Forever Alexa (Book Four In The Bodyguards Of L.A. County Series) (25 page)

“Abby can’t afford to wait.”

“She also can’t afford mistakes. There aren’t any easy answers here, Alex. As much as you don’t want to hear it and I hate repeating it, you’re going to have to be patient.”

Patient. If she was told to be patient one more time… She turned again and stared hard out the window. “They’ve already moved her. How long until they send her away? We tried your way last night, Jack, and look where that got us.” She bunched her fists at her side, hating herself for being so mean. None of this was his fault. “I’m sorry, Jack. I—” She turned and he was gone.

She took a step toward the door but stopped and sat on the couch instead, lying against the cushion. What was she
doing
? She was hurting the only person who’d stood by her through this ordeal. When Jack came back from the office, she would sit him down and apologize, but as the minutes ticked by and she waited, she fell asleep.

Jackson rapped his knuckles on the door of his father’s office and peeked in.

Tucker gave him a ‘come on in’ signal with a jerk of his head while he spoke on his cellphone. “Run that and let us know what you get. Yeah, we’re going back tomorrow night. Okay, later.” He set his phone down and propped his feet on the edge of the desk, ankles crossed. “I take it you spoke with Alexa.”

“Oh, we talked.” Jackson clenched his jaw and plunked his ass on the arm of the couch. The angry hurt in Alex’s eyes and barely controlled fury in her short, cutting words bothered the hell out of him. “Abby wasn’t at Lady Pink. Renzo was.” He steamed out a long breath and stood again, too restless to be still. “Goddamnit.” He rubbed his fingers against his forehead. “Abby wasn’t fucking
there
. Alex is pissed.”

“So, she’s pissed.” Tucker shrugged. “You made the right call last night.”

Jackson walked to the window and stared out at the dark waters. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?” Tucker dropped his feet from the desk. “Were you going to fend off a dozen bouncers with your fists, or better yet draw your weapon, shoot a couple of the bastards, and go down for murder? Don’t be stupid enough to take that on, Matthews.”

Jackson let loose a humorless laugh and shook his head. He knew he’d done the right thing for both Alex and Abby—deep down he did, anyway. The odds of getting them out of Lady Pink safely had been nil, but that didn’t make any of this easier. Abby was still being held against her will, and Alex’s heart was broken. “I can deal with her anger. God knows she’s been mad at me before. But when she looks at me with those eyes…” He bunched his fists. “They’re so fucking sad. I can hardly stand it.”

“This is tough, man. I don’t envy your situation. All we can do is keep at it.”

“I know.” He turned back to Tucker, struggling to push his last ‘conversation’ with Alex from his mind. “Tell me about Renzo.”

“He’s in this up to his eyeballs. My fucking spidey senses started tingling as soon as I saw him. They still are.”

“Same Lorenzo Cruz I was investigating back in LA?”

“Yup. I pulled up his information again—couple of speeding tickets, but no criminal record. He’s clean according to the law, but I look forward to Ethan’s take. There’s more to this guy than we’re seeing. We just need to give Ethan time to dig. He said he’ll get back to us tomorrow night at the latest.”

Uncustomarily edgy, Jackson scrubbed his hands over his face. “All this waiting is making me ape shit, man.”

Tucker shrugged. “It’s part of the game. You know that.”

He did, but this was the first time the waiting affected someone he loved. Alex was being torn to pieces. The torture was unbelievable. “What am I going to do if I missed our chance? This whole thing is worse now that I’ve actually seen her and talked to her and touched her. Abby’s fucking gorgeous. She and Alex could be twins. They’re going to use and abuse her until they kill her…” Jackson stopped, and his gaze flew to Tucker’s steady, impenetrable stare as he remembered. Abby’s case couldn’t be easy for Tucker to work. So many pieces were cruelly similar to Tucker’s twin sister’s unsolved murder. He’d been so wrapped up in Alex and Abby, he’d never stopped to think of the horror Tucker had lived through several years ago. “I’m sorry, man. I wasn’t thinking.”

Tucker gave Jackson his trademark shrug. “They’re probably rotating her. She’ll be back.”

Jackson nodded, understanding that the subject had been dropped as quickly as it had been brought up. Tucker rarely spoke of his sister or the tragic circumstances behind her death.

Tucker stood. “I’m thinking I’ll spend tomorrow spot-checking Renzo’s house, his place of business, etcetera. Hopefully I’ll have a few things to add to whatever Ethan finds. I have no doubt he’ll uncover something. This guy’s in deep. The waitresses are afraid of him. He knows the bartenders and bouncers. I can’t figure out why a guy who looks like him and has a career like his would be hanging out at a place like that unless he had something to gain from it.”

“Definitely raises a few flags. Now we have to figure out who he’s working with and see if it leads us back to Hartwell. This could be big.”

“Might be.” Tucker stretched his arms as he walked to the door and opened it. “I’m fucking beat. I’m going to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a long one.”

Alexa looked at the gorgeous grandfather clock and closed her eyes as she rested her butt on the arm of the couch. Five minutes. Had it really only been five minutes? She would give them until four, then she was calling Detective Canon. She reached for a copy of
People
and twisted on the lamp on the side table. Absently, she flipped from one page to the next, listening to the antique timepiece in the corner of the room tick the seconds away.

