Secrets

by Terry Towers

  Jaxson

  I shouldn’t have been so damned careless. Turning to my side, I propped myself up on one elbow and looked down at Anastasia, who was sleeping soundly next to me in her bed. Since my divorce many years ago I’d never had sex without a condom. Never. Not one single time – until last night. Safe sex was always a priority to me. This was the one time where my cock really got the better of me.

  But dammit! It would have taken someone with the powers of Superman to keep themselves from her on that platform. The mood was too perfect. The atmosphere too amazing. She had been so beautiful, so damned sexy and erotic, naked with the water glistening over her stunning body. And fuck, she was virtually begging me. I’m only human.

  And you’re falling in love with her, a voice at the back of my mind chimed in. That was something I never, ever did with women. I fucked them and sent them home; that was my M.O. and it worked well until now. If you don’t get to know the women then you don’t fall in love. If you don’t fall in love you don’t get betrayed and hurt. If you always use protection, then you don’t have to worry about having a child who would be torn from you, leaving a huge hole in your heart.

  We hadn’t discussed the protection issue, even after the fact, although I knew we were both thinking it. Condoms were used when we got back to her place and made love the second and third times before falling to sleep, her snuggled tight to me, but that wouldn’t stop what could happen.

  Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it. What were the chances – really? I decided then and there, it was something I’d worry about when and if the time came. What was done was done.

  “What time is it?” Anastasia murmured, then her eyes fluttered open and she peered up at me. My fucking heart quite literally skipped a beat when she looked up at me and I saw the affection and devotion in her eyes. She was in this for the long run. I’m not sure when the switch got flicked within her; when she went from standoffish with a guarded heart to where she was now. But it had happened and I couldn’t have been more pleased. I wanted to be her rock, her safe place. I wanted to be the one she couldn’t live without. Giving my head a shake, I dismissed the thoughts from my head. I was getting ahead of myself and I knew it. But dammit, it felt good to allow myself to take the plunge with my heart and feel for a woman again.

  “Early.” I didn’t know exactly, but the sun had yet to begin peeping in from the small opening between the curtains on her window.

  She groaned, closing her eyes and snuggling up to me, placing a kiss on my shoulder. “What’s wrong with you? Sleep. Crazy man.”

  Chuckling, I kissed her temple and with reluctance, pulled out of her embrace and off of the bed. Her eyes opened and she stared up at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ura.”

  She frowned.

  “Do we want him to wake up with me here with you?” I motioned to our naked bodies. “Like this?”

  “Gawrrrr. Why must you be so sensible?” She flopped to her back, the sheet covering her chest falling to her waist, exposing her small, but damned perfect breasts.

  “In this case it’s a fault, I promise.” Giving her a wink, I grabbed my jeans from the floor. I was rewarded with a wide smile spreading across her lips and her cheeks glowing an alluring rosy shade. My eyes lowered to the variety of scars littering her torso and stomach and anger rose up within me. He’d done that to her, that bastard who had the nerve to call himself a husband. Fucking bastard. He deserved to be put away for the rest of his life. Scratch that, he deserved to have that done to him, then be put in prison for the rest of his life.

  “Oh, so… I’ll see you at work tonight…”

  Pulling on my jeans and doing them up, I reached for my shirt. “I was thinking more like if you wake up before noon that you come over to my place for lunch. Or we could take Ura to the park. Maybe both.” I shrugged. Despite feeling certain about how she felt about me I still felt uneasy. Like some teenager asking the prom queen on a date, hoping not to get rejected. I both loved and hated the feeling. But one thing the feeling did was made me feel more alive than I had felt in a long time.

  “Jerk!” Grabbing the pillow beside her, she sat up and chucked it at me, which I easily dodged. “I always wake up early.”

  “Not yesterday,” I countered, grinning.

  “One time!” She began laughing as she rolled her eyes.

  “Yup. But it was after noon hour. Had it not been for me your child would have starved to death.”

  She huffed, not even giving my comment the privilege of a reply.

  Pulling my shirt over my head I leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips. But my lips didn’t want to end there, they travelled down the side of her neck and to her breasts. My cock jerked alive and the urge to undress and ravish her for a fourth time was nearly too much to deny.

  I was about to suck her nipple between my lips when she groaned, placed her hands on my shoulders and gave me a shove backward, still laughing. “Go! Go, crazy man, before it’s too late.”

  I pretended to make a big show of my disappointment, groaning loudly and exaggerating my frown. “Being rejected and thrown out. What a way to start a day.”

  Grabbing her last pillow, she struck me in the stomach with it. “Get going.”

  Our eyes locked a final time. She was so full of life, of happiness. Just the thought that I was part of the reason she was feeling that way had to be one of the best feelings in the world. At that moment I decided something. We could both keep our secrets, I didn’t give a shit what she was or did in her life before me. I knew the woman she was now and that’s what truly mattered.

  *~*~*~*~*

  “The bar isn’t opening for another four hours, friend,” I stated from behind the bar as I watched a large, tanned man dressed in a dark suit, complete with a tie enter the bar and make his way toward me. I was just setting up for the coming night and had been expecting some deliveries so I’d left the front door unlocked.

