Hendrix grabbed me and pulled me onto the couch, then he stood up and started ransacking the place. It took him hardly any time to find the recording devices. When he did, though, he punched the living room wall so hard the plaster gave way. As he pulled his fist back out of my wall, he looked over at me and shook his head.
“I’m fucking sorry, Darby. I didn’t think I would need to do any kind of checks for these things. This is my fault.”
I stood up and turned off the TV, the constant reminder for both of us that we’d been caught in some interesting positions. Then I went to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “It’s not your fault. It’s that guy’s fault. Whoever he is, he’s doing this. You didn’t do anything and you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.”
He tried to pull away from me but I held on until he gave up and hugged me to his chest. “It’s not safe here. Pack a bag and then we’ll go someplace safe so you can get some rest.”
Rest sounded amazing. Rest and maybe a chance to curl up next to Hendrix and remind myself that things were still okay. I looked up at him and then kissed his chin. “What a day.”
He kissed me and then pushed me towards my room. “Go. Pack.”
He led us around the city two times before finally pulling into the back parking lot of a seedy motel. It looked like it’d once been a vibrant green, but not for many, many years. Concrete planters held skeletons of plants long forgotten and more cigarette butts than I cared to ever see in one place. A few cars and trucks littered the lot, along with a metal can in the corner that had a fire going in it.
I was no princess, not by any means, but the motel wouldn’t have been my first pick. “This place is safer than my house?”
Hendrix’s chuckle was deep as he tugged me out of the truck on his side and walked me up to one of the rooms that had a clothesline strung across the two pillars out in front of it. He knocked four times in a row and then waited a beat before knocking twice more.
The door immediately flew open, revealing a thin older man with dreads that reached his waist. His eyes were pale green and his tan was one earned through many years in the California sun.
“The middle Crimson brother at my doorstep! What a pleasure!”
“Hey, Bo. Thanks for taking my call. It’s been too long.” Hendrix let go of my hand long enough to give the man a strong hug. “We really appreciate the help.”
“Hey, it’s no problem. Take room fourteen for you and your lady. Why don’t you and your brothers come around sometime when there isn’t gun powder settling around you?”
With a laugh, Hendrix took the key offered to him and nodded. “Cash has some shit going on right now, but I’m sure he’d love to be here.”
“Heard about that. He’s a good man. Doesn’t deserve a thing of what he’s getting right now.”
Hendrix nodded stiffly and then pressed his hand to my back to lead me away. “Thanks again, Bo.”
The old man winked at me. “You’ll just have to owe me.”
Room fourteen’s door was barely on the hinges. The bottom of it dragged across the floor when Hendrix shoved it open. Immediately, my eyes started trying to adjust to the pitch-black room. I felt along the wall and found a light switch that turned on a singular lamp in the far corner. There was a full-sized bed, a worn chair with patches covering most of it, and the lamp. That was it.
Hendrix kicked the door shut behind us and then pulled me over to a full-length mirror. He hit a button and a keypad popped out of the side of the mirror. Looking on the back of the key, he pushed in a series of numbers that caused a beeping sound to come from the mirror and then it swung open.
My mouth must’ve been on the floor as Hendrix stepped through the mirror and dragged me with him. The door shut behind us automatically and then we were in a simple but nice room, stocked with an expensive-looking computer and phone. The bed was bigger and looked comfortable. The bathroom looked clean.
“What the hell?”
“Bo out there was with some government agency for a long time. When he quit, he wanted to do something for agents that get burned or just need some help. He started this place. The front is just that, a front. For whatever reason, Bo doesn’t trust the government or the local police, either. He didn’t want them in his business, so he hid what he really wanted to have here.”
“That’s amazing. So this is like a spy motel.”
He laughed. “Something like that. Why don’t you get comfortable? I’ve got a few calls to make.”
I took a quick shower and then pulled on one of Hendrix’s shirts with a pair of knee socks. When I stepped back into the room he gave me a heated look and motioned for me to come to him. When I was close enough, he pulled me down on his lap and kissed me. He was on the phone, though, so I pulled back and just sat there, happy to be near his warmth.
“No, I ditched her phone. My phone couldn’t be bugged, but I have it turned off, just in case… We’re at Bo’s… Go ahead and give me what you’ve got.”
Hendrix closed his eyes and tilted his head back, listening to whoever was on the other end of the call rattle on. When something interested him, his eyebrows would go up, when something bothered him, he chewed on his bottom lip.
“Fuck. Okay… Alright… Yeah.” He hung up and swore.
“What is it?”
