Obsession 2.5: Loving An Alpha Male

by S. K. Lessly

  Of course, he smelled bullshit and called me instead of texting, but I stuck to my story. So, he switched tactics and gave me the third degree about leaving without anyone knowing where I was, going for a walk by myself, and most importantly, he lit into me about my phone being on silent.

  I wanted to counter his verbal assault with some words of my own but thought better of it. I needed to stay on his good side so when the time came to get on his bad side, it wouldn’t be as bad.

  Anyway, I didn’t want to hear him light into me again, so I decided to send him a text to let him know I was going home. I pulled out my phone, looked for his number and was about to text him, when my office phone started ringing. I turned to look at it, debating on answering it. I could just turn on my heels and walk away. With the day I had, it would be in my best interest to do so. My hands were still shaking from the fear and adrenaline of everything that had happened today. Also, my neck throbbed and ached. But as the phone continued to ring, something stirred in the pit of my stomach. Somehow, I knew that whoever the caller was, this call wasn’t going to be good. I sighed and waddled slowly to the phone. Just because I had to answer the phone, didn’t mean I had to like it.

  “This is Kenya,” I bit out angrily.

  “Hey, it’s me,” Nickels announced.

  “What’s up? I was about to head out for the night. Did you find something already?”

  Nickels chuckled. “Ah, yeah, I found something alright. I need you to take a look at what I have before you go. It’s important.”

  “Why? What’s happening?” I asked him hesitantly, letting the apprehension I was feeling bleed into my voice.

  “I’ve found her.”

  I froze where I stood, my heart beating against my chest. Nickels didn’t have to go into details. I knew who “her” was.

  “Okay,” I replied, trying not to sound as scared as I truly was. “I’m on my way.”

  2

  Misty

  “No, I need you to make it as if both she and I were here. Can you do that?”

  The caller on the other end sighed before he spoke. “Yes, I can do that, but you owe me. If Josh finds out I helped you—”

  “Well, if you keep your mouth shut and do your job, he won’t find out. Now, grow some balls and get it done. Call me when you’ve done all that I asked.” I disconnected the call and shook my head. Pussy!

  I had been in hell, literally and figuratively, for hours but it felt like days. I was doing my best to figure out what happened here, and clean up the mess Sweets had made, all the while trying not to wring Davies’ neck. I couldn’t understand why he had thought it was a good idea to let Sweets see Noah. He knew damn well that Josh wouldn’t have allowed that shit to happen.

  Satisfied that I had my plan to bury the evidence Sweets was here alone, I put my phone in my back pants pocket and I walked out of Davies’ stale smelling office. I decided he and I needed to have a sit down and chat. I headed for where I thought he'd be, in the security room, when I stopped. A thought suddenly entered my brain, a messed-up thought as it was, however, I couldn’t seem to ignore it. I took out my phone, and located the number I had dialed minutes ago. My call was answered on the second ring.

  “I know you aren’t calling me back expecting results so soon?” Junior answered tersely.

  “No, you twit. Listen, I need everything you can find on Davies and his team here. I want you to look at their finances, background, the works. Go beyond what we typically do monthly. I also want to know where they’ve been the past few months, who they’ve been talking to, things like that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because something doesn’t smell right, that’s why. And do it quietly. Don’t speak to anyone else but me. Got it?”

  I hung up the phone and went in search of Davies. I found him in the infirmary instead of the security room, hovering over a still body lying on a gurney. He was leaning very close to the man’s ear and I could hear soft murmurs coming from the big man. Unfortunately, I was too far away to hear the words that were being spoken.

  “Is he awake?” I asked louder than I needed. I folded my arms in front of my chest and watched a startled then disgruntled look pass Davies’ face.

  He slowly straightened, never moving his eyes from mine. He then blew out a frustrated sigh and looked down at a chained Noah.

  “No, not yet. He was worked over pretty bad.”

  I grunted and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well shit’s going to get worse the moment he opens his eyes.”

  I moved further into the room, studying Davies as I got closer. If you hadn’t figured it out already, I have trust issues. My philosophy had always been to never trust anyone until they’ve proven they could be trusted. I had known Davies for at least five years, some of that time outside of the DIA, and I still didn’t trust his ass.

  Davies backed up, weariness in his eyes. He ran his hand over his head, doing his best to keep his eyes on me. “I have teams heading to Crasse’s place now. Hopefully we find something to explain what happened here.”

  I nodded in his direction but kept my eyes on Noah. I studied his face intently and bit back a smile. Sweets did work him over something lovely. His face had a large bruise on the side of it. She mentioned she kicked him twice but the way this man looked, she might have used more than her foot to hit him.

  I also noticed something else that made me pause. Things weren’t as they seemed.

  Have you ever seen someone pretend to be asleep? When a person pretended sleep, they would do their best to keep their face slack and body relaxed. They would breathe slowly and as quietly as they could.

  Well, as I stood over Noah and watched him intently, I could tell he was faking. When you’re sleep, yes, your face and your body are relaxed, but you breathe very imperceptibly, unless you’re dreaming or something. This idiot wasn’t able to pull this off because he was in pain. I could see it in his face and the tense way his body was positioned on the gurney. I wasn’t sure why he was faking, but I was going to find out.

