The Complete Box Set: Saving Her

by Bry Ann

  Jazmine huffs, loudly, and stomps out of the room. Dusty doesn’t laugh. Doesn’t revel in his win like a normal older brother. Nothing. His face just goes back to neutral like that had to happen.

  Logan looks so confused. I look at Sam. She needs to take this one. I took the last one, and he can’t get too attached to me. That would crush Sam. Sam’s his mom, not me.

  Never me.

  I’ll never be a mom.

  I think Rex see’s the look in my eye because he reaches over and pulls me next to him, softly rubbing my leg. Logan sees and smiles a little.

  The next hour Sam spends trying to integrate Dusty into the conversation. She does a good job. He becomes more engaged, but whenever Jazmine walks into the room they go at it. I don’t know what it is with them, but I can see it worries both Sam and Logan.

  “Can I go upstairs for a while? Please.”

  “Are you tired?” Logan asks.

  “No, just peopled out.”

  Logan laughs. “I think you and Sam are gonna get along great. Yeah, go ahead.”

  Dusty walks clumsily out of the room and then a silence falls. Yeah, Sam quickly breaks it.

  “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do with him and Jazmine? What if I am hurting her? What if I am hurting him?”

  “Sam,” Rex says. He hasn’t spoken much since we got here. “It’s okay. My sister and I were as close as they come, but we fought like cats and dogs as kids. Jazmine’s like ten and Dusty’s eleven or whatever. They are the opposite sex and think the other has cuddies. My sister bugged the crap out of me until I was a teen, but I will tell you this. Despite all our fighting, she always had my back, and if anyone said a word against her I’d kick their ass. One day Dusty will warm up to all of you and someone will say something about Jazmine and he will step up. Trust me on this. I see it. He’s a good kid. Jazmine just doesn’t like him because he’s a new boy in the house. Promise.”

  Sam seems to relax. “You are a good man Rex. Thank you. I… I’m sorry about your sister.”

  A guard drops down over Rex’s eyes. “She’d be glad to be helpful in this instance. She was all about helping stubborn people. Trust me.”

  I feel a lump in my throat. I want to cry. I want to purge the pain I feel inside for Mia’s loss. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from it. I can’t even imagine how Rex feels. I wish Pytor would just take me now so I could try and kill him. If I couldn’t kill him, then I want him to hurt me. I just want the emotional pain to go away. Physical pain is much easier to handle.

  “We have a gift for you and Rex,” Logan says quietly. He looks at Sam, who nods and smiles. Then looks over at us.

  I look confused. “You do? You don’t like me, Logan. Remember?” ]

  I kind of laugh, but realize at that moment the secret hurt I bare that Logan and I could never get along.

  “Alex that’s not the case all. I am so grateful to you. You helped Sam when she needed you. You stepped up to Jazmine when I wasn’t there, and even now. You just helped what is going to be my son. I think you are a good woman, and I have to admit, um, I understand you a lot more now. Sorry. We are just different people,” he smiles. “You have to respect that. You confuse me. Sam loves your crazy, I’m a little confused by it.”

  I laugh. “Fair, and I think you are a little PG and censored for my taste, but you have my best friends back and you have your moments.”

  He gives me a genuine smile. Potentially the first one he’s ever given me. “Sam and I want to give you and Rex a key to our lake. We have a little bow each of us can put on the gate when its, uh, in use.” Sam smirks, and I can almost see the dirty thoughts rolling around in her mind. Logan senses it to because he turns to her. “This is a great moment. Don’t ruin it with your dirty ass mind.”

  Sam busts out laughing. So do I. “What else could you have meant by that Logan?”

  She keeps laughing and I swear I see him turn a little red, which brings me immense joy. Only Sam could make Logan Prescott blush. I feel myself smiling. Rex seems to feel for Logan. He isn’t laughing but by the light in his eyes, I can tell he found it funny.

