Claiming What's His (10 page)

             
Sam felt nothing.  No feelings toward him whatsoever.

             
As Parker advanced towards her again, Alex stopped him with a hand to his chest.  ”I warned you.”

             
Parker pushed Alex back, causing him to take a step back.  “Back off, Conrad.”

             
Alex swung an arm back and punched Parker in the chin, causing him to fall down.  Alex went down after him and they both swung at each other, rolling back and forth on the ground, each trying to get in more licks.

             
Sam shot out of her seat again, ran up behind Alex, and just as he was about to strike Parker again, she locked both of her arms around his one arm and pulled back with everything she had.  

             
“Alex, stop!  Get off of him!” she shouted.

             
He looked back at her, his eyes raging with anger.  Because she held on to his arm, holding him back, this gave Parker the one opportunity to get his shot in which he took.  He punched Alex in his jaw, throwing him back and making Sam lose her balance by falling over, knocking the chairs away. 

             
“Sam!”

             
A bunch of the guys came running up, holding Cole down and pulling Alex up.  The guys eventually loosened their grip on Alex as he went to Sam, gripping her arm, helping her to her feet.  

             
“Sam, are you okay?”

             
She stuttered, slightly.  “I-I’m f-fine.  What is wrong with you?  This is a fundraiser, not a wrestling ring.  You can’t just go –”  

             
She didn’t finish.  

             
Alex slid an arm under her knees and wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up and heading for the door.  

             
“Alex!”  She kicked and wiggled in his arms, trying to get him to release her.

             
It didn’t work.

             
He continued walking through the crowd of people, ignoring all of the expressions people gave them,  and out the convention center until they were on the side of the building where he set her down on the sidewalk, pressing her up against the wall.

             
Sam continued shrieking, “I cannot believe you –”

             
He pressed his lips firmly to her, kissing her long and hard.  She fought him for as long as she could which was only for about two seconds before she opened her mouth and kissed him back.  Her hands were still shoving him but quickly stopped, despite how angry she was.   She glided her hands up his body and wrapped them around his neck.  He slid his tongue inside.  He tasted as good as she remembered.  He had one hand cupping the back of her head and one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling me close, feeling his massive erection.

             
It was impressive. 

             
Really impressive.

             
Sam was so turned on that her nipples peaked and her legs quivered.  

             
At the moment, she wouldn’t mind doing it at the side of the building where anyone could see them at any second.

             
Everything in the surrounding area disappeared.  No people, no animals, no cars, no air conditioning unit whirring nearby.

             
At that moment, it was only her and Alex.

             
Only they existed.

             
That was until loud shrieks echoed in the dark.

              Alex released her lips, loosened his grip around her waist (but not letting go) as she gasped hard for air, trying to focus where the screams came from. 

             
Sam looked up to him.  ”That came from inside.”

             
He nodded, grabbed her hand and ran inside.  When he opened the door, it was pitch black inside.  People were pulling out their phones and using it as their source of light as they looked around.  

             
“Seems to be a blackout,” Sam said as she tried to make something out in the dark.

             
“Wait here.  I’m gonna go check on the breaker.”  He released her hand and ran back around the building.

             
A bright light was headed her way.  As it got closer, she noticed that it was Maggie, Nat, and Char, with a shaking Danny.  He hiccupped soft cries against Char’s shoulders.  

             
It had been several minutes when the lights suddenly came back on and people cheered and clapped their hands.  It quickly died and loud gasps filled the air.

             
What happened?

             
Sam looked in the direction everyone was looking.  Their focus was towards the front center of the room where the donation –

             
Shit!

             
The donation box was gone!  Someone stole the donation box. 

             
“Oh my God,” she whispered, horrified that anyone would steal money from a fundraiser.

             
Maggie looked in the direction she was looking and gasped.  ”Who the hell would do something like this?  And at a family-friendly fundraiser?”

             
“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Sam told her.

