by Brandy Ayers
Harper just stood and watched her friend for a moment, not understanding any of what was going on. Kandy picked up the receiver on the phone sitting on George’s desk, pressed a few buttons, then looked more frustrated when she didn’t find the answers to whatever her questions were. She paused to look around the office while idly smacking the phone against her palm. It rattled with every strike, the inner mechanisms shifting against each other.
Kandy stopped abruptly and looked down at the old beige relic in her hand. Carefully, she unscrewed the mouthpiece on the receiver and looked at the wires contained within. “Fuck! The idiot couldn’t have a fucking smartphone like everyone else on the fucking planet.”
The phone clattered as Kandy slammed the offending object down on the desk.
“Kandy, what the fuck is going on?”
Just as the words left her mouth, a shrill scream echoed through the club. Murmuring voices picked up volume, drowning out the pumping beats of “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
“What the hell?” Kandy stomped around the desk to open the door and peek her head out.
A voice Harper recognized as Sasha screamed “Fire,” and sounds of panic followed. Jax’s voice rose above the racket, telling them to all get out. Harper made to run out the door, but Kandy held her back.
“Of course. How did I miss it? Fuck!” Kandy slammed the door closed again, grabbing Harper by the arm. “I should’ve fucking known.”
Harper’s heart pounded against her ribs, and she had trouble sucking in a breath through her building panic. “What are you talking about, Candace? We need to get out. There’s a fire.”
“What am I talking about, Harper? I’m talking about your man. Jax. This is all his fucking fault.” Anger like Harper had never seen before flared in Kandy’s eyes.
A cold shiver ran down Harper’s spine, and she had the unsettling feeling that she may not know her friend as well as she thought she did. “What is Jax’s fault?”
“He’s a fucking narc, or fed, or something that is going to fuck everything up. Goddamit!” Kandy slapped her hand against the wall before turning around with her hair clenched in her fingers.
The sounds of panic began to die down outside the office, until all that was left were crappy eighties songs echoing through a space devoid of the usual bodies.
Everything Kandy said whirled around in Harper’s head. It couldn’t be true. Jax couldn’t be a cop, could he? And even if he was, why did that piss off Kandy so much?
“Calm down, Kandy. I’m sure you’re wrong. And even if Jax is a cop, maybe that’s a good thing. How long have we been saying the shit that goes on in this place is disgusting? Maybe it is time to put an end to it.” The more Harper thought about it, the more it made sense. She knew from the first minute they met that Jax didn’t belong in The Beanstalk. He held himself in a manner that set him apart from the other men in the club. Even when he tried to mask it, to blend in, he still stood apart as a man rather than a creep. At least, he did to Harper. It would also explain why he never talked about himself, other than the small tidbit of information he gave her that morning.
“You really are clueless, you know that, Harper?” Kandy shook her head, rounding on Harper with fury. “You keep your head down, pretend not to see anything. Good job. You succeeded. Fuck this. He wants to dismantle everything I’ve built, he can take you down with it.”
Faster than Harper had ever seen her move before, Kandy gripped Harper’s hair at the roots in one hand, and with the other she pulled a gun from the back of her jeans, hidden beneath her shirt. With the cold metal of the barrel pressed against Harper’s temple, Kandy dragged her to the door in a way that sent pain shooting through Harper’s body, making her yelp.
“Kandy, stop! What are you doing?” Harper had known a lot of fear in her life. Walking down the street in her neighborhood growing up, watching her sister’s descent into drugs, finding her dead body, and the constant fear of raising a child. But none of those could ever compare to the fear rippling through her body as a trusted friend pressed a deadly weapon against her skin.
“I’m surviving.”
Harper stumbled along beside her friend, shocked at the smaller woman’s strength. They barreled through the center of the empty club, knocking over chairs in their wake, until they stood in front of the storage room to the side of the front door. Harper had always assumed no one ever went into that room. Under normal circumstances it was locked and only George had the key. But at that moment the door stood wide open.
“Jax.” Harper couldn’t help but gasp out his name as soon as she saw the man she’d been wrapped around less than twenty-fours before, standing in the room dressed in black combat gear and a flak jacket with the letters “FBI” emblazoned on the back.
Two men were already disappearing down a hatch in the floor of the room. Jax stood just above it with a gun drawn and now pointing at Kandy.
“A fucking fed.”
“Kandy…” Jax took a step toward them, but as soon as he did, Kandy jerked Harper’s head back, sending searing pain through her scalp.
“Stop there or I’ll put a hole in her head.”
Chapter 13
Jax
Though he’d kept his face carefully passive when he’d seen Kandy holding Harper at gunpoint, shock and anger had overwhelmed his body. He’d had to hold himself back from tackling them both to the ground, because that would only put Harper more in danger.
