Bouncer (Bad Boys in Big Trouble Book 2)

by Roarke, Fiona

  “Get back in the van. Now!” Pierce moved to stand in front of Jessica, with Reece blocking her from Neil’s direct line of sight. She could make out his face in the narrow space between the larger men’s shoulders.

  Neil ignored the order and frowned at Reece. “I guess he’s getting off scot-free because of his special connections.”

  Arthur stared at Reece, and his brows furrowed. Perhaps wondering why his bouncer wasn’t also in cuffs.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Pierce fairly shouted as Arthur asked, “What special connections?”

  Neil sneered at Arthur, who was about to be led away by Gordon and Elsa, and said, “You’re so stupid. He’s been undercover in your club for a year. I know for a fact that he’s with the DEA. You’re totally screwed.”

  Jessica was possibly more stunned than Arthur. Reece is DEA?

  The silence stretched until suddenly everyone was talking at once. Without warning, Reece punched Neil in the face, putting him flat on his back, decorating the ground.

  Pierce grabbed Reece to keep him from dropping onto the prone Neil, who was screaming as blood ran down his chin, across his face and into the dirt.

  “I agree,” he told Reece. “You earned one shot, but I can’t let you kill him even if he deserves it. And he does. Let me take care of it.”

  Sputtering and arguing over Reece’s role in the op, Arthur, Dixon and Bickley were hustled to a waiting FBI van and driven away.

  Reece turned to Jessica the instant Pierce released him. He opened his mouth and closed it without speaking.

  “You’re DEA?” she asked him.

  Reece rubbed his forearm over his eyes once and then looked at her like he didn’t want to say what came next. “No comment.”

  “That means yes, but you never once hinted that information to me.”

  He pushed out a long sigh. “Couldn’t.”

  “Really?”

  “Just like you couldn’t share your secret operation with me, and I understood.”

  “You tattled to Arthur that I would help you.”

  “I said I was sorry about that. I swear to you no information that I gave him actually came from you.”

  Pierce, who’d remained silent for the duration of their conversation, chose that moment to intervene. “Turn around, Hayes. I only put the cuffs on you for Arthur’s benefit. Now that Agent Wiley has fucked up Reece’s cover, I guess I can let you go.”

  She turned on him. “You knew he was undercover?”

  Pierce winked. “Well, I worked with him on a case five years ago. Things in his life could have dramatically changed, but I guessed he was undercover.” To Reece he said, “I tried not to step on your case, by the way, idiot personnel notwithstanding.” Neil, now sitting, held a hand to his bleeding nose and let loose a steady stream of bubbly-sounding curses. “Also, I know a couple of your brothers. Strong family resemblance there, you know? I would have figured it out, even if I hadn’t worked with you before.”

  Jessica didn’t know what to say about Reece, so asked, “Now what?”

  Pierce rubbed his hands together, as if he couldn’t wait to get started. “Once all of this evidence is collected, we’ll prosecute some bad guys.”

  Reece grunted once. “You will. I’m screwed over. Somewhere nearby, my team is waiting for my signal.”

  Pierce cocked his head to one side. “What were you trying to find out?”

  “We wanted Arthur’s method of recording all of his clients and deals. This one deal won’t give him the prison time he deserves.”

  The sound of another vehicle racing in their direction caught everyone’s attention. Reece sighed. “I suspect that’s someone from my chain of command about to unleash holy hell over this arrest tonight. The FBI was to be notified to back off.”

  Pierce crossed his arms, and said fiercely, “I wouldn’t have backed off even if another gun had been to my head.”

  “Well, I’ve been undercover for a year at great expense for absolutely nothing.”

  “Maybe your chain of command will get rid of Neil for outing you,” Jessica said. “That would be an accomplishment.”

  “Maybe. I’d like to watch at the very least. But not worth a year of my time.”

  A large black SUV turned into the drive, raced toward the house and slammed to a halt in front of them. Two men leapt out of the front seat.