             
Alex walked in and looked up towards the ceiling, as if making sure everything was working properly.  He walked up to them and his arms automatically went to Sam’s waist which she hadn’t notice.

             
Instead she looked up to him and said, “We have a problem.  The donation box is gone.  Looks like someone took it.”

             
He gripped his hand tightly around her waist as he pulled his phone out with the other.  He pressed a series of number and brought it up to his ears.  He then spoke, “Yeah, did you see anything?”

             
As he spoke, he looked around the room, searching for someone. “I didn’t see anyone while I was out back either.”  

             
Who was he talking to? 

             
Sam opened her mouth to ask when out of her peripheral vision, she saw Gorgeous Guy in a blue polo shirt and black slacks approaching, his phone attached to his ear looking straight towards Alex.  It seemed they were one the phone with one another.  Walking next to him was another hot guy who looked a lot like Gorgeous Guy except an inch or two shorter (obviously they were brothers).  Gorgeous Guy Two even had a hint of a tattoo on his arm.

             
Sam felt Maggie reaching her hand out, trying to find her arm without looking.  Her gaze was currently stuck on the two hot guys in front of them.  When she finally found it, she gripped it and shook it repeated.

             
“Maggie, stop.  I can see,” Sam whispered, even though she knew that others nearby knew what the gesture meant. 

             
Char flat out smiled.

             
So did Gorgeous Guy.

             
So did Gorgeous Guy Two,
and
he threw in a wink.

             
Maggie nearly melted to the floor.

             
From this, the hand that had been resting on Sam’s waist squeezed.  She knew what the unspoken words meant, but he didn’t have to squeeze her.  

             
Sam looked up and burrowed her brows.  What was with the squeezing?  If he had something to say, he could just say it. 

             
After all, she wasn’t anything to Alex.

             
Was she?

             
Alex glanced down with his left brow raised.  

             
Maybe she was, a little.

             
Sam shook off the mental note of possibly being his and took a step back, trying to pull out of his hold.

             
It only made his grip tighter.  

             
She stopped and sighed.

             
Gorgeous Guy pulled his phone off his ear and snapped it shut.  Then he spoke, “I didn’t see anything.  After you and Sam left, I was watching some of kids getting painted and the guy getting dunked.  Then all of a sudden, the place goes black.”

             
“I didn’t see anything either,” Gorgeous Guy Two added.

             
“Okay, we need to search the grounds to see if we can find anything,” Alex ordered.

             
“I’m going too,” Sam added.

             
Alex shook his head.  “No, you stay here.”

             
“Alex, did you forget that she’s a PI now?”  Maggie said.

             
“You’re a rookie.  Plus, you don’t have any clients to back you up,” he told her.

             
This comment made Sam pissed.

             
Who the hell did he think he was, the new Sherlock
freakin’
Holmes of Comfort?

             
“That’s not true.  She already has three,” Maggie fibbed, sort of.

             
“Four.”  Sam corrected as she lifted her hand to her waist and tried to pry his fingers off her.  His fingers dug into her hips and he pulled her closer, shifting her so that her front was to his side.

             
“Really?” Maggie asked, shocked that it had been more than she thought.

             
Sam nodded and looked up to find Alex looking down at her, his eyes working, hard.  She knew he was contemplating whether or not he wanted her to go and regardless if he didn’t let her, she was going.

             
He finally caved and said, “Alright, but be careful.  And keep your phone handy.  Dean, you take the south.  Sean, you take north.  I’ll take east.  Sam, you have west. Do you have your pepper spray?”

             
“No, I have my gun,” she told him as she reached into each coat pocket and pulled out her gun and phone.

             
His lips went tight and she knew he wanted to say something, but he let it go for now and said, “Okay.  We meet back here in thirty.”

             
“Got it.”  Gorgeous Man and Gorgeous Man Two said together and took off.

             
Sam pulled away, only to have Alex bring her back to his side.  He took her phone and pressed a bunch of numbers and gave it back to her.  He brought his face closer and muttered, “Be careful.  Use the gun and yell if you have to.  I programmed my number in your phone.  Call if you need me and I’ll be there.”

