Alice: Book Two of The Kelly Hill Series

by Laura Gibson

  “Miss Hill.” Cas approached her, his hand extended.

  “Cas?” Anna went to shake his hand and was surprised when he brought hers to his lips, barely brushing her skin, sending small electric shocks up her arm and into her core. She tried hard not to bite her lip.

  “Call me Casimir, please.” Cas was smiling and Anna felt a hint of blush taint her cheeks. Being a woman could be treacherous at times, especially when she was trying to teach a common criminal his place in the world.

  “You look like a backstreet boy.” Anna tried to compensate for her blush with a snide remark but Cas took it in stride.

  “I’m going take that as a compliment.” Cas’s expression was fully amused now and Anna felt somewhat relieved that he wasn’t offended by her snarky comment.

  “If you want to.” Anna raised an eyebrow, still testing him. It was in her nature to be the bitch of every conversation. It was the role she was best fitted to play. Always had been, always would be.

  “I suppose you want to talk about your brother?” Cas began to lead her towards the elevator, his hand on the small of her back as if he knew her better. As if he already had the right to touch her.

  Anna sidestepped away from him and looked at him, unafraid, “Only the work he’s doing for you, if that’s alright.” Anna was wondering if she should really be alone with this man, wondering if this was the best idea she could have had. Something in the way he looked at her, as if he already knew her, made her feel skittish.

  Cas hit the call button for the elevator and turned to look at Anna, his face thoughtful, “Do you mind if I call you Alice?”

  On the outside her face was a stone, but on the inside she was burning. From embarrassment or something else, she wasn’t sure. Whichever, she didn’t like the feeling. He shouldn’t have known that name. It wasn’t for him to know. It didn’t belong on his lips. It didn’t belong to that voice. So why would he say it like he owned it? Like he owned her.

  “It doesn’t really matter.” Anna forced a tight lipped smile, intent on never letting him win. They were the same. They were equals. She would teach him that.

  They got into the elevator in silence and Anna looked at Cas to pick the floor. Surprised, and not surprised all at the same time, he hit the button for the penthouse and then stepped back, clasping his hands behind him, never looking at her. Never giving her the time of day.

  In the lobby, he was smirks and hand at the small of her back. Now, in the elevator, he was as cool and professional as Connor had been when he introduced Anna to his parents. No emotion. No passion. Just a business transaction.

  The elevator stopped and the doors lurched open.

  “After you.” Cas gestured and Anna obliged, stepping into the short hallway, looking at the only door that could lead anywhere else.

  She wasn’t sure where this was going, but her curiosity won out in the end and she went into the suite with Cas, prepared for whatever was to come next.

  Jefferson

  Something had ticked Kelly off, and not in the sullen sort of way Jefferson had become accustomed to. No, Kelly was rage filled. Every text message Jefferson had received from the high school dropout was littered with the word ‘fuck’.

  Apparently, Anna had found Kelly’s cellphone. Not only that, but she had taken a thirty second phone call from none other than Casimir Volkov, the very man Kelly had been trying to keep away from his sister.

  Jefferson wanted to care, he really did. But Kelly had brought it upon himself when he let Casimir into their lives, and now they all had to pay for this bullshit.

  It wasn’t that Jefferson didn’t like Cas. He did. He respected him more than anything, but it was the way Kelly dealt with him, like he was almost upset to have him here. Like he was ungrateful for everything Casimir had done for him.

  Jefferson thought these things as he drove over to Kelly’s house in silence, his phone lighting up with a text from Ryan. Jefferson chewed the inside of his cheek. The whole gang was going to be there. Great.

  As Jefferson pulled into the driveway, he looked over at Ryan’s car and took an angry drink from his water bottle. He agreed with Kelly in more ways than he wanted to admit. And he knew it was supposed to be up to Kelly. This was supposed to be his side of everything. But, like everyone knew, Casimir was always quick to amend deals, making them more suitable to his own needs.

