by Faye, Carmen
And with that Wallaby walked off. Melissa leaned back against her car and tried to catch her breath. Someone wanted her dead and now she had to find out who and why.
***
“Stop!” her rising voice did the trick. Asher let go of her almost immediately.
“Someone is not in a very good mood,” he teased. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “But I’m scared.”
Hudson realized that something serious had happened and mentally chastised himself for immediately taking the situation to a sexual level. He couldn’t seem to help it. Whenever he was around her his body went wild with desire. He wanted to touch her and be with her.
Sometimes he had to take a step back and remember there was more to their situation than their hunger for each other. They had to set that aside and work on things from time to time. Especially right now. They were so close to having the proof that they needed and they couldn’t afford to lose their focus.
But something about the way she trembled in front of him was different. It wasn’t longing. She was terrified. Shaken up. Something had happened that was seriously bothering her.
Asher’s instincts were to pull her into his arms and try and protect her. The problem was that she wasn’t that kind of woman. As submissive as she might be sexually, she was very independent and she wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. She wanted his support and caring. She didn’t want him to hide her away. Even if that’s what he wanted to do most.
“Tell me,” he reached for her shoulders and watched her tense. “What’s wrong?”
His concern was evident. She could see it. She knew that he could tell this was real. He would want to hide her away somewhere and keep her safe. Protect his little woman. He best damned not say it. He knew better.
She wasn’t sure how to tell him. Hell, she wasn’t even sure what to tell him. She guessed she’d start at the beginning and that’s what she did.
They sat down and she poured out her heart. The call from Wallaby. Her hesitance. Their meeting. The fact that he’d been fired. Why he’d been fired. The fact that he was shaking and terrified. That he didn’t trust her and most certainly wouldn’t trust her if he knew she was working with Asher. That he’d told her about an investigation. That he’d said he was in danger. He wanted someone to know. He’d be in touch. Everything.
Everything except one. She left it for last. And when she said the words she knew why she’d saved that detail.
Asher exploded. He wanted her to leave town. Get the hell away from whatever was going on. He was worried for her. She had been afraid of that reaction.
She argued. They got into a small fight. Then he told her he was sorry. That he couldn’t bear the idea of anything happening to her. She nodded. She understood. But she still wasn’t positive any of it was true.
Hudson believed it didn’t matter. If the idea was thrown out there, she was in some sort of danger. And he wasn’t certain how to fix it with her out working cases. If Wallaby was honest and she disappeared, it’d put a mark on both of them. Logan was no fool.
If he was lying, Logan would know she knew and he’d come after her. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
There was no sex that night. They talked. She told him what had happened and he held her. They tried to sort through it. They tried to figure out what they could do to make it okay. They yelled and questioned and cried. And for the first time, Hudson told her he loved her.
That brought her to the question that’d been in the back of her mind for months. If he loved her…if he wanted her…why would he let his club take care of her?
Hudson was shocked she’d asked. He had known that was her thought. Once he’d realized she’d been in that passageway and heard the conversation. She was an agent. It was in her nature to stop and listen.
He went on to explain how he was putting on a front. The guilt that had filled him from the inside. The way he’d planned to tell her. But she’d left. And he’d been devastated.
Fuller wanted to believe him. She wanted to hear the words and have no doubts that he was being honest. The problem was that she wasn’t sure who was honest and who wasn’t anymore. She’d come to Vegas for a job and she ended up in some kind of mixed up and twisted world she’d never expected.
Now she understood the saying. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That’s because what happens in Vegas is so fucked up that it doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world. So they just keep it quiet so that nobody knows. She’d never been in a situation like this and once she was out, she never wanted to be again. It upset her more than anything she’d ever dealt with, including her brother’s death.
Asher watched her facial expressions and felt his heart break. Even after all they’d endured together, she wasn’t sure she believed him. A part of him understood it. She was learning a lot about the world. But he’d thought that he’d proven himself to her.
Watching her toy with whether she could trust him was the most painful thing he’d ever seen. He never expected that a woman, any woman, could get to him the way she had. And he knew that he only had one recourse. Keep her safe. Show her that he’d never hurt her and then she would know she could believe what he said.
CHAPTER 11
Melissa sat straight up in bed. She was sweating. Her heart was racing. She had a feeling she couldn’t describe. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t because of a racy dream about Hudson.
Something was wrong. Very wrong. But she had no clue what. It was just her gut. And it was a bad something.
She tried to take deep breaths and relax her body for a second before she went into a full-fledged panic attack. It’d been years but she had no doubt that one was coming.
