NAC & The Holly Group - Box set: Alpha Team

by Chelsea Handcock

“I should have discarded you in the first dumpster I saw after I gave birth to your worthless, fat ass. You’ve been nothing but trouble since your first, fucking breath, you ungrateful, little troll. As for Sebastian that boy always did have potential. He had a bit of a mean streak if I remember correctly, he just needed the right mentor. I hear the Upper Peninsula is quite a sight this time of year. Think I might take myself a little vacation to check out the scenery myself.”

  Now Peyton was scared. Bastian and his team lived in the Upper Peninsula. There was no reason for Judy for know anything about Bastian. She wanted to think the evil woman was just blowing smoke, trying to get her way, but with the phone call earlier from Bastian and now Judy showing up, it couldn’t all be a coincidence. Something was going on, and it wasn’t good. Peyton didn’t close the door like she should, she needed to hear what Judy knew. Or at least, let the woman talk, so she had some way of figuring out what was going on.

  “Frank was always a talkative drunk. A couple bottles of whiskey and a few of my more impressive moves,” she emphasized that statement, moving her hips in a gross way.

  Peyton was surprised her coffee was staying in her stomach.

  “Maybe you should take some pointers, little girl. Give a man what he wants, and they’ll give you what you need.” Judy shook her head, “Tsk tsk tsk,” looking Peyton up and down, “then again, you would need a hell of a lot of booze and a plastic surgeon to get anything from a man. Me, on the other hand, it was as easy as taking candy from a baby. The man couldn’t tell me enough. It was actually one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever done. Frankie was always a good mark.”

  Judy preened like a proud peacock; the woman thought she had a talent. Peyton knew better, she chose men who were like her—out for themselves. Judy played right into it, giving them what they thought they wanted—sex, drugs, and anything else—to meet her end goal. But what Peyton couldn’t figure out was why, after all these years, was she bringing Bastian into this little battle between them? Sure, he was someone Peyton cared about, and it would kill her for him to be hurt in any way, but he was also a grown man with enough training to cover his own ass. Not to mention, he had a whole team backing him up. Judy wanted something more than money, of that, Peyton was sure. This little confrontation had lasted way too long, but at least it had not been nearly as violent as they had been in the past.

  “What could you possibly want with Sebastian, Judy? He’s an ordinary guy; too young for your marriage game, and to my knowledge, he doesn’t have enough money to warrant your attention. I know this is just your lame attempt to get more money from me. You don’t even want Sebastian. Sorry, your tactics aren’t going to work this time, Judy.”

  “You are positively laughable, little girl. Your antics are getting rather tiresome. I guess option two is all I have left. Time to get reacquainted with my stepson. I heard he filled out and is even better looking now. I also heard he really likes a particular club. Did you know your precious Bastian is into deviant acts? Of course, prissy little Peyton doesn’t,” Judy said with a mocking tone. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re as virginal as the day you were born. You are so pathetic. You wouldn’t understand the needs of a real man or woman for that matter. No worries though, I know exactly what a man like Sebastian needs and wants in his women. I’ve got to say, it didn’t surprise me all that much, he always did like his discipline.”

  The woman standing before her made Peyton sick. She actually thought she had a chance with a man half her age or Bastian would even give her the time of day. Who was the delusional one? But fuck, she knew more about Bastian than Peyton had thought. Knowing a general location was one thing, but knowing about his club was another. It might seem a bit weird, but Peyton had learned things about her brother over the years. One of them was he liked to play in the BDSM scene. That information came to her by accident. She had developed a new program which could track a person’s whereabouts using facial recognition, and she had wanted to test it out. Since she had a limited number of people who she had regular contact with, it was only logical for her to use Bastian, but what Peyton found wasn’t something she expected. She figured she would get him running errands, like going to the store or gas station. She was even prepared to have him going to bars and what not. She wasn’t prepared for the ‘Club’.

