Off Limits: A Bad Boy Romance

by Lauren Landish

“Well, let’s get packed quickly and get back to the hospital,” Vince said. “By the way, you have the keys to your car, right?”

  “There’s a spare set in the kitchen,” I said. I turned to the cop. “You guys mind if I get those keys?”

  He shook his head. “Not a problem to me. It was cleared, you go right ahead.”

  I nodded and opened my closet, taking out three suitcases that I had gathered over the years of modeling. “Think this should be enough?”

  The cop, taking in the sight of the giant cases, whistled. “Damn, woman, I could fit my entire wardrobe in just one of those things.”

  * * *

  After packing my bags and loading them up, the next thing on Vince’s and my agenda was to get in contact with Karla McDonald. I understood Kade’s thinking. Nobody had really known that I was back in town, and certainly nobody knew that I was going to my house except for Karla. I didn’t think she’d betray me, but you never know.

  Vince handled my car well as we left the neighborhood, more to just get away from a painful scene than anything else. Sitting in the passenger seat, I dialed Karla’s number from my phone’s history. It took me three tries, but she eventually picked up. “Hey, Karla.”

  “Alix,” she said, sounding down and wary. “Why are you calling?”

  “I think the two of us need to talk. Just talk, nothing else,” I said. “I’m pretty sure you know why.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line, and just when I was about to ask if she was still there, Karla answered. “In public only.”

  “That’s fine by me,” I said, trying not to let my anger creep into my voice. There was something in Karla’s voice, maybe it was just the connection, but she sounded drained, devoid of emotion. I’d come to understand over the past day that it was a sign of shock or sadness more than anything else. “Where?”

  “LA Zoo, by the koalas.”

  I thought about where we were and nodded. “That’s fine, Karla. What time?”

  “Is an hour all right?”

  “Sure. I’ll see you in an hour. Good bye.” I hung up and turned to Vince. “So, off we go to the zoo.”

  “And just how do we get there?” Vince asked. “I’ve never been to Los Angeles before.”

  I rolled my eyes and spotted an AM/PM. “Pull over, let’s grab drinks, and I’ll drive.”

  While we were in the store, I waited while Vince grabbed a one-liter Coke for himself. “Jeez, you planning on having to go run five miles or something this afternoon? That’s a ton of sugar.”

  “I missed breakfast, and didn’t eat too damn much of dinner last night either,” Vince said. “Not since seeing the news about Kade’s dad. Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”

  “Sure. I figure we’re past the point of being hung up on certain social norms, don’t you?”

  The clerk who rang us up did a slight double take when he saw me, but he didn’t say anything when Vince gave him a dark look. Instead, he made change quickly and we left. “So, what I wanted to know is, does your moving to Portland have something to do with Kade?”

  “Are you asking if he and I were sleeping together before?” I asked, for some reason a smile coming to my face. “Come on, Vince, if you’re going to be an attorney you’ve got to be more forward than that when you question people.”

  “There’s a difference between a mock trial or a deposition and my boss’s well, how are you defining yourself?”

  I thought about it. In my head, I was Kade’s Princess, but that was to stay between us. Instead, I thought of what we’d said to each other the day before, and I realized my feelings were the same. “Fiancée,” I said. “But that’s just between us. Since I paid for your drink, it’s attorney-client privilege.”

  Vince laughed, and we drove toward the Zoo. The parking lot was full, it was a weekend after all, but I was able to find a parking spot. Paying for our tickets, Vince looked around and shook his head. “Hate the zoo, personally. I know it sounds weird, but I’d prefer to see them in the real world. Seeing animals all caged up just gets me right in the feels.”

  “Right in the feels?” I asked. “Are you trying to sound cool or something, Vince?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No way. I was a short-haul trucker, remember? Once you do that long enough, you’re never allowed to be cool again.”

  We made our way through the zoo, following the map, and I thought about what Vince said. It was kind of sad to see the animals, as dramatically impressive as they were, in a state of captivity. “Where are the koalas again?”

