No Promises: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  CHAPTER 66

  ALYSSA

  I drop the top on my BMW. The air feels cool and crisp. I’ve not driven the car very much at all. I turn up my radio and breathe in the fresh air. The pine trees that line the driveway give off an aroma that makes me feel at home, just like they do back in Cloudcroft. It’s hard to believe such a small amount of time has passed since we were there.

  A small motel sign pops up as I drive down the road. It’s not far from the house. I pull into the parking lot, but her car isn’t there. I drive further down the road and find another little motel, but her car isn’t here either.

  What is up with her? Why is she so mad? How can she do this to Kyle?

  A small grocery store is up ahead. I pull into the parking lot. It’s such a small town that I decide I can leave the top down on the car as I run in. The small store has a pretty good meat market. I find several steaks quickly, then get some potatoes to bake and some fresh green beans.

  “Will that be all for you today?” the lady at the cash register asks me.

  “Yes, thank you,” I answer her.

  I look out the glass front of the building and see a police car driving slowly as it passes behind my car. “Can I ask you something?” I ask the lady.

  “Yes,” she answers.

  “Do you happen to know the sheriff?”

  “He’s my uncle,” she tells me.

  “Oh! Then it is safe to say he’s a stand-up kind of person, right?” I ask, not believing how small this town is.

  “He’s the best. Why do you ask?” she asks me.

  “He was just driving by my car. Just being curious,” I answer her.

  She looks out the glass wall. “That’s a nice car. He was probably just admiring it,” she says.

  I smile at her. “I’m sure that’s it. Thanks,” I say as I walk away from her.

  I drive through the little town, looking for Laura’s car. I notice the same police car turns out onto the road behind me. It follows me for three blocks. I decide I should go back to the house. I’m careful to follow all of the speed limits and use my turn signals. The damn sheriff stays some ways behind me all the way back tp the house. Just as I turn into the driveway and push the code on the gate to open it, the lights on the police car turn on.

  The gates open. I want to drive in and close them behind me, but I’m a little bit afraid to. The sheriff gets out of his car and walks up to the side of my car. He seems to be purposely taking his time before he tells me why he’s bothering me.

  “Sir, can you tell me why you’re stopping me?” I ask him.

  Pulling down his dark sunglasses, he glares at me. “I’ll ask the questions, young lady.”

  I turn my head to look forward. “Okay, then, what questions do you have for me?”

  “Can you understand me? I will ask you the questions. Now be quiet,” he says.

  I close my eyes. I just remembered Kyle told him my name is Kat. If he wants to see my driver’s license, he’ll know it’s not the truth and that won’t be good. Not good at all. I picture Kyle’s face in my mind and then call his name out in my head. I open my eyes and look at the gate.

  “I need you to step out of the car,” the sheriff tells me.

  I turn to look at him. “Why?”

  “I’ll tell you only once more. I need you to step out of the car,” he says, then puts his hand on his gun, which hangs on a belt around his waist.

  I laugh at his actions. “You must be crazy. You can’t pull a gun on me just because I won’t do what you say. You’ve not given me any reason as to why you’ve even pulled up behind me.”

  I hear Kyle’s truck start up from the garage. It’s loud. To my surprise, the sheriff moves his hand off of the gun. He moves away from my car and goes back toward his.

  “I’ll let this go for now, missy,” he says, and then gets into his car and pulls away before Kyle can make it all the way out to us.

  I pull through the gates as Kyle’s truck comes into sight. I see that he’s alone in the truck. I drive past him and motion for him to follow me. I pull up in front of the house and he pulls back into the garage. I walk into the front door with my bag of groceries.

  Eden meets me at the door. “What the hell happened? Kyle said he heard you calling him and saw the front entrance in his head. What is that about?”

  Before I can answer him, Kyle walks into the side door from the garage. “Did I see a police car driving off, Al?”

  “A police car?” Eden asks.