Everything in her told her to run. Get out. She was in danger. Her body was tense. But she tried to rationalize the situation. Yes her gut said something was wrong. But that didn’t mean she was in danger. Not necessarily.
The fear and panic was the attack. It was in her head. These were the words she repeated to herself as she made her way into the bathroom. A hot shower would help her relax. Clear her head. She had to think straight.
Before she turned on the water she went to make sure the locks on her door were bolted. They were. That relieved her somewhat. It allowed her to make her way to the shower and hop in with little worry.
Standing under the scalding water helped to relax her somewhat, but everything inside of her told her that something bad was going on. She just didn’t know what that meant. Fuller scrubbed her body and wished she could remember her dream. Maybe it had given her a clue of what she was afraid of.
Death.
It was as simple as that. Ever since she’d met with Wallaby, she’d been afraid of someone killing her. She was afraid to go to work. When Logan looked in her direction she got chills. She was afraid everywhere she was.
She’d even been putting off Hudson’s advances. He wasn’t taking it personally, thank God, but she was rejecting anything personal between them. She was terrified and nothing and no one made her feel safe.
She’d come here trusting in the good people and not trusting the bad. Now she had no idea who was who anymore. The ones she’d thought were good weren’t and she was fucking the worst one she’d known about. Her world was up in the air and nothing about it made any sense.
Eventually Fuller realized she had to get out of the shower and try to find out what had her so spooked. She began with a clean change of clothes and by starting a pot of coffee. It might be three in the morning, but she was going to need it. The reality was that there was little to no chance that she’d be sleeping anytime soon.
Sitting on the sofa, she longed to call Hudson. To make sure he was okay. But she had no doubt he was. Logan would call if he wasn’t. And if she called him he would be there. And she didn’t need that.
This was something she was going to have to sort through for herself. She needed to decide who she could trust. Besides, havin
g a known criminal visiting her apartment was a surefire way to draw attention to the fact they had some form of relationship. And that was the very last thing she was going to need at the moment.
Instead she sat and started scribbling notes. Fuller worked best by laying her thoughts out on paper. It helped to keep them from being jumbled inside her mind. They became clearer and easier to understand.
Looking back over them worried her all over again. She decided it was a good time to put the ideas away and busy her brain. A TV show or movie would do the trick. She grabbed the remote and sat back on the couch, hoping a good comedy would bring her out of the throes of worry.
That might have happened had her phone not rang. It was Hudson. She knew he wouldn’t call in the middle of the night unless it was urgent. He would assume she was sleeping and he’d never been one to bother her for frivolous reasons.
“Fuller,” she answered after it rang three times. She’d debated letting it go to voicemail and she couldn’t.
“I need to see you,” he had spoken clearly and kept it short. “Twenty minutes.” With that he hung up. Nothing else was needed. She knew where and she knew to go.
The driveway was long and she was getting more anxious by the second. She wondered why there was a need for a late night visit. If he was simply horny, she was going to kill him. Although, it would sort of be her fault for denying him.
He met her at the car and helped her inside. She could tell by his face that this wasn’t a booty call. Something was up and the sinking feeling inside her told her that it was the same thing that had caused her to wake up suddenly.
She walked in and sat down on the sofa. She knew that whatever was coming, she had to be prepared. Whatever he was about to tell her wasn’t going to be easy to hear. That much she’d already figured out.
“I’ve had some people on the watch,” he started.
“Watch? Over me?” she asked.
“Well, yes. Among other people.”
“Why?”
“That’s not important right now,” he blew her off. “Besides, I’m sure you know the answer.”
“So why does this warrant a late night call? Because I was awake?”
“No,” he looked at the floor and she saw the grave expression on his face. “Because something has happened.”
She knew it. Something bad was going on. Her gut had told her. “So spill it,” she said with more confidence than she felt.
“Your friend Wallaby is dead.”
***
Melissa was exhausted. She’d spent most of the last week working leads on Wallaby’s death. Logan had put her in charge.
The only thing she knew for certain was that he had fifteen rounds put through him. There were no witnesses. There was no known reason. He was just outside his apartment building. It had happened in the middle of the night.
She hadn’t even had time to work the other case, let alone see Hudson. He was getting impatient. He called her several times a day. Sometimes to just chat. Others to check on her. Mostly to try and meet with her. But she had left him the night she’d found out and not been back.