  Jefferson was only hopeful now that Anna wouldn’t give in to Casimir’s charms, because if she did, that meant too many other things would be off the table. Things Jefferson wasn’t ready to let go of yet.

  Casimir only wanted Anna around because she was pretty and he needed someone of that nature doing all the front business dealings. Pretty sold more than muscle, simple as that. Casimir was a businessman, a smart businessman, and he would do anything within his best interests. That meant hiring Anna. That meant going against his word and betraying his friend.

  Kelly didn’t want Anna around because he knew what Casimir did to people. He had witnessed first hand what happened when someone disappointed Casimir or let him down, or God forbid, became a liability. He knew sooner or later one of them was going to cave but thankfully it had never been Kelly before.

  He got to the front door and ran his hand along the wood, remembering the kiss he shared with Anna. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the thought that other people could be kissing her. Other people who were more able than he. He would never hide the fact he loved her, because it wasn’t worth hiding. It didn’t mean anything in the bigger picture and it wasn’t as if it was hurting anything. He wouldn’t bother lying to himself about it. He loved Anna the same way he loved to breathe. It was a natural feeling, something deep in his inherent being.

  What would happen if Casimir sullied that love? Took it and touched it and made it something he wanted it to be? Would Jefferson be able to look at her the same? Or would it change things? Of course it would. It was only natural. Everything changed when Kelly came back from Russia. Everything.

  With a bitter twist Jefferson turned the knob and let himself into the house. Kelly had been smoking inside again, that was evident from the pungent odor coming from the kitchen and the haze lingering in the air.

  His parents didn’t allow smoking indoors, but when they were out of town, like they usually seemed to be, Kelly threw the rules out the window and did whatever he pleased. Jefferson wondered if they knew, they had to of. It wasn’t like he tried to air the place out when he was done. Was it self imposed ignorance brought on by guilt of neglecting their children? Or did they really just not care?

  Jefferson found Ryan and Kelly in the kitchen. It was a small kitchen with just enough room for all the appliances and a smallish table in the corner. Jefferson could tell that Kelly hadn’t bothered to change out the three bulbs in the ceiling fan that had burned out months ago. Leaving one bulb to do the work of four and casting a dim yellow light on everything.

  Standing directly opposite of Jefferson was Kelly whose back was leaning against the sink, his eyes red ringed from no sleep and too much smoke, a half gone cigarette hanging out of his mouth. His flannel shirt was wrinkled beyond suitable standards and Jefferson was pretty sure his pants were the same pair he had worn for days now.

  Ryan sat across the room at the kitchen table staring at a beer he held with both hands, looking at it like it was going to give him some sort of advice. Looking for some form of absolution. Jefferson knew Ryan would get into moods at times, moods where it settled on him everything he had done since Kaliningrad, and today looked like one of those days. Jefferson made a face and looked away from Ryan, he didn’t want to have to think about his part in everything. Too messy. Too easy to condemn the old friend.

  “Everyone’s doing fine.” Ryan was saying scratching a blond eyebrow, looking frustrated, “That’s just the thing, everything is fine.”

  “Mmm no.” Kelly shook his head and inhaled before pulling the cigarette from his mouth, “Something’s fucked. I know it. Otherwise C
as wouldn’t be pushing so hard to get Anna on board.”

  “You know she’s a better sell than I am.” Jefferson joined the conversation seamlessly, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms over his chest.

  Kelly glared, agitated, and shaking his head back and forth, teeth working on his bottom lip, “I don’t care. We made a deal.”

  “You’ve made lots of deals.” Ryan took a drink from the beer sitting on the kitchen table, his sullen world permeating the air around them, making Jefferson think about a time when it wasn’t like this.

  Jefferson looked at Kelly. Ryan was right. Kelly had made a lot of deals with Casimir and most of them had been broken in the first month, always replaced with a newer and better deal, always reminding Kelly just who called the shots.

