Alpha Ascending

by Alicia Montgomery

  “She did?” That she didn’t know.

  “Yeah, she was so happy.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I didn’t know. Thank you.”

  “She’s a great detective,” Lucas answered. “And devoted to her job.” He winked at her, then raised his glass. “To your mom.”

  “To mom.” She clinked her mug against him then took a sip, allowing the cold liquid to wash away the emotion building in her throat.

  Lucas flashed her a sympathetic smile, then turned to Mac. “Say, Mac, I bet you have some great stories about when you were a rookie.”

  “Do I?” Mac wiped his hands on the towel wrapped around his waist. “There was this one time …”

  Sofia sighed inwardly with relief, glad to have the attention off her. She loved talking about her mom, but it was these moments that she wished Nadia was still alive. She never had a lot of girlfriends; she didn’t have any friends, period, but it would be nice to talk to a female about certain things. Like how she was feeling about Lucas and the fact that she was nervous about what she knew was inevitable. Because she knew if she had sex with Lucas tonight, well, it wouldn’t just be about sex. There was a dam inside her, waiting to burst. With passion. With emotion. And possibly something deeper.

  Plus, there was the fact that her last sexual encounter wasn’t exactly ideal. Sure, Derek was good in bed, but then all the mess that came after … It was silly because he and Lucas were nothing alike, but still, there was a part of her that was afraid of what would happen after.

  As Mac continued to regale them with tales of his youth, Sofia felt her cellphone buzz in her purse. It was a message from an informant on another case. Though she hated to be rude, this was important and she excused herself so she could call the number back, crossing the main bar room to make her way outside. Stepping a few feet away from the front door, she dialed the number back and spoke to the person who picked up the phone, and scheduling another time they could speak longer.

  Being a weekday, the bar wasn’t full, and there were only two tables occupied in the entire place. However, when she finished her call and walked in, she noticed a big group that must have just arrived. They were all dressed in street clothes, but her instinct told her they were all cops. It looked like they had been celebrating, as they were all loud and raucous. Ignoring them, she focused her sights back on the bar where Lucas and Mac were waiting.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged out.”

  She froze at the familiar voice. Fuck me.

  “Yeah, didn’t think she’d show her face at a place like this.”

  Fleetwood and Benito. What the hell were they doing here? She specifically chose this place because it was far from her precinct.

  Sofia knew she had two choices. Ignore them as she had always done or … not. She chose the latter. “Detective,” she nodded at Fleetwood, then turned to Benito. “Sergeant.”

  “When we chose this place for Barret’s retirement party, I was told this was a cop bar,” Fleetwood sneered.

  “Yeah, seems like they just let anyone in here,” Benito spat. Behind the two, the rest of their party had gone quiet.

  She felt her temper rise. “Why not say what you really mean to my face instead of doing this pathetic mean-girls act.” Her words stunned them and both men went quiet. “What? Don’t have the balls, cowards?”

  Fleetwood went red. “You’re a rat, Selinofoto, is that what you wanted to hear? That you sold out one of our own—”

  “Who was dirty! Derek was doing Bianchi’s bidding and you all know it.” She didn’t even realize she was shaking with anger. This was it. After months of keeping quiet, it was all going to come back now. “You don’t even know half of what he did. What Bianchi told him to do and how he enjoyed doing it. That—”

  “What’s going on here? Sofia?”

  The voice was soft, but she could hear the deadliness just underneath the surface. Turning her head, she saw Lucas standing behind her, his blue-green mismatched eyes looking straight at Fleetwood. The cold, hard expression in them made her shiver.

  “What’s the matter?” Mac said, his voice booming as he approached them. “Are you guys making trouble?” He folded his arms over his wide chest.

  “Not at all,” Benito swallowed. “Just … saying hi to a friend.” He pulled on Fleetwood’s arm. “C’mon, let’s go back to our table.”

  Fleetwood huffed. “Fine. Let’s finish our drinks and go.” His eyes flickered at Sofia, before allowing Benito to drag him back.

