Etched in Glass

by Nyxie Marrs

  “I wouldn’t know. But if that’s the case, how did you get her to come here?”

  “I told her Vega has some stuff come up and would probably like to talk to her.”

  “You seem to be spot on about these things, Red.” Is he still jealous? I should be of him. Getting Vega to open up and accept our help so quickly I’m sure was a feat.

  “Just thoughts, Miles. I can’t help that it works out. I don’t know your woman like you do.” Maybe that’ll make him feel better.

  “My woman?” He says with barely a sound. “Don’t get ahead of yourself there.”

  He pulls his computer out and brings up the files from the drive. “There’s quite a few to go through.” He looks to Vega.

  Chapter 36

  Vega

  “Anya. You’re here? With Redmond?” She sits next to me and smiles.

  “Yeah. He said you had something personal happen. Could use a good talk. Thought I would help you more than they could.” I’m still in shock that she agreed to come here. I saw that hesitation in her eyes when we spoke. This is something I didn’t expect.

  “Yeah. Probably.” Hell, Redmond was right about that. “Nice to see you here.”

  “So, I assume for Red to be as concerned as he is, it’s a bad personal thing that came up?” Anya, why? Why that? Couldn’t have started in with something else?

  “Yeah. Kind of. I-I just. Um.”

  I look behind her at those two checking out whatever Redmond brought over. I seriously want to delve into it, but I don’t want her involved. No matter how much I want her to stay here and talk, I want into that information.

  “Excuse me.” I walk to Miles. Redmond watches me approach with a look of worry on his face, even more so when I grab a handful of Miles’ shirt and pull him into the part of the kitchen you can’t see from the living room. Forcing Redmond to leave the kitchen quickly.

  “Yes?” Miles’ deep voice rolls through me. I’ve apparently backed myself into a corner while holding on to his shirt, and he steps against me.

  “Well, for starters, what did Redmond bring?” My voice matches his soft tone.

  “Hm. Something I’m sure you want to see.” He rests a hand on the counter and pushes my hair back with the other, while bringing his face closer to me. Well, I can’t complain, I started this one.

  “Of course it is. I don’t want her involved, Miles.” I search his eyes like he'll have the answer. I look to my hand, now realizing I’m still pulling him closer.

  Why does my body do this without my knowledge? And there it is. That heat from his lips igniting my body. I’ve never had a kiss melt my body. He’s driving me crazy and into doing things I don’t normally do.

  Now I don’t want Redmond here, and wonder if he’ll botch it this time too. His arm wraps around my waist and lifts me on to the counter, stepping his warm body between my legs. Hell, Miles presses against me.

  “Vega.”

  That rough voice turns me on even more. Is this a reaction from grief I’m having right now? Probably, but his distracting body next to me makes my thoughts stop, and has done so since the first time we met.

  “Mm. I know. I know.” I whisper as he lowers his forehead to mine. Taking a second to breathe before he slides me off of the counter keeping me against him.

  “She came here to make sure you’re okay. Can’t just push her out. It took a lot for her to come here with Red.”

  “I know. I’m so proud of her too. But I really-.” He stops my train of thought again, like he knows those hot lips cease my brain.

  “You two enjoy the down time. Red and I will take a look at things. I’m starting to like it when you relax.” Another fiery kiss and my mind is slowly melting.

  “I’m afraid I might tell her.” He leans in for another kiss and I stop him. “Don’t distract me.”

  “Not sorry about that. But if you don’t want her involved, I’m sure you won’t tell her.”

  “She’s asking what personal thing popped up.” I have to explain something at this point. She came here because these two men are worried about me, and they’ve now recruited Anya.

  “Vega. Whatever you want to tell her is fine with me. You can leave out your extracurricular activities.” He uses that charming smile to steal another long kiss, kindling these emotions. Not willing to pull away from the heat between us now, he wraps around me.

  “Come on. You two eat. Red and I will work. I promise, I will find what we need. If you tell her, explain what just happened. And to let you know, you’re never leaving my sight now.” Him and his low, gruff voice stops my thought process. I can’t have this kind of reaction right now, but my body doesn’t seem to care.

  I slide my hand over his jaw and smile. We step away from each other and resume our previous positions. Redmond smiles as soon as he looks at me, and Anya blushed. Is it that obvious?

  I want to smack that smart ass smirk off of his face. I’m sure he can see that in my eyes as he passes me. Miles stands at the counter with the most content look I’ve seen him have. I look to Anya as I sit down and she looks like we’re about to exchange secrets of some sort.

  “Well then.” She grabs her lunch.

  “Don’t even, Anya.” I laugh out. “We aren’t teenagers. I’m not going to explain that.” I point to Miles, who responds with the sexiest grin I’ve seen. There’s no hiding the shade of pink I know moved across my face.

  “No explanation needed there, Vega. So. Are you really okay?” Down to the same concern these guys have. Why are people concerned about me? Never needed it before, I don’t need it now.

  “Okay. Please don’t freak out. But as I accidentally slipped, my sister was taken.” She nods and her face pales. “You know that case we’ve been working?” Another nod and a hard swallow. “He took my sister. Broke into my apartment last night, and left a picture of her.” I didn’t think I could say all of that without breaking down. It literally just happened. I know I can pocket emotions, but I didn’t think I would be able to with this situation. Not this well at least.

