SLOW - The Story of Signy and Aden, #1

by Julianna West

  I do.

  Because it's the law, ya know. Not because he said to.

  "OK, first things first." He swings the truck into a Loberto's and pulls up to the menu. "Dinner's on me. It's the least I can do."

  The least he can do? After what? Fucking—

  "Yeah," Aden says after the unintelligible voice on the other end of the speaker asks him a question. "Carne asada burrito, side of rice, and—" he looks over to me. "What do ya want?"

  I wave my hand at him in dismissal. "I'm good."

  "Make it dos, amigo. Mi novia tiene mucha hambre."

  He doesn't wait for an answer, just pulls the truck around and takes out his wallet, pays for the food and then we wait as the hot evening wind blows through his open window. I roll my window down to take advantage of a cross breeze. I don't really mind the desert. I mean, I've lived here in Vegas my whole life so I'm used to it. And I love evenings because when the sun goes down you can finally breathe again. It's like all day you sip air in little breaths, trying not to inhale the heat. But at night, you drink that shit in like you're thirsting for cool air instead of water.

  Vegas is another world at night and the ability to breathe easy is but one of the ways that makes this place special.

  When Aden's order is up he hands the food over to me in a rush and peels out of the drive-through, cutting someone off as he pulls back into traffic.

  "Geeze!" I say, grabbing for the oh, shit handle near the headliner. "You're a pretty aggressive driver, Aden."

  He looks over and winks. "And don't you forget it, Peaches. Hand me my burrito and feed the address into the GPS, why don't ya?"

  I rummage through the bag and hand him a burrito. He growls with hunger as he tears open the wrapper and I input the address into the console, then lean back and enjoy the breeze as it tosses my hair around. What a strange day. This morning I was just Signy. Alone, running a failing private investigations business, no plans for the weekend, and sexless for exactly forty-seven days.

  And now?

  I look over to Aden and he's watching me. "What?" I ask.

  "I see the wheels turning," he says, taking a corner so tight I actually slam into him.

  He laughs as I try and right myself, only to find my hands all over his muscular chest as he takes another turn. "Aden, shit! Stop it!"

  The drive settles down as he gets on the highway and I go back to my own side of the truck. "Eat, please," he says as he polishes off her burrito and goes fishing for the container of rice. "You're hungry, I know you're hungry."

  "But I'm not your girlfriend, so I'm not sure why you said I was back there at the drive-through."

  "Oh," he grins. "Didn't know you speak Spanish."

  "This is Nevada, Aden. Everyone speaks Spanish."

  "Eat."

  I do eat.

  You, know…because I'm hungry. Not because he told me to.

  The drive out to Henderson is not fun in evening traffic but Aden plugs in his phone and starts a playlist that has a cool eclectic mix of bands that span the last three decades. Most of it is edgy alternative, some metal, and some classic rock. But there's also some cool groups I remember from high school.

  I briefly wonder how old he is, but I'm trying to not make this personal because I know he won't stick around. Not when he finds out my business is bust and this partnership he thought we could forge will result in pretty much no income after tonight's job.

  "OK, we're almost there." He pulls into a busy gas station and parks in the back corner, out of the way of other cars and foot traffic. "Let me show you how to work this stuff. Follow me."

  He climbs into the back and so do I. It really is a tight space and his hands are all over my body as he pushes and pulls me around, trying to get to certain pieces of equipment. Finally he gets frustrated. "Just sit, OK?"

  Whatever. I sit and watch him get out like a bazillion pieces of equipment, cases, wires, and then a tablet appears. He's talking the whole time, pointing, giving me directions on how to work this and that, spitting out entire sentences that make no sense.

  I just nod over and over again, muttering, OK, got it, a few times for emphasis.

  He stops. "You didn't understand a word I said, did you?" His brow slams down and I realize that he's truly aggravated.

  "Nope." I smile. "Not a word. You better stay here and do this stuff, I'll go in and plant the cameras, how's that?" I expect a quick yeah, sure. But he balks. "What's the problem?"