  “Hang a left at the next path,” Vince said. We turned and saw the sign for the Australian animals. Approaching the koalas, I saw Karla standing and watching the enclosure, where there were four koalas making their way around a tree.

  “Karla!” I called out, trying to balance the need to warn her of our approach with the need to not draw attention to myself. Thankfully, Los Angeles is perhaps the one city in the United States where a nearly six foot blonde model doesn’t garner attention, even one as instantly infamous as I was.

  Karla turned and waved slowly, and I saw immediately in her face why she had sounded so strange over the phone. She was distraught and guilty. “Alix.”

  “Thanks for coming,” I said quietly. Pointing toward a bench, I started to walk. “Would you mind sitting down?”

  “No, I guess not. So why did you call?”

  I waited until we had sat down before replying. Vince stayed a few feet away, his eyes constantly scanning the crowd. “You know why, Karla. I can see it in your face. You told Syd that I was going to be at my house yesterday. Why?”

  She stared at her hands, guilt written on her face, but also fear. “I didn’t know he’d release any video or anything. Hell, I thought he was just going to pressure you for some money.”

  “You were in on him blackmailing me?” I asked, my voice cracking even as it stayed low. “Why?”

  “Because you’re not the only one he has dirt on,” Karla said in a whisper, a tear forming in her eye. “I’ve been paying that bastard for six months now, five thousand a month.”

  “What’s he got on you?” I asked. “He’s already dropped the big bomb on me.”

  Karla chuckled darkly and looked over. “He did, didn’t he? It was after a shoot I did, you were out of the country at the time, I think. Anyway, you know how he is, and by the end of it I was being filmed in the middle of a threesome.”

  “Who was the other guy?” I asked, not really caring.

  “There were no other guys. At all,” Karla said, looking down. “My parents find out about that, and I’m done. My dad, he’s a minister, you know that?”

  I didn’t. “So you told him after we talked. What was the benefit to you?”

  “He said he’d give me two months of no payments,” she said. “Ten thousand to betray the one girl I actually like in this fucking industry. Ten thousand to be Judas. God, I’m a pathetic bitch.”

  I shook my head. “You didn’t know. You certainly weren’t the one who stabbed Kade.”

  Karla’s head jerked up, and she looked at me intently. “What?”

  I nodded. “He stabbed Kade. He had surgery yesterday afternoon before Derek’s death. Now Kade’s in the hospital, Derek’s dead, and my Mom hates me. All because of Sydney Hale.”

  “And me,” Karla said, dropping her head and crying. She wiped at her face and clenched her fist. “What the fuck have I become?”

  “A woman with a mistake in her past,” I said. As I did, I realized I wasn’t angry with Karla, not like I had thought I would be on the way over. Instead, in a voice that I barely recognized in terms of the strength it contained, I continued. “We’ve all made mistakes. I mean, I spent nearly sixteen years hating my mother for saving me from a man who abused her. I dated Sydney, not recognizing him for what he was, and then didn’t come clean with my Mom or Derek about falling in love with Kade. But I’m going to keep moving forward.”

  Karla nodded. �
��But you want Sydney.”

  “Damn right. He nearly killed Kade, and now I find out he’s blackmailing more than one girl? This man needs to be put away. Karla, I don’t know if we could ever be friends again. I liked you a lot too, so maybe there’s hope. But we need to put this son of a bitch in prison. Can you help?”

  Karla looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. How?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s go to the hospital and find out.”

  CHAPTER 26

  KADE

  I felt strange, sitting in a hospital room with four people surrounding me, looking to me for leadership and guidance.

  It wasn’t like at my law office. First of all, except for Vince, none of the people in the room worked for me. Secondly, of course, was that I was wearing a hospital robe and had a blanket pulled to my waist to cover my crotch. Finally, what we were planning was far beyond what I had ever done in the legal profession.

  “All right, with what Karla has said, we’re really going to have to nail this guy. Karla, based off of what you know, do you agree with Alix that Sydney could hide out for a long time if he wanted to?”