  “Who in the fucking hell outed my agent in front of the man we were trying to catch?”

  Pierce, Jessica and Reece pointed at Neil.

  “Hi Miles,” Reece said.

  Miles nodded once at Pierce and said, “We’ve met.” The two shared a half smile before Miles marched over to Neil. “You’re in a lot of trouble, Agent.”

  “Do you know who I am?” he asked, pompous despite the swollen nose dripping blood and mucus.

  “Yeah, I do. You’re about to be my bitch. Once I’m finished with you, I’ll let the federal prison system have what’s left of you.”

  “You’re bluffing. My uncle—”

  “Has already been arrested for allowing you to obtain inside information on my undercover agent,” Miles finished for him. Neil blanched, his already pasty face going three shades lighter.

  The man who’d accompanied Miles cuffed Neil and started reading him his rights. A struggling, protesting Neil was shoved into the SUV’s backseat.

  Miles turned to Reece. “By the look on your face right now, I’m assuming we didn’t get what we needed.”

  “No. We did not.”

  “Not even a hint we can chase down or a thread we can unravel?” He glanced at his vehicle, where Neil was squirming in the backseat. “I’d take any crumb at this point.”

  Jessica said, “You wanted Arthur’s criminal client list, is that right?”

  Miles focused on her. “Yes. That and we needed his method of keeping track of his vast client network and all the dirty laundry he’s done for them. We have no idea how he records it all or where those files are stored. Do you have thoughts on that, Agent Hayes?”

  “What about Dixon? The more I think about it the more familiar he looks to me. Doesn’t he seem familiar to anyone else?”

  Miles shrugged. “Not to me. Where do you think you know him from? Does he have unlawful connections other than Travis Arthur, like a criminal place?”

  “I don’t know. However, I’m certain I’ve seen his face before. I just can’t remember the context.” Jessica stared at nothing, thinking furiously of where she might have seen Dixon before.

  “If you think of something, I’d be grateful,” Miles said. “I mean, he doesn’t look familiar except that he’s been Arthur’s assistant forever. Who do you think he is?”

  “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I know I’ve seen his face before somewhere.” All three of them were staring at her with interest. “Some people can remember numbers, some people can remember names, but I can remember faces. I’ll bet if you ran Dixon through facial recognition software, you’d find him in there as something besides a quiet assistant and bodyguard. Has anyone ever looked before?”

  “Of course. He’s been with Arthur for a couple decades. Whatever Arthur knows, I’m certain he does too, but he likely won’t tell us a thing. He’s too loyal. Do you think he has a criminal past? Something before Arthur? He must have been a kid. Maybe it’s buried in juvenile records we can’t see.”

  “I’m not sure. It’s more of a feeling that he was famous or something, but I can’t remember. What can it hurt to check? A full scan can be done before he makes bail. If he’s wanted somewhere else for a crime, maybe you can leverage him against Arthur.”

  “Good idea. We’ll check into it.” Miles looked at Pierce and smiled. “Some of your people are smart and helpful. Others are filled with self-important shit and need to be taken out like trash.”

  “Yes indeed. Feel free to keep Neil.”

  Miles laughed. “Trust me, I will. He revealed the identity of an undercover agent. He’s going down. Unless his uncle stic
ks up for him.”

  “Thought you arrested him.”

  Miles lifted one shoulder. “I might have exaggerated that point. Although his uncle is in a big pot of hot water for confiding in Neil a private source. That’s how dipshit knew about your identity,” he told Reece. Miles looked at Jessica. “If you ever need a job, you come and find me.”

  “Not a chance,” Pierce said. “Hayes stays with me.”

  Miles mouthed, “Call me,” in Jessica’s direction and laughed. He told Reece he’d see him at the debrief, climbed back in his SUV and drove Neil away, hopefully forever.

  Jessica was suddenly very tired. “Do you need me to do anything?” she asked Pierce.

  He allowed a smile to shape one side of his mouth. “No, not tonight. You’re free to go. Reece, take her home.”

