That news about knocks me over. “You were a cop?”
“Yeah and don’t hold it against me. The work I do now is more to my liking.”
I can barely wrap my head around it. “Is escort work legal?” I ask. As far as I know it isn’t, but Mak and the surroundings don’t add up.
“Escort work is legal, what the girls do as part of that work, no. Your job is answering phones and scheduling. The men for the most part keep their requests on the down-low. We keep records on all of them and they know it. Requesting an escort to accompany them to events is legal and that’s all you’ll be scheduling. Do you have a problem with it?”
“Nope,” I say as I shake my head. “Will I work behind the front desk?” I look down at my jeans and tee. I like them, but they don’t fit this amazing place.
“I have the fashion consultant the ladies use coming to measure you this afternoon.” She holds up her hand. “You can spend as little or as much as you choose and yes, you can make payments. The girls tip well when they have good clients and you’ll see that money won’t be an issue. I think the tips are the only reason Justine holds onto the job. Tips are under the table, so don’t report them to your taxes. These women make a pretty penny in unreported tips. Are you ready to get started?”
“Yes.” My heartbeat speeds up. I have a feeling I’ll like it here.
Mak gives me the handgun and makes sure I know how to use it. I’m not as familiar with guns as she is but I’ve been around them my entire life. “This is for self-protection,” she informs me as I clip a small holster on the inside of my jeans and tuck the now-loaded gun inside. “We have advanced security here and at the main house. Whoever is on duty knows exactly who is coming up the elevator and can stop it if it’s someone unfamiliar or dangerous. Plan on keeping the gun with you when we go back and forth between work and home.”
“I’m so thankful for everything you’ve done, but I need my own place,” I say carefully not wanting to offend her.
She waves my statement away. “For now you’re safer at the house, and you give Gabriella someone else to fuss over besides Xavier and Alex.” She’s talking about Alex Gomez, the scary man who was introduced as Celina’s husband. Even my brother is afraid of him. If the stories I’ve overheard are to be believed, he’s one scary dude. Celina is as beautiful as she is meek, and I just can’t picture them as a couple. Well, meek ends for her in the gym, but I still don’t see her as Gomez’s partner.
There’s no arguing with Mak over my living arrangements and considering she’s my boss it’s probably best that I don’t. Mak shows me how the computerized calendar system works and assures me I’ll do fine before heading to her office. Five minutes later, the phone rings. “Elegant Escorts, how may I help you?” The phone call makes it real. I have an actual job.
“This is Max Dunham, and I want to book Stevie for Friday at 9 p.m.”
I check the calendar program and it shows Stevie on the list with an opening at 9 but she has an appointment at 11 too. “She’s available at 9 but booked at 11. Will that work for you or will you need her for a different evening?”
“That will work.” He disconnects the call and I search his name in the database. He’s there and it’s easy to input the information.
Things run smoothly until a quarter to noon, when the phone rings. “Elegant Escorts, how may I help you?”
“Put me through to Mak,” a bitchy voice requests.
“Who may I ask is calling?”
“You don’t fucking need to know that, just put me through.”
I have a good idea who I’m speaking with. “I’m sorry but my instruction is to identify a caller and let Mak know. If you would like to give me your name, I will check and see if she would like to take the call.”
“I’ll call her cell phone. Maybe one day she’ll hire someone with more brains that tits.” The call ends and I smile.
I have nice tits. The thought stops me in my tracks. Or at least I did before Austin mutilated one of them. I place my head in my palms and take a moment to simply breathe. I’ve done everything I can to ignore the ink covering my body. It’s past time that I looked at the entire piece. It couldn’t be any worse than the skeletal hands on my breast and ass.
“Did Lina give you a hard time?” Mak asks softly from the hall door.
I lift my head. “No, well nothing I can’t handle. She’s a bitch just like you said, but I’m not cowed easily.” I offer a small smile.
“Does your head hurt?” she asks with concern.
“No.” I shake my head. “It’s the ink. I know you saw it. Austin did it and I haven’t seen the back piece and I don’t think I’m ready.”
“Okay,” Mak draws out the word. “The dressing room I showed you earlier has full-length movable mirrors and you should be able to see most of it when you’re ready.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you want to talk about him?”
I shake my head with a small grimace. The last thing I need to do is cry on my first day of work.
“If you change your mind, I’m here. You answer phones and I’m the resident non-certified therapist of this place. We all have pasts and sometimes this job has a hiccup and the girls need someone safe to talk to. I’m that person and anything said is confidential. I may not have the credentials but I can keep my mouth shut.” She smiles and nods to the elevator. “Right now it’s time for lunch.”
We eat at a small deli on the ground floor of the office building. I spot Caleb a few minutes after our waiter takes our orders. He doesn’t so much as smile. I notice the bulge at his waist and know he’s armed. Mak also showed me her concealed gun after giving me the Glock. Learning Arizona’s gun laws won’t be hard for me because essentially they have none. No permit is required to carry concealed, and guns are even allowed in bars. Yeah alcohol and guns mix well…not! I laugh inside my head. California gun laws haven’t stopped my brother, so why should I care if Arizona allows everyone to carry concealed and in bars?