  Her program was pretty precise; once she had a general location, it started looking for the person she input. Nothing was off limits—security cameras, phones, social networks. Anything the program could piggyback on, it followed. This time though, she got more than she bargained for. She was able to follow Bastian right into the Club and what she saw shocked the crap out of her. Whips, chains, and floggers. Oh, shit was all Peyton could think. It intrigued her at first, then she realized it was her brother and that gave her the heebie-jeebies. No way did she ever want to think of him having sex, let alone what he liked to do while he was having it, so she cut the feed. The fact Judy knew this information, too, wasn’t good for any of them.

  Peyton would pay to have someone at Bastian’s club put this horrid woman in restraints and whip her ass. The bitch would probably like it though. She would never let Judy within a hundred miles of Bastian. All she could do now was get as much information from the bitch as possible. Peyton remembered all too well the only way to get Judy to lose control was to question her ability to con a mark. More precisely, question her beauty and bring up her age. At one time, the bitch was beautiful, but years of hard living, drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol had really taken their toll. Judy looked her age. Even the Botox she had injected wasn’t helping her gaunt, aged vestige.

  “Oh, Judy, do you really think you could attract a man like Bastian? I mean he is, what, half your age? And from the looks we get when we go out, he doesn't lack in appreciation or attention like the guys you like to get your hooks into. Do you really think he would go for a used up, has been like you?” Peyton really needed to get this over with because Judy was starting to lose it. She could see it in her stance and the venom in her eyes.

  “Why, you little cunt. Unlike you, I’ve never had a problem getting a man’s attention, and Bastian won’t be any different. Shoot, I might even make him your next step-daddy. Although you’re right, he really isn’t the caliber of man I’m looking for. But hey, a girl has to do what a girl has to do, right? Do I really need to get him involved for me to get my money? Well, do I?”

  Yeah, now they were getting somewhere. Judy never could keep her mouth shut.

  “Remember, Frank, your step-daddy? He’s given me all the information I could ever need to sew this up, including dear old Sebastian’s whereabouts, and I have just the man in mind to pay him a little visit if required. I figured being the generous person I am, I would give you the option of keeping him under wraps. But alas, you’re not the daughter I raised, only thinking of herself and not her family.” The woman had the gall to look down at her feet, shaking her head like Peyton was the scum of the earth, instead of her.

  “Such a pity, Peyton, I should have known your selfishness would take over. See, unlike you, I always have a backup plan,” Judy said with a cackle. “So, the choice is yours. Either pay up, or I’ll give the information I already have to my man. And believe me, he will definitely fulfill his end of the deal. Then again, if I accept his terms, I wouldn’t have to deal with your fat ass anymore. Maybe it’s a win-win for both of us. You’re really quite pathetic. Does your precious Bastian know you’ve been having all those nasty little thoughts about him? He never did give you the time of day beyond the little sister aspect. I think he felt sorry for you. You were always a fat, ugly, little girl with no friends. Why else would he have wasted his time on such a pathetic little girl? How does it feel to know the only person on this planet who gives you any attention would never touch you, even with a ten-foot pole? Shoot, he didn’t even try to pity fuck you with a bag over your head, and from what I heard, he was quite the active teenager. Too bad! But that’s okay, I gave you your chance. Now, if someth
ing happens to him, it will be all on you.”

  God, the woman was delusional. She wouldn’t know what to do with a familial relationship, let alone friendship, if it smacked her in the face. Her life revolved around getting what she wanted and that always included sex. So, Peyton and Bastian having a brother-sister relationship would never register in Judy’s mind. To her, it was something seedy and wrong. Peyton would never change her, and she didn’t even want to try. Those days ended years ago when she still was young and idealistic.

  “You never did get what a real relationship is, did you, Judy? I don’t have nor have I ever had romantic feelings for Sebastian. He is my brother, nothing more. If giving you some cash keeps you out of both of our lives, I’ll happily pay. But you’re going to have to wait. I won’t be getting paid for the last group of dogs until the end of the month. If you wait that long, I’ll give you fifteen thousand, but you have to promise to leave him alone. Do we have a deal?”

