by Susan Stoker
She hadn’t eaten but half of the food on her plate, which wasn’t like her, but Blake knew she’d shut down. He couldn’t take back what he’d said, as he meant every word. She’d misconstrued it as being concern about the business rather than her personally, but that was as far from the truth as it could get.
He’d allow her to be pissed at him, for now. But deep down, Blake knew their discussion had changed everything. He understood her a lot better now. She might be pissed at him, but she’d let a lot of things about herself slip. Things that helped explain why she was the way she was and why she’d been so eager to work at Ace Security.
Alexis Grant was no longer simply Bradford’s sister or a temporary employee. Blake wanted to know everything about her. Wanted to know more about what made her tick, what was going on behind her very expressive brown eyes. Wanted to be one of the privileged few to get under the superficial shell she showed the world.
He wanted to know the real Alexis Grant. Because Blake had a feeling that woman was going to be the most precious thing he’d ever found in his entire life . . . if he could keep her safe from herself.
Chapter Three
Blake dropped Alexis off at her Mercedes at the Hampton Inn. She’d taken to staying at the hotel the night before they had an early job. It made sense, as she still lived up in Denver, but she refused to let Ace Security pay for it, even though Blake had tried to convince her. It annoyed him, but he didn’t fight her on it. He knew he needed to choose his battles with her wisely.
After he watched Alexis head north toward her apartment in Denver, he drove to downtown Castle Rock, noticing with pleasure the Italian restaurant Scarpetti’s had finally opened in the space Mason Architectural Firm used to occupy. For Grace and Logan’s sake he was thrilled to no longer have to see Grace’s parents’ business every day when he went to work. He parked his Mustang and walked toward Ace Security. When he entered the office, his brother, Nathan, was in front of the computer where he spent most of his time.
“Hey, Nathan. What’s up?”
“Hey,” his brother answered absently.
“Where’s Logan?”
“Grace was getting another sonogram today,” Nathan said.
Blake nodded. If Grace was going to the doctor, there was no way Logan was going to be anywhere but by her side. “Is he coming back here afterward?”
Nathan nodded, still not looking up from the computer screen. “Yeah. As long as all is well with the babies. He said he’d check in when they were done.”
“Good.”
Nathan finally looked up. Something in Blake’s voice must’ve caught his attention. “Did everything go okay this morning?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You sound off.”
Blake eyed his brother. While Nathan might look like a stereotypical computer geek, he was not a weak man. Blake had no doubt Nathan could hold his own in a fight. He might lose in a battle of brute strength, but he was smart enough to not let any confrontation get that far.
As a teenager, Logan had always been their protector, standing between them and their crazy mother when she was on one of her rampages. But apparently growing up with an abusive mother and not being strong enough to protect himself had made Nathan eager to figure out how to get out of a situation before it escalated to throwing punches.
Blake had seen his brother’s talents the first time he’d been on a security job with him. Logan had been busy, and they’d had no choice but for Nathan to work the field. They’d escorted a man to his ex-girlfriend’s house so he could safely gather his belongings, and the ex had lost her shit. She’d rushed her ex and had started throwing punches at him. Blake had stepped forward to carefully restrain the woman, and Nathan had immediately started talking the woman down from her crazy. If he hadn’t been standing there watching, Blake wouldn’t have believed it, would’ve said nothing could get through to the woman. But within moments, the woman was sobbing and apologizing, and they’d been able to end the potentially volatile situation relatively peacefully.
And while most people underestimated Nathan because of his looks and demeanor, Blake had learned that not only could his brother protect himself and others around him without any kind of weapon other than thinking fast on his feet and reading people accurately, he also had an uncanny way of reading between the lines. He was sensitive and seemed to be able to figure out what people were feeling even when they didn’t say a word. Like now.
“The job went fine,” Blake tried to reassure Nathan.
Nathan waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss his brother’s words. “So, what’s up then? Is it Alexis? Something happen? Does she need to be dismissed?”