The confusion and fear in Harper’s eyes nearly crushed him. He’d promised to keep her safe, and yet he’d never seen this coming. Never suspected Kandy.
“You’re the third partner.” It made sense know. A woman would be far more likely to lure young girls away, to make promises she had no intention of keeping.
Kandy scoffed. “You could say that. Now put your gun down, or Harper’s not going to be so pretty anymore.”
The com in his ear crackled to life and Marlene’s haggard voice rang in his head. “Povero, why the fuck aren’t you in the tunnel?”
Jax pushed aside all his emotions at their current situation. The only chance he had of truly protecting Harper now would be to calculate the risks and take action. Lifting his hands from the gun grip, he held it up in a sign of cooperation before setting it down on the floor at his feet. He brought his now free hands up to grip the collar of his vest, hoping she wouldn’t notice that his palm now held down the com trigger, allowing Marlene and the other agents at the operation center to hear everything they said.
“Good boy. Now, how many other G-men are outside?”
Kandy was a complete unknown. There had never been any indication of criminal activity in her background information. The team had dismissed her as a suspect almost as quickly as they had Harper. Whatever happened, he couldn’t let Kandy take Harper out of the building. If they got through the front doors then Harper would be as good as gone. Or dead.
“A dozen agents out front. Double that at the hold house.” In actuality only a handful of agents watched the front doors for trouble, with the majority of the manpower being concentrated on the house. But Kandy wouldn’t know that.
“Fuck!” Kandy bellowed, kicking at a nearby table and jostling Harper in the process.
“Povero, what the hell is going on over there? Who are you talking to?” Marlene’s voice came through loud and clear in his ear, and for a moment he feared Kandy would be able to hear it as well. But he had to try and give the team information about what he was dealing with.
“It’s too late, Kandy. The latest shipment is already pulling up. As soon as it approaches the house, our men will move in and your entire operation will go up in smoke. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let go of Harper, turn yourself in. Turn state’s evidence against George and Royce.” Jax hazarded a glance at Harper; she seemed to be holding up okay. Obviously confused and scared, but not falling to pieces. She wouldn’t though; she was too strong for that.
“Kandy, what is Jax talking about? What shipment? What
does your brother have to do with this?” Harper tried to turn her head to look at her friend, but hissed when the movement made Kandy’s grip on her hair tighten.
“Foster brother. That shithead Royce doesn’t share a drop of my blood. Still, he is useful.” The disdain in her voice for her business partner was obvious. They hadn’t looked back far enough into her history apparently. None of their research had brought up a foster brother. “I knew something was up with those fuckers. They’re trying to go around me. Fuck.”
“Understood, Povero. We’re pulling the file for Kandy back up, see if we can’t find something for you to use. Keep her talking. And don’t do anything stupid.” As much as Marlene was a pain in the ass, at that moment he could kiss her.
“Kandy, I can help you. All you have to do is let go of Harper and agree to testify against them. You’ll serve minimal time, and I’ll make sure it’s in a nice comfy prison with cable. Don’t cooperate and you’ll go down with them, for life, in a place worse than hell.”
“Fucking feds. Think you have everything figured out.” Kandy shook her head in disgust at him. “I tell you what. You help me find a way out of here and I’ll spare perfect little Harper and disappear. You’ll never hear from me again as long as I never see the long arm of the law reaching for me. And remember, I know where sweet little Rose sleeps, goes to school, and plays. I don’t take kindly to double-crossing rats. Just ask Goldie.”
A sob echoed through the club, and Jax tore his eyes away from Kandy to look at a near hysterical Harper.
“Oh, that’s right sweetie, you never knew about Goldie and me and our little side project running a whore house. The guys loved Goldie, loved tearing down the stuck up little bitch. You both thought you were so perfect. With your Mom that gave a shit and your good grades. But I proved to Goldie that she was no better than any of us. She begged for the drugs like everyone else.”
“Why, why would you do all this?” The agonizing sounds coming from Harper nearly tore Jax’s heart out, and he swore that he would find a way to save her and get justice for her family.
“All the streets ever did for us was use us up and spit us out. So I decided to turn the tables. Use the streets to get a leg up. But your sister grew a conscience when that brat popped out of her used up pussy. Wanted out. I couldn’t have that. She knew too much. Getting you a job at The Beanstalk after she died was just a bonus for me; I got to watch both the perfect Ryan girls degrade themselves like the rest of us.”
Shouts and gunfire sounded from the tunnel behind Jax. The commotion seemed to remind Kandy what they were in the middle of.
“Enough with the trip down memory lane. You need to get me out of here. Now.” Kandy drew Harper closer, so that Harper’s body now nearly blocked all of Kandy’s, and the muzzle of the gun made a visible indent into her temple.
