Alexa
Present day…
I GOT PINCHED… popped… nabbed by the five-0… jammed up by the po-po. Since I’d never been in trouble with the law before, I wasn’t sure which phrase best fit my current situation. All I knew was I was now sitting in holding at the Multnomah County Detention Center, handcuffed to a redhead who looked like she was having an even rougher night than me. I couldn’t blame her for her constant stares; she must have been weirded out being chained to a nun. Why wouldn’t she? Even though I was currently chained up in a den of sinners, I was dressed like a saint.
“What are you in here for?” she asked as I gnawed off the fingernails of my free hand. One had started to bleed, but I welcomed the pain.
I studied the damage, and replied, “Drugs.”
The redhead’s eyes widened.
“Oh, well, family, really. Family leading me to drugs I suppose,” I replied, somewhat lost in thought. I was still trying to make sense of the whole situation myself.
She snorted. “I feel you. Being around my family would drive me to drugs too.”
“Oh, no, sorry. Not my drug problem...well, since I’m in here, I suppose it kind of became my drug problem. My stupid-ass brother.” I covered my mouth. Nuns really shouldn’t swear. “Sorry. I’m working on my swearing problem.”
“No judgment here,” she said.
I smiled. “Thanks. I’m Al―I mean, Sister Maria.”
“I’m Harley,” she replied sweetly. Unlike most of our fellow “guests,” the two of us appeared to be the only sober ones in the police station. She sounded like a nervous wreck and I could hardly imagine what she could have been in here for.
“What’d you do?” I asked in a way that made me feel like a character in a bad mobster movie.
“They found a body outside my apartment.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded.
“Did you do it?”
Harley’s face paled, but before she could answer my question, an officer took her away to be booked. I went back to annihilating my nail-beds and shook my head.
How the hell did I end up here? Oh, yeah, I remember. Stupid Sergei.
So much had happened in such a short amount of time, I was still not entirely sure if I was living in reality or if my life was really some made for Lifetime movie. I’d started a really great law career two years ago. It was the fulfillment of a dream finally coming to fruition, despite my shattered heart. However, shortly after I’d found my place and groove with my new job, the life I’d carefully rebuilt crumbled again.
Almost a year ago, my father had been murdered by the next in line for the mob crown and Sergei, our mother, and I had gone into hiding. Right after my father was killed, there had been a rumor going around that my mother was next on the list. Whether or not that was true, I didn’t know, but the thought was scary and it was why we were all separated…and safe. That was until Sergei bartered for our lives.
Idiot.
And I say that with all love and devotion, but seriously, he sold his soul to the Russian mob for me and I wish he hadn’t.
Which brought me to here… indirectly.
* * *
Six months ago…
Gone was my sheltered world of armed bodyguards and more money than God (Father’s words, not mine), replaced by some skuzzy rat-infested flophouse.
I didn’t know what time it was, all I knew was it had been at least two days since I’d been taken from the FBI safe house I was being housed in, and beaten into unconsciousness by one of my father’s cronies. I was hungry, thirsty, and I had to pee.
“Lex,” Paisley whispered beside me.
Paisley actually shouldn’t be here and, quite frankly, I was pissed she was. After I’d agreed to be a material witness against the Mob’s nefarious businesses, the FBI had whisked me and my family away without a word to anyone we knew. Paisley, however, was also inquisitive… only, she had P.I.-type skills and found me. Seriously, this chick should be a spy. But the problem with this side of her personality was it got her snatched as well.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m pretty sure my arm is broken,” she rasped. “I can’t really feel anything now.”
Paisley groaned, but we were both chained to a metal ring bolted to the floor and couldn’t move more than a few feet away from the wall. After I woke up the first time, I’d tried to figure out a way to get out, but didn’t have a way to unscrew the bolts, so we were stuck.
I knew we had captors because I’d heard several men’s voices while I was in and out of consciousness. We also had water and crackers delivered a few times a day as well.
I was aware there were others being held here. I’d heard crying and voices, and some of the voices sounded young. I was disgusted. One of the reasons Papa had been killed was he refused to have any part in trafficking and prostitution. Trafficking drugs he was fine with, people, not so much.
“Lex, I’m really scared,” Paisley whispered.
“I know, honey. I am too.”
“How are you so calm?” she accused.
“I’m not,” I said. “I’m just trying to think one or two steps ahead of whoever took us, but I can’t do that if I allow myself to freak out.”
“Do you mind if I do?”
“Have at it, honey, just do it really quietly.”
Before Paisley could respond, gunfire sounded, then yelling and screaming (not from us, which shocked the hell out of me), so I pulled her down and covered her with my body.
“What the hell?” Paisley let out a frustrated grunt and pushed me off. “Why would you do that?” she snapped.
“Sorry. Instinct.”
“Well, don’t be an idiot, Lex.”
