“Have you thought this through, Eden?” my father asks, with concern.
“Not entirely, sir, no,” he answers truthfully. “I just know we have to take control of this situation. He wants Alyssa, so we need to use that information to catch him. Brady can trick him into thinking Alyssa is going somewhere by herself, or going to be here by herself. Stiles will try to get to her if he thinks that. Only she won’t really be alone. With your help, and everyone else’s, sir, we can figure this all out.”
Dad claps Eden on the shoulder. “Then I guess it’s time for us to brainstorm,” Dad tells us as he motions for us to follow him.
As we walk into the living room I see Kyle and Laura sitting side-by-side on the sofa. Our mothers sit across from them on the other sofa. Kyle stands up when we enter the room. He’s looking at Brady, then he looks at my father.
“What’s he doing out of cuffs and still here?” Kyle demands to know.
Eden looks at me. “Alyssa, maybe it would be best if you take Kyle and Laura upstairs while we work this out.”
Kyle sends me, ‘Let him know I’ll not be shut out of this, Ally. You take Laura up and I’ll stay down here. I have to be in on this. Your safety is my number one priority.’
I look up at Eden and say, “Let Kyle help out, babe. I’ll take Laura up. Come on, Laura, let’s go upstairs.”
As we reach the top of the stairs, Laura pulls me to my room, shutting the door behind us. “Ally, why do you think you can trust that guy? I mean he gave the freak all the information he needed to get to you.”
“This is hard to explain,” I tell her. “I can tell he was forced to give Stiles the information. Brady is Karen Stiles’ boyfriend. Darren Stiles told him he had to get him into our house or he would kill her. Apparently, he told Brady to give him the information by a certain time. When Brady didn’t get him the information by his timetable, Stiles raped and beat his daughter almost to the point of death. He actually meant to leave her alive, just barely, so he still had something to hold over Brady’s head. That’s what he’s been doing and he’ll keep doing that until he finally gets me.”
Laura throws her arms up in the air as she paces around my bedroom. “How in the hell can you be so gullible? You can’t believe a word the guy says. Of course he’s going to say he was blackmailed. It’s like, step one when you get caught—blame someone else.”
Crap, this is so much harder to get her to believe. I wish I could just tell her I have this gift, but I can’t.
I sit on my bed and look out the window. “I see where you’re coming from, Laura. I really do, but these people are a lot savvier about the ways of the world than we are. I have complete faith in them and my husband, so I’m ready to do whatever it is they come up with. I trust them that much.”
Laura sits next to me, sliding her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not positive these people have your best interest in mind. I’ve thought some brainwashing might be going on. I’ve done a lot of research on this Phoenix Foundation they’re so big in and that you and Eden are going to a part of. Ally. A couple committed suicide or something like that about the same time as you got married. Apparently they were long-standing members of the Phoenix Foundation. Their obituary said the husband died, followed minutes later by his wife. Al, that crap doesn’t happen.”
Man, this is getting harder and harder not to tell her. I can’t though.
“I heard about that too,” I say as I take her hand in mine. “It turns out they were old—like really old—and just it was a weird fluke that they died like that. I haven’t been brainwashed in any way.”
“This foundation is more like a religious cult in my eyes, Al,” Laura throws at me. “Have they made you attend any meetings or anything at all?”
“No, I haven’t been made to attend any meetings,” I say with a slight laugh. “This is a great organization. These people help so many hungry children, even building schools in third world countries.”
Laura rolls her eyes. “I’m aware of all the good they do. Are you aware the members of this foundation never leave it? Once they join, they never leave, not any of them, Ally. That’s not normal.”
Wow, this just keeps getting harder. What can you not find on the internet?
“Well, who would want to quit an organization that does so much good?” I ask.
Laura squeezes my hand and looks straight into my eyes. “Al, you have a quick answer for everything I tell you. That’s kinda crazy, because it’s exactly what people in cults do.”
Boy, she’s making this so ridiculously hard.
