by Carmen Faye
***
“Boss must suck,” Nelson laughed his redneck laugh as the guys sat around in the clubhouse. “Wouldn’t have guessed by the hoards of bitches he beds, but guess they just aren’t as picky as the hot little agent.”
“What’s yourself, Nelson,” Dakota looked at his brother.
“I’m not the one that said he was uneventful,” Nelson laughed again.
Dakota wasn’t sure where his boundaries should lie. Asher was more than a brother and leader. He was a best friend. And he was angry and hurting. Dakota had never seen him like he’d been over the last two weeks.
Of course, Dakota had never seen him fall for one of them. Any of them. He wasn’t the falling type.
But this had him shaken up and the guys weren’t helping. Especially not Nelson. He wasn’t even supposed to know about the information. But somehow he’d found out. Normally, Dakota would have told Asher about it. But right now that had only set him off.
Instead of engaging in conversation with them, Dakota finished his drink and stood to leave.
“Going to babysit the boss?” Nelson questioned and laughed again. “Nurse his broken uneventful heart?”
“Going to focus on the job coming up,” he answered honestly. “Something you guys might consider from time to time.”
With that he walked past three club girls that called his name and out the door. He needed to go and talk to Asher. Before this got any worse.
***
“Uneventful?” Logan’s voice appeared before she realized he was standing in her office. Fuller laid the papers down on her desk and turned to face him.
“Nice to see you paying attention to what I say.” She rolled her eyes and waited to see what he wanted.
“How is being captured and held by one of the most dangerous men alive considered uneventful?”
Melissa had known this was coming. Every single time she was questioned, Logan followed it up with his own version. For some reason he seemed to think that she was going to tell him something she wasn’t telling Shepard. Ego didn’t begin to define Logan’s idea about himself.
“Being blindfolded and stuck in a room without human contact is uneventful,” she admitted. Granted, she was lying. She wasn’t alone very often. But Logan didn’t need to know that.
“I think we’ll try again on Thursday,” he spoke as he grabbed the chair opposite her.
“Logan, this has been going on since I came back. When are you going to give up?”
“I’m not,” he answered quickly. “You are an ATF agent, Fuller,” he looked directly at her. “You are trained for dealing with situations like this. And from what I recall when you were sent here, you’re pretty good at them. So I have no doubt that before this is over, you will remember something that will help us in our case against this man.”
“If I haven’t recalled anything significant in the past two weeks, I highly doubt it is going to happen,” she stated as though she had no use for all of it. “I was held yes,” she started to speak. “But I wasn’t tortured. I wasn’t allowed to examine the criminal activity. Hell, I wasn’t even allowed to know where I was or who I was with.”
“You were there a long damn time Fuller,” he insisted. “Something must have happened.”
“I only know what didn’t happen,” she retorted. “The agents I work with—my colleagues—gave me plans, inaccurate plans. Then they left me without contact when I needed them the most. And when I was taken by what we believed to be dangerous criminals, they abandoned me. I wasn’t rescued.”
“We have to abide by the laws, Fuller,” he countered. “We can’t just storm into random houses. And even if we could, no one seems to know exactly where his is.”
“Some effort would have been nice, Logan. Did anyone even try?”
“I won’t have you turn this on me.” He stood up. “I believe I said it was a bad idea. But you had to have your way. I had a different way of approaching this, as you recall.”
Melissa had to fight the urge to blush at the thought. She couldn’t seduce Asher Hudson. He’d seduced her.
“Well it was a pretty damn good way to teach me my lesson,” she conceded. “Leave me to die.”
“Are you?” Logan asked.
“No. Thank God. But I’m also not working. When will I be cleared?”
“As soon as you tell me something useful.”
“Actually, that will be now.” The voice took them both by surprise and they lifted their heads to the doorway. Shepard looked from one to the other. “Agent Fuller has been questioned daily since her return. Other than adding it was hot in the room, her details have not changed.” He took a breath.
“She needs time,” Logan offered. “It was traumatic.”
“The department can no longer authorize the expenses being put into questioning this. No one is at fault in the kidnapping. But no one has any new information. The case against Asher Hudson will be stopped immediately. It will resume when any new evidence comes to light.”
Melissa felt herself breathe a small sigh of relief. It sounded so loud against her own ears that she was certain that everyone heard her.
“Agent Fuller may return to normal duties as of tomorrow.” Shepard announced and turned to leave. “And Agent Logan,” he said over his shoulder. “This will be the end of that discussion”
Melissa tried to hide the smile she felt inside. “So when can I expect my new case?”
