I didn’t ask, I didn’t wait for her to come to me because I had known Jessie long enough to know that she’d be bleeding out her eyes and still not ask for help, so I yanked her out of her chair and into my arms. She struggled, but I held on with one hand behind her head that kept her tucked into my shoulder and my arm wrapped around her waist lifting her shorter frame off the floor kept her flush against my chest.
“No .No. No” She sobbed into my shoulder while she pummeled me with her tiny fists. Jessie had to be barely five foot; even in those heeled boots, she liked to wear she was nowhere near my six foot three height.
“Shhhhh…come on kid, tell me what’s going on.” I tried to comfort her while struggling to keep a grip on her squirming body.
“I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m just having a rough couple of days,” she argued, I wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, herself or me.
“What the hell is going on?” Dev growled from behind me. I turned my head and was shocked to see him standing there with his fists clenched and his face looking pissed. Seriously? What the hell is this?
“Stand down Dev, Jesus,” I swore as I dodged a knee to my balls from Jessie. “Did you notice that Jessie is wearing the same clothes from yesterday? She looks like she hasn’t slept in days and there’s a half empty bottle of antacids on her desk, I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with our girl,” I gritted out through clenched teeth as Jessie head-butted my chin.
“Ouch dammit,” I yelled as I loosened my grip to rub my chin. Hey, the kid has a hard head.
As soon as my grip slackened, she elbowed me in the ribs, pushed away from me, and bolted for the door. I was about to chase after her, mainly because I had never seen Jessie this upset and there was no way I was going to let her run out to the street of Las Vegas in her state of mind. Client be damned, Jessie was family and family came first.
However, I didn’t need to do a thing because much to my surprise, Dev moved like lightening and wrapped his arms around her from behind, picked her up and turned her to face me.
Still holding my sore ribs, I grimaced as Jessie called Dev every name in the book and even some I’d never heard before. She kicked and repeatedly tried to slam her head back, I assume she was trying to bust his nose. Geez, the woman had a temper. It was a shame I kept my escort life so separate from my personal life, because my brother Reece’s fiancé and my soon to be sister, Synclair, would love this girl. Actually, given Synclair’s affinity for baseball bats and nut checking it was probably safer for the world if these two never met.
“Let me go, Devlin, right this second or I will end you and put your favorite appendage in my Nutri-Bullet,” Jessie shouted as she struggled in vain to get loose.
Dev looked at me, I shrugged because I had no idea what had gotten into Jessie. She was always bubbly and happy; I had never heard her complain about fights with her girlfriend or about anything. The only thing that ever brought out her sarcastic side was when she sparred with Devlin; even then, it all seemed like joking. Unlike now, right now it looked like Jessie would kill us if the opportunity presented itself.
“Calm down sweetheart, Matt and I just want to help,” Dev spoke into her ear, and I watched her face blush. Jessie struggled until she went limp with exhaustion. I’m not sure why she had fought so long, I went to the gym with Dev whenever I was in town, and the guy worked on those arms like a demon. It was definitely not an accident that Dev’s body was in top shape; he put in a lot of time to get it there. My eyes met Jessie’s and she looked so sad and defeated that I couldn’t help but walk over to her. Dev still had his arms around her, and her feet were about a foot off the floor, so I put one hand on her flushed cheek and made sure my green eyes locked on hers. It was a trick I had learned when I was younger. It was harder for a woman to lie or hide her feelings from me when I was staring right into her eyes.
Jessie smirked because she knew exactly what I was doing, even with her tear stained face she was beautiful.
“We just want to help Jessie,” I told her gently; I called her by her name so that she would know that she was important to me. Her smirk turned into a genuine smile when she heard her name on my lips.
“I’m fine, really, please just let me go and I promise tomorrow the happy, funny, sweet Jessie that you all know and love will be back,” she promised. I looked over her shoulder at Dev, and he shook his head. Yeah, I wasn’t buying her act either, something was wrong, and there was no way she was leaving here until she spilled all the details.
