by Susan Stoker
She was way shorter than he was; the top of her head barely came to his chin. He typically dated taller women, whom he didn’t have to get a crick in his neck to kiss, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Lex would fit perfectly against him. He guesstimated that she was probably around five three or four. She’d once tripped over a curb; luckily he’d been walking next to her and had been able to reach out and catch her before she landed on her hands and knees. He’d hauled her into him, probably with more force than was necessarily. She’d turned in to him—her hands coming to rest on his chest, his crotch nestling against her soft stomach—and she’d looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes. Blake knew it made him a caveman, but it felt good to be so much bigger than her. He could wrap his arms all the way around her, pick her up, surround her with himself. Even the thought of how he might tuck her into his body as they slept, or after they made love, turned him as hard as stone.
And her body—Lord. There was nothing childlike about Alexis Grant. She was slender but had curves. She had a slight belly, with love handles that he could sometimes see when she wore low-cut jeans and tight shirts. Her legs were muscular but full. The thought of those thighs clutching at his hips as he lay over her was something he’d been fantasizing about more and more.
Lex liked to eat—he’d seen that firsthand—and the calories she consumed seemed to go to all the exact right places. Her breasts were full and soft as they’d pressed against him. The thought of her dieting and losing even an inch of her sexy curves made him crazy. The best thing about her body was that she wasn’t so fragile that she wouldn’t be able to take him when he wasn’t in the mood to be gentle.
Blake realized in that short moment of holding her that all his life he’d been dating taller, modern women who were confident in bed and out, when what he really wanted was to find a woman who made him feel as though he could protect her. That he could stand between her and the world. Even if she was perfectly able to take care of herself, the sense of being responsible for someone else had always been missing in his life, probably because of the fucked-up way he’d been raised. And he craved that now. All it had taken was a split second of holding Alexis Grant in his arms to realize it.
The fact that she apparently had a thing for his forearms wasn’t lost on him, and he’d started wearing more short-sleeve T-shirts than long, simply so he could enjoy her eyes glaze over as she looked at him.
Blake turned his attention back to what Lex was saying about the gang.
“. . . sure what plans he was talking about, but Kelly obviously knew. She posted, and I quote, ‘Good you went their’—t-h-e-i-r—‘and saw you’re’—y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e—‘brother. Next time tell him I said hi and I can’t wait to see him.’”
“What did Damian say to that?” Blake asked, bringing himself fully back into their conversation and trying not to think about what Alexis would look like lying naked and waiting for him on his sheets.
“Nothing,” Alexis said shrugging. “They actually don’t do a lot of posting on their Facebook page, which is weirdly smart for them. They seem to use it more as a means of communication with people outside their inner circle, and to brag in code about some of the things they’ve done.”
“Code?” Blake asked.
“Yeah, code,” Alexis confirmed. “I’ve been taking notes on the things they say and that other gangs talk about on their own Facebook pages. They think they’re really smart and will talk about just about anything, but they use alternate words. Like a gun has been called a ‘biscuit’ or ‘clickety,’ bullets are ‘electricity’ or maybe ‘food.’ Money is usually something like ‘bread.’ So, a conversation between two gang members might start with someone saying they need bread for a clickety, and that they need electricity so later they can ‘dump it on.’”
“Dump it on?” Blake questioned.
“Shoot someone,” Alexis told him without missing a beat. “It’s actually fascinating and ridiculous how much they openly chat online about this kind of thing. They really must think people are idiots and can’t figure out what they’re saying.” She shrugged then, stuck a large bite of food in her mouth, and swallowed before telling him, “I’m assuming they delete some posts from people asking about them, and they probably message back and forth privately as well as post on the public page.”
“Do you think Kelly is dating Donovan?” Blake was impressed with Alexis’s efforts.
“It sounds like it, but since they didn’t exactly chat about their personal lives, it’s hard to be sure,” Alexis told him.
