A Is for Alpha Male (14 page)

“Thanks, Hunt. Love you.”

“Bottom of my heart,” he murmured softly.

Disconnect.

Pulling the phone away from my face, checking the screen, and tossing it back in my tote bag, I turned around to find Danny’s eyes beyond intense and locked tightly on me.

I thought back through my conversation with Hunter and realized how it must have sounded to an outsider.

Shit. An explanation would probably be good at this point in time.

“I know that sounds horrible. To celebrate someone’s death. But let me explain it,” I hedged slowly, trying to read Danny’s thoughts as I went.

Danny didn’t say a word, just crossed his arms over his chest in “Alpha Pose” and waited to hear my elucidation.

Figuring he would either take me as I was or leave me, a philosophy I prided myself on, I delved straight into the rest of my explanation, my voice steady and sure.

“See, Ryan Parker was Hunter’s very best childhood friend. Mine too, really.” Okay, so I had done nothing but argue with him at the time, but that’s what kids did. In hindsight, I only saw him as a positive staple in my life.

Danny’s eyes flashed, but his lips stayed pressed together and his body stayed locked down, so I pressed on. “They did absolutely everything together until one day...they couldn’t.”

My voice shook, unable to keep my emotion separate, as I stated, “José Franco murdered Ryan Parker, his older brother, and his parents one night in their own home. For years, no one has ever known what really happened that night, except that it was so brutal, all of the funerals were closed casket and combined into some kind of mass, group, family funeral. It was fucking horrible.”

I could see the Adam’s apple in his throat bobbing, but he gave absolutely nothing else away. I also knew Allison was there, in the background, silently listening to and observing every word spoken and the reactions they caused. But I only had enough concentration for one person. And at the moment, that person was Danny.

“Hunter never got over it. Frankly, none of us did. But Hunter...he’s dedicated his life to it. He was only eight years old, but he felt deep, even at such a young age, and every day, every hour, every minute, the loss of his friend eats at him. They never nailed down enough evidence to prosecute Ryan’s case, but they got José. A couple of years ago. Got him for running drugs, guns, girls, you name it. Put him in prison.”

His arms had fallen to his sides and his hands were clenched in fists, his eyes pointed down at the sand and unmoving.

“Turns out prison isn’t all that great a place for the likes of José, seeing as even other criminals don’t like guys who are rumored to fancy young kids.” I watched his fists squeeze even tighter before finishing, “And as of today, he’s dead.”

His eyes lifted to mine, and I could have sworn they were shiny with wetness. But I didn’t have long enough to confirm because they jerked to some point over my shoulder and never came back. He ate up two large steps, pressed his lips to my ear, the rest of his body held tight and distant, and murmured, “Call me, Hales. And do it soon,” his voice roughened by emotion.

His body was tense and seemingly locked there for a few fleeting moments before he forced it to move, stepping around me, nodding at Allison, and taking off up the beach toward the parking lot at a jog.

Dumbstruck, I twisted my torso, looking over my shoulder to watch him go.

What in the hell had just happened?

STILL REELING A little from Danny’s sudden and brisk departure, Allison and I attempted to shrug it off by settling back into our chairs to finish out our day at the beach.

I tried desperately to turn my brain off, to stop the constant yoyo-ing of my thoughts, but it didn’t take long to decide I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.

I was going to need help.

The kind of coddling only a mother could provide.

“Well, Allison. You’re up at bat. I’m going to need some serious enabling for my sticking-my-head-in-the-sand activities, and you’re the one who’s going to give it to me,” I stated to my mom as a matter of fact rather than something for consideration.

“Right,” she agreed easily, knowing what I must be feeling after my most recent encounter with Danny. “What are you in the mood for, distraction or a pep talk?”

Thinking I would rather not talk about the weirdness that was Danny
at all
at that moment, I opted for door number one. “Distraction. Save the pep talk for later, I’ll probably need it. If you’ve already got some lines prepared, you might want to jot them down on your mental note pad so you don’t forget.”

I watched as she turned her head down and away from me, reached in her bag, pulled out her iPhone, and started typing.

We were right in the middle of a conversation. What the hell?

Wondering what shiny object had distracted her now, I questioned, “What are you doing?”

She didn’t even look up, but instead deadpanned, “My memory’s not what it used to be.”

Oh, Jesus H. Christ. She was making a
real
note in her iPhone about things to say for a later pep talk.

Only Allison.

“I appreciate your taking the postponed pep talk seriously, but could you put it on hold and get on with the distracting, Mom? Distraction is priority one and right now you’re kind of doing a shitty job.”

“Right, right,” she muttered, dropped her phone back in her back, and then sunk her toes into the sand, wiggling them around so that the fine granules settled and dispersed properly.

Getting on with her job, she questioned, “So...back on the road tomorrow. Where are we headed?”

That was an unbelievably good question and something I had been mulling over all morning. I knew we would want to hit Colorado, as it was completely unavoidable in a quest for KA men, and then there were some other things I had always wanted to see.

The Grand Canyon. Las Vegas. The Pacific Ocean.

I knew that would mean an awful lot of driving, but if you wanted the rewards life had to offer, you had to put in the effort.

