Alpha Hero: The Complete Series

by Hope Ford

  I pull her across the seat until she’s pressed up against me. The kiss could put me over the edge, but I know her body next to mine definitely will. I put my arms around her, and her nipples are tight peaks rubbing against my shirt. I can’t help it; I reach for her, palming her breast, and instead of pulling away, she gasps and presses farther into my hand. I caress her, wanting to feel her bare in my hands. She moans and my hand slides down her body along her thick thigh and caresses the juncture of her legs. She opens to me and as soon as I touch her jean-covered pussy, she gasps and closes her legs.

  I jerk away from her, panting. “I’m sorry, too fast too soon.”

  She doesn’t respond and we both try to catch our breath. I’m afraid I pushed her. “I’m sorry, Heather. I shouldn’t have.”

  But she just shakes her head. “No, really, it’s okay. I wanted it too, but maybe we can save something for our next date.”

  I lean my head against her temple. “So you’ll go out with me? On a real date?”

  When she says she will, I seal it with a kiss.

  4

  Baker

  Nothing. Absolutely nothing could ruin the day that I just had. I pull into my driveway and start walking to the door. I just dropped Heather off at her car and after a few stolen kisses, I let her drive away, but only after getting her phone number and address of where to pick her up tomorrow night.

  My phone dings. Pulling it out of my pocket, I look at it. Shit. I forgot about the guys throwing Zach a surprise bachelor party. I still can’t believe he’s getting married.

  I reply that I’m on my way and get back in the truck. I would rather have gone home and just sit on the couch, think of Heather, and plan our date for tomorrow. But I know I need to go tonight. I’m still trying to repair my friendship with Zach.

  As soon as I walk in, the first thing I notice is a few girls standing around my buddies. I walk around them to the other side and pat Zach on the back. “Congratulations.”

  He nods at me and before he turns his head around, dismissing me, I stick my hand out, leaning in to talk to him so he can hear me over the music. “Look, I’m sorry about everything with Shannon. I didn’t get it then, but I do now. I promise I’ll never disrespect her again.” He looks at my hand. I know he’s thinking back to when I almost went out on a date with his girl and how I talked about her. I don’t blame him if he doesn’t forgive me, but I have to try.

  When I think he’s going to turn away, he finally sticks his hand out. “Sure, okay, thanks, man.”

  We shake hands and I even tug him in for a one-arm hug. The rest of the night goes good. I’m with my brothers and I’ve already texted Heather, letting her know I’m thinking about her. She sent me back a blushing face with heart eyes, and I figure that I must have done something right.

  “Hey, you, hey how about you and I get outta here!” a woman breathes into my ear as she stumbles toward me.

  I catch her before she falls and try to stand her up on her feet. “Whoa! I think you had a little too much to drink. How about we call you a cab? Where’re your friends at?”

  She’s leaning on me heavily. The guys are all starting to leave and clapping me on the back, like I’ve just found my conquest for the night. I’m a little disgusted that they think that about me. I may take women home, but I don’t take ones home that don’t even know who they are.

  Shaking my head, I’m still struggling to talk to the woman and hold her upright. “Hey! Do you have any friends here?”

  She shakes her head and leans in, trying to kiss me. “No, but you can be my friend.”

  I pull back from her. “I have a girlfriend.” I know Heather might not think so, but I do. She’s going to be mine.

  Her lips pout and she leans her head on my shoulder. “All the good ones are taken.”

  I try to set her on the stool, but she just topples over. “Okay, do you have someone that I can call to come get you?”

  She shakes her head and jumps away from me. “No, I’m just going to go home.”

  I stand there, watching her walk away, barely able to put one foot in front of the other with her keys dangling from her hand. I almost let her go. Almost. But I know I can’t. I’ve worked more than my fair share of drunk driving accidents and they are horrific. If not for her, I have to protect others.

  I run up behind her grabbing her keys. “Look, just tell me who to call and I’ll call them.”

  She says there’s no one and finally, I offer to take her. “Fine, you can’t drive. Just let me take you home.”

  She nods her head and follows me to my truck. I have to help her in and then I try to find out where she lives. She just giggles and asks me where I live.

  I ask her every way I know how. “Do you live downtown?”

  She says no.

  “Do you live uptown?”

  She shakes her head.

  We do this for what seems like hours. Finally, after she’s figured out that no matter what, I’m not taking her home with me, she gives me her address.

  I try to figure out why it seems familiar, but I’m just happy to have someplace to take her.

  I pull into the apartment complex and help her up the stairs. She’s falling into everything and I have to hold on to her to keep her upright. When we finally get to her door, she’s laughing, wrapping her arms around me. I’m trying to peel her arms off me when the door across the hall opens. “Jamie, you have to keep it down, the neighbors…”

  But she stops when she sees me. Fuck me.

  Heather

  I knew it. I knew he was too good to be true. And I can’t fault him; he was upfront and honest with me. But the shock of seeing him standing at Jamie’s door goes all through me.

  As soon as he sees me, he stops what he’s doing and Jamie grabs on to him a little tighter.

  “Heather, this is not what it looks like,” he tells me, but I can see the guilt on his face.

