The Arrogant Thief

by Mallory Crowe

  She cleaned herself off the best she could in the sink, but after looking at the state of the shower, she decided to wait it out another day before she got the chance to truly feel clean. After toughly looking under the sheets for any sign of bed bugs, she gave it the all clear and climbed under the covers. She stayed in her jeans and T-shirt, as if the extra layer would protect her from bed bugs. The room might be below her standards, but it was warm, and she was so tired that even this mattress was a relief to lie down on.

  Even being so tired, sleep didn’t come easy. Her mind drifted in and out of consciousness, bombarded with thoughts of Gage and Josh and her family and what she was going to do going forward. Had she quit her job? She had driven off without giving any warning to her bosses. She’d been an emotional train wreck, totally out of control. She couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. If it had ever happened.

  Even when her brother had come home, she’d kept it together, and that was crazy. Not only learning he was alive, but reconciling the fact that he was going to take Josh from her on top of the fact that he was almost immediately screwing her best friend. Okay, that wasn’t fair. He and Liv were obviously in love, and he hadn’t taken Josh from her. Peter would’ve never kicked her out, and considering he now had a ten-year-old kid he hadn’t seen since he faked his death, he could’ve used all the help he could get.

  But staying had just seemed wrong. Peter needed a chance to bond with his son. He and Liv needed a chance to learn how to be a family. She was just in the way.

  Working with Scott and Toni just made sense. Getting out of her tiny hometown. Working a job full of adventure and adrenaline, even if her inexperienced ass wasn’t the one doing any of the heavy lifting. She was getting good pay for relatively easy work and getting the chance to travel the country and live in mansions and seeing things she never dreamed she’d see.

  So why did Gage throw her happiness so far off-kilter? And the worst thing about it was that he didn’t make her miserable. If anything, he was the best thing about her new job. As stupid as that was, the savings account, the travel, and the glamorous arrangements paled in comparison to how her heart quickened whenever she found out that he would be coming on jobs with her.

  But really, it wasn’t her fault. She was only human. And Gage... well, he was something else. She always assumed that tall, dark, and handsome was her type, but Gage broke all the molds. He was tall, sure, but his blond hair somehow highlighted all his glorious features to their best advantage. Depending on the job, she’d seen him clean-shaven or with his preferred few days of stubble, and she honestly couldn’t figure out which one made him more handsome. With the stubble, it gave him a rough edge and hinted just a bit at the darkness within. When he was clean-shaven, she was able to see all his features that much better. The perfect jawline, the full lips that just wanted to be kissed, his bright blue eyes shining. Well, the eyes never stopped shining. And every time he looked in her direction, she could swear he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

  But she was wrong. He had a girlfriend. God, that seemed so high school. And since when was he the boyfriend type? He’d never seemed like the type to do anything traditionally. That was half the reason she’d never made a pass at him. She couldn’t imagine him ever settling down for someone like her. So utterly normal and... boring. Sure, now that she worked with him, she was a tad more interesting. But you could take the girl out of the comfortable family life, but you couldn’t take the family life out of the girl.

  As much as she wanted Gage, she still wanted a piece of her old life back. A comfortable house, a husband, and hopefully one day she’d have a child of her own. Actually hers and not someone whose father would mysteriously come back from the dead and have a happy reunion with his son.

  She was still young, so it didn’t have to happen tomorrow. But someday she could have her own Josh....

  And if that wasn’t enough, Gage had spent years working under her brother. She didn’t know much about the bro code, but she was pretty sure employees didn’t screw the boss’s sister.

  She didn’t know much about his time with Peter. All her brother had told her was that everyone was blackmailed into employment by a son of a bitch named Sterling. Peter was forced to keep up the death ruse so former enemies wouldn’t know he was alive and try to get revenge through Josh. She didn’t know what they’d had on Gage. She never asked, and he’d never offered up the information.

  She supposed it didn’t really matter, but her curiosity still got the better of her sometimes.