  Jefferson could tell that Kelly was reaching his boiling point, the way his hand had curled into a fist and was bouncing up and down on the countertop softly.

  “Why can’t you sell more?” Kelly was staring at Jefferson now, accusation written across his pale face.

  Jefferson snorted, “This isn’t my problem, stop trying to blame me.”

  Kelly shook his head and his teeth chewed on his bottom lip while the rest of his cigarette burned itself into oblivion in his hand.

  “I’m sure she’s fine.” Jefferson tried to console Kelly, but he knew what happened to people who pissed Casimir off. Everyone in that room was fully aware of what happened to Mikhail.

  Kelly closed his eyes and inhaled, seeming to calm down of his own volition. He turned around and dropped the spent butt in the sink. “Yeah.”

  “Lets just call Cas and see what’s up.” Jefferson cleared his throat, trying to be the rational one. Technically, he ranked lower on the totem pole than either Kelly or Ryan in this instance, but he always seemed to be the one to talk either of them down. That’s the way it had always been, ever since they were kids. Ryan or Kelly would pitch a fit about something, and Jefferson had to be the one to make sure they weren’t just being fussy needlessly.

  Jefferson would follow Kelly into the abyss and then it would be Jefferson, not Kelly, who pull them back out because he loved Kelly too. Not in the way he loved Anna, but like a brother, or like a part of himself and watching Kelly spiral out of control was painful but it was something Jefferson had to let Kelly do on his own.

  Kelly nodded and licked his lips, disbelief coloring his face, “Yeah.”

  Anna

  The suite Anna found herself in was not as lavish as she had imagined it would be when they were silently riding the elevator to the eighth floor. Anna found herself thinking that this mysterious man would stay in only the finest of places, surrounding himself with things that she had only ever dreamed of.

  But the moment he slid his key card in the reader and opened the door, Anna was distinctly surprised and let down all at the same time, a rather interesting combination that she didn’t know was possible.

  Anna had never been surprised nor let down, ever. Her expectations were of the lowest bars for her peers and she always suspected what was around the corner before it happened. She could hear the other shoe drop before the person holding it even considered letting it go.

  Casimir walked to the table in the corner and put his hand on the back of a chair, waiting for her.

  The door clicked behind her and Anna felt a chill run the length of her spine. There was something in the way he was looking at her that told her they were very much the same. He wasn’t one to be taken in, nor was he one to expect anything more than what someone else was willing to give.

  With cool eyes, Anna brushed her long hair out of her face and licked her lips, smiling almost, remaining calm in an atmosphere that she wasn’t all too fond of. She walked to the table and took a seat across from him, clearing her throat. She planned on asking him the same question she had before but he spoke first.

  She had already given him permission to call her Alice, the childhood name she had made up for herself after she had read ‘Through The Looking Glass’ and decided that she wouldn’t mind a little bit of wonderment in her life. She assumed that Kelly had mentioned it at some point in time during their business together and didn’t let it bother her. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t work with. He wasn’t anything she couldn’t work with. She might even have just a little bit of fun in the process.

  “I would like to offer you a job, Alice.” Cas looked at her with those eyes that saw too much and Anna felt more unease wash over her as unknown anxiety collected in her ribcage and cooled her lungs.

  “Like Kelly’s?” Anna licked her lips and tried to look more relaxed. She didn’t trust Cas and the more time she spent in this room, the more she felt him poison her. Destroying her from the inside out with its unknown wickedness.

  “No.” Cas’s answer was quick and definite, “Not like Kelly’s.”

  “What does Kelly do?” Anna asked, wanting to find out once and for all what her brother had gotten himself into.

  “Kelly is an essential part of my company. His official title is Head of Customer Relations.” Cas smoothed his tie as Anna thought that over.

  Customer Relations? Had Cas met Kelly? Did he know what sort of ass Kelly could be? Maybe that was it. Maybe Cas wanted Kelly to act like a dick.

