Fascination

by Samantha Hunter

  “She seems to be tough, smart. Clearly a woman who can handle herself and most anyone else she comes across.”

  “True. And I guess it’s too late for second-guessing now. We’ll just have to be sharp—if anything seems like it’s going down wrong, we’re in there.”

  “I’m ready.”

  Ian eyed his friend, noting the energy that zinged through his usual calm demeanor, the spark in his eye, and smiled. He had no doubt EJ would find a way to join the team—he loved this stuff.

  “Good.”

  “Sarah’s background file?” EJ nodded to the file on the desk and grinned. “Gonna have me worked up, as well?”

  “You I know about. But, yeah, for purposes of keeping the process equal, I’ll be checking out all your dirty little secrets, as well.”

  “Happy reading.”

  “Where’s Millie tonight?”

  EJ visibly tensed. “She’s staying at her sister’s. I sort of mentioned something was going on, and she doesn’t like it, so she did what she usually does—avoids anything that disrupts the way she wants life to be.”

  “Nice if you can do it.”

  “Some folks can afford to.”

  “I take it she’s not a huge supporter of your return to law enforcement then?”

  “Haven’t brought it up to her. Just said I was helping you out.”

  “She likes me, but she never did approve of me—I’ve been a bad influence on you.” Ian laughed but sobered when EJ didn’t. EJ fell into a deep chair across from Ian, elbows planted on his knees, and dropped his head into his hands, obviously struggling with some serious decisions.

  “Yeah, when this is over, I think…shit.”

  “What?” Ian knew what was next but let the conversation spin out on its own.

  “I just think…I don’t know, maybe we should call it off. I haven’t told her about the HotWires thing, but I know she will side with my family when I tell them I’m quitting.”

  Ian perked up. “You are?”

  EJ nodded. “As soon as I figure out how. But Millie has her heart set on a certain kind of life, and I’ve never been sure it’s the life I want. And we just don’t have as much…heat between us as we used to. She’s a wonderful friend, and when we were young I thought she was it for me, but…Hell. I don’t know.”

  “Things change. If the magic’s not there, EJ, you’re doing her as much a favor as you’re doing yourself cutting it off before you have bigger problems and a ring on your finger, a couple of kids in tow.”

  EJ nodded, looking up, quirking a tense smile. “Ha. You’re biased. You want me in this job.”

  “I want you happy. I think we’ve been friends the longest of anyone I’ve known since we moved here. Millie’s great, but, well, you know. I just always wondered if you were in it with her because you wanted to be or because you were expected to be.”

  EJ exhaled heavily, his eyes resigned. “You’re a very perceptive man. It’s going to hurt her, though.”

  Ian stood, slapping him on the shoulder supportively. “You’ll find a way. Life’s too short, Ethan. You’ve done right by everyone for a long time. It’s time for you to start following your own path.”

  EJ sighed. “Things have suddenly gotten very complicated.”

  “That’s what makes life interesting, huh?”

  EJ laughed, as well, standing. “Yeah, something like that. So let’s get the show on the road.”

  SAGE SET HER JAW AND assumed a gunslinger stance, gearing up for her next “rehearsal” with Sarah, who collapsed in laughter as she watched Sage’s antics.

  “Hey, that’s not fair. We’re supposed to be being sexy.”

  “You don’t find cowboys sexy?”

  Sarah groaned and made a “bring it on” gesture with her hands. “C’mon, show me how sexy you are, girlfriend.”

  They were having a great time. Though it had been awkward at first—they were strangers trying to act like they were more than friends—Sarah’s no-nonsense, get-things-done demeanor had taken over, and soon they were brainstorming and role-playing so that they could appear “very close” in front of Locke.

  Sage was having fun and felt more at ease with Sarah than she did even with her own sister. Sarah was just a little bit older than she was, closer to thirty, but she was cool. They joked and chatted in between the role-playing, and soon they were having fun hamming it up as a lesbian version of Thelma and Louise.

