by KD Jones
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at his handsome face. “Yeah, I’m not too thrilled that you thought you could interfere with people’s lives, my life.”
“I need to make amends to you and Phoenix if I hope to gain Amelia’s forgiveness. That’s where I’m headed now, to talk to him. Let me take this opportunity to tell you that I’m sorry for interfering and manipulating the situation between you and Phoenix.”
He sounded sincere, and what was going on between her and Phoenix might never have happened if it weren’t for her sister and Nigel’s manipulations. However, forgiving Nigel wasn’t for her to do.
“I don’t appreciate people messing with my life, but I took that up with my sister for her part. You’ll have to take it up with Phoenix and it will be up to him to forgive or not.”
“Are things working out between the two of you?”
Just like that her softening toward him ended. Narrowing her eyes, she answered, “That’s none of your damn business. If things do work out, it doesn’t absolve what you’ve done.”
He held up his hands to appease her. “Of course not. Again, I’m very sorry.”
Thank goodness the elevator finally opened its doors. He let her exit first and she turned right down the corridor. Phoenix’s room was the second to last on the right. She was about six feet away when the door suddenly opened and a pretty woman with brown hair exited. Olivia got a partial view of Phoenix’s side profile as he stood just inside the door. She watched as the woman leaned forward and hugged him. Frozen to the spot, she heard the woman speak.
“Thanks again for everything, Phoenix.”
“You know you can come to me about anything.”
Phoenix and the woman hugged once more and she couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming wave of jealousy. She stood there still frozen in place, not sure what to do. Nigel didn’t have that problem as he growled and rushed to pull the two apart.
“Get your hands off her!” Nigel yelled as he shoved Phoenix back inside his suite.
“Nigel! What the hell are you doing?” The woman ran inside after them in an attempt to keep them from fighting.
Olivia stood in the corridor feeling foolish and hurt. They hadn’t decided to be exclusive or anything really. However, from their last conversation he had asked for her to give them a chance. She had agreed but now feared it had been a mistake.
Sounds from inside the suite of glass breaking and furniture being upturned had other people coming out of their suites. She turned and made her way back to the elevator. She should have known better than to think this was something more. For the first time in a long time she had finally let someone get close to her, and she’d found him in the arms of another woman.
She went to her sister’s suite and entered the security code. It was late and her sister was either sleeping or out with a client. Olivia was grateful that Lydia stopped having clients come to her suite while she was visiting. She didn’t want to run into anyone or talk to her sister.
Entering her bedroom, she didn’t even turn the lights on as she closed the door and crossed the room to the bed. She lay down and curled in on herself. Sleep was not going to come easily. Tears trailed down her face. She had fallen in love with Phoenix but he wasn’t the one for her. Her heart felt like it was breaking and she began to really cry. A knock on her door had her trying to stop the flow of tears.
“Olivia?”
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m really tired. Can we talk in the morning?”
“You sound like you’ve been crying.”
“I’m just really tired.”
Lydia opened the door, and Olivia blinked from the brightness of the hallway light. Her sister came in and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. “You have been crying. What’s wrong? Is it your case?”
She shook her head, not ready to talk about it.
“Is it Phoenix?”
She glanced to the side. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Okay, we’ll talk in the morning.”
“Okay.” There was no way she was talking about this with her sister right now. She needed time to get herself under control. She planned to get up early and leave before her sister woke.
Lydia looked like she wanted to say something else but she leaned forward and kissed Olivia’s forehead before standing and heading out of the bedroom. “Good night, Olivia.”
“Good night.” She listed as her sister left closing the door behind her. Once more she was left in the dark as her heartache took over and she cried silent tears.
****
“Nigel! Phoenix! Stop fighting!” Amelia yelled at them.
Phoenix shoved Nigel off him and swung out, hitting him square in the jaw. Amelia screamed for him to stop and it finally registered that she was still there and could get hurt. He held up his hands when Nigel went to swing at him.
“Stop, Nigel! Amelia could get hurt.”
That was all that had to be said for Nigel to rein in his a fury. There was nothing that mattered more to Nigel than Amelia.
“Why did you attack me?” Phoenix rubbed his chin.
“You put your hands on my Amelia!”
“We hugged…as friends, Nigel!” Amelia yelled at him.
“I don’t like anyone touching you but me.” Nigel rubbed his chin, too. There was a bruise already forming there.
Amelia ran a hand through her hair and spoke with hurt feelings. “You know that you are the only male for me. If you don’t trust me, how is this going to work?”
Just like that, the fight went out of Nigel. He walked over to Amelia and took her in his arms. “I’m sorry. I get overprotective.”
“And jealous.”
“Yes…jealous. You mean everything to me.”
“You mean everything to me, too,” Amelia told him then they kissed…and kissed.
“Could you guys take this somewhere else?” Phoenix felt awkward standing there watching the intimate scene.
