2. Criminal Lovers Reunited
"Jude? Where are you?" he asked calmly restraining a deep desire to jump through the phone line and strangle the bitch.
"I'm in Penobscot, Maine, Ned. It's colder than crap and I miss you." Her voice seemed sincere and full of longing for him and having her use her hook words of "I miss you" bit him hard.
He held back a disgusted snort because, like a Timex, his body immediately responded to the longing in the woman's voice. He did cuss as he broke out in a full sweat and the memories of their long nights of awesome sex taunted him. Rivulets of salty water streamed down from his hair line. It was a mix of love and hate and he really couldn't decide which emotion was riding him harder.
"You left me there dying," he continued doing his best to maintain his level-headedness and not whine because that wasn't the impression he wanted her to have of him. He strove for control over his rampaging emotions because he was so livid that he could feel he was losing control. "I thought you loved me and that we were going to die together."
"Ned, please. The cops were coming and I thought you were already gone. You wouldn't have wanted me to die in custody, would you?" she pleaded.
Oh, how he heard this before. When asked a similar question, Ned couldn't answer her partly because he knew he'd never abandon her and he had hoped she'd have known that of him. But true to form, Jude Law didn't care because she was so cold to ever understand his feelings.
"Bullshit, Jude. Bullshit. I thought we agreed to end it. Remember – it was you, me and a blaze of glory. Instead, you f'ng ran again. You f'ng left me there to die alone!"
"Please! Please, Ned. There's no time to argue over this. I need to see you now. Won't you come here?"
The request hooked him immediately. She was simply untrustworthy, but Ned loved her so much that hearing her ask him with desperation in her voice left him with only one choice. He had to go.
"Please, Ned. Call me when you cross the border into Maine. I'll meet you at the rest stop right after the first exit ramp," she said.
Before long, Ned was in his car and heading at breakneck speed towards that damned city in Maine, all because someone he loved but couldn't trust pulled a few ancient strings she knew would send him running. The thought of reuniting with his girl had his head in a tailspin.
On the one hand, he missed her so much it was an ache in his loins and in his gut; on the other, he was just furious enough with her that this time he would kill her if he got the chance. His bare hands were all he'd need to do the job, although his Colt 45 was safely tucked away in a lockbox in the trunk just in case things got dicey.
After three years in the clink it was time for answers. She owed him that. Then, he reconsidered his initial thoughts.
In spite of her constant betrayals, the hope stubbornly clung that maybe this time he could convince her to take him up on his desire to play it straight. Maybe now would be the time when he could coax her into following through on his dream of a little farm some place far away on the outskirts of some small town where they could live as they saw fit, maybe raise a couple of rug rats, and stay out of trouble.
She seemed sincere and terribly scared, so the idea might finally take hold of her. Then again, she always was sincere, usually just long enough to get what she wanted. It was afterwards she screwed him over – every God damned time. It would have been easier to go to her if he didn't feel like such a sucker.
The drive was a long one and he nearly turned back several times as he remembered how badly she treated him. She'd get him all hot and bothered, then back off to keep him revved while she seduced him into another of her hopeless get rich quick schemes. It was bad enough they worked so well together, outside of the fact that she was so crazy with a gun not thinking about the ramifications of her actions at times.
It was those self-centered choices that made her ditch him as baggage when things went south. He tried like hell to forgive her for that but couldn't because she'd done it twice now. "Why can't I learn this lesson and be done with the bitch," he fretted, kicking himself for his idiocy.
By the time he reached the border between New Hampshire and Maine, he was so steamed he wanted to see her just to belt her before he split. Where he'd go he had a pretty good idea, but he knew he wouldn't stick with her because she couldn't be trusted, and what was love without trust?
She waved him over to the curb and tried to wrest the wheel from him, but he wasn't having it. He gave her his "I still remember when," look and that unsettled her, but only for a little while. Then it was back to the same old, same old haranguing him until he wanted to smack her. He let his gentleman win and screamed instead,
"You freakin' bitch! You betrayed me before. Why should I f'ng trust you now?"
