It was my turn to look surprised. “You do?”
Jack shrugged one shoulder stiffly and kneaded my ass. “I know that Chester and my dad are working together on Dad’s campaign,” he said. “I haven’t dug into the details or anything, but I’m almost certain Chester is contributing way more than the legal allowance to my dad’s gubernatorial campaign, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dad has promised something like tax breaks or public funding for whatever Chester is doing.”
It was exactly what I wanted to hear, and it dovetailed perfectly with the plot that had been forming in my mind.
“This will totally work, then,” I said, brightening into a smile.
Jack smiled with me, but I could see the confusion behind that smile. “What will work?”
“Blackmail,” I said triumphantly.
“Blackmail?” I couldn’t tell if Jack liked the idea or not.
“It’s the perfect way for you to get out from under your family’s thumb so you can start a new life doing what you want to do,” I said.
“I don’t understand,” Jack said, his hands still on my ass.
I shifted a little before launching into my explanation. “Right now, your dad won’t let you go. He has complete control over you, and he’s showing you that by cutting you off from any money.”
“Yes,” Jack said with a slow, puzzled look.
“He won’t let you go unless you beat him at his own game,” I went on. “So what you need to do is break this story about him colluding with Chester on an app that would violate people’s privacy and give him, a gubernatorial candidate, unprecedented access to people’s very personal information. Because that could totally be used for voter intimidation or to tweak election results, I’m sure.”
Jack’s eyes went wide. “He wouldn’t do that,” he said, though I could tell that underneath it all, Jack believed he could.
“He’s also probably taking more money from Chester and scratching more backs than he should,” I went on. “Since you’re on the inside, you have the ability to find all that information, document it, and take it to the press.”
It took a second, but Jack caught on. He snapped his gaze up to me from where he’d been staring at my tattoos, and his mouth dropped open a little. “Are you saying that I should gather all this damning evidence and present it to him like I’ll take it to the press? And that I should demand my freedom from him, with money and without him undermining me in the future, as an exchange for not leaking everything and ruining his election chances?”
I beamed at my alpha. Who needed a bond when we were already so like-minded that he could tell what I was thinking that easily?
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I said, digging my fingers into his chest a little. “What does your dad care about more? His reputation, position, and potential for power or his son?”
“Definitely not me,” Jack said. He held his breath for a moment, then said, “This might actually work. Specifically because he doesn’t value me. He might be glad to get rid of me if I promise to fade off into the background and never interfere with his ambitions again.”
“So do you want to do it?” I asked. “Do you want to try to gather all this information to use as the key to open your gilded cage?”
“Yes,” Jack said definitively. He pulled me closer, slanting his mouth over mine and giving me a searing kiss. “I would do whatever it takes to get out of that life and to start a new one with you.Whateverit takes.”
“Me, too,” I said, really believing it in that moment. “All I want is to be with you. I love you, Jack.”
I felt a ripple of excitement race through Jack’s body. “I love you, Quincy,” he said, then kissed me so hard it had my head spinning and my inner omega weeping for joy.
We might have been able to plan our escape a little more thoroughly that night, but Jack was more interested in fucking me again, and I was happy to let him. It felt so good that I was certain our plan would work and everything was possible.
We ate supper after that, then went back to bed for more sexual gymnastics. I didn’t care that my poor body was getting sore or that the rest of the world really was out there waiting for us. We fell asleep in each other’s arms, messy and sated.
It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in years.
In the morning,long before dawn, we both had to rush to get ready for the long day we each had ahead of us.
“Your family won’t worry about you being out all night?” Jack asked as we shared one last kiss beside his front door.
I shook my head, lowering my face slightly. “It won’t be the first time I stayed out all night without telling them,” I confessed.
“Ah,” Jack said, hugging me tighter. “Well, if I have my way, you’ll never have any reason to go out and blow off some steam again.”
I hugged him back, resting my cheek over his heart. It amazed me that Jack understood me without needing an entire lecture on the side effects of severing.