             
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him.  

             
He then shocked her again and locked his lips to hers, hard.  There were no tongue involved, but it still caught her breath.  He let her go and took off, leaving her standing there a little dazed.  

             
She refocused and turned her head to find Maggie and Char’s mouths gaped open.  

             
Then she took off.

             
Heading to the west side, Sam slowly scanned the dark side of the building.  She walked as quietly as she could, taking in the silence of the night with the soft murmurs from the inside.  The wind was calm and it was hot.  A small gush of hot, humid air pushed through as the heat hit her.  

             
Blah.

             
Twenty minutes later she still hadn’t found anything.  No one was there.  Nothing was out of place.  And she hadn’t heard from the others.

             
This was crazy that the perpetrator could get away with a big box of money so quickly.  There was a lot of money in that box and Sam was pretty sure that the box itself wasn’t that light. 

             
She had been out there a while and had found nothing.  Now would probably be a good time to regroup with the others and plan their next move.  She turned around and was headed back towards the building but within three steps, she stopped.  The bushes on the far end of the parking lot rattled and a loud
thunk
echoed in the dark as if someone tossing something into the bushes.              

             
Sam made her move as quickly and quietly as she could dashing across the parking lot to find the source.  It was a difficult since she had on wedge sandals.

             
She approached closer, slowly making her way to the shaking vehicle as quietly as she could.

             
“Fuck, man!  Hurry up before anyone sees us,” a male voice hissed as more thumping noises escalated. 

             
Obviously, there were at least two people involved.  Otherwise he was talking to his imaginary friend.

             
Sam quickly headed that direction with her gun in one hand and phone in the other.  She wasn’t sure who she should call first in this case, Alex or Chuck. 

             
Chuck was an officer of the law.  Regardless of how this ended out, Chuck would be there at the scene to take the perp in and book him.  But Sam hadn’t seen him all night and wasn’t sure how close he was. 

             
At least she knew where Alex was and that he was close by. 

             
Sam scrolled to find Alex’s number, holding the phone as close as she could to her body, trying to prevent the light glare from giving her position away.

             
Shuffling noises got louder as she saw someone moving stuff in the back seat in a hurry.  

             
Sam stopped and saw it was a man.  He was bent down, half his body in the car in the back seat.  She caught a glimpse of his dark pants and black boots.

             
He stood up straight and shut the door.  

             
Then he opened the front and got in.

             
The engine started.  

             
Sam moved towards the car and his head turned to her.  She froze.

             
A pair of eyes locked to hers as she noticed his hands gripping the steering wheel.  

             
He saw her.

             
The car squealed out of the lot and she chased after it.  It looped around the parking lot, gaining speed, fast.  

             
Sam darted between cars, trying to cut it off.  She ran to the open and got in way of the car, hoping for them to stop.  As he rounded the parking lot, the passenger side window rolled down just slightly and I saw the silhouette of the other person.

             
The glare of a dark object slowly peaked out the window.  It looked to be the barrel of some sort.

             
A gun!

             
Fuck!

             
Sam lifted her gun in preparation to shoot.

             
It was them or her.

             
All Sam knew was that she wasn’t ready to die just yet.

             
“Sam!” 

             
Sam thought she heard her name being shouted as the driver sped up, getting closer.  She fired two shots when a heavy body charged at her, pushing her to the ground and knocking her out of the way as the other gun fired, nearly missing them.  She landed hard on the concrete with a loud thud, Alex on top of her, her gun flying out of her hand ten feet away.

             
Sam glanced up to see the car run up the curb and through the grass, making its way out to the main road, but not before hitting the side of the dumpster.  At a distance, she saw a female figure running towards the car as well with a gun in her hand.

             
From the side of the building she saw someone familiar walking out with a duffle bag.  Female.  One she hadn’t seen in a long time.  High school to be exact.

             
Lynn Summers.