  They heard the library door close and Ian’s and EJ’s voices in the hall. Sarah’s eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief, and she darted a look toward the hall, then back at Sage.

  “Wanna mess with the guys?”

  “Always.”

  “Wanna really shock ’em?”

  Sage smiled, knowing what Sarah had in mind, but she felt apprehensive. While she felt comfortable with Sarah, she felt uncomfortable on many levels with this entire situation. Still, they would have to pull this off in front of Locke, so they might as well practice in front of Ian and EJ to see if they were convincing at all. The two women eyed each other with steely purpose in their gazes.

  “I’m game if you are.”

  “Bring it on, sista.”

  IAN AND EJ HEARD ONLY some muffled conversation as they approached the main room, then stopped short in the doorway, their conversation completely cut off as they watched Sage and Sarah “practice.” Ian didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t this.

  The two women were plastered up against each other, their mouths meeting in fluttering little butterfly kisses until Sarah yanked Sage forward and glued her lips onto the other woman’s. Sage petted Sarah’s long hair and pressed herself even closer, seemingly oblivious to the men’s presence.

  Ian wanted to clear his throat, wanted to say something, but his voice had deserted him. He was completely aware they were just practicing so they could be natural in front of Locke, but he was finding himself—a little surprisingly—getting turned on. He had gay friends and he’d seen them kiss, hold hands and what-not and never thought anything of it. But the sight of these two beautiful women kissing was definitely striking up the band. Damn.

  As the kiss lingered and Sage and Sarah gazed sexily at each other, he started wondering if there were some things about Sage he didn’t know after all. Maybe he even felt a little jealous. She looked so…into it. So did Sarah, for that matter. He knew they were supposed to be believable, but it still rattled him, and he had an enormous urge to pull Sage away.

  Not knowing what exactly to make of the situation, he looked to EJ, only to find his friend also staring at the women. Just as Ian was about to hit the panic button, the women burst apart in a gale of laughter, holding their sides in hysterics.

  He and EJ stood still in the doorway as the women took turns doing dramatic bows to each other and to them. A wave of desire passed over him as Sage rose from her bow, her sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks showing a playful side of her he hadn’t seen. She looked like a kid having the time of her life. Her impish gaze met his, and she grinned even more broadly, bowing again.

  He was unprepared for the emotions that rose from his chest into his throat, settling in a lump there, as he realized how truly beautiful she was. He’d always been attracted to her, but when she sparkled like that she was dazzling.

  He could only guess how much more stunning she would be if she were really, truly happy. It opened her up, brightened her like sunshine. What if all the walls, defenses and tough attitudes were abandoned and she let him see her true self? Suddenly he found himself wanting nothing more, and it scared the crap out of him.

  “So were we convincing?” Sarah’s voice, breathless with laughter, cut through the haze Ian found himself in. EJ answered before he could.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Sarah raised her eyebrows at EJ’s admiring tone and grinned widely, bobbing her head and high-fiving Sage.

  “Cool. We’re hot, sista. The boys can barely breathe.”

  “You’ll have him hook, line a
nd sinker.”

  The atmosphere in the room suddenly became serious again as Ian’s comment reminded them of what lay ahead. They all sat down at the table and started going over their plan one more time.

  10

  LOCKE ALWAYS LOVED THIS spot, and thank God it hadn’t changed over the years. Too much was changing and he didn’t like it. Settling back into an old wooden chair at one of the tiny tables that lined the walls of the bar, he placed a ginger ale on the table, peering at the early-evening crowd. Ginger ale was good because it looked like something alcoholic but wasn’t—he needed to blend in to the bar atmosphere, but he liked keeping sharp.

  The usual mix of college students and yuppie couples were all huddled over drinks, books or each other. No one paid attention to anyone else in the small, dim atmosphere of the place. He’d chosen a corner table—it was dark, private and even kind of romantic. After all, part of his goal here was to get his lady back.

