“Wakey wakey, love birds.”
Adrian’s head pops up. “What the fuck, Lucifer?”
I jerk to full awake mode and sit up, thankful I’m in Adrian’s shirt. “What is happening?”
Adrian slides up the headboard, naked to the waist. “Damn it, Lucifer, can you knock? What if she’d been naked?”
Lucifer tosses a handful of peanut M & M’s into his mouth. “Headed to the office early. Got in late. Thought you might want to hear about dinner with Grace.” He motions behind him. “And I brought you your briefcase, Pri. I stuffed everything on your desk inside.”
“Thank you,” I say. “I really needed that.”
“Are you seriously eating my candy?” Adrian demands.
“You always say it’s the breakfast of champions,” Lucifer claps back, and grabs another handful.
“Did she really invite you or did you invite her?” I ask, now fully cognizant. “And please tell me you didn’t sleep with my friend and break her heart.”
He finishes his candy. “I don’t play where I work,” he says. “We talked. She said Josh has been acting nervous and he took over the office today, which was out of character.”
“Yesterday,” Adrian says. “He took over yesterday.”
“Right,” Lucifer says. “Yesterday. She thinks he’s being blackmailed to help Waters or some shit. I think he’s dirty, but I can’t find the electronic trail to back it up. We’re taking a closer look at him.”
“What about Cindy?” Adrian asks.
“Cindy?” I ask. “What about Cindy?”
“Sorry, baby,” Adrian murmurs. “I forgot to tell you. Savage followed her. He got some vibe off her.”
“Nothing to tell,” Lucifer says. “She got takeout and went home last night. We’re monitoring her calls now. I’ll keep an eye on her.” He glances at me. “I’m going to tell the team you have meetings and might be by later.”
“Which she won’t,” Adrian says, and when my eyes shoot to his, he adds, “Quid pro quo, baby. We’re not leaving town. I need you to limit your risk.”
“Fine,” I concede. “I’ll work from here today. I have plenty to do before dinner.”
“Then I’m off,” Lucifer says. “I want to do a little digging around before the staff gets in.”
He seals the M & M’s and sets them on the desk, glancing back at Adrian. “In case you get hungry.” And then he’s gone, shutting the door.
I eye the clock that reads six AM. “I swear I need a run right now,” I say.
Adrian pulls me beneath him. “This first,” he murmurs. “Then we’ll hit the gym downstairs in the basement.”
I never get the chance to ask about that gym. He kisses me and I forget all about anything but him.
***
A few hours later, Adrian and I have worked out, had breakfast with the Walker team, while discussing all the moving pieces of well, everything, and showered. Adrian and I get ready after that shared shower together, which is really surreal. It’s almost as if we can pretend that we’re normal, and that armed men aren’t roaming all around the house.
I dress for work, just in case I have to handle a problem, like a fight with Waters’ counsel over Adrian. Today that means a navy suit dress with a fitted waist. Adrian is as hot as ever in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and boots, his goatee neatly trimmed.
It’s mid-morning and I’ve set-up in the office upstairs when I get a call from the judge. “Your honor,” I greet.
“The defense is being bullish about this in-person testimony. They say their client has a right to an open courtroom and a jury who is allowed to watch the questioning. They’re not wrong.”
“You’re not even going to allow me to argue this with them?”
“I will, of course,” he says. “But you’re not going to win. I might want this to end, but I also have to do my job, and without bias. Do you want me to set a hearing?”
“Yes. Set it please.”
We disconnect and Adrian, who’s been talking with the guys, joins me, lifting his phone. “Lauren,” he says, placing us on speaker phone. “I have Pri here, Lauren,” he says, claiming the visitor chair across from me and setting the cell between us.
“Hi, Pri,” she says. “Nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances. I’ve never seen anything as dirty as what I’m dealing with here. No one is following the rules of the law. I can’t get in front of the judge until tomorrow.”
We chat a few minutes, all of us, and when we hang up, my gaze is on Adrian’s. “The judge isn’t going to grant you recorded testimony. I just hung up with him.” I hold up a hand. “But before you go calling on Waters’ enemies, let’s talk about a few things.”
“All right,” he says. “Let’s talk.”
“For starters, there are two people who can undo this Chicago situation. My father, who we know is being blackmailed, and Logan. If we can trap him—”
“We can blackmail him?” he supplies, disapproval touching his brow. “Is that what you want to become, Pri?”
“Actually,” I say, “I was thinking more like forcing his hand and garnering some kind of confession from him.”
“What confession is he going to make that helps us and is worth forcing that confrontation on you?”
“If Logan pulled my father into this mess, he has to have a contact for Waters. That could be a member of Waters’ legal team.”
“We don’t know that.”
“It’s a strong possibility,” I say. “If we can prove Waters’ legal counsel is dirty, they might force him to take a deal.”
“How are you going to lead a conversation with Logan in that direction and get him to speak freely?”
“Just as I said before. He needs to be angry,” I say. “Really angry. I have to push his buttons.”
“Didn’t you do that already?” he asks.
“I did, but he’s shown remarkable restraint. I think I need to take it one step further.”