The door of our prison slammed open and a large man filled the doorway. “Two in here!” he yelled into the hallway.
Paisley and I jumped in fright, huddling closer together. The thought of being taken to yet another location did not sit well with me, especially with Paisley needing medical attention.
“What do you want?” I demanded, my false bravado on hyper-drive.
The man approached us and I couldn’t help myself from sliding slightly in front of Paisley. This earned me a painful flick to the ear. I ignored it.
“I’m here to help,” he said. “I’m Agent Cameron Shane. We’re getting you out of here.”
“We?” Paisley asked.
He hunkered down in front of us and pulled out a handcuff key. “The FBI.”
I gasped and shook my head. “No. Leave us alone!”
Cameron frowned. “Ma’am, you’re safe. No one’s going to hurt you.”
“I don’t think he’s one of them, Lex,” Paisley said.
“I’m not taking any chances,” I hissed.
Cameron held his hand out and Paisley settled hers in it. He unlocked her handcuff and she grabbed for her broken arm, cradling it to her chest.
He turned to me and I tentatively reached my arm out. He uncuffed me and I wrapped my arm around my best friend.
* * *
The slam of a cell door brought me back to the present.
After we had been rescued, Paisley got to go home, but I was now being hidden in a Catholic abbey in Oregon, along with several other young women who’d been held in the flop house. I also had a “handler.” Agent Cameron Shane. Tall, dark, and drop-dead gorgeous, the FBI agent was all alpha all the time, über professional, and just the right amounts of Boy Scout and altar boy. He also lived in Portland and I adored him. I’d had to give up my law career… at least for the moment, and I had no idea when I’d be able to get back to it.
I dropped my head back against the wall and squeezed my eyes shut. My mother had limited contact with me (we were still separated and could only communicate on approved days and using burner phones). She’d called me on a non-approved day, frantic because she couldn’t reach my brother, and like an idiot, I sneaked out of the convent and to one of his favorite places to “disappear,” and right into a drug deal. A drug deal that was broken up by the local police.
Sergei and I had been taken away in separate police cars and I was pretty sure I’d never see my brother again.
A police woman approached me and gave me a smile. “You’re free to go,” she said, and unlocked my handcuffs.
“Really? I thought I had to get booked.”
“You have a friend in the FBI, apparently. So, you get to miss the entertainment of central booking,” she said. “Someone’s waiting to take you back to the convent. He’s out front.”
I followed the police officer out to the front, expecting to see Cameron, and my breath left my body.
“No,” I ground out. “Absolutely not.”
Reese Alden, the man who shattered me almost eight years ago, stood glaring at me. I almost turned around to demand the officer take me back to a cell.
I turned to head to the desk to find someone else to help me.
“Nice try,” Reese growled, and grabbed my arm.
My head swam with questions. What was Reese doing here? Where had he been for the past eight years? How did he know I was in jail? How did he know I was at the convent… no one was supposed to know that. Did he miss me? Ohmigod, I shouldn’t care if he missed me. He’d ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it with his unbelievably sexy motorcycle boots.
“You’re coming with me,” he said.
“Um, no, no I’m not.” I tried to rip my arm from his hold, but to no avail. He kept me immobile without hurting me as he gently dragged me toward a side door. “Reese,” I hissed. “Stop.”
“Quit bein’ ornery.”
“Ohmigod, you cannot speak to me that way!”
“We’ll talk in the truck.”
Arriving at his truck, he virtually threw me into the cab before jogging to the driver’s side and closing himself in with me. I debated escaping while we had distance, but in the end, I knew he’d just catch me if I ran, so I secured my seatbelt and stared out the window.
“What the hell are you doing sneaking out of the convent, Lex?” he bellowed.
“How the hell do you know I sneaked out?” I countered, and then raised my hand. “No, never mind, this is none of your business. I don’t want to know.”
“Everything you do is my business… don’t ever doubt it.”
“It most certainly is not, you male chauvinist, lying, piece of—”
“You gonna answer my question?”
“Nope.” I crossed my arms with a huff.
He swore and headed out of the parking lot.
“Where’s Cameron?” I asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. “He’s my handler. How did you even get here?”
“Cam’s not available.”
“Why isn’t he available?”
“I’ll explain when we get you safe,” Reese said.
“What do you mean everything I do is your business?” I asked, once my heart calmed down a little. “I stopped being your business seven years, eleven months, and twenty-eight days ago.”
“But who’s counting?” Reese retorted.
I pressed my lips together to keep from screaming like a banshee and looked out the window again. I didn’t remember him irritating me like that. Ever.
We continued to drive, but it didn’t take me long to figure out we weren’t heading toward the Convent. “Reese?”
“Yeah, Freckles?” he said, all sweet and crap. Reese Alden wasn’t sweet. Even when he was, he wasn’t.
“No!” I snapped. “You don’t get to call me that.”
“No?”
