The American Soldier Collection: Escape from Obsession (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  He placed the radio back down.

  “Gunny, you’re making me nervous.”

  He reached over and covered her thigh with his hand. He felt nervous as that gut instinct and feeling of anxiety filled him.

  “Sorry, baby, I don’t like the way that Mercedes showed up and followed us. Just as a precaution I’m running the plates.”

  She glanced back and then looked at him.

  “What Mercedes?”

  “They turned off two blocks back. I’m still not sure it’s nothing.”

  “I’m sure it isn’t anything. I don’t know anyone who drives a Mercedes, do you?”

  “No. What does Jeffrey drive?” he found himself asking. She appeared very nervous.

  “A Porsche.”

  A bit of relief filled him, but then again, it would be easy for a guy like Jeffrey to get another car. Perhaps a loaner or something. “Just relax. I’ll take you to lunch and we’ll head home.”

  “Okay.”

  * * * *

  Gia sat in the restaurant with Gunny and he didn’t seem like himself at all. Even as he held her hand, he wasn’t focused on her but on two men who entered the restaurant and sat at the bar.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. Let’s eat and then get going.”

  This wasn’t exactly her idea of an enjoyable lunch and as she turned around to see who he was staring at, she caught sight of two men. Her belly tightened for some odd reason. Did she know them? Had she seen them before? As she thought about it, she vaguely remembered walking into work this morning with Gunny and seeing one of the men standing in the main lobby, reading a paper. The building had multiple businesses in it so she hadn’t given it any thought.

  “Gia?”

  “Yes?” She played with her fork. She didn’t have much of an appetite now.

  “What is it?”

  She hesitated only a moment then whispered to Gunny, “Are you watching those two men?” He nodded his head. “I’ve seen one of them before.”

  He focused on her face. He looked very serious.

  “Where?”

  “Back at work this morning, in the lobby. The tall one was reading a paper and he looked right at me.”

  “Have you ever seen him before then?”

  She shook her head.

  “Let’s go.” Gunny waved over the waitress so they could pay the check. As he did, the two men left the bar in kind of a hurry.

  Gunny threw down more than enough money as they headed out of the restaurant.

  As they exited she saw Gunny’s line of sight.

  * * * *

  Gunny immediately saw the Mercedes. While they were dining, it came up as registered under Valencio Corporation. He didn’t know who that was and was going to ask Gia when the men exited the bar area. The same two men stood outside the car and as Gia and Gunny walked closer, they began to get into the Mercedes. They were being obvious that they were watching.

  “Hey!” Gunny yelled to them and then told Gia to remain where she was.

  “Gunny, wait. It’s probably nothing,” she said, but he approached them anyway.

  “Who are you?” Gunny asked.

  “Excuse me,” the one guy said then looked at Gia. That made Gunny angrier.

  “Look at me not at the woman,” Gunny stated firmly. The other guy remained by the driver side.

  “I saw you two watching us and I saw your car outside the building downtown.”

  “Yeah, and what’s it to you?”

  Gunny stepped forward. “What’s your name? Where are you from?” he asked. Their New York accents were quite strong.

  “None of your fucking business,” he said and then the other guy interrupted before Gunny could shake him up.

  “We had business on the third floor with Colonial Enterprises. The owner suggested this restaurant. There’s nothing more here, Ranger,” he said kind of smugly.

  “Come on, Gunny. Let’s go,” Gia said and Gunny gave the two men the stare down.

  “I’m watching you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Gia pulled him and they headed toward the truck. As they drove down the road, he was silent. He didn’t know what came over him. Maybe the guys were legit. He felt so suspicious and on edge. He wouldn’t calm down until Gia was safe and Jeffrey was behind bars.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I thought they were following us.”

  “It seemed so, but hey, I appreciate your protection.” She winked. She was trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

  “Oh really?” He headed to his place.

  “Yeah, it turns me on to see you in action, Ranger Gunny.”