  “Are you fucking serious?” Even my jaw drops after hearing this meek woman curse in a scream. Miles and Redmond seem just as shocked.

  “I’m sorry. I really don’t want you to get involved much with me, or this right now. Everything is messed up.” I know my expression flattens as Elara’s features stick to my thoughts, until all I see is that picture. That haunting picture of her thin body scares me. Tears form as that image flashes in my mind. Elara. I don’t need an expert to tell me what her condition is.

  “Vega?” Why is Miles’ voice the only thing that can break through whatever thought I’m lost in? I snap out of it and shake my head. After looking in his eyes I look back to Anya, who has her hand on my arm. How did I not feel that?

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Vega. You have every right to feel however you’re feeling. I assume you’re off the case then?” At least she knows how our job works.

  “No. No. Miles made sure I stayed on. I may have helped 'convince' them to keep me on too. The last woman taken was one of the FBI guys’ sister. Only then did they take it seriously.” I see Redmond’s hesitated comment and Miles' nodding head out of the corner of my eye. That only increases my curiosity.

  “Damn.” She says under her breath. I really want to laugh. I never would have figured Anya kept has words like that in her vocabulary. “So what now?”

  “Miles knows better, but they are apparently working on it. Told me to just relax for a while. As you can imagine, that’s hard to do.” Hard to do? It’s something I haven’t done in a while. My mind always drifts to a case, and it consumes me.

  “I believe that. You and I can relax, talk.” She’s taking this easy. With only a few outbursts, but she seems focused on helping me.

  “Well, lead the way of talk and relaxation. I haven’t known those for a while now. All I’ve done for the past few months is follow this case closely to get Elara back.”

  “That’s a beauti
ful name. Vega is pretty unique too.”

  “Yeah, well. My parents wanted to make sure we stood out.” I say dismissively. “You remind me of Elara, you know.” She inhales sharply like that’s her fault.

  “I’m sorry. Not like I can change that, but I’m sorry.” Her worry seems to fade as we talk, even though it’s a stressful topic. Talking to me like this is the most natural friendship. With her being so much like Elara, she’s easy to talk to.

  “It’s not your fault. You two would probably get along great too.” She wraps her arm around a small pillow and settles into the couch. Even when I had friends, we never sat like this and talked. Now I’m wondering if I ever really had any.

  “You’re strong, you know that? I mean, who could work on this case when there’s that personal involvement? I envy that ability to push through. It’s taken me a long time to push through what happened to me.” Her smile quivers at that thought. I may not know the extent of her situation, but I can only imagine it was hell.

  “Thanks. Don’t discredit yourself, you’re strong too.” I look away from her for a second. “This is far from a relaxing conversation, isn’t it?”

  “We can always turn a movie on. That should help.” She replies as she picks up the remote. “Chick flick?” She asks. Something I’ve never watched, on purpose.

  “Uh. Sure, why not.” I reply. I didn’t think I’d ever mutter those words, but there it is. I would assume watching something intense might not be the best thing right now, so rom-com-chick-flick it is. I sit back and relax on the couch just as she does, try to anyways.

  We sit for a while. This movie isn’t so bad, and it is sort of a decent distraction. Except it’s so predictable, boring and who has a 'happily ever after' in real life? Either way, it’s a distraction, until I occasionally glance at Miles. Didn’t take long into the movie either. That’s a whole other distraction, plus the case information I want to look at.

  I can’t stop myself from glancing at them every so often. More often than not really. I seriously want to see what these men have complied. Or if I’ve got to recheck their work. I probably will anyways. Miles knows when I watch them too, we happen to meet eyes every time. Then it starts to bother me. How much information do we have to look through? Because it’s been a long time since they started looking through it and they look pretty intense. I shake off that thought and resume this movie. Trying my best to refrain from watching them constantly

  “You two doing okay?” Redmond asks. I think more for Anya than myself. I may not know the whole story, but I’m sure what she went through was bad. I figure only a bad enough situation will screw you up and isolate you. I know from experience.

  “Just fine. Why?” She responds as she relaxes.

  “You girls want anything?” Miles replies.

  I look to them. The computer is closed and both of them are standing and watching us. How long have they been doing that? I narrow my eyes, now I need to know what they have. He knows exactly what I’m thinking too as he responds with that soft smile.

  “I’m fine.” That small hesitation in my voice startled Anya. She looks to me then to them. Sitting up straight, and setting the pillow aside, she looks to me.

  “You know, I should be getting home.” I underestimated her worry in a situation she’s not used to. I startled her with my hesitation and it obviously kicked in worry.

  “You sure Anya? We could get some dinner or something.” Now I’m regretting my attitude. Trying to backtrack and ease my tone. I spooked her.

  “Yeah. It is getting a bit late.” She looks to Redmond and he nods. Did he catch on to her hesitation? He looks at her with a soft expression. He must have figured it out. He’s looking to her with concern at how fast she became uncomfortable.

