Chapter Six

Vivi

The sun hadn’t even come up yet when one of the ten thousand alarms set up on my phone started to blare. Literally it blared right in my fucking ear. The foghorn sound I’d assigned to…“Shit!” I sat up in the tiny ass bed and promptly fell to the floor, reaching on the bed for the offensive sound that meant someone was in my New York apartment. Again.

The video feed showed a man. Tall and white and bald with a tattoo on the top of his wrist very similar to the other intruder’s. If it wasn’t the same person, they were definitely from the same criminal organization. He was sloppy though, not as professional as the other guy. Bald Head was clearly a hired thug, the way he stomped through the place, overturning pillows unnecessarily and displacing lamps. It wasn’t just careless, it was also stupid as hell because he left fingerprints and DNA everywhere. On top of all that, the asshole was too late.

The decoy electronics were already gone which meant it was time for extreme measures. Measures I’d put in place when I first bought that place a few years ago because deep down every hacker knows this is likely to happen to them. The smart ones, like me, are prepared for the worst. And though it physically hurt me to do it, I flipped the kill switch that activated magnetic strips placed throughout the unit, effectively killing all digital devices that crossed them. Including the intruder’s cell phone, a fact which gave me the delight of a three year old eating chocolate ice cream for breakfast, as I watched him try in vain to make call after call.

The deadbolt locks engaged on the doors and windows, leaving him trapped inside while the silent alarm triggered the police who would be sent the code to disarm everything. On site. He was fucked and even though it meant I wouldn’t get any information from him, I was glad someone would pay for something.

The appearance of this bald guy really threw me, though, because it seemed like two separate attacks. Two different intruders. “Whoever you are, you should have done your homework, asshole.” It brought me entirely too much enjoyment to see him running around my place in search of an exit, but nothing topped his expression when he heard the sirens. It was always a good day when I found something that made me smile, at least that was what my shrink used to tell me.

A noise outside drew my attention and I muted the video feed while I stood slowly, eyes closed to hear where exactly the sound had originated. My fender faced the road and I was situated on a dead end road to make sure I could hear any cars drive up and I hadn’t heard any. Then I heard it, the snap of the twigs I’d spread around the camper for just that purpose, so I grabbed my knife.

The side window on the driver’s side slid open and I tiptoed over, grabbing the cotton covered arm that had invaded my space. “Think real carefully about your next move, asshole. If I don’t like what you have to say, I’ll split this vein open and watch you bleed out before you get your arm away from me.”

“I knew you were in trouble.” That voice was familiar. Too fucking familiar.

“Jeremiah? What the fuck?” I wasn’t in the mood for his games and last night he made me feel like shit for reaching out to him, making me regret that the idea had ever occurred to me in the first place. “Why are you here?”

“I told you to call me Jag.” I could hear the smile in his deep voice and it only pissed me off even more.

“It’s a stupid name and I don’t plan on calling you anything.”

He chuckled and I wanted to prick him with the tip of my knife, just because I could. “Can I have my arm back?”

“That depends. What are you doing skulking around my shit at this hour?”

“What the hell do you think, Vivi? You show up, out of the blue and clearly in trouble that you won’t tell me about. I came to see just how bad it was and now I have my answer.”

I released his arm, closing and locking the window behind him. The man was a stubborn damn jackass who clearly didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer. “I told you as much as I’m going to, Jag. If I need your help then I will call you. Got it?” The metal door was open but the screen door stood closed between us.

“I want to help. Let me.” Jeremiah pushed up onto the next step and opened the door, invading my space.

I snorted at the ridiculousness of his statement. “It looks like you have your own mess going on based on what I saw.”

“What can I say, I’m good at multi-tasking.” He stepped closer, until I had no choice but to touch him intimately or back down. I never backed down. One hand shot to my waist, his thumb dragging against the exposed skin at my waistband. “See, I’m helpful.”