  “Anyway, Sam, if you’re done teasing me, we want to share this with you. We know you have a lot going on, and a hard journey ahead. We think it’s important you have a place to go. I know you aren’t from here Rex, and Alex is going to kill me for saying this, but we both know Alex is going to stay with you. Regardless though, we got you keys to the lake so anytime you are here visiting you have a quiet place. I also have my plane. I can send for you if you ever really need to get away. It’s our gift to you guys.”

  Sam is glowing and my jaw feels attached to my chest. This is their place. I know it is. I’ve seen it Sam’s face. In Logan’s. I know Rex is waiting for my lead. He knows this is big, but he doesn’t realize how big and these are more my friends than his.

  “I…I..” I think for the first time I’m speechless and not cause I’m hurting. “I.. Sa…holy shit. I’m totally speechless. Did you … does…” I laugh because I am so completely flabbergasted. Logan is grinning. I know he is happy to throw me so off guard. “Dana?” Is all I can get out.

  Logan sighs. “No. Dana doesn’t have one, but she knows I’m offering you one. She thinks it is a great idea. Her circumstances were different. Had I thought it worth the sacrifice I would have totally offered my baby sister a key. However, her and Gunner had been sneaking around in private for years. She was doing just fine with the privacy aspect.”

  True. I laugh, but the weight of it hits me and I stop. I turn to Sam.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Alex, I owe you so much and your story... it,” Sam sucks in a breath through her teeth. “Yeah, it hurt. I can’t take it away. I can’t stop this fucker. I can’t do shit. So what I can do, I am going to. You should know though, this was Logan’s idea to do this for you two.”

  “It was?” I just about screech.

  “Alex, I respect the hell out of you. All you’ve been through and you still fight. You were still able to be there for my fiancé and child. I’ve met a lot of people in my life, and with the exception of my family, I’ve never met someone who fought as hard as you. Ever.”

  I look down at my feet. Holy shit, he’s gonna make me cry. It feels so nice to have someone acknowledge the fight I put in. The hamster wheel I’ve been on my whole life. It means more coming from a man like Logan Prescott.

  Rex stands up along with Logan. They shake hands, a total dude handshake. “Thank you, so much, man. I can’t thank you enough.”

  I stay seated. I feel Sam staring at me, but I can’t look up. I’m too moved. This is so family. I’m lost in this beautiful moment when we here a scream.

  “Get your girly crap away from my clothes!!!”

  “You’re a total freaking terd!”

  “Did she just say freaking?” Sam stands up, in full mom mode. “This has been great, but I need to go remind my daughter of the rules.”

  Sam storms out of the room and it’s just the three of us.

  “Thank you, Logan,” I whisper.

  “Of course Alex,” he says softly.

  Just like that, I understand the Logan Sam sees and I feel our whole dynamic change. Logan Prescott is no longer Logan Prescott the celebrity to me. He’s just Logan, the fiancé of my best friend and all around kind hearted guy.

  I look at Rex and smirk.

  He smiles back and shakes his head.

  We have a place.

  I have a place. And it’s here, with these people.

  Chapter 6 (Gunner):

  I walk back in the room, where both Anatoli and Tobias are regarding me curiously. They want answers.

  “We need a good plan; A, B and fucking C. Rex just barely let this happen, and he’ll pull out if Alex hesitates at all, but she won’t.”

  “You sure?” Tobias questions. Anatoli turns to him and lifts his eyebrows. He all know Alex is no coward. “It’s just a question! I haven’t seen the girl in years and she apparen
tly has a man and friends and all that now. I didn’t see that coming either. Things change.”

  “She’s still pretty fucked up. That hasn’t changed.”

  Tobias smirks. “Fair.”’

  I grab the chair I spotted in the far right corner of the room and throw it at Tobias. Then I do the same for Anatoli and myself.

  “Sit,” I command. Tobias scowls but sits. Neither of them even question the fact that I haven’t let any of us take a break. I don’t do ‘breaks’. I go until either I can’t or the mission is solved. Bottom line and I will definitely do that now that the case is more personal.

  “Ideas. How do we let Alex get taken without raising suspicion? Are far are we willing to let it go before pulling her out? How do we make sure he doesn’t kill her? How do we pull her out if need be? Lastly, and most importantly, how do we kill this fucker?”

