by Sandra Owens
“I know how much you love your brothers, so that’s good enough for me.” She let out a sigh. “I think Nelson’s spying for Ramon and my uncle.”
Smart girl. “That’s one possibility. Is there a reason you think that?”
“Yeah. Here’s my problem. My uncle loaned me the money for my share of the bookstore. Now he’s holding it over my head.”
“How?” That problem was going to be solved soon, but he couldn’t tell her that either.
“He wants me to launder money through the bookstore. I don’t even know how that works. What really upsets me is that he doesn’t seem to care about the risk to Lauren and me. We could go to prison, Alex.”
“No, baby. Not ever going to happen.” He pulled her to him.
“You can’t know that.”
Dammit. He did know it. “You said you trusted me. Do you mean it?” At her nod, he said, “Here’s what we’re going to do. Tell Lauren that you caught Nelson snooping, but you don’t know why. That gives you a good reason to ban him from staying over. If she wants to see him away from the bookstore, that’s her business.” Not that she would be seeing him for long. He’d go down with the Alonzos.
“Good. I was going to talk to her today, anyway. And I already told Ramon I wasn’t going to let him use the bookstore to wash his dirty money.” She frowned. “Do they really wash the money?”
“I think if it’s new bills they do.” He had to be careful not to be too knowledgeable about all this. “Listen, you really need to stand firm with your uncle on that.”
“I know. It’s just that . . . he’s always been intimidating, but I can’t let him force me into risking everything. Ramon didn’t take me seriously when I told him it wasn’t going to happen.”
“Then he’s stupid. I sure wouldn’t mess with you, Grasshopper.” That earned him a smile, which went straight to his heart. He wanted to strip her of those sexy little boxers and pass the morning making love to her, but he needed to talk to her about her father. He hated to pile more on her, but since they were already having a heavy discussion, maybe now was better.
“I’m going to make us a pot of coffee,” he said, pulling on his jeans. “There’s something else we need to talk about.” He leaned down, giving her a kiss, and when she slipped her hand around his neck, her fingers warm on his skin, he almost said to hell with talking.
She pushed him away. “Hurry back.”
While he waited for the pot to brew, his phone buzzed, Court’s name coming up. “Where are you?”
“Madison’s.” Alex peeked around the corner to make sure no one was in the hallway. “She thinks Lopez is spying for the Alonzos. She also said that her uncle wants her to launder money through the bookstore.”
“Not surprised. If nothing else, we now know that if she’s confiding in you, then she’s not involved with them.”
“I’ve always known it.” Almost always, anyway. Maybe he wasn’t sure in the beginning, but it hadn’t taken him long to realize it.
“I’m glad you were right, little brother. Have you talked to her about her father?”
“About to do that.”
“Good. I called to tell you Nate wants you to get her to let us into her father’s study. See if we can turn anything up.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” After hanging up, he headed back to Madison’s room, eyeing Lauren’s closed door. Was Lopez in there? He didn’t like not knowing.
Shutting the door behind him, he held out a cup. “Here you go.”
She took the cup from him. “Thank you, kind sir.”
She sat on the bed, legs stretched out in front of her, and he settled next to her, stuffing a pillow behind his back. While he was gone, she’d dressed in what he thought of as her bookstore clothes—a blouse and pants—and he was sorry for that. It was probably for the best, though. Those little boxer panties messed with his concentration.
“I have about forty-five minutes before I have to go downstairs, and I want to catch Lauren before we open. What did you want to talk about?”
He leaned to the side so that their heads were touching, inhaling her lemony scent, wishing all their problems were dealt with and in the past. All he wanted to do was spend time with her when there were no lies between them, no investigation happening with her family, and no one spying on her. When this was all over, if she was still talking to him, he wanted to take her away for a few days. Just the two of them someplace romantic where they could talk about mundane things instead of drugs and all the other shit they were both dealing with.
“It’s about your father.”
She sucked in a breath, pulling away. “What about him?”
Already, her eyes were pooling with tears, and he’d give anything to not have to tell her. “After you told me it was a hit-and-run, I did a little investigating.” He reached for her hand, enfolding it in his. “Did you ever read the police report or ask for details?”
She shook her head. “Uncle Jose and Ramon came to the house to tell us. The news was devastating, and my mom fell apart. Between my own grief and taking care of her, I never thought to ask. I just knew it was a hit-and-run when he was crossing the street.”
“Who told you that?”
“Uncle Jose. Why?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and Alex wiped them away with his thumb. “Because he wasn’t crossing the street. The accident investigator was able to pinpoint where he was on the sidewalk. He was several feet away from the pavement. There isn’t proof, but the investigator concluded that the car aimed straight for him without trying to stop. There was also a traffic camera, but it was pointed down the street. All it picked up was a fast-moving dark car, could have been green, blue, or black. The license plate was missing, meaning someone removed it so no cameras would pick it up.”
She gave a violent shake of her head. “No. No.”