  I shake my head, wishing I hadn’t come out, wishing that my first opinion of him wasn’t just proven true.

  Jamie’s head is resting on his chest and as if he’s just realizing it, he lets her go. Jamie just holds on to him tighter. She looks between us and then up to him. “Wait, you and her? I thought you had a girlfriend.”

  He nods his head. “Yeah, I was talking about Heather.”

  I smirk and a laugh escapes me. Yeah, right. His eyes are pleading with me, but I don’t care. I know now what his type is. I should have gone with my gut. I step back into my doorway, ready to shut the door, but Jamie’s words stop me.

  “Wait, you like her?” She says it like she doesn’t believe it. Which is good, ‘cause I don’t believe it either.

  Baker nods his head, but what really hits me is Jamie. She turns to me. “Heather, I’m so sorry. If I’d known I wouldn’t have made out with him.”

  I gasp. I should have figured, I mean, if I hadn’t interrupted they would already be in her apartment doing God knows what. The thought sickens me.

  I don’t say anything. I can’t. I take a step back into my apartment and slam the door in their faces. I know it’s not Jamie’s fault. She didn’t know. But I can’t look at them, either of them.

  Only minutes go by and there’s relentless knocking on my door. I don’t answer it, I don’t even holler through the door for him to stop. I go to the bedroom and toss myself onto the bed, wishing this night would end.

  5

  Baker

  I fucked up. I know I did. I should have just taken the woman’s keys and left her there for the bar owner to deal with. I had no interest in her, besides not wanting to see her kill herself or someone else by driving home.

  Fuck. I punch my fist into my locker. I shake it, blood pouring down my knuckles, but I don’t even care. Nothing matters right now.

  “Bad night?” Mack asks me.

  I shake my head. “You don’t want to know.”

  He just laughs. “Well, you’re getting blood everywhere.”

  I walk over to the si
nk and wash the blood from my hands before pulling the first aid kit down out of the cabinet.

  Mack takes it from me and points to the chair. “This doesn’t seem like your typical girl problems. What’s up?”

  He takes out the gloves, bandages and hydrogen peroxide. “This is going to sting.”

  He sprays it on my open wound, but I don’t even flinch. I don’t think anything can hurt me now.

  He sprays it again. “Spill it.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I found the one.”

  He starts to laugh and then stops when he sees my face. “Wait, you’re serious?”

  I don’t know how else to say it. “Yep.”

  He opens the bandages and starts putting it on my knuckles. “Well, I don’t get it. That’s good, right?”

  I nod my head, but then I proceed to tell him about last night. I tell him all of it and by the end of the story, he says exactly what I’ve been feeling. “That’s fucked up, Baker.”

  I get up and start pacing the locker room. “I know it is. You don’t think I know that? But there’s no way she’s going to believe me. She already thought I was a player.”

  “Well….” Mack starts, but I don’t let him finish.

  I stop and stare at him. “Look, I know, but it was different with her. Like, I could actually see myself with her.”

  He jumps up. “Well, then you have to tell her. You have to let her know that nothing happened. Find a way to make her believe it.”

  I just shake my head. “No, there’s no way. She’s not going to believe me.”

  He pats me on the back. “If you like her as much as you say you do, then you don’t have a choice, Baker. You’ll have to figure this out or you’ll go crazy.”

  Heather

  I wake up to knocking on my door. I would ignore it, but I hear Jamie hollering for me. I don’t want to see her right now and I don’t want to hear more about her night, but I know I shouldn’t take it out on her. She didn’t know.

  I unlock the door and open it for her to come in and I walk back to the kitchen to heat up some water. Tea. I need tea. It always calms me.

  Jamie looks like she was up all night and I can’t help but wonder did Baker go back over to her house after I wouldn’t answer my door last night.

  “I’m so sorry, Heather. If I’d known you liked him, I would never have hooked up with him.”

  I cringe when she says ‘hooked up.’ I don’t respond for the longest time until she pleads with me again. “Really. I promise. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”

  I nod my head at her. “Really, it’s no big deal. Let’s not talk about it, okay?”

  I finally get her talking about something else. She talks about going out tonight, but I turn her down.

  “Please, come on, Heather. You haven’t gone out with me for so long and we won’t go to the same bar where I met him last night,” she pleads with me.

  I wonder why she’s not saying his name. Maybe because she’s worried that it will upset me even more. I almost turn her down again, but then I remember that I’m supposed to go out with Baker tonight. I don’t want to spend the night with him knocking on my door if he has the balls to show up. “Sure, let’s do it.”

  Jamie looks taken aback, but jumps up and down, clapping her hands together. “Great, can you be designated driver?”

  I agree. I never drink anyway. I might as well.

  When I finally get her out the door, my thoughts go to Baker. I just don’t understand someone like him. He went to a lot of trouble to try and prove to me he wasn’t looking for just a one-night stand. I try to shake the thoughts out of my head. I don’t want to waste any more time worrying about him. I should be glad I found out now instead of later.

  6

  Heather

  It’s been a week now and Baker hasn’t given up. He’s shown up at the precinct, out on some of my calls, and at my apartment.

