by Piper Page
I signaled for some bottled water for both of us and tried to relax the tension in my jaw. Aly took my hand in hers. “Thank you for taking me. I’m looking forward to seeing you fight again.”
My fingers squeezed hers with a soft pressure. “I’m glad you accepted. I never did ask you, who you were with the other night at the fight?”
Did I really want to know? I had the feeling that if I did, I would want to break his jaw.
A warm hue filled her face and she lowered her eyes. “No one, I saw a video of you on Youtube a few times while I was with another client. I was infatuated.” She shrugged. “Do you think I’m a stalker now?”
No need for violence this time.
I lifted her chin. “You forget, Aly, I picked you. I guess fate has a weird way sometimes. Some things are just meant to be.” Was I saying that for her sake or for my own?
There was a tap on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Angelo standing behind me. “Can I take you away for some last minute details before we land, sir?”
I didn’t like the tone in his voice. I looked at my watch. “We’re about to land.”
“It can’t wait.” Angelo gave Alyson a polite smile.
“Aly, buckle up. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
I followed Angelo back to the far cabin as he gave me the information Tommy had obtained. By the time the jet touched down, my blood was boiling. I escorted Aly to the waiting limo, climbing in after her, trying to maintain my cool and give her some information to keep her occupied while I attended to some urgent business.
Laying my hands to her knees, I spoke to her in a firm but soft tone. “Listen, Aly, I have to take care of some issues at the event center before this fight. Angelo is going to take you to the New York New York hotel, where you’ll check in under your name; everything has been taken care of. If you need anything, Angelo will be there. Give me your phone.”
She gave me an inquisitive expression and I extended my open palm to her, waiting. She searched around in her bag and handed me her phone, and I programmed in Angelo’s number.
“Call him for anything you need, or if you’re going out, he can take you.” I pulled out my wallet and handed her a black Amex card, one of many. “I want you to enjoy yourself. Take this.”
Her eyes grew wide. “What? No, I can’t use your money. I have my own, Jake.”
“Aly, I expect the women I have around me to hold a certain type of style. They represent who I am.”
I watched as her hackles went up. I had unintentionally offended her.
Damn it, that wasn’t what I meant. I’m bad at this real feelings crap.
My hands went to her cheeks and held her face so that she had no choice but to look at me. “You are gorgeous. I only want the best, and you are the best, Alyson. Let me spoil you. I want you dressed in the best outside…” I licked her mouth and her lips responded as I whispered over them. “And underneath as well.”
Her body shivered and her fingers took the plastic card from my hands.
Good girl.
“Angelo knows where to take you. Think Vegas, think sophistication, think sex.” I kissed her once more as the vehicle slowed down to let me out. “I’ll see you soon.”
7
Alyson
You’re in too deep, Alyson.
I stood in the entrance of the penthouse suite. “Holy hell.” I knew the Von Larsens were well off, each brother in his own right, but I truly did not expect all this. The suite was as big as my bungalow back in Houston, but far more lavish. It was warm yet sterile, lacking the homemaker’s touch a home should have. I wondered if this was where Jake always stayed when he was here, or if this was a show put on for me. If I wasn’t playing the part that I was, Jake would know none of this was necessary. When it came to my true life, I was a minimalist who chose to cook homemade meals and clean my own house, rather than be waited on hand and foot, but for this weekend, I was going to live it up. I twirled the plastic card in my fingertips. But first a shower.
With a fresh coat of lipstick painted on my lips, my hair loose, free, and shining, and a comfortable pair of shoes on my feet, I set out from the hotel. I didn’t bother to call Angelo, although I was happy that I had thought ahead and bought a third phone to use. Jake programmed Angelo into a new burner phone rather than my personal cell phone or the phone the department was tracking me on. Those two remained home on my desk back in Houston.
I felt the need to walk around this city that never slept and hid all its clocks. A simple scripted note was left by the bedside to fill Jake in should he come back and wonder where I was. I walked off the elevator and my senses were immediately assaulted with all the trappings of the hotel casino, shops, and restaurants. You didn’t have to venture out onto the streets at all, if that suited you—everything was already here.
I wondered if all the hotels were like this. Outside was just as intoxicating. The streets were crowded with tourists, performers, promoters, and the less fortunate. I gazed across the street at the mammoth golden lion of the MGM. To my left, I could see the tops of the Paris Hotel and Trump International. That was the direction I needed to go. Thank goodness I chose comfortable flats. Although it was intriguing to see the array of people and all the extravagant hotels, I had misjudged the distance to the shops I was searching for. I settled for the next one I passed that looked like it would carry something that “represented” Jake Von Larsen.
My eyes caught sight of lace, silk, and satin. I might as well start with the “underneath.”
Soft bells jingled when I stepped through the door of the La Perla lingerie shop. “Good afternoon,” sounded the sing song greeting voice of an overzealous clerk zeroing in on her commission. “Is there something I can show you?”
A less jovial sales person.
I plastered a sweet expression on my face. “Hello, yes, I’m looking for something to wear under a form fitting dress, strapless, or off the shoulder, preferably black or red. Oh, and we can put it on this.” I handed her the Amex card with an air of confidence.