  “The sheriff followed me out here and then turned on his lights just as I pulled into the driveway. I did nothing wrong. I felt like he was going to try and take me in or something. I pictured Kyle in my head and called to him. I didn’t call to you, Eden, because I couldn’t have you in danger of being taken into custody,” I tell them.

  “You did the right thing, Al,” Kyle tells me.

  “I thought so. I was taking a gamble it would even work,” I tell him.

  Eden unpacks the bag of groceries and says, “Maybe you should try to telecommunicate with Laura.”

  “I can try. I’ll go up to our bedroom and try to concentrate. I bought steaks for you guys to cook out on the grill later this evening. Can you put this stuff up while I go try to communicate with her?”

  I go upstairs to our bedroom and lay down on the bed. I see Laura’s face in my head. I call her name over and over again in my mind. I can’t hear anything back. I can’t be sure this is working.

  I have to stop myself from thinking about how it might not work. I sit up and hold my hands up to my head. I try to see her face again. An image of her with tears streaming down her face comes into focus. I open my eyes, then get up and run down the stairs.

  “I saw her with tears streaming down her face. I think it’s time to ask for help,” I say. “We need to ask our security team to find her.”

  Eden stands up and takes out his cell phone as he walks out the back door to make the call. I look over at Kyle. “She will get over this. She’s really madder at herself than at you,” I enlighten him.

  “I doubt that, Al,” he says, sadly.

  Eden comes back in. “You won’t believe this.”

  “What?” Kyle and I ask at the same time.

  “Her car has a tracking device. I should’ve thought about that before, but I didn’t. Anyway, she’s right down the road. You won’t believe where,” he says.

  “Eden, just tell us,” I say.

  “Sheriff Hardy’s house,” he tells us.

  “How can that be?” I ask.

  Kyle stands up. “I’ll go get her. You two stay here.”

  “Wait, Kyle. One of our security guys works in Austin as a bodyguard for the governor. He’s coming out to take care of the situation,” Eden tells him.

  “So we have to wait?” Kyle asks.

  “It won’t be long, Kyle,” Eden assures him.

  “I’ll make some sweet tea while we wait,” I say.

  “Why would Laura be at the sheriff’s house?” Kyle asks us.

  “I have no idea,” Eden answers him.

  “We will know shortly, Kyle. Just try to relax until then. I found some chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge. I’m going to make some cookies. Come help me, Kyle,” I tell him, trying to distract him.

  “I guess I should find out where everything is in here. I don’t want Laura to have to do all of the cooking,” Kyle says.

  “The cookie sheets should be under the cabinet, Kyle. I’ll pre-heat the oven.”

  “I’ll be out back by the pool. I need to call our parents and let them know how things are going,” Eden tells us, then walks out of the back door.

  I finish making the tea, then pour Kyle a glass. “Here, have some tea. It’ll calm your nerves.”

  “Thank you, Al. Thanks for understanding. I feel like I’m going crazy here. I can’t figure anything out about any of this. It makes no sense why Laura would be over there,” Kyle says as he puts the tray of cookies into the oven.
/>   “I know it’s confusing, to say the least. I mean, why in the hell didn’t the sheriff say anything to me about that?” I ask.

  “It doesn’t make any sense at all. I just want it over soon,” he says.

  The back door opens and Eden walks in. “He’s here.”

  As we walk out the front door, a black suburban drives up. A well-built man wearing a black suit gets out of the car. Eden walks over to him as Kyle and I hang back.

  “What do you mean, she’s in jail?” Eden shouts at the bodyguard. Kyle and I look at each other, then get closer so we can hear everything.

  “The sheriff said she left here last night and he happened to be driving down the road on his way home. She pulled out of the gate here and sped down the road in front of him. She appeared to be drunk, so he had his deputy, who was riding with him, take her car to his house and he took her to jail,” the bodyguard, Jake, tells us.

  “I don’t understand why she hasn’t called anyone to tell them that,” I say.