  Anna narrowed her eyes as she examined the man sitting across from her, his outward appearance was a careful crafting of different pieces of things that most people found suitable, but Anna was used to these sorts of things from people. She knew what to look for beyond the silk and the beauty. She had been taken in briefly in the lobby, but it wouldn’t happen again.

  He was young, late twenties, maybe early thirties. Too young to have really learned a lot about business. He probably lived in the practice of kill or be killed still. A young man’s game that Anna didn’t have patience for. Not everything could be settled with brutish force and bullying.

  He sat with the posture of confidence, but he was overcompensating for something. He needed her to think he was confident. Which meant he was bluffing about something.

  “Do you have an vices, Miss Hill?” Cas asked, not waiting for her to conclude her assessment.

  “Vices?” Anna frowned.

  “Drugs, alcohol, gambling. Those sorts of things.” Cas clarified. He must have already known the answer, which meant he was testing her honesty. Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer too. Decent tactic.

  “I don’t do drugs, Mister Volkov,” Anna was almost offended, and then she smiled, “But I do play card games.”

  “What kind?” Cas leaned forward and Anna knew she had him on the hook.

  He may have had his intimidation tactics and his charm to get him through the door with other people, but Anna had her cards and those were just as good.

  Anna smiled devilishly and pulled her cards out of her pocket, “It's like a fortune telling game.”

  “Are you a witch, Alice?” Cas joked playfully, his smirk making his blue eyes sparkle.

  “I’m whatever you need me to be.” Anna responded, winking at him, feeling herself beginning to relax. He was just a man after all. It was as simple as that.

  They played a friendly game of cards. Anna was sly, Cas was charming. It made sense and it fit. Anna discovered she enjoyed Cas’s company more than she had anticipated and it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He might be a small time drug dealer, but so was she, there was no reason they couldn’t get along.

  Finally, the conversation made its way back to Kelly and Anna felt like she could really ask this time without Cas giving her a bullshit answer.

  “What does Kelly do for you?” Anna shuffled her deck of cards and started to deal again, not bothering to wait to see if he wanted to play another hand.

  “He’s in customer relations, remember?” Cas was giving her a sly smile and Anna returned it just the same. Tit for tat.

  “But really. You sell drugs, Mister Volkov. Why is my brother interesting to you in that regard?” She set h
er jaw and dared him to defy her. She was Anna Hill and she had never lost a war before.

  “Alright.” Cas seemed to like this side of Anna as he ran his tongue over his teeth, grabbing his hand of cards. “Your brother is smart. He keeps everything running.”

  “My brother doesn’t know anything about business.” Anna lifted an eyebrow.

  “No, but he knows a lot about people, Alice.” Cas held her gaze, “Just like you.”

  “Kelly can be… temperamental.” Anna shrugged, “Are you sure that’s going to work out for you?”

  “He hasn’t let me down yet.” Cas switched around some cards in his hand and he cracked his neck, “He’s very dependable.”

  “Until you piss him off.” Anna pointed out, knowing all too well how vengeful a wronged Kelly could be.

  “I have ways of dealing with that.” Cas didn’t look at her this time and she knew what he meant. She swallowed, Cas was a drug dealer. Small time? Maybe not.

  “What do you want with me then?” Anna laid down her cards and faced Casimir head on, refusing to back down. He wasn’t an open or honest person and she didn’t like it. She might have felt more comfortable around him, but she was far from trusting him.

  “I want you to sell for me, Alice.” Cas also laid his cards down.

  “I already have my own customers, I don’t need new ones.” Anna shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back.

  “Please, don’t be ridiculous. We both know you would jump at more money. You always have before.” Cas rolled his eyes, his arrogance was off putting and Anna felt her pride getting in the way of her better judgement.

  “I’m happy where I’m at.” She jutted out her chin.