And certain kinds of beauty, nature’s bounty and the love of a good man, for example, were worth the hard work the gift of experiencing them required.

“I’m thinking we go to Denver first. What KA hero search would be complete without a visit to Denver?”

Unfortunately, Carnal wasn’t a real place or we would be going there too. What a crying shame.

Looking over at Allison, I saw that she was nodding her head in ascent, but her eyes were all glazed again. Visualizing the hot guys of Denver, no doubt.

“After that, I’m thinking we make the long haul, hit the Grand Canyon, Vegas, and then make sure we dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean,” I continued. “Sound good?”

When Allison did nothing but nod again, I knew she really was wiped out. “Geez, I really did wear you out last night, huh?”

The nod returned, but this time, it was accompanied by a pitiful whimper.

“Jesus, we’re going to have to do some training before Vegas. It’ll be like the World Series compared to the little league of last night.” I paused for a second, and then hedged, “Maybe not even little league. More like tee ball.”

Her eyes rounded, her skin paled, and another, stronger whimper bubbled out of her throat.

At the sight of her terror, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I could feel the fine morsels of sand shifting around in my bathing suit as my body shook, and sweet Jesus, did that make me want a shower.

Gross.

“Don’t worry, Mamalicious. We’ll make sure to fit in plenty of relaxation too.”

And if we met men we wouldn’t be so quick to leave.

Shit, I wasn’t all fired up to leave
here
, but that was life.

That night, I was researching our drive on my computer, freshly showered with my wet hair falling heavily down my back.

“Holy shit, Madre. It’s going to take a hell of a long time to get to Colorado. We’re going to have to stop overnight tomorrow in Texas.”

Allison shrugged her shoulders and responded, “Whatever. That’s fine. We’ll stop whenever we want to, Haley. The trip is supposed to be fun. No need to put pressure on ourselves to drive it in a certain amount of time.”

She was absolutely right. “True fucking story, Allison. How’d you get so smart?”

She shrugged again, one corner of her mouth lifting upward. “Not sure. It sure as hell isn’t the time I’m spending with you.”

Ouch! And from my own mother!

Laughing hysterically, she walked over to me, kissed the top of my head, and murmured, “I’m just kidding, baby girl. You know how unbelievably bright you are.”

Without any further ado, she turned and left me, gathering up her stuff and organizing her suitcase so that she would be ready to go in the morning.

My mom was the master of that. Seamlessly inserting gargantuan compliments into conversation. They were so well executed that you almost didn’t notice them, whether they were following a disingenuous insult or just spoken like everyday thoughts. But they were like the Wizard of Oz, working their magic behind the curtain, building you up, bolstering your self-esteem, and generally turning you into the best version of yourself.

I could have easily taken it for granted, but I knew a lot of people didn’t get there from their parents. I may have only had one parent, but she was a hell of a good one.

Slowly getting up from the desk where my computer was, I headed for my bag to get a ponytail holder. I needed to wash my face, and once again the day’s harrowing events had caused a hair tie casualty.

Throwing my head forward, bending in half at the waist, and sending my hair up and over my head, I used both of my hands to bunch it together, making sure to get all of the hair that had a tendency to stick to the back of my neck. Straightening back to full height, I held the bunch of hair with my right hand, pulled the hair tie off of that wrist with my left hand, and secured my hair at the crown of my head.

I was sauntering toward the bathroom when I heard a song start to play throughout the room. It took me a minute, but I finally recognized it as “My Sacrifice” by Creed.

What the hell?

I looked to Allison to see that she was just as perplexed as I was, scanning the room with her eyes to find the source.

I quickly jumped into action, leading the investigation by checking all electronic things first. When I came up empty at the TV, clock radio, and room phone, the music stopped. And then started again.

I looked back at my computer on the desk, found that to be innocent, and then quickly tried to play “follow-the-sound”. When I got to my pink tote bag and dug inside, it became hideously clear that the music was coming from my phone.

You would think I would have checked that sooner, but this was
not
my ringtone. With as many cell phones as there were out there these days, attached to all sorts of body parts in all sorts of manners, I had trained myself to only perk up at the sound of my specific ringtone (“Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line, programmed specifically for this trip).

As I swiped to answer, I looked at the screen, saw that it was Danny, and muttered a disbelieving, “How in
the hell
does he do these things?”

I brought the phone to my ear and heard Danny’s soft chuckle. The one that said he thought I was funny. Obviously, he had heard at least the tail end of my rhetorical question.

“What’s up, Danny?” I asked, eager to find out why he was already calling me.

He paused briefly and then responded, “Just wanted to talk to you, Hales. I tried to be okay with not knowing where you’re going tomorrow, but...well...I just wasn’t.”

Wow. Instantly, my heart was thudding violently in my chest, the intensity somewhat akin to a hammer trying to pound its way out, but before I did anything else, I knew I had to find somewhere else to talk. I shared everything with Allison, but talking on the phone with someone, especially someone I was crushing on a little, was not something I wanted to do while sitting right next to her.

“Can you hold on a minute?” I asked into the phone. Danny muttered a, “Sure,” so I turned to Allison, covered the bottom of the phone with the heel of my hand and told her, “I’m going to go down and sit on the beach. I’ll be back.”