"Cuz you want to, stupid," she spat, uncaring of the warning signs flashing in his eyes. Ned could take many insults except being called stupid. "You've always been a sucker and you'll always be a sucker. If you feel that way, then why you are here at all?" she hurled at him, eager to get her claws into him again.
"You try to leave, but can't; and you know why? You still f'ng love me," she gloated, goading him on to get him ready for the next steps in her scheme.
She conveniently forgot that Ned had seen these moves a dozen and more times before today; that he'd served her time in prison; and that he had even less reason to stay now than he had the last time she screwed him over. He almost smirked in derision when she suddenly changed her tune and poured on the charm because he expected this of her. It was typical Jude crap to get him riled about her bitchiness and then turn him on himself in search of sex. Well if she thought it would work this time, she was badly mistaken.
He almost laughed when she sashayed up to him and snaked her body up his frame, smirking in womanly confidence when she felt him rise to the occasion, because the move had never failed to grab his attention and calm the raging beast within him. At least it had in the past. A little physical contact and his thoughts were on other things instead of that bug that was up his ass. If she thought it would work this time, she was in for quite a shock, because Ned would have none of it.
He roughly shoved her away from him calling her a stupid bitch, stalked into the head, and played a little pinochle in preference to going through that shit again. He knew as well as she did that if she got to his raging animal lust, she'd get to the rest of him. He knew something she didn't know, a little thing called self-control, something he hadn't had before his time in the can.
"You know it ended up working out for the best," she wheedled, conveniently forgetting that the man had taken a major beating after she betrayed him. "Why not let it slide and let's start over from here?" she asked hopefully.
She felt the fury in his gaze, saw the determination in his stance, and knew she was licked for the time being. Having no sense, she continued to press her point until the heat in Ned's eyes could incinerate concrete to ash. Only then did she back off and let it go because she sensed that she must tread with extreme caution or unleash the full power of that rage. She wanted to forget his three years in prison but couldn't because he wouldn't let it go.
She betrayed him in so many ways, not the least of which was letting him do her time, and he'd had three years inside to mull over that fact, so he was unbelievably pissed off. It was bad enough when she dumped him out of their getaway car after the jewelry heist leaving him eating dirt and asphalt until the cops picked him up. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more to say. She let it go temporarily because she didn't wish to incite his flaming Irish temper and blow what little chance she had of him going along with her latest hair-brained scheme to make it rich.
Besides, there was nothing sexier than good plans for the perfect caper she had in mind and having sex with the redheaded man by her side. He was so freaking hot when he was riled up, and when he was angry he was crazy wild in bed, just as she preferred. Taking a chance, Jude slipped up to him and slid her hand inside his open shirt, walking her fingertips through the light silky matt of crimson chest hair and grazing his nipples with her nails.
She puzzled over the fact that his skin was still so baby soft, going temporarily insane when she imagined tasting its saltiness as she ran her tongue over him, all of him. As his shirt lifted with her hand's journey, she could see the black ink of that tat he got of her name arched delicately over the left side of his chest. She couldn't believe he still had it, and it made her smile because it meant she could still get to him. Jude knew there were ways to erase it and gained great comfort from the fact it was still there, because its presence proved that he'd never let her down.
He was a complete and total sap hopelessly devoted to her despite his current gruff attitude to kick her to the curb. She couldn't give a shit that he loved her, even when things were good. She had his name tattooed on her ass simply to humor him. It was Ned's idea and she rolled with it.
What the hell, she thought to herself in a drunken stupor. To him, it was a sign of his devotion to have her name inked over his heart. It was like a couple going steady exchanging friendship rings but in a less cute way. To Jude, having her name on his chest was like a road sign telling the world they were bound together.