  "I'm just not sure you should be doing that job. I mean, it's got some risk to it."

  "Aden, I'm the freaking owner of this operation, OK? I've done plenty of spy work in my day—"

  "Your day? You're twenty-two years old!"

  "Yeah, but I've been — hey? How did you know how old I am? You were spying on me?"

  "OK, look, I'll let you do it this time, but tomorrow I'm gonna teach you how to use the equipment, and from now on, you're the truck girl and I'm the spy guy. Got it?"

  "Whatever. Control freak."

  He grabs a small case and plops down in the couch next to me. "Here, lie down in my lap so I can fit you with an iris-cam."

  He holds up a small zipper baggie that looks like it contains nothing but clear liquid. I take his hand and peer at it. There's a contact lens in there. "Iris-cam?"

  "Put your head in my lap, I'll drop it in your eye for you."

  He gently pulls me into his lap and our heat from earlier is back in full force. I try to ignore his bulge, but it's pretty difficult. It's sorta huge. My heart begins to pound as he squirms under me, then pushes my hair back away from my face and leans down. "You OK?"

  I only nod and look into his eyes.

  "OK, I have to treat your eye first, to lube it up for the lens, so just hold still."

  My hand comes up and grabs his wrist. "Wait. Do I really need this? I mean, This is just a stupid divorce case. I'll be in and out in ten minutes."

  "Your last spy must've been a total jerk."

  "What? Why?"

  "Because Signy, you never go into someone else's home without protection," he points to the gun case near his foot, "and a way to cover your ass. I'm gonna strap that gun on you myself and you're gonna feed me every second of your sanctioned break-in with this lens. And from now on, this is how we work. We work together or not at all. We go in protected or not at all. And we always cover our asses with a lens cam. OK?"

  His cocky attitude is gone now and all that remains is a concerned professional. "OK," I manage after he prods me. I'm just a little taken aback by his sudden turnaround. He went from I'm your dom to I'm your bodyguard in like two seconds flat.

  "Now hold still." He slips out a little bottle from the case and gently pulls my eyelid back. The drops are cold and burn like a motherfucker as soon as they plop. I blink and squeeze them tight. "Shit! You could've warned me!"

  He leans down into my face and then his words are tickling across my cheek. "It would've still burned, Sig. But if I told you that ahead of time, I'd have made ya worry for no good reason. Better this way, right?"

  My head nods out a yes. I guess it is.

  "Open now, it feels better if you let the oxygen in.

  My eyelids flutter open and he's already got the lens on the tip of his finger. "Hold very still and do not close your eye until I tell you, OK?"

  I grunt out a yes.

  He drops the lens in my eye and I force myself not to blink. I watch his face and he smiles. "Well done."

  His praise makes my whole body tingle and I go to get up but he pushes down on my shoulders, restraining me. "You get in and get out, OK? You plant one camera in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one in the kitchen just in case they like counter sex."

  My breath comes out in a rush as I watch him. He gets a weird look on his face then, like he's unsure of something. I'm still thinking about this when he leans down and kisses me. It starts out small, like a little peck. But then I open my mouth and he makes it long and seductive. His mouth opens a little
wider, his tongue exploring me with a new tenderness. A nibble, then another kiss and I'm all heated up with passion. Not lust like before, but actual passion.

  Aden pulls back after a few more seconds, his eyes serious. I am lost in his gaze as he studies me. I think we're both a little unsure of what just happened.

  "Be careful, OK?" He breaks the moment and then he leans down and kisses me again, like we are lovers who are about to start a long distance relationship and can't stand the thought of separation. My whole body floods with warmth as he releases my lips and pushes me to sit upright, then stands me up and grabs a gun holster from the floor. He straps it around my thigh, his hands brushing up against my tight clothes, and then snaps the gun into it and checks to make sure it's snug. I watch him slide an extra preloaded magazine into the holster next to the gun and I pause.

  "Why do I need an extra mag?"

  He doesn't even lookup. "Be prepared isn't just for Boy Scouts, Sig." He slides a tiny ear piece into my left ear and pats me on the butt, like I'm a teammate on game day.