I give her a wide smile. “Okay, how about this? You’re here to see everything that happens. I’m asking you to stay awhile and see what goes on. Then you can decide if I’m in danger or not.”
“That’s exactly why I accepted your invitation, Ally. I’m not going to stand by while something crazy or terrible happens to you. I love you.”
Her words bring tears to my eyes.
How can I leave her in the dark like this? The freaking rituals—I can’t put her through that. It’s bad enough that Kyle had to go through them. I can’t let Laura go through anything near what we did.
“I love you very much. You will probably never know how much,” I say as I hug her tightly to me. “You’ll be here with me. If you see anything which seems cultish, then point it out to me. Now, I’m going to need you to help me take care of this situation, but only if you want to.”
“Hell, yeah, I’m going to help you take care of this situation, Ally,” Laura says as we release one another. “Once Kyle told me someone was stalking you, there was no holding me back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anything that’s happened between us will stop me from caring about you.”
In an instant, all I can think about is asking her to join our organization. If she could just know about us things would be so much better.
“Laura, perhaps you and Kyle could join The Phoenix Foundation. Better to be on the inside when checking into something, don’t you think?” I ask.
Her eyes narrow. “I’d have to discuss it with Kyle. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do at this point.”
Okay, she’s clearly not ready.
Eden walks in. “Okay, you both should come downstairs now. We’ve come up with something which involves you,” he tells us.
We follow him down the stairs and see Scotty has even been brought into it, something I’m not happy with. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to anybody.
Eden leads us to sit directly across from our fathers and Kyle. I hold Eden’s hand tightly, as I find I am getting pretty nervous. Then I notice Brady isn’t here and so does Laura.
“Where’s that guy?” Laura asks Eden.
“He’s been taken home, so he can start to contact Stiles,” Eden says as he motions for us to sit. “We’re hoping Stiles will see he’s been released and try to contact him again. Once he’s made contact with him, he’s going to let us know, and then our part of the plan will begin.”
Lyle takes our attention as he adds, “We’ve decided it’s improbable that we can get Stiles to come here again. We need to do this out in the open. The three of you will take a trip into town to go to the New Orleans zoo.”
Dad continues where Lyle left off. “We all feel he’s much more likely to think he can get to you in a place like that. Although the three of you will arrive together, the rest of us will arrive there a bit later, so he’ll not see us all together and get suspicious. We’ll flank you on each side, so you’re never alone, but at times you will appear to be.”
Lyle takes our attention again as he says, “Once he’s taken the bait—that’s you, Alyssa—then we will all come in on him at once. Our security team will be there as well to make sure he doesn’t get away.”
My father adds. “He will not be taken to the police station, as we feel he might get out, and we can’t have that. Instead, our security team will take him to a mental institution in Alaska, wh
ere he’ll never be released.”
Laura looks at Kyle across the room and asks, “Who are the three they’re talking about, Kyle?”
“Me, Ally, and Eden,” he answers.
She looks at me. “Ally, I want to come too. I didn’t come all this way to not help you.”
I look at Eden and send, ‘Is that going to work, if she doesn’t come? I don’t want anyone in danger that isn’t essential for this plan to work out.’
Eden’s hands go running through his hair as flashes of his dream flow through his mind and out to mine. Her role seems to have been played out already. She was supposed to be with me at the swimming pool and she was.
He has to come up with something to tell Laura, though, so he says, “Kyle feels strongly about you staying here, Laura. He doesn’t want you in any danger.”
Laura looks at Kyle. “I feel like I should go, though.”
Kyle rises and comes to her, taking her by the hand. He lifts her up and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Laura, please just do what I ask. I can’t see both of you in danger. My mind will stay more focused if I don’t have to worry about you too. I love you, you know,” he tells her.
Eden takes my hand and gives it a squeeze as a sharp pain stabs at my heart with his confession of love for another.