Even with my abhorrence of guns, the one at my waist makes me feel safer. My brother will kill me if I’m unprepared. Even with my skin mutilated, I want to live. If nothing else, escaping my brother proved that. If it means I kill him, so be it. The world will be a better place without him.
We finish our meals and return to the office. I’m satisfied and exhausted at the end of the day. It allows me to fall asleep with only a few minutes to think about Austin. Hopefully each day will get better. I don’t need him invading my dreams every night. Hell, he invades my mind during the day too. I need to move on.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Austin
I’ve been unable to locate Fernandez and it’s driving me insane. Moon has Melina on lockdown or I would have her back at my home right now. The waiting is killing me, but first her brother needs to die so she’s safe.
I’m sparring with Andreas and he’s taking a beating because of my irritability. He taps out again and I curse, “You’re getting fucking soft in your old age.”
“Fuck you, age has nothing to do with it,” he says when I release him and he scrambles off the floor for the third time. “That woman is causing you problems, boss.”
My right leg kicks out and sweeps his, sending him back to the mat. “What woman?” I challenge through heavy breaths.
He only laughs and rolls into my legs, grabbing me at the knees and taking me down half on top of him. I outweigh him by thirty pounds, so it’s not his greatest move. We wrestle on the mat until I secure him in an arm bar and cut off his air. He taps out and I grab my towel and head out of the room following a long sigh of disgust.
His laughter follows me. “Go get the woman,” he says because he has a death wish.
“Fuck you.”
The cold shower feels good on my overworked muscles. Even with the cold water on me, my cock swells when I think of going after Melina. My hand makes short work of the problem, or at least the one between my legs. Where in the hell is Fernandez? Most of hi
s men are dead and he hasn’t returned to his house. I’ve had men watching the burned out property since I left. He has another hole he’s hiding in and I need to find him or get one of his men to rat him out.
After I’m showered, I walk around Victor’s home. It doesn’t feel like mine without Melina, and I almost wish I could burn it to the ground. My strides take me down into the basement. This space holds more of Melina. My equipment is still down here, and I lift the Dragonfly X2. Ink is all that’s kept me sane during difficult times in my life. Or as sane as someone who killed his mother can be. It’s strange that of all the deaths I’m responsible for, she needed it the most. So why do I dwell? It’s Melina. She’s opened up a different world for me.
I came to grips with the abuse I suffered at my mother’s hands years ago. I say her hands because she allowed it to happen and even encouraged it when she needed drug money. Cindy tried talking to me about her but I never opened up. What will Melina think when she knows about my past?
“Hell!” I slam the machine down harder than I intended. For a sociopath I’m suffering from feeling overload, which is ridiculous. I’ve never cared what anyone thought of me. Melina’s different, though. She wormed her way into my dead heart and now it’s beating for the first time since I was a child. This is not a good thing in my line of work.
I call Andreas from my cell and have him bring the car around. I need a workout of a different kind and there’s someone to kill at the homestead. If that doesn’t take care of my melancholy mood, nothing will.
The homestead is warmer than I care for but that’s summer for you. I thought about replacing the evaporative cooling system with air conditioning but haven’t gotten around to giving the order.
“Get a decent cooling system in here,” I order Andreas. The place doesn’t have the best insulation but that can wait.
“On it, boss, but the electrical payment will be pricey.” I look over my shoulder and Andreas takes a step back and places his hands up. “Just keeping your best interests in mind, boss.”
“And stop calling me boss, dammit.”
His lips twitch. “Sure thing, boss.”
Damn him. Maybe what I have in mind for the guy in the wet room will put the proper fear back in Andreas. Funny that I didn’t fear Victor; maybe that’s why we got along. If Andreas weren’t so damn irritating, I might actually like him. Fuck I’m getting soft. I don’t fucking like anyone.
The man I came to see is watched by a guard. He’s sitting on the floor with a sack over his head. I lift a metal pipe from the floor and slam it into his knee. His screams are loud and please my dark soul. We’re both covered in blood when I’m finished. I’m alive and he isn’t.
“Get this piece of shit out of here,” I say when I’m done. Andreas has no comeback, which is a good thing. I haven’t worked out all my frustrations. “I need Fernandez. Check every contact we have. He’s hiding somewhere close. I can feel his slimy ass.” I’m holding the bloody pipe and breathing hard from my exertion.
Andreas eyes me warily. “Yes sir, Mr. Miller.”
I grunt and drop the pipe and even on plastic the sound rings throughout the room. It’s about time I get some proper fucking respect.
∞∞∞
A week later we still have no word on Fernandez. I call Moon daily with some sorry excuse. Today’s no different and we’re playing the game because he knows I want to hear about Melina. We finish the niceties with a shared “Fernandez needs to die” philosophy, before I ask about her.
“She’s working for the escort service and fits right into my organization,” he offers casually.
“What the fuck? I’ll fucking kill you, you motherfucking…” the phone goes dead. Moon and his fucking games. There is no possible way Melina is working as an escort. If she is, Arizona will have a new person in charge by tomorrow. I punch in Andreas’ number and fortunately for him, he answers on the first ring. “I need a plane to Phoenix in the next hour. Arrange it.”
