“Okay. Okay. Come with me and I’ll talk to Brick.”
Chapter Twelve
The pounding of the industrial music hammered Brick. He ran his hand over his forehead and wished he had ear plugs. After being up all last night, he’d like to leave the Goth club and get a good night's sleep.
The spinning mirrored ball flashed throwing flecks of light on the dancers. Just then he caught a glimpse of Kelly. She didn’t fit into the milieu, but that made it easier for him to follow her in the crowd. She zigzagged her way through the swaying crowd, making slow progress toward him. A woman he guessed was her roommate followed close behind.
“You want me to what!” Brick’s voice boomed, just as the music changed to something quiet. People sitting at the next table stared at him.
“You've got to be kidding,” he said lowering his voice. “I'm not a repo man.”
“It's not stealing.” Amanda blinked her lashes at him. “It’s my car, and my jerk of a boyfriend took it. You got to get it back for me. You’ve got to.”
Annoyance pricked the back of his neck. He was tempted to stop this right now. He’d take Amanda into custody and hold her as a material witness. It wouldn't be long before she gave up everything she knew. But if someone was watching her, he didn't want that person to know the FBI was involved. And if he took the roommate into custody Kelly would be upset. She’d jump to her defense and start to question his motives. In order to keep a low profile, he decided to play along with the woman at least for a little longer.
“Do you have proof the car belongs to you?”
“I've got the pink slip.”
“Where is it?”
“Why? I told you it's my car.”
He gave Amanda an impatient glare.
“It’s in my motel room.”
“What about the phone number of the man?” Kelly asked.
“That’s at the motel too.” She finished her drink and burped. “You going to help me get my car or not?”
“If you can prove it's yours, we can talk.”
“It's mine.”
“Then let's go get the pink slip.”
Amanda burped again, stood and swayed but managed to walk out of the club under her own power.
***
The motel was only a few blocks away from the club. They all rode together in the Volvo.
A blast of wind sent litter swirling on the dirty street. The motel was in the kind of neighborhood Brick wouldn't want any woman to be in alone. In his career he'd spent too many hours undercover in neighborhoods like this one. The hair on the back of his neck prickled and he wished he hadn't brought Kelly with him.
The street light near the motel was burnt out and night seemed darker than it had on the main thoroughfare. Well after one a.m., the road was quiet enough. An old man huddled in a doorway of one of the rundown buildings next to the motel and two shabbily dressed men sat on the curb sharing a bottle, a night cap before the oblivion of a wine soaked sleep overtook them.
Brick steered the Volvo around the men and into the pothole infested motel parking lot. The building had probably once been white but now it was just dingy. On the roof, a cobalt blue neon sign flashed one word “Motel”. Apparently no one had cared enough to name the motor inn. A static red neon sign proclaimed a vacancy, no surprise there.
Amanda pointed to her room and he parked in the space in front of the door.
She and Kelly went to the room to get the pink slip.
***
The man in the nearby doorway watched the sedan enter the motel parking lot and park. Two women got out and went into a room. “Bingo.” He smiled. Amanda was back and she had Kelly with her. So the little bitch did know where to find Kelly.
He scratched his hand and dug his fingernail into the rash near his ring. Shit. He'd paid the roommate while she told him lies. Still, without realizing it, Amanda had done what he wanted. He’d followed her when she left the motel earlier in the evening.
He rubbed his hands together. After he took care of Kelly, he'd come back and fix Amanda. Nobody lied to him, took money and got away with it.
He walked to the rental truck parked nearby and waited.
***
After Kelly and Amanda left the car, Brick unlocked the glove compartment and took out his holstered nine-millimeter handgun. He strapped it on and covered it by pulling on his black windbreaker.
The minutes passed. Impatient, he grunted. The car window was open and the smell of urine turned his stomach. He wanted Kelly out of this neighborhood ASAP.
