by Susan Bliler
Recker shook his head with an eye roll, closing the door and pacing back to the table. “You’re not even in a relationship!”
James shrugged. “So,” he kept stuffing his face. “That’s by choice. I could have any woman!”
“Really?” Recker crossed his arms over his chest and snorted.
“Really.” James chewed and frowned at Recker like he was annoyed his friend didn’t believe him.
“Short haired, tatted up, girl working the concession stand at the movies in town three months back.”
James snapped his eyes closed and lifted his chin haughtily, swallowing his bite of food before he answered, “It was a slap of affection.”
“Slap of affection!” Recker’s eyes bugged out. “She nearly knocked your damn teeth out, my man.”
James cracked open his eyes and glared at Recker through little slits. “Teeth are overrated. Besides, it was just a love tap. You know, like the ones Alex is always giving you.”
Recker actually balked and then blushed before shaking it off. Sighing, he kicked his chair out before plopping into it and shoving his plate away. “I had to ask about her family. It was part of my assignment. When she was finished, I let it slip that I asked for work and she got pissed because she thought I’d asked out of genuine interest.”
James reached across the table, trying to inch Recker’s plate closer to himself with the tines of his fork. “What a dumb dick.”
Recker’s nose scrunched as he watched James but kept explaining. “I need to find her and explain the parameters of my position, and let her know that I am genuinely interested in her past, but there’s also stuff that they want me to find out.”
James, still focused on snagging Recker’s plate, had his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in concentration.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Recker muttered and shoved the plate across the table.
“Thanks!” James dug into Recker’s plate before swallowing a bite and offering. “Where you screwed up was letting her think you asked out of genuine interest rather than because it’s part of your job.”
“No shit! I just told you that!”
James snapped his eyes. “You need to find her and explain your job duties, but let her know you are interested in her.”
“James!” Recker shook his head in disbelief. “You are literally the worst listener and relationship advisor in the history of listening, relationships, and advice.”
James stopped chewing. “Am not.” He pointed his fork at Recker. “That’d be Legion Knight.”
Recker knew Legion. While the notoriously quiet Walker Sentry avoided relationships like the plague, Recker was certain he’d be better at giving advice than James. Narrowing his eyes on James, he muttered, “Please stop talking.”
“No can do, bro.” James shoved both now empty plates away and stood. “Come on.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the door. “We need to go find your woman, so you can apologize.”
“She’s not my woman,” Recker muttered. “I’m just in charge of her.”
“O-kay,” James drolled sarcastically. “Let’s go find the woman you’re in charge of who’s feelings are hurt because you’re doing your job and who you’re worried is thinking less of you right now because you don’t want her believing that you aren’t genuinely interested in her past.”
Recker gave James a hard look but stood and followed him out of the suite.
Chapter 22
Alex paced her suite feeling anxious. She wanted to go have a drink so damn bad, but it sucked when none of her few friends at StoneCrow were available. For a moment she considered going out alone but quickly shucked the idea. She’d done that once, and all the females in the bar had approached, eyes filled with pity, to ask if she was okay while all the guys practically formed a single file line to take turns hitting on her. Ick!
Frustrated, thirsty, and restless, Alex jerked her cell out of her back pocket and pounded out a text to her friend, Alise. She stalled a moment, knowing new employee candidates weren’t supposed to leave the Estate unescorted, but throwing caution to the wind, she hit send.
A few minutes later, her phone pinged, and Alex beamed wildly. Snagging her jacket off the chair, she set her cell phone on the counter. She didn’t want to be contacted or tracked.
Leaving her suite, Alex made her way down to the parking garage where Stoney kept her ride. The same ride she’d told Alex she could borrow at any time. Recker had told Alex that her car had been brought to the Estate, but she had no idea where it was. It was probably locked up somewhere so she couldn’t break the rules and leave.
Rules be damned, Alex needed a break.
***
Outside of Alex’s suite, Recker knocked again and waited while James stared at him like he was an idiot.
“Bro, she’s not here. And I know you’ve got the code, so just let us in.”
“You don’t know. She could be showering or sleeping.”
“You’ve been knocking for ten minutes, man. Let us in!”
With an exasperated huff, Recker punched in the code and was shoved aside by James when the door beeped its admittance.
Inside, James was already snooping around. At the same time, they both saw Alex’s phone on the kitchen counter.
Recker lunged for the phone, but James turned just as quickly and was much closer.
Holding the phone out of Recker’s reach, James scrolled through it.
“She’s been texting some Alise chick.” James cleared his throat and pointed at his chest and said, “Alex,” then began reading in a high pitched mimic of a female. “WYD? I need you.” James then pointed his finger away from him and said, “Alise” then started reading in an even higher pitched voice. “Don’t get your panties twisted, sister. Been at work. What up?”
James continued to read the entire dialogue stopping between each exchange to either point at himself and say “Alex” or point away and say “Alise” indicating whose text he was reading.
“Alex. I think I might be an asshole.”
“Alise. You are correct, ma’am.”
“Alex. Alise! Recker and I had a fight.”
“Alise. Put his oscar in your mouth. He’ll forgive you.”
