What Alex Wants...He Gets
Page 14
Chapter Fifteen
Harper
I stared up the full height of the metal and glass twenty-five story building towering in front of me like a bearer of doom. I imagined Alex hidden away in his elegant home office with his Bluetooth headset glued to his ear as he handled the myriad details someone in his position took care of.
As CEO of some real estate conglomerate I didn’t begin to understand, he spent an inordinate amount of time conducting business on the telephone. In between today’s important business calls he had attempted to reach me more than once.
My hand tightened on the cell phone I’d yet to answer for fear I’d say something I couldn’t take back. Not that seeing him in person would make any of this any easier, but after everything I owed him more than a phone conversation.
The insistent buzz of another voicemail vibrated in my hand, shredding my nerves even more.
Like it or not, this night had been coming for weeks now. Tonight I would ask Alex to unlock my beloved necklace and release me.
Tears burned at the back of my eyes and the constant pain in my chest tightened. The thought of telling the man I loved that I didn’t want to see him again made me sick to my stomach.
Although not as sick as the night I’d confessed my true feelings to a room that turned so silent after I spoke the ill-timed words, anyone could have heard a pin drop.
I growled in frustration and wiped frantically at the lone tear that had escaped onto my cheek. No. This wasn’t going to happen this way. I had more backbone than that.
Somewhere.
My eyes slid closed as the memory of that night overtook me. There were so many other things I could have said in that situation that might have made things go differently. I could have asked him about his work. Or about his security. That question still bugged me. Why did I need it too?
Or maybe if I’d drank less wine with Zia, I would have kept my guard up better. I could have avoided the confession that screwed everything up. He wasn’t ready. Hell, I wasn’t ready. Sober I knew that. Drunk not so much.
Thank God his phone had rung right after that and he’d been forced to answer it. I’d sat there for a while drowning in the dread of his imminent return. I’d racked my brain for a plan on how to take it back.
Instead I’d heard my mother’s words in my head.
Sink or swim, baby. That’s how life works. It throws chances at you when you least expect it and you often have to jump in blind. Sink or swim. Those are your choices.
Well, I’d sunk. That’s for sure.
After an hour, Alex had not returned and I’d lost all hope. Fair? Probably not. Real? Absolutely. My pleasant buzz had turned into a vicious headache and I had to lay down. After that I must have passed out because I remembered nothing else until the next morning when I woke up in bed alone.
My shoulders sagged.
Oh there had been a note and a story of urgent out of the country business that could only be handled in person. I didn’t doubt it was true, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was deflated.
I had told him I loved him and he hadn’t responded. Minutes, hours, days. It didn’t seem to matter. I was a fool. Our relationship had been about sex. That much was clear. I should have clung to that knowledge from the beginning and maybe I wouldn’t be in this position now.
Not that I blamed him per se. He had huge responsibilities and he’d been careful not to make promises. But there had been slips. We both made mistakes. His demanding I live with him had given me the wrong idea. That was on me.
I had to admit things had been a little on the surreal side for a while. Which had gotten me thinking about things I had no business thinking. Like long term type things.
On a deep sigh, I wrapped my arms around my stomach. Lately my thoughts had wandered well beyond business and into the realm of crazy. As in maybe it was time to think about a family and marriage—again.
Those thoughts actually haunted me.
I loved Alex and with the treasured way he treated me when we were together, I’d dropped my guard. Despite all my best efforts not to let it go too far, I’d begun to believe in something more permanent.
So lost in my maudlin thoughts as I stood there staring at Alex’s building while too afraid to go in, I’d failed to hear anyone approach until it was too late.
“Ms. Allison?”
I jerked at the sound of my name and whirled to face whoever had spoken it.
Behind me stood two men in black non-descript suits with expressions on their faces to match.
My stomach twisted.
“Harper Allison?” The man repeated.
I stood there mute, unable to respond as shards of fear stabbed into me from every available angle. The feds had found me.
I’d run to the biggest city in the continental US, changed my name and broken all ties to my past.
And they’d freaking found me.
One of the men reached in his pocket and pulled out his badge. I stared at it mesmerized, still shocked they’d found me after all this time. I’d thought all of this was behind me now. It was supposed to be over.
“You need to come with us.”
I shook my head. “I—I can’t. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Technically that isn’t true. You were called to testify in court—”
“No!” I took several steps back and both men advanced on my position in response. “Bill is the one on trial, not me. I didn’t know anything. I told you people I couldn’t help.”
“You were found to be in contempt of court in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and we’re here to return you to the case.”
