I head down the stairs, leaving Sierra in that shithole of an apartment she’s living in and it’s killing me. This woman affects me, and I have no explanation for just how much. Maybe it’s simply that she’s in trouble, and saving people is what I do. Maybe it’s that I like to solve puzzles and those blue eyes filled with secrets make her a puzzle. Not to mention she’s fucking gorgeous, smart, and tastes like sweet honey, and please fuck me.
I round the corner on that thought to find Luke waiting on me at the bottom level, still inside Sierra’s building, which tells me his wife isn’t waiting on him and there’s a bigger problem than he hinted at inside.
“What’s happening?” I ask, joining him.
“When Sierra left the bar, Ju-Ju followed her.”
“No,” I say, rejecting that idea at every level. “I followed her. I didn’t see Ju-Ju.”
“He was on the opposite side of the street. Kyle distracted him and tried to buy from him.”
“Kyle?” I ask. “Please tell me he changed out of that fancy suit he’s been wearing for the bodyguard job he’s on.”
“Unfortunately, no,” he says. “We were short manpower and he had to act in the moment. Needless to say, Ju-Ju got spooked and took off but that’s why we need you. Ju-Ju landed at an after hours bar, and Kara is already there. But we obviously can’t send Kyle in with her after he spooked Ju-Ju. Blake went in.”
“Seriously? She’s his wife. He won’t be able to be in the same room as Kara and let her get pawed on like she will in that club.”
“Which is why we need you in there. And this gives you another chance to have that one-on-one with Ju-Ju.”
“Ju-Ju has eyes on Sierra, and me in that bar without her tells him she’s really single. And we both know he targets single women.”
“Tell him you were meeting someone to do some business,” Luke says. “And that you keep your woman out of your business.”
“No,” I say rejecting that idea. “Aside from the Sierra situation, my gut says this is not the right time. Kyle spooked him tonight. If I show up where he’s at, I look like I’m chasing him, and he might make me, too. He needs to come to me. He needs to think I’m hard to get. He already believes that I’m the eyes and ears he needs to help him sell more product, and stay off police radar.”
“Okay,” Luke says. “Valid points. But we’re going to fight about this with Blake.”
“Because he wants Kara out of there and I do, too. She’s another one who’s going to look like she’s chasing him. She needs to stick with me at the bar. Pull them both out of there.”
His phone rings and he snags it from his pocket and glances at the number. “Ju-Ju just left the bar with a woman, and if she’s doing the juice he’s selling, she’s doing him first. We called in Jacob for duty. He’s following the woman. Kyle is following Ju-Ju. Blake wants us to meet him at the office.”
I nod and Luke heads for the door ahead of me while I reluctantly follow. What I really want right now is to go back upstairs, kiss Sierra again, and then strip her naked in every possible way. For her protection, of course, Ju-Ju needs to know she’s mine.
It’s three in the morning by the time Luke and I walk into the strategy room of the Walker Security offices. Blake and Kara are already sitting on one side of the conference table, a couple dozen clocks with worldwide times on the wall behind them. Rick Savage, a newer recruit who just came off an overseas gig, is with them, sitting at the end cap.
“Can you get Savage a doorman job?” Blake asks as Luke and I claim the seats across from him and Kara.
“No,” I say. “I don’t work with fuckheads.” I also don’t mince words. The dude’s six-foot-five inches of musclehead ex-Beret that rubs me ten shades of wrong. He’s also the only member of the many Walker employees across the country that I just plain fucking hate.
The room is silent and for a reason. Everyone knows I worked with him on his first assignment and it didn’t go well. Savage breaks the quiet with a laugh. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt little Asher.”
I cut him a look. “A man I knew and trusted died because of you,” I say. “Because you went when I said hold, and he followed to protect you.”
“It didn’t go down the way you remember it,” Savage bites out. “And you think I don’t have nightmares about him dying? I do.”
“I’m sure you’re sucking your thumb in the fetal position,” I say, glancing at the rest of the room and moving on. “I’m on Ju-Ju’s radar. I’m close to getting into his inner circle.”
“If the guy even has an inner circle,” Luke says, ignoring my exchange with Savage. “In a full week of watching him, we haven’t seen him with one person on repeat.”
“Serial killers are loners,” Kara says. “We all know this.”