  I giggle a little as he climbs back into the driver's seat, waits for me to follow and get settled, then pulls out of the gas station with a lot more care than he did when we started this adventure. A few minutes later he eases the truck over and tells me where we are in relation to the house. I jump out and start stalking my way up the dark and silent suburban neighborhood, feeling very much like something big is about to happen.

  Chapter Five

  I jog down the street and slip into the bushes as I approach the large house. It's one of those mini-mansions and has a tropical Mediterranean style to it. My client—the poor guy has been a client before—forgave the slut last time and destroyed the video, never even bothering to show it to her.

  But I suppose everyone has limits. This case is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill get-the-evidence-and-get-out job that pretty much describes all my clients since my mom died a few years ago.

  I stick to the side of the house and slip into the backyard, stalking along the wall to the rear French doors that lead to the master bedroom, turn the handle, and wait to see if the alarm goes off.

  He was instructed to disarm it, but you never know.

  The night is silent with the exception of the desert cicadas, so I enter the dark room and flick the lights on and get down to business. I am about to attach the little sticky tab onto the front of the flat screen on the wall facing the bed when Aden begins whispering in my ear. "Not there, Sig. Put it off to the left a little, on a flower petal in that vase."

  "OK." It's oddly reassuring to have him with me to be honest. Typically when I do this stuff I feel like a criminal, even though I always have the proper permissions to enter. But tonight, we feel big time. Like we're doing super-secret stuff and not like we're just trying to catch a wife cheating on her rich husband.

  I stick the little clear patch of adhesive to a flower petal. "Should I do the living room now?"

  "Shit Sig, you should have all of them by now! Hurry!"

  I turn the lights off and make my way to the living room, the next adhesive camera already between my fingertips, ready to be applied. I stick it and I'm heading to the kitchen when Aden's voice is back in my ear.

  "They're home."

  I freeze, my stomach twisting with the thought of getting caught. "What?" I whisper back.

  "They're in the driveway. Hide."

  Shit! Where? Where the fuck am I supposed to hide? I look for a pantry but that's too obvious, besides, all it takes is one midnight snack and I'm toast. "They're at the front door, Sig. You hiding?"

  What do I do?

  "Sig?"

  "Yeah, OK. Hold on—"

  Laughter, a mix of male and female voices, comes from the front of the house and I freeze. "Shit, they're here!"

  "Signy, listen carefully. Do not get caught, OK? Do. Not. Get. Caught. Get under that counter, see it?"

  The footsteps are getting closer, they're coming into the kitchen!

  "See it?" he demands again.

  I scan the dark kitchen and spy what he's talking about. It's a space under the counter for pot hangers. I scramble under, knocking several pots together in the process and I hold my breath to see if they heard.

  Loud cracks of laughter come from the middle of the house and I quickly tuck my legs underneath me to hide them.

  "Stay very still, Sig. The cameras are on now, so I can get you out, but you must not let them know you're there. Got it?"

  I nod my head and he whispers, "Good girl," into my ear.

  The laughter switches direction and I breathe a sigh of relief as they make their way to the bedroom. At least I have those cameras planted already.

  I stay sill and listen, then hear a male voice say in a mummer filled with innuendo that he'll be right back. His shoes have a light and quick click to them as they walk the travertine tile that lines the floors, and then the lights in the kitchen flick on.

  "Where are you?" he asks.

  I almost pee my pants.

  He starts pulling open drawers and it takes several seconds to realize that he's not talking about me. I listen to his shoes clack on the tiles as he makes his way around the kitchen and then he stops right in front of me. All he has to do is bend down and I'm right there!

  But he doesn't bend down—he's busy with something and I can't help myself. I lean forward and peer up. I hear Aden take in a sip of breath as I do it, my eyes trained on the well-dressed man in front of me. What's that he's got?

  I pull back a fraction as he laughs softly, then lean forward when his shoes begin to walk away. I lean all the way out and try to see what's he's got in his hand.

  It's a knife.