Unfortunately for Ned, Jude felt no such attachment. Ned was just another in a long line of men she used to get what she wanted, and there undoubtedly were plenty after him. She left her tattoo in place while with him but immediately had it lasered off without a second thought after she settled into her new home.
To her mind, she belonged to nobody, least of all the dope Ned Tash. Her only need of him right now was laying him to solidify his agreement in her next caper. Sex was a powerful weapon over a guy like him, and his resisting her allure was a disturbing change she didn't expect to have happen.
She watched fascinated as he swelled and hardened under the denim he wore, growing ever more uncomfortable and shifting his weight from one leg to the other as her fingers rounded the J of the tat before drifting down to trace a circle around his nipple. This was the second time in as many hours that she'd done this, so she knew his need of sex was forcing him from his angry, self-righteous pedestal and winding him up for another hard core romp in the back seat of her latest ride, a black '68 Mustang with a soft top. His eyes smoldered with unbelievable passion, but he still resisted the urge to take her because he didn't want to go there.
She'd never known a man with this power, so it made her incredibly hot for Ned. Unlike him, however, cold-hearted Jude could care less about the consequences of her actions. She thought little of anything other than screwing him enough to get him on board with her next big money maker. As with her other schemes, she'd keep him horny enough and laid enough to keep him preoccupied with that aspect of their relationship while she made off with any proceeds and cut him out completely.
While she almost licked her chops at the thought of it, she had to admit that she missed him in that way. It didn't take much for him to turn her on because he was so freaking gorgeous. That red mane still blazed like wildfire when the breeze lifted it and the sun glinted off it, and he still wore it long for her to tangle her fingers in its softness, especially when she was on top of him and riding him hard. She knew that Ned Tash was one of the best she ever had in bed – ever!
Unfortunately for Jude, another tactical blunder was assuming that Ned still had no balls when it came time to keeping the threats he made. She thought that as in the past he would cave to pressure instead of following through with them. She would soon learn that this wasn't true anymore either, but Ned kept that very much to himself in his bid for revenge.
He gave a great performance when required, stomping around like a wild bad boy with every intention of hurting their mark, but he never failed to be a total sap for a pretty face. That was his biggest flaw; he had way too big a heart. Look at him now, for pity's sake, he was too nice to toss her over, even though it was in his best interests to do so.
She kept him dangling because he could always fulfill her bodily needs once she worked him into a frenzy. Right now, she needed him to grow a set of balls and take care of her needs and then take care of her desire to get on 'easy street'. She pushed to the back of her mind that he had never willingly gone along with her, that she had been the one to shove his nose in their lack of cash until he caved to her whining, because right now she needed his expertise in planning things so they'd stay ahead of the law once she revealed he was already too deeply in this to back out safely.
What she failed to realize is that he had a set; he was just extremely choosy when he displayed them, because he didn't usually need to. He wanted to be the simple, easy going guy he'd always been, but prison had taught him that sort didn't survive long. He wanted to find a decent girl and settle into a normal life with a couple of bambinos, but thought the possibility remote at best.
He had no desire to mess with that by doing another big caper; sure the money would be nice, but he learned in prison that he'd rather work for it because it meant more when he saw it. He also earned his fellow inmates' deepest respect because he defended his turf without a qualm, something Jude had yet to learn about him. He hadn't been that way three years ago as she hadn't watched him fight off the rougher men's advances that forced him to change to survive, so she didn't know he could now be as cruel as she was if the situation warranted it.
Much to her surprise, Ned wasn't buying into her crap this time. Once bitten, twice shy and he certainly was that. He slapped her hand away and ran his fingers through his long red hair in a desperate attempt to shake off the torch she lit within him. He'd have loved to nail her just once more for old time's sake, as the glaring look in his eyes denoted. However, he had more sense than to let the bitch wrap his balls around her little finger again, no matter how good he knew it would feel to make her scream the way he once had.
He admitted to himself alone that she was good for that and she owed him, but he knew he'd been a complete fool doing everything she wanted, because the last time he had, he paid dearly with a three year stint in an Arizona prison for manslaughter and had the scars to prove it. He'd done jail time before, but never on a manslaughter rap.