“About time, boss.”
This time it’s me who abruptly ends the call. I’m done with this shit. Melina is coming back with me one way or another.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Melina
Celina throws a punch to my head, which I block. “Getting better there, sweetheart,” she says while trying again with a left hook. Even sweaty, Celina is a knockout. Her ponytail makes her look badass. Her designer workout gear is black with a turquoise stripe slashing across the front. I want to hate her just for being perfect, which is impossible because she’s so damn nice.
I block the next punch too. “I’m a quick learner and besides, you hit like a girl.” Yeah I’m on my ass after that remark, but it feels good. I like knowing I will eventually be able to defend myself. It’s thirty minutes before dinner. If I’m not showered and looking respectable, Gabriella will kick me out of the dining room. Celina and I are in the same boat and conclude our workout to keep the wrath of Gabriella off our backs.
Getting the shit beat out of me is a good way to keep Austin out of my mind. Too bad it doesn’t work for more than a few minutes after I leave the gym. I head to my room and grab a quick shower. I dry off and head to the dresser for clothes. I’ve just put on panties, when there’s a short knock on the door, and Celina pokes her head in.
“Oops sorry, I wanted you to know dinner will be 30 minutes late. I guess Mak’s dog caused a problem in the kitchen. You—” she stops talking for two seconds. “Nice ink.”
My back is to her and I feel a blush heat my cheeks. “Courtesy of California’s crime lord,” I tell her self-consciously.
“And you agreed to this?”
“No, anything but.”
“Asshole. Alex will take care of him. I’m putting that creep on my personal hit list, which means he’ll be on Alex’s too.” I give her a tight smile and feel my lips tremble. “Hey,” she says. “None of that.”
“Is it hideous?” I ask nervously.
“You haven’t seen it?”
“I can see the front and my ass, but I haven’t seen the rest. I’m too afraid to look.”
She steps completely into the room and closes the door behind her. “If you like ink, it’s incredible. There’s so much going on it’s hard to imagine the time it took to do it.”
I make a small humorless sound. “I spent every day chained down in a basement. Believe me, it took forever.” I should have told her this before, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it. I’m still not. Thoughts of Austin are too raw.
Her hand comes out and she runs a finger down my back. “What does it all signify?” she whispers.
“How so?”
“There’s a lot going on. There are words, names, animals…”
I cringe. “Animals?” All I can picture are the dead carcasses my brother collects. Hell, he doesn’t even kill them himself, just pays exorbitant amounts for their dead carcasses.
“There’s a baby elephant with its mother. So beautiful.” Her finger moves higher. “And here’s a small dog. There’s a ribbon under it that says Feather.”
“What?” Her words jar me to the core.
“Bobby is another name. Do you know a Bobby?”
My stories. He’s put them on my back. “I need to see,” I say as I walk into the bathroom shakily.
“I can’t believe you haven’t looked. This took serious talent. The colors and lines are amazing. Take a breath before you look, though, because the biggest word might not set well with you.”
I don’t take her advice and turn quickly to the mirror after turning on the light. I don’t see a big word, my gaze catches the image of Feather. His features are perfect with unbelievable detail. I finally look at Celina in the mirror, my eyes filling with tears. I glance back at the mirror and try to make out the big word she’s talking about. Slowly, I see it. The script weaves into the design and looking in the mirror turns it backward.
M I N E
Everything inside me deflates. How could he mark me that way and sen
d me back to my brother to die? I huff out a breath. He did it to piss off my brother more, the asshole.
“Hey, I’m sorry this is upsetting you.”
I wipe my eyes. “What else do you see?” I turn around slightly so she has a better view.
Her finger trails my skin again. “There’s a sign for the zoo and a red bow over here.”
The red hair bow my mother gave me before she died. I don’t remember telling Austin that story but I must have. I don’t know what to think or what the hell to do. He inked my life onto my skin. As far as I can tell, it’s only the good memories. What kind of man does that?
“A man who loves you,” Celina replies. I didn’t realize I spoke out loud.
“He kidnapped me, mutilated me, and sent me back to my brother to die. A man in love doesn’t do that. I don’t think Austin has feelings for anyone. I don’t think he’s capable.”
“Then you’re lying to yourself. He drew his feelings on your skin. He’s put skeletal arms on your breast and ass to show you’re his. There’s no other explanation.”
Celina grabs a robe from the back of the door, slips it over my shoulders, and then pulls me close for a hug. My tears fall unheeded. “You don’t understand what he did to me. I told him my brother would kill me and he sent me back anyway.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t an asshole, just that he loves you.”
A giggle escapes. Austin is an asshole.
“Do you love him or do you want him dead? Alex can take care of the killing part very quickly.”
I lean back and look into her smiling face. How did I ever get lucky enough to end up here with Mak and Celina? The eye candy attached to them isn’t bad either. I’ve never been free in my entire life. Even though I know danger lurks outside Moon’s home and the escort service, I’ve never felt this unrestricted. “If you could hold off killing him for a little longer I’d appreciate it.”
Combust (A Hotter Than Hell Novel Book 6) Page 13
