Speeding Ch. 08

"So, do you want her to be yours?" Jason asked Reid as they sat at the cafe at In The Stacks. Sure, it was a bookstore, but Beth and Macy made some kickass sandwiches.

Reid raked his fingers through his hair for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "I don't know. If she is, we'll do right by her, but, God," he broke off with a shake of his head, "I just asked Kendall to marry me two days ago."

A grin broke Jason's face. "Yeah? Congrats, man."

"Thanks. She's... Perfect."

"For you," he agreed with a laugh. Sobering, he asked, "How is she with the Annie situation?"

"She's surprisingly okay."

"She's a strong one," Jason commented with a nod. He gestured with his habitual roast beef on rye as he eyed Reid, "What's your plan?"

Reid shrugged. Jason knew him too well. "What plan?"

"The plan I know you started working out the minute you thought that girl could be yours," Jason explained, knowing it was unnecessary. He knew Reid knew exactly what he was asking.

"Her grandparents seem competent enough," Reid began, stopping at Jason's snort. He lifted a shoulder. "What? She's a good kid."

"Fine. Right. Go on," Jason prompted with his sandwich.

"I figure we'll see her, get to know her, but she can stay with them."

"Play it by ear?"

Reid nodded at that. "Exactly." He frowned. "A kid. Almost a teenager." He raked a hand through his hair again. "What the hell do I know about teenage girls?"

Jason chuckled at Reid's question. "Not a thing." He took another bite, taking time to chew and swallow before he said, "Kendall does though."

He nodded his agreement to Jason's assessment, but wanted to think about something else. Switching gears, Reid asked, "Any news on Amy?"

"Adrienne can't tell for certain if the overdose was accidental or forced."

"What do you think?"

"From what I can tell, she led something far less than a pristine life, but she doesn't look like a regular user."

"She said there were track marks." He blew out a breath.

Jason polished off his sandwich, nodding as he chewed. "I'm just telling you what she told me. She thinks it could be intentional."

"Murder, then?"

"Looking like a possibility. Detective Chloe Davenport from Sheridan is coming to meet with us tomorrow morning."

"One Detective?" Reid asked.

"A chick at that," Jason answered, his displeasure evident.

"Jesus, Jase. Grow up."

"What? I'll bet she never pulls traffic duty."

Deciding not to follow Jason down that train of thought, given he was grateful for at least one day of traffic duty, he stood and tossed his trash. "Time to pay another visit to Sheridan ourselves."

"Chris'll meet us there," Jason said as he fell into step.

~*~

Kendall looked up from merchandising the newest designer silver line, expecting to see a client. Instead, it was Annie. "Hi sweetheart. Are you here by yourself?"

Annie shifted on her feet as she twisted a curl between her fingers, but didn't say anything. Noting the girl's clearly agitated state, Kendall came around the case to pull her into a hug. "What's wrong?"

"What if..." she began. "What if he's not my Dad?" she asked in a whisper.

"What if he is?" Kendall countered. She didn't want to get Annie's hopes up, but the chances were decent, not to mention the shared eye-color. She hugged the slight girl closer. "We'll know soon."

"Can I stay with you?"

Kendall checked her watch. "I'm here for a few more hours." She looked down at the curly blonde head against her chest. "Does your grandmother know where you are?"

"No," Annie answered quietly.

"You have to call your grandparents, but I don't think Taylor and Jo would mind you hanging around with us." She laughed. "Maybe I'll teach you to merchandise jewelry while you're here."

Annie pulled away from Kendall. "Do I have to call them?"

"They'll worry if they don't know where you are, sweetie." Kendall stepped back behind the open case. "Go ahead and use my phone there on the counter," she instructed, waving her hand at the purple phone next to the register.

Annie made her call and peered into the case Kendall was arranging. "What are you doing?" she asked, her interest evident.

"We just expanded into carrying lines Taylor didn't make herself. Now I have to display all this," she gestured to a tray full of jewelry, "in here," she explained, sweeping her hand toward the glass case.

Eyes wide, Annie's mouth opened into an O of delight. She picked up a woven cuff bracelet, tracing the bright silver wires with gentle fingers as she watched Kendall work.

"The trick," Kendall elaborated with a conspiratorial smile, "is to put things together that match and not overcrowd the case."

"Things that match should be together," Annie agreed quietly.

Kendall wondered whether she was talking about jewelry or something else entirely, but didn't push. Annie was quite possibly less than a year away from being her stepdaughter, and she wanted to be friends. They worked together in companionable silence for a long while until Taylor emerged from her shop. She'd been away from the store for ten days, and had spent the entire day on the bench creating. Her eyes rounded when she she saw Annie.

Catching Taylor's gasp of shock, Kendall turned Annie around and handled the introductions, trying all the while to stay cool, calm and collected. "Taylor Jamieson, meet Annie Shaw."

"She has Reid's eyes," Taylor blurted before blushing. "Oh, I..." she started before clamping her mouth shut. She took a breath before starting over again. "Obviously, we missed quite a bit during our Johns Hopkins trip."

"I didn't want to bother you with our problems when you and Kevin are dealing with life and death," Kendall replied, not noticing Annie's expression fall.

"So, is she Reid's?" Taylor whispered.

Kendall shook her head as she tucked Annie close to her side. "We don't know. If she is, we're going to treat her right." And maybe if she's not.