“No!” Blake answered heatedly. “She’s fine. She’s great for the business.” He looked around the cluttered office—anywhere but into his brother’s eyes. “I just needed to talk to Logan about something else.”
Nathan didn’t take his eyes from his brother.
Blake finally brought his gaze back to Nathan’s. Neither said a word.
Finally, Nathan nodded and turned his attention back to his keyboard. “If you need my help, you know you got it.” And that was that.
Blake inwardly sighed in relief. He knew his brother figured something was up, but Nathan wouldn’t pry. He also wouldn’t get bent out of shape if Blake spoke to Logan about something and left him out. It wasn’t Nathan’s way, and Blake appreciated it more at this moment than he ever had in the past. “I do know that. Thanks.”
Blake wanted to talk to Logan about Alexis’s plan. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Nathan, but Logan was directly involved with the Inca Boyz because of what happened to Grace. Lex’s plan seemed like a good one, but it made him extremely nervous at the same time. He wanted to talk it through with Logan and get his take on it. It was possible he was too close to the issue . . . cared too much for Lex to see any holes in her logic.
The Andersons had seen firsthand the depravity of the Inca Boyz, and Blake didn’t want Alexis anywhere near them. Yes, he wanted the gang taken down, but having Lex go undercover didn’t seem like an ideal way to reach that goal. And not only because the thugs were dangerous but because of the lost and hurt look in Lex’s eyes when she talked about her disastrous relationship with Kelly. He didn’t particularly want Alexis to have to deal with her again and maybe bring up emotions and pain she’d finally worked through. What the girl had done made his stomach turn.
An hour and a half later, when Logan finally arrived at the office, Blake told him everything he’d learned from Alexis that morning and what she wanted to do.
“What’s different now from a few months ago when she first brought up helping us find information on the gang?” Logan asked. He sat across from his brother, one ankle resting on his knee. He looked relaxed, but Blake knew his brother well enough to know that any discussion about the Inca Boyz meant that Logan was anything but.
Blake knew exactly what was different now but wasn’t ready to admit it out loud . . . yet. The first person who was going to hear about his intentions would be Alexis.
Somehow that morning had made him realize that while he enjoyed having Alexis as a friend, his feelings had grown. She was fun to be around, worked hard, and liked his brothers, and not once in all the time he’d spent with her had Blake been bored or wished he was with someone else. Not only that, but he hadn’t once had the desire to date anyone. She’d slipped under his radar so sneakily that he would’ve been wary of her intentions if he didn’t know for a fact that she wasn’t purposely trying to catch his attention, she just had.
“Does it matter? She wants to try to befriend this Kelly chick to get in closer to the gang. That doesn’t exactly sound safe,” Blake told his brother.
“It definitely doesn’t. But she’s right. We haven’t gotten very far stalking them on social media. We’ve found out some good information, but it’s always after the fact and nothing we can definitely prove. We’ll never get enough information to pass along to the tas
k force, so they can take them down before they do something, unless we change tactics. They’ll just continue to hire themselves out to beat people up, to intimidate them, or, God forbid, as contract killers. If Alexis wears a wire and gets good enough information, it could be enough for an arrest warrant.”
“Is it worth making her an enemy of the gang for life? If they find out what she’s doing, she could be in danger for years. You know they won’t let it go. They’ll have to make an example out of her for anyone else in the future who would even think about being a snitch or working with the cops.”
“Then she needs to be extra careful and not get caught.” Logan’s words were matter-of-fact.
“Do you even care?” Blake bit out, unnerved by his brother’s seeming lack of concern toward the danger Alexis could be putting herself in.
Logan dropped his foot and leaned forward, piercing Blake with his intense gaze. “My first responsibility is to my wife and my unborn children. Grace’s parents are behind bars, but I want every single one of those assholes in that gang wiped off the face of this earth. If I can’t do that, then I’ll have to be content with them being behind bars. I’ll do whatever it takes to get them there.”