  Peyton could see the greed in Judy’s eyes. However, she wasn’t stupid enough to think that by offering to pay her, it would deter Judy in any way. Her mother would give this mysterious man any and all information she had about Bastian. Peyton was hoping she had enough time to figure out who that man was and why he wanted it.

  “Why, of course, honey. If you would’ve said that to begin with, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this drama. But I want a down payment, say twenty-five hundred, in the next two days. See, I’m not unreasonable. And, oh, little chick, I don’t buy the bullshit you’re spouting about Sebastian being your brother and nothing else, unless you’re blind or a lesbian,” Judy said, looking at Peyton, moving her eyes up and down Peyton’s body. “Actually, that makes sense. Sorry to say, sweetie, but you wouldn’t be the lipstick part of a lesbian relationship, either. You might want to think about spending a little less time with those mutts. You’re starting to look just like them, not to mention smell like them,” she said, pinching her nose.

  It should bother her, but this was typical Judy, and Peyton knew she wasn’t quite done with her little speech. Peyton needed this conversation to be over. She wanted her mother gone, so she adapted the tried and true, acting weak like her mother always liked.

  “Okay, give me your contact information, and I’ll get you the twenty-five hundred, or do you want me to deposit it in your account like the payment you got last week?”

  “No, I’ll be back to get my money. I don’t think I can trust you anymore with all that sass you’ve been pushing. Don’t push me again, Peyton. I’ll be back in two days. If you don’t have my down payment, and you're just buying time, think again. I heard the Upper Peninsula is a beautiful place to visit, especially this time of year. Who knows, I might need to get my wilderness on.”

  “I’ll have your money, Judy.”

  Chapter 4

  Peyton slammed the door, then pulled the small curtain aside, so she could watch her pseudo-mother leave. Zeus had moved out of sight. Peyton knew he was close, but was happy he decided to hide, she didn’t want her mother to see him. The woman was trash with a capital T, and she knew, without a doubt, Judy Carlson would be collecting not only the money she had promised her, but also the money her mark agreed to pay for Sebastian’s whereabouts. Peyton needed to figure out what the hell was going on and who wanted Bastian. The best way to do that was to get on her computer. Peyton always watched Judy, and when she couldn’t do it, several of her online friends did it for her. She had been so preoccupied with adoptions and training, she let Judy sneak up on her. That couldn’t happen again, she couldn’t be so careless in the future.

  Once Judy’s car was out of sight, Peyton called in her dogs and got to work. She needed to try to figure out what Judy’s end game was and the best way to do that was to track her. Peyton had a lot of experience with tracking people down. Once she had concrete information, she would let Bastian know what was going on. Until then, she needed to keep this on the down-low. He had enough on his mind and didn’t need to worry about Judy that was Peyton’s job.

  After hours on the Web, hacking into cameras and talking with some trusted network friends, Peyton had an image of the guy Judy had been dealing with most recently. He had to be the man who wanted Bastian and his friends’ whereabouts. Peyton decided she would follow up on that lead after she paid a little visit to her old step-daddy, Frank. He wasn’t the only one who talked after drinking too much. That was one thing Judy spouted off about when it came to good old Frank. Anything she wanted to know she would just get him nice and drunk and the man was an open book. The other thing he was money hungry if the asshole knew there was a buck to be made, he didn’t hold back. He would be all for giving up what Judy said to him. Peyton was also sure if the offer was sweet enough, the man would give up his son. She hoped Judy wasn’t able to sweeten the pot that much, yet. Judy was still looking for money, so Peyton felt she had some time to continue her little investigation. The only good thing about the guy was he was predictable. That’s how Judy got to him in the first place and how Peyton would get to him this time.

  The man's name was Frank Frost, and he was a creature of habit. He frequented a seedy, local strip club, The Bush Company, every Friday night like clockwork. Even her mother couldn’t get him to break the habit. A few strokes of her keyboard proved he was still very much the same predictable Frank. Peyton needed to know what her mother had spilled during their recent reconciliation. The shiver of repulsion which went up her spine was only a glimpse of what was to come.