“Alex. Can you please be serious for two fucking seconds?!”
“Alise. I did. It was yesterday. Sorry, you missed it.”
“Alex. I need a girl’s night? How about a tattuesday? We haven’t had a drink n ink in a long time.”
“Alise. Don’t be absolutely fucking hideously stupidly moronic. It took me like nine minutes to type that! Now, get your ass to my house, beitch! I’ll be ready when you get here. Door’s unlocked! Yes! Shots, shots, shots, tatts, tatts, tatts! Another nine minutes! Fuck!”
“Alex. On my way.”
James lowered the phone and Recker sighed in relief. “Okay, we know where she is.” He looked at James, but James’ eyes had glazed over, and he was staring at the wall in a trance.
“James?”
“Bro,” James sighed. “I think I’m in love!”
“What?” Recker growled taking a menacing step forward and earning a disgusted glare from James as he jerked Alex’s phone out of Recker’s reach.
“Don’t be a duck. I’m not talking about Alex. I mean Alise!”
“Oh.” Recker’s frown vanished, and a grin actually tweaked his lips when James took on that far off look again.
James nodded in a daze. “Alise is a wonderland!” It took him a moment to snap out of his awe, but when he did, he instantly declared, “Okay, bro. I’m in!”
“In what?” Recker snorted.
“Don’t play dumb.” James held up the phone and shook it. “I know you’re going after Alex. I’ll come help.”
“Don’t need your help.” Leaning forward, Recker snatched Alex’s phone out of James’ hand.
“Hey!” James pouted. “What if they give you trouble?”
One of Recker’s brows shot up mockingly. “I’m pretty sur
e I can handle Alex and her little friend.”
“You don’t know,” James argued. “What if Alise is a shifter?”
“Then I’ll handle it.”
“What if she’s a bear?”
Recker frowned hard. “I’ll handle it.”
Almost whining now, James asked, “What if she’s a lion?”
Shaking his head Recker paced to the door. “James! I’ll handle it.”
“Yeah?” James countered trailing after Recker. “What if she’s a…a…a shark?”
Recker stopped halfway out the door and turned to give James an are-you-fucking-serious stare.
James had the good sense to blush, which had Recker snorting a laugh before he offered, “Fine! Come on. Don’t wanna be getting attacked by any land sharks without back up.”
Chapter 23
“Holy shit, bro! There’s a mini Skin Walker in there, and he’s stuck in a shift.”
Standing just behind James as he peered through the door into Alise’s apartment, Recker was shocked and then confused. “What?”
“Yeah,” James peeked back into Alise’s apartment. “He’s a tiny thing, and he looks pissed.”
Recker reached around James and shoved the door open before brushing past and hurrying into Alise’s apartment. His eyes scanned the space and then landed on the source of James' dismay.
“James,” he growled. “It’s a fucking cat.”
James lingered in the doorway eyeing the cat warily. “How do you know? That thing could be a…a…”
“A fucking cat,” Recker supplied again. “Jesus, man!” Dropping his head back he pinched the bridge of his nose a moment before righting his head. “I already regret bringing you, and we’ve been here for all of two fucking seconds.”
“You gotta be sure about these things,” James countered angrily. “You can’t just go marching into trouble, man!”
“Trouble?” Recker looked from James to the cat. “Yeah. All nine pounds of fury right there. S’pose I should just be glad it’s not a shark, right?”
“I’m just saying, you never know.”
Recker shook his head and frowned at James. “Does your nose even work?”
James inhaled and looked around. “Yeah, and it’s telling me Alex and Alise aren’t here.”
“You don’t need your nose for that,” Recker muttered. “We’ve been pounding on the door for five minutes. I’m sure that if they were here, they’d have answered.”
James started digging around. “They said a tattuesday. There can’t be that many tattoo parlors in town. Let’s just go hunt ‘em down.”
Recker sighed knowing they didn’t really have any other choice. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
James stalled though, his hand slowly reaching out to the all black cat with pretty green eyes who stared at him menacingly from atop the kitchen table. When James' hand got too close, the animal jerked back and slapped a clawed hand at James, causing him to stumble back before he hissed, “How dare you be so cute and not let anyone pet you!”
Recker hid a grin before ordering, “Let’s go, James.”
In his truck, Recker tried to stifle the anxiety flowing through him. He felt sick inside knowing he’d hurt Alex. Yeah, he had to ask about her past for work, but he was genuinely interested too. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Alex and not just because it was part of his assignment. She wasn’t just an assignment to him, and that was the problem. She was supposed to be.
***
Alex sat in a little dive bar in downtown Great Falls waiting on Alise to get back from retrieving her cell phone from where she’d left it in the passenger seat of Stoney’s borrowed car. She and Alex had foregone tattoos because the wait was too long and now Alex knew she’d had too many drinks to make it back to StoneCrow safely, which meant she’d be spending the night on Alise’s couch. Already half shot, Alex peeled the label off her fifth bottle of beer and hummed along with the song blaring from the jukebox. She couldn’t decide if her girl’s night out had been a good idea or not. Sure, she was having fun catching up with Alise, but the more she drank, the more pissed she got at Recker and the harder it became to keep from telling Alise why she was so upset. Even now, it was hard to admit to herself that she’d been so wounded by Recker’s behavior because she’d grown fond of him.