Her eyes scanned the plastic and then went large. “Oh yes, of course. Right this way.”
I wondered if it was the card or the name on the card that had her falling all over me for the next thirty minutes as she pulled numerous corsets, bodysuits, garters, and hosiery. With a chilled glass of champagne in my hand, I followed her into the grand dressing room. Its bright lighting only emphasized the luxury of the store with its pristine walls, opulent draperies, ornate mirrors, and lush ottomans.
“Here we are.” She hung up the various items and stood back, as if she were waiting to assist me in taking off my clothing and trying on each item.
“Thank you. I think I can manage from here.”
Weirdo.
“Of course, ma’am. I’ll just go set up your account and I’ll check back with you in a bit, okay?”
I nodded and waited for her to close the door behind her. I slid the lock into place and shuffled through the items she assumed I’d like. Amazingly enough, she knew her job well enough to have all the proper sizes. I had to give her proper credit for that.
My eyes looked about the dressing room. Okay, so I wasn’t in Victoria’s Secret anymore. The angled tri set mirrors surrounded a round, raised pedestal for me to model my reflection on. A velveteen chair sat in the corner with a small glass and chrome table beside it to hold my champagne and my bag. Satin hangers were placed on hooks for me to hang my personal clothing, and a white satin robe embroidered with the La Perla logo was available for me to cover up while in between fittings. I inhaled deep and blew away the nerves.
I can live like this, for the weekend.
No one was watching me this time, no one telling me to suck in or push out. I was the one doing the choosing now, and the only person I needed to consider was Jake.
Okay handsome, what would make you loosen that silver tongue of yours?
My mind flitted between devotion to my job and my newly kindled interest in a
man that took my breath away. I already broke so many rules, using Jake’s Amex card for personal items was the least of my worries. What I should have been concerned about was knowingly putting myself in the thick of it and having no back up. Worst yet, no one knew where I was, not my lieutenant, not my partner, no one—and even if they did, they had no means to get a hold of me. If the Von Larsens found out, or even had a small inkling that I was not who I said I was, I’d, without a doubt, become a missing person, never to be found.
Having eliminated a few options, I now turned from side to side, observing my slim figure in the mirrors. I slid my hand over the flat of my exposed abdomen and up over the delicate, finely designed lace of the balconette bra. I felt sexy, truly sexy for the first time in my life. I turned to observe my backside in the matching Brazilian briefs. The war of regret and shame fought with this new desire to look pleasing and be desirable.
How do you like me now, Jake?
“Ms. Von Larsen?” a disembodied voice called from outside the dressing room. I swiftly covered myself with the robe in fear that she had a skeleton key and could burst in on me at any given moment.
“Just a moment please,” I called back and reached for the brass door knob. I opened the dressing room door, hugging my arm around my middle to keep the robe closed, even though I had cinched it securely with the provided sash. When I looked up, the attendant was standing stock still, like a deer caught in headlights. She looked back and forth between myself and another woman, completely baffled. I stared across the length of the dressing room foyer to observe a beautiful woman, dressed much like myself in a La Perla robe. The clerk was dumbfounded.
“Ms. Von Larsen?”
“Yes?” we responded in unison. “I’m Ms. Von Larsen.”
The other woman’s eyes went wide, and her features flooded with mixed emotions. I thought she might cry, and in the next moment, I was fearful she would throw her glass of champagne across the hallway. I nearly ducked to avoid shattering glass. The clerk excused herself from the situation in a flustered flash of movement.
“Are you… tell me he’s not… .oh my dear God in heaven, this can’t be.” I watched her worry her hands and turn away from me and then back again. “You can’t be.”
I stood there, totally confused. Who was this woman? Was it possible that Jake had stowed two of us away?
“I can’t be what?” I felt my backbone stiffen and the surge of jealousy flow through my veins. I would be damned if I was going to have to compete with another woman who was amazingly beautiful and looked like a fucking summer morning, pushing me away from all I had worked to gain. I dared her with my eyes to say something more about who or what I was. It was as if I was caught in a teenage movie montage, and we were about to throw down to some tragic 1980’s song as we rolled around in a variety of lingerie.
I don’t care how pretty you are. I’ll take you down right here.
Then a real thought hit me. A thought that made me back down as fast as I had risen to aggression. What if she was Jake’s real girlfriend and she knew something? What if she had tabs on him? I mean, what type of girl gets involved with someone as sought after, popular, famous, and perhaps infamous like Jake Von Larsen, and doesn’t check into his whereabouts and dealings? What if she knew who I was and what I was trying to do? What if my slip up on the plane was the reason Jake was out of sight right now? He could be following me. No wonder he wanted Angelo to drive me everywhere.
Okay, take it down, Alyson, keep your cover and your cool.
How could I rescue this moment in time and not reveal who I was or why I was using the Von Larsen name? “I… uh… I…” I didn’t even have my gun with me if I needed it.
So fucking stupid.
