A Man's World 3: Roxy's Flight Instructors (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

“Would you two quit it,” Roxy yelled. She’d just spied the other man standing inside the entry and living room watching them with amusement on his face. She was mortified that her brother and one of her lovers were talking about her that way in front of a stranger.

  “Excuse us a moment,” Dusty said and then he grabbed her arm and led her to the kitchen. Stefan and Book gave her a sympathetic look as they passed by on the way out. He turned her to face him and leaned down until their noses were almost touching. “If you ever do something so stupid again, that threat I just made will be a promise.”

  Roxy stepped back and took a deep breath before she replied. She exhaled but that didn’t help curb her anger one bit. “Firstly, you won’t ever lay a hand on me. If you hit me, the last thing you see will be my ass as I walk out the front door. Secondly, I knew it was Drew at the door.” Roxy’s chest was rising and falling rapidly when she’d finished her minitirade.

  Dusty took a couple of steps closer to her and then he gripped her hair and held her head secure without hurting her. “I would never, ever hit you, baby. If my hand is ever applied to your ass, I promise you’ll like it. And you didn’t know for sure that Drew was at the door, you never even checked. The next time you listen into a conversation have the nerve to do it so I can see you.”

  “You knew I was there?” Roxy asked.

  “Of course I did, baby. So did Stefan and Book. We’ve had military training, remember? Now why don’t you make a fresh pot of coffee so we can visit with your brother?”

  “Okay.”

  Dusty released her hair, bent down, and kissed her passionately before releasing her. When she could focus again she saw her brother leaning against the door watching them.

  “Wow, you certainly know how to handle my sister.” Drew smirked, headed to the table, and sat down. The other man followed a moment later with Stefan and Booker.

  “Screw you, Drew,” Roxy replied.

  “Kiss my ass, sis.”

  “Are you always like this with your sister?” the man asked.

  “Yep, but she knows I love her. Right, Roxy?”

  “Yeah.” Roxy smiled. “I love you, too, Drew.”

  “Roxanne, Dusty, Booker, and Stefan this is Rich North, my boss.”

  “Hi.” Roxy nodded and watched as the men shook hands. She attended to the mugs, sugar, and coffee as the men began talking about the situation and when everything was ready she carried them all to the table. Stefan got up to help her but she could tell all his concentration was on what was being said.

  “So you haven’t been able to find our assassin?” Stefan asked.

  “No,” Rich answered and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I wanted to put a team on Drew here, but of course he refused.”

  “Drew, why wouldn’t you want—” Roxy began only to be cut off by her brother. He stood up and moved around the counter and stopped when he stood next to her.

  “I can look after myself, honey.”

  Roxy breached the distance between them and hugged him around the waist. She squeezed him tight and inhaled his comforting scent before looking up and meeting his gaze. “I love you, Andrew Crowe. You are the only family I have left and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “I don’t either, Rox, but there is no way in hell I’m putting any of the team in danger. Don’t worry about me, honey. You have enough on your plate as it is.”

  “I’m fine, Drew. They’re looking after me.”

  “I can see that they are.” Drew glanced over at the table where her men and his boss were talking quietly, before looking back down at her. “You love them, don’t you, Roxy?”

  “I do. I’m so scared that they’ll end up in the line of fire, too.”

  “Do you want me to call a team in? I don’t have to ask, Rich. I have a few buddies who I can call on from time to time and I won’t have to put an order in.”

  “What do you think?” Roxy knew she wouldn’t need to say more. She was being careful because Dusty had turned to look at them.

  Drew nodded, withdrew his cell from his pocket, and started texting. Roxy felt a little better knowing that more help was on the way. She had no idea if it would be needed but she felt a lot better knowing her men had some back up if it became necessary.

  Rich got up from his seat, carried his empty coffee mug to the sink, and glanced at Drew and Drew’s phone, before smiling at her.

  “Could you please show me where the bathroom is?”

  “Sure.” Roxy headed out with Drew’s boss on her heels.

  She opened the door, stepped into the bathroom, and pointed out the enclosed toilet on the other side. Just as she made to move around Rich, she saw him moving toward her. She pasted a smile on her face but then she was staring at her brother’s boss with fear. He’d moved so damn fast and now he had her back pulled against his front with a hand over her mouth and a gun to her head. Fear lodged in her heart, making it pound fast and hard. Sweat formed on her brow and her hands but she felt cold to the bone. Her legs were trembling and she wondered how she was still standing.

  “We are going to get out of here and you aren’t going to alert anyone. If you do I will kill them all. Do you understand?”

  Roxy found the strength to nod her head.

  “Good. Just remember that you’ll be the first to die,” he whispered in her ear.

  Again she nodded.

  “Let’s go. We’ll be going out the back way.” Rich pushed her forward and Roxy stumbled but somehow his hand remained over her mouth. He checked the hall before shoving her toward the laundry next door and she wondered if he’d found a blueprint of her men’s house before he and her brother had even arrived. The utility room had an external door that led to the back yard.

  Roxy wished for the first time that her men had close neighbors but they didn’t. The closest house was about 250 yards from theirs and she didn’t think that there was a possibility of being seen with all the surrounding trees.