They needed the information. Still, if Amanda thought he was going to commit grand theft auto for her, she could think again. He'd give her a couple hundred dollars if she came through with the phone number. That was more than she deserved.
The women returned to the car. Amanda carried a shopping bag. “I’ve got scads of paper.” She shoved her hand into the paper bag. “I had to leave my apartment so fast I just dumped it all into this damn shopping bag, but I know the pink slip is in here.”
Homework notes and receipts were scattered all over the backseat. Amanda read each note she found. Kelly helped.
Brick squelched an expletive and strained to continue to be patient. He glanced out of the car window and searched the parking lot for movement. The two people who sat at the curb were still there, but the man who’d been in the doorway was gone.
“I got it.” A triumphant smile spread across Amanda's face. She handed the pink slip to him. “This proves I own the car.”
“It looks okay. The car seems to be yours.” He handed it back to her.
“Then you're going to get my car for me?”
“I just can't go stealing cars. See a lawyer. I’ll give you a name of a good attorney and a couple a hundred bucks to get you started.”
“But you said…”
“I said we could talk. Do you want the two hundred?”
“Yeah, but that's not going to get my car back.’ Amanda's eyes filled with tears.
He wondered if they were real tears or crocodile tears. Maybe she could cry anytime she didn't get what she wanted. Nonetheless, tears spilled out of her eyes washing black eye liner down her cheeks.
He glanced at Kelly and saw her eyes soften. She was feeling sorry for her roommate. The sooner he got her away from her the better.
A car raced into the parking lot. The sub-compact flew over the speed bumps and screeched into an empty parking space a few yards away.
A man, the size of a linebacker, got out of the car. Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, his muscle-bound body flexed. He ran his huge hand over his shaved head as he scrutinized the area.
“My boyfriend. I knew the jerk would stay here. And he's driving my car.” Amanda threw open the Volvo's back door and ran toward the guy.
She stopped a few feet away from her vehicle. “Norm, you jerk, Give me my car.”
“Who's going to make me? You bitch? You going to make me?”
“Yeah. I've got my pink slip.” She waved it at him. "And I'm getting a lawyer.”
“Give me that.” Norm held his beefy hand out to her.
“Give me my car.”
Brick watched her hide the pink slip behind her back.
“Hell,” Brick whispered. He didn't want to get involved in a domestic dispute. It wouldn't help Kelly or the FBI. But it looked as if Amanda was determined to have a fight with her bodybuilder friend.
If anything happened to her they’d never get the name of the man who wanted information on Kelly.
Brick got out of the car. “Kelly, stay in the car. I’ll be right back.”
Norm glared at Amanda. “Give it.”
In a flash, Norm ran to Amanda and twisted her arm, but she held on to the pink slip. He slapped her, knocking her to the ground. She shrieked. He picked her up by her neck choking off her cry. Amazingly, she still held the paper in her hand.
Brick moved closer. “Norm, let her go.” The boyfriend’s eyes darted from Amanda to him. Brick noticed
perspiration bead on the man’s forehead.
The Volvo door opened and closed. Kelly was out of the car. In his peripheral vision, he saw her edge toward him.
He looked back at Amanda. Norm still had his hands around her neck. He could snap it in an instant.
“It’s okay buddy. Don’t hurt her. I'm not going to do anything. I just want you to release her. She’s your woman you don’t want to hurt her.”
He watched Amanda’s face turn a pale shade of blue as Norm held her.
“Let go now!”
Norm relaxed his hold and some pink color came back into her face.
“Who are you asshole?” Norm's face flushed red and his free hand flexed into a fist.
“I’m the asshole who wants you to let your lady go. Release her now and we can all go home.”
“It’s not your business, asshole.”
Brick’s back muscles tensed. Amanda was in danger of dying of a broken neck.
“I'm willing to listen to your side, but first you have to let her go. Then we’ll go have a beer.”
“You get out of here before I break her in two!” Norm hissed.
The longer this went on the more likely Amanda would end up dead. “If you don't let her go, I am going to have to take you in.”