  Peyton decided that dressing in the sluttiest outfit she could come up with—which was quite the task because Peyton didn’t own slutty clothes—was the route she needed to take. She managed to cut up a pair of old, way too tight jeans to resemble daisy dukes and put on a spaghetti strap tank top which had shrunk in the wash, and she hadn’t gotten around to throwing away. Then, it was only a matter of channeling her mother. She teased her hair within an inch of its life and put on half a bottle of hairspray to keep it from moving. The makeup was easy. Whereas Peyton often went without any at all, this Peyton went to the opposite extreme, a little beyond too much; deep, dark red lipstick, a shade Peyton would never consider wearing, (a free sample in the mail) and deep, dark eye shadow. She was going for a smoky eye, but it looked more like a drunken night gone badly. It was perfect for what she was going for, whorish to the hilt with a little desperation mixed in, just the type of woman Frank Frost went for. Yuck.

  Peyton got into her Jeep and headed to The Bush Club to meet up with Frank Frost. It was only about two hours away, unfortunately, giving Peyton time to think about the past, a subject she tried her hardest to stay away from. She hadn’t had a happy ideal childhood like most kids had. Hers was a mix of pain, humiliation, and staying out of the way. When Judy decided she needed to lie low for a while, more than likely hiding out from the law or a mark who had it out for her, she just changed her name and got married yet again. Peyton was pretty sure Judy was a bigamist at least ten times over, but since she changed her name so often, the law never caught up with her. Judy just left, never divorced or anything else. When she was done, she was done. Peyton really needed to get that information to the right people and be done with all of this crap, but something always held her back.

  Judy liked to alternate the type of men she picked. She would choose a thug, then immediately go for an average guy to lie low, living in suburbia with a lovely little family for a cover, and it worked exceedingly well. No one suspected Suzy Homemaker was really the devil in disguise. As long as the husband in the little illusion was happy and the kids presented as well-groomed and polite, people generally turned the other way. Peyton had at least thirteen step-daddies and those were only the ones she could remember. Judy would catch them and for a couple of months, if the marks were good guys, things would be pretty standard—breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table, clean house and clothes, and Peyton would get to go to school. It never lasted long though.

  The times in between the ‘marriag
es’ consisted of no-tell motels, bags of chips for dinner if she could scrounge up enough change to buy one, and countless hours in a library because schools created a paper trail. That was the easy part. The hard part was hiding because of the numerous friends her mother often invited to wherever they were staying. These so-called friends were anything but, and they scared Peyton, especially when she got older, and the men started paying more and more attention to her.

  Peyton didn’t even find out what her last name was for sure until the state took over her care at the age of thirteen. Oh God, thirteen was one of the worst and best years of her life. Judy had hooked up with a bastard of a man named Butch. He was a long-haul driver, so Judy could spend his money, and Peyton liked that she had free run of the man’s house. What Peyton didn’t like was that Butch seemed to like her a little too much. More shivers.

  It all started pretty innocent, actually; hugs that lasted a little too long, little touches here and there, and presents for only Peyton when he got back from one of his jobs. Judy's jealous nature couldn’t handle the attention Butch was giving Peyton, and she often took it out on Peyton. Judy was even meaner than usual—locking her in her room, refusing Peyton food or the use of the bathroom, even making her sleep with the dogs in the back yard when she had her parties. A couple of months in, with Butch getting more aggressive towards Peyton, Judy told her to put out for the man. At least then, she would be good for something. Peyton had been so scared. To this day the hum of a diesel engine could send her into panic mode. It was one of the reasons she stayed way out in the country; no diesel trucks could go unnoticed coming up her dirt road.

  Scared and sickly because of her mother’s treatment, Peyton was ill prepared for Butch one night when he managed to get in her room. Not that she could have done much with her scrawny thirteen-year-old body, but she would have, at the very least, had some type of weapon available. Thinking about it later, Peyton realized Judy always locked her door from the outside, so Peyton had to assume she gave the man the key and left the house. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did, and it also hurt more than the injuries that night. She knew without a shadow of a doubt Judy had no love for her and never would. That’s a pretty hard pill to swallow for a kid who had nothing but the hope her life would one day turn around.