  “Ranger Gunny?” he asked and chuckled. She scooted closer to him and placed her hand over his thigh. She laid her head on his shoulder as she caressed his balls.

  “What are you doing?”

  “My own investigation. These seem very suspicious,” she whispered and he took a deep breath as she unzipped his pants and cupped his balls.

  “Fuck, Gia, that isn’t fair.”

  “What isn’t fair is that Garrett and Wes can’t join us back at the house for a long, hot bath.”

  “Me and you in the bath?” he asked as she continued to rub his cock.

  “Just me and you.” She lowered her head to his lap. The moment he felt her lips on his cock he knew he was done for.

  “Holy shit, Gia, if doing my job gets you this turned on, I should take you to work with me on a regular basis.” She hummed against his cock as he tried to maintain control of the vehicle. Now he was the one who wished he had dark-tinted windows on his truck.

  Chapter 11

  Kaleigh headed down to the parking garage. Johnny, the garage attendant, had called her saying that her car alarm was going off. She hurried out of the elevator and into the parking garage. She could hear the alarm blaring as embarrassment struck her. She wondered how it happened. She looked toward the security booth and didn’t see Johnny as she clicked the button on her car keys. Her cell phone rang and she answered it quickly.

  “Yes, Sylvia, I’m downstairs. My car alarm was going off. Yep, I’ll be up in five minutes.” She disconnected the call. Damn was Sylvia in a mood today. She’d told her she needed to use the ladies’ room when she got the call from Johnny.

  Turning around to head toward the elevator she smacked right into someone.

  “Oh,” she gasped then looked up into Jeffrey’s bloodshot eyes.

  “So predictable,” he said then stuck her with something. A needle?

  She fell to the ground as darkness overtook her vision.

  * * * *

  Jeffrey smiled to himself as he opened the trunk of her car and placed her inside. No one would know what was going on. He took out the security cameras then knocked out Johnny. He never liked the way that asshole looked at him anyways. He hadn’t expected there to be so much blood when he struck Johnny in the back of the head with the crowbar. It didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered but getting to Gia.

  He locked Kaleigh’s trunk and texted with her phone. He reread what he’d texted then pressed send. “Okay, now all we do is wait.”

  * * * *

  Teddy was working in his office with Shane when he got the call from Gunny. Gunny explained about the Mercedes and what had happened yesterday after picking Gia up at lunchtime.

  “Well it turned out to be nothing, right?” Teddy asked.

  “I’m not too sure. I forgot to ask Gia if she knew the name Valencio Corporation. I wasn’t going to bother her with this. Not with Jeffrey’s trial being this morning. I think she’s trying to keep it off her mind.”

  “Valencio Corporation? That sounds familiar,” Teddy stated.

  “It does? What was the last name of that guy she was involved with in New York?”

  “Antonio Pelloni.”

  “What about the other guy? The one who was partners with Antonio and tried to move in on her?” Gunny asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Gunny soun
ded worried. Teddy felt like Gunny knew something more. Maybe Gia shared something with him.

  “Gunny, tell me. What didn’t Gia tell me?”

  Gunny explained and now Teddy felt uptight.

  “Shane, come over here. I have Gunny on the phone, can you check out this last name and corporation,” Teddy yelled to Shane and Gunny could hear the typing on the keyboard.

  It felt like it took forever until Teddy was telling him what they found.

  “Shit, Gunny, Valdere’s last name is Valencio. It’s his company, his car, and probably his men.”

  “Fuck!” Gunny yelled.

  “Call her and I’ll meet you at the office,” Teddy said then Gunny disconnected the call. He slammed his fist down on the desk. Everyone in his office looked at him. He turned to Sparta, a fellow Ranger, and explained the situation.

  “I’ll come along with you.”

  * * * *

  Gia was smiling as she looked at the bouquet of wildflowers from Robert and the staff. Everyone was thrilled to see her back at work, but despite the cheery faces and upbeat atmosphere, she felt the anxiety in her belly, knowing that at any moment the attorney would call and inform her of the court hearing and about Jeffrey’s destiny.