Could tonight be the night? Would Abby finally come home? Perhaps Jack and Tucker had taken her to the hospital for an evaluation, but certainly Jack would’ve called to tell her. Or maybe they followed the van that transported women back and forth from the clubs to the stash houses. Or what if—

She whipped her head up, on full alert when a key was shoved into the lock and the front door opened. “Oh, thank God.” She tossed the magazine aside and hurried to the entryway. “You’re okay.” She threw her arms around Jack and held on, despite the cigarette smoke covering his clothes. “You’re okay,” she repeated, resting her head on his chest. “I was so worried.”

His arms came around her. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were still up.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” She peered over his shoulder to the front steps. Abby wasn’t waiting in the shadows to be welcomed. She met Jack’s stare and struggled with her disappointment.

Tucker skirted around her and Jack. “I’m going to follow up with Ethan and see if he found anything else.” He gave Alexa a nod. “Good night.”

“Tucker, thank you so much.” She gave him a small smile.

“You’re welcome.” He turned and disappeared up the stairs.

She returned her attention to Jack. “So, how—how did it go? How’s Abby holding up?”

He played his fingers through her hair and held her gaze. “Alex—”

She read the apology in his eyes, and her stomach sank. “Abby wasn’t there.”

“No.”

She’d tried to prepare for the possibility, but she’d been so sure everything would work out this time. “Abby’s gone,” Alexa said, more to herself than Jack as she stared at the floor, trying to absorb another crushing blow. Did the ring ship her sister off to some faraway city, or worse, another country?

“We have to keep believing she’s coming home.” Jack held her tighter and pressed his cheek to the top of her head as he stroked his hand up and down her arm. “Ethan called us on the drive back. He found some stuff—a couple of websites he’s looking into. The details are still coming in, but if there’s a lead, Ethan’ll find it. He’s excellent at what he does.”

Alexa wanted to find comfort in another possibility, but the last dredges of hope had finally vanished. “That’s good,” she said with more enthusiasm than she felt. She untangled herself from Jack’s grip, afraid that if she looked at him, she would burst into tears. “I—I should probably get to bed.” She cleared her throat, steadying her voice. “Livy will be up soon.” She turned and hurried up the steps, fighting to keep her breathing steady and suppressing her need to sob.

The front door shut, and seconds later Jack followed. Alexa picked up her pace, desperate to lock herself in her room and relieve the consuming ache alone.

“Alex, wait a second.”

She shook her head as she stepped to the plush carpeting of the upstairs hallway. She was almost there.

“Alex, wait.”

“I can’t,” she choked out as she reached the threshold of the guestroom and gripped the knob, attempted to close herself in. But Jack pressed his hand to the door before it shut.

“Alex.”

She held her weight against the wood. “Please, Jack. I just need—”

“To let me in.” He gave a sharp push, dislodging her from her spot, and stepped inside.

She walked to the small sitting area, keeping her back to him as he closed the door and followed.

He snagged her arm and turned her to him. “Alex,
talk
to me.”

What could she say? So many thoughts were swirling about—apologies, regrets, disappointments. Finally she looked into his eyes and saw what she’d wanted to avoid—embers of anger and hurt. “Oh, Jack,” she said on a ragged breath and folded herself around him. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I blamed you.”

He sighed as he returned her embrace and kissed the top of her head. “Come sit with me.” He tugged her to the couch, still holding her against him.

She clutched at the arm of his t-shirt, listening to the steady beat of his heart, trying to hold back the worst of her pain. Jack already felt bad; she wasn’t about to make it worse.

“Let it go, Alex.” He stroked her hair away from her cheek.

She shook her head. “I’m fine.” She pressed her lips firm against the lie. “Really. I got my hopes up again, that’s all.” She tensed her grip on him as a sob snuck up and surprised her.

He lifted her chin until she looked at him.

A tear fell, and her lips trembled as he held her gaze. It was no use. “I—I needed her to be there, Jack.”

“I know.” He kissed her forehead. “I know you did.”

“I can’t stop wondering if the other night was the last time I’ll see her.” Another tear spilled, and she swiped it away, trying hard to keep herself together.

“I won’t let it be.” He caught the next tear.

“I’ve done the research. The odds aren’t working in our favor. Each day that passes…” Her breath rushed out again. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t want to cry in front of him.

“Don’t apologize. This is hard. It’s killing me watching you suffer this way.” He skimmed his fingers along her temple. “I wish I could take it all away.” His hands found their way into her hair. “I wanted to take her with us, Alex. I did. I keep running the scenario over—”

“Please don’t.” More tears tracked down her cheeks as she shook her head and pressed her hand to his cheek. “If you could’ve, you would’ve. I really do know that. You’ve been here for me. You’ve been nothing but honest and kind, yet you keep taking the brunt of my frustrations, and it’s not fair.”

“I can handle—”

“No. No,” she repeated and framed his face with both hands. “You shouldn’t have to. I can see how much this is hurting you, too. This isn’t just about me and Abby.”

“But that’s all I care about.” He framed her face as she did his. “All I care about is you, Alex. You’re all I’ve ever cared about.”

Her heart stuttered as they breathed each other’s breath.

“I have to make this better. I need to make this okay for you. Every time you cry for your sister…it rips me up.”