“How?”
I snatch my phone from the desk and call Logan. He answers on the first ring. “Pri,” he says icily. “Did you call to apologize?”
“I know what you did, Logan. I know everything and if you think I’m letting you take my family down, think again.” I hang up.
Adrian leans closer. “Now what?”
“Now, we wait,” I say. “He’ll demand to see me and I need to agree.”
“In public.”
“My house,” I say. “You can be there. Or that’s probably not a good idea. Adam or Lucifer, or whoever you choose, can be there. Logan won’t know.”
He studies me long and hard, and when I’m certain he’ll object, he finally concedes. “Your house,” he agrees. “But if I get a bad feeling about this, it’s off. Agree, Pri.”
“I agree,” I say, and the trap is set.
I just pray it’s really us setting it.
Chapter Forty-Three
PRI
What I don’t want to happen is for Adrian to get more involved with more people like Waters to destroy Waters. I know we’re desperate, but I pray Logan represents a better way.
The problem is that Logan doesn’t call back. I’m certain he’s freaking out and doing damage control. But he’ll call. I know he’ll call. The day drags on though, and the call doesn’t come.
By afternoon, I’ve chatted with several members of my staff, and Blake has yet to identify the man who visited my father. We all agree, I’ll just ask my father. At five, I haven’t heard from my mother and I text her to confirm dinner. She answers back immediately and says, Yes. We’re a go.
Is Dad coming? I reply.
She doesn’t answer. I try to call. She doesn’t answer.
When dinner time arrives, Logan hasn’t called and I’m a nervous wreck for no good reason. I’m just having dinner with my parents, or maybe just my mother. When it’s time to leave, Adrian and I stand just outside the SUV that Mason will once aga
in be driving.
“I’m nervous,” I confess. “Why am I so nervous?”
“Don’t ever ignore a feeling, baby,” he says. “Be extra alert. Adam will be back inside the restaurant. I’ll be around the corner with Blake and Savage this time. Mason will be out front.”
“Okay.” My hand settles on the hard wall of his chest. “I want you to know that if you ever give me the chance to love all the parts of you that you hate, I will.”
His hand is at the back of my head and he brings our foreheads together. “Pri,” he whispers, emotion, so much emotion, etched in my name. And then he’s kissing me, a tender, passionate kiss that I feel from head to toe and right in the center of my heart. And I swear he settles right in my soul and nestles in to stay.
Reluctantly, we break apart and he flips my bracelet to on before I climb inside the vehicle. Mason turns on the radio, a mix of generations of music, and my mind floats back to the past. I’m working late at the office, the only one there, and decide to make a pot of coffee. Once it’s brewing, I leave it to finish, and I’m walking past Kelly Monroe’s office. Kelly is a first-year attorney, young and pretty, a redheaded bombshell. The door is cracked and the sound of a voice murmurs low, almost rough. It’s my father,
“I told you not to do this,” he snaps. “Don’t cross me again.”
“Or you’ll do what?” Kelly demands. “Tell your wife on me?”
I suck in a breath and the voices just disappear. They say nothing more. Or I can’t hear them. Afraid my father is coming, I hurry down the hallway and enter my office. I shut the door and start to pace, repeating Kelly’s words: Or you’ll do what? Tell your wife on me?
The SUV accelerates and I blink the present back into view. We’re almost to the restaurant and an old Staind song, So Far Away, is playing. Kelly left the firm six months later and my father upgraded my mother’s ring that year. I’d blown off that night, deciding it was work-related, but tonight, out of the blue, it’s present again. I haven’t been honest with myself. I know he had an affair with Kelly. I believe this memory is a reminder that my father is no angel, though I don’t know why I need this reminder at all.
I know. I know so well. But he’s not like Logan.
Mason halts us in front of the restaurant and glances back at me. “You good?”
“Better when this is over. And thanks for being here.”
He gives me a shake of his head and I exit the restaurant. Soon, I’m sitting at the same table as last night, ordering the same bottle of wine. I scan for Adam and it takes effort, but I find him at a nearby table. This time, he’s in a gray suit, his hair slicked back, and he’s working on a MacBook. I sigh with relief just seeing him.
My mother is once again late and I text her. This time she doesn’t reply. I try to call her. No answer. I try my father. No answer. I’m typing a text to Adrian when Logan sits down in front of me.
I blanch. “Logan.”
His handsome face is flushed, as if he’s rushed to the seat, or is simmering with red-hot anger beneath his perfect blue suit.
“Glad to see you ordered the wine already,” he says, as the waitress fills two glasses.
My heart is thundering in my chest. “Where are my parents?” I ask, afraid for them, so very afraid for them.
“Your father told me to come get you in line.”
Somehow, I manage to think straight and lower my phone to my lap to start the recording function because my anger snaps. “Get me in line?” I demand, leaning in closer and lowering my voice, though anger rips through my words. “You are the one in bed with Waters. I know what you’ve done. I know my father is being blackmailed and I know you’re dirty.”
“You know nothing,” he bites out, “and stop being a spoiled little bitch trying to show off. Drop the case against Waters.”