  Just as she gathered her files that needed to be put away, her cell phone went off. A text message. It had to be one of the guys. She looked at the screen. It was from Kaleigh. She asked her to meet her downstairs in the garage. She had a box of items for the office and needed help carrying it upstairs.

  Gia headed out of her office, telling the main secretary where she was headed and what she was doing. As she entered the elevator her cell phone rang.

  “Gia, where are you?” Gunny asked and he sounded upset.

  “You know where I am, Gunny. What’s wrong?”

  “Those guys from the Mercedes yesterday, they work for Valdere, baby. I’m on my way to the office,” he said as the elevator door opened. She had a bad feeling in her gut as she looked around and saw no sign of Kaleigh or of Johnny the garage attendant.

  “Oh God,” she said as Jeffrey appeared, knocking the phone from her hands. She screamed as she tried to fight him, but he threw a pillowcase over her head and zapped her with something. Her entire body felt as if it was shocked. He’d Tasered her. The son of a bitch had Tasered her. Her teeth chattered and her entire body convulsed as he lifted her up and carried her to a car. She couldn’t fight him as he tied her hands together.

  “You’re going to die, bitch, but not before I get what I want.” He closed the trunk and she lay there helpless, wondering if Gunny was on his way. Would she ever see them again? Was this how her life would end. The tears stung her eyes as her teeth continued to chatter and her body shook no matter how hard she tried to control it.

  Jeffrey had lost his mind, Valdere had men following her, and Gunny, Garrett, and Wes were caught in the middle. What am I going to do? How the hell did this happen?

  * * * *

  “How the hell did this happen?” Gunny asked as he stood in the parking garage at Gia’s workplace. There were police and detectives everywhere. In a matter of thirty minutes word had spread that Jeffrey hadn’t shown up for his court appearance, Kaleigh, Gia’s friend, was missing along with Gia, and the parking attendant was unconscious and rushed to a nearby hospital.

  Wes and Garrett joined the scene as one of the detectives said that there was a blurry video surveillance from way down at the other end of the parking garage.

  “Let’s take a look. It’s all we have,” Teddy said as he ran his fingers through his hair. The group of them walked to the booth and pulled the camera’s footage up onto the screen. They watched in horror as someone grabbed Kaleigh. They couldn’t make out the person. Then the camera’s picture was too blurry to see, but it appeared that he carried Kaleigh somewhere.

  “Whoever it was, they used Kaleigh’s cell phone to text Gia. We have her phone and the text right here,” Gunny said as he held Gia’s phone in his hand. This was all he had of hers right now to hold. He felt so sick and responsible. If he had followed his gut, he could have avoided this situation.

  “The guy could be either Jeffrey or this Valdere guy,” Kenny said.

  “Kenny, I’ve got a confirmation on Valdere Valencio. He took a flight to Houston from New York this morning. He arrived two hours ago,” Shane stated.

  “Fuck,” Teddy yelled out.

  “It gets worse,” another detective replied. “Antonio Pelloni arrived last night.”

  “We’ve got something over here,” an officer called out to them and they all headed toward a car as two officers tried to unlock the trunk.

  “That’s Kaleigh’s car,” Shane stated.

  After some struggling they got the trunk open.

  “Oh Christ! Is she okay?” Wes asked as he and Garrett stood there looking at the officer who was checking Kaleigh’s pulse.

  “She’s alive,” he said.

  “Get an ambulance down here pronto,” Gunner yelled.

  “Is she awake? Maybe she can tell us who took Gia,” Teddy said.

  “She’s out cold,” the officer replied.

  “Shit, Shane, get me information on Antonio and Valdere. They had to have rented a car or maybe the Mercedes. See if we can put out an APB on the vehicles,” Teddy ordered.

  “Also check to see what cars are registered under Jeffrey Lewington. It could be any three of these men who took Gia,” Gunny said.

  “Holy shit,” Garrett said as the ambulance arrived on scene.