Annie loved that Kendall held her tightly, even if she'd called her a problem. Her mother had abandoned her to her grandparents, and although she knew she should be grateful to them for taking care of her, she knew she was just a problem for them to fix. She hoped Kendall meant what she said, and prayed Reid Caufield was her father.

"Okay, then. It's just about time to close up, so I came out to help," Taylor said as she brushed her hands on her jeans clad thighs and tried to act like she hadn't embarrassed the hell out of a twelve year old girl.

Soon the four of them were working together to lock up the high-dollar goods in the safe, clean up the hospitality area and close the drawer. It had been a slow day, but jewelry season was around the corner, and new inventory was coming in daily. Kendall was happy on that front, since Taylor was going to be away from the store more often than not with Kevin's illness. It still shook her that her best friend had married her dying boyfriend, but then she had things to worry about in her world too. She glanced at Annie cleaning cases and sighed. This was Reid's daughter. The more time she spent with her, the more she was sure of it. Standing there with the vacuum in hand, she vowed she would be the best damn stepmother the world had ever seen.

~*~

Reid was frustrated. What shouldn't have even been a case was turning out to be complicated as hell. It should have been a simple accidental overdose, but it was shaping up to be something else. He just wasn't sure what yet. Jason was convinced Amy was murdered, and while Reid had to agree things didn't add up, he wasn't sure. After interviewing her neighbors again, he was certain Amy had fled Aylesford to become a hooker and a junkie. He cringed at the thought. What kind of life had she led for the past decade? He was damned glad she'd been smart enough to leave Annie with her parents.

He walked through the door, happy to set everything aside. It would all be there tomorrow. A smile tipped his lips as he saw Kendall making dinner, singing so loudly to the radio she hadn't noticed him come home. Stifling a chuckle, he quietly stalked her, wrapping her in his arms from behind. "Hey, baby," he greeted before capturing her lips. He plundered her mouth, loving the whimpers that came from her throat.

Reluctantly, Kendall pulled from his arms. Breathless, she chided, "the Alfredo sauce will boil over if you keep doing that."

Pulling her back into his embrace with one arm, he turned off the stove off with the other. "Food can wait," he told her before claiming her lips again. Effortlessly, he swung her into his arms, never relinquishing her mouth as he made his way to the bedroom. He set her down gently and stepped away. "Strip for me, baby," he commanded, his voice ragged.

Accepting that he needed control, Kendall threw herself into the role. She unbuttoned her lavender blouse slowly, leaving it open as she tugged down the zipper of her chocolate brown skirt. With a little shimmy, the skirt was around her ankles, leaving her in a pale pink satin thong, the matching demi-bra, her open blouse, and knee-high brown suede boots. Reveling in the fire in his eyes, she played it up, shrugging out of her shirt as she stepped from the skirt pooled at her feet, treating Reid to a twirl and roll of her hips.

Hard as concrete, Reid watched her as she wrapped a hand around the bedpost and gyrated against it. "Enough," he grated when she released her bra, putting her exquisite breasts on display. At that moment, something made him catch her hands around the post and tie them securely with the scrap of satin she called a bra. Kendall's eyes widened a fraction before she smiled at him. "Take me," she whispered.

Her boots put her at the perfect height to take just like this. He grabbed both sides of her tiny panties and tore them from her body before sliding two fingers into her pussy. She was so hot, wet, and ready for him, he wasted no time releasing his cock and ramming home.

She was naked and lashed to the bedpost while Reid had all of his clothes on. She rocked back against his thrusting cock, loving the primal, possessive way he fucked her. Oh, she loved him and he loved her, but this wasn't slow, seductive lovemaking, this was controlling, possessive fucking. And she loved it.

He gripped her hips and pistoned into her, riding her hard as she cried for him to take her harder and faster. When her muscles gripped him, milking him, he let go with a roar.

~*~

"You're sure?" Reid asked Adrienne the following morning.

"DNA doesn't lie, my friend," she answered with a pat on his back. "You knocked up your wife all those years ago."

He thought he'd prepared himself for this. Was halfway sure this would be the outcome, but his head was still spinning. "Why?" he asked aloud.

"Why what?" came the slightly distracted reply.

"Why lie? Why keep her from me? Why leave Annie with her parents and run off to Sheridan?"

"Hell if I know. I mean, why cheat on your hot self in the first place?"

"A..." he admonished.

"What? It's true," she told him with a shrug. "Look, I don't know why Amy went all whore on you, but you've got a daughter now. I know it won't be easy, but just do what you do. You're charming, and Kendall is a natural." She looked up from the report she'd been perusing to flash him a smile. "You've got this."

He raked a hand through his hair. "Easy enough for you to say." Unfolding from the chair he'd sunk into a few minutes before, he pushed Annie from his mind to focus on her mother. "So, what do we know about Amy's death?"

Adrienne shuffled through photos to place one on her desk. "Look at this bruising. It look a couple days to show up on the body, but," she pointed to the photo of Amy's wrists, "see here?"

"Ligature marks?" he questioned. Why the hell were there ligature marks?

She shuffled through more photos to place a different one between them. "See this?" she asked as she indicated the ankles in the newest photo.

"She was bound. Intentionally overdosed." Dammit, this was murder.

"Sure appears that way."

"Well, shit."

"Indeed."