“I can’t do that. The DA—”
“Will go along with it and you know it. If you drop it, he’ll chicken out.”
“No.” My spine straightens, my chin lifting. “I will not.”
“Do it or we’ll all pay a price,” he seethes.
“Maybe you just need to do a few more favors and make it all better.”
“You will not fuck this up.”
“Or else what?”
“Don’t make me do something I don’t want to do, Pri. Don’t make me hurt you.”
There’s a bold, brittleness to that threat that sends a shiver down my spine. “This conversation is over.” I grab my phone and purse and stand up.
He catches my arm. “Let go of me, Logan.”
He glares up at me. “Fall in line, Pri.”
“Never,” I say, my skin crawling with his touch, and the truth is it’s not the first time. “And let go of me,” I order.
He seethes another moment and releases me.
Everything inside me tells me to get out of here, but when I turn toward the door, the bald man Adrian showed me on his phone last night is at the door. Adam stands and walks toward him. Adrenaline surges and survival mode kicks in. I detour and rush the other way, toward the bar and the back hallway that leads to the bathroom where I can lock myself inside. In the process, I unzip my purse, my hand finding my weapon. My heart is pumping and the distance I must travel is short but feels eternal. Finally, thank God, I’m shoving open the bathroom door, and just as I try to shut it, Logan pushes his way in.
The next thing I know, he’s locked the door, and he’s moving toward me, absolute poison in his eyes. I yell for him to stop, but he won’t stop. He’s here for a reason and it’s not for a conversation.
THE END…FOR NOW
***
Adrian’s trilogy concludes very soon in WHEN HE’S WILD! Be sure you’ve pre-ordered so you’re one of the first to find out what happens when Adrian is faced with the devils of his past head-on.
PRE-ORDER HERE:
https://www.lisareneejones.com/walker-security-adrians-trilogy.html
***
If you loved the other Walker Security men, check out the other series from that world: Tall, Dark, and Deadly, Walker Security, and Savage’s own four-book series—the finale in his series is releasing early next year!
***
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The Brilliance Trilogy
It all started with a note, just a simple note hand written by a woman I didn't know, never even met. But in that note is perhaps every answer to every question I've ever had in my life. And because of that note, I look for her, but find him. I'm drawn to his passion, his talent, a darkness in him that somehow becomes my light, my life. Kace August is rich, powerful, a rock star of violins, a man who is all tattoos, leather, good looks and talent. He has a wickedly sweet ability to play the violin, seducing audiences worldwide. Now, he’s seducing me. I know he has secrets. I don't care. Because you see, I have secrets, too.
I’m not Aria Alard, as he believes. I’m Aria Stradivari, daughter to Alessandro Stradivari, a musician born from the same blood as the man who created the famous Stradivarius violin. I am as rare as the mere 650 instruments my ancestors created. Instruments worth millions. 650 masterpieces, the brilliance unmatched. 650 reasons to kill. 650 reasons to hide. One reason not to: him.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE BRILLIANCE TRILOGY HERE:
https://www.lisareneejones.com/brilliance-trilogy.html
***
GET BOOK ONE, A RECKLESS NOTE, FREE EXCLUSIVELY HERE:
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Excerpt from
The Savage Series
He’s here.
Rick is standing right in front of me, bigger than life, and so damn him, in that him kind of way that I couldn’
t explain if I tried. He steps closer and I drop my bag on the counter. He will hurt me again, I remind myself, but like that first night, I don’t seem to care.
I step toward him, but he’s already there, already here, right here with me. I can’t even believe it’s true. He folds me close, his big, hard body absorbing mine. His fingers tangle in my hair, his lips slanting over my lips. And then he’s kissing me, kissing me with the intensity of a man who can’t breathe without me. And I can’t breathe without him. I haven’t drawn a real breath since he sent me that letter.
My arms slide under his tuxedo jacket, wrapping his body, muscles flexing under my touch. The heat of his body burning into mine, sunshine warming the ice in my heart he created when he left. And that’s what scares me. Just this quickly, I’m consumed by him, the princess and the warrior, as he used to call us. My man. My hero. And those are dangerous things for me to feel, so very dangerous. Because they’re not real. He showed me that they aren’t real.
“This means nothing,” I say, tearing my mouth from his, my hand planting on the hard wall of his chest. “This is sex. Just sex. This changes nothing.”
“Baby, we were never just sex.”
“We are not the us of the past,” I say, grabbing his lapel. “I just need—you owe me this. You owe me a proper—”
“Everything,” he says. “In ways you don’t understand, but, baby, you will. I promise you, you will.”
I don’t try to understand that statement and I really don’t get the chance. His mouth is back on my mouth.
The very idea of forever with this man is one part perfect, another part absolute pain. Because there is no forever with this man. But he doesn’t give me time to object to a fantasy I’ll never own, that I’m not sure I want to try and own again. I don’t need forever. I need right now. I need him. I sink back into the kiss and he’s ravenous. Claiming me. Taking me. Kissing the hell out of me and God, I love it. God, I need it. I need him.
When He's Bad Page 17