Ned knew he'd been blessed when he met his public defender, because the woman had a true gift with words. She'd twisted the state's seemingly solid case against him into little more than one based on circumstantial evidence and the hearsay of unreliable witnesses, one Jude Law being the chief case. She reminded the twelve jurors that there were three people in that jeweler's shop that day; that no one had found the gun used in the heist; and that lacking the gun, the state had no case for murder against her hapless client.
Ned did his bit, too, being the quiet, guilt-ridden man he truly was when he faced the families of the victims of the heist and apologized for taking the stones. He had nothing to lose by doing it and a great deal to gain, so the emotions everyone saw were sincere—as far as they went. He was sincerely sorry for being involved with Jude not realizing the woman would go nuts and shoot the three men; sorrier still they'd been caught; and sorriest of all that the bitch had lifted the gems as she made her escape.
He had no idea that he'd soon bitterly regret doing time, but he would. Sure, things went okay at first, with his fellow inmates leaving well enough alone; but, being the handsome brute he was it was inevitable that he would soon draw the lustful stares of his cellmates, because to them he was fresh meat and blue-eyed redheads were rare finds.
Ned proved that he was no killer because he chose to become a well-honed muscleman so he could successfully defend his person from their intentions with physical force, instead of by shanking them in the exercise yard. He had to do that because there were men who were twice his size and higher in the pecking order that wanted to pass the redhead around as their pretty boy.
They tried to make him the subject of their prurient desires to engage in man to man petting and stroking to keep the order in line. Ned was hard-hearted as is, but he hardened up even more not wishing to play that particular game and be labeled a fag in addition to being thought an easy mark. That set of circumstances forced him to fight back with a wild fury as a warning to the others to back the fuck off or face the consequences.
Even the prison guards marveled at his tenacity. Only a cold-hearted killer could behave as he did. His public defender was amazed this man survived at all and still wondered exactly why this man went wrong. Ned, as a result, earned a special nickname from his fellow inmates - Red Fury. The truly hardcore crooks all had nicknames, so this sign of brotherly affection was awarded to him because of the coppery hair that warned of an equally fiery temper.
He'd been battered and bruised and suffered a number of cracked ribs and contusions for his efforts, but he earned his place as one of the top dogs soon enough, because people didn't want to mess with him. Though he never showed it, the changes forced upon him badly frightened him, because they proved he was capable of anything if pushed into it. He strove to remain gentle, but buried this sweetness under a ton of acid to keep the others from learning of it so he'd survive his time inside.
Just before they released him, Ned began the inner journey of deciding what he really wanted from life and how best to achieve it so he wouldn't end up back behind bars. During one particular stay in the jail's only hospital bed, Ned was reading his latest letter from Bec and learned that she settled in a little town in Calgary, Canada. She'd found a small apartment and informed Ned that she was surviving on a few of the diamonds she pawned to supplement the money she earned waiting tables at a local restaurant while trying her hand taking pictures for local tourists.
The diamonds – a girl's best friends – he laughed to himself. He continued to think of how in one breath they were the doom of his relationship with Jude, almost cost him his life, and yet offered a second chance to a downtrodden victim of incest. What irony that was.
Here he was, a good man gone bad, with a woman who was born evil and heartless, and their crime allowed an innocent girl to find safety far away from her pains. Ned determined that life could be better if he could just find the right path to get himself there. Bec was well on the way, so why couldn't he follow suit?
On a sudden epiphany, Ned realized that he had the will and the courage to stay straight because he had used those same gifts to endure the endless monotony in prison. His recent insights leant him the inner strength he lacked the first time around, so Ned wasn't in the mood for anything Jude had in mind because it undoubtedly would land his ass back in the joint. This time he'd stay there, because he was carrying a felony rap that really belonged to the bitch trying to con him into one more big score.