CHAPTER 15
“What the fuck is this?” Melissa slammed the folder onto Logan’s desk.
“Your new assignment,” he answered calmly. “Is that not what you wanted?”
Fuller stood there for a moment trying to decide what she was supposed to say. The Nomad investigation had been put on hold. She understood that. But she wasn’t quite sure why she was handed this one to replace it.
“Why am I being put on this case?” she asked. “This isn’t what I do.”
“You are an ATF agent,” Logan smirked. “You do whatever case the ATF is currently working on.”
“I want something else.”
“I want a million dollars in the bank and a supermodel in my bed,” Logan offered. “Sadly, that’s not going to happen.”
Melissa began to pace. She knew she was stuck. She had to take whatever she was assigned. Granted, if she told him what was inside her head, she’d easily be able to bow out of this assignment. But that would mean trusting Logan with something very few knew about.
“I work on the club cases. This isn’t a club case.”
“Correction,” he began. “You were working on the club cases, Agent Fuller. That does not guarantee you to always have club cases.”
“It’s what I do.”
“We work what needs to be worked on,” Logan responded casually. “I don’t know what they did in Jersey, but here in Vegas, there are plenty of ATF cases that aren’t motorcycle clubs.”
“But I prefer them,” she answered. “I know them.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t always get what we want. Now, we can put you on desk work, you can give me a valid reason to switch your cases, or you can go back to your office and start working on your assignment. Which will it be, Agent Fuller?”
She didn’t answer him. She didn’t have the stomach to give him an answer that wouldn’t get her fired. Instead she grabbed the folder from his desk, turned and headed back to her own.
Damn him. She thought to herself as she opened the file and read the details once more. If she didn’t know better, Melissa Fuller would think that Logan was torturing her in his own way.
***
Asher Hudson was one of the most prominent men in Las Vegas. He was known throughout most of the world and thanks to his recent association with Manuel Guiterro, part of Mexico. People respected him. Some feared him.
That’s why it made no sense to him why he was sitting in his bedroom with very little desire to do much of anything. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. The night she’d kissed him. The way hi
s body had responded to her.
He was good at reading people. And Melissa Fuller’s body language had been abundantly clear. She wanted him. Over time, she’d gotten close to him. She’d cared about him.
Why’d she leave? Was he just that stupid? That he didn’t even know he was being played?
The conversations that they’d had were serious. He’d told her things he didn’t tell anyone. She had done the same. How do you go from that to gone in a few hours? What the fuck had happened?
He wanted to focus on that, but the guys wouldn’t let him. At least a dozen club girls had been brought to him in the past couple of weeks. None of them had been asked to stay. In fact, he’d pretty much sent all of them home.
Asher had zero interest in women, except for that one particular one that had played him and ran away. He wasn’t sure if what he was feeling was love, but he knew he felt something he wasn’t very familiar with. How the hell do you move past that?
The only thing he agreed with the guys on was that he needed to focus a little more. She’d been gone for weeks and nothing had happened. His own intel had told him that she wasn’t speaking. According to what he’d heard, she pretended not to remember anything and stuck to her story of being unaware of where she was and who held her.
Why? If she was playing games with him to win, why didn’t she tell them all she’d known?
One look inside that closet downstairs had told him she knew enough. Drugs. Weapons. Shit, she had seen more than enough. So why not turn him in? She had enough inside information to do just that.
Unless she was trying to protect him. But why? Why would she protect a man that she didn’t want to be with? One that she’d escaped from?
None of it made any damned sense. Including the part where she was all he could think about. His entire operation and their agenda could be shut down any second and he was imagining the floral scent of her perfume as he kissed down the nape of her neck.
This was entirely unacceptable and Logan knew that he had to get a grip. Otherwise the guys were going to vote him out of leadership and the club would be fucked. He had to let the memory of Agent Melissa Fuller leave his mind . If only it were going to be as easy as it sounded.
He picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
“I need to meet with you today,” he began and then continued without waiting for a response. “Vinnie’s Pizza, noon.” And with that he set the phone down and planned how he was going to handle all of this.
***
“New assignment?” Andy’s voice brought Melissa’s nose out from the folder.
She nodded and wanted to tell him about it, but she couldn’t without giving away her own emotion.
“That’s good,” he replied. “What is it?”
Melissa closed the folder and leaned back in her chair. Her outstretched hand motioned for her colleague to sit down, and he obliged.
“Gang related,” she answered. “Not much other info for now.”
“Must be serious.”