  She startled, unsure of her feelings for Reece at the moment. It wasn’t a secret to anyone who knew her well that she didn’t ever want to date anyone in law enforcement. The thought of how her brothers would go apeshit was enough for her to strike them off the list of potential boyfriends. More than that, she was well acquainted with how most guys in this line of work changed if their girlfriends were in the same life. They became overprotective. Jessica had enough of that already.

  Reece as a hard-working bouncer was much more appealing than Reece as an undercover agent with the DEA. How could she focus on her career if his job would always take precedence over hers? And it would. She’d seen that happen, too. A lot.

  Jessica allowed Reece to guide her to his car. She didn’t say a word on the drive back to her apartment, and he didn’t push it. He slowed his vehicle as they neared her building and she had her door open before it came to a stop.

  “Wait,” he said, grabbing her arm before she got too far. “Will you please talk to me?”

  “I’m tired.”

  “Me, too. Let me come up. We can actually sleep together this time.” His amused tone was comfortable and familiar and she loved him, but she didn’t want another man dictating things in her life.

  “I’d rather be alone.”

  “I see. Well, we still need to talk eventually.”

  “No. We don’t. You were playing a part. It was a different part than I originally thought, but a part nonetheless.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes. If you want to be mad at me, fine, that’s your right. But at least be mad at the fact I was likely going to disappear back into another undercover role after the arrests were made tonight and not because I was playing you. I wasn’t.”

  “It’s not that. It’s just that I liked you better as a bouncer.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m FBI. I’m career minded.”

  “Good. I’m all for your career in the FBI. But I will always worry about you.”

  She pushed out an irritated sigh. “Thanks, but I already have a father and four older brothers fighting for the lead in that overprotective position in my life. Barring the fact that I never wanted to date anyone in law enforcement, I don’t need anyone else I have to fight so I can do my job.”

  “Maybe you don’t, but too bad. I love you. I care about what happens to you. And it doesn’t matter what either of us does for a living.”

  Her heart skipped when he said he loved her, but she forced herself not to give away her feelings. This was important. She had to be strong. “Oh? Why is that?”

  “No matter what you did for a living, whether you were a kindergarten teacher or a bomb technician, I’d still worry about you.”

  “Because you don’t trust that I can take care of myself.”

  “No. Not at all true. I’ve seen you in action—at the coffee shop, for example—so I know full well you can kick ass. But that doesn’t preclude me from worrying. That’s what love is to me. Deal with it.”

  His reference to the coffee shop brought clarity to something she’d wondered about. “You pushed me out of the path of that bullet.”

  “What?”

  Jessica turned to face him. “You were the one who shoved me when that second gunman popped up like a bogeyman at a haunted house.”

  His hold on her arm loosened, but he didn’t let go. “I did. Are you saying I should have let you take the bullet?”

  “No. I’m grateful. I was out of my element that day, reacting as best as I could in the heat of the moment. You saved my life.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know about that. Maybe I only saved you from a graze to the arm. The crazy tweakhead firing at you didn’t look like an expert shot to me.”

  Jessica closed the car door, cocooning them in his front seat again. “Okay. Say I love you, too. So what happens now?”

  Though he smiled at the roundabout way she’d admitted she loved him, Reece drew his hand down his face. “I’m not even sure. My cover’s been totally blown. There were so many witnesses, it’s possible my covert career has come to an end. Maybe this time next month, I’ll be behind a desk somewhere. Unless I find a new job.”

  “Does the thought of that upset you?”

  He shrugged. “Surprisingly, only a little. Truth is, you already had me thinking about giving it all up.”

  “Really?”

  He looked at her with an expression she recognized. A lusty half smile shaped his mouth. “Remember the last time we were parked in front of your apartment in the front seat of my car?”

  Jessica felt her cheeks go hot. “Hard to forget something like that.”

  “That’s the truth. Anyway, the idea of giving up my current career seemed inviting if I had something to give it up for. Too bad you aren’t pregnant. It would be easier, knowing I had a kid on the way, to help make the decision.”