  “No problem. Thanks for coming, Anya. If you hadn’t, these guys would have been tied down while I drive myself crazy over evidence. So, really, you saved their lives.” I joke. I hope she takes that as a joke.

  A sigh of relief hit me when a small chuckle came from her. “No problem. Glad I can help.”

  “Well, I’ll take you home? Or is your car at the station?” Redmond asks as he nervously gathers a few papers from a file on the counter.

  “Uh, no. Actually. I’ve just been taking the bus, my car decided it was a great time to not work.”

  “Well, if you don’t mind, Anya. I’ll take you home? Not too excited about you taking the bus alone, especially after what happened today.” Why the hell must they all look at me? Like I’m go to go crazy or something every time the case is mentioned. Hell, their constant worry is going to drive me mad.

  “Let him take you, Anya. I want to know you make it home safe, especially after today. Redmond can serve as confirmation. If you are okay with that.” Anya and I walk out to Redmond’s car. She looks around, and so do I. I may not have been here very long, but I’m sure I’d know if there was someone or something out of place around here. Never hurts to know your surroundings.

  “Okay, fine.” She gives me a hug. I didn’t expect that.

  “Thanks.” It’s the only thing I can think to say as I try to calm my mind from this surprise.

  Chapter 37

  Miles

  I stay on the porch while Vega and Anya finish talking. She looks happy and relaxed, something I didn’t think would happen after today. Wonder how that’s going to work now that Anya has left. I have a feeling she’s going to rush in here and get to work. Red and I have done a pretty fine job collecting what we think is important. I know Vega though, she’s going to go through everything and rip it apart with the assumption that we missed something. Seeing how we had once before.

  She turns back to me while taking cautious steps back to the house. Looking around as if waiting for something to happen, but then her slow movements are turning into more of a seductive play the longer I watch. I’m imaging this, right? She has a lot of hell going on right now. The last thing that needs to happen is what’s going through my mind as I watch her body.

  “Before you decide to jump into work, how about dinner? I can go over what we have and what Red and I have concluded?”

  “Fine.” She walks by me into the house. Did she just agree? Did I imagine that answer? I didn’t expect her to agree so easily.

  I close the door and turn around expecting to watch her walk away, but she’s standing behind me. What is going on?

  “Everything okay?” I push out. My throat feels like it’s going to close up from fear.

  “You sure you want to take me out? Now?” That smug smile tells me she knows I didn’t have anything planned. I didn’t expect her to agree so easily.

  “What do you want?” I step closer and place a hand on her shoulder. “Other than diving into the evidence, that is.” Now the only thing going through my mind is that kiss from earlier. Stealing my breath and that feeling of her body against me is all I can think of right now.

  “I could go for some food and to hear what you two found. See anything good?” Is she kidding? We do have some decent evidence to start a search, but right now all I’m seeing is her.

  “Rhetorical question, or do you really want me to answer that?” Her smile widens and she grabs my shirt softer than she did earlier, but it definitely catches me.

  “Miles.” Her low, sweet tone makes my blood rush. “Do you know what sounds really good right now?” The soft touch of her hand sliding over my cheek and jaw riles me up as she stares into my eyes. I’m in complete awe, and frozen in place at her hold on me right now. Where did this sexy confidence come from?

  “What’s that?” Her body shivers at my rumbling voice. Is this wrong? She may not be in the best state of mind from everything today.

  “Quite a few things actually.” She pulls on my shirt, brushing her lips against mine. Running her tongue along my bottom lip before she lightly sinks her teeth in and gently pulls. I’m hoping we’re thinking the same thing right now.

  With a fistful of my shirt, she pulls us back into the livin
g room and wraps herself around me.

  “Vega. Are you?” I’m able to ask before she pushes me on the couch. Instinctively, I put my hands on her curvy hips, keeping her on me as she nips my neck. I can’t force any words out.

  “Damn fine, and damn sure. Second thoughts?” I should say yes. I should say she may not be thinking entirely clearly. Instead, the feel of her soft body over mine is the only thing taking over, and I have absolutely no control of myself.

  *​​*​​*

  Vega is irresistible, and mind consuming as her warm body gently grazes me with each breath. I’m pretty sure this shouldn’t have happened, I know grief can mess up logical thinking. I couldn’t stop myself the more she moved against me. I let her take lead and do what she wanted. No way in hell was I going to take over and have her feel like I was taking advantage of her. No. If anything that was the other way around.

  Thoughts of her situation hit me hard with nightmares of her in the same situation as Elara and the other women. What if she had been home when they showed up? And then the thought of them knowing who she is. If they know where she lives, do they know she’s here? We may not be as safe as we should be here.

  “Miles. That grip of yours is telling of your thoughts. Stop thinking about it.” Her soft silky voice vibrates against me making a warmth race through my body.

  “Can’t, Vega.” I kiss the back of her neck, and a slight growling noise from her catches my body’s attention.

  “I need to look at that evidence. Enough screwing around.” She attempts to get up but I gently refrain her from leaving this bed, or my arms.

  “I know. Just stay here a bit longer.”

  She rolls over and watches me. Searching my eyes with a question behind her stare. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but this is the most important place I need to be right now.