  A very large, very sharp, almost twinkling with sharpness, very long knife.

  "Get out now, Signy."

  I scuttle out from the pans, knocking a few but not caring this time, and crawl to the end of the island counter and peek out.

  "Now, Signy. Go out the back door and do not look back."

  I get to my feet and scramble towards the back of the house when the laughter ends and I her the panicked female voice turn into shrieks of horror. Things are breaking, screams turn into gasps for air and I know he's choking her, and then I hear it. The sickening sound of a knife being thrust into a body over and over again. Between these noises there are a few pathetic attempt at groaning.

  I freeze.

  "Never mind, Signy. Just get out!"

  Typically I'm on board with being a coward. I mean, I'm a PI who catches cheaters for Pete's sake, not murderers. But I've got a gun and a shitload of extra bullets strapped to my thigh. And this woman is about to fucking die!

  Aden is screaming in my ear as I move towards the bedroom, but I already have the gun out and I'm stalking my way down the hallway, wrinkling my nose at a smell, with my back against the wall and the gun out in front of me in ready position.

  The screams have stopped and I can hear a man taking in long deep breaths, like he's trying to calm himself. I inch forward, little by little and see the pool of blood running on the floor. A few more inches and I see her bruised and beaten face.

  I'm about to rush him and start shooting when I realize that smell is gasoline. The whoosh of fire erupts, glass is breaking, and suddenly the whole place is up in flames!

  I back track my way to the kitchen, feeling helpless, but now I have to worry about getting out of here before I'm burned beyond recognition. The gasoline trail has been dripped all down the hallway and the flames follow me as I retreat. I make it to the kitchen and flank right towards the front of the house, and then something explodes and I'm thrown forward, my left side crashing up against the massive maple front doors.

  "Signy, dammit!" Aden is pushing open the door but my body is in the way and it's stuck. "Scoot back, Sig! Now!"

  I inch backwards a little bit and my ribs ache. Aden scoops me up and bolts out of the house to the idling truck in the driveway. He pulls the door open and sets me down in the seat, th
en races around the front of the truck and jumps in beside me. "You OK?"

  "What the fuck just happened, Aden! I just witnessed a murder and arson! Oh, my God! What the fuck just happened?"

  He slams on the gas and we book it down the driveway and out into the street. We make our way out of the suburbs and back to the city lights before I can even think straight again. Holy shit. Holyshitholyhsitholyshit. "We have to call the police!" I pull my phone out of my pocket and start dialing 911 when he snatches it away.

  "No, no cops. We gotta handle this ourselves."

  "What? You're crazy! I just witnessed a murder!"

  "Right," he says with no emotion at all. "You witnessed a murder. Of a very important woman, in her own home, who was cheating on her husband. You really think you're just a PI in this case, Signy? That client is setting you up! He said they'd be gone all night, until ten?"

  "Yeah, but—"

  "But nothing, we should've had at least another two hours! That was no coincidence!"

  "That doesn't even make sense, Aden! He's not in on it! Why go through this ruse if he's the one—"

  "Because he wanted you to see some other guy kill his wife, Signy. Get it? He hired someone to kill her, and he wanted you to see that guy in the house."

  "I don't know."

  "It doesn't matter if you don't know. I do know. I've seen this shit plenty of times to recognize the set-up. Your client put a hit out on his wife and you're his alibi."

  We drive in silence back to my place and I'm just about ready to think that being nabbed for sexually harassing Aden this afternoon is sounding a lot better than this crack partnership he's sucked me into.

  And then I notice the sirens and flashing lights.

  Aden picks up speed just as he should be slowing down to turn into my hotel parking lot and I'm about to scream at him when I see the flames. "My place is on fire!"

  We rage past at full speed and I desperately try to get a glimpse of my room door and my bike in the rear-view mirror when we turn on the next block, but all I see is the glow that lights up the night sky.

  I fall back in my seat. "What the fuck just happened?"

  "He just sent you a message, Sig. That's what happened. You're his alibi, Peaches. And that fire back there was a way to let you know he expects your full cooperation."