  “Let’s start with one at a fucking time? It’s far more efficient.”

  I nod. I know Tobias is right. I just want this done with. I want to know if Dana is going to fucking forgive me for knowingly putting Alex in danger. For not thinking of another way. It’s eating me up inside and making me less patient than I already am. Tobias senses I’m troubled by something so he nods and takes over for me.

  “So question one. How does Alex get taken? We can’t make it to obvious. We first have to know if Pytor is even looking for her. How do we find that shit out?”

  I sigh. The sound of it makes both them turn to me. I anxiously run a hand through my hair. This is uncharacteristic of me, but fuck. How many people do I have to hurt to get this shit done?

  “I know of a guy. I’m not supposed to know shit about him, and he’s been out of work for a while. But he knows how to get information. He was a spy of sorts back in the day, and not for the FBI. For some sort of criminal organization. He got into it when he left home, but left when he met his fiancé… or ex-fiancé. She’s the young girl Pytor murdered. The one I had to extract.”

  “He’s not gonna wanna help with this,” Anatoli says, clearly feeling for the guy. He is the kindest hearted fucking assassin I have ever met.

  “We don’t have a choice unless anyone else knows another fucking spy or information extractor who can play their cards right and keep the element of surprise we have going for us.” Tobias looks around the room with arms crossed, knowing none of us know anyone else. “This guy is just gonna have to put on his big boy pants and help. Besides, vengeance. If he is pissy, we can offer to let him be the one to kill Pytor if the opportunity arises. Don’t make him any promises though, because we don’t know how this shit is gonna play out.”

  Anatoli looks at Tobias and shakes his head.

  “Heartless young shit,” he mumbles. I laugh. True. He’s exactly what we need.

  “Fuck I don’t want to do this,” I say when I have my cell phone out. I don’t even bother looking at Tobias’ probably mocking expression. ‘This feels shitty. My girl is definitely going to leave me now.’

  “Women can be very forgiving Gunner. You’d be surprised what she will be able to understand.”

  I scoff. “Not Dana. She gets a lot, but blackmail, putting her friend’s life on the line, she’s too kind-hearted to let that shit go.”

  I stiffen when I realize I said her name. I never make slips like that ever. My expression turns murderous as I turn to Tobias, who looks smug. “If you so much as talk to her I will rip your throat out.”

  Tobias looks completely unaffected like I had just discussed the weather with him, instead of threatening his life.

  “I won’t. Anatoli would kill me before you ever could.”

  I see the dark expression on Anatoli’s face and realize he’s probably right. I nod. I don’t think Tobias will hurt Dana. Not as long as he is still buddy with Anatoli.

  “Anyway,” Anatoli drawls out. “I have a feeling she will understand. If she’s as great as you say she is, and she loves you as much as you clearly fucking love her, she’ll forgive you.”

  “Therapist fucking Anatoli over here,” Tobias teases. I find myself laughing a bit at that. Anatoli’s words helped though. I’d never admitted that to him. I just want to end this fucking conversation.

  “You’ll meet a woman one day Tobias, and I hope she just fucking owns your dumb ass, and I just know you’re gonna meet her before me man. That shit will be karma.”

  Tobias looks mortified by the concept and his expression turns dark. “Never.”

  We all drop it. Even I know better than to mess with that look.

  “So where were we?” I ask into the tense silence.

  “You were about to make a call.”

  “Oh, fucking shit. Yeah.”

  I stand up. The sound of a chair squeaking across the floor penetrates my ears. I walk right out of the room and put my head against the wall when I am sure I am out of view. I can’t imagine losing Dana. I don’t want to pull this guy Blaze into this shit. I put on my old mask though, and whip out my cell phone. I don’t even remember how I got Blaze’s number. I mean I know it was from Rex, I just don’t remember why. I also wonder why I kept it, but I shrug it off. I have it now. That’s all that matter I guess.

  The phone rings like six fucking times before a scratchy voice answers the phone.

  “Blaze.” This guy is drunk. I hear it in his voice. It is that evident he is plastered.