  I told myself not to, but every time he comes to the apartment and I don’t answer, I watch to see if he goes over to Jamie’s. He never does.

  He’s even somehow got my partner Luke on his side. “I’m telling you, Heather. You know how Jamie can be, especially when she’s drinking. There’s something not adding up with her story.”

  I just shake my head, pointing at the street where he needs to turn. “There’s the road. Why would she lie about it? She has no reason to lie.”

  We’re pulling into a club downtown, about to go in and serve a warrant. It’s someone we’ve had dealings with before. He’s harmless, but it looks like he has some unpaid parking tickets.

  “Heather, are you listening? Or not wanting to admit I could be right about Jamie?” he asks again.

  I know what he’s saying. Jamie can be pretty out there at times, but I still don’t think she would lie to me like this. She saw how upset I was.

  Instead of answering him, I try to change the subject. “How about Carly? I didn’t know you had it in you – dating a millionaire, huh?”

  He just shakes his head. He’s tried to play it off, but I know he was getting pretty serious with her. He’s upset that she lied to him and I get it, but from what all I’ve heard about her, there’s something not right about it.

  Shaking my head, I can’t help but think we’re a pair for sure. We both have love problems. Love? Where’d that come from? I definitely don’t love Baker.

  Luke grabs the papers out of the back. “Watch the front. I’ll be right back.”

  I stand at the door, talking to the bouncer. We’ve been here a few times, enough for him to know me. We’re talking when we hear guns and people start pouring out of the club. I get on my radio. “Shots fired. Shots fired,” I tell dispatch our location and let them know a police officer is in the building.

  I try to push my way in, but it’s mass hysteria and I’m getting pushed to the side. I only stop when I hear my partner on the radio. “Stand down, Officer Scott. Stand down.”

  I stop pushing when I hear him say my name. The sirens are getting closer when all of a sudden, at least ten cars come flying into the parking lot. I run over to my captain and catch him up on what’s going on.

  Baker

  “Where is she?” I ask Luke when I run into the precinct. I’m supposed to be at the fire hall, but after I heard about the hostage situation and knew Heather and her partner were a part of it, I had to see her.

  Luke holds his hands up. “She’s already left. She’s fine. She’s wasn’t in there.”

  I bend over, my hands on my knees, taking deep ragged breaths. Every image possible had gone through me and even though I feel a little better, I won’t be completely okay until I see her.

  “Is she home?” I ask him.

  He tilts his head to the side as if he’s testing me, wanting to see what I’m all about. He finally nods his head. “She probably is.”

  I turn away and then remember. “Hey, I’m glad you’re okay. I know you mean a lot to her and well, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  He tells me thanks and stops me. He walks up to me until we’re boot to boot. “Can she trust you, Baker?”

  Frustrated, I run my hand through my hair. I’ve done it so much this week, I’ll probably get a bald spot soon. “Yes, she can trust me. I didn’t do anything with that—”

  He holds his hands up. “You don’t have to convince me. I don’t trust that Jamie anyway. I always thought she was jealous of Heather. But you’re still going to have to make her believe it.”

  “I will. I’m not giving up.” I thank him and hold out my hand.

  He shakes it and squeezes it tightly. “If you hurt her, you’ll have me to deal with.”

  Nodding my head, I pull my hand back, shaking it to get the blood circulating again. “Understood.”

  I turn away then, running to my truck. Technically, I don’t get off until midnight, but I need to see her. I’ve tried all week to get her to talk to me, but nothing has worked. I’ve called her, texted her, gone to her house… and I get
nothing.

  I get into my truck and take off down the road, driving straight for Heather. I know she’ll turn me away again, but I don’t care. I have to see her.

  My luck is looking up. When I pull into the parking lot of her apartment building, she’s getting out of her car.

  I barely get my truck into park and I’m jumping out and running over to her. She holds her hands up. “Not tonight, Baker. It’s been a long night.”

  “I know. I heard. I went to see you at the precinct and Luke said you would be here. I’m sorry, I just had to see you, I had to make sure you were okay.” I almost reach for her, but stop myself.

  She sighs loudly. “Baker, I appreciate you being concerned. I do, but I need you to quit showing up here, calling me, texting me. Nothing’s going to come of this.” She points between the two of us.

  Her words hit me right in the gut. If it was anyone else, I would walk away. But with her, I can’t. “I know you don’t want to hear this. Maybe you’re not ready. But nothing happened between your friend and me. She was drunk, trying to drive home and I stopped her. That was it.”

  The way she’s looking at me I know she wants to believe me. There’s so much longing in her eyes, I have no doubt that she’s wondering right now if I’m telling the truth. “Baker…”

  She sighs.

  I take a step toward her and when she doesn’t move backward, I take another. I don’t stop until I’m in front of her and she’s right against me. My arms go around her and she tightens up, but I don’t let go. I can’t. “I was so scared tonight, when I thought something happened to you. Please, even if you push me away after this, please just let me hold you.”

  We stand there, just like that, for so long that she finally starts to soften in my arms. I take advantage of it and hold her closer, hold her tighter.