The couple pulled apart. Amelia blushed as she asked, “Were you coming here to find me?”
Nigel worked to get his emotions under control. “I didn’t know for sure you were here. I came to tell Phoenix that I was…sorry for interfering.”
Phoenix smiled slyly. “By all means, apologize.”
A tic suddenly appeared right beneath Nigel’s right eye. He looked down at Amelia who had crossed her arms and was waiting for him to proceed. Clearing his throat, he turned to face Phoenix.
“I am sorry for having Lydia set you up with someone. I was jealous and out of line.”
“Yes, you were,” Amelia agreed.
Phoenix could have given him a hard time but he took pity on the male. Plus, in a way he owed him because Olivia had been the best setup he’d ever experienced. “It’s fine, no harm done.”
“But Phoenix—”
Amelia looked like she wanted to argue the case on his behalf but he cut her off. “It worked out fine so let’s leave it at that.”
They didn’t shake hands, just nodded their agreement. Nigel turned to Amelia. “Let’s go home, baby.”
“Okay.” She let him lead her to the door and walked out, leaving Phoenix alone, sort of. As he went to close the door he noticed some of the other fighters standing in the corridor. “Everything’s fine. Sorry for the disturbance.” He then closed the door.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he wondered what was taking Olivia so long to come back. She hadn’t answered her phone or the texts that he sent. More than likely she and Trig would miss the departure and have to rendezvous at the next spaceport. Damn it! He really missed his female.
Chapter 14
The next morning
Olivia hadn’t got a lot of sleep, crying most of the night. She got up early so that she could leave before Lydia woke. She wasn’t up to talking to anyone. She headed down to the lobby concierge desk.
“Do you have a small meeting room with computer access I can rent for the day?”
“We have conf
erence room one-B available until noon. All our other conference rooms have been reserved.”
“I’ll take it.” Something was better than nothing. She’d message Lydia that she would be working this morning but that they’d talk later that night.
“Here’s the access card. You can toss it once you are done because it will deactivate on its own. Take the elevator to the first level, then take a right off the elevator and follow the corridor down to the end. It will be the last door on the right.”
She took the access card. “Thank you.” She carried her laptop bag and made her way to the elevator. Olivia had not charged her phone when she got back last night. She forgot all about it, so that was going to have to be the first thing she did. She did bring her charger with her.
Hitting the button for the first floor, she prayed she got there before Phoenix spotted her. The last thing she wanted was to deal with the emotional turmoil. She had a job to do and she was going to put her entire focus into that. No more thoughts of Phoenix.
*****
Phoenix hung up his phone with frustration. It had to be ten times now that he had tried calling, not to mention texting messages to Olivia. Still, no answer from her. “Where the hell are you, Olivia?” His calls went straight through to her voice mail. She wasn’t answering her texts but he could see that they were sent successfully. The ship was leaving the spaceport at that moment and part of him had this fear that she may not make it back to the leave the ship in time.
He decided to go down to security to see if Rachel had heard from Trig. If they weren’t going to make it back, then Phoenix would leave the ship and wait for her on the spaceport. He opened the door to his suite just as Lydia was trying to knock.
“Lydia. What are you doing here? Have you heard from Olivia? Are they going to make it back in time?”
“She came back late last night. I want to know what the hell you did to my sister!” She shoved past him to enter his suite. Confused, he turned to follow her in.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s back? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Olivia came back and I could tell immediately something was wrong. She went straight to her room without talking ot me and cried herself to sleep. She was gone before I woke this morning and left a message that she was working and would see me tonight.”
He ran his hand through his hair not able to hide the hurt he felt. “Why wouldn’t she tell me that she was back? I don’t know what could have upset her. Maybe it’s this case she’s working on.”
Lydia shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it. When I mentioned your name she seemed even more upset.”
“When exactly did she arrive?”
“I’m not positive but it had to be a right around midnight or one in the morning. I had gone to bed but woke up when I heard the door to her room open and shut.”
Phoenix was confused. Why wouldn’t she let him know she came back and what could have made her get so upset? It was about the time that Nigel showed up…
He picked up his phone and dialed Amelia’s office number.
“Hello, Nigel’s office.”
“Amelia, I need to speak with Nigel.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know. I need to ask him something.”
“Nigel!” she yelled, not putting him on hold. Phoenix could hear Nigel ask her why she was yelling.
“Go ahead, Phoenix. I’ve got you on speaker.”
“Nigel, did you happen to see Olivia when you were on your way to my suite last night?”
“Yes, I entered the code on the elevator so she could reach your floor. She was with me walking up to your suite but…I didn’t see her afterward.”
“Damn it!” Phoenix cursed.
“What’s going on?” Amelia asked.
“Olivia saw you leaving my suite and must have had the same wrong assumption that Nigel did.”
“Well, tell her nothing happened between us.”
“I will as soon as I hunt her down.”
“Do you need me to help explain things to her?” Amelia asked.
