Jack - Perfect Burn: Hot Crime Romance

by Alice May Ball

  Then, when that was all over, that could be the perfect time to go to LA. But as I’d thought about it, I had started to wonder if Haley might want to come along. She wouldn’t, of course. As soon as she could get away from my low-life ass, she’d be gone. As fast and as far as she could get.

  Who was I trying to fool? That was how it would be. Maybe she thought of this as a little bit of fun, maybe it was some kind of a distraction or something, but there was nothing serious going on here for her.

  I said, “Anyway, before too long, your Dragon Lady is going to bring all kinds of shit-storm down on us.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Like I said, that clip was from yesterday.”

  “Looked like she was enjoying the limelight, though. Waving her little golden Buddha, making big doe eyes at the camera.” Something was going on in Haley’s eyes. “I think she’ll be milking that story as much as she can.”

  She shook her head again. “She won’t be giving any more interviews.”

  My mouth must have been open.

  “Say it’s not true, Haley. Please.”

  “What?” she said, “I called her.”

  I pressed my lips tight. I didn’t want to hear it. I couldn’t trust myself to say anything.

  She told me, “While you were out, I went a few blocks down the street and called her from a payphone.”

  “No, Haley.”

  “Sure. It was far enough away.” She looked into my eyes, “It must have been.”

  “A few blocks?”

  Cheryl said, “Now, what can I get you folks?” She looked at Tynie, “Are you the one who’s been chained to a radiator? You look hungry enough.”

  Tynie’s neck sank into his shoulders. Cheryl’s eyebrows raised. “Suit yourself.”

  Now I was worried.

  We got to the van and I opened the passenger door first. She was about to climb in when I heard the voice in the darkness behind me. I knew who it was straightaway.

  “Hope the waffles were good.” Gregor stood by a black Hummer. “Ryan, you don’t look happy to see me. Well, if you don’t want to be followed around, you got to stop driving that big black van.”

  He moved towards the SUV and two men got down from the back. “C’mon,” Gregor said, “we’ll take my car.” He gestured to the open door. “This way, kids.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  RYAN SAID, “THIS WASN’T the deal, Gregor.”

  “So there was a deal.” I felt stupid blurting it out like that. Of course there was. I knew that. What was I thinking, anyway, putting my trust in a thief like Ryan? Really, I was astounded that I could have been such an idiot in the first place. Now here was his master. The man who gave Ryan his orders.

  It seemed he had come to claim Ryan, and Tynie. Me too, judging by the look in his eye.

  “Ryan.” Gregor’s grin was wide like a boa’s, like one of those snakes that opens its jaws so wide it can swallow anything. “I’m just looking after my investment. Watching over my precious assets.”

  Three big men climbed down out of the Hummer. Gregor waved his arm in a mocking “your carriage awaits” gesture. “You will all be my guests at the Hotel Gregor. Your every need will be catered to.”

  When Ryan didn’t move, two of the men reached into their jackets.

  “Okay,” he said. Then to me, “I think it may be best if we accept Gregor’s hospitality.”

  “We?” I said. “Do you think that because ‘we’ made a deal with Gregor here?” I couldn’t see that I would have much of a choice. If I tried to run, I wouldn’t get far. But I was sure as hell not going to go with Gregor quietly.

  “Was this the plan all along?” I shouted in his face. “Or did I just turn out to be a handy bargaining chip, Ryan?”

  Ryan’s jaw clenched.

  Gregor sat next to me and a guy with his arm in a sling drove us. We went out to what looked like a disused warehouse in the middle of nowhere. We drove straight inside, across the dark expanse of slick, wet floor, and parked by the heavy metal gates of a freight elevator.

  The clanking elevator took us up, to the top of the building, I guessed. The whole floor was just one room, and about two-thirds of it was taken up by a massive black box with a door in the side. Its sides stretched from the floor to the roof. A small light shone over the single door.

  Gregor took us inside. We walked through a room with a low ceiling, furnished with some wooden packing crates. The walls were all gray. A blue building material logo repeated everywhere, usually upside down. The long, far wall had four more doors.

  Single file, we shuffled along a cramped, narrow corridor with doors along one wall. Two of his goons followed behind us. The whole place had the odors of burnt sawdust, stale beer, and sweat.

  At the end of the passageway was another room, exactly like the first. Gregor followed us in. The other two men came in after him and stood on either side of the door.