  Sofia counted to ten, then turned on her heel. She thought she heard Lucas and Mac call after her, but she didn’t want to stop. She would not cry in there, not show them how affected she was by their words. Pushing the door open, she stepped out into the cold night.

  I wanted to do the right thing, Mom. Her throat burned as she choked on the tears she refused to spill. I did it for you. But what was the right thing? Was handing over a dirty cop the right thing? Or keeping with the blue wall of silence? Frankly, she didn’t know anymore.

  “Sofia!”

  Lucas.

  “What’s going on, Sofia?” He stepped in front of her and placed his hands on her upper arms. “Please. Look at me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Nothing,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “That’s not nothing.” His hands gripped her tighter. “Tell me.”

  “I … I …” She looked up into his eyes, wanting to get lost. To forget. “I want to go, Lucas.”

  He let out a sigh. “All right. I’ll take you back to your apartment.”

  “No.” She took a step forward and placed her hands on his chest. His muscles jumped under her touch, and she moved her hands up to his shoulders. “I don’t want to go home. Take me back to your place.” His eyes darkened and he nodded, then took his phone out from his pocket to call, she assumed, Reyes. She gripped the soft wool of his jacket, flexing her fingers. She just wanted to forget about what happened. Forget about Derek. Forget about Bianchi. Just for one night.

  She wasn’t sure what to expect when they arrived at his place. The ride uptown was silent, the tension growing between them. She hoped it was just the sexual tension and not anything else. Lucas never said a word the entire time, and he sat away from her, his face turned to the window. What was he thinking right now? She was desperate to know because she knew there was something going on. Isn’t this what he wanted?

  The car slowed to a stop, and her heart began to pound in her chest. He slipped out of the vehicle and held the door open for her. This was it. When she stepped out and followed him inside, there was no going back. She slid across the luxurious leather seat, then stepped out of the car. Lucas placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding her up the steps. When he opened the door, she stepped inside, holding her breath as she heard the door lock behind them.

  “Lucas.” She spun around, then pressed herself up to him. Getting on her tiptoes, she pressed her mouth to his. His lips were warm and she let out a soft sigh when his hands encircled her waist. “Lucas, please.”

  He moved his lips lower, down her neck, tickling her with his lips. “Sofia.”

  “Take me to bed.” Or the couch. Or the floor. Or against the wall. She didn’t care. She just wanted to lose herself in him.

  “I will.” He lifted her up into his arms and carried her away. To her surprise, they went past the stairs and into another room down the hallway.

  It was dark inside, but when her vision adjusted, she could tell it was some kind of office. Leather-bound books lined one wall and there was a fireplace on the opposite side. Lucas sat her down on a comfortable settee, then promptly stood up.

  As she took off her coat, she watched him walk away from her, toward the fireplace. He flicked a switch, and it turned on, the flames leapt up, bathing the room in a soft light. Unbuttoning his coat, he folded it neatly and placed it to the side, then loosened and removed his tie. She waited for him to come back, but he remained in the same spot, his back
to her. “Lucas? Why are you all the way over there?”

  He turned, slowly. “Because I can’t keep my hands away from you.”

  “All the more reason to come back here.” She tried to sound light-hearted, but the expression on his face remained stony. “Lucas?”

  “Who’s Bianchi?” he asked, his voice flat. “And who’s Derek?”

  The last name he said made her stomach twist into knots, and she shot up like a rocket. “It’s getting late, I should get going.”

  Before she could even take a step toward the door, he was right in front of her. How did he move so fast? Maybe it was the wine and beer making her see things. “Get out of my way, Lucas.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrists. “Let go.”

  “No, not until you tell me who they are. I’ve seen their names before. In your notes.”

  “That was confidential!” Anger bubbled inside her. “You want to know? You want to know how I ruined my career? How I slept with a man who broke my trust and turned out to be a monster? And when I tried to do the right thing, everyone hated me for it?”

