one of those rainbow pins.” Gina leaned forward. “You know, for gay pride or whatever. What a tragedy, if he is. I was all ready to fight half the girls in the county for him. I know all the men in this town, and I don’t want to date any of them. First time we get some fresh blood in ages and it turns out he’s not the prize, he’s the competition.”
He couldn’t help laughing at that. Gina, however, sent him an unimpressed look.
“Well, do you know something? You met him.”
He held up a hand in surrender at her badgering. “I met him, but I don’t—”
“Danny, hey.” A familiar deep voice sounded right behind him and he straightened.
Gina was staring over his shoulder with wide eyes and a smirk.
He half turned to find Jake standing a step away. He was wearing a white T-shirt with some kind of blue-gray graphic printed across it, dark jeans, and biker boots. It was the first time Danny had seen him out of uniform, and he looked so hot.
Except he also looked hot in his uniform. Possibly the guy looked hot no matter what he wore. Or didn’t wear. His heart rate tripled because, yep, now he was thinking about Jake being naked.
“You going to introduce me to your friend?” Jake sent him a half smile after asking the question, his golden-hazel eyes gleaming with amusement and something else. Except Danny was still stuck on the part in his mind that had oh-so-helpfully supplied him with an image of Jake without clothes and dammit, was it getting hotter?
Old man Murphy chose that moment to come over with the next round of beers he was supposed to be paying for, belatedly reminding Danny they were standing in the middle of a crowded bar, and both Gina and Jake were staring at him expectantly.
“Oh, yeah.” He shifted to the side, making room for Jake to join them properly, then did a quick introduction as Jake helped himself to a beer and Danny hastily dug some money out of his jeans for old man Murphy.
“So, Danny was just telling me about how you saved his life yesterday,” Gina said once the beers were handed out and Danny was decidedly poorer for it.
“Yeah, I sure did.” Jake sent her a wide grin without a speck of humility, leaving her laughing.
“Well, I hope you’re around when I need saving.” Gina set an elbow on the table and leaned forward a little.
Danny wanted to roll his eyes at the obvious flirtation but managed to restrain himself, taking a long swallow of the ice-cold beer instead. It helped bring down his inner temperature, which he swore had been near boiling point a few moments ago.
“Planning on getting yourself in trouble?” Jake asked smoothly, though his tone was more conversational.
“Maybe. Would you help me out, or get me into more trouble?”
Hell, Gina wasn’t trying to be subtle at all. That’d always been her play, though: balls out and not caring what anyone thought.
“Sorry, but you’re not the kind of trouble I like,” Jake said, his eyes sliding to Danny.
Jake took a casual drink from his beer but still held his gaze. Whatever good the beer had done cooling him down was lost as Danny felt a warmth starting in his chest and radiating outward. He could see it in Jake’s eyes. If he gave the slightest indication he was interested, they could start something. Temptation had never looked so hot in jeans and a T-shirt.
“So, where are you from, Jake?” Gina asked, breaking the moment as she gained Jake’s attention. Jake answered and they fell into an easy conversation; Gina had that way about her— she could make a stranger feel like her best friend. He’d never met anyone more genuinely nice and welcoming in his life.
Brad and a couple of the other guys came over, and Jake got sucked into buying the next round. They took their beers over to the pool table where Jake proceeded to kick everyone’s asses. After three drinks, Danny decided he needed to slow down. Somehow, he kept finding himself in Jake’s personal space—or maybe Jake was getting into his personal space—either way, as the night wore on, it was getting harder to convince himself he didn’t want to plaster himself up and down the length of Jake’s body and kiss him until neither of them could breathe any longer. It didn’t help that Jake was charming and funny and getting along with everyone like he’d been in Everness all his life, not two weeks.
It was when he finally beat Jake in a game of pool, however, that things almost got out of hand. He’d sunk the winning shot and spun around to gloat, knowing Jake was standing with Gina somewhere behind him. Except Jake had started to step forward and Danny had almost crashed into him. He’d immediately tried to backpedal but lost his balance. Jake—seeming far less caught off guard—snaked an arm around his waist to steady him, but they both ended up stumbling into the edge of the pool table, hips pressing together.
A few of the others laughed and teased him about being uncoordinated, but he barely heard a word, too caught up in the feel of Jake against him.
“I didn’t think you’d had that much to drink,” Jake murmured with a lazy upward tilt of his lips.
It was all he could do not to close the distance between them and kiss the grin right off his lips. Oh God, he’d never wanted to kiss anyone as much as he wanted to kiss Jake right then. But the idea of his dad getting a phone call from a gossipy local first thing in the morning about his only son making out with another guy in the middle of the bar, followed by getting verbally punched all the way out of the house when his mom needed him was like being handed a bucket of kicked puppies.
“Actually, I don’t think I’ve had enough.” He pulled out of Jake’s grip, desperately needing something else to take the edge off. “I’m going for another beer.”
He stepped around Jake, escaping before he or anyone else could say anything. But when he reached the bar, he detoured and went down the back hallway, past the bathrooms and out into the yard, where there was a kind of garden people often sat in when the weather was nice. It was pretty full tonight, despite the humidity. He didn’t stop, though, until he’d pushed through the gate that led out into the narrow, dusty side street between buildings.
He exhaled hard and dropped back to lean against the warm brick wall. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Great. It’d probably rain and he’d get soaking wet walking home. At least it wouldn’t be cold.
“Find your beer yet?” The gate banged as it swung shut behind Jake.
“I wasn’t really getting a beer,” he replied in annoyance, not looking up, since he’d come out here mostly to escape from Jake. Except he’d apparently decided to follow him.
“I figured,” Jake returned in a dry voice. “Look, I owe you an apology. I was blatantly flirting with you. Except I told you this morning I wouldn’t do that if it made you uncomfortable, especially in front of other people. But I kind of forgot. I just— You look really gorgeous and I literally take one look at those ridiculous blue eyes of yours and completely forget—”
Danny straightened and grabbed a handful of Jake’s shirt at the shoulder, shoving him into the wall. He’d heard enough. Too much. He couldn’t stand it anymore.
Jake’s eyes widened slightly, concern edging into his features. “Danny—”
“Jake, shut the hell up.” He leaned in and at the last second, Jake finally got a clue, because he closed the remaining distance between them, sealing their mouths together.
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Jess Anastasi has been making up stories ever since she can remember. Though her messy handwriting made it hard for anyone else to read them, she wasn’t deterred, and now she gets to make up stories for a living. With a multi-award-winning science fiction romance series to her name, her books feature larger-than-life heroes with relatable vulnerabilities who find themselves in situations that push their resolve to the limit. Jess is a tea addict who loves loud music, dancing in her kitchen, and a good book on a rainy day. A fangirl at heart, she probably spends too much time watching too many TV shows. Jess lives in regional Victoria, Australia. Find out more about Jess and her upcoming releases at www.jessanastasi.com.
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