PAYBACK (A Bad Boy Romance)

by Alexx Andria

  “I’m sure it is, honey, but the answer is still no.”

  I couldn’t stop watching her from behind the thick glass. Her hair drifted across her cheek and she pushed it away, frustration and panic in her expression.

  “Please?”

  “You can beg as pretty as you like but the answer won’t change.”

  Reggie, the sour old battleax wasn’t going to budge. It took a special kind of person to deal with the people who came to the front desk and Reggie didn’t mess around.

  She was the gatekeeper and we were all thankful as fuck that she was as immovable as a brick wall.

  But what could I say? I was intrigued. What was so urgent that she needed to see bad boy Frankie? Was she involved with the Riverside gang? Following in her brother’s footsteps?

  Yeah, I didn’t see that happening.

  The kid had “good girl” practically stamped on her forehead.

  So what gives?

  Only one way to find out.

  Sue me, I was curious — and teetering on the edge of exhaustion after a four-day bender in an attempt to get viable information on the gang’s distribution channels.

  Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight.

  Or maybe my dick was the one doing all the thinking because soon enough I was telling Reggie to buzz her through.

  Reggie cut me a short look and then shrugged as if she didn’t care one way or another as long as the woman stopped bugging her and stabbed the buzzer to open the security door.

  “Thank you,” the woman said, her blue-eyed gaze skittering as if unable to meet mine for too long.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” I warned, my fingers itching to touch all that golden hair. “So why do you want to see Frankie Callen?"

  “Why do you want to know?"

  “Because I arrested the scumbag,” I replied, pulling no punches, my gaze fastening on her, her reaction pricking all my bad intentions. “What’s your name?”

  “I-Ivy,” she answered as if against her better judgment. “And you are?”

  “Detective Jameson Reed,” I answered with a slow burn of a smile that immediately caused her tongue to dart along her bottom lip nervously.

  Was I the devil for pushing her? Yes. But I didn’t care. No sleep=instant prick.

  “Your brother's in a heap of shit but something tells me you're used to that. Frankie's not exactly a good guy.”

  “You don't know him.” Her small chin lifted, defying me. What would that hot piece of sass look like on her knees, looking up at me, eyes wide, mouth parted, eager to suck my cock?

  Ahhh, shit. That wasn’t smart. My cock was too eager to put that scenario into play.

  “I know his type.”

  “Yeah, well he’s my brother,” she answered, as if that should be the end of any argument.

  “Yeah? And a dirt-bag drug dealer. He’s not the kind of guy who’d end up on my Christmas list, brother or not.”

  “Well, I’m not you.”

  Feisty. I liked that. “Fair enough.” I openly assessed her, enjoying the way her cheeks flared with heat. “What’s your story then? Are you a drug addict or a dealer?”

  “I didn’t know being interrogated was part of the deal to let me see Frankie.”

  I shrugged. “You should read the fine print.”

  She didn’t have a response but the look she sent my way could’ve singed my hair. For a little thing she was filled with fire. I wasn’t used to people surprising me. But she did.

  She was a walking contradiction — oozing innocence, yet her eyes flashed with the ferocity of a badger.

  Probably a hellcat in bed.

  “It's a lost cause you know,” I said as we walked to the jail section of the building. “Your brother is going to go down permanently one of these days. All it takes is one more strike and big brother is going to end up as someone’s bitch on the inside.”

  “Mind your own business,” she said under her breath.

  I chuckled. “You can't save a man determined to go down in flames.”

  “Speaking from experience?” she quipped, allowing me to infer any implication I chose.

  I smiled. “I see Frankie's smart mouth runs in the family.”

  “Look, I appreciate you letting me past the dragon lady but I really don’t feel my personal business is any of yours. I just want to see my brother.”

  I should’ve just shut up but I couldn’t.

  Or maybe, I wouldn’t.

  I liked seeing her flustered.