“Come on Matt you have a client to meet in a few hours, you need to go back to the apartment and get ready,” She told me as if I gave a rat’s ass about a client when she looked like she was falling apart. The apartment she mentioned was a three-bedroom place that was located in a luxury complex right off the Las Vegas strip. Since I didn’t live in town and neither did Roman and occasionally Bax would invite an escort from another city or state to work with us for a while, he had rented the apartment so we would always have a place to stay when we had clients in town.
“Sorry babe, you’re not leaving until you spill it,” Dev explained dodging a head butt that I was sure was aimed at breaking his nose.
“Hmmm…did I forget to tell you all my private business?” She asked sarcastically, “Then I guess it’s NONE of YOUR DAMN BUSINESS,” Jessie bellowed as her struggles to get free increased. I backed up a step to avoid her legs that were kicking wildly and grimaced when the back of her head finally connected with Dev’s nose.
“FUUUUCK!” He shouted so loud that Jessie stopped moving and just dangled in his arms. Dev’s nose didn’t look like it was bleeding but I was pretty sure it hurt like a bitch.
Before I could even offer to take her, he spun her around and caught her from mid-air so that they were nose to nose. The air crackled with tension as they both glared at each other, all you could hear in the room was the sound of them panting in anger.
“Matt, I got this. You go take care of your client. Archangels never disappoint,” Dev told me never taking his dark eyes off Jessie.
Devlin was right, I had never stood up a client before and if I didn’t get a move on I was going to do just that. Still, I wasn’t sure if I should leave Jessie until I knew what was happening.
“It’s fine Dev, I can call my client, Jessie’s more important,” I told him as I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. It was damn unprofessional to cancel on a woman when I was supposed to meet her in just a few hours, and the OCD side of me was screaming.
Still not looking at me, Dev nodded his head toward the door. “I have no clients tonight. I was in the office today to work on my profile page on the website, Jessie isn’t going anywhere until she spills, I’ll text you the details, and if I need you, then you can bow out of your date, but you can’t stand a client up Matt.”
I knew Dev was right; the last thing I wanted was for an angry client to shout out to social media that one of the Archangel Escorts had stood her up; especially given the enormous amount of money she had paid to have me with her for the entire night.
“Go, Matthew,” Jessie barked still dangling off the floor. Dev looked like he could stand there like that all day and not even break a sweat. “I don’t want you to miss a client because of me, and as soon as you’re gone, this ass wipe is going to let me go, or I’ll make him wish he had! Trust me, I don’t want witnesses to this,” she told me, her voice was eerily calm, and Dev’s eyes never shifted from hers. As much as Dev could be an ass sometimes, I knew he cared about Jessie. He would personally follow her to her car if he was at the office when her workday ended, and when he wasn’t he paid the guard downstairs to make sure she got out of the lot okay. We never talked about it, but we all knew that Dev watched over Jessie even more than we did, so I knew if anyone could get through that stubborn head of hers, it would be Dev.
“Okay fine, I want a text message later and if you need me…you call, Dev,” I instructed still conflicted about leaving, “and Jessie, please talk
to Dev sweetheart. Let us help you,” I pleaded as I kissed the back of her head. Dev broke eye contact with Jessie to give me a nod and a look that told me he was all over the situation and for some reason I had every confidence that he was.
Grabbing the keys to the rental car off the desk, I turned and headed for the door as Dev walked a very pissed off Jessie into his office and shut the door.
Ali
I glanced at the clock on the wall of my suite and tried to calm my nerves. I had no idea what my problem was, I had interviewed pickpockets in Italy, drug dealers in Florida and even scary, African Warlords in Zimbabwe, but for some reason, the idea of being alone with the hot guy in the red briefs just unnerved me. Get it together, you’re almost thirty-five, and he’s probably not even thirty! Plus, he’s used to fake tits, french manicured nails and women in sexy lingerie greeting him at the door. The man is sex on a stick, and you’re well…not.