“You some kind of cop?”
“Yeah, I'm some kind of cop.”
Just then, Amanda moaned and tried again to free herself from her boyfriend's grip. The pink slip she’d been holding dropped from her hand.
Kelly rushed to pick it up.
Still holding Amanda, Norm swung at Kelly with his free hand.
She gasped and air whooshed from her lungs as she dropped to the ground. The pink slip floated to the ground next to her.
Stunned, Brick watched her lay lifeless on the ground. Before he could run to her, the boyfriend threw Amanda to the ground and with a grunt charged him.
Instead of trying to stop over two hundred pounds of raging power, he used Norm’s momentum. He yanked the man forward and sent the boyfriend sprawling face down on the blacktop. With his knee in the man’s back, Brick put his own considerable weight on the man.
“Get off me, asshole!”
“Put your hands behind you.”
Brick applied more pressure on the man. “Hands behind your back.”
The guy complied and he secured boyfriend’s hands with the handcuffs he had in his jacket pocket.
“Norm, look at me.”
The man lifted his face off the black top and twisted his head to glare at him.
“Try anything and I'll make sure you regret it.” He allowed his holstered gun to be seen under the windbreaker he wore. Norm's eyes widened as he started at the weapon, but he said nothing.
There was a rustle of taffeta as Amanda got up. “He tore my dress, my beautiful.” Amanda coughed. “My beautiful dress.” She patted her dress as if it were an animal. “Norm, you jerk.” She coughed again and then cleared her throat.
Brick glanced at Kelly lying motionless on the ground. He didn't dare go to her until he’d rendered Norm harmless. He looked for a place to put him.
Amanda ran toward her motel room. She returned, carrying her suitcase. She stopped long enough to retrieve the pink slip that lay near Kelly’s still body.
“What about the phone number you promised to give us?” Brick shouted.
She threw a wadded piece of paper in his direction. Then without so much as checking on Kelly or a thank you, she jumped into her car and drove away.
Norm lifted his head off the pavement and yelled, “Bitch!”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“That's what I thought. Keep it that way.”
Brick glanced at Kelly again and prayed she was all right. Her eyes were open, but she still wasn't moving.
Near the motel's office, he spied a metal flagpole, secured into the ground with concrete. “Get up to the pole.”
Norm looked at the pole and then at the bulge the gun made under Brick’s coat. He got up.
Brick undid the handcuffs. “Put your arms around the pole.” He fixed the boyfriend's wrists together with the zip tie he pulled from the same pocket that held the handcuffs. This guy wasn't going anywhere until FBI picked him up and took him into custody.
Kelly started at Brick with clear eyes when he knelt next to her. A strange wheeze came from her when she tried to speak.
“Don't try to talk. Just nod. Does anything hurt?”
She shook her head no.
“Try and take a breath. Did that hurt?”
“No.” Her voice cracked.
“Good. I'm going to help you sit up. Take it slow.”
“That hurts,” she whispered.
“I think you're going to have one heck of a bruise where he hit you,” he said. “But I don't think anything is broken. He must have knocked the air out of you. Can you stand?”
She nodded.
He helped her walk to the car and sit in the passenger seat.
“We'll leave for the cabin as soon as the FBI gets here. The Bureau can hold Norm as a material witness until I can find out how he fits into this mess. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” she said in a weak voice. “I just want to go back to the cabin.”
***
Forty-five minutes later Brick parked the Volvo in the cabin’s garage.
“I’m so cold.” Kelly said when they entered the home.
“You need rest. Why don’t you get into bed Kelly? I’ll bring you a hot cup of tea.”
“Thanks.”
In the kitchen, he rummaged through the cupboards looking for tea, hoping there was some.
What the hell had he’d been thinking taking Kelly into that kind of situation? He'd led her into a circumstance where she could’ve been seriously injured. Dealing with a domestic dispute was never easy, never clean. He shouldn't have let her get into that predicament.
