Mercy's Angels Box Set (81 page)

“Sorry if I overstepped my mark, Boss. I just don’t like knowing the girl is in some sort of trouble that I can’t do anything about.” Drew’s obvious interest in Lola seemed a little more intense than professional curiosity.

“Understandable, but never doubt my desire to help those who need it, Drew. With women who’ve been hurt, women like Emily, Ella, and Annie, trust is a big issue, and you don’t want to go destroying it before you’ve had a chance to develop it. Sometimes you need to slow down and back off to see the whole picture clearly.”

Drew nodded and the room fell into silence.

“So, if you’re going to be my date tomorrow, I better be get moving. It takes a lot of work to turn this awesomeness into something epic, and I need to pick up my suit from the dry cleaners.” Bomber stood from his chair and winked at Gabbie.

“You are not my date,” Gabbie said through gritted teeth.

“Keep telling yourself that, sweets,” Bomber glanced my way. “We done here, Boss?”

“We are. See you all at the fundraiser.”

“Pick you up at seven,” Bomber called out to Gabbie as he left the room.

“The man is loco,” Gabbie sighed. “I wish I could be there when Larz meets him at my door.” Larz threaded his hands behind his head and laughed. “I’ll take a picture, honey. Trust me, I’m looking forward to this just as much as you are.”

“You’re not going to be home?” I asked Gabbie, smiling at her devious plan to throw water on Bomber’s heated ego.

“No, I am going to get ready with Annie. Hope you don’t mind giving me a lift. I know it’s supposed to be your first date and all, but Annie assured me you wouldn’t mind,” she said with a blush.

“Escorting two beautiful women into that room, how could I refuse?” I grinned. “Larz, just make sure you get Bomber there to see my entrance. I want a picture of that, too.” Even Braiden laughed at that. As the room emptied, Braiden stood and lingered in the doorway.

“Em isn’t ready for the fundraiser, too many people, too many bad memories,” he murmured. I nodded, not at all surprised. Emily’s experience in gatherings and functions had been far different than the one she would experience tomorrow night. Used as little more than a slave for the sexual gratification of masochists, the bad memories still lingered and were easily incensed in large gatherings with unfamiliar people. “I have to admit, I will be disappointed to miss out on seeing you fumble your way through your first official date with Annie.” A small smile kicked up one corner of his mouth.

“Hack it up, dom boy, you’ve never seen me in action. I’m as smooth as fine silk when it comes to wining and dining women.”

Braiden shook his head. “You’re as smooth as Jaxon’s potholed driveway when it comes to Annie.”

I laughed, silently agreeing that Jaxon’s long gravel drive needed attention, and soon. I swear I busted a spring on the Chevy last time I took a drive out there. “Are you suggesting I can’t dazzle my woman?”

“I can’t believe you just used the word dazzle,” Braiden muttered.

“Trust me, cuz, I won’t need a kink room or a paddle to get my woman off.” I raised my hands before us. “These alone will do the trick.”

Braiden smiled. “They sure as hell have done the trick for you since you turned twelve and discovered breasts weren’t only for feeding babies.”

I turned my attention to the computer before me. “Go spank your woman or something,” I grumbled with a half grin.

“With pleasure,” Braiden replied, leaving me alone to my thoughts, which now consisted of breasts—more importantly, one particular woman’s breasts. Annie’s breasts, which I had managed to catch a tantalizing preview of, the creamy, smooth swell that rose above the thin fabric of her bra had taunted me on many an occasion. I was man enough to admit when Annie leaned over in front of me I was not the gentleman who looked away.

I groaned with frustration, completely unable to concentrate on the email before me. With a swipe of the keys, I shut the computer down. It was a little after eleven, close enough to lunchtime that Annie wouldn’t think it was unusual for me to turn up at her coffee shop for a bite to eat. Admitting I would not be able to concentrate on anything else but Annie and her sweet little breasts, I left the office to go find the real thing.

The store was busy today; we hadn’t even had our usual slow period after the breakfast rush. Michael was working like a man possessed, handing out skinny lattes and cappuccinos, left, right, and center. Claire, our lunchtime girl, had just arrived to take over the cash register while I delivered orders to tables and cleaned up as customers left. We hadn’t embraced the food side of the business like some coffee shops; we concentrated on beverages with a small selection of cakes and muffins. I had recently taken on a partnership with a local sandwich shop that filled a fridge with ready-made sandwiches. It had been such a hit with the locals that I decided I could benefit from the extra money by doing it myself, which meant I would be getting up a couple of hours earlier each morning to prepare them. It wasn’t like I had a social life anyway, and the extra income would make it worthwhile. When I glanced to a table that had just been vacated, I was surprised to see Lola picking up the empty cups and trash.

