by Claire Adams
A quarter of a million dollars was a hell of a lot of money and plenty enough for me to start over fresh and get away from Stephano. I wanted to keep negotiating, but I actually liked Ana and wanted to help find her. It made me sick to think that Stephano was going to sell her to some sleazeball.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But I can’t quit my job yet, he will know something is up. And when it’s all done, you have to do everything you can to keep me safe.”
“Jackson is ex-Special Forces. He can keep you safe if you stay with him.”
“I’m going on record as this is a bad idea. No offense, but we don’t even know if this girl really knows Ana at all. She could be playing us,” Jackson said as he stood near the window and watched the driveway.
“Fuck you. I wouldn’t have risked my well being to have you over to my house if I didn’t know her.”
“I’m just saying, this is on you, Chase.”
“I’m going to take Jordan back to Atlanta. I’ll have fifty thousand dollars wired to your checking account today and the rest when Jackson says the job is done. Deal?” Chase said as he reached his hand out to shake mine.
“It’s a deal.”
Chapter Three
JACKSON
“I don’t need the help of some stripper to find Ana,” I told Chase on the drive back to the hotel.
I really couldn’t understand why they had bothered to offer her so much money. I could certainly find out everything she knew on my own with a couple of days of research. And I cost much less than $250,000. It was like a slap in the face to hire someone like her and ask me to work with her.
“I’m right here, I can hear you,” Roxanne said from the back seat.
“Did we really need to bring her with us?”
“Again, I’m right here, you don’t need to talk about me like I’m not here.”
I looked into the rearview mirror and saw Roxanne and Jordan sitting in the backseat with Roxanne’s giant Rottweiler sitting in between them. I wasn’t in the kind of mood to take care of a woman and I certainly didn’t want to take care of her hyped-up mutt. I couldn’t see any good reason that Chase should pay this scam artist a quarter of a million dollars when we really had no idea how she could help.
“Can you just be quiet while Chase and I talk? Is that too much to ask?” I said as I turned around in my seat and looked back at Roxanne.
“Is he always such a giant asshole?” I heard Roxanne ask Jordan.
“I just met him a week ago. He seems nice.”
“If this is him being nice, I’d hate to see him being rude.”
“Where can we drop that mutt of yours off at? You can’t bring him with us to the hotel.”
“Wait. What? I’m not helping if I can’t bring Bull. He’s the only reason I’m still alive.”
I had had enough at that point and pulled the SUV over to the side of the road. This woman thought that she was the best thing to happen since sliced bread and I wasn’t about to let her go around determining how my investigation was going to turn out.
I took a deep breath and then turned around in my seat. I kept my voice steady but stern as I said what I needed to say.
“Your dog is not coming with us. Either tell me where you would like me to drive so we can drop it off or I’ll drive to the Humane Society and we can leave it there.”
I had never raised my voice to a woman my entire life and I wasn’t about to start just because this particular woman was getting under my skin. She obviously didn’t understand the true gravity of her situation or she would have been willing to leave the damn dog and come with us.
I kept my eyes locked on hers and saw the anger and defiance that built up the longer we sat there. I was done, I didn’t need to deal with that kind of attitude for a woman we were going out of our way to help and get away from a dangerous man.
“Fine,” I said as I pulled out my phone. “Siri, directions to the nearest animal shelter.”
As my phone brought up the route to the nearest shelter, I saw Roxanne start to cry in the rearview mirror. I was sorry that giving up her dog was so sad to her, but a human life was just worth much more than the animal. Plus, at a shelter, he could find a new home if someone wanted him.
It only took about fifteen minutes and we were in the parking lot to the Miami Humane Society. I didn’t say a thing and just sat there and waited for her to get the dog and bring it in.
“I can’t do it. He’s the only friend I have,” Roxanne cried as she slumped over the dog.
It was an outright fake cry and I knew it. There was no emotion in it, but her attempt was enough to get Jordan and Chase on her side and that was all that mattered. It was clear to me that Roxanne was an excellent manipulator and I was going to have to keep a close eye on her.
“It’s all right. He’ll find a nice home,” Jordan said as she tried to comfort her.
“He’s a Rottweiler. No one wants big defense dogs. Or if they do take him, they’ll put him into underground fights or something.”
“I’ll go in with you. Will that help?” Jordan asked.
I watched as Jordan got out of the car and held onto the collar of the dog. Roxanne quickly got out as well, and the two women made their way into the building.
“Is your wife always a bleeding heart for people she doesn’t know?” I asked Chase.
“She does have a big heart.”
“Why the fuck do I have to bring this stripper with me? She’s just going to slow me down.”
“Jackson, she knows Stephano. She can get into places that you can’t. You need her.”
“I don’t need anyone. But whatever, I’ll work with her to keep you happy. You better be paying me more than you pay her. That’s fucking ridiculous to give her that kind of money.”
“It’s just money. Not nearly as important as a human life.”
“What the hell?” I said as both women started to walk back to the car with the Rottweiler walking between them. “Why is he still with you?” I said as I rolled down my window.