Blake sat back but didn’t break eye contact with his brother. “Even at the expense at another woman’s life?”
Logan took a deep breath and slowly sat back in his chair, his eyes boring into his brothers’. “I don’t know Alexis that well. You and Nathan are the ones who work with her the most. I believe you said it yourself. When she gets bored, she’ll move on to something else. If she’s not going to stick around, I’m not going to bother getting to know her. I don’t know why you care so much. She’s just one of what is mostly likely going to be a long line of Ace Security interns coming through here. It’s not like you’re dating her. If she’s willing to get chummy with a girl she knew when she was younger, and it will bring us one step closer to eliminating the Inca Boyz . . . why not?”
Blake wanted to lash out at his brother for being so coldhearted, but for once, he was right: Logan hadn’t spent time with Alexis. He didn’t know her. Blake got where his brother was coming from—he did. But he couldn’t let the diss to Alexis go unchallenged.
“I honestly can’t believe you’d be okay if those assholes found out what Lex was doing and killed her. That’s not the kind of man you are. I’m more than okay with Grace and your sons being your first concern, but they shouldn’t be your only concern.”
The two brothers stared at each other from across the room for a beat before Logan blew out a breath, his cheeks puffing up as he let it out. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just . . . seeing my sons kicking and moving in Grace’s belly today, hearing their heartbeats . . . it made me realize just how close I came to not having any of them in my life. I’m feeling extra protective. They’re my life. I’d do anything to protect them, even if that means putting someone else at risk.”
Blake nodded but didn’t speak.
“As far as Alexis’s plan goes, you’re right, it’s risky, but I also think it could work. However, we’d need to make some tweaks to it. I agree that there’s no way she should give those assholes her address, no matter if it’ll make them salivate because she lives in a good part of the city. There’s a possibility, based on what you’ve told me, that this Kelly chick could blow Alexis off, but there’s just as good of a chance that she’d go for it. As long as Alexis plays it cool, doesn’t seem too eager, it might actually work. Lord knows we have dick on the gang right now. We can’t even prove the Inca Boyz were behind my accident, even though we both know they were. But my question is, Why would Alexis want to put herself in the line of fire like this? What’s in it for her?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure,” Blake answered. “I’ve thought about that too. I think it has to do partly with the way she was treated in high school. People were her friends because she had money, not because of who she was, and she contributed to that by throwing more money at them. She told me today that she wants to make a positive contribution to the world, and that working with us was helping her feel as if she was doing that. Giving her a purpose. Not only that, but I’m assuming her brother is also a motivational factor too. He was also victimized by the Inca Boyz. She knows what it’s like being a victim and wants to prevent it from happening to anyone else.”
“She knows what it’s like being a victim?” Logan asked, his eyes narrowing in concern as he looked at his brother.
He didn’t want to share anything that he’d been told in confidence. Even though Alexis hadn’t asked him not to tell his brothers, it felt like something he shouldn’t share without her express permission. “Yeah. Her teen years were tough” was all he said. The more he thought about the position Alexis was willingly putting herself in, the more he was amazed. The bravery she was showing in her desire to help take down the gang, despite the risk to herself, was both crazy and admirable.
“Okay, you asked for my thoughts,” Logan said. “Is it dangerous? Yes. Are there risks? We both know there are. Could she pull it off? You’d know that better than I would, but I’m thinking it’s likely. Would it be helpful? Yes. But you were absolutely right in that she shouldn’t do anything without your knowledge—without our knowledge. This is dangerous as shit, and she’d be an idiot to try to go undercover on her own. And, if for some reason you can’t be on her when she meets with Kelly, you know me or Nathan would gladly do it. You have her back, and we’ll have yours. Period.”
Blake breathed out a sigh of relief. That’s what he wanted to hear. “Thanks, Bro. I appreciate that.”