Yeah, my inner mouth was right. What was I getting worked up over? I had my questions ready, I was dressed in my comfy yoga pants and tee-shirt, so I had no reason to be nervous. He was going to be like a younger brother, yep! That was the ticket! I was going to look at Matt Wolf or whatever his real name was, like a younger brother. After all, it’s not like he would have any interest in me anyway. Besides, even if I did want to jump his body like a monkey, I’d never show my scars to someone like him. Matt Wolf was out of my league, and I needed to remember that. I needed to focus on what all this was for. It was for the animals, my real family, they depended on me, and I wasn’t going to let them down. Those Lions were going to get their new pond, dammit, and Matt Wolf was the only thing I needed to check off my list to get it.
Resolve intact, I settled down to eat my spaghetti and meatball dinner that I had ordered from room service. I had just spun my fork into the sea of basil and marinara yumminess when someone knocked on the door. Knowing it couldn’t be Matt yet, I figured it was room service bringing me the dessert I had ordered. I had asked them to bring it later, in case Matt wanted some as well, but now was good too.
“Coming!” I shouted as I stood up from the clear, glass dinner table. Unfortunately, my hip decided at that moment to spasm, and I cried out as my leg buckled and I hit the marble floor, hard. If that wasn’t bad enough, I hit my plate with my hand when I had tried to catch myself from falling, and now my plate of spaghetti goodness was laying in my lap.
The pounding on the door increased and now it was accompanied by shouting. Apparently, the room service waiter had heard my graceful, faceplant into the marble floor and was now fearing for my life.
“I’m fine, I’m fine, please come back later,” I grunted as I pulled myself up off the floor and groaned as a sharp pain shot down my hip through my leg. It was one of the worst things about the residual effects of the accident, because of the nerve damage in my back sometimes I would be hit with these spasms that came out of nowhere. Usually, my leg would just stiffen, seconds later it would pass and even though I was sore I could still walk. Then other times, like just now, the spasm would make my whole leg buckle, and I would hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Yeah, that was lovely. Somehow I don’t think that was going to help my E-harmony profile any.
Just as I was testing out my leg the lock to my room beeped, my door swung open and in stormed the man from the Archangel website, Matt Wolf. Geez, could this get more embarrassing?
Looking down at my spaghetti covered shirt and yoga pants, I felt the universe had given me my answer. In your case Ali, it can always get worse.
“Are you okay?” Sex on a stick asked me as he looked me up and down.
“How’d you get a key?” I asked because I really wanted to know how he had procured a key to my room in the two minutes it had been since he had first started pounding on my door.
His handsome face broke out into a sexy lopsided grin, “Maid was down the hall, I told her we had just gotten married, but I had locked myself out,” he explained as an older woman moved in behind him.
“Everything is okay, yes?” The kind looking Russian woman asked.
I watched Matt give the woman a kiss on the cheek and the woman actually blushed. He whispered something in her ear as he handed her the key and she pulled the door shut giggling.
“I don’t suppose you’d leave and come back in a few hours when I have my dignity restored or am least free of Spaghetti noodles?” I asked as I bent down to pick up the plate off the floor. I flexed my right leg to make sure that it was, once again, solid underneath me before I moved to put the empty plate on the far end of the table.
I watched him, look at me with his head cocked to the side as if he was considering my request.
“Sorry beautiful, can’t make up a first impression like that one,” he told me smiling. I was sure that dimpled smile caused his clients to melt into puddles. However, I was made of stronger stuff then this kid could even guess. Yeah, keep the age thing there, that’ll keep your panties dry...NOT.
This sucked, I was embarrassed, my leg was sore, and I was supposed to spend an entire night drilling this cocky, albeit, gorgeous kid? Nope. I thought I could but I couldn’t, for whatever reason his cocky smile made me want to poke his eyes out. I hated fake people who were so into appearances that they made everyone else who wasn’t a gorgeous, supermodel feel like a worthless, fat pig.
“I’ll tell you what Mr. Wolf,” I said in a flat tone. I tried to muster all the dignity I could with noodles dripping off my pants, “let’s just call this evening off, I’m sure you have better places to be,” I said in the most polite tone I could. I just wanted him to leave and take his piercing green eyes with him. I mean, damn, a hot body and sexy eyes? Were his parents Greek Gods?