  The room was just large enough for half a dozen square packing crates. A few beer cans were strewn around, and on one crate was a pack of cards. Two thin, gray mattresses lay along each of the short walls. Blankets were folded on them.

  There were three doors on the far wall. One was open and it led to a small, dark bathroom.

  “We’ll put you in the guest room.” Gregor reached for Tynie’s arm. Tynie jumped away, fast like a well-practiced reflex. Gregor held up a hand. “Okay, sorry.” And he moved toward me. “Would you be kind enough to take your stateroom, my lady?” And he held his arm out to indicate the second door.

  Ryan stepped in front of him. They were close. Gregor was taller by two inches or more. Bigger all over. The look in Ryan’s eye was hard and sharp, like a glint of steel. Gregor’s jaw tightened. Ryan’s chin tilted up a fraction.

  Gregor stepped back. “Okay, kiddies, I tell you what—you can have the whole presidential suite here and you can do whatever the fuck you like. This will be your palace for the next thirty-six hours. You’ll have everything you could wish for. Beer, soda, and pizza.”

  I said, “That isn’t everything I could wish for.”

  “Forgive me,” he said, and he laughed. “Maybe we can find some chocolate cake.”

  My cheeks stung. My face must have reddened. He held up his hands. “All I meant was, you look like a girl.” And he made what he probably thought was an endearing smile. Or maybe he didn’t care that it was just a sharp-toothed leer. “You look a lot like a girl, in fact. And all the girls I know love chocolate cake.”

  A goon by the door sniggered. His eyes were all over me. “Ratke!” Gregor reprimanded him. Ratke’s eyes rolled and he shuffled his feet. But he looked away and he was quiet.

  Pleased with himself, Gregor nodded to me like he had made some grand gesture. He told all of us, “The day after tomorrow, after the score, we celebrate.” He grinned wider, looking around us. “Then we have burger.”

  ~~~

  As soon as Gregor left with his henchmen, Ryan came close to me. I flinched and I wanted to say, Now look what all of your brilliant schemes have got me into. He held up a finger with a look of urgency in his eyes.

  Furious as I was with Ryan, I was thinking the same thing he was. There could easily be small cameras and microphones in the room.

  With his head near to mine, Ryan looked in my eyes as he spoke. His voice was low and very quiet. “They can probably see us and hear us.”

  I said, “We should assume so.”

  He nodded, almost imperceptibly. “We should be careful what we say, too.”

  Instinctively, I looked at Tynie. Acting was not a natural skill for him. Even he seemed to be adapting to the situation. He looked up from his tablet and across to us. His movements were contained as he came over to Ryan and me. His face was still, although his eyes blazed, like all his anger was routed through them.

  He leaned in so the three of us had our heads together. Very quietly he said, “They’re not our friends, Ryan.”

  Ryan shook his head, just enough so we coul
d see.

  Tynie spoke under his breath, “They will be watching and listening.”

  Ryan and I nodded.

  Tynie said, “I acquired their Hummer on the way here.”

  ~~~~~

  Ryan and I sat on a crate, side by side. The square crates were all the furniture there was to use as seats and as tables. Our legs pressed against one another. We sat with our heads low. We spoke only in low murmurs and whispers.

  We’d already searched the corners of the room, looking for cameras. We went around the walls, checking for wires, for anything that could be a watching or listening device. None of us found anything, but that didn’t give us much reassurance.

  Ryan and I needed to talk about how we were going to work together. How we were going to get through this. What to expect in the next thirty-six hours.

  Not that any of that was what I wanted to talk about. We hardly moved, thinking that we could be observed the whole time. Not knowing made it even more agonizing.

  Instinctively, we both knew not to make any visible signs of affection towards each other. If Gregor thought there was anything between us, it would just give him more leverage, a weapon he could use against us. He must have suspected it, but the less he knew, the safer we thought we would be.

  Even while we were Gregor’s prisoners, locked away and miles from anywhere, still the thoughts in my head were occupied with the memory of the touch of Ryan’s lips, of his hair, and the weight of his head against my thighs, of his tongue and the strength of his hard torso.

  Everything I tried to think about, I saw it and felt it through the filter of his lips on mine, of the taste of his breath, and of how I needed him.

  I said, “What about when it’s darker, maybe? They’re bound to put out the lights sooner or later.”

  His voice rumbled, making a vibration like scratching on velvet, and I felt it in the wood we sat on. I felt it rise up through me.

  “You’re right. Gregor isn’t going to want Tynie to be tired tomorrow. Or me.”