“Little boy was shot and killed,” Fuller tried to contain the pain that she was feeling. “Ammo matches AKs.” She watched as Wallaby nodded. “It’s third time one has been used in city, but the markings are all different.”
“Different guns.”
“Bingo. Witnesses say the boy was an accidental victim of a turf war. Wrong place, wrong time.” She sighed and shook her head. “But we have no leads.”
“You don’t seem to like this case much, do you?” Wallaby noticed something that she’d tried to keep hidden.
“Not really,” she answered. For a brief moment she wanted to tell him. She needed to share. But she couldn’t. She didn’t trust anyone right then. “We’re going after the small guys, but we need to take out the big guys at the top.” She shrugged. “But orders are orders, so I’m stuck here chasing random leads that lead nowhere.”
“It’s what we do.” He laughed, but it was devoid of humor—a guarded laugh. “Fuller,” he spoke her name and waited on her to respond. She simply looked at him without saying a word. “I’m really sorry,” he continued.
“It wasn’t your fault, Wallaby. You couldn’t have known.”
“I didn’t,” he replied. “I was trying like hell to find a way to get you.”
Melissa smiled at her co-worker, glad to hear that someone had cared that she was kidnapped. “Thank you.”
“I’m glad you’re back.” he said before he walked out of her office.
She knew he was keeping something from her, but she wasn’t sure it had to do with her. Fuller had to let it go.
***
“She was cleared for work today.” The words hung in the air until Asher was ready to respond to them.
“Is that so?” he asked the voice on the other end.
“Yes.” There was no emotion present as the answer was given. “But she’s chasing down leads on gangbangers, not the weapons.”
“So she’s no longer looking into us?”
“No one is. The case has been suspended until further evidence is discovered.”
“Why?”
“Lack of evidence. She never turned on you.” The voice continued.
“Do you think I’m safe?”
“For now.” The words were her final ones before the line clicked dead.
Nothing about this made any damned sense.
***
Fuller sat straight up in the bed, breathless and sweaty. To the outside observer it would appear she had been having a nightmare. But she knew better.
Grabbing the glass of water that sat beside her bed, she tried to collect her thoughts. It had been another dream. A good one. It had included Asher Hudson. She remembered visions of leather and lace. Torment and torture that led to sexual pleasure.
Mostly she remembered his eyes. The way they danced when he looked at her. The eagerness he had to touch her. She had thought that he felt the same spark she did. The same attraction and chemistry. The same desires. But then he’d said those things.
Melissa was spending far too much of her time focused on Asher Hudson. She could have easily told them where he was and what he’d done, but she couldn’t. Not really. Underneath her anger at his betrayal, she loved him. And the one thing she was learning in all of this was that when you loved someone you would do whatever it took to keep from hurting them. Even if you were risking your job.
But the dreams. They were so vivid. She was happy. And then she woke up and realized she was dreaming and she was unhappy. Nothing was understandable. Part of her wished she could put that man behind bars so she could move on with her life. But she couldn’t betray him.
She decided to stop worrying over her dream and just wake up. Lack of sleep was becoming common. She hadn’t rested since she’d left Hudson’s house. Ironically though, she’d slept a lot while she was there. But the exhaustion was wearing her out at this point. She needed something that would give her energy and help her get through the days. Hell, before she knew it she’d be getting drugs to support her inability to sleep because she couldn’t stop thinking about the man who had kidnapped her.
And sadly, because of the problems with Logan at work, she couldn’t even go to therapy.
As her tea whistled in the background she made a decision. She had to stop thinking of Hudson and just focus on what she was supposed to do.
CHAPTER 16
“Any progress?” Logan appeared in her doorway and ruined what was already panning out to be a shitty day.
“Not so far.” Melissa admitted. She was running into roadblocks everywhere she went.
Logan walked in and sat down. He watched as she scanned the file in front of her, not saying a word.
“Did you need something else?” Fuller looked up at him, annoyed and ready for him to leave.
“No,” he answered. “I was just thinking how we focus so much time and energy on these clubs and the high profile thugs we hear about.” Melissa closed the folder and waited to see what Logan’s point was
going to be. “And in the meantime there are kids being shot and killed.”
She tried to ignore what he was saying. She didn’t want to think too hard into what was going on. She definitely didn’t want to think too hard into her own past. She’d prefer to just work the case without thinking about the details.
“I’m doing what I can, Logan,” she snapped in his direction.
“Oh I know,” he replied softly. “I just hate thinking about it. How old was he, six?” she tensed at the words. “His parents must feel awful. That’s life changing.”