A slight blush covers her cheeks. “Well, when you put it that way. I would feel terrible if something happened to you because you got distracted because of me,” she concedes.
“So that’s settled,” my father says. “Laura, you can help Scotty here, then. He’ll be tracking us all and keeping us updated about where everyone’s at. We gave Brady a tracking device that we hope he can put on Stiles somehow, if he’s able to actually see him. The chances of that are slim, though, so we’ll tap into the surveillance cameras at the zoo as well. It may take both of you to keep track of everyone, plus keep us informed.”
Laura nods her head. “That’s good. At least I can be of some use.”
Kyle kisses her on top of the head. “You’re always useful, baby,” he tells her, making her smile.
Will I ever get used to seeing them together like this?
Eden’s warm breath fills my ear. “It’ll get easier.”
Why am I so jealous?
Dad stands up. “You kids get your bathing suits on and go for a swim. Have some fun for goodness sakes. I’m going to teach Lyle here how to barbecue this evening. I know how much Kyle and Laura love my barbecue ribs.”
“Yes,” Kyle hisses as he hugs Laura tighter. “I missed those the most.”
I give him a dirty look. “Thanks a lot, Kyle,” I find myself saying, before I can stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. “Now I know the real reason you came all this way and it wasn’t for me.”
Kyle laughs at me. “The truth is out, Ally. It was never you I was after. It was your dad’s barbecue,” he teases me.
“Stop it Kyle. We don’t want to burst her bubble with the fact that we only came here to get to eat her Daddy’s barbecue and her Mom’s apple pie,” Laura adds as she gives me a wink.
“You guys are awful,” I say with a laugh as we go up the stairs to change into our bathing suits.
Eden and I stop at our door as Laura and Kyle walk down the hall to theirs. I notice Kyle’s head bend down. It looks like he’s whispering something to her. I try to tune into his thoughts, but he’s blank to me. I find myself feeling a bit prickly inside.
Then Laura calls back to us. “You guys go on down when you get ready. It’s going to take me a little longer to get ready. I have to shave my legs. We’ll meet you down there in a little while,” she says, then I notice Kyle patting her on the rear end as he follows her into her room.
“What do you know about that?” Eden comments as he opens our bedroom door. “I guess he helps her shave her legs.”
I look at Eden as I frown. “Stop it, Eden,” I tell him as I walk into the room. “I don’t want to think about that.”
Eden pops me on the bottom lightly. “There goes that jealous streak again, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says with a grin as he closes the door behind him.
“It’s not jealousy, it’s just … it’s just … hell, I don’t know what it is,” I whine.
Suddenly Eden has my back up against the wall, pulling at my hair as he brings his lips down on mine. He thrusts his tongue through my lips. My heart races at his unexpected eruption of passion. Just as suddenly as he pounced on me, he lets me go and walks away from me.
“Oh, no you don’t, Mr. Fontaine. You get back here and finish what you started,” I say, and then I pounce on him.
Heat fills me in an instant as I wrap my legs around him and kiss him like I missed him. He lays me down and tugs my clothes off. I close my eyes and all of a sudden I see Kyle looking down at me, pulling my clothes away from my body.
I open my eyes again and see a frown covering Eden’s gorgeous face.
“Alyssa? What the hell?”
He turns away from me and I sit up. Only my bra and panties are left on me. “Eden, stop!”
He turns back to look at me. “You want him.”
I shake my head. “Don’t say that, Eden! It’s something I can’t help. Come back here. I have to learn how to control that. It’s just that I can tune into him since he’s so damn close. I think I just saw what he was doing to Laura down the hallway. I swear.”
Eden shakes his head and walks away from me. “Let’s just change into our bathing suits and go down to the pool. I’m no longer in the mood.”
As he disappears into the bathroom I’m left wondering how this is all going to work out.
Will I ever get this under control?
CHAPTER 52
EDEN
Somehow I managed to get through last night without losing my mind over my mate and her protector. It was not easy though. When I took her to our bed after hours of swimming and horsing around in the pool with her friends, I thought she’d be near exhausted and the images of Kyle might stop popping into her head.