“We’re dead quiet over there. I asked Rebecca if she would mind, and she practically shoved me across the corridor.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, appreciating the help.

“It should be me thanking you. I get to check Michael out up close.”

I laughed, but I wasn’t surprised, the girls had been goo-goo eyed for Michael the moment he started working for me. When Lola stood and nearly stepped into the enormous bulk of Drew, she looked suddenly shy and maybe even a touch guilty. Drew’s big brown teddy bear eyes dropped to Lola’s full arms, and without asking, he took the glasses from her and deposited them on the counter, casting Michael a rather fearsome glare as he did. Picking up his cup of coffee to go, Drew left, having not spoken a word the entire time he was there.

Lola sighed. “I don’t know what his problem is. He talks to everyone except me. I would say he doesn’t like me, but then he goes and does something like that.” Lola pointed towards the dirty cups that Michael was quickly shifting off the counter.

“He likes you alright.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. He’s just nervous. He’s not like that with anyone else because he doesn’t care what kind of an impression he makes. He’s a big, scary looking man, and I think he is trying not to frighten you.”

Lola snorted. “And slinking around and watching me but refusing to talk to me isn’t frightening?”

“Maybe you should talk to him?”

“I’m not sure what to say now. It’s like we’ve surpassed the awkwardness. I know his name is Drew, and he knows my name is Lola. What would we say to each other? Gee, isn’t this weather we’ve been having ordinary and uneventful.”

It was my turn to snort. “Ask him out to a movie or something.”

Lola actually blushed, which made me pause. “You’ve been on a date or two before, right?” She shrugged as she quickly wiped down the table before a couple smiled and slipped into the seats.

“I had a man sit at a table with me at a cafe once because the place was full. We chatted and he paid for my coffee when my card wouldn’t work. Does that constitute as a date?”

I stood and stared at her, my mouth probably hanging wide open. “No, it does not, Lola. Are you telling me you’ve never been on a date, ever?”

She shrugged. “Dates are overrated.”

“And you would know this how?”

“I’m assuming, and before you start getting personal with your questions, no, I’ve never had a boyfriend. Could you please not tell Rebecca or Ella? They’ll laugh at me.”

“They would not laugh at you. They’d be surprised, but they wouldn’t laugh. They most certainly would try and hook you up with the first man to walk by, though.”

“An even better reason not to tell them.”

“Annie, phone!” called out Michael, interrupting our conversation.

“I promise not to tell,” I called out to Lola as I rushed behind the counter. I held the receiver to my ear as I reached for another clean rag, tossing the dirty one in a bag of things to be laundered.

“Annie speaking.”

“Is this Annie Lonergan?”

“It is. How can I help you?” I wiped a splash of spilt coffee off the counter.

“Princess, you can help me by depositing twenty-four thousand dollars into my bank account by the end of week.”

The rag in my hand stilled on the counter. “I beg your pardon?”

“I’m sure you heard me just fine. Do you have trouble hearing? Because if I don’t see that money by midnight this Friday, the first thing I am going to take from you is those pretty little ears, followed by your son.” Bile rose in my throat, and my heart beat so loud it drowned out the lunchtime chaos around me. “You don’t want to call the police. I have men watching you and your boy, so you need to be real careful how you handle this, princess, otherwise one of you will meet an unfortunate accident.”

“Who are you? I don’t owe anyone that kind of money.” It was a lie, I owed Jaxon a whole lot more than that, but I knew this call had nothing to do with Jaxon Carter.

“No, your husband, Phillip, owes me, and I can’t find him, so you’re it, princess. Midnight Friday, twenty-four thousand. I’ll call before the end of the week to give you the bank account details, unless you have the money now, in which case we can clear things up right away.”

“I don’t have that kind of money, not now, not even by the end of the week.”

“That’s a shame. An innocent boy shouldn’t have to die because his parents aren’t able to provide for him. Tell you what. I’ll call you back in a few days to see how you’re doing. If you are struggling to get the money together, maybe we can talk . . . maybe we can come to another arrangement.” The voice went quiet, but I knew he was still there, the heavy breathing giving him away. “It might be nice to have a lady around, to keep things clean . . . to keep things interesting.”

I knew what he was insinuating, and by the time my brain sent my lips the signal to speak, the line went dead. I stood there with the phone pressed against my ear, my mind spinning with incoherent thoughts. With a shaking hand, I placed the receiver back on the cradle against the wall.

“Annie?” Michael called out sounding harried.