Jax nodded, trying to play along while thinking of a way to get the two women separated so he could take Kandy down. “I’ll lead you out. Everyone will just think you’re victims from the house that I’m bringing to safety. But you have to let go of Harper and put the gun away, or it will never work.”
“You must think I’m a real idiot, Jax. You lead us out, but I’m not letting her go and I’m not putting the gun down. Don’t worry, I’ll sell it.”
Before he could respond to Kandy’s demand, the com in his ear crackled to life once again. “Povero, we’ve got the sniper moving locations to get into position at the club. Things at the house are wrapping up, but you have to stall them until he can get into place.”
“Kandy, if they see the gun there’s no way either of you are getting out of this. Please. Let her go and I’ll make sure you get through clear.” He knew the plea would be useless, but he needed to buy time.
“Don’t worry about it, G-man. Harper and I have been selling this act to men for years, haven’t we, sweetie?” Kandy leaned forward, covering Harper’s mouth with her own.
Jax saw the glint of Kandy’s tongue as she pushed it past Harper’s protesting lips. A growl started low in his belly and rumbled up until he teetered on the verge of ripping the woman into pieces for all the things she’d done to hurt his Harper.
Kandy pulled back, winking at Jax before turning back to a now livid Harper. “You stay real hunched down and close to me. You so much as make a peep and I’ll pull this trigger and end your pretty little life, got it?”
Harper nodded, but Jax saw the fury and determination in her eyes. Fuck, she was going to try something. He knew it. Could practically see the ideas forming behind those green eyes he dreamed of day and night. He tried to catch those eyes, give her a small signal not to do anything, somehow get it across that she should do as Kandy said. But there was no way he could do that without tipping off the bitch holding his woman’s life in her hands.
Kandy moved the gun so that it poked into Harper’s belly, then she brought her other arm around into an awkward hug so that it looked like they were just two terrified girls clinging to each other for dear life.
“Now act scared, sweetie.” Kandy hissed in Harper’s ear.
With the two of them hunched together and the gun hidden but still pointing directly into Harper’s gut, they began scurrying out the front doors. Jax followed behind, but dropped back a step or two so he could talk to Marlene.
“On our way out,” he whispered.
“Sniper is almost in position.”
Helplessness like Jax had never known threatened to bring him down as he followed the woman he would sacrifice everything for through the bustling parking lot. He knew at any moment the woman holding her could give one pull of her finger and end them before they could even really begin.
As they passed by most of the activity, Jax looked to the side and saw Marlene standing beside one of the many forensics vans brought in to help with the investigation wrap up. She gave him a slight nod and he knew the sniper would be in place. Glancing back to Harper, he saw that Kandy now said something to her directly in her ear, a nasty smirk stretched on her sharply featured face.
Time seemed to slow to an agonizing pace. Jax predicted Harper’s intentions before she ever made a move, but he could do nothing to stop it in time. He watched in horror as she brought her arms up, knocking away the arm Kandy held her with and throwing the woman off balance.
A loud pop Jax had become all too familiar with during his time in the military and FBI sounded through the parking lot where he had first kissed Harper, quickly followed by an almost silent hiss, and then Kandy’s head snapped back when the sniper’s bullet hit directly between her eyes.
Jax screamed for Harper, sprinting the less than ten feet separating them, but he didn’t reach her in time to catch her body as it slumped to the ground. He fell to his knees, heaving breaths, terror shutting out every other sound and movement from his brain.
Only two things pierced that thick shroud of fear blanketing his mind. First, blood pooled around Harper’s still body, seeping into the gravel. Second, Harper locked eyes with him and said the three words he’d wanted to wait to utter and hear in return until he could be himself with her.
“I love you.”
Chapter 14
Harper
“I think I’ll bring Rose into the family business. Teach her how to sell her body like I taught Goldie and you.”
The words Kandy whispered into Harper’s ear just before everything went black echoed through her pounding head. And each time, Harper’s stomach heaved at the thought of her sweet niece being so disgustingly violated at the hands of a woman Harper had trusted for years.
She needed to stop Kandy. Keep her far away from Rose and everything else she cared for. That was all she could focus on as they walked farther away from the police and FBI activity swirling in the parking lot that night. She needed to stop Kandy.
An anger and protectiveness like Harper had never known before surged through her after hearing the uttered words. She lashed out, feeling satisfaction at the shock on Kandy’s face, as she knocked her
arms away, throwing the two-faced bitch off balance. Then the pop and searing hot pain through her abdomen set in, and everything went dark. The last thing she remembered seeing was Jax’s face hovering over her, yelling her name.
Since then it had only been darkness and those sickening words repeating over and over again.
She needed to wake up. Needed to find Rose and get her as far away as she could. But when she tried, the darkness seemed to only pull her down deeper. Harper fought and scratched against the black shroud keeping her from protecting Rose.
Then a voice broke through the black, bringing with it a little sliver of light.