  “How’s Kenya?” Davies asked.

  Without taking my eyes off Noah, I answered, “She’s fine. Who you should be worrying about is Josh. The moment he finds out what happened here…” I let the rest of my sentence hang in the air and watched Noah’s face flinch.

  Davies grunted. “Yeah, I know. My ass is going to have to explain to that psycho how I couldn’t keep his wife safe.”

  I looked up to face him. “Why did you let her see this asshole? You knew their history. Why not tell her no or better yet why didn’t you call Josh and tell him that his wife was on her way here before she even arrived?”

  “When she called to request a meeting with Noah, I thought she would be with her husband. She used a specific security code at the entrance only used by Josh and Shane. I had no reason to think she was by herself. When I met her at the security doors, I was shocked to see it was just her. And the second I realized she was alone I did turn her away. But she went on and on about this very important case the she was working on with Josh. She named dropped and so I figured if I was in the room with her the whole time while she asked her questions, she'd be safe. I didn’t believe there was any harm in her asking some questions.

  “Plus, I knew she wouldn’t be able to get the answers she needed without me there, which was another reason why I stayed with her. I had no idea Crasse didn’t properly chain this idiot to the D-rings on the floor and the table. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As I said, I trusted Crasse. Until now, he had never given me a reason not to. And now the security footage of her entering the building are destroyed as well as the footage of Crasse bringing this ass to the interrogation room. Whatever they talked about, or even the proof of Crasse not chaining him the way he was supposed to, is gone. We’ve got nothing.”

  I grinned and shook my head. “Oh, ye hath little faith. You’d be surprise what we can do with the help of technology. Until then, we can see what information we can get from this willing parti
cipant.”

  “Yeah.” Davies blew out a breath. “When the bastard wakes up we can drill him with a shit load of questions. But we don’t have time. No telling where Crasse is or what else he has planned.”

  “Who says we don’t have time? And who says this little shit is still out?”

  A crease formed in the middle of Davies’ forehead as he looked from me to Noah and then back at me. “I say he’s out. The docs that were just in here said he’s out. It’s probably going to be a few hours, maybe even longer, before he wakes. Just look at his face. He’s sustained serious injuries. I’d be surprised if he ever wakes.”

  I gave Davies a serious once over through squinted eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was genuine or full of shit. Did this fool really believe that this idiot was still out?

  I took a deep breath and let all the air disseminate from my lungs. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said somberly then lifted a balled-up fist in the air and slammed it with everything I had right into Noah’s private parts.

  The earth-shattering pig-like squeal that immediately filled the room almost busted my ear drums. Right on impact Noah shot up from the gurney doing his best to try and reach for his balls, but unfortunately for him, his hands were chained to the sides of the bed.

  He fell back down to the bed, moaning and writhing about in obvious discomfort. His moaning then turned to whimpering and mewing. I almost thought he was about to cry. He probably was crying actually. That blow had to hurt like a son of a bitch.

  I grinned and looked up at a shocked Davies. “See, I told you he was awake. He just needed a little nudge. That’s all.”

  “You stupid bitch!” Noah yelled, shooting fire through his eyes at me and spittle from his swollen lips. “You’re going to pay for that! Do you hear me? You’re gonna—”

  I moved quickly, brought out my doubled-edged knife that was sheathed in a holster at the small of my back, and placed it right alongside his dick. At the same time, I grabbed his hair and twisted his face away from me, so that he wouldn’t be able to spit at me.

  I leaned in close to his ear. “I’m gonna do what now? I didn’t quite get that last part,” I whispered into his ear, not expecting a reply and I didn’t get one either. Still, I continued to keep a tight grip on his fro. “The only stupid bitch that is going to pay for anything is you. What I suggest you do now is answer my questions without any fuss or drama. If you don’t, so help me, you will learn the meaning of pain.”

  “Alright, King. That’s enough,” Davies said, but I ignored him.

  I leaned closer to Noah until my lips were inches from his ear. I spoke in a tone that only he would be able to hear. “Oh, I hope I’m here when Josh finds out what you’ve done. What you should be doing instead of sending idle threats my way is trying to figure out how you’re going to survive another day. You know damn well the second Josh sees his wife; your life will be over.”

  I stayed like that for a second longer and tapped his dick with my knife before I moved it away.

  “But if you cooperate with me now,” I announced nonchalantly, putting my knife away. “I may be able to keep the psycho away from you.”

  Noah turned his head toward me, skepticism all over his face.

  “I’m sure that sounds impossible,” I continued. “But believe me, Josh can be put in check. I mean you’re still alive after all this time, right? Why do you think that is? Best believe it has nothing to do with Josh’s restraint and sense of honor and duty. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me. Now, it’s going to be tough pleading for your life this time around, but if you tell me all about this Perchenko asshole, it will bode well for you. Also, word has it a woman named Emily Parsons is wrapped up in this mess too. Tell me how and you’ll live to see another day. Don’t and well…” I took my phone out of my pocket and showed it to Noah. “Your life will be over in the next few minutes. It’s your choice.”