  Fuck, okay, I’ll admit it, I liked messing with her.

  “You should be nicer to someone doing you a solid,” I told her. “I don’t have to let you see your shitbag brother so maybe put your fucking claws away and curb that sharp tongue.”

  She shot me a look but remained silent. Smart girl.

  Because honestly, I wanted her to push me and that was all sorts of bad for us both.

  We rounded the corner, passed through the security doors and entered the holding cell area.

  Catcalls erupted from the other inmates and obscene suggestions but Ivy ignored them all and went straight to Frankie's cell while I lounged against the cement wall, watching their exchange.

  The two Callen siblings didn’t look anything alike. Probably different mothers. Whereas Ivy was petite and blonde, Frankie was long and lanky with greasy dark hair.

  Frankie sat up when he saw us, the black and blue of his eye some of my best work. I wasn’t sorry. The fucker deserved it.

  “What happened to your eye?” she asked, distressed.

  Frankie, the little crybaby, didn’t waste time ratting me out.

  “Fucking pig punched me in the face,” he glowered, trying to glare with his good eye, which was entertaining as fuck. “I ought to sue this whole fucking city for police brutality.”

  Ivy looked to me. “Can we have some privacy?”

  “This isn’t your first rodeo. You know the answer to that question,” I told her, amused that she would even ask.

  “What were you doing?” Ivy asked Frankie in a low tone. “I thought you were going to get a job and stop all this stuff. I mean, c'mon Frankie, we're not kids anymore. You have to stop this. I can't take much more.”

  Frankie, looking sullen, pushed away from the bars. “I tried. No one wants a fucking felon on the payroll. Gotta make a dime somewhere, sis.”

  “But drugs? That's not going to end you anywhere but here,” she said, shaking the bars for emphasis. “Your arraignment isn't until Friday and I don't know if I can scrape together enough bail this time around.”

  Frankie dropped his sullen expression for one of panic. “You gotta get me outta here, sis. You don't understand...I'm not safe here. I'm living with a target on my back.”

  “I'll try...but I've run out of options.”

  “Sell your car,” Frankie said and she blinked against his desperate suggestion.

  Predictable. Frankie’s sister had blinders on if she couldn’t see how he was running her around.

  To her credit, Ivy balked. “Frankie...I can't do that. I need my car.”

  “I could die in here,” Frankie said, reaching for her hands through the bars but I was there in an instant with a growled warning.

  “Get your fucking hands back where they belong. You know the rules.”

  Frankie cast a dirty look at me but withdrew his hands, returning to Ivy. “Please, sis. You know I got enemies on this side of the bars.”

  “Occupational hazard,” I drawled without an ounce of sympathy.

  “Fuck off,” Frankie spat and Ivy winced.

  “I'll think of something,” she promised though by her crestfallen expression, she didn't have a clue as to what she could possibly do aside from start stripping and prostituting herself. “Just try and stay safe.”

  All right, I was done with this sideshow. I’d seen it too many times. She was an enabler and he was a user. In the end, the story remained the same.

  And I had better things to do than watch it unfold.<
br />
  “Time's up,” I said brusquely and actually pulled her arm away from the bars. “Let's go.”

  “Get your fucking hands off my sister,” Frankie yelled, gripping the bars until his knuckles whitened.

  “Frankie, don’t make it worse.” Ivy shrugged off my grip with a hard look. To her brother she added, “Just keep your head down and I’ll be in touch.”

  We weren’t two steps out of the holding cell area when she started to defend Frankie.

  Not that I expected anything different.

  “You think you know everything about Frankie but you don’t. He's misunderstood but deep down he's a good guy.”

  I barked a cruel laugh. “Girl, you need a reality check. That boy is bad news. If you can’t see that after everything you’ve bailed him out of, it’s your stupidity to blame, no one else’s.”

  “I’m not stupid,” Ivy shot back. “Just because family means something to me doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. I know Frankie has problems but he’s trying to clean up. This is just a set back.”