  “Sober up and listen to me.”

  I hear shuffling and then the guys' voice clears up. “Who is this?”

  “A friend of Rex’s.”

  “Is Rex okay? Does he need anything?”

  “Matter of fact he does. I need your skills. Rex does too. This involves him.”

  “Rex would never ask anything like that of me,” he spits with a heavy country accent.

  “Well, Rex doesn’t know I'm calling you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need this.”

  “I’m not doing it, but out of curiosity, what is the job?”

  “I need to know if someone is out hunting for a certain individual.”

  “How eloquent of you. Specifics please.”

  I fight the urge to snap at him. I'm not used to being in the position of needing someone else. “I need to know if the man who killed Mia, Pytor, is after Alex.”’

  “As in Alex, Alex?” His voice is ice cold. There are pure hatred and rage behind his words. Plus, he’s drunk so I know this isn’t going well for me.

  “Yes.”

  He snaps. “I would rather gouge out my own fucking eyes and die than help that bitch! Do you hear me? Stay away from her. I knew she was trouble. I knew it! I fucking warned Mia. I warned everyone! She is the reason Mia is dead. I’d rather die than help her.”

  Wow. Okay, that was a lot. I didn’t know their background. I have a pretty good idea now.

  “Okay, I got it. How about this? You find out what I need to know and I’ll let you kill Pytor. He’ll be your kill.”

  There is silence on the other end of the line. I have him. Fuck. Yes.

  “Unless things go to shit and we have no other choice that is.”

  “But he’s my kill.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m in. Text me the details.” With that, he hangs up. My heart goes out to him. He sounds drunk, hurting and, yeah, I don’t know if I could survive what happened to him. I flashback to the day I found her. There are three moments of violence in my life that haunt my nightmares; my parent's death, Sam’s torture and what happened to the women of Rex’s family.

  I walked down the back hallway. Pytor had finally left. The click of the back door and the sound of his keys jangling was music to my ears. I had been waiting fucking hours for him to leave. It was easy to incapacitate his guards, but he was harder because he was so important. My mission wasn’t to kill him, and at the time the only personal investment I had in this was getting the girls out. Finally, I found the room I’d been looking for. I picked the lock and watched as the door swung open.

  Horror. That’s what I remembe
r feeling, although I didn’t express it. The mother was over her daughter’s dead body, crying hysterically. Shaking as grief wracked her body. She was in bad condition, but I could tell she didn’t give a shit. Her daughter was dead on the floor. The second the mom saw me she jumped over her daughter and scowled at me. Her tears drying on her face as she fought to protect her daughter’s body like a warrior.

  “Stay away from her!” she shrieked. “You’ve done enough! Don’t you see you’ve done enough.”

  Then she fell back over her daughter's body and sobbed. I exhaled a deep breath, fighting to remain in control of my emotions, which was typically very easy for me. Especially at this point in my life.

  “I’m not here to hurt you. Rex sent me.”

  The mom sat up straighter.

  “Rex?” she asked, sounding like she forgot she had another son in the midst of her pain. “He’s okay? Thank God! Thank God!”

  Her hands covered her face and she started to cry.

  “We have to leave. I don’t know when that bastard is coming back and I promised I’d get you guys out.”

  “She’s dead,” the mom said, as pain intermingled with her shock.

  I nodded. “I know. Her body then. I’m not leaving here without her.”

  “Her body is…..” the mom couldn’t finish. In that moment I realized the mom had been blocking most of my view of the girl. I almost didn’t want to see what she was hiding, but I had to.

  “We need to go,” I said again with emphasis. The mom realized I was right. I saw it in her face. She turned and softly ran her hand over her daughters face. “I’m sorry baby. I'm so sorry. I failed you, my angel.”

  She was honestly trying to kill me. I cleared my throat. Finally, the mom stood up on shaky limbs.

  “Can you walk?” I asked, hoping she could. It would be hard as shit to get both of them out before Pytor got back if I had to drag both of them out.

  “Yes. I’ll be fine. Get my baby.”