  “So it will be dark later.”

  “Haley, I want the same thing you do.” The side of his finger grazed against mine. My whole body was focused for that instant on the little strip of my flesh that was connected with his.

  The corners of his eyes tensed. “I want it so badly. But I want it when we’re free. When you’re free.” My lip tightened between my teeth and I listened, nodding. Inside, my spirits rose to hear him talk like that. He was serious. Committed. Like it mattered.

  The bravado and swagger, it was thrilling. I could admit that to myself now. I did love the thrill of it, but this was a stronger man. He even looked bigger to me.

  And I gulped. He’d always looked pretty big.

  But at that moment, I wanted him so very much. So much it actually hurt. Inside my panties, I was unbearably hot. My clit ached. My lips were swollen and stung. My whole body wanted to climb him, wrap around him. Fold him up in my arms and press my flesh, all of my flesh, against his until he was inside me.

  His eyes searched mine. From his scarred eyebrow to his trembling lip, my eyes took in each part of his face, as though if I looked hard enough, somehow I could keep him. His lips parted. I wanted so badly to tell him something.

  The door swung open and Gregor strode in.

  “Pizza! Pizza and beer.” Ratke followed, carrying two pizza boxes, and Gregor put a carton of beer onto the crate in the center of the room.

  “The rest of the beer is in the fridge. Just bang on the door whenever you want some.”

  As he put the pizza boxes on the crate next to us, Ratke looked at me. He raked his gaze over me hungrily, like I was a steak. Ryan stood. He moved in front of Ratke.

  “Calm yourselves, children,” Gregor boomed. “Keep the fire, but save your energy. We have serious work to do soon enough.”

  Ryan was a couple of inches taller than Ratke, and heavier. Ratke had an evil sneer that didn’t fade as Ryan pressed his nose against his. The tension was electric and I wanted to move, to get up and get farther away, but I told myself to be still.

  Gregor turned like he was about to move and stand between the two men, but when he caught a look in Ryan’s eye he was still. Ratke gave Gregor a look and jutted his chin.

  He turned and strutted out of the room.

  “Can you control him?” Ryan asked Gregor. “It doesn’t look like it.”

  Gregor was about to answer when Ryan said, quietly, “Was it Ratke who shot the guard, Gregor?”

  Gregor’s face was stone.

  “It was, wasn’t it? You’ve got a problem there, Gregor.”

  The air between Ryan and Gregor could have burst into flame. From the look on Gregor’s face and the way he kept so very still, I had the hunch that was the first time Ryan had ever spoken to him that way. Gregor was restraining himself, holding back his reaction.

  “Enjoy your pizza and your beer,” he said. Then he left.

  ~~

  Later, Gregor came back with more beer. He brought soda and he even had some chocolate cake. There was no sign of Ratke.

  “Probably best you all get a good night’s sleep. Busy day tomorrow.”

  After he left, I said quietly, “He didn’t bring more pizza.”

  Tynie’s eyes caught mine.

  Ryan said, “We hadn’t finished up the one he brought earlier.”

  Tynie whispered, “That’s right, Ryan. But how did he know that?”

  Ryan blinked slowly.

  None of us were interested in chocolate cake.

  Soon, we spread the blankets on the mattresses. Tynie chose a mattress by the door. Ryan and I took the ones along the other wall.

  I whispered, “We could push them together,” but I knew it was a bad idea and I said so straight away. The mattresses were end to end, and I dragged mine around so I could lay with my head next to Ryan’s.

  When he looked in my eyes, I felt like this could all end up all right. That he and I could be good enough together, good enough for each other that we could get through it. The light in his eyes set a warm glow inside me, and I felt comforted.

  Through the thin mattress, I heard the sound of boots on the floor in the room at the far end. The rumble of a voice.

  Tynie called across, “Should I shut off the lights?”

  “Sure,” Ryan told him.

  The darkness was almost complete. All I could make out was the outline of his face, and his eyes. “Last night,” I whispered. “I didn’t want that to end.”

  In the dark, I felt him smile. “Me neither.” Then, “You’re beautiful.”

  Taking a breath to answer him, I caught his scent. And my own.

  He said, “You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know that you’re beautiful. I’m sure you do.”

  “You were beautiful,” I told him, “last night.”

  The sound of his breath was soothing and made me feel I was protected. The backs of his fingers stroked my chin. My cheek. My neck. I grabbed his hand. Whether to stop him or to pull him closer and urge him on, I couldn’t decide.