  She gritted her teeth and tried to turn away, but he tipped her chin up. She expected disdain or even disgust from him. Not the quiet and gentle look of understanding.

  “I’m sorry for bringing this up.” His voice was steady, but strong. “But we’re not going to jump into bed so you can forget your problems.”

  That cut into her deep, because it was the truth. She would have used him tonight, because she just wanted to feel something else aside from the hurt gutting her deep. It wasn’t fair, and he didn’t deserve that. “I’m sorry.” God, she was a terrible person.

  “Tell me.” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them.

  She took a deep breath and looked up to him. The light from the fireplace turned his eyes all molten. There was something in them she couldn’t quite name. Or didn’t want to. So she turned away and sank back into the settee. He joined her, never letting go of her hands. “Derek Hastings was my partner. We’d been paired up for a couple of months after my old partner retired. This job, it can get lonely you know, and we just … turned to each other.”

  She felt him tense, but continued. “It was just scratching an itch, trying to feel something after you’ve numbed yourself because all you can see is the worst in the world. But it turns out …” She took a deep breath. “I heard him talking on the phone one night. He thought I was in the bathroom. He was talking in a low voice, but I heard some words that sounded familiar. From a case we were working on. I followed my instincts and dug deeper. Followed him one night.” Her throat went dry, thinking about what she had discovered.

  He squeezed her hand. “What did you find out?”

  “He was meeting with the head of an organized crime family. Anthony Bianchi. Derek wasn’t just dirty, but he was involved in a lot of illegal activities. He not only passed information along to Bianchi but would sometimes do jobs for him. His favorite ones involved Bianchi’s human trafficking ring because he could sample the goods.” Bile rose in her throat. Those poor women.

  “Take deep breaths.” A hand soothed her back, rubbing slow circles. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me more.”

  But she had to. So he could understand. “I reported him, of course. And IAB was all over me to bring him in and testify. So, I collected all the evidence and made the arrest myself at a warehouse where they kept the new girls. It was a big bust because we got Bianchi too.” It had been the greatest moment of her career. At least, it should have been. “My testimony in a few weeks will put him away for good.”

  “You did the right thing,” he said.

  The irony of his words weren’t lost on her. “I thought so too. But the other cops and detectives didn’t see it that way.” She pulled her hands away from him and wrapped them around herself, feeling a sudden chill. “I’ve been ostracized ever since then. I can hear them whispering behind my back. Been called all kinds of names. No one wants to work with a rat. Because that’s what I am.”

  “No.” He moved closer to her, so close that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. “Sofia, you did the right thing. Derek was hurting people, and he deserved to be put away.”

  “You know what they do to cops in prison?” she asked. “The first day he was there, he was beaten up so bad, he had to be fed through a tube for weeks.”

  “That’s the prison warden’s fault, not yours. Sofia, look at me.” He slid his palm up to her jaw in a soft caress.

  “It doesn’t change the fact that I turned on my own. My mother would—”

  “Your mother would have been proud,” he insisted. “You upheld the law. Made sure justice was served.”

  “You don’t understand, you’re not a cop.” The brief flash of hurt in his eyes made her chest ache. “No! Lucas, I didn’t mean—”

  “I know.” He cupped her jaw so she couldn’t turn away. “You put away some very bad people and you should be proud of that. You saved a lot of people and probably stopped more from getting hurt.”

  It was the one comfort she took in, knowing those girls with the haunted looks on their faces were all free now. “Thank you for saying that.”

  His arms wound around her, and he drew her close. She lay her head on his chest, listening to the soothing beats of his heart. A hand came up to stroke her hair.

  “I’m sorry for what you went through and what I said about you wanting to forget your problems.”

  “No, don’t be sorry.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest, breathing in that ocean-breeze scent. “You were right about one thing. I was trying to use you, and you deserved better than that.” Better than me.