  Karla, who had spent ten minutes begging my forgiveness and crying when she arrived, sniffled and wiped at her nose with her tissue. “Probably. He’s got to have other girls and guys he’s blackmailing, and as long as he’s got a spot with Web access, he can upload that crap from anywhere.”

  “All he needs is one or two to keep paying, and he could drop out for a very long time,” Vince said. “He was milking you for what, five thousand a month, you said?”

  “Reckon. And if I knocked back, he’d go on to the next, I’m sure.”

  “If you what?” Rita asked, confused. “Sorry, I never have gotten the Aussie language down.”

  “If she said no,” Vince informed her. When we all looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. “Sorry. I like Master Chef Australia. You kind of pick it up, if you give it a fair go.”

  Karla brightened, and I had to hide a smirk at the foul look Rita shot Karla. Vince didn’t know it, but he was being scouted by my former sub, although from the look Karla gave, I didn’t think Vince was on her radar. Karla nodded. “Good telly. Anyway, yeah, he’s got more than me and Alix on the hook, I’m sure.”

  “But there’s a weakness,” Rita said, completing a thought that was already forming in my mind. “He’s got to contact the targets at some point.”

  “Does he though?” Alix asked. “I mean, he could certainly threaten over a phone line or email just as effectively.”

  “But then how does he get his money?” Karla asked.

  Before Rita could answer, I spoke up. “There’s quite a few ways, Karla. Classically, he could do a bank wire transfer, or Western Union money orders, or through quite a few Internet-based systems. But he’s still got the same challenge. At some point he needs to turn numbers in a bank account into real goods and services.”

  “How can we track that?” Alix asked. I looked over at Rita, who grinned.

  “That, my six-foot-tall sis, is where my skills and community come into play. While you three were out packing bags and seeing koalas and all that, I was able to use my connections. Uh, Vince, is the door locked?”

  Vince went over and twisted the door handle, then shook his head. He looked around for a moment trying to figure it out, then muttered a curse under his breath and shut the door, leaning against the door to keep it shut. “Good enough. Go ahead, Rita.”

  “In addition to data mining and coordination, I have in my past done some, well, let’s just say . . . clandestine data gathering.”

  “Rita, pretend that there are two Sheilas in this room that didn’t go to uni. Not to get you up, but I’ve been a model ever since I left school. Not tryin’ to whinge, but I want to be wise to what you’re spewin’.”

  “Maybe it’s just having you hang around, but I actually understood that,” Rita commented, and I did a double take as I saw the look Karla gave her. Very interesting. Rita, on the other hand, was oblivious, looking at her computer screen. “What I mean is, I did some hacking. A decent amount, in fact, and I still have friends in the hacker community. I reached out to some of them, and after they heard about what Sydney did to Kade and Alix, they’re chomping at the bit.”

  “Really?” Alix asked, surprised. “Why?”

  “Hardcore hackers are by and large very libertarian when it comes to their sexual mores, but are also, in their own strange way, very honorable,” Rita said. “In any case, if I can get that phone number from you, Karla, combined with what I already have, and Alix, if you can fill in anything, I can trace his phone, his ID, and more importantly, any form of email or electronic communication he has. If he tries to access Paypal or any of the other major online currency systems, he’s going to be tracked and traced.”

  “What if he goes low-tech and does wire transfers?” Vince asked.

  Rita grinned and shook her head. “Even easier. I’ll have a trace on his bank account. If he accesses it, even just to use an ATM, I’ll have his location within seconds. If he tries to use online banking to pay for things, I’ll not only have the IP address of where he accessed the account from, but the details of exactly what he orders, and where it’s going to be delivered. Don’t piss off the hacker collective. They don’t mess around.”

  All eyes turned to me, and I knew that the weight was on my shoulders. Rita was more than willing to let slip the dogs of war, and Vince had his own connections. I wanted to hear what options he had, just because I knew that if Rita went through with her ideas, I’d be involved in a conspiracy to break so many Federal laws that my mind wanted to spin at the idea. “Vince, come over here and tell me what other options we have.”