“My guy found several shell companies with ties to Ricky that no one knows about. He’s got his hands in several big, illegal pies. It’ll be just shit to add on to his other charges when they catch him.” He held my gaze and sighed. “The bad news is that my guy found Aaron Gadberry. He’s been in LA for several months now.”
My stomach twisted. “What? What’s he doing here?”
“No one knows. After he used his card here a few times, he went quiet. No one knows exactly where he is now.”
I stood up and paced to the other side of the room. “No fucking way is Aaron Gadberry the one behind this shit. There is no way he would have had the balls to come into the studio like that today. It’s got to be something else.”
“Like what? It’s a pretty big coincidence.”
“I don’t know. Maybe someone is setting him up. It wouldn’t be hard.”
Hendrix shrugged one wide shoulder and shook his head. “I don’t know yet. I have a feeling all of the cards will be on the table soon. It’s escalating too much to not end soon.”
I couldn’t help but agree. “What do you think the ending will be like?”
He narrowed his eyes and I could see his fists flexing. “Disappointing for whoever this motherfucker is. Today was the closest he’s going to get to you.”
“I owe you an apology, Hendrix. I didn’t think I needed you when you first got here, but I was so wrong. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t showed up when you did.”
“Then don’t think about it. Think about something else. Anything.” His slow smile told me what he was thinking of and I couldn’t help but think he was aimed in the right direction. Whatever we were doing, it was so much better than thinking about the two men who wanted to kill me.
*
Sometime after midnight, a phone rang in the room. I reached over to touch Hendrix, but he wasn’t there. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and reached for my glasses at the same time he came out of the bathroom to grab it.
He was freshly showered and looked like a little slice of heaven. He grabbed the phone and answered it.
I moved back down into the pillows and watched him. He was giving someone our location and then looked at me. My heart soared in my chest and I sat up again, eager to know who he was talking to.
As soon as he hung up, he stooped over and grabbed my pants. “Honeymoon’s over, sweetheart.”
“What?”
“That was Harding. He found our girl.”
I almost cheered. “That’s great!”
“He also found your brothers.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I slumped in the bed and pouted. “This is going to be hell. Beyond hell. I am so sorry in advance, Hendrix. This is… It’s just terrible!”
“I hate to point out the obvious, but you weren’t this upset when you realized your stalker filmed us having sex.”
My face burned and I pulled at my hair. “I know! They make me crazy, Hendrix! I can compartmentalize everything else, but they’re too much. Too big, too loud, too everything. They’re going to ruin everything. I bet you within five minutes of being in here, something is broken.”
He pulled me into his chest and rubbed an impressive hard-on against my stomach. “They can’t ruin everything.”
I sighed, instantly becoming putty. “You think we have time for a quickie?”
He laughed and pressed his lips to my neck. “We could probably make it work.”
I tilted my head to the side and let him have more of my neck. “I don’t want this to stop.”
He pulled back slightly and stared down at me. “What do you mean?”
I hadn’t realized I’d spoken the words out loud. Feeling like an idiot, I stuttered out a bullshit reply. “This. Right now. Don’t stop.”
He grabbed my hips and easily lifted me into his arms. “I don’t want it to stop, either.”
My brain wanted to believe that he meant the same thing I did. I didn’t want what we were doing to stop. I liked hugging him for comfort and feeling like some sort of real couple when we came back home together after a long day out. It’d only been a day of us reacting to each other with sex and touching instead of fighting, but it was what I needed. I didn’t want to lose it because my stupid brothers were around. I didn’t want to lose it because he had to leave. I selfishly wanted to just keep him there with me, pretending like what we were doing wasn’t just lust. I’d been lonely for a long time and, more than that, I’d never connected with a man like I did Hendrix. I couldn’t help but want that to be special.
I’d barely gotten my shirt off when there was a pounding on the outer door of our room. I broke away from Hendrix and glared at him. “Why didn’t you say they were so close?”
He grinned. “I thought we could make it.”
I grabbed at my clothing and started pulling stuff on, but I couldn’t find my panties. I dropped to the floor and searched for them, but it was useless. Hendrix was already adjusting himself in his pants and heading towards the door.
“Wait!” I hissed at him. “I can’t find my panties!”
He put his hand in his pocket and eased out the edge of my panties. “I need a reminder to make myself feel better about the fact that I’m not going to get to touch you much for a while.”
“Dammit, Hendrix!” I gave up at the cocky smile on his lips and hopped into my leggings. “My brothers are going to know and I’m not going to stop them from kicking your ass.”
“Let ’em try, honey.”