“What have you found out about the people who have ‘liked’ the Facebook page?” Blake asked.
“Not much. Most of the names seem to be fake. It’s so easy to make new accounts. The only ones who seem to be real are the people higher up in the gang. Donovan, Damian, maybe two others, and now Kelly.”
“Hmmm.”
“So, anyway, I thought that since I knew Kelly, maybe I would message her and say that I want to reconnect with her. Maybe I can find out more information about the Inca Boyz that way. If she is as close to Donovan as she seems to be by her comment, maybe we can find out more information.”
“No.” Blake’s denial was immediate and firm.
“What? Why?” Alexis demanded, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“I don’t want you anywhere near Donovan,” he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest.
“But I’m not going near him. He’s in jail.”
Blake leaned forward suddenly and reached across the table. He put his palm on her arm and said earnestly, “Lex, if Kelly is Donovan’s girlfriend, then he’ll find out about you suddenly being buddy-buddy with her. You know as well as I do that just because someone is in jail doesn’t mean they don’t have contacts—dangerous contacts—outside of it. Do you think he’s gonna like that his girlfriend is suddenly talking to the sister of the man they were hired to blackmail? No fucking way.”
“But, Blake—”
He cut her off. “Besides that—you said it yourself—you and Kelly weren’t close in high school. It’s going to look really suspicious if you message her out of the blue and want to be buds. And what are you going to say? That you saw her comment on the Inca Boyz page? Yeah, right.”
“I’m not that stupid,” Alexis growled, sitting back in her chair, successfully breaking contact with him, crossing her arms over her chest, mirroring his body language from a moment ago. “I know I can’t say that. I haven’t figured out exactly how I was going to make contact with her, but I was hoping you might help me figure it out. I thought about something along the lines of finding where she lived, watching her, seeing where she shopped, and ‘accidentally’ running into her.” Alexis shook her head and dropped her arms, looking down at her hands in her lap, her brows furrowed. “I know you think I have no idea what I’m doing and that I’m a loser for having so many jobs, but I’m not.”
“I’m sorry,” Blake apologized, willing her to look up at him.
It took a minute, but she finally raised her eyes to his, working her bottom lip with her teeth before telling him. “I thought I’d run it by you. You’re the security expert. But if I act like I did in high school, she’d most likely think I had no idea of her connection to what happened to my brother.”
So many thoughts ran through Blake’s head, but he settled for asking, “How did you act in high school?”
“Oh, well, you know.” Her eyes dropped as she refused to meet his eyes. “Everyone knew my family was rich, so I acted like they thought I should act.” Continuing to avoid eye contact with him, she picked up her fork and put a bite of salad in her mouth as if the conversation was over.
Blake waited until she’d finished chewing before asking patiently, “And how was that?”
Alexis waved a hand in the air, trying to be nonchalant. “Surely you remember high school, Blake. The rich kids act like the only thing they care about is their clothes and themselves, a
nd ignore anything negative that might be happening around them.”
“And you think this Kelly person will buy that?” Blake was skeptical. Now that he’d gotten to know Lex, the real Lex, there was no way he’d ever think she was only concerned about herself. She was one of the least self-absorbed people he knew.
Alexis nodded. “Oh yeah. She’ll buy it.”
She sounded one hundred percent sure of herself. “Why?” Blake asked skeptically.
“Why will she buy it?” Alexis asked, her head tilted in confusion.
Blake nodded.
“Because.”
Blake stared at Alexis hard. “I need more than that if you want me to talk over this plan of yours with my brothers and to agree to it. For the record, I think it could be a good idea, if what you say is true. And that’s a big if, Lex. If Kelly has any inkling that you’re snooping for information, you could be in danger. The last thing I want is the Inca Boyz putting a target on your back. Talk to me.”
Alexis pushed her salad plate to the side and leaned forward on her elbows, mimicking his body language. Blake had no idea if she was purposely doing it or if it was an unconscious thing, her brain trying to connect with him in some way . . . but he liked it.