“No.” I frowned. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere we can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Too bad,” he said. “It’s past time, Lex.”
“Ohmigod, you don’t get to make blanket decisions for me! I didn’t like it when we were teenagers and I don’t like it now.”
“Frec—”
“No. You’re not hearing me. I mean it, Reese. You don’t get to do that. Take me back to the convent.”
“You’re not even gonna hear me out?” he asked, his tone incredulous.
“I haven’t heard from you for eight years, after you took my virginity and my self-respect, so no, I’m not going to hear you out.”
Reese scowled and flipped a U-turn, heading back to the convent. We sat in stony silence the rest of the way, and when we arrived at the private entrance at the back, I slid out of the cab without comment and rushed inside.
He followed.
I scowled. “Stop following me.”
“Wanna make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m safe. You can go.”
He gave me his signature sexy grin and closed the door behind us. “Gonna make extra sure.”
“I’m going to my room.”
“I’ll walk you.”
Before I could protest, or, you know, kick him in the shins and run, our Reverend Mother came rushing toward me. “Sister Maria,” she admonished. “You know men aren’t allowed in the Abbey.”
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at Reese. “I know, but he won’t leave.”
“Reese, you must go,” she ordered.
“You know him?” I squeaked.
“Yes, dear. My niece is married to Reese’s friend, Ryder.”
“Sadie’s married to Ryder Carsen?”
Now it was Reese’s turn to cross his arms. “Yep.”
I’d met Sadie a few times when I’d come to “hide” here, but never had there been any indication that her man was the same Ryder attached to Reese. I suppose I could have asked, but honestly, what were the odds?
Everything was starting to come into focus. Horror movie, Jason’s at the glass slider, kind of focus. “You set this up,” I whispered. “You sonofa—”
The Reverend Mother glanced at me sternly and I stopped myself.
“I don’t know how you did it, but you’re behind this somehow,” I accused.
“Indirectly,” he said.
“Have you known I was here”—I pointed to the floor, indicating the abbey—“all this time?”
“Yeah.”
Okay, this pissed me off. Irrational, maybe, but he’d known I was here, then blindsided me at the jail… no. “Reverend Mother, would you please make sure I never see this man again?”
“I… ah… I’m not sure I can do that, dear. Reese is taking over Cameron’s duties.”
“What?” I squeaked.
“I’m your new handler,” he said, a smug look on his face. “I’ll be checking on you from now until the trial.”
“No. I don’t accept. I’ll go home before I’m subjected to having to see you every day.”
“Don’t be melodramatic, Lex.”
I fisted my hands at my sides. “Find someone else, Reese. I’m serious.”
“Not gonna happen.”
I tore the veil off my head and rubbed my temples. “Then I’m done. I won’t testify. I’ll go home and take my chances—”
“Are you high?” Reese bellowed, making Mother jump. “You and I are gonna have a conversation, Lex, and you give me any grief, I’ll take you somewhere no one’ll find you.”
“You will not threaten her that way,” Mother snapped.
“He’d never hurt me,” I rushed to say, which might not have been the right thing to say. One: (technically) I didn’t know him anymore, so I could be wrong. But for whatever reason, I knew in my heart he’d never hurt me…at least physically. Two: I wanted him to go away, I shouldn’t be defending him.
“I’d rather cut off my arm,” Reese confirmed.
“But”―I pointed out―“after what I’ve been through over the past few months, maybe threatening to kidnap me might be a little melodramatic.”
“You will apologize to Alexa, Reese, or you’ll leave and not come back until you do,” Mother ordered.
Reese rubbed the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths. “I apologize.”
“Look at her when you say it.”
I bit back a smirk and waited. Reese studied me for a few seconds and then shook his head. “I’m sorry if I scared you…,” he gave me a slow smile, “Freckles.”
He just had to throw in ‘Freckles.’ “I don’t accept.”
“Alexa!” Mother admonished. “He’s apologized, you must accept.”
This time, Reese smirked and I studied him for a few seconds. “Fine,” I huffed. “Apology accepted.”
“I’m sorry, Reese, but you cannot be here,” Mother said. “No men in the Abbey. If you’d like to meet in the church, you are welcome to, but not here.”
“Will you give me fifteen minutes, Lex?” Reese asked, his tone pinched but polite.
Would I? I wasn’t sure. I’d missed him. I still missed him. He’d been my first love… he’d been my first everything, and I hadn’t had a serious relationship since. Hell, I hadn’t had a relationship, period. Had he dated… or hooked up with other women? No, I didn’t want to know. Gah, maybe he’d had a hundred. That thought raised a streak of jealousy in me I hadn’t expected. I wasn’t over him. Not that that fact surprised me. Paisley had mentioned it more than once or twice (or a million) times over the last eight years.
“Fifteen minutes,” he repeated.
“Fifteen minutes,” I agreed. “Not a second more.”