I expected him to open the door and take his leave. Instead, he unbuttoned his fitted suit jacket and pulled it off his body. It didn’t escape my attention how he folded it and gently placed it on the back of the sofa. Then he undid the cuffs to his blue, silk dress shirt and began rolling up his sleeves. His eyes never left mine, and I had trouble comprehending what he was doing and why. I sat there, actually mesmerized by his heated stare until I saw his lips twitch at the corners.
The bastard is enjoying this, he knows exactly what he’s doing! Snapping out of his voodoo, soul-sucking stare I crossed my arms over my chest, ignoring the spaghetti goo and glared at him.
“What are you doing, Mr. Wolf?” I asked letting my annoyance bleed into my tone. I was hoping by addressing him formally he would get the hint that I was getting really annoyed.
“Well,” he said as he stepped closer to where I stood his eyes dancing with amusement, “I thought maybe I’d get this cleaned up,” he motioned to the mess on the floor and took another step. “Then I thought maybe, I could help get you cleaned up so I can take you out for dinner. Since you didn’t get to finish your meal, I’m obviously early, and I just so happened to have skipped both lunch and dinner today! So, I was hoping you could save me from starvation, babe.” His last step placed him right in front of me.
The man was tall, and I had to tip my head back to scowl at him. He was obviously smooth with women and definitely used to getting what he wanted. Grudgingly, I admitted he would be a perfect subject for Taylor’s new series, but my brain was screaming for me to run. Arrogant, cocky guys pissed me off, they reminded me of my ex-husband Richard, and we all know how many warm and fuzzy feelings I had about that guy!
I put my sauce-covered hands on my hips and refused to back up. “How about this Mr. Wolf,” I began,
“Matt,” he interrupted.
Not prepared to be cut off mid-sentence I gaped at him, not sure I had heard him correctly, “what?” I asked.
“My name is Matt, sweetheart. Since I’m going to be spending the night with you, I want the name Matt spilling from those luscious lips of yours, just Matt,” he answered.
I was dumbfounded, this guy was good. He had a line for everything, and I was sure any reasonable woman would fall for his crap. However, I wasn’t an
ordinary female, I never had been, and I had no doubt that the only reason this man was trying so hard was that I had paid him five thousand dollars to be here. It was time to nip this disaster in the bud, then I could clean up and maybe hit Panda Express on my way out of town.
“Listen, Mr. Wolf,” I started, ignoring his raised eyebrows as I emphasized his last name again.
“You’re still going to get paid for tonight,” seeing that his expression didn’t change I added, “think of it as a paid night off, I’m sure there are plenty of women on the strip who’d love nothing more than to entertain your pick up lines and have you flash your dimple for them.” Again the man didn’t budge, he didn’t even blink. He just stood there like he couldn’t comprehend what I was saying.
Wow, okay maybe Mr. Gorgeous was so heavy on the sexy that he was light on the brain. Damn, what a shame, I really couldn’t stand stupid men.
“Okay, let’s try this again. You’re going to leave,” I pointed to the door and watched him turn his head from the closed door back to me. Sighing, I continued, “You are still getting paid for tonight, but I’m going to take a shower, grab some chow mein noodles and head out of town. Maybe you can jot down an email address where I can send you the list of questions I was going to ask you?” I offered hoping that at least the night wouldn’t be a total loss. Again, the man just stared at me like I was some puzzle he was trying to solve.
“Okay, bye-bye now,” Not able to take his strange stare, I turned him around, ignoring the muscles in his arms and back as I nudged him toward the door. When he just stood there looking from the closed door to me and then back again, I groaned. Not able to handle the fact that I was dripping spaghetti sauce everywhere, I pulled open the door and waited for him to walk through it. He looked back at me before the door closed. I waved and stomped off to the bathroom. Assuming, crazy escort guy had finally left, I pulled off my shirt and pants and left them on the cold marble floor and headed into the bathroom. Turning on the hot water I stepped into the spray, I was going to have to call Taylor and tell her this was a bust. Maybe I could interview some hookers or something? But Matt Wolf was a no go.
No Refunds No Exchanges: A Hudson Family Series- Book 4- Matt and Ali Page 3