  * * * *

  “Who the fuck is that guy?” Antonio wondered as he followed the sedan from Gianna’s workplace. He was going to try and take her when she left work, but yesterday some big guy she was dating showed up to pick her up. Antonio decided to wait until this morning, but then he noticed the weird guy lurking around and followed him to his place. Jeffrey Lewington was his name. This has to be the asshole who attacked her. Antonio had to remain patient. Apparently he wasn’t the only one interested in Gianna. So as he’d followed the guy Jeffrey to her workplace he was surprised to witness his plan in action. The man had just pulled off an amazing abduction. Too bad he would take the fall for Gianna’s death once Antonio had her for a while. Antonio was careful not to tip the psycho off as he followed Jeffrey out of the city and farther toward Dallas.

  If that fucking guy laid a hand on Gianna he was dead. Antonio reached for the handgun and held it tight then brought it to his lap. Patience, Antonio. Patience and you will have her once again.

  * * * *

  “What did he do, fucking hire the asshole who assaulted her to abduct her?” Valdere asked as he sat in the back of the Mercedes.

  “Who the fuck knows,” Pedro stated.

  “How do you want to do this, boss?” Turk asked as Sully drove the vehicle.

  “Just follow them, but not too close. We don’t want to tip them off.” Valdere sat there itching to get his hands on Antonio.

  “When I get my hands on that piece of shit, he’s a dead man,” Valdere said as they followed the sedan.

  * * * *

  “We’ve got it. The Mercedes was just spotted heading down the main highway toward Dallas,” Shane yelled out.

  “Can they get a chopper up pronto? We can’t lose that vehicle,” Teddy asked.

  “Let’s head out. They’re thirty minutes ahead of us,” Gunny added and they scattered to head toward the truck.

  “Turn your radios to forty-two. Keep me updated and remember no sirens and tell that helicopter to keep a good distance.”

  “Yes, sir,” Shane called out as Gunny, Teddy, Wes, and Garrett headed toward Gunny’s truck while other detectives and officers followed.

  As they drove out of the parking garage everyone was on edge.

  “I can’t believe she’s in danger. We were supposed to protect her,” Garrett stated.

  “It’s my fault. If I had followed my gut and looked into that car deeper...”

  “No, Gunny, it isn’t anyone’s fau
lt. These men were after her for months. It’s just coincidence that they chose now to attack. We know where the car is. We’ve got guys up there and on the roads. We’ll get to her in time,” Teddy stated.

  “I hope so, or I’ll never be able to live with this mistake,” Gunny said as he maneuvered around traffic and then gunned the gas pedal as soon as the road ahead was clear.

  * * * *

  Gia struggled as Jeffrey tied her to a large bed. Her body continued to shake and her belly would tighten then spasm. He looked like some psycho, with his bloodshot eyes and sweaty forehead. He straddled her waist and leaned over her.

  “So fucking pretty. I didn’t underestimate you this time, bitch.”

  She stared at his bruised face and the cast on his hand. She did that to him. She beat him up.

  “The bruises look good, asshole.”

  He struck her in the mouth with the cast and she screamed as the tears filled her eyes.

  “You’re going to look just as good by the time I get through with you.” He reached for the scissors and she tried to fight the binds that held her down.

  “Ahh, not so tough now are we, Gia. Damn, you’re going to pay for fucking up my life. If I’m going to jail I might as well make it worth my while. How about I cut you up so you’re not so pretty.” He ran the blade gently down her cheek then against her neck. She gasped and tightened her body, afraid to move even a hair, or the sharp scissors would cut her.

  “Hmm, I like you when you’re obedient.”

  He jumped up and lowered his body between her legs.

  When he started to cut the material away from her body she panicked. She thought about the black lace panties and matching see-through lace bra she wore. It was supposed to be a surprise for Garrett, Wes, and Gunny when she got home. She’d planned a little striptease. She felt her throat and her nose clog up. She was never going to see them again. Jeffrey was going to rape her.