“No, this is something I need to handle myself.” He said goodbye and hung up. Lydia was staring at him.
“What happened last night?”
Phoenix sighed. “Amelia came over to apologize for Nigel having you help set me and Olivia up. She was pretty upset with him because he had done it out of jealousy. When she was leaving, she gave me a friendly hug. Nigel saw us and assumed the worse. He attacked me and we fought. I never saw her but evidently Olivia had come with Nigel and she had seen Amelia and I hugging. When Nigel and Amelia left, Olivia wasn’t anywhere around.”
Lydia crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you and Amelia?”
“Absolutely sure. I want to try to convince Olivia to stay here with me to give us a chance.”
Lydia looked surprised. “How serious are you about my sister?”
“I have fallen in love with her.”
“Does she know how you feel?”
“She knows I want us to work on this relationship but I haven’t had a chance to tell her what I feel yet.”
“Well, you need to do that as soon as possible.”
“I will, as soon as I find her. I’m going down to security. Maybe she’s working with Trig on her case.”
“Let me know if you find her and tell her that I want to have a long talk,” Lydia said as she made her way to the door.
“I will. You do the same if you see her first.” Phoenix tried calling her one more time but it went straight to voice mail again. “Olivia, we need to talk. Call me back when you get this message.”
He needed to find her, talk to her. She was jealous over him possibly being with another woman. That should have made him feel good that she cared that much, but it didn’t. It bothered him greatly that she had been hurt. Lydia said that she cried all night. He never wanted to be the cause of her pain.
Taking the elevator, he traveled down to the security level. He had practice scheduled for that afternoon but he wasn’t going anywhere until he found Olivia. He knocked and the door opened, revealing a pregnant Rachel.
“What can I do for you, Phoenix?”
“Is Trig available? I’m trying to find Olivia.”
“He came in late last night so I gave him the day off. Did you call her?”
“Yes, but her phone goes straight to voice mail.”
“What about her sister, Lydia?”
“Lydia can’t find her either.”
“Is there a reason why she wouldn’t want to speak with you?” Rachel asked suspiciously.
Phoenix ran a hand over his bare head. “There was a misunderstanding. Look, Rachel, I need to find her and explain things to her. Please help me find her.”
“I will, but if I find out that you’ve done something really bad, I’ll kick your ass.”
He seemed surprised and couldn’t help but chuckle, looking at her extended belly. “You might cause yourself harm.”
She waddled over to the chair in front of her wall of monitors and glared at him. “Then I’ll have Rage kick your ass.”
He stopped laughing at the thought of taking on the Beastial halfsie. Rage was the GCFA reigning champion for a reason. He was the toughest fighter around and he was totally devoted to Rachel. If she asked Rage would knock him around without needing a reason.
Rachel typed something in her computer console. “Every fighter and employee on board the GCFA ship has to have a tracking chip that can track them on and off the ship, but visitors are scanned and identified by body heat signature and tracked only while they are on board.”
Phoenix knew about the trackers. He was given one when he was hired but he didn’t realize that the visitors could be tracked.
“Olivia is on level one, conference room B.”
“Thank you, Rachel.” He turned to hurry out. He had to get to Olivia before she left again. If she did he would follow a
fter her no matter what, even if she did leave the ship.
*****
“When will the council need me to testify?” Olivia asked Uncle Ross.
“In a few days. They are pulling as many witnesses together to listen to their testimony. The captain in charge of the case will be there to give his statement, too.”
“Thank you for getting this meeting put together so quickly.”
“Something has to be done. We can’t have our children taken and used like this. I’m sorry it took something so horrific to finally get my colleagues to recognize the truth. Do you need me to help you with your travel arrangements?”
“The next GCFA spaceport stop will be a few hours away from the council’s chosen meeting place so I can easily take a shuttle from there.”
“Make sure you bring someone from the local IDJ to provide security.”
She was taken aback. “I don’t see why I need security.”
“Whoever has arranged this whole thing is not going to be happy that it’s being investigated. They could strike out to eliminate witnesses. You will be their number one target. Promise me you will not risk yourself.”
He was right. She had already been requested by her employers to step down from this case. This could get really dangerous. “I’ll see if Rachel and Trig can get someone from the IDJ to escort me.”
“I’ll be waiting along with your father.”
“What? You didn’t get my father involved in all this, did you?”
“Honey, he got pressure about you investigating but he’s going to want to make sure you’re safe.”
That was just like her dad. “I’ll see you then.”
“Be safe.”
“I will.”
“Love you, goddaughter.”
“Love you, too.” She hung up and ignored the flashing messages. Half of them were from Phoenix and the other half from Lydia. She wasn’t going to be able to hide from them forever. Eventually she would have to face both of them. She had her back turned to the door so she didn’t hear it open.
“Who is it that you love, Olivia?”
She turned with a gasp. “Phoenix.”
“Yes, I’ve found you. Now it’s time we have a little chat.”