“Kelly and I were friends in middle school, I told you that. She lived in a bad part of Denver, but we were close anyway. We did everything together. When my parents first got rich, they went a little crazy, buying me and Bradford all sorts of new clothes. Fancy shit. I was twelve. I thought it was awesome. But it wasn’t long before the kids at school started noticing and found out that my parents were loaded. It changed all of my relationships. Girls who hadn’t talked to me before, the ‘popular’ ones, started wanting to hang out with me and be my friend. I ate it up. But I didn’t drop my friends I had before, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Blake shook his head in denial. “I wasn’t thinking that, Lex. I couldn’t see you doing that.”
“Whatever.” Alexis’s eyes roamed around the restaurant, once again not meeting his eyes. “Anyway, Kelly cornered me one day, accusing me of being a stuck-up rich girl now that I had money. She told me she wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I tried to tell her that I didn’t care about the money, but she wouldn’t listen. I tried for the rest of the year to get her friendship back, but it didn’t work.”
Something in Alexis’s voice made Blake pause. “What did she do?”
She looked at him then. “What do you mean?” Alexis tried to sound airy, but Blake heard the pain beneath her words.
“I can tell she did something. What was it? Why’d you try for the rest of the year? If she told you she didn’t want to be your friend, you would’ve dropped it. What happened, Lex?”
She sighed and grimaced. “Why do you have to be so darn observant?”
He chuckled, but the sound wasn’t exactly a humorous one. “It comes in handy in my line of work.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it does.” Alexis took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Fine. We were in eighth grade. Middle school is a weird time for girls. We have all these new hormones coursing through our bodies, and what other people think about us means more than anything else, even our pride or self-preservation.”
“What’d she do?” Blake’s words were harsh, no sign of amusement anywhere on his face now.
“It’s not a big deal,” Alexis said, her tone unknowingly contradicting her words. “She would invite me out with her and her friends . . . bowling, for hamburgers, ice cream, whatever, and somehow I’d end up paying for everyone. At first I wanted to, money didn’t mean anything to me, and I really wanted everyone to keep being my friend. I used it to try to buy my way into friendships. Kelly would tell me stories about how she and her friends were so broke that their parents couldn’t afford food until their food stamps kicked in at the end of the month. Stuff like that. I had no problem paying because I had lots of money and knew what it was like to be poor.”
“What a bitch,” Blake breathed.
Alexis shook her head. “No, it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know how to deal with the change in our status, and I was the one happily going along with it.”
“No, Lex. She knew exactly what she was doing. She was using you. Using the friendship you had to get what she wanted. What happened at the end of the year?”
Alexis wouldn’t meet his eyes again, and Blake knew she was going to downplay whatever it was that happened, as was typical for her. “She told me that when we got to high school the next year that she didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I didn’t understand why. I didn’t understand yet the friends I should have wanted were the ones who wanted to be around me because they liked me, not because I had money. Kelly eventually told me that if I ever talked to her again, she’d make sure I regretted it.”
“Oh, Lex. I’m sorry.” Blake’s heart hurt for the teenager Alexis had been back then. It was obvious she’d lost her way and allowed the wrong kinds of girls to get close to her . . . but all they’d wanted was her money. Not an actual friendship.
“It’s fine, Blake. Whatever. It was a long time ago.” Alexis waved her hand in the air as if she was shooing away a pesky fly.
Blake could tell it wasn’t fine, and that she wasn’t okay with what had happened to her in high school. He was going to drop it but had one more question before he did. “And did you talk to Kelly again?”
“Once.”
Blake was silent, but his raised eyebrows asked the question for him.
“It was around Thanksgiving of ninth grade. I saw her in the hall. I forgot and said hi.”
When Alexis didn’t elaborate, Blake asked, “And?” It was like pulling teeth to get information out of her.