  Vince nodded and left the door, coming across to stand in between Rita and Karla, setting his hands on the edge of the bed. “You know I did short-haul trucking, which was connected to the Teamsters. They’ve got both above-board and below-board connections that could be useful. But the muscle can only be used if they know where he is.”

  I thought about it and nodded. “Both. Vince, contact your guys and have them stand by. But I’d prefer to keep the cops in on this if we can. Rita, turn your friends loose.”

  Rita grinned, growling as she started typing at a rapid pace on her computer. “Alix, Karla, come over here. I need as much information as you can give me on Sydney Hale. Actually, if you don’t mind, Kade, I’d like to take these two with me. I’ve got more security and speed on my home system. As good as this thing is, I’d need another day or two to download the required security programs and everything I’d really need to turn this baby into a sports car for the Web.”

  I looked at Alix, who nodded. “Rita and Karla together, we can take care of ourselves.”

  “Okay, if you think so,” I said, happy that Alix was willing to go out without a bodyguard like Vince around. After my attack, I was worried she’d be even more shaken up than she’d been when Sydney assaulted her. “Be careful, and come back if you get a chance. You guys are going to miss the lemon-flavored ice cubes they’re giving me for dinner. Practically a feast for a guy after my surgery.”

  Alix leaned over and gave me a kiss, earning an appreciative whistle from Rita. “Our first one in public.” She giggled when she stood up. “Wish it had been in a more romantic setting, but I’ll take it.”

  “When I get out of here, we’ll do just that,” I said. “In the meantime, help Rita, and stay safe.”

  After they left, I turned my attention to Vince. “Think you can do something more above board for me?”

  “Sure, Kade, what do you need?” he asked.

  “I need you to go down to Dad’s law firm. Try to talk to one of the senior partners. Explain that I just want to try and talk with Layla, and see if they’ll be willing to mediate. Then, see about renting a hotel room. I plan on getting the hell out of Southern California as soon as the doc says I can.”

  * * *

  Doctor Harrington was true to his word,
and I walked out of the hospital two days later at eleven twelve. Vince had already pulled Alix’s BMW around, it being the largest car at our disposal. “You get to be chauffeured,” he said, holding the door open for me. “Also, I was able to get your bags from the place in Laguna. Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

  It was the best Vince could do on short notice. Layla had rebuffed the offer, but had at least allowed Vince, who in a bout of playing it by ear had started negotiating with her, to get some clothes for the both of us. Alix had more than enough, but all I had to wear was what I’d been stabbed in and a hospital scrub top after my shirt was declared a total loss after Alix had tried to stem the loss of blood from my midsection with it. Thankfully, I’d been wearing dark shorts, or those would have been a loss, too.

  “Excellent. By the way, where have you booked us a room?”

  “It’s not the Beverly Hilton, but it’s near the hospital and has a view of the ocean. I know you like that,” Vince said. “Also, they have rooms that are nearly the size of a decent apartment, and not a lot of walking needed to get around. Useful for you right now.”

  The San Pedro Doubletree was like Vince said, not the best hotel I’d ever been in, but not the worst either. The suite came with a king-sized bed in the main room, along with a balcony and a view of the ocean. “Hotel staff should bring up a cot for me to use in the other room later,” Vince said. “Sorry, but I wanted to stay close, keep you two safe.”

  I was touched at Vince’s insistence that Alix and I get a room to ourselves, while he still was close enough that I’d be protected at all times. “You know you don’t need to do that. But anyway, I’m going to take a real bath,” I said, rubbing my grungy neck. “The hospital refused more than a sponge bath, and I’m feeling sticky and straight up nasty. Doctor Harrington said that the stitches are secure enough and the wound is healed enough that I can do that. Then, we wait and see what Rita can get for us.”

  “I’ll give you privacy for that,” Vince said. “Just promise you’ll keep the door double locked?”