  It had been disappointing and aggravating to find LadyBug’s room empty the night before—he’d finally had enough of watching her with the cop and his frustration had gotten the better of him. He hadn’t wanted to wait. But when he’d found her room empty, he’d known he’d been granted a reprieve—it would have blown everything for him to go to her. She had to come to him.

  He wanted her in his bed, yes. And when he had her there, she would forget all about the cop. But he wanted more than that. He wanted her back. Back with him, back in the game. Back to their side of the cause. And he’d figured out just how to keep her with him forever.

  SAGE SAT QUIETLY NEXT to Ian in the car as they drove to the bar. Sarah and EJ were sitting in the backseat, talking, but she didn’t hear a word they were saying, didn’t see anything that was moving past her on the other side of the window as the car sped along. Her hands were numb with nerves and she couldn’t seem to unclench them.

  She wondered what it would be like to have a normal life. A stable, happy life. An image from a magazine she’d been paging through before they’d left—an old white farmhouse with flowers everywhere and children playing in the yard—had called to someplace deep inside of her, and she’d had another one of those unexpected wellings of emotion.

  It reminded her of being a kid, how life was before things got complicated. She’d had a good childhood—it was the last time she could remember being happy. How had that life become so unbearable?

  Questions she’d never considered, things she’d never thought of, were hitting her lately. She loved her family, but at some point she’d felt so smothered by them, she’d just railed against everything. The consequences had been harsh.

  Now things just seemed to be bubbling up within her after being capped for years, and she hated it. But it also made her think about what she wanted from the life that would be at her fingertips if everything went well and her freedom was granted her. Maybe a nice white farmhouse someday? Some kids? She rolled her eyes at the thought. Maybe, as Ray had said, normal wasn’t meant for her.

  Still, she wondered what it would be like. Could you have all that and not lose who you were? She went over her conversation with Ian last night. He’d asked her why she’d done the things she’d done. Had her mother and sister really lost their identities or just forged new ones? What was she so afraid of?

  She had rebelled against everything “normal” when she was growing up, for reasons she couldn’t even begin to understand, but she was getting tired. Tired of fighting all the time, tired of not knowing what the next day was going to be like, what the rest of her life was going to be like. A little stability might be nice, after all.

  She glanced covertly at Ian, who stared straight out at the road. He hadn’t had a normal life either, though certainly a more stable one. One structured by clear rules and definitions of right and wrong. Instead of flouting the rules, he had embraced them, made them part of who he was. In that way, they couldn’t be more different.

  There was a certain level of security in the rules, she guessed. She had never had to worry about where her next meal was coming from or anything like that, but she felt adrift. Unsettled, unsure and, if she was completely honest, unhappy.

  Her life had been so structured for the last five years and so determined by others up to this point—her parents, Locke, the courts—what was to come next? When she was younger she’d thought that was an exciting question, but more and more it was a lonely one. A depressing one. Her future appeared before her as an indefinable blur.

  Sage wrapped her arms around herself, shivering as the AC blasted out from the vents. She suspected the answer was somewhere in the middle—Ian had a hard time breaking the rules and she had a hard time following them. They were at extremes, both butting heads in the middle.

  But at the moment she thought it might not be so bad to have a few rules to hang on to, a few things in life you could count on. Of course, if this thing with Locke blew up in her face, she wouldn’t have to worry about it. The fine state of Virginia would make sure she had all the stability and rules she needed for a very long time.

  “Worried?” Ian’s voice broke into her reverie.

  “No,” she lied.

  “Great. We won’t be far away, and you’ll have Sarah. This is going to go down fine. Remember, all you need to do is get him to agree to take you to his place. If he even so much as gives you the address, that’s all we need.”

  Sage nodded as they pulled up a few streets over from the Blue Shark. She and Sarah would pick up a car they had dropped there earlier and drive to the other street, where the bar was located, just in case Locke was on the lookout. Walking was not an option—he would know they’d been dropped. As Sage reached for the handle to open the car door, she found her hand trapped by Ian’s, his long fingers squeezing hers.