“You can’t!” I was shrieking now and I could see Charlie, the doorman from Alex’s building, heading down the sidewalk in my direction. I had about twenty seconds to make an escape or my sins were going to spill into the streets of New York City.
One of the men grabbed my arm in a tight grip and tugged me towards a dark SUV sitting at the curb. I jerked at the bite of his fingers deep into my skin.
He glared at me, a less than friendly look on his face. “You can either accompany us to North Carolina now or we’ll escort you to the local precinct and let them process you there. It may take them a while to get the paperwork to process though so you can wait in a holding cell until everything goes through. It’s your choice, but either way you are going back to North Carolina to deal with the contempt charge.”
“Ms. Allison,” the doorman called. “Are you okay? Should I contact Mr. Woodman?”
Those shards of fear dug deeper into my skin at the thought of Alex finding out about me this way. Even worse if the press got a hold of it. He would be humiliated. I would be humiliated.
“No. I’m fine,” I reassured him.
I quickly turned back to the two agents knowing full well I had no choice but to cooperate this time. “I don’t want to go to jail. What do I have to do?” I hissed at them.
Both men nodded and without saying another word, led me to their vehicle and placed me in the back seat. The locks on the doors clicked down and my stomach cramped with unease. I glanced at both men in the front seat and tried to remember if I’d taken a good look at either of their badges.
The driver leaned forward and his jacket slid up his back revealing the weapon attached to his side. I didn’t know jack all about guns, but that monstrous thing with what looked like a silencer on the end didn’t resemble anything I’d expect from a field agent. Or any other kind of cop.
Until then I’d been too scared to look back at Alex’s building, but as the car started and proceeded from the curb, I couldn’t resist one last glance.
The doorman stood on the sidewalk, concern etched across his face, a phone pressed to his ear. He was already talking to someone on the other end.
I pressed my palm against the glass as the first tear dripped onto my cheek. It was too late.
I’d screwed up again.
Bill Bennett, the man who I thought was my husb
and, the sick bastard that had convinced me at eighteen that I would be his beloved wife, was finally going to get his last and final wish.
My death.
Thank you so much for reading WHAT ALEX WANTS…HE GETS!
I hope you love Alex and Harper. Their story concludes in WHAT ALEX WANTS…HE TAKES, available in July but you can preorder now.
Harper is missing and Alex is going to burn down the country looking for her.
He’s also going after the man who dared to take her, just as soon as he figures out which one did.
Her past…his family…things are about to get crazy!
One-click WHAT ALEX WANTS…HE TAKES now!
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If you loved What Alex Wants, you’ll love the sensual and exciting New York Times Bestselling Purgatory Masters series. (and Bill Bennett made his first appearance in that series.)
The first book TUCKER’S FALL is available to one-click now!
And if you haven’t read the Purgatory Club series that started it all, the first novella ROPED is FREE to one-click!
Katie has a desire for rope and she’s had her eye on riggers Leo and Quinn for quite some time. Week after week she goes to the club and watches them tie up women from afar, while she imagines their rough rope against her own skin.
Now the two hunky men have decided to make their move. But is plus-sized Katie ready to turn her fantasies into reality?
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Also by E.M. Gayle
Contemporary Romance
Purgatory Masters Series:
TUCKER'S FALL (also available in paperback & audio)
LEVI'S ULTIMATUM (also available in paperback & audio)
MASON'S RULE (Also available in Paperback & audio)
GABE’S OBSESSION
GABE’S RECKONING
Purgatory Club:
ROPED (also available in audio)
WATCH ME (also available in audio)
TEASED
BURN
BOTTOMS UP
HOLD ME CLOSE (also available in paperback)
What Alex Wants Duet:
WHAT ALEX WANTS…HE GETS
WHAT ALEX WANTS…HE TAKES
Pleasure Playground Series:
PLAY WITH ME (also available in paperback & audio)
POWER PLAY (also available in paperback)
Single Title:
TAMING BEAUTY
Books Writing As Eliza Gayle
Southern Shifters Series:
DIRTY SEXY FURRY
MATE NIGHT
ALPHA KNOWS BEST
BAD KITTY
BE WERE
SHIFTIN’ DIRTY
NEVER KISS A WOLF
BEAR NAKED TRUTH
ALPHA BEAST
Devils Point Wolves:
WILD
WICKED
WANTED
FERAL
FIERCE
FURY
Pentacles of Magick Series:
UNTAMED MAGICK
MAGICK IGNITED
FORCE OF MAGICK
MAGICK PROVOKED
Single titles:
VAMPIRE AWAKENING
WITCH AND WERE
DRAGON MATED