  Rolling over, she closed her eyes. She didn’t look at the clock because she didn’t want to know what time it was. She just wanted a little more shut-eye, and then she could get up and go home. Maybe she’d ask Peter what the deal with Gage was. Would he know that she was interested in his colleague? Would he be upset? Maybe he was just a normal unobservant dude....

  Yeah, that wasn’t likely.

  Rolling over once more, she squeezed her eyes shut tighter, willing sleep to come. It was then she heard it. Someone walking outside the door.

  Melissa’s eyes popped open, but she didn’t move. It was probably someone checking in to a room super late. No big deal. The walls were so thin, it was hardly surprising to hear things happening outside.

  There was a scratching, and this time it was definitely coming from outside her door. Not just someone walking, but as if someone were inserting a key.

  This time, Melissa shot up in bed and looked toward the noise, willing it to go away. The scratching kept up. If they had a key, the door would be open by now, right? Maybe they were at the wrong door. Soon they’d realize their mistake and go away....

  The door pushed in, and Melissa freaked out. She jumped off the bed and ran toward the back of the room as the sound of breaking wood filled the room. She glanced back to see the dead bolt hanging uselessly from the frame as a flashlight beam scanned the room. She kept going and didn’t turn back until she had some sort of weapon. But on short notice, the first thing she grabbed was the empty coffeepot before she turned to face the intruders.

  There were three people, all dressed in black and silhouetted against the parking lot lighting outside. There was no way she could fight off three people. Hell, with her lack of experience, she’d be lucky if she could take one. She raised the probably very unthreatening coffeepot and aimed it at them. “Stay away,” she ordered.

  “Don’t make this difficult,” said one of the people. She couldn’t tell which, but it was definitely a masculine voice. Then they moved, and two of them pointed something at her. She didn’t need night vision to understand what they were aiming in her direction.

  She took a deep swallow and faced the facts that she couldn’t fight off two guns. Three, assuming the very real possibility that they were all packing. She could surrender or.... She hurled the coffeepot at one of the people and turned on her heel as she tried to get to the bathroom to lock the door. It was the desperate plan of a desperate person, but it never had a chance of succeeding.

  Before her bare feet even touched the bathroom tiles, something big and strong wrapped around her neck. As the guy pulled her close and applied more pressure on her neck, she kicked and scratched and struggled as hard as she could. But it was only a matter of time before the world got darker, and then she didn’t feel anything.

  Gage pulled into the little motel and braced himself. He was sure the next few minutes weren’t going to go great for anyone. Melissa had to still be mad at him. He’d slowed down on the trying to call her, but he’d still been dialing her cell every hour or so. If there was a chance in hell that she’d forgiven him, she would’ve called him back, right? Or at least texted.

  It had been so long since he’d had a woman angry at him, he didn’t know what to do. If a guy was pissed at him, his options were easy. Prove he was right or punch the guy and get the fuck out of there.

  Neither of those options really worked with Melissa. He couldn’t prove he was right becaus
e he wasn’t sure he was. He knew he didn’t really owe her anything. He hadn’t kissed her in the first place, and it wasn’t as if he were supposed to get her permission before he hooked up with anyone.

  But he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that there was something between them. And he knew it wasn’t one-sided. Just... complicated.

  And he’d fucking kissed her back. He winced at the thought and focused on the present. Not much he could do right now about the past. He could stop at the front desk and get the room number from them, but he didn’t want to be noticed. Instead, he drove around the parking lot until he spotted the rental car she’d taken from the bed-and-breakfast. It was a half full lot at best, so it was a good guess that the door she was parked right in front of was the room she was in. He pulled his SUV in next to hers and put the car in park. After taking a deep breath, he didn’t waste any time as he got out of the car and approached her door, ready to pound loud enough that she had no excuse not to answer. He didn’t care whether he caused a scene, as long as he got a chance to talk to her. Or at least swipe her keys so she didn’t have a chance to run from him again.