“I’m sorry, baby. Come here.” She crawled onto his lap, and he held her while she cried. If he had to guess, she’d been too caught up in taking care of her mother to grieve properly. As her warm tears soaked his shoulder, he considered her uncle’s reasons for hiding the truth from her. It could be as simple as protecting Madison and Angelina from knowing someone wanted Michael Parker dead. Or he didn’t want them looking into it too closely, which Alex instinctively thought was the case. And how had the Alonzos known about the accident before Madison and her mother found out? The police would normally contact the next of kin, not their relatives. Another avenue to investigate.
“I drooled on you,” Madison said, her voice muffled as her mouth was pressed against his shoulder.
He smiled into her hair. “Maybe you should give me a bath?”
She made a giggling, sobbing sound. “Men.”
“Yeah, we make inappropriate comments at the worst times, but Mad?” He waited for her to look up at him. “About that bath?” As he’d hoped, she giggled. It was at that moment—when her beautiful green eyes were both teary and sparkling with amusement, and her fiery red hair curled around her face and down her shoulders like some kind of mythical goddess—that his chest ached with the knowledge that he loved her. Knowing that hurt, because his lies were going to tear them apart.
“How did you get the accident report?”
“It’s public record. Anyone could have gotten it.”
“I should have thought to do that.”
“You were told it was a hit-and-run. Why would you question that? You were also grieving. I do wonder how your uncle knew about it before the police notified you.” His theory was that her uncle or Ramon had somehow found out her father was writing a story about them and had ordered a hit.
“I don’t know. I never thought about it.” She leaned back, furrowing her brows. “Alex, I have to know what happened to him. An accident, I could . . . accept. Is that the right word? Is there a right word for losing your father?” She drew circles on his thigh. “But murder?” She looked up at him, her eyes glittering with rage. “I’m going to find the person who k
illed him.”
“We are. Together. Okay?”
“Why? I mean, I’ll take all the help I can get, but I don’t even know exactly what you can do.”
“As to the why, because I care about you, Madison. I want to help if this is important to you.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It’s maybe the most important thing I’ll ever do.”
“I know. As to how I can help, my brothers and I deal with a pretty rough crowd on a daily basis, men who know things most people don’t. We’ve picked up a trick or two here and there. If you’ll allow it, you’ll have the Gentry brothers on your side.”
“I don’t know what to say except for thank you. Are you sure your brothers are okay with you volunteering them?”
“I’m sure. Do you know what your father was working on?”
“No. Like I told you, he was being very secretive. How can we find out?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Nothing,” Madison said after she’d searched her father’s desk. “Either of you find anything?” The last thing Madison wanted was for her mother to know what they were up to, so she’d brought Alex and Court to her mother’s house while Angelina was working at the bookstore.
“Nothing yet,” Court said, his fingers flying over the keys of her father’s computer.
“Nope.” Alex lifted a painting, checking behind it. “Did you get a chance to talk to Lauren this morning?”
“I did and got a nice surprise. She broke up with Nelson. Before I could tell her about his spying, she told me that things had cooled between them, and she decided it was time to end it with him.” She shrugged. “That’s Lauren. She’ll be in love with some other guy next week.”
Court muttered something.
“Pardon?” Court shook his head, and she exchanged a glance with Alex. He shrugged, obviously no more clued in about what was going on between his brother and Lauren than she was. She wondered if Lauren’s breaking up with Nelson had anything to do with Court, because the air definitely crackled whenever Court and Lauren were in the same room together. What she didn’t understand was why they pretended to hate each other.
“Did you tell her about catching Lopez in your office?” Alex asked.
“No, not after finding out they’d broken up. Should I?”
“Probably best not to right now. She might decide to confront him. Better that he doesn’t know we’re on to him yet.”
“That’s what I thought.” She looked around, wondering if her father had a secret hiding place. “Should we look for a loose floorboard or something?”
Alex laughed. “You read too many books.”
Court gave an exasperated grunt. “I’ve tried all the common things he might have used as a password, like birthdates, but no go. Your dad have a pet name for you when you were little?”
“Yeah, he did. When I was really young, he called me his little snuggle bear. Why?”
“Just something else to try.” His fingers moved over the keys, then he glanced up at Alex, and a message seemed to pass between them. “Can I take his computer with me? Work some more on it tonight?”
When she hesitated, Alex said, “You can trust him, Mad.” He came and knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. “Your father’s computer is safe in his hands.” He glanced at Court. “Excuse us a minute.”
“Sure.” Court set the laptop on the desk, then left.
Madison watched him go, marveling again at how much the brothers looked alike. But it was Alex who made her heart race when he focused those black eyes on her, the way he was doing now.
“With everything going on, we really haven’t had a chance to talk about us,” he said. He glanced around the office. “Maybe this isn’t the best place to do it, or maybe it is because I think your father’s spirit is here. From the moment I first saw you I wanted you in my bed. As I got to know you, I knew I wanted you in my life. What I’m saying is that I’m falling hard for you, Madison Parker.”
“Alex—”
“Let me finish. Where you’re concerned, I’ll protect you at all costs, and that goes for my brothers, too. They know how I feel about you, and they know that they’ll have to deal with me if they do anything to hurt you. Trust me, Mad. I’m on your side, and because I am, so are my brothers.”