  Jessica sucked in a breath. “Who said I wasn’t pregnant?”

  “You did.” His eyes widened. “I thought you said I didn’t have to worry.”

  “Well. Not yet. It’s too soon to know anything for certain.”

  His eyes narrowed. “So when you said I didn’t have to worry, what did you mean?”

  She answered his question with a question. “Are those regrets surfacing?”

  “Maybe, but not about you being pregnant.”

  “Then what?”

  He swallowed hard. “You mentioned having four older brothers, right? If you’re carrying a kid and we aren’t married, then I’m doomed.”

  She nodded, crossed her arms and smiled. “I’ll protect you from them if it’s needed.”

  “Good to know. One other thing you should probably be aware of.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My name is not really Mark Reece.”

  She let out a long-suffering sigh, but didn’t mean it. “Bummer, since I already practiced writing Mrs. Jessica Reece in my diary a thousand times. What a waste of time.” She rolled her eyes. “So what is your name?”

  “Reece Langston.”

  She thought about it for a few seconds. “Okay. Mrs. Jessica Langston sounds pretty good.”

  “I think so, too.”

  She laughed. “Good. I want to make sure I get your name right when I tell my family about what you did to me. And, you know, for the birth certificate, should I need it.”

  His brows rose, but he didn’t look unhappy. “Pregnant or not, I still want to marry you, Jessica.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. As soon as possible, if you’re willing.”

  “I am willing. I do love you and since you aren’t going to give me grief about my job I’d love to marry you.”

  He grinned. “Good. Elope or a wedding?”

  “I’m the youngest of five and the only girl, as I may have mentioned. I’d probably get in more trouble for eloping than for having a child out of wedlock.”

  “I doubt that.”

  She bobbed her head in agreement. “Well, my mom might feel that way. Thinking about my brothers and also my dad’s reaction makes me reconsider.”

  “You are making me nervous.”

  She laughed
, delighted that he wasn’t a criminal and that he loved her and wanted to marry her regardless of whether she carried his child or what job she had. In her mind, all the rest was just details. “I don’t mean to make you uneasy.”

  “Yes, you do. And I get it. You want payback because I fibbed to you while I was undercover. I’m okay with it for a little while. Don’t abuse it.”

  “Noted.”

  “So big wedding then?” he asked, looking more anxious than he had all evening.

  “Let’s elope.”

  He brightened like his life sentence had just been commuted. “Really? Are you sure?”

  “I don’t care about a big wedding. I care about you. Law enforcement or not, I just want you.”

  “Great. Tomorrow? Justice of the peace?”

  “Perfect.” Jessica had talked to her mother long ago, helping her brace for the fact she didn’t want an elaborate wedding. Her parents had eloped too, for heaven’s sake. Why did she have to have a big wedding?

  “I love you, Jessica.” He leaned forward and kissed her like he meant business.

  “Are we recreating a memory here?”

  “Not opposed to that, but I’ve never seen your bedroom. And I’d like to. Let’s go upstairs.”

  “Okay. I guess.” Jessica felt better about her future than she had in a long time. They walked hand in hand all the way to her apartment. As she opened her door, she added, “Before you come inside, I want you to know I’m also not housekeeper of the year.”

  ~ ~ ~

  After christening her bed with two rounds of incredible make-up sex the likes of which should probably be chronicled as the world’s best sex ever, Jessica fell into a deep, yet slightly troubled sleep.

  She wasn’t concerned about Reece or their future, but she was disturbed that she couldn’t remember why she knew Dixon’s face. It ate at her, entering her dreams as a problem she needed to solve. Wasn’t it her job to remember any and all faces? Hadn’t she always felt like she was the best in her field? Hadn’t she even won more than one award for this very skill?

  A lightning bolt of previously elusive memory zapped her wide awake. She sat up in bed. Beside her, Reece stirred. “What’s wrong? Bad dream?” He rubbed her back, soothing her for a moment until he seemed to fall back to sleep.