  She wanted to be able to fight him but there was no way she could stop a bullet. She’d seen the determined evil look in his eyes and knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, her brother, or her men. Roxy just hoped it didn’t take them too long to realize she and the asshole were missing.

  Roxy’s breath was coming in pants but because her mouth was covered and she could only breathe through her nose, she couldn’t fill her lungs properly, but at least the fucker hadn’t knocked her out. If she got the opportunity to escape she wouldn’t hesitate. There was no way she was going down without a fight.

  She had no idea why Rich North was taking her and she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. All that mattered was staying alive so she could be with her men again. She’d only just found them and wasn’t anywhere near ready to give them up.

  He shoved her toward the car parked on the drive just out of view of the house but instead of pushing her toward the passenger seat he shoved her toward the driver’s side of the car.

  “Get in and don’t try anything. I’ll shoot you through the glass.” Rich hurried to the passenger side as she got into the driver’s seat and she fumbled with the safety belt. Her fingers were trembling and she had trouble trying to get the metal clip in the slot.

  He shoved the gun against her temple. “Start the fucking car, now, and get us out of here.”

  Roxy had been waiting for him to give her the keys but when she looked down at the ignition she saw they were still there. She turned the key, put the car into drive, and put her foot on the accelerator.

  She followed his directions mindlessly. She couldn’t seem to take anything in because she was so scared, but she knew she needed to get it together so she could think. After taking a couple of deep breaths and releasing them, her breathing and heart rate started to slow a little and her brain kicked into gear.

  “Why are you doing this?” Roxy hoped that by distracting him and keeping him talking she would have more time before he killed her, if that was his plan.

  “Shut up and jus
t drive.”

  Roxy prayed that everyone back at the house had realized that she and Rich were missing by now. If they didn’t and too much time passed by, they wouldn’t have a chance of finding her.

  She felt like the clock was ticking but this time instead of measuring just time the clock was counting down what was the rest of her life. She had no idea what to do, how to get out of this situation. She didn’t even have her cell phone on her. She was being kidnapped by her brother’s boss and had a gun to her head. Roxy hoped that a cop would drive past and see what was going on but Rich was being cagey and had directed her along the back roads out of San Angelo. She didn’t think the police patrolled the lesser used roads, but she couldn’t be certain.

  “You and your brother have fucked everything up,” Rich yelled out of the blue, making her startle and her foot jerked on the accelerator. She eased off when she noticed that she was speeding, but then she pushed back down again. Just a little bit so that the speedometer needle crept up slowly. If she could get to at least ten miles above the limit without him noticing and get the attention of a patrol car, she may have a chance to get out of this.

  “What?” Roxy asked and glanced at him before looking back at the road. “I haven’t done a fucking thing. None of this has anything to do with me.”

  “Yes it does. You’re in this now by association.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “You’re my passport out of the country, bitch. If your fucking brother hadn’t been able to get into Fretelli’s computer I would have been sitting pretty.’

  “Oh. My. God,” Roxy whispered as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Rich North had to be the assassin hired to kill her and Drew. He must have been taking money on the side from Fretelli and that other guy Drew told them about and now that the shit had hit the fan, North was worried about getting caught.

  “I see you’ve put it together.” Rich smiled at her but that smile never reached his eyes. “You’re way fucking smarter than your asshole brother. He has no clue about the kickbacks I’ve been taking for years, from the drug boss and the accountant. I didn’t think Drew would ever be able to get into either of those computers, not when Perez had that brute Jose Sanchez on top of things. Fucking Sanchez was supposed to lead your brother on a merry chase, but he was never supposed to be able to hack into those systems and collect the evidence he did.

  “Sanchez found the breach and told Perez. Perez was so fucking pissed. He held a gun to my head and told me if I didn’t take your brother and you out that I was a dead man.”

  “So the lead about the paid assassin was false?” Roxy asked, pressing a little harder on the gas pedal.

  “No money ever exchanged hands, but don’t you worry, little miss. I made sure to get the cash I needed to get out of this country. I visited Fretelli thirty minutes before his meeting with Perez and demanded he give me any cash he had. Of course I also told him that if he spilled his guts he was a dead man. I knew there was no way he would tell Perez because the drug boss wouldn’t have hesitated to put a bullet in his head straight away.

  “I have a million dollars in the trunk and nothing is going to stop me from living the high life. I’ve already got a false passport and as soon as I can I’m outta here.”

  “You won’t get away with this.” Roxy nearly peed her pants when she realized that they were heading to San Angelo Regional Airport. He’d taken her on such a circuitous route she hadn’t been aware of where they were going. “Security isn’t going to let you on a plane without checking your bag.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, you stupid cunt. I’m the new Air Marshall. No one is going to be checking my bags. And you are going to fly me to wherever I want to go.”

  Roxy couldn’t see how that was going to work. She was on sick leave and wasn’t scheduled for any flights. He was delusional if he thought his plan was going to work. Maybe this could work in her favor. He obviously didn’t know she was on leave. It was going to be obvious to everyone at the airport that something was wrong. She didn’t even have her pilot’s uniform on.