“Yes. He is a serial killer,” Blake says. “One who likes young, pretty brunettes. That’s you, Kara. It’s time to get you off this case.”
“I can put Ju-Ju down,” she says. “Those young college girls can’t.”
“What’s the word from Kyle?” Luke asks. “Have we confirmed the woman he left with tonight is safe?”
“She was blonde,” Kara says. “She doesn’t fit the profile.”
“Translation,” Blake says. “Ju-Ju fucked her in his car and then sent her packing, but Jacob followed her. We now know who she is and where she lives.”
“I’m going to try to make friends with her,” Kara says. “Maybe she knows more about him than we do.”
“I need inside,” Savage says. “I’ll hear things at the door and I’ll rough up a few dudes if I have to. I’ll make ‘em talk.”
“You’re a little too obvious Savage,” I say. “Stroke it, don’t pull it.”
“You’re so fucking funny, Ash,” he says. “So funny that I don’t want to stroke it or pull it. I want to punch it—that ‘it’ being your face.”
I wink. “I do like it rough, Savage. Didn’t know that, did you?”
“Let’s talk about Sierra,” Blake bites out, and he suddenly has my full attention.
“What the fuck about Sierra?”
“Obviously she’s got Ju-Ju’s attention. You got close enough to her to assess her character. Can we hire her to try to get close to Ju-Ju?”
“Go fuck yourself, Blake,” I say. “We aren’t using an innocent to bait a damn serial killer.”
“She’s already on his radar,” he says. “And she’s living in a shithole. We’ll pay her and pay her well and get her the hell out of that place.”
“As far as Ju-Ju is concerned, she’s my woman,” I say. “And if he doesn’t know that now, he will.”
“I’m going to put on the brakes right there,” Luke says calmly, always the mediator, his focus on Blake. “You asking Ash to have Sierra do this, is like you asking me to have Julie do this. It won’t happen.”
“He just met her,” Blake argues.
“Irrelevant,” Luke states. “Think back to what you felt, thought, and wanted when you met Kara.”
“I wanted to fuck her and kill her,” he says, glancing at me. “Is there a comparison here I’m missing?”
“You thought I was one of the bad guys,” Kara says. “But there was still a connection between us.”
“She matters to him,” Luke says.
“She’s the flavor of the month,” Blake counters. “He wants to fuck her and it’s not like I’m trying to fuck her over. I want to change her life and save lives while we do it.”
“No,” I say. “You will not use Sierra. I’ll get Ju-Ju.”
“And what if you don’t?” he challenges.
“Sierra is already running from something,” Luke says. “She’s scared. She’s on edge. She will read like trouble to anyone who is looking for trouble, which means Ju-Ju.”
“Running?” Kara asks. “From what?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “But when Luke made it to the door without her buzzing him up, she flipped out.”
“Yeah, she did,” Luke agrees. “She was locked and loaded with that bottle of mace. Add to that the fact that she’s living in complete poverty without one single personal item in her apartment. She’s running.”
I point at Blake. “Don’t bring up the money. I’m gonna help her. She isn’t in a position to help us.”
“Then you can’t let her know you’re undercover,” Savage says. “She’ll blink at the wrong time.”
“I’m completely fucking aware of that,” I say, “thank you very much.”
“Run her prints,” Blake says. “Find out what’s coming at her before it comes at us, too. That’s what I did with Kara.”
“That was different,” Kara argues. “I was working for a drug lord, and you didn’t know I was undercover. You thought I was a criminal.”
“I hate to tell you this, sweetheart,” Blake says. “But Sierra is reading like one, too.”
“Sierra’s not a criminal,” I snap.
“The guy who wants to fuck a woman is not the guy who needs to decide if she’s a criminal or not,” Savage says. “Take it from the guy who swore another woman wasn’t a criminal.”
“You’re about to get a scar to match the one you already have,” I promise, eying the huge mark down his right cheek. “And if you think being bigger than me matters, think again. I like a big target.”
Luke laughs and everyone looks at him. “Sorry,” he says, holding up his hands. “Poorly timed laughter, I know, but Savage just gave me a walk down memory lane.”
“Germany,” I say, which is a reference to a bar fight.
Luke cuts me a look. “He was a big dude.”
And together, we say, “Just not big enough,” which is what we say every time we tell the story we won’t be telling today.