  “The sheriff said the judge deemed her a flight risk. She was apparently very hostile towards Sheriff Hardy, hitting him repeatedly. The judge has not set her bail yet. They won’t let her make any calls until that time. They also have her in isolation so she can’t hurt anyone,” Jake says.

  “This is ridiculous. We need a lawyer. That sheriff, a couple of his deputies, and a judge were here last night. They have an idea that we’re hiding what the jet was chasing,” Eden says.

  “Then she needs to be out of there as soon as possible, before they get her to talk,” Jake tells us.

  “She won’t say anything about that. She takes her responsibility seriously. She would never give up any information about them,” Kyle says.

  “I am sure she would never deliberately give up any information. Unfortunately, drugs could be used to get the truth out of her,” Jakes says.

  “Jesus,” Kyle says as he begins to pace back and forth.

  I look at Eden, then turn to take Kyle back into the house. “Come on, Kyle,” I tell him. “Let’s go back inside. Your cookies are probably done.”

  He follows me in. “This is bad, Ally. I just want her back here. What if they drug her? I can’t take that. This is my fault because I’m a mess up.”

  “Kyle, stop that. This is no one person’s fault. Blame is not what needs to be done. We need to focus and take care of business. I’m positive we have lawyers who will get her out quickly. Have faith.”

  Kyle looks at me, then hugs me tightly. “I love her, Ally. I know it now for sure because this is killing me.”

  “I know you do. We’ll get her out,” I tell him.

  Eden comes in the front door. “A lawyer is coming to see what he can get done. This is a bad situation, with the damn police department as well as the judge being against us. We’ll get her out, though, so don’t worry about that,” he tells us.

  “Kyle, turn off the oven and take out the cookies, then let’s go get her car,” I say.

  “Alyssa, I don’t think …” Eden says.

  “I want to see this man,” I say.

  Kyle looks at me. “Ally, there’s no way we can let you do that. You could end up in there as well. These are not people to think you can control.”

  “We need to get her car back. That’s all I’m talking about. Let’s go get it,” I say.

  “Don’t get out of the car, Alyssa,” Eden tells me as we pull up at the sheriff’s house.

  I look over at Kyle, who’s sitting right next to me in his tall new truck. “You walk up there with him and don’t get back into this truck until he’s out the driveway,” I order him.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kyle says.

  Then I turn to Eden, who’s sitting on the other side of me. “Picture the dogs in your head, They’ll immediately calm down.”

  The minute both Kyle and Eden are out of the truck, the front door opens. An older woman is standing at the door and a large German Shepard stands in front of her.

  “What do you want?” the lady shouts.

  “We’re here to pick up this car. It’s my wife’s,” Kyle tells her.

  “That girl ain’t your wife. My husband, the sheriff, told me that. So why’d you lie to him?” she asks.

  “She is my wife. I don’t know why he would tell you anything different. I just need to pick up the car. I don’t want to upset you or anything,” Kyle says.

  “You ain’t upsetting me, boy. You go on ahead and take that car. It ain’t mine. I’ll tell you one thing, though. You’re starting things out all wrong here,” she says.

  “I don’t mean to be doing that, ma’am,” Kyle says, then motions for Eden to take the car.

  Eden starts to walk towards the car and the dog standing in front of the lady begins to bark. “He don’t like you,” the lady tells Eden.

  I focus on the dog and he stops barking. Eden continues towards the car, getting in and starting it. He drives past me as he leaves the driveway.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Kyle says to the lady, then walks back to the truck.

  I see the lady lean down and say something to the dog, then it takes off running towards Kyle. She must have given it an attack command. I open the door and jump out, running towards the dog as Kyle moves quickly towards the truck.

  “Get back in the truck, Alyssa,” he yells at me.

  I stop, standing perfectly still as the dog stops in front of me, growling and barking. I look up to see the lady has shut the door. I see the curtain pulled back some, I guess so she can see out.

  “Be quiet,” I tell the dog in a hushed voice.

  The dog stops barking and turns his head sideways as if asking me how I did that. “Go back to the house,” I tell it. He turns and trots back towards the house.