I laughed and pushed at his chest, but Jeremiah was all man and he didn’t budge. He stared at me and I stared back, feeling my blood heat at all the energy swirling in the air between us. The charge of electricity made the camper feel ten degrees hotter. His expression was serious as he closed in, mouth descending on mine slowly, giving me time to decide if it would happen.

Luckily Jeremiah had no clue as to the effect he was having on me, didn’t know there was no choice because then I’d be in real trouble. Now the only danger I was in was having my clothes burst into flames from his nearness, from the deliciously hot way his full lips pressed against mine. From the taste of him, sugar and coffee and something earthy. Sexy. Masculine. The kiss was hot and hard, filled with hunger and raw unabashed need. Big hands cupped my ass and then my breasts. Something long and hard pressed against my belly and I pulled back, panting and staring at him with wide eyes. “What was that?”

With sleepy eyes and a captivating fucking smile he leaned in and brushed his lips against my neck. “If I have to tell you, then I’m doing it wrong babe.”

I laughed and shook my head. “If you’d done it any more right I’d be naked and wrapped around you right now. But why?”

“Why not,” he shrugged like it made perfect sense. “You’re hot as fuck and you’ve always turned me on when you were so damn prickly, which apparently, is all the damn time.”

I spluttered in my outrage and the jerk only laughed harder at me. “Asshole.”

“Meet me at the diner tomorrow for breakfast. Eight o’clock sharp. This place is too fucking far.”

“Yeah well no one invited you up here.” It was something to say but the amused look he gave me told me it was a lost cause.

His dark gaze was serious. And seriously hot. “Don’t make me come back up here, Vivi.” His words were a warning. A promise.

And for some reason it sounded good. Right. Hot. Sexy.

***

I really wasn’t in the mood to get up at the ass crack of dawn to meet Jag, but I knew if I didn’t then he’d come up here and invade my space. Again. But meeting him at the diner meant either leaving my camper and my gear behind or taking this big bitch back on the road.

Since I would never leave my surveillance equipment behind, I took my time getting dressed and guzzling a pot of coffee before I got on the road. Going approximately fifty miles an hour gave me plenty of time to think about what I’d wanted to happen with Jeremiah. Or Jag, because that was what I needed to get used to calling him. I needed to just talk to him about what I needed from him. No more games and no more bullshit. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the boy I knew online anymore, what mattered was that he had the skills I needed to get out of this shit storm.

Like the beige sedan that had been trailing me for the past eight miles. It was an older model by at least twenty years given how boxy the body was and the driver kept two car lengths between us, a by-the-book tail. I didn’t do anything differently, anything that might indicate he’d been made. I took the Mayhem exit and found one of several public parking lots in town to park, keeping a close eye on the beige heap of junk.

The car didn’t park though, instead he waited for me to get out and start my journey. I grabbed my bag, engaged the booby traps and locks on the camper, then stepped out onto what was basically Main Street in Mayhem and walked towards the delicious greasy smells of the diner.

The diner was located in the middle of the block, which meant the scrap of metal had to slowly chug along the street and draw attention to itself.

The jerk chose to follow me closely so I ducked into a book store and waited five minutes before slipping back out like nothing was going on. When I arrived at the diner, I was ten minutes late and Jag looked suitably annoyed.

“You’re late,” he said as soon as I slid into the booth with my back to the door.

“You’re lucky I’m here at all.” I flipped over the coffee cup and set it as close to the edge of the table as possible to encourage the busy waitress to fill me up. “Look outside and tell me if you see a late model beige sedan. It’s been following me since about five miles from the campsite.”

Jag’s black brows rose, and I knew what he was thinking before he said the words. “You sure?”

“Just look outside and tell me if you see the car, Jag.”