“I need a minute,” I snapped, before racing down the short hallway and into the tiny storeroom out back. I slammed the door shut and stood in the room, it’s spinning making me ill. Leaning hard against the wall, I closed my eyes and drew long, deep breaths, in and out. My entire body shook, but as I stood there, reaching for calm, I gradually found it. Finally, my mind snapped into sharp focus. What the hell had Phillip done, and where the hell was he? I had to find him. He had to fix this. The business account currently had a little less than twelve thousand dollars in it. It was the end of the month and wages had to come out of that, bills had to be paid, and whatever was left went to Jaxon as a loan repayment. There was no way I could possibly come up with that kind of money, and the alternative was a hell-no! A tap on the door caught my attention, and I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing for a few more minutes to compose myself.

“Sunshine, you hiding in there?” Dillon. His voice alone filled me with a sense of security.

Maybe I could tell Dillon. The man on the phone had said no police, but Dillon wasn’t the police. What if Dillon told the police, though? What if the men supposedly watching me and Eli found out I had told Dillon and realized who and what he was? They would probably retaliate just as if I had told the police. No, I needed to keep this to myself for now, until I could locate Phillip and find out what he had gotten himself into. I had a few days until the mysterious caller got back in touch with me.

“Annie, you okay in there?” His voice had morphed from playful to concerned, so with one final breath, I pulled away from the wall, flattened my hands down my apron, and opened the door. “Are you alight?” His brow furrowed as his eyes checked me over for injury. To have someone care and worry about me like that was new, but welcome.

“I’m okay. It’s just been a crazy day. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and just needed a minute.” I could tell Dillon didn’t believe me so I tried a little harder to plaster on a fake smile. His eyes dropped to my lips, and his brow dipped lower with confusion. He knew my smile wasn’t real, but he stepped away from the door and nodded.

“I’m just grabbing some lunch. Thought I’d hang out here for a while. I was getting sick of staring at the walls in my office.”

“So you thought you’d stare at the glass walls of mine?”

The corner of Dillon’s mouth quirked up. “I had something else in mind to stare at.”

I blushed because, well, I wasn’t used to the unabashed and open compliments that Dillon was so comfortable giving me. He grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and I had Michael make him up the short black he preferred, then he took a seat at a corner booth where he remained for the rest of the day. He spent a little bit of time on his laptop and phone, but seemed to always be looking my way when I glanced over. As the afternoon dragged on, I was much jumpier than usual, my eyes constantly checking over my shoulder. Trying to look normal in the eyes of the people around me while continuously searching for an unknown threat was virtually impossible. By the time I was ready to close up, I was exhausted. When Charlie waltzed through the front doors with Eli in tow, I felt my body sag with relief.

“You tell your momma, okay?” I heard Charlie murmur to Eli.

“Tell your momma what?” I asked, kneeling down to wrap my arms around my boy. He was small for his age, but his wise old personality and wit made him seem so much older than eight.

“Nothing,” he said in a small voice.

“Little man,” Charlie practically growled.

Eli stood back and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Mrs. Wicker put me in the timeout chair for twenty minutes because I told Jordy Jackson that I was gonna kick him in the nuts.”

“Eli!” I gasped, shocked. Eli didn’t have a violent bone in his body. I couldn’t believe he would say or do such a thing.

“He was teasing Bella and told her she looked like an orangutang because she had red hair. Bella didn’t know what that was, but I did. It’s a monkey, and it wasn’t nice. Then he kept saying Bella ranga, Bella ranga over and over, and she started crying and no one else was doing anything. He was being a bully, and you told me bullying was not right. So, I told him to leave Bella alone or I’d kick him in the nuts, and I knew how ’cause Dillon showed me!” Eli was red in the face by the time he had finished, probably a combination of anger and lack of breath.

“Okay, settle down, Rambo. Firstly, I thought we agreed on not using the word nuts.”

“I didn’t agree,” Eli pouted.

“Secondly, bullying should not be tolerated, and I am so proud of you for standing up to Jordy and looking out for Bella.” His little brown eyes shot up to mine. “But, you really shouldn’t have threatened to kick him the n . . .” I almost said the damn word myself. “You shouldn’t have threatened him like you did. You can’t fix ugly words with more ugly words, Eli.”

“Then how am I supposed to fix it?”

“You need to be the bigger man, the one who takes Bella by the hand and walks away.”

“But then Jordy will tease her again tomorrow.”

“And tomorrow, you walk away. If you keep walking away, Jordy would get no enjoyment out of picking on Bella, and he would move on.”

“But then he would pick on someone else?”

I sighed. Eli was too smart for his own good. “Let’s go home, Bean. I’m really tired. Just don’t threaten to kick anybody in the nuts anymore.”

“You said nuts,” Eli giggled, and I couldn’t stop my smile.

“I heard it, little man. Your momma needs a spanking,” said Dillon from behind us. That made Eli laugh, and the cheeky look on Dillon’s face made me blush.

“Come on, let’s go home.”