It wasn’t personal. Not towards him. Or maybe it was. She wasn’t sure what to think or believe and she was trying like hell not to fall apart. She’d just seen Wallaby a few days prior. He’d told her some pretty potent stuff. She knew he was worried about his own death and so she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Logan was blowing it off as gang related retaliatory hits for the ATF meddling in their affairs. But Melissa didn’t buy it. She didn’t see any reason that Andy would be anywhere on a gang’s radar. Actually, she wasn’t sure why Andy was out at that time of night. He was a homebody.
She’d asked Hudson. What had happened? He had a guy watching the place and that’s how he’d found out. But apparently the guy had gone to grab a bite. Nothing was happening and he took a break. That’s when it happened. And when he returned there were officials everywhere and Wallaby was dead.
It hadn’t sat right with her. Why would he suddenly leave when there was something about to happen? If it was just a careless choice then what should she think about his men, particularly the ones watching her? But mostly, it didn’t seem realistic. And that terrified her.
Asher had been adamant that he wanted her safe. He’d told her to stay away from Wallaby. That it could get her killed. Just simply having him confide in her what he had would put her in danger.
That made her wonder if it was truly something he didn’t know about. Did he take care of Wallaby? Either because he wanted to protect her or because he wanted to protect himself?
She didn’t want to think too much into it. But she had no choice as she found a couple clues from random leads she was given. Both pointed in the same direction. A local gang and Asher Hudson. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t find anything that showed the clues were erroneous. Instead, everything seemed to back it up.
That was the reason she paid a visit to Hudson that day. The reason she asked again if he knew anything. The reason she shared that she had evidence he was providing guns to the local gangs and that he’d instructed one of them to kill Wallaby.
Asher denied it vehemently. He told her that she should trust him. He was hurt. He was angry. He again spoke of how he wasn’t a criminal the way she viewed him to be and he’d never do anything to hurt her.
She’d walked out. Unsure of what she was feeling, Fuller needed to be alone. And that’s what she’d done. Go home. Alone.
Melissa was torn. She wasn’t sure that she was making any of the right decisions. She felt bad that she’d hurt Hudson the way she had. She didn’t mean to. But she was doing a job. An important one. And at that moment, she wasn’t sure what that meant.
Everything in her wanted to go back to him. To hold him. To let him comfort her. To apologize. But that was the problem. She lie in her bed and realized that she wasn’t sure what she doing anymore. Was her desire for this man impeding her own life? Was it making her choose that desire over the truth she was vowing to seek?
She’d spent a while working with Hudson and nothing ever seemed to pan out. Was it coincidence, or was he playing her to keep himself safe? She’d never told him about what she’d seen in the basement and he didn’t volunteer. They seemed to agree silently that some things were best left unsaid.
But now Andy Wallaby was dead. He’d come to her. That meant that either she was in serious danger, or she was being lied to by someone. And that changed the playing field. She knew then and there that it was time for her to forge on. Even if that meant alone. Until she had some answer, she couldn’t let herself drown in Hudson. She couldn’t give herself to him any longer.
Melissa began to cry. She had finally found a man that made her world better and she wasn’t sure she could trust him. All she knew in that moment was that she needed to know the truth. And that might mean that she found out things about her lover that she’d never wanted to know.
He, however, was determined to keep her hanging in. She wasn’t home two hours when he’d called.
“I didn’t do this,” he stated before he even said hello. “I swear to you. But I understand you have to do your job. And that job means not trusting me. I want you to know I love you. And I’m here. And I’d like to see you. I won’t beg. I don’t want to discuss any of this. I just want to hold you. To show you my feelings. To know you are there. If you care to join me, come anytime.”
And he’d hung up without letting her say a word. She toyed with her emotions. She would love to go and be with him. But was it the best idea?
She decided she didn’t care as she got dressed. She may have to push him away tomorrow, but she could have tonight.
CHAPTER 12
“Tie me up.” She heard herself request it and within moments he was obliging. She found herself bound, blindfolded and gagged. Fuller had never felt excitement quite like she felt with Hudson.
“Look at the way your body responds to me,” he ran a fi
nger down her abdomen and she arched her back up towards him. “You want me, don’t you?” She nodded and moaned as his lips followed the trail his finger had taken.
Asher began to tease her body the way he always had. His lips and hands began to explore her from one end to the other. She felt a variety of sensations. Soft and fluffy. Hard and even cold metal. All of them excited her. She had never understood women that liked being blindfolded until she became one.
The idea of having no control and never knowing what was coming excited her. It could be pain. It could be pleasure. She was never quite certain.
The nipple clamps came soon, after a bout of taunting the buds with lips and teeth. She whimpered in delight as she felt her body being claimed by him, piece by piece. He wasn’t going to spank her today. He’d told her that. But he had plans for her.