“They don’t take Rottweilers and said they could only put him down for us. No shelter in the county takes them because they are too dangerous, the guy said.” Jordan looked at me and then at Chase. “Chase, can we just take him back to Atlanta with us? We have a huge yard and he can just stay until Roxanne and Jackson find Ana?”
I looked at Chase as he thought about Jordan’s proposition. I had to laugh at how the whole situation had been turned around onto Chase. The old Chase I knew would never cave in to having a pet around. They were way too much work for him. But sure enough, one smile from his wife and my little brother rolled over and agreed to a dog.
“Sure, we can bring him to Atlanta. But only until Roxanne and Jackson come back.”
“Oh, Jesus, have you all gone mad? It’s a dog.”
“Jackson, just take us to the hotel so we can gather our things and we will head home and leave you and Roxanne to get some work done,” Chase said with a sly smile.
He knew I was beyond annoyed with the women in our vehicle, but I knew enough not to fight a battle I couldn’t win. And once two women had swung a man over to their side, I had no chance of changing anyone’s minds.
As we pulled up to the hotel, everyone got out of the vehicle and left me there with Bull. Neither the dog nor I were happy about the situation. We both sat quietly to ourselves. I looked at him through the rearview mirror and he looked right back at me.
“Why does Roxanne need to come in?” I asked. “She doesn’t have any things in the hotel.”
“I’m getting her a room next to you so you can keep an eye on her until the job is done. Unless you want to share a room?” Chase asked me.
“For fuck’s sake, just get her a room and let’s go.”
I sat and watched as the three of them made their way into the building. It was abundantly clear that I wasn’t going to win any battles that day, so I shouldn’t even try. It was humorous how quickly two women joined sides when they wanted somet
hing.
“Don’t start with me,” I said firmly as I turned around and talked to the dog.
He had started to whine as Roxanne disappeared into the building. I wasn’t about to sit in the car with a whining dog. Luckily, he listened to me and lay down on the seat. His eyes looked up at me and I felt compelled to reach back and pet the poor thing. He was actually a really good dog. Unfortunately, I didn’t like dogs all that much and he wasn’t going to win me over, no matter how nice he was.
***
“Wow, he’s behaving himself for you,” Roxanne said as she helped Jordan carry some bags out of the hotel.
“He’s a smart dog. He knows I’m in charge,” I said as I stared down Roxanne.
I hoped she would understand that the same rules applied to her, as well. Even though Chase was paying her a lot of money to help find Ana, I was the one in charge. There was no question about that.
Roxanne laughed at my remark, and for a brief moment, I thought she had a good sense of humor. At least, that was one positive trait she had. I’m sure she had many other positive traits, but my anger over having to work with her was clouding my ability to see them.
I grabbed Jordan’s bags and was about to bring them around to the back of the SUV when I noticed Roxanne climbing into the vehicle. I stopped dead in my tracks as her skirt flipped up and exposed her pink panties to me. My eyes couldn’t look away as I involuntarily smiled at the view.
“Take a picture, it will last longer,” Roxanne commented as she pulled her legs into the vehicle and closed her door.
“Oh, you’d like that. I bet you have a lot of guys taking your picture.”
“Wow. Yeah, great come back, dude.”
“Can you two, at least, pretend to get along until Chase and I get out of here? I need you to work together to find Ana. She is scared and alone and whether you two get along or not is none of my concern. I just want Ana brought back safe and sound. Can you, at least, try that for me?” Jordan said as tears started to roll down her face.
I instantly felt horrible as I looked at her. I didn’t know why Roxanne got under my skin so much. Usually, my clients and even the people I had to work with didn’t bother me at all. But there was just something about Roxanne that drove me nuts.
Possibly it was because of the first night we met. The way her body had moved against mine… I could still feel her curves, every one of them. It also bothered me that she seemed uninterested in me altogether. It wasn’t like I wanted her or anything like that. But I was used to women wanting me. I was comfortable turning them away. I wasn’t comfortable when they didn’t seem interested at all in me.
“I’m sorry, Jordan, I’ll try harder,” I said as she walked around to the door and got into the backseat.
I watched as Roxanne hugged her and appeared to be apologizing. At least I wasn’t the only one who could actually apologize.
“Ready?” Chase asked as he handed me the last of their luggage.
“I’m ready. I’ll get you all dropped off and then Roxanne and I can make plans for how to go forward with finding Ana,” I said in an effort to appear willing to work with her.
The reality was that I knew Chase wasn’t going to change his mind and I wasn’t going to like working with Roxanne. But I would work with her the best I could to ensure we found Ana because that was what the job was all about.
As I shut the back of the SUV, Chase grabbed my arm and pulled be a step back away from the vehicle.
“Dude, you’re going to nail that, aren’t you?” he said as he motioned to the vehicle.
“If by ‘nail that,’ you mean to avoid her at all costs, then yes, that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Oh, give me a fucking break. She’s a smoking hot redhead, I find it hard to believe you aren’t going to have her naked in your bed by nighttime.”