She wanted to, but she still had that feeling that there was more to him than what he showed her. Yet, she believed he did care for her, and if he was falling for her . . .
Alex squeezed her hands. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”
Everything. If she was right, she was a member of a crime family, Lauren’s boyfriend had spied on them, her father’s death might have been a murder instead of a horrible accident, and, well, she could go on, but that was enough to start.
In spite of the questions she still had about Alex, there was one thing she knew, prayed that she knew. She leaned forward and kissed him. “I trust you,” she whispered against his lips. And she did. Mostly.
“Thank you.” He slipped his hand up to her shoulder, circling his fingers around the back of her neck and his thumb under her chin.
As he deepened the kiss, she cradled his cheek with her palm, his stubble a rough scrape against her skin. A sexy rumble sounded low in his throat, and heat crashed through her. She loved the taste of him, the scent of him, the feel of him.
He chuckled as he pulled away. “Another minute and we’ll be rolling around on the floor.”
“Alex,” she said before he opened the door to let Court back in.
“Yeah?”
“I’m falling for you, too.” It hadn’t been easy to put that out there, making herself vulnerable to him, but the soft smile on his face and the way his eyes warmed reassured her.
He winked. “I know.”
“Arrogant ass.” She threw a pen at him, which he deftly caught, laughing.
Court left with her father’s laptop, and she squeezed her fingernails into her palms to keep from ordering him to give it back, praying her trust in the Gentry brothers wasn’t misplaced.
“Ready to go, Little Snuggle Bear?”
She laughed. “I should have known you’d grab on to that one, the way you like giving me pet names.”
“That’s not all I like giving you.” He tucked her next to him.
“You’re impossible, Biker Boy.” She stuck her fingers into his back pocket as they walked out, leaving the office as they’d found it, minus the laptop in Court’s possession.
Later that night, Madison stared at her window, waiting to hear Alex’s signal even though he’d told her he wouldn’t be coming. It was his night to close the bar, he’d told her, but his eyes had shifted away as he spoke, making her wonder if he was lying. She flipped onto her stomach, punching her fist into her pillow to make an indentation for her face. She’d said she trusted him, so she shut down her suspicions. Questioning his every move wasn’t the kind of woman she wanted to be. Hemingway jumped on the bed and bumped his nose against her head.
“Hey, sweetie. You come to keep me company?” She wished Alex were here, but a warm, purring body was the next best thing.
Alex hated Ramon Alonzo, but maybe he hated Trina more. He hadn’t decided yet. They had no shame, either one of them. At the moment, Trina was humping Ramon’s leg, while her hand was down the man’s unzipped jeans, going at it in Ramon’s billiard room. Alex lined the cue stick up for his next shot, doing his best to ignore their grunting.
Once he had this last name, they would get their arrest warrants, and he couldn’t wait. Supposedly, the deal was a big one. The dealer had called as they were leaving, postponing the meet for an hour, resulting in a bored Ramon and Trina, thus the porno show going on behind him.
All in a day’s work, Heart Man, all in a day’s work. True, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Give him badass biker gangs and Spider all day long over these two sickos.
“Yes! God, yes!”
Wishing he had earplugs to shut out Trina’s scre
ams, Alex hit the cue ball harder than he’d meant to, and sixteen billiard balls bounced around the table, not one of them falling into a side pocket. He straightened, set down the stick, and walked out of the room. At the end of the hallway, he took out his phone, stabbing Nate’s number with his finger.
“I quit,” he said when his brother answered. He scowled at the phone when Nate laughed. “Not funny, bro. These two morons make my skin crawl.”
“Not much longer and you can have the satisfaction of slapping handcuffs on them. Rand phoned, said you hadn’t left yet. I thought you were supposed to be at the meet right now.”
“Postponed for an hour,” he said, keeping an eye on the door to the billiard room. Rand Stevens and Taylor Collins were sitting in a car down the block from Ramon’s house. Ramon had been secretive about where they were going, and Nate had decided to play it safe and have the two FBI agents tail them to the meet.
“We should be leaving soon. Meanwhile, Trina’s humping Ramon’s leg like a damn dog in heat and has her hand stuck down his pants. When I get home, I’m washing out my eyes with bleach.”
“You just call to whine then?”
“Screw you.” Ramon walked out, and Alex disconnected at the sound of more laughter from his brother.
“Who’re you talking to, man?”
Stuffing his phone into his pocket, Alex headed down the hall toward Ramon. “My brother. He wanted to know what time he could expect me to drop off the money.”
“The dude just called. We can head out.”
“Great. Let’s do this.” Alex followed Ramon and Trina to Ramon’s Hummer.
They pulled up in front of a warehouse surrounded by a chain-link fence. A large man with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder stepped out of the shadows, peered into the car, and opened the gate.
“Not liking being closed in like this. You ever been here before?” Alex said after they entered, the gate closing behind them. Even Trina seemed subdued, and that said something.
“Once.” Ramon met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Dude’s a little weird, but he’s cool.”