  But mental alarm bells went off as soon as he approached. Something bad had happened here. The door was slightly open. Not enough to see from far away, but as he approached, he could see someone had kicked open the door, rendering the dead bolt useless. The splintered wood made the door impossible to close because the frame was bent off the wall and hanging out of place. He reached in his belt holster and removed his nine-millimeter Glock before kicking the door in.

  A loud squeaking noise more than announced his presence as the door slowly swung inward. He braced himself for any gunfire, but the dark room inside was silent.

  “Melissa?” He stepped inside. This was a bad decision. He had no backup and could barely see anything inside except for the light that was let in from the parking lot. It was four thirty in the morning, so the sun wasn’t even close to being up yet, and the out-of-sight moon wasn’t helping at all. But the light from the parking lot shone over a coffeepot lying on the floor in the entryway. Not broken, but sending off all kinds of bad omens. The coffeemaker was at the edge of the dresser all the way on the other side of the room. It had either fallen or was thrown. Considering the door, he assumed it was the latter.

  Gage edged farther into the room. “If anyone is here, show yourself now,” he warned. Unsurprisingly, there was no answer. He made it to the back of the room and turned in to the bathroom, which was also empty. Melissa wasn’t here, but her car was. Fuck.

  He started to flip on lights as he looked for any clues he could find. Her cell phone was on the charger next to the bed, and a full duffel bag was next to the door. He kept the panic at bay and instead took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed, blankets thrown back as though someone had just gotten out of bed. He ran a hand on the sheets and thought that Melissa had just been here. Had she been sleeping when the room had been broken into? Had they woken her up, standing right above her? Had she been hiding somewhere in the room?

  No. The coffeepot proved she was a fighter. Who the hell had done this? It wasn’t as though Melissa had a list of enemies. But everyone around her had a list of prices on their heads. Her brother, Toni and Scott.... Him. God, this was a mess. He stood and looked around the room. Kidnapping made everything more complex. If whoever did this wanted to send a message, why not kill her now? No, kidnapping meant they wanted something. Melissa didn’t know too much about the inner operations, so it wasn’t as if they wanted something from her. They wanted something from someone else. Her being taken was leverage for someone.

  Before long, they’d make themselves known. He had to call Hart. Whatever was happening with Hunter would have to be put on hold. This was one of their own in danger. They needed to protect her. Besides, if they didn’t and she was injured in any way, Slade would never forgive anyone. And her brother wasn’t the type anyone needed as an enemy.

  He picked up his cell to call Hart and tell him the news, but he was interrupted by a different phone. He turned and stared skeptically at Melissa’s phone, which buzzed on the nightstand. He took two big steps to look at the unknown number. Without waiting any longer, he answered but didn’t say anything as he brought the phone to his ear. He set his own phone to record audio and brought it close to her cell.

  After a few seconds of silence, a voice on the other end said, “Is this Gage Triton?”

  He debated not answering but knew that wasn’t an option. “Who is this?”

  “If you want to see the girl, your instructions are simple. On the bathroom sink is a glass of water. Drink it.”

  He looked over his shoulder and saw that there was a small clear glass about half full with liquid. “Why would I do that?”

  “If you want to see the girl, drink.”

  That wasn’t helpful. “I need proof that she’s alive.” The wording was odd. The drink would either kill him or knock him out. Did they mean he’d see Melissa in the afterlife or in real life? Big difference. He wouldn’t mind taking a chance when it came to Melissa, and he was damn sure not going to do anything to put her in more danger. But there wasn’t a lot he could do to help her if he was dead.

  “If you want the girl, drink.”

  “I’m not going to kill myself for no reason. Make me think I’ll survive.”

  “You have my word.”

  “Well, that’s so nice of you to offer. Want to give me a name so I know who I’m trusting?”