Chase was hilarious. He thought just because I was single and Roxanne was hot, of course we were going to sleep together. But that wasn’t how I rolled. I liked women for a fun fling, but if I had to work with Roxanne, there would be absolutely no funny business. It made things too difficult and impossible to keep professional.
“I don’t really care if you believe me or not. She’s not my type.”
“Since when are hot redheads not your type?”
“I’m into women with brains, not just a nice pair of tits and ass.”
“Whatever, I saw how you looked at her.”
“Just get into the vehicle, Chase. You have way too much time on your hands now that you’re married. Maybe you should keep your mind off of the hot redheads and on your hot wife.”
“Did you just call my wife hot?”
“Yes, I did. I’d do her over the redhead any day.”
“What the fuck, Jackson? You want to fuck my wife?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up. I was just trying to make a point,” I said as I walked around to the driver’s side door and climbed into the vehicle.
I watched Chase out of the rearview mirror as he swore to himself before he decided to get in the vehicle. There was an obvious high level of agitation between the two of us as I drove away from the hotel and toward the airport.
All of us brothers had the ability to fight pretty down and dirty when we wanted to. Since Chase was the youngest, he often got the worst of the fighting because we all picked on him the most. When the five of us all got together, though, I would say George got picked on more than anyone. George was the oldest and had just turned 40 years old. He had a wife and two teenage kids and lived a boring life. We often teased him about that. Nathan was pretty low key, and he and I had a lot in common. He worked the private security. Jeremiah, or Jere, was by far the least picked on of our group. Jere was a famous actor, and we always wanted to hear what he was up to and all his starlet stories.
I’d be happy to get rid of Chase, Jordan, and the damn dog as soon as possible. But I wasn’t especially happy that I’d still have to work with Roxanne. She already was distracting me, and I could only imagine how bad things were going to get when the situation got dangerous. But at least with Jordan and Chase gone, I could control the investigation a little better. At the moment, there were just too many people involved and trying to give their input. Sometimes, less is more. Having a bunch of people around trying to give input on the case didn’t seem to be helping much.
We dropped everyone off at the airport and said our goodbyes and then we were on our way back to the hotel. Both Roxanne and I chose to stay silent for the ride. There wasn’t much for us to talk about. We were both stuck working together and there wasn’t much we could do about it. Roxanne had a pretty sweet deal – all she had to do was help me find Ana and she’d get $250,000. I was the one who would have to do all the hard work.
Our silence continued as we made our way into the hotel and for the elevator for the ride up. It was awkward, but mostly because I kept looking at her tits. They were so close to popping right out of her shirt. It was like she purposely teased me with them. She leaned back against the wall so her chest pressed out even farther.
I felt my body involuntarily react as I remembered her sitting on top of my lap and the feeling of her tits in my hands. I remembered how hard my cock was as she stroked up against me. For as much of a pain in the ass that she was, my body did love the feeling of hers up against me. In any other situation, I might have considered inviting her into my room, but we had to work together. Plus, she wasn’t the type of girl I wanted to have in my bed, anyways. I liked the smart women, the ones who could hold an equal conversation with me. Being a stripper, I doubted Roxanne and I would have much to talk about.
I held the door and let her go ahead of me as we made our way down the hall. Her room was right next to mine and I waited for her to get the door opened before I went into my room.
“Goodnight,” I said as I walked into my room.
“Night.”
We both went our separate ways, and I was glad to have some alone time in my room. It had been a horribly
long flight into town the day before and a long night out at the club the previous evening. I couldn’t wait to get into the shower and take care of the hard cock I was sporting. A long hard cleaning in the warm shower was just what I needed to get my mind off of Roxanne.
I threw my clothes off and started the shower, but just as I was about to step in, I heard a knock at the door. It wasn’t the main door, though – it was the door that was between my room and Roxanne’s.
With a towel wrapped around me, I tried to hide my erect cock as I opened the middle door.
“Yes,” I said.
Her eyes widened as she looked at my bare chest, and I finally felt vindicated for her not chasing after me. The look she had at that moment said it all – she wanted me. Roxanne wanted me bad.
“I’m starving. Can I order something to eat?”
“You have a quarter of a million dollars and you're asking me?”
“Chase has to set up a new bank account for me to make sure that Stephano doesn’t have my information. He said it would be a few days before he could even deposit the fifty thousand dollars.”
“Sure, go ahead and order some food.”
I started to close the door and she put her hand out to stop me.
“Do you want me to order something for you, as well?”
It actually seemed like a pretty nice thing for her to offer. As much as I didn’t like her, I was starving and I certainly could use some food.
“Sure, a burger and fries would be great. I’m going to hop in the shower, and then I’ll come over.”
I closed the door behind me and made my way into the shower. I had some business I wanted to take care of and it required some alone time.
My shower lasted a little longer than normal, but it felt great to get some relief from the sexual tension that had built up inside of me since the night before. I could still feel Roxanne’s ass as it rubbed up against me and I wanted to get that feeling out of my memory. Or at least, get my mind to think about something different for a little bit.
I dried off from the shower and then made my way to my bed to grab the clothes I had set out.