“Never doubt it, Blake. The Grant family might not be high on my list of people I want to be best friends with, but I know they got swept up into Grace’s parents’ plan and were just as shocked and horrified about what happened to Grace as I was. And, more importantly, I trust you. If you tell me that Alexis is on the up-and-up and can handle this, then she can.”
“Again, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did you get pictures of my nephews today?” Blake asked, breaking the tension.
“Is the pope Catholic?” Logan asked, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.
Chapter Four
Two weeks later, Alexis was sitting in a car outside a Walmart in northeast Denver . . . right in the middle of Inca Boyz territory. She’d spent a week stalking Kelly, first online, monitoring Twitter for hashtags related to gangs and searching for keywords on Google, then as Kelly went about her business in the rough part of Denver the gang was known to frequent. She learned which stores the woman liked to shop in and came up with somewhat of a schedule. Kelly was extremely predictable, going to Walmart almost every afternoon.
Alexis had no idea what in the world the woman had to buy every day but figured she was probably buying things for the gang . . . alcohol, cigarettes, ammunition, and who knew what else. Gross and disturbing visions of ropes, shovels, duct tape, and condoms also came to mind.
“Whatever you do, don’t fiddle with the wire,” Blake lectured for the millionth time. “I know it’s uncomfortable, but she’ll clock it a mile away if you can’t keep your hands off it or if you fidget. If you can approach her, do it, but if it doesn’t look like it’s going to work, back off and we’ll make the approach another day.”
“I know, Blake. Jeez. Back off already,” Alexis scowled at him. “I might not like having this shit taped between my tits, but I’m not going to play with myself in the middle of Walmart. Give me some credit here.”
At least he looked a little contrite when he said, “Right. Go on then. Let’s get this done. I’ll be listening out here. If anything goes wrong, just say the code word, and I’ll be there in less than a minute.”
Alexis nodded. “I will. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to be a superhero. I’ll leave that to you and your brothers.” And she would. Even though it’d been years ago, she remembered every second of lying on the disgusting floor of the boys�
�� locker room when she was fourteen and being kicked over and over. She knew no one was going to burst into the locker room to help her back then. She’d been on her own. Even though she was technically on her own once she got out of Blake’s car . . . she wasn’t really. All she had to say was “I gotta go,” and Blake would come running.
She was wearing a brand-new, expensive outfit. One that screamed “I have money. Lots of it.” The blouse was silk, a dark-maroon color, and had a scoop neck in the front and back. She was wearing the two-carat diamond studs her mom had given her for a graduation present. They were too big and ostentatious for her taste, so she’d only worn them once, but her mom had meant well. Alexis paired the shirt with a gray pencil skirt with ruffles at the bottom that brushed her knees. It was sexy, but not overly so. For the first time in years she’d worn a pair of heels double the height of her usual two-inch ones. They were Christian Louboutins, and she’d balked at purchasing them. They were ridiculously expensive, but Blake had argued that Kelly would most likely know what they were at a glance, which would only help their cause.
Alexis wouldn’t admit it, but she felt really sexy in the outfit . . . even if it was only for show. The heels accentuated the muscles in her calves and although she wasn’t super skinny, the clothes highlighted her good points and camouflaged her bad ones. She’d had her hair done that morning into a fancy updo, with wisps of hair brushing the sides of her face, and had gone heavy on her makeup.
When Blake had first laid eyes on her when he arrived at her apartment to pick her up, he’d stared at her for a long moment, his eyes going from her hair to her face, pausing slightly at her chest and hips, then continuing down her legs to her feet. She swore she could almost feel his eyes physically caressing her as she stood in front of him, letting him look his fill. She thought she’d seen lust in his eyes, but whatever she thought she’d seen was replaced by a look of casual friendship moments later. He’d merely nodded hello and turned his attention to the street in front of him as he’d started the car and taken off toward Walmart. Darn it.