“Back on point,” Blake says. “You can’t even trust the weatherman. If it were me, Ash, I’d run her prints.”
“What’s big to a civilian is usually small to us,” Kara says. “If you run her prints and she finds out, she’ll never trust you again. Think about it before you do it.”
“Don’t think too long,” Blake say. “Your gut will tell the story.”
“Not always,” Savage says. “And man, put aside you anger. I fell for a woman. She was a spy and she tried to kill me. I never saw it coming.”
Blake stands up. “Let’s get some rest.”
He and Kara head out of the room, with Savage following them, and for Blake and Kara, sleep is nearby. The Walker Brothers own the building and apartments above the office. I don’t know where Savage lives and I don’t care. I’m just glad he’s gone.
Luke isn’t, though. He hangs back with me, waiting for the room to clear. “Blake’s not all wrong,” he says when we’re alone. “Sierra’s in trouble and she’s afraid. You’re smart enough to make a list of the possible reasons. You need to decide if you can deal with those things before you get pulled under with her.” He stands up and walks out of the room.
***
Thirty minutes later, I’m at my building, three blocks from the Walker Security property. I enter my industrial-style apartment on the fifteenth floor of the high rise, and arm the security system. Two years after putting a million dollars down on the place, compliments of a contract job in a hellish jungle overseas, I still feel a sense of home every time I enter this place. It might not compare to the luxury I grew up with, but it’s mine. All fucking mine. Not a penny of it paid for with my father’s money. But Sierra has nothing that is hers and she’s living in barely livable circumstances.
I cross the room, heading toward the open kitchen, and while my floors are a mahogany and gray mix of wood, Sierra’s floor is ugly, old laminate. My walls are a mix of brick and windows. Hers are white chipped paint. I toss my keys on the wooden island that matches the floors and walk up to the stainless-steel fridge and grab a bottle of water before making my way to the black steel stairwell and the second level. My bedroom is at the top to the right, and as I enter I’m struck by the fact that this room is bigger than the entire place Sierra is living in now.
I sit down on the edge of the four-poster, gray-finished bed, and set the water on the nightstand, emptying my pockets next to it. I waste no time afterward, stripping down and climbing into the bed, but I stare into the darkness, sleep nowhere in sight, Sierra in her shit bed on my mind. Luke’s words play in my head: Blake’s not all wrong. Sierra’s in trouble and she’s afraid. You’re smart enough to make a list of the possible reasons. You need to decide if you can deal with those things before you get pulled under with her.
He’s right. She’s in trouble, but no one deals with trouble better than Walker Security. We’re going to help her. I’m going to help her. Aside from that, I can’t walk away from this woman. I’ve never said that about a woman before. Something about this one gets to me. I want to get to know her.
I grab my phone and pull up her number and I don’t even consider the fact that she might be asleep as I type: You okay, sweetheart?
She replies almost instantly: What’s my name?
I smile and type: You okay, Sierra?
She replies with: Yes. Are you?
Better if you were here, I reply.
Stop, she replies.
Stop is not a word I like and it’s also a word a man has to take seriously when spoken by a woman. I dial her number. She answers on the first ring. “Asher.”
“Holy fuck, I like it when you say my name all breathless like that.”
“Stop,” she repeats.
“Is that what you really want?”
“We just met. How can you be this insistent that you want to know me at all?”
“Your answer is all in that kiss. We have chemistry, sweetheart. I know it. You know it.”
“Stop,” she says again.
“You keep saying that. I need you to tell me if that’s what you really want.”
“Asher, damn it,”
“Answer, Sierra,” I order softly.
“You have to stop.”
“I’ll stop when you tell me that’s what you want and that’s not what I’m hearing and that’s damn sure not what I felt when I kissed you tonight.”
“Go to bed, Asher. It’s four in the morning.” She hangs up.
But that’s okay. She’s okay. And the message in that call was clear. She doesn’t want me to stop, but she thinks she should. I don’t know why, but I’ll do as Kara instructed: Earn her trust and find out what she’s running from. For tonight, I settle for typing her one last message: Goodnight, Sierra.
I stare at the screen, waiting for her reply and waiting and waiting, willing her to answer. Finally, she replies with: Goodnight, Asher.
I smile and set my phone down on the nightstand. “Pull me under, baby,” I murmur. “I can’t wait.”