“And the next week I got jumped between classes. Three upperclassmen guys got me into the boys’ dressing room and beat the shit out of me. Not my face, but they shoved me on the ground in the shower and kicked me until I was black-and-blue. I think they cracked a few ribs. I never told anyone about it. But I also never said a word to Kelly again. Not one.”
“Jesus, Lex,” Blake breathed.
“Again, it was a long time ago. I was fine. I learned my lesson. I knew my place.”
“Fuck, I hate teenagers,” Blake said in a flat tone. “Tell me this then. And I’m truly not saying this to be a dick. If Kelly didn’t want to talk to you back then, what makes you think she’ll want to talk to you now? What if she does the same thing? Gets some of her Inca Boyz friends to rough you up for talking to her?”
“Blake. We’re adults now,” Alexis protested.
“And?”
“Look. I know how people like her think. Back then she was all about looking tough. I’ve learned a lot since then. Now she just thinks she’s tough. She’s going to want to manipulate me all over again. She’s gonna get off on it. I just have to play my part. Long-lost friend . . . who has money. I’ll act nervous around her, like I’m still scared of her. I’ll tentatively ask her out for lunch or something, offer to pay. I’ll give her a business card that lists my address. She’ll know it’s in a nice part of town and that I’ve still got money. She’ll take me up on my offer. I’ll pay for lunch, extend another invitation. She won’t be able to resist using me for my money. I’ll talk about how miserable I am without a man, she’ll brag about her man, and eventually she’ll lower her guard because she’ll think she’s so much smarter than I am.”
Blake eyed Alexis closely. On the surface it was a good plan, except for the address part. There was no way he was going to let her hand over her real address to anyone associated with the Inca Boyz. If he was being honest with himself, if it was anyone but Alexis who had the plan, he wouldn’t have had an issue with it. But it was Lex. And when Kelly was fourteen fucking years old, she’d had her friends beat the shit out of Alexis for simply saying hello in the hallway. They could’ve done a lot more.
If Kelly ever found out that Lex was playing her now, he had no doubt the bitch would use her gang connections to kill her f
ormer friend, and that was after the gang members used her body however they wanted. Of that he had no doubt. They wouldn’t stop with only beating on her like the boys back in high school had.
“We’ll need to run it by Logan and Nathan and figure out every single thing that could go wrong and what you should do if any of them do happen. But if we do follow through with this, I want you wired every time you meet with her. That’s not negotiable.” Blake was practically growling, his eyes narrowed and piercing.
“Done,” Alexis agreed immediately, not breaking the eye contact this time.
“And you won’t go anywhere with her that isn’t in public.”
“Agreed.”
“And you’ll tell me when and where you’ll be meeting with her, and I’ll be your backup.”
“Blake, I don’t think—”
“Those are my stipulations, Lex,” Blake interrupted. “Again, I’m not saying yes right now, only that on the surface it looks like it could work, but until we talk it over with my brothers, it’s not going to happen. But I don’t like you being around her by yourself. She’s got deadly friends. If she has any inclination that you’re using her for information, she won’t hesitate to use those connections to hurt you. I can’t in good conscience let you do this without backup.”
They looked at each other for a long moment. Blake would’ve paid anything to know what she was thinking. Finally, she nodded, and he noticed an excited spark in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before.
“Wired, public, and you don’t meet with her unless I’m there watching your back. I’m serious about this. If you screw any of that up, you’re done at Ace Security. Got it?” His voice was hard. Blake knew he should’ve let it go at her nod, but he pushed anyway.
“Got it. Absolutely,” she agreed immediately, her voice just as unemotional and flat as his. “I like working at Ace, Blake. It feels good to be able to help people. I feel like I’m making a difference . . . contributing positively to the world rather than interacting on the shallow level I’ve done for so long. I know I’ve done idiotic things in my past, but I am not an idiot. You done?”