  Noah stared at me for a long time. I knew he didn’t believe me and he was smart not to. There was no way I would be able to keep Josh off of Noah once he found out what had happened here. It was why I was trying to buy some time by saying that I was here with Sweets. The reason for our visit was simple, we had learned about the connection between Perchenko and Emily and according to Sweets and the geek squad, Noah had information that could help us.

  Silence continued to fill the room, with Noah defiantly keeping his mouth shut. I gave him a final once over, shook my head and began to look for Josh’s number. I called him, placed it on speaker and once my call was answered you heard the very angry and very disgruntled voice of Josh Cooper.

  “What the fuck do you want, Misty?”

  I looked at Noah expectantly. He gave me nothing so I began, “Have you heard what’s going on in Hell?”

  There was a brief pause then Josh replied, his voice coming down a bit, more curious than angry, “I heard that the security feeds to Hell went down and someone tried to break that little piece of dog shit out. Please tell me that the fucker got out so I can hunt his pussy ass down like the useless fucking dog waste he is.”

  I grinned.

  I gotta hand it to Josh. I couldn’t have scripted this conversation any better if my life depended on it. The look of fear that cascaded through Noah’s already pinched features made me smile even more.

  “Yeah and what would you do if you caught him? I mean let’s face it, you’ve been getting a little soft in your old age.”

  I knew that it was a bad idea to bait the already revved-up bull, but I couldn’t help it. The petrified look that accosted Noah tickled me. I had to see just how far I could take this before he pissed in his pants.

  “Fuck you, Misty,” Josh barked. “You know damn well there’s nothing soft about me. And if that piece of shit did escape, the second I’d find his ass I would peel his fucking skin right off his bones.”

  I kept my eyes on Noah. “Figuratively speaking, of course.”

  “No, not figuratively speaking. You remember the time we spent undercover in the badlands of Bagdad with that tribe? They were notorious for skinning their captives alive. It was the very reason why we were sent down there.”

  Of course, I remembered this. However, I needed Josh to replay this for Noah’s sake. The pasty look that covered Noah told me my plan was working. “Oh yeah,” I spoke into the speaker of my cell. “I remember that. You spent a lot of time with the tribal leader too.”

  “Yup. And during that time, he told me all the ways you can fillet the skin off of a man’s bones with ease. He even gave me the tool to do it nice and slow and painful. I’d love to try it on that prick.”

  “I bet you would,” I replied back just as Noah closed his eyes and nodded his head. I then added, “Unfortunately, the prick didn’t escape. He’s here safe and sound. But I’ll let you know if I can’t get anything from him.”

  “Please do. I’d be happy to lend you a hand or a fist.”

  I hung up the phone and Noah started spilling his guts.

  Shane

  “Shit!”

  I threw down my pen and closed the folder I had been reading. I shut my eyes, let my head fall back and slouched deeper into my high back soft leather computer chair. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t focus for shit. It had been a long and stressful day, and it all started earlier today.

  The information I had gotten from Jared today had my mind going in circles. I had thought we were on top of everything; I had felt good about that. The steps I had made to protect my brother and his family were solid. But to think that, despite my efforts they were still vulnerable, bothered the hell out of me.

  Jared had confirmed everything Izabella had told us about Diane, including the connection with Cupid. What had me on edge was when he told us that the assassin was already in DC. He didn’t have a name for us. However, he did say that the assassin was a female and had been with Cupid for years.

  When I had arrived back into the office from drilling Jared, I held a brief meeting with my brothers in M
alcolm’s office and re-counted everything Jared told me. Malcolm and I then worked with Josh to complete the security plan for his family, keeping all the information we had gathered in mind. Josh already had security cameras mounted around his home here in DC and in Virginia; that was a step we didn’t have to do. And, I already had bodies around their place as well, keeping an eye 24/7. We now needed what we called in the business “shadows” to follow them wherever they went.

  Having a “shadow” was a form of personal security. These men and women were highly trained individuals that would hide in the shadows while they kept a close eye on the people they were protecting. They provided the illusion of privacy for their protectees while at the same time having the capability to respond to any threat as quickly as possible. Because my brother was an idiot, this method of personal security was the only way he would agree to the protection plan we worked up. Security had to be ‘out of sight and out of mind’ as he put it.

  Personally, I didn’t like the idea. I had felt that Josh needed people close at all times. Perchenko wasn’t just some amateur coming for them, and he wouldn’t send an average assassin either. The longer I had thought about it the more I realized that whomever Cupid sent would be one of his most dangerous and deadliest assassins he had in his entourage.

  We couldn’t afford to sleep on this. Most importantly, we had no time for Josh and his ego. However, I conceded when he suggested the close surveillance method when Sweets and his son were alone. If he was there, he’d take care of any eminent threat until his detail took over.

  After we had gotten security squared away for Josh, I then went in search of Junior and Nickels to get an update on where they were with Perchenko and Dennis Simon’s connection. So far, we had a lot of speculation and conjecture but nothing solid. That wouldn't do. So, I stayed with them for another few hours combing through the black web looking for anything we could find on the two. We just started to make headway when I got pulled away for an issue one of my agents had with another active case.