Monster - Gadziala Jessica. Страница 13

“And he's helpin'?” Shane asked, not looking the least convinced. My eyes slid to Gym-Brat Barbie and Shane jerked his head at her. “Get lost for five,” he told her, and in a huff, she did.

“I don't think I want to hear this either,” Lea said, sliding out from under Shane's arm. “I'm gonna go to Fee's and see what creepy phone sex callers she gets today.”

And with no further explanation, she was gone.

“Trouble?” Shane prompted.

“Well, Breaker here was hired by Lex to, um, kidnap me.”

“Fuckin' serious?” Shane asked, turning his attention to Breaker. “Thought you didn't deal in women.”

“I fuckin' don't,” Breaker answered, starting to look almost tired. “They got Shoot. What fuckin' choice did I have?”

At this, Shane shrugged a shoulder. “Right. Let's go get you your shit,” he said to me, then led us through his gym into the back room, unlocking the door, and letting us inside. He leaned back against the wall as I took the key from Breaker's hand, trying real hard not to touch his skin, and judging by the eye-smile I was getting... he knew exactly why. I turned away from him, walking over to my locker and unfastening the lock.

“You two fucking?” Shane's voice asked, making me jump and turn in a way that was almost... guilty.

“What? No!” I answered, my voice only a little squeaky. Then, more calmly, “He only just kidnapped me at like three am this morning,” I offered.

At this, Shane laughed. “Hell, babe, I've seen him pick up a girl in under three minutes.”

Oh.

Well.

Okay then.

“Not this girl,” I said firmly, taking the small box out of the locker and leaving it open. I wouldn't be needing to use it anymore.

Breaker's brow was raised at me, obviously not letting go of the 'not this girl' comment. But his eyes dropped to the box. “What's in there?”

I put it down on the break room table, flipping off the lid to reveal two dozen USB drives.

“Shit,” Shane observed. “That's all dirt isn't it?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding.

Breaker's eyes rose to mine. “Doll, how long have you been workin' on this?”

“Ten years,” I answered automatically. “I was sixteen when my mother killed herself because of that dickhead. I wanted to make sure he didn't get away with it.”

“Away with what?” Breaker asked, his voice almost... gentle.

“Away with any of it. The rapes. The murders. Anything. I want him to pay.”

Breaker's eyes gentled to match his tone, “Alex...”

“Alright,” Shane said, interrupting the moment, “I can't be involved in this. Not directly. Not dragging my family in the middle of a war,” he said, moving toward the door. His eyes found mine. “Good luck, baby.” He turned his attention to Breaker. “Be smart or you'll lose them both,” he told him then walked out.

“Alright,” Breaker said, his tone back to normal and I felt almost sad for losing the softness. “Let's get out of here. Do we need your laptop to look at that shit or can mine work?”

“Any laptop will work,” I said, shrugging. It didn't matter what you opened them on. The only safeguard was the fact that I was the only one who knew the passwords or the key to break the code.

“Good. Let's go to my place then,” he said, turned his back to me, and tore through the gym.

I had to jog to keep up with him, watching his tense shoulders with a growing sense of unease.

Because I felt like something had changed back in that break room.

But I had no freaking idea what it was.

Seven

Breaker

Alex slipped back into her sweatshirt as soon as we got in the truck. Partly because it was cold but mostly because of the incident with me pawing at her tits earlier.

She wasn't wrong to cover up.

I would have liked to finish what I started.

I don't know what the fuck it was with her- why I couldn't seem to keep my hands off of her. But I couldn't. So it was better she kept on as many layers as possible.

If she could put a reign on that sexy as fuck temper too, we'd be all the better.

I needed to stop thinking about getting in her pants and focus on making a plan to try to get all of us out of this situation alive. Which, well, wasn't gonna be fuckin' easy.

But maybe whatever the hell she had on all those USB drives would make it less complicated.

“That's your place, isn't it?” she asked for the first time since we got in the car. Forty minutes of silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

She was pointing up at the top of the hill where a lone house stood. Not big. A simple two bedroom brick structure up an incline that was damn near impossible if there was so much as a dusting of snow on the ground.

“Why'd you say that?” I asked as I turned up the rock lined side road. I'd laid the rocks myself, scooping them out of the back of my truck every day for weeks. It made it damn near impossible to approach my place silently.

“Because you're like... you know...”

“A criminal?” I supplied, slanting my eyes to her, smiling.

“Well, yeah. I mean... you get involved with a lot of bad people. It seems advantageous to live in a house where you can see if anyone approaches from like a mile away.”

“It is,” I confirmed, pulling the truck around to the back and parking. “It's also... advantageous to have brick walls and bullet-resistant glass.”

At this, she giggled. Actually... fuckin'... giggled.

And fuck if it didn't sound like music.

“What?” I asked, fighting a smile.

She fought to control her laugh, lost, and shrugged a shoulder. “I could see a lot of people wanting to kill you is all,” she said, smiling wider.

I chuckled, shaking my head, and climbing out of the truck. Mostly because if I didn't, I was going to haul her into my seat and kiss that smartass grin right off her face.

The attraction thing? Yeah, it was becoming a problem.

I needed to be focused.

And her pretty little self wasn't making that easy.

I unlocked the front door, punching the pin into the security system as it steadily beeped its warning, then moved aside to let Alex in.

My house was comfortable. That was the only plan I had when I finally bought it- I wanted a place to settle into on the rare occasion where I wasn't on the road and sleeping in old motels.

Directly inward and to the left was the u-shaped kitchen, the cabinets a light cherry, the counters a swirling white and red marble. All the floors were wide-planked, medium tinted hardwood... stretching from the kitchen on the left toward the living room on the right, double doors leading out to the back deck. I had a big flatscreen in an entertainment system lined with endless DVDs across from a black leather couch and scuffed coffee table where I had never shied away from propping my boots up. There were a couple earth-toned braided rugs thrown around by the doors so I didn't trek mud all over with my boots since I wasn't exactly a big fan of scrubbing floors.

I looked over to find Alex looking around, her brows drawn together, making two little vertical indentations form between her dark brows. “What?”

She looked back toward me. “Just wasn't what I was expecting,” she admitted, but there was a strange sadness in her voice. “How often do you stay here?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Few days a month. Longer in the winter when I don't want to travel as much.”

To this, she nodded, walking over toward my living room and looking through my DVDs.