“Here we are ladies, no problems. Have another glass of champagne and we will have this all straightened out in quick jiff.” A tall, professionally dressed woman breezed in with two other associates in toe. Her demeanor and dress suggested she was higher up than the two that’d attended to us earlier. “Margo, help Sunny, and I, of course, will continue over here.” She patted my forearm and linked her hand into the crook of my elbow, leading me back into the privacy of my assigned dressing room, closing and securing the door behind us. “I apologize for the confusion, Ms. Von Larsen. It isn’t every day that we are graced by two very important guests here at La Perla at the same time.” Her laughter was forced and it was obvious she was trying to hide their embarrassment at being so unprofessional.
I swallowed and tried to calm my nerves. “What’s going on?” I demanded.
The woman showed me the two nearly identical black Amex cards, one belonging to Jake Von Larsen and the other to a Cole Von Larsen. It began to add up in my head.
“So you see, there is no need to worry, ma’am. My, my, my, by the look on your faces out there, that could have been quite the scuttle butt and scandal for everyone involved. How funny that the two of you were unaware that you’d be shopping in the same store. I guess your respective partners have some very similar tastes. Just like men not to communicate with one another. Now us women, on the other hand, well, sometimes, we just need to inform them,” she babbled.
I nodded, looking over my shoulder as if I could see this “Sunny” woman through the thickness of the door. So she was dating or married to Cole Von Larsen, which meant two of the three brothers were here in Vegas at the same time. My internal detective alarms were blaring. If both Cole and Jake were here, and Jake brought a shit load of a team with him, something was going down. How far behind was the youngest Von Larsen brother, William? Did my team know about this?
Damn it.
Okay, I needed to keep up the ruse. I needed to keep on my toes and I needed to buy this amazing lingerie. I’d deal with work when I got back to Houston, if I had to. Right now, I would keep on the path I was on. Maybe Sunny would be an asset to me. She might be my in. Could it be possible that out of all my rule breaking, I’d managed to stumble upon a gold mine of information? I set my thought process on a new course. Get closer to Jake, and in turn, get close to Sunny. Sunny would expose Cole, and armed with that information, I could work my way into the whole family. It was perfect.
Then why do I still feel like shit?
“Can I box these up for you?”
I nodded and started to get dressed. There was a lot to think about before tonight’s fight.
8
Jake
“You have the New York New York, Sunny and I are at the MGM, and,” Cole looked around the expanse of the event center, “Where the hell is Little Willie? Why can he never be on time?”
I smirked at my older brother. I didn’t have time for Willie’s antics and I knew the Vegas routine too well to be wasting time out here jawing with Cole. I wanted to talk to Aly. I was feeling poorly for leaving her in a hurry earlier and not being able to take her to the hotel or see her expressions as she viewed everything for the first time.
Vegas was old hat for me; I found it dull. It was one of my work places, nothing more. Houston was my home, and the empire that we Von Larsens had built together was the only place I wanted to be, but seeing her reactions brought me a newfound joy in the mundane world around me, and I wanted more of her.
“Jake, are you hearing me?” Cole had his eyebrows raised and his arms crossed.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so there’s no issue with Droppa?”
“What, no, I mean, yeah.”
Cole scowled. ‘Which is it, and where the hell is your head right now? Is it that chick you got stowed in your suite? Not like you, bro, to be off your game. Is tonight going to be a repeat of last week? Maybe I ought to put my money on the other guy.”
I blinked and gave my brother a confused look. “How do you know about her?” It wasn’t unusual for me to have a woman in my suite. It was commonplace for me to register the room under a female’s name, even if I was solo. This was the usual practice with all three of us. Cole solely used Sunny’s name now, and Willie liked to give c
elebrities’ names. We never stayed in the same hotel another brother was in when we were all together in Vegas or any other city. It was a critical safety measure that made it routine for us to do so.
“Sunny said there was some confusion with the credit cards today. Some woman using the Von Larsen name at La Perla when she was there. The clerk explained it was your name on the card.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Now tell me about Donovan Droppa.”
So Aly had gone out. Why didn’t Angelo call me like I had instructed him? I could feel my frustration level rising. I needed to call and see that she was safe.
“Jake?”
Jesus, Cole, I’m not a child.
“Yeah, we lost a player. Tommy went back to Houston to pick up and deliver the return package from there to here later. Droppa will get the message from us later tonight. No problem.”
“Other than we are down one man,” he scowled. “Do we need to worry?”
“No, it was a fresh player.”
“Okay. Where is Willie staying?”
“He’s set up at the Luxor.” I looked at my phone.
“Great, we’ll meet at LAX afterward.”
I nodded and started walking away, my fingers already dialing the New York New York. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, and so far, this whole screwed up trip had been a freaking distraction. First the no show, then the word about Droppa, and now Angelo not doing the fucking job as I asked.
Why can no one listen to directions?
And where the hell was William? My fingers hit the end button. I needed to call Little Willie first. If Cole hadn’t heard from him and he missed the meet up, we could be in serious trouble.
“‘Sup?” answered the sleep filled voice of my little brother.
I felt relief wash over me. “Where the hell are you?”