Too many times he'd seen the innocent bystander get hurt. His charge Annie had taught him how horribly wrong things could go. She’d been his responsibility and she’d died. He swallowed the bitter memory and rebuked himself. Now that he'd made it his job to protect Kelly, he needed to make sure she was kept out of the line of fire. He’d damn well do it right this time.
He put two steaming cups of tea on a tray and walked to the bedroom.
The only light in the room came from the gas fireplace, giving everything a warm orange hue. Propped up by two king-sized pillows, Kelly sat in the middle of the huge four poster bed. Her hair spread out on the pillow and glistened gold in the fire's light. With a warm smile, she gazed at him, a look of trust gleaming in her hazel eyes.
He couldn't look her in the eye. He was using her in a game she knew nothing about. Guilt slashed him.
When he handed her the cup of tea, his fingers brushed hers and static electricity sent a shock through him.
He watched her delicate pink tongue catch a drip of golden liquid that ran down the teacup. “Good,” she said licking her lips and smiling.
Heat stirred in him.
“You must be cold. Come under the covers.” She threw back the comforter and patted the bed next to her. “Sit with me.”
He wasn't cold. He was about to ignite. He examined the room, no chair.
“Uh, not a good idea.”
She frowned.
“But too tempting to resist.” He slipped off his shoes and sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, careful their bodies didn’t touch. Still, her warmth singed him. He took a sip of the hot tea, wishing it were ice water.
The flames in the fireplace danced.
She handed him her half-empty teacup and he put it on the nightstand next to his empty one.
“Brick.”
“What is it?” He turned to face her.
“Nothing. Just Brick. I like to say it. It feels so good on my tongue,” she said breathlessly.
“Brick.” Her full luscious mouth made almost no sound as sh
e formed his name.
Reaching out he touched her cheek with his fingertips, a light caress. His eyes locked with hers. With lips parted and her eyes closed, she sighed when his lips met hers.
Her soft body pressed hard against him. A jolt of fire shot through him, but he kept his kiss gentle. Carefully he eased his tongue into her lush, honeyed mouth and she opened wide to accept him, a soft moan answering his request for more.
Her tongue flirted with his. Chills went through him. Her fingers combed though his hair and then moved down his back. He pulled her closer. This was what he’d wanted since he’d seen her in bed at the motel.
She tilted her head back and he laid kisses on her slim neck. Through the cotton fabric of her shirt, he caressed the tightened bud of her breast. She moaned his name, increasing his desire. He touched her again. Then he demanded more from her kiss. His hands explored her contours. Her breathing quickened. Her body moved rhythmically with his.
Ignoring his desire for more, he pulled his mouth from hers. Her longing for him was just a symptom of her need to feel safe, a want born out of fear. He wouldn't use her alarm to feed his own craving.
“What's wrong?” Her voice was husky with emotion.
“Nothing. But I have to go.”
“Don’t leave me. Stay.” She pulled him close and kissed him.
Chapter Thirteen
“I can't stay with you.”
“Why?” Kelly frowned.
“It wouldn't be right. You're hurt.” Brick stood up from the bed.
“But I need you.”
He saw the truth of that statement in her budded breasts, rapid breathing and the longing that blazed in her eyes. He gently touched her lips and she licked his fingertips.
He needed her with an ache that was almost painful. Damn the FBI for putting him in this situation. It ignited a hunger for her.
“Please, don't go.”
“I have to.”
“Why.”
“Because more than anything else in the world I want to stay.”
A look of confusion spread across her lovely face. “I don’t get it.”
“I know.”
She couldn’t know the guilt he felt for using her, or understand the pressure the FBI put him under to find out something and report back ASAP. If he got caught touching her he’d lose his creditability and end his career with the bureau. And he didn’t want to hurt Kelly. She’d eventually find out he’d used her to get information on Johnny Vega, but she wouldn’t be able to say he taken sexual advantage of her.
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