  “Stick with the plan, Sage. Don’t improvise. And we’ll be right here,” he said, his voice steady and confident.

  Sage just nodded, her heart in her throat, as she and Sarah got out of the car. The game was on, and her future was the prize.

  “WHOA. THAT’S HIM?” Sarah whispered in Sage’s ear as they peered through the small window in the door before entering. Sage spotted Locke immediately and her skin turned clammy.

  “Yeah. That’s him.”

  “I’ve heard about his exploits for years. And that’s the man himself.” Sage looked at her, one brow raised at Sarah’s awed tone.

  Sarah smiled self-consciously. “Sorry, he’s sort of a celebrity, even if he is a jerk. Little does he know he’s heading for prison.”

  Sage smirked, studying Locke through the glass for a few moments more. He was wearing black, as always, and had a light beard now.

  “Hey, you going in or are you just gonna peep through the window all night?” A rude voice inquired from behind, and she glared at a bunch of frat boys obviously waiting to gain entrance to the bar. When Sarah and Sage turned around, the guys’ faces lit up in appreciation of finding two good-looking women facing them, and the one who’d spoken leered openly, his voice going from rude to ruder.

  “Come to think of it, you can peep in my windows anytime.”

  Sage saw Sarah’s blue eyes darken dangerously. When she spoke, her voice was soft but cutting.

  “Yeah, well, that’s tempting but to see anything I imagine we’d have to look very, very closely.”

  The ringleader’s face turned crimson as his pals slapped him and laughed at the burn, and he started to respond. Sarah stepped forward, ready to mix it up, but Sage pulled her back toward the door.

  “We don’t have time for this. C’mon.”

  Sarah gave the guys one last dirty look and stepped inside.

  “I hate guys like that. Treat women like pieces of meat. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, no harm done.”

  Sage went over to the bar to order drinks for her and Sarah. She took a sip of a nonalcoholic amaretto sour, then as she turned her head, her eyes immediately met Locke’s dark ones.

  She had thought him handsome at one
point, but now he just looked…cruel. Hard. Scary. Ignoring the slamming of her pulse, she smiled at Sarah and beckoned her to follow.

  As they approached the table and Locke saw she wasn’t alone, his smile faded.

  “Who’s this? You were supposed to come alone.”

  Sage pouted and took another sip of her drink. “That’s a hell of a way to say hello after so long, Locke. And I’m taking a huge risk sneaking out to see you. Sarah helped me, so you should be grateful. But we need to make this quick—if they find I got out, this is over for all of us.”

  His gaze was suspicious. “I said, who is this?”

  Sarah slid down into the chair opposite Locke’s. “I’m Sarah Jessup. I’m a friend of LadyBug’s and a big…fan of yours.”

  Locke’s gaze traveled from Sarah to Sage, and finally Sage sighed dramatically and shot him the sexiest smile she could muster, sliding her hand over Sarah’s shoulder and slipping her forefinger under the thin spaghetti strap of her top.

  “I’m sorry, Locke, but I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw you and I just felt more…secure with Sarah along.”

  A glint of sick satisfaction showed in his expression when she admitted to being afraid of him, the bastard. She should have known that would appeal to him, though he continued to inquire.

  “Why would that be exactly?”

  Sage tilted her head to gaze seductively at Sarah, covering Sarah’s hand with her own. “We’re…close. Sarah is my moral support. Has been for a long time. I figured you’d know that—if you’ve been watching me.”

  Locke’s eyes landed on their clasped hands and his eyebrows arched.

  “I’ve been out of the country. I haven’t been watching for five years, baby girl, I’m a busy man. Besides, I knew where you were. Your situation wasn’t likely to change.” He laughed harshly. “You expect me to believe you two are together? I’ve seen you with the cop—screwing his eyes out of his sockets. Does your girlfriend know about that? Or is she a cop, too?”