  “Sofia, you have no idea how much I want you. You’re so beautiful, but also so fierce. You’re passionate about your job, and I admire that.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “I didn’t want to sleep with you if you weren’t doing it for the right reasons, because you have to know, this won’t just be about scratching an itch for me.”

  She shut her eyes, wondering if she heard him correctly. What he said shook her to the very core because if she were honest with herself, it was the same for her. Pulling away from him, she slid her hands up his lapel and pulled him down to touch her lips to his. Pouring every ounce of desire and passion in the kiss, she hoped he could feel how much she wanted him. Him, not just because he could make her forget.

  His mouth moved against hers, slowly, almost reverently. His hands went to the back of her dress, and his nimble fingers eased the zipper down, exposing her back. He pushed her on her back, sliding the front of her dress down to her waist.

  “Beautiful,” he murmured as his warm palms cupped her breasts through her black lace bra.

  She moaned when he pulled down the cups, her nipples instantly pebbling under his gaze. He brushed the hardened tips with his thumb and forefinger. It sent zings of pleasures straight down to her pussy, making her wet.

  His nostrils flared and his eyes blazed. Leaning down, he drew a nipple into his mouth, sucking back hard. His tongue was wet and warm, licking and torturing her until she was squirming under him.

  He shifted his weight, sliding her across the settee until she was sitting on the edge and her legs spread. He was kneeling in front of her, his gaze never leaving hers even as he pulled the rest of her dress off.

  “I need to taste you,” he growled. Fingers skimmed over her stomach, moving lower to hook into her panties and peel them off. Lowering his head, he pressed his tongue to her.

  “Nnggghhh!” The sensation of his mouth on her was too much and she began thrashing her hands. His hands caught hers and pinned them down. He was looking at her even as he licked and sucked at her, as if daring her not to look away. God, it was so hot watching him like that, enjoying himself as he gave her pleasure.

  When his mouth encircled her clit, he let go of her. Her fingers dug through his thick hair, raking her fingers down his scalp. He ate at her enthusiastically, licking and sucking at her until she
felt the pleasure building in her. One, then two, and finally three fingers thrust into her, and she felt her entire body explode with pleasure.

  As she was coming down, she felt herself lifted up. She thought they would be making their way to the bedroom, but he only took a few steps, laying her down on the soft, plush rug in front of the fireplace. He pushed her thighs apart and crawled between them and began to unbutton his shirt.

  Good God, he was magnificent. That brief glance she saw that first time in the darkened club didn’t do him justice. His tanned, muscled skin slowly exposed to her as the shirt parted. A soft mat of dark hair covered his broad chest, trickling down to a line over his perfectly-formed six-pack abs. After he tossed the shirt aside, he began to unbuckle his belt.

  She wanted him so bad, but at the same time, she couldn’t be irresponsible. Which was why she sat up and placed her hand on his to stop him. “Lucas … my purse.” She nodded her head to her bag, which was on the couch.

  It took him a second before he understood, then shot to his feet. He was back in no time, foil packet in hand. Thank God she was prepared and it didn’t ruin the moment. She took it from him and he removed the rest of his clothing.

  She couldn’t help but gasp when his cock was free of his underwear. He was already hard and so thick and long that her pussy clenched at the sight. Unwrapping the packet, she unrolled the condom over him.

  He pushed her down. “I need you so bad, Sofia.”

  “Then take me,” she urged, spreading her legs.

  He didn’t need any further invitation as he covered her with his body. She bit her lip as she felt the blunt tip of his cock at her entrance, pushing slowly. Her hands went to his shoulders and she could feel how tense he was and how much he was holding back as he waited for her to accommodate him. She wanted him bad too, the sensation of being stretched was thrilling, and soon he was all the way in her.

  He paused, as if waiting for her. She lifted her hips up, pushing against him to let him know she was ready. She braced herself, waiting for him to start moving and thrusting. But instead, he slid his hands under her, cradling her body to his as he captured her mouth in a slow, sensuous kiss.