I was wrong though. It made it difficult to make love to her, as she kept seeing his face. It ruined the night for that anyway.
All I can do is blame myself for this. If I’d listened to my mother and brought her to New Orleans when she was thirteen, then this would not be an issue.
So I have to keep my mouth shut and muddle through this. At least there is nothing going on right this minute as we eat breakfast. It’s not constant, so I have to be thankful for that.
I feel my stomach tense up as my mate takes my hand. Her nerves are going crazy as my father answers a phone call on his cell as we all sit at the table eating breakfast.
“Good. Too bad you couldn’t see him to put a tracker on him,” my father says. “Keep us informed of anything else he does. Another thing, don’t go to the hospital. We had Karen moved to a different hospital, so he won’t know where she is. We added security for her as well. Once this is over, it’ll be safe for you to see her.”
My father ends his call and rises from the table. “Well, you heard it, guys. It's go time.”
My mate is shaking like a leaf. I try to console her. “Alyssa, remember the things Beck taught you last night. You’ll be fine. We’ll be right there and you’re completely capable of taking care of yourself as well.” I remind her about how Beck came over last night and taught Kyle, Laura, Scotty, and me some basic self-defense moves.
Not that me or Kyle needed it, but we did it to make the girls happy
Alyssa snuggles into my chest as we walk toward the door. “I’ll get okay. I’m just not looking forward to this.”
Toni and my mother give us all hugs at the door. We have to wait for Laura to let Kyle go before Alyssa can give her a hug. “I won’t let anything happen to your guy, Laura,” she tells her.
Laura squeezes her and says, “You better not, Alyssa Shaylee Fontaine!”
The jeep has been brought from the other house for us to go to the zoo in. Kyle jumps in the back seat, si
tting in the middle.
The top has been taken off, to be sure Stiles can see us if he’s looking. Our plan is to stand out. After helping Alyssa in, I walk around to the driver’s side, getting in.
As we take off, I say, “Here we go.”
My mate fidgets with her hands. Her nerves are taking her over. Kyle’s hand lands on her shoulder, rubbing it. He says, “Ally, stop worrying, girl. You couldn’t be safer. With the two of us watching over you, that freak will never get to touch you.”
I hope to God he’s right.
She turns and gives him a smile. “I know I’m being silly. You guys won’t let anything happen to me. I know that.”
I take the exit off the highway, which leads us to the zoo. As we pull in, I noticed that the parking lot is full of cars. We finally find a parking space, then get out and head to the ticket line.
There’s a lot of people here today. I find myself wishing our trip here was as happy an occasion as it is for the people around us.
Once inside, I take my place on one side of Alyssa. Kyle’s on the other side of her. I lead them to look at the monkeys. I find I can’t seem to concentrate on anything. My eyes are constantly scanning the crowd for Stiles.
My phone vibrates and I answer it. “Hello? I’ll let her know,” I say, and then hand the phone to Kyle. “Laura wants to talk to you.”
Kyle takes the phone as I look at my mate. I tell her, “He’s here. Scotty and Laura spotted him on the zoo’s surveillance system. Now, don’t go getting all shaky, because he’ll know something’s up, as I’m sure he’s looking at us right now. So keep it cool. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she says, then sends me, ‘I’m freaking out inside though.’
I send her, ‘I know you are, princess. We’ve got you. Don’t let fear rule you.’
Kyle hands the phone back to me. “Game on, then. You keeping it together, Ally?”
She nods her head. “Not really, but I’m finding I’m a pretty great actress. I see an academy award in my future,” she says, nervously laughing a little.
We both laugh with her and I take her hand in mine, leading them to the next exhibit. We look at the birds and the bears. Then we come to the lions. Kyle looks at them intently. “Do you guys hate lions as much as I do?” he asks.
No Promises: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 113