  “This is a pattern.”

  “You don’t know anything about our life. You should just stick to what you do know, like issuing parking tickets and harassing decent citizens.”

  I smirked at her insults. The fact that she didn’t know the difference between a beat cop and detective was laughable.

  When I didn’t react the way she’d hoped, Ivy huffed out a short breath and said, “Whatever. Your opinion means nothing to me. Or my brother. It doesn’t matter what you think of us. All that matters is that I believe my brother when he says he’s trying to change.”

  “For a poor misunderstood guy, he sure has a pretty long rap sheet,” I mocked. “He has a real talent for picking the wrong friends. And for selling drugs to kids. And for snowing his sister.”

  “You’re incredibly rude,” Ivy said, her blue eyes hot with indignation. “What makes you think you can talk to me like this?”

  She was right.

  Why was I goading her?

  I couldn’t explain it. I was gripped with an intense dislike for her constant defense of that shitbag brother of hers.

  But why should I care if she was too stupid to see what was right in front of her?

  I gave her a cold smile. “My apologies for speaking the truth. I know how that must sting for someone accustomed to swallowing lies.”

  Her cheeks flared with heat and I wanted to run my knuckles down that soft skin.

  “A person like you would never understand.”

  A person like me? What did that mean? Ha! Oh, that’s right, I was an asshole by most people’s standards.

  People could fuck themselves.

  “Not that it matters to you but sometimes Frankie finds himself in situations that he doesn’t mean to happen. He’s the king of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “And you’re the queen of denial,” I said, becoming irritated by her dogged refusal to see her brother for who he truly was — a waste of oxygen.

  Then I did something I shouldn’t have.

  Stopping abruptly, I pushed her against the wall, crowding her space, my face inches from hers.

  If I were caught, I’d lose my job. This was insanity. My eyes were swimming, my head was fuzzy from lack of sleep but I was suddenly more alive than I’d ever been.

  The empty hall echoed with her fearful question.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “You’re not allowed to treat me like this.”

  I grinned, bracketing her on both sides with my arms, effectively trapping her. She smelled like coconuts and warm sunshine. I wanted to bury my nose in her hair.

  “You should trust the face that people show you, sweetheart,” I said in a low, seductive tone. “Your brother is a scumbag and a user. He'll use up everything you got and then dump you when you've got nothing else to give."

  “Stop it,” Ivy said, her lip trembling. I wanted desperately to taste that pouty mouth. I pulled my gaze with effort. Why the hell was this girl affecting me like this? There was a hurricane of desperate want clouding my judgment and I was teetering on the edge of disaster for a girl that wasn’t even my type.

  Talk about epic self-destruction.

  I didn’t have the answers but worse, I wasn’t interested in finding them either.

  Never in my life had I been so drawn to someone who was my complete opposite.

  Shit, good girls weren’t my deal.

  I ruined good girls.

  I liked my girls bad, horny, and morally ambiguous.

  I liked a girl who wouldn’t blink an eye if I wanted her to suck my cock on a crowded street corner, not a girl who would blush like a virgin on prom night.

  “Time to cut bait and swim on, baby girl or Frankie's going to take you down with him.”

  She held her ground. “He's my family.”

  For a second, I almost drowned in those blue eyes, almost lost my footing.

  But I found it quickly and drew away slowly. “That's too bad,” I said, shaking my head at the uselessness of the situation. Just like countless others before her, she’d go down for someone who wouldn’t spit on her if she were on fire. I started to walk away but her voice at my back stopped me.

  “You know, just because you wear a badge doesn't make you a good guy either.”

  I turned slowly and a wicked smile curved my lips as I easily agreed. “No, it doesn't. But then I never pretended to be one either.”

  Ivy stared at me, that adorable little tongue darting again and then she hustled past me out the door.

  Good thing, too.

  I was ready to do something stupid.