Everything about him said he thought I was batshit fucking crazy. Until he spotted the car. His brows rose and velvety brown eyes grew as wide as the pancakes just set down in front of him. “I see it. Can’t see inside because of the glare, though.”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s a middle-aged, non-descript white male. As run of the mill as they come.” The guy was probably a pro. A pro what? I had no fucking idea and didn’t care. I just wanted to be left the hell alone. “So what was so urgent we had to meet for breakfast before the roosters woke up?”

A grin split his face and he looked at me with something like affection in his eyes. I ignored the feelings it caused and waited. “You wanted to speak with me,” he clarified.

“Wrong. I thought I did and I changed my mind, so you offered to buy me breakfast to get me to change my mind.” I stabbed the potatoes with my fork and shoved them into my mouth with a smile.

“And are you ready to talk yet or do I need to pile on the charm?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Save the charm for someone else, Jag. I’m only interested in your help. A very specific kind of help so I’ll tell you enough to let you decide if you are willing and able to help.” I took a long sip of coffee until the steaming black liquid burned my insides and then I told him my story. A story light on details but with enough flesh that he got the gist of my predicament. “So there you have it, the whole sordid tale.”

Jag’s expression was blank as he stared at me for longer than I felt comfortable letting him stare, but eventually his shoulders relaxed, and he seemed calm. “You have my help. Whatever you need, say the word.”

That was exactly what I wanted to hear but I wasn’t satisfied. “I’m happy to hear that but it seems like you and your people have enough going on and the last thing I need right now is for any kind of law enforcement to interfere in my life.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” His smile was playful and boyish. Irresistible. “Now that I’m helping, do I get all the details?”

“Not here in the open.” I couldn’t take the chance that I was being followed by someone else that I hadn’t seen and have them overhear what I knew for certain. “What was going on when I pulled up to your…place?”

He grinned again, something that came easily to him. I envied that, his ability to wear a smile no matter what was happening. “Some asshole thought he could order his ex to come back to him by threatening her. We had to show him he was wrong. Plus, that ex is my buddy’s wife now.”

“Shit.” That was some serious shit. “And that little lesson required all the emergency vehicles in town? I call bullshit, but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” It was probably best if we kept some secrets between us.

“I just told you. Rocky used to date this scumbag who was the head of a gang in LA and when his business started going south he decided he wanted her particular brand of assistance again. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and me and my brothers had to say it until he heard it and accepted it.”

The way my body reacted to his words, so calm and harsh with a deadly dose of venom running through his tone, was crazy. It felt crazy and out of control, like I was setting back the women’s movement at least a hundred years. But I was turned on by his words, the certainty in them and the ferocity with which he spoke them. “So you’re like a real-life outlaw biker, huh?”

“A biker yes but we’re not outlaws. Not really,” he added hastily. “We have legit businesses that we all run and yeah, if someone fucks with one of us, they fuck with us all.”

“Good to know.” I could still catch glimpses of the boy I used to know, especially when he said certain phrases or laughed. God, that laugh had been the balm my battered heart and soul longed for back then. It was rich and loud, full of life and enjoyment. Jeremiah was a boy who’d enjoyed life, at least until it had all been snatched from him. I still hadn’t decided if I would accept the help he offered but I was glad we’d gotten a chance to talk for a bit, so I dropped some cash in the tray with the check, passing on the mints, and handed it to the passing waitress. “This was fun, Jag.”

He frowned and looked up at me. “That’s the second time you bought me a meal and I don’t like it.” It was almost a pout, a sexy little pout that made me think about kissing him again. Dammit.

“Don’t worry, I fully expect you to put out.” A laugh escaped at his shocked expression.

“I can do that. But first we should probably talk about things, don’t you think Vivi?”

Hell no I didn’t think we needed to talk about anything, especially when he pitched his voice low and panty meltingly sexy. “I’ll let you know.”

Jag stood and got in my face. “You can follow me to my place.”

I could have argued and told him that no one bossed me around and then went on about my way. But I was too damn curious about him and those kissable fucking lips so I nodded and left the diner because I was about to do something really stupid.

Like sleep with Jag.