  I turn to go back to the truck. Kyle’s waiting for me. He picks me up, putting me in the truck on the driver’s side. “Eden is going to kill me,” Kyle says under his breath.

  “That dog wasn’t going to hurt me. You, on the other hand, were fixing to get torn up,” I say.

  “I could’ve outrun it,” he says.

  “Just say thanks, Kyle.”

  He looks at me with a frown. “Thanks, dog whisperer.”

  CHAPTER 67

  KYLE

  My cell phone rings as we approach the gate to our house. “Hello, Eden. Yeah, we’ll go right over there,” I say, then hang up the phone.

  Ally looks over at me from the passenger seat of my truck. “What did he say?”

  “Eden said the lawyer is at the jail and we can go over there now.”

  Alley asks, “Is he going too?”

  “He’s almost there now,” I say.

  When we arrive at the jail, we see the lawyer talking to Laura through a thick glass window. Her eyes fly up as we walk in. I turn to look for Eden and find him standing up by the wall with a frown on his face.

  I walk up to her. Laura puts her hand on the glass and I press mine up to hers through the glass. She wears a pained expression.

  “Is she all right?” I ask the lawyer.

  “Not really. She’s been sick,” the lawyer tells me. “Here, you can talk to her through this phone. I have to talk to the sheriff.”

  Ally walks up to the glass. Tears are rolling down Laura’s face. “Tell her we’ll do everything we can. She’ll be out soon,” she says.

  I tell her what Ally said and Laura tells me, “I know that. I need you all to pray for me. I’m afraid they might be poisoning me. I’ve been throwing up a lot.”

  Now I see red. “Have you told them you’re sick?”

  She nods.

  Ally asks, “Are they asking her a lot of questions?”

  I ask Laura Ally’s question and she answers, “Not a lot. Just a couple of them. They want to know what flew to our house and where they are now. They said they won’t let me out until I tell them.”

  Eden walks up and says, “We’ll figure this out.”

  A lady in a uniform comes and takes Laura away. Laura looks back at us
as tears flow down her cheeks. I’m trying so hard to stay strong for her, giving her a smile as she’s lead away before we turn and walk out of the room.

  Ally almost runs into the sheriff.

  “See you finally came looking for your little friend,” he says.

  Ally looks up at him and says, “Do you not have a conscience?”

  Eden and I go to her side, trying to keep her from getting herself in trouble.

  “You should watch how you speak to me, young lady,” he tells her.

  Ally looks him right in the eye and says, “You should watch who you mess with, sheriff. You’re in over your head. You just haven’t realized it yet. Let her go and you can avoid a lot of trouble.”

  His demeanor changes some and he says, “You think you’re pretty tough. You might know how to get animals to do what you want them to, with that commanding attitude. Unfortunately for you, I am no animal. My brain works on its own.”

  Eden tugs at her to leave. “Come on, Kat. Let’s go.”

  Ally holds her ground and keeps her eyes on the sheriff’s. “It would seem you’re determined to underestimate us, sheriff. It’s a shame you want to do things this way.”

  Eden manages to pull her away and I follow behind them. Looking back at the sheriff, I say, “You might think about letting my wife go. I hate to see what will happen to you if you don’t. You’ve made Kat mad and that never turns out well. The last guy who did ended up in a mental institution. Make wise choices, sheriff.”

  The sun shines brightly as we walk out the doors. I blink and shield my eyes as Eden pulls Ally to Laura’s car. “I’m going to talk to the lawyer. Please just sit in the car and don’t talk to anyone. You’re going to get yourself locked up, Alyssa,” he tells her as he sits her down in the car and seat belts her in, then hands her the keys. “Start the car. I’ll be right back.”

  I get in my truck and head back to the house. My mind is flying with what we need to do to get her out of there and to teach these idiots a lesson. They can’t be allowed to do this to people. I can’t wait for the legal system.

  Eden and Ally are right behind me. I wait for Eden, then we walk up to the front door. “What did you think about what the lawyer said?” I ask.