  “If you want to see the girl—”

  “Yeah, I got it, thanks.” He threw the phone on the bed without hanging up, took a few long strides to the sink, and downed the contents in one big gulp. The water was bitter and wasn’t trying to fool anyone. He’d definitely drugged himself. He got back to the phone and bit out, “Now what?”

  “We’re watching your phone. Don’t ask anyone for help. We know you called the girl twenty-two times tonight.”

  He blinked a few times, the drugs already getting to him. “What did Melissa do to get involved with this?”

  “She knows you.” The man on the other end hung up.

  His head started to spin as he stared at the phone. “Hey!” he shouted into the now disconnected call. He sat down as the dizziness got worse. He should tell someone. They said they were watching his phone, but what about hers? That didn’t matter. Now that they had her, it would be easy to get eyes on her phone activity. Well, easy for him, but doable for anyone else who knew their way around technology. He fell back against the bed and didn’t reach for a phone. He was going this far to protect Melissa. Why not go all the way?

  It was the last thought he had as the drugs took over. He could only hope, for Melissa’s sake, that he’d wake up again.

  Melissa woke up on a bed. A surprisingly comfortable bed compared to the one she remembered. Rolling over and pulling the covers closer to her, she wiggled into the mattress. Maybe a good night’s sleep was all she needed. It could make the most cardboard of cardboard mattresses feel amazing.

  But then it all came back to her. She hadn’t just gone to sleep at the motel and—

  Melissa bolted up in bed and looked around her. The bedroom wasn’t really a bedroom at all. She was lying in a king-sized bed, but the room was windowless, with a concrete floor and cinderblock walls. She stepped onto the shockingly cold floor and crossed to the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. She pounded her fists against the door, and it didn’t give at all. She wasn’t about to use brute strength to push it down.

  Taking another tack, she turned around and studied the room carefully, but nothing gave her hope. There wasn’t a window she could break or weak spot she could exploit. Letting out a sigh, she went back to the bed before her feet froze on the cold ground. The room was rather big, maybe twenty by twenty feet, but most of that was empty space. There was a table at one side of the room with an outlet close by. Besides that, there was the large bed and that was it. The bed was just a bed frame and mattress, nothing fan
cy. No television or dresser. Wherever they were, it obviously wasn’t a house or hotel or even another shitty inn. Maybe a warehouse or factory of some sort. With no windows to show whether it was daylight or night, she couldn’t even tell how long she’d been out.

  From what she could remember from the chaos of being taken, she hadn’t been drugged. Just had her air cut off until she passed out. She ran her fingers along her throat and thought back to the terror. Not knowing whether she’d ever wake up again. Not knowing who was doing this.

  And at this point, she wasn’t sure she’d ever get any answers.

  She sat back in the bed and pulled the blanket closer, really the only form of protection she had. The only benefit of this featureless room was that she didn’t see a camera pointing right at her. But she wasn’t about to trust her eyes. Her time with Gage had taught her all too well the capabilities of technology. So all she could do now was wait.

  There was no clock, so time didn’t have much meaning. She just stared up at the wall and the ceiling—which looked the same—or she would close her eyes. She didn’t want to sleep. Falling into unconsciousness seemed foolish when her life could be in danger even right then. But the adrenaline wasn’t keeping her awake, and boredom wanted to pull her under.

  She was half asleep when the door to the room pushed open. Just like before, she jumped off the bed and stared in anticipation. There might not be a lot that was useful in the room, but she instinctively grabbed the chair and held it threateningly in front of her as two guys entered. But before she could even attempt to throw it at them, she realized they were dragging someone. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t need to ask them who it was. She’d know that blond hair anytime.

  She dropped the chair immediately. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but her hands seemed to forget to work at the sight of his unconscious body. They dropped him and left the room. The door shut as she knelt next to him. “Gage, can you hear me?” It was a stupid question considering he wasn’t even awake. If there was anything she had learned tonight, it was that she didn’t do well under pressure. Somehow everyone around her made it look easy. At this point, she still couldn’t believe she was alive.