  She wondered if she should tell him how fucked up his plan was. If he lost his temper she might be able to escape. Jumping out of the car would be her only chance but what if she rolled into the path of oncoming traffic. Was it worth the risk? Could she get him to lose control and distract him? There was no way in hell she was letting him get on a plane. She could be putting innocent people in danger and that wasn’t acceptable. It was her job as a pilot to make sure everyone was safe. She’d been trained on how to handle a terrorist situation but Rich wasn’t a terrorist. He was a greedy CIA agent and apparently an air marshal on the take. But for all she knew he could have a bomb hiding in that bag of cash in the trunk.

  No. There was no way she was letting him put anyone else in danger. There was only one thing she could do.

  Roxy just prayed that she didn’t end up getting killed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Where’d Roxy and Rich go?” Dusty asked after glancing around the kitchen.

  “She was showing him to the bathroom,” Drew replied. “Knowing my sister, she probably got sick of listening to all of us making plans for her and went to hide in her bedroom.”

  Dusty glanced at his watch with a frown. She and Rich had been gone for more than ten minutes and he had a bad feeling in his gut. He pushed his chair back, got up, and stalked from the room. He hurried down the hall and noted the bathroom door was closed, but Roxy’s bedroom door was open.

  “Roxy, where are you, baby?” Dusty called out. He glanced toward the end of the hall when his brothers and Drew came into view. He walked into her bedroom and checked the en suite bathroom. Both were empty.

  “Roxy doesn’t hide from anything,” Booker said as he entered the main bathroom. He was back a moment later. “The toilet and bathroom is empty.”

  “So is her bedroom.” Dusty walked back down the hall and noticed the utility door was open. They always kept that door closed. He went through the laundry and opened the back door.

  “Fuck! Drew, get an APB out on North’s car,” Dusty yelled as he hurried outside. There was no car in sight. The only vehicle in view was Book’s truck.

  Drew hurried out and stood beside Dusty staring at where he presumed North had parked his car when they’d first arrived. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Is there any way your boss was involved with the money laundering and drug boss?” Dusty asked.

  “No,” Drew answered immediately but then he threaded his fingers through his hair. “Oh fucking son of a bitch. Why didn’t I see it?”

  “What?” Dusty spun around and grabbed Drew by his shirt.

  “That fucking asshole did everything he could to stop me from hacking into Fretelli’s and Perez’s PCs. I just didn’t see it until now.” Drew withdrew his cell from his pocket and began talking. Dusty wasn’t interested in what he had to say or to whom he was talking to. All that mattered was that they find and get to Roxy. He hurried toward Book’s truck and was in the driver’s seat before his brothers had even left the verandah. He slammed the door closed and waited for the others to catch up. Book got into the passenger seat and handed over the car keys while Drew and Stefan got into the back. Then he was squealing down the driveway as he burned rubber.

  “The cops are on the lookout and I have a couple of friends trying to pinpoint him through the GPS on his phone,” Drew said from the backseat.

  “How did he stop you?” Stefan asked.

  “Every time I told him I was getting close he called a meeting. I never even twigged that something was up.”

  “Do you have any proof?” Booker asked. “And how do you know he was trying to buy time?”

  “Each time I came back from a meeting with North and the other team members I lost ground. It was like someone was letting Perez and Fretelli know that I was onto them. Each time I entered his office he was always texting on his phone.

  “I’d be two steps from gett
ing into their system, but after those meetings I always seemed to be ten steps behind.

  “He has to be in Fretelli’s and Perez’s pocket.” Drew sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. Dusty saw the fear in his eyes when he met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Why the fuck didn’t I see this? I’ve put my sister in danger.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Andrew,” Stefan said. “No one was wants to think their boss or teammates could be on the take.”

  “Where do you think he’s taking her?” Booker asked.

  The all fell silent as they tried to figure out where they were going. Dusty knew it would take time for Drew’s friend to get a location on North’s phone.

  “Does North know about Roxy?”

  “I’ve never spoken of my sister at work. I knew what I was doing was dangerous so I made sure to keep quiet about her,” Drew replied.

  “But he knew,” Dusty said. “What if he’s known about her from the start? You said that you thought you were being followed. What if it was North keeping tabs on you and Roxy? He’s probably shadowed you for a while. He’d want to know what you were doing and who you were socializing with in case the shit hit the fan. He probably planned this from day one.”

  “Damn!” Drew leaned forward and gripped the headrest of Booker’s seat. “If he has then he probably knows she’s a pilot.”

  Dusty slammed on the brakes, and hooked the truck into a U-turn before planting his foot on the gas pedal again. He didn’t need a location on North’s GPS anymore. He knew exactly where North was headed. To the airport.

  * * * *

  “You’re a real piece of work. You know that?” Roxy was desperately trying to distract Rich North as she tried to think of a way to get away from him, but every scenario she came up with she discarded as too dangerous.

  The San Angelo Regional Airport was only ten miles away and she knew she was running out of time, fast.

  “Keep your mouth shut, bitch.”

  “Why? What are you going to do? Shoot me. Go ahead because then this car will crash and you will end up hurt or dead.”