  “I’m here hoping for information. Though a drink wouldn’t hurt.”

  I stopped wiping down the bar to stare at the man for a brief second. There was a distinct accent. It reminded me of Anastasia’s, but different. Shaking myself of the sense of foreboding coming over me, I flashed him a smile and nodded. “Not sure how helpful I can be, but I’ll try.”

  “Thanks.” The man took a seat on one of the stools on the other side of the bar, and reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “But a drink would be kind of you.”

  “You got it.” I turned my back to the man and took a second to ensure I was in control of myself. Stay calm man, I coached myself, you don’t even know what he’s here for. But I knew. “What can I get ya?”

  “Scotch on the rocks would be great.”

  “No problem.” I quickly poured the drink and turned, sliding the drink across the counter to him.

  “I’m looking for a woman and her kid,” the man said, placing a photo onto the countertop and confirming my suspicion. He picked up the glass and gulped the scotch down in one gulp.

  I kept my smile in place as I glanced down at the picture of Anastasia and Ura. Picking up the picture I pretended to scrutinize it. “Are they missing or something?”

  “Yeah. Went missing over two months ago.”

  “You mean, abducted?”

  “No, the woman took off with the kid. The man who hired me, her husband, is destroyed over losing his kid. As you can imagine.”

  I nodded, my expression becoming solemn. “I couldn’t imagine. What kind of woman takes off with a man’s child?” I gave my head a shake as if disgusted at the idea, while silently praying he wouldn’t see through me. I was a good actor, always had been thanks to my training with Special Ops, but this man was eyeing me with the intensity of a trained interrogator.

  Another thought crossed through my mind. What if Anastasia or Ura came into the bar looking for me while he was here? Fuck! I needed him out.

  The man huffed. “Who knows? Not my job to know, ju
st to find them. Do they look familiar?”

  I gave the photo one more long look. There was a smile on her face in the photo, but I’d been around her enough to see that the smile wasn’t genuine, it didn’t follow through to her eyes. “Nope, sorry.”

  “You sure?” He began eyeing me again, but I refused to allow his scrutiny to unnerve me.

  “Nope. But if you have a card, I would be happy to give you a call if she stops in.”

  “What about your staff? You mind if I stop in later to ask a few questions?”

  Holy fuck! If he showed up while the staff were here, one would surely tell him everything he needed to know. There were a couple of the shooter girls who had become very jealous of her and the tips she received each night. “You could, but it would be a waste of time. I work every night open to close and I promise if a woman this hot showed up in my bar, I’d notice. To be completely blunt, I’d more than notice. Nothing that goes on here gets missed by me.”

  He nodded. “I’ll take that as my business is finished here.” He put the picture back into his pocket and pulled out a card. “But if she does show up –”

  “I’ll call you before she even has a chance to leave. No man should be without his son. We men have rights as fathers to our children.”

  The man cleared his throat and for a split second I thought I saw a hint of something…

  “Thanks for the drink. I appreciate your time.” The man got up and made his way across the bar, exiting without looking back.

  I was tempted to go to the door and lock it, but knew I couldn’t. I had to look and act normal, just in case they were watching. I seriously doubted anyone was, but better safe than sorry. Picking up the business card I looked down at what was printed on it. Boris Bykov, Head of Security for Vetrov Enterprises. Followed by a phone number.

  I shoved the card into my back pocket and after spending ten more minutes busying myself behind the bar, I made my way to my office and grabbed my laptop. Bringing the laptop back to the bar, I placed it onto the countertop and turned it on.

  Once the computer was booted up, I pulled the card from my back pocket. Anastasia had let it slip one day that her husband’s name was Alexander, but never gave a last name, I’d tried matching Alexander to the last name she’d given me, but it came up with nothing. I suspected Alexander Vetrov would bring about better results.

  I was right.

  Alexander Vetrov, a Russian who had come to live in and gain citizenship to the USA a little over a decade ago. He owned a string of highly successful nightclubs in Miami. There were dozens of pictures of Alexander with Anastasia on his arm, attending galas and charity events, along with an assortment of other affairs. I was even able to use Google Earth to see a picture of his house in Miami, a monstrous over-the-top mansion that would be perfectly suited to be the highlight in an episode of MTVs Cribs or a show similar to that. But nothing to show that Alexander was the monster Anastasia claimed he was. I certainly didn’t doubt her, but I suspected it would require further, more in-depth digging than Google.com.

  Luckily, I knew just the person to enlighten me on everything that I needed to know about Alexander Vetrov, the good, bad and ugly. Going to the front door of my bar, I locked it and quickly made my way into my office, closing the door and locking it behind me. I didn’t want anyone walking in on this conversation – especially Anastasia. She trusted me and this was a huge betrayal, but then again, I needed to know what I was dealing with, otherwise how would I ever be able to protect her?

  Pulling my mobile phone from my back pocket, I scrolled through the contacts until I came to the cell number of Vince Jarvis. Without hesitation I pressed the button and after five rings was connected to a groggy-sounding Vince.

  “Hey Vince, I need to call in a favour.”