  Ivy

  I needed to escape. There was something about Detective Reed that stole my breath and turned my thoughts upside down.

  And the way he’d been looking at me…it was intoxicating and scary at the same time.

  He wasn’t dressed like a cop — unless worn jeans, a white tee and stubble were the standard department issue these days — but he still emanated an aura of power that nearly knocked me over.

  I was halfway to my car when his voice at my back had me turned around.

  “Don't sell your fucking car for that loser.”

  I hated that he could see into my private turmoil. I didn’t want to sell my car but what choice did I have? I couldn’t leave Frankie in jail. No car was worth my brother’s life.

  “Not that I have to explain anything to you but you don't understand the whole situation; my brother has made a lot of mistakes but he was trying to change.” Who was I trying to convince now? Even to my own ears my defense sounded…well, defensive and pathetic.

  “People trying to change don't end up back in jail.”

  “He was trying to get a job,” I insisted, hating that he had me on the ropes. “A real job. No one will hire him.”

  “Boo-fucking-hoo,” he mocked. “Last time I checked there were plenty of programs out there for felons looking for a fresh start.”

  I knew he was right. What could I say? I bit my lip, unable to argue that point but it was my job to stick up for my brother. He was all I had and I loved him. “Frankie has a difficult time with outreach programs.”

  “Again, like I said, people trying to change, find a way to make it happen.”

  He crossed his arms and muscles bulged. My mouth dried. What would it feel like to have all that muscle wrapped around me?

  I suppressed an inappropriate shudder as the errant thought skipped across my thoughts.

  “I can tell you right now, he's going to see time.”

  No, I couldn’t let that happen. I dared to challenge him. “Maybe not. Maybe he'll get a sympathetic judge. One who believes in second chances.”

  Detective Reed shrugged. “I guess that would depend on what I put in my report.”

  I narrowed my gaze, unsure of what he was implying. He couldn’t possibly…? I continued to stare but he didn’t back down, nor did he clarify, which only made it worse.

  “What do
you mean?” I asked.

  “The report weighs heavily on the direction the wind blows.”

  “Which means what?”

  He shrugged. “Figure it out, princess.”

  I gasped, the full import of what he was suggesting truly sinking in. “Are you...? Oh my God!”

  He returned to my space, crowding me, his voice like liquid steel over my senses. “Look, you're willing to sell your car for your brother. I say, let the fucker rot. But if you're hell-bent on doing something stupid to save your brother's worthless hide...I've got something else in mind.”

  “Which is?” I replied stiffly, unable to believe he was going in the direction he was headed.

  A dark smile found his lips that said, figure it out, baby girl and I nearly fainted from disbelief.

  “That's blackmail,” I whispered in shock. “I could tell your superior. You could lose your job.”

  He wasn’t the least bit deterred.

  If I was dumbstruck by his balls, I was incensed by his assumption that I would be open to his bargain.

  “You could; but you won't. I'm the only thing standing between time and your brother walking on probation. If you're serious about your brother wanting a new start...everything comes at a cost. Surely, you know that by now.”

  When I found my voice again, I spat, “You're despicable.”

  “Yeah...so I've been told.” He pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to me. “Think about it. But don't take too long. My report is due tomorrow morning and I have a particular dislike for scum drug dealers like your brother.”

  I couldn’t quite catch my breath.

  Detective Reed…he’d just propositioned me.

  Like I was a whore.

  That bastard.

  My stomach roiled as I fought the urge to tear the card into a million pieces and leave the tiny shredded evidence of my humiliation right there for him to find.

  But I didn’t rip up the card.

  I clutched it tightly.

  He had me in a bad spot and he was fully exploiting my weakness.

  I touched my forehead.

  My cheeks were hot.

  My heart was beating like a rabbit’s foot at the sign of danger.

  Yeah, there was danger all right. And it was dressed like an arrogant detective with a strong stubbled jaw and eyes that could see into my soul.