Fond! She snorted at the weak word. She was more than just fond of Recker Rhodes, and it fucking sucked because his treatment of her today showed that he felt nowhere near the same.
Slamming a drink of her beer, Alex eyed the door and wondered what in the hell was taking Alise so long.
Outside, Alise slammed the door of Stoney’s car without even looking up from her cell phone. Punching in her code, she wasn’t surprised to see she hadn’t missed any calls. No one called her…ever! Truth be told, Alex was her only friend and she’d honestly been shocked to get a text from Alex earlier because the last time she’d talked to Alex, she’d been told not to expect to hear from her anytime soon.
Lowering her phone, Alise took one step and plowed into a hard body. Stumbling back, her ankle caught, and she knew she was gonna land on her ass. Bracing for the impact, it never happened because strong hands caught her and hauled her upright before steadying her.
“Who are you?”
Alise looked up at the guy asking the question. Her natural instinct was to give a smarmy retort, but the guy was huge, and he was looking from her to Stoney’s car with an intense familiarity.
“I’m…going inside.” Alise made to step around the guy, but he caught her arm and spun her back to face him.
“What are you doing in Stoney’s car?” He glanced around. “Where’s Alex?”
Canting her head, Alise studied the guy a moment before asking, “You him? You Recker Rhodes?”
The guy shook his head once. “I’m James.”
Alise jerked her arm out of his hold. “Don’t know any James, so if you’ll excuse me.”
James planted himself in front of her. “But you know Alex?”
The guy was cute, Alise would give him that, but his nosiness and persistence were downright annoying. She considered lying to him, but if he knew Stoney and Alex, he had to be a friend…right?
“Not that it’s any of your business,” she clipped out. “But yes, I know Alex. We’re friends.”
“Alise?”
Her eyes narrowed to suspicious slits. “H-how do you know my name?”
James didn’t answer, just countered with a question of his own. “How do I know you’re actually this Alise chick? You could just be pretending to be her because I caught you breaking into Alex’s car.”
Annoyed, Alise jammed her fists onto her hips. “Who in the fuck would want to pretend to be Alex’s friend just to get into her car?” She waved toward the vehicle. “It’s not even really her car. She’s just borrowing it. Besides,” she held out her hands, empty save for her phone. “Do I look like I took anything?”
Canting his head, James drawled, “That phone could be…”
“Oh for Christ’s sake!” Alise jerked the cell up and then was punching and swiping it furiously before turning her phone and shoving it an inch from James’ nose.
Jerking back, James just made out a picture of Alex and Alise wearing tiny dresses with wings sticking up off the back behind their heads as they smiled drunkenly at the camera.
“Me and Alex in our fairy costumes at the Zombie Crawl.” Pulling the phone back, Alise swiped her finger against the screen before shoving her phone into James’ nose again to reveal another picture, this one of them wearing button up shirts with shorts and high socks. On their faces were thick-rimmed glasses with thick medical tape in the middle. Their hair was parted down the middle and banded into pigtails. “Me and Alex at the Herd-O-Nerds Pub Crawl.” She didn’t pull the phone back this time, just swiped her finger and James watched a slide show of the two women dressed in various costumes and in various stages of inebriation while Alise spouted, “Alex and I have spent signifi
cant time together donating to various charities. We are friends, dick hole!”
James tore his eyes from the phone and asked, “Charities? Like Anheuser-Busch?”
“Hey!” she barked pulling the phone around to look at the picture on the screen herself. “These pub crawls were all sponsored events with the money going to great causes!” Lowering her phone, she lifted her chin haughtily. “Alex and I are practically fucking saints!”
James snorted, “Yeah. Saint Patrick’s day.”
Lowering her chin, Alise frowned at him. “I know who you are.”
“Oh yeah?”
“You’re Michelangelo.”
Dark brows spearing down, James shook his head, crossing thick arms over an impressive chest. “Wrong.”
Now Alise was snorting and tossing in an eye roll to boot. “I don’t mean that’s your name. Alex said she has some friends that are like the Ninja Turtles. Clearly, you’re the Michelangelo of the group.”
Lifting his chin, James let his eyes fall shut as he crowed, “Thank you!”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“Actually, it was. Michelangelo is the cool one, the fun one.” His eyes snapped open, and he waggled his brows. “The cute one.”
Alise laughed, inwardly admitting that James was, in fact, pretty cute.
“Where’s Alex?” The second masculine voice had her spinning, but the eyes of the behemoth behind her lacked the warmth of James’.
“Recker, this is Alex’s friend, Alise. Alise, this is Recker.”
“Oooooh,” Alise made the exaggerated sound while studying the guy from head to toe. Alex hadn’t said that she was crushing on this Recker guy, but she didn’t need to. Some things, friends just knew.
“She’s in the bar,” Alise jerked her head toward the building. “But you may want to steer clear for the night. She isn’t in the mood for male company.”