  “Huh? What? Who is this?” He coughed a couple of times.

  “It’s Jaxson, man. I need your help.”

  “Jaxson, brother. How’ve you been?” He sounded fully alert now.

  “I’ll be honest. I think I’ve stumbled into some trouble.”

  “Shiiiiit, what have you done?”

  “Nothing exactly. I need you to do a background check on someone.”

  “Man, just Google the person. I’m going back to sleep.”

  “No, no, wait. Please. It’s the kind of information only you can get me.”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone; for a moment I feared he’d hung up. “What’s the person’s name?”

  I let out a loud sigh of relief. “Got a pen?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Go on with the name.”

  “Alexander Vetrov.”

  “Alexander Vetrov. Got it. Can I ask one question?”

  “Sure, buddy. Shoot.”

  “Who’s the girl?”

  It was like every bit of stress exited me and a bark of laughter escaped past my lips. “How do you know it’s a girl?”

  “’Cause I know you. I go into the office for the overnight shift. I’ll call in the morning with what I’ve found out.”

  “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He hung up without another word.

  In less than a day I’d finally have the answers I’d been so desperately seeking.

  Chapter 11

  Anastasia

  Jaxson was in the back of the bar, stacking cases of beer when I found him. I stood on the threshold a moment, waiting for him to notice me. My body was sore, but it was a good sore. Just thinking about the previous evening brought a smile to my face. I was falling for someone for the first time in my life – head over heels, and I loved the feeling.

  When he finally turned and looked at me, instead of giving me that sexy, seductive smile that I loved, he frowned. “Hey. We need to talk.”

  My smile faded. We needed to talk? Was this it? We’d fucked and now he was done with me? Was I just one of the line of women to warm his bed?

  A forced smile spread across his lips. “It’s not that.”

  I planted my hands on my hips and fought the grin what wanted to form on my lips. “How do you know what I think it is?”

  “’Cause I know you.”

  “Cocky bugger.”

  Jaxson’s grin widened. “Right you are on that.”

  “What is it then?”

  “I need you to do me a favour.”

  I frowned and waited.

  “I need you and Ura to stay in the apartment for the next couple of days.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  He crossed the room to stand before me and he shot another smile at me. “Nothing. It’s all good. I just need you to do this for me.”

  This didn’t make sense. Unless…

  “He’s here, isn’t he? He found me.” A chill shimmied down my spine and I began to tremble. “Ura and I have to get out of here.”

  Jaxson grabbed my upper arms and pulled me into him. “It wasn’t him – exactly. It’s going to be fine. You need to trust me and do as I ask. Will you do that?”

  “You don’t know him, what he’s capable of, who he knows. If we don’t leave it’ll kill me, Ura and even you. We have to go.” Panic began to overtake me and the urge to flee became my one and only priority. I must have been delusional to think I could have happiness.

  “No. You need to stay here. You need to go up to the apartment, lock the door and stay there until I figure out how to protect you. Don’t answer the door for anyone. I have a key, if I need to see you I’ll come to you.” Tears filled my eyes and I attempted to pull out of his arms, but he held tight to me, stroking my hair and placing a string of kisses across my temple. “You have nowhere to go. If he’s as powerful as you say and he’s tracked you to Bangor then don’t you think every bus, train and every other way out of the city will be monitored?”

  “What if he finds me? If he has his goons going door to door it’s only a matter of time…”

  “Then I’ll protect you. The safest place for you to be right now i
s here, with me.”

  “I don’t know. I have a child to protect. I can’t –”

  He pulled back until he was looking me in the eye, but refused to release me, which I was grateful for; I needed his strength right now. My knees were turning to jelly and I was beginning to feel the need to vomit. My worst nightmare had caught up to me. But of course it did, I was naive to think even for an instant that it wouldn’t.

  “Do you trust me?”

  My frown deepened. “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “Do you trust me?” he repeated, his tone steady and reassuring, and I nodded. “Then trust I would never put you or Ura in danger. That if I thought for an instant I couldn’t protect you then I’d pack for you. I was Special Ops when I was in the military. I’ve dealt with worse men than your husband and lived to tell about it. You just have to trust me and stay in the apartment. If you need something over the next couple of days then tell me and I’ll get it for you.”

  My hands slid down his back to his belt and my fingers grazed cool steel, a gun stuffed in the back of his pants covered by his shirt. “What are you doing with this?” I pulled the gun from his waistband to get a look at it. I knew virtually nothing about guns, other than the fact that it was a pistol.

  He took it from my hands and placed it back where I’d gotten it. “It’s just in case. It’s better to be prepared than take a chance. I won’t take a chance with your life, or Ura’s.” Jaxson pulled me back into his arms, hugging me so tight I was left breathless. “Now go back to your apartment and I’ll be up to spend the night once I close the bar. I gotta be here in case they come back and try to question the waitresses or bartenders. I don’t think they will, but better safe than sorry.”

  Trust him. At this point, at least until I figured out a plan, trusting him was my only option. I just wished that being there weren’t also putting his life in danger.

  Jaxson

  “That was quick,” I answered the phone on the second ring, leaving the busy bar and making my way to my office.