Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (13 page)

Shyla greeted them with a huge smile and then hugged Jason tightly before inviting them in. The Manhattan Beach home she and Alex shared was spacious with an equal amount of femininity and masculinity to its décor.

“Hey Jason! How are you?” Shyla asked.

“I’m good! And you?”

“Great! Hey Amour!”

Amour couldn’t recall ever meeting someone so chipper in her entire life. “Hi Shyla,” she said softly.

“Alex will be out in a minute, he’s just finishing up some paperwork or something. Why don’t you guys have a seat?” Shyla gestured for them to step into the large sunken living room ahead of them and they did so. She sat to the side of them in a large leather chair that looked very expensive and asked, “Where’s Mack?”

“He’s on a case and so is Jax,” Jason said.

“Oh. I sure hope it’s not dangerous.”

“They all are Shyla.”

Shyla shrugged and said, “Well Mack can take care of himself. My man is strong and very smart. Our kids are definitely gonna have his street smarts and charm.” Shyla gave them a quick wink just as Alex walked into the room.

Amour didn’t know what the hell Shyla was talking about, but she did know for sure that Mack definitely had something going on with Chandra. It may not have been very serious, but it was something. So that meant either Mack was sleeping with both of them, or Shyla was a little off her rocker. Either way, she found the whole thing quite weird.

“Shyla!” Alex said in an exasperated tone. “That’s enough with all that. Why don’t you go and get everyone something cold to drink okay.”

“Whatever!
It’s gonna happen,” Shyla said as she got up and walked towards the kitchen.

“She’s still at it after all these years huh?” Jason asked.

“Yes and it’s really starting to work my nerves,” Alex said before sitting in the chair Shyla had gotten up from. “How are you holding up Amour? I heard about your little incident at the hotel, it was all over the news last night.”

She hadn’t even watched any television at all since Tuesday and neither had Jason so neither of them was aware of the news broadcast. “I’m
fine. Just still a little shaky but since I have Jason with me I’m not too scared.”

“Was either of our faces shown on television?” Jason asked.

Neither of them had noticed any cameras, but because it was so much going on, they really didn’t pay much attention.

“No,” Alex said. “They didn’t show either of you or mention your names. They probably didn’t show up until after you guys left the hotel.”

“Good. That’s all we need is somebody else having eyes on us.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason gestured for Amour to take the photos out of her bag so she did and handed the envelope to Alex. “I found those on the maid’s body.”

Alex slid them out of the envelope and studied them. “Who the hell took these?”

“We don’t know,” Jason said. “It could be the guy that was at her suite or anyone else. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

“This asshole means business,” Alex said handing the photos back to Amour.

“Yes, in the worst way.”

Amour’s cell rang again in her purse as she placed the envelope back into her tote bag and she immediately became stiff. She quickly took it out of her purse and handed it to Jason.

He checked the caller ID and then looked back up at her. “It’s your father.”

She let out the breath she was holding before grabbing the phone from him and hitting the talk button. “Hello?”

“Hey pumpkin!” her father said in scruffy voice.

“Hey dad!
What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“No I’m not feeling too well today darling. I have a cold.”

That instantly made her worry. Illnesses weren’t good for someone in his condition. Not even common ones. This also made her upset because she’d told the care facility to call her if her father’s condition had changed in any way. “What are they giving you for it?”

“Not much. Since I’m on such a large regimen of meds already, they can’t give me too much other than acetaminophen for my fever. The doc says I’ll be fine though.”

Relief came over her. “Thank god.”   

“What’s happening with you out there pumpkin? Is everything going okay?”

“Yes daddy, everything’s fine. I’ve been coming up short out here so I’ll probably be heading home soon.” As much as she hated lying to him, this time she deemed it necessary. Being under the impression that she was giving up on this would maybe allow her father to relax and get some much need rest. He wasn’t in the condition to constantly worry about her. It would also help to ease some of the guilt she felt by not being with him right now.

“That’s great pumpkin! I’m so glad to hear that! Maybe then we can let your mother rest and get on with our lives.”

“Yeah…maybe.” She felt like shit for having this dishonest conversation with him, but at least he had pep in his voice. He hadn’t sounded this happy since before she’d left Nebraska. “Daddy, do you happen to know anything about a safe deposit box that mom had?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I found a key that looks like it belonged to one in her things.”

“That’s probably to the one she was keeping back then.”

“Do you know where it is? If what’s in it is important, I want to bring it home with me.”

“I have the address because I’ve been keeping up the payments on it. I didn’t care if they auctioned off the storage items but I wasn’t sure what she’d kept in the safe deposit so I didn’t want to lose it. I could be nothing or something important. I didn’t want to take the chance.”

“You don’t know what’s in it?”

“No, I never looked.”

“May I have the location of it?”

“Sure baby.”

By the time she’d ended her conversation with her father and he had texted the location of the safe deposit box, Shyla had returned with four large glasses of cola and Jason and Alex had gotten up and left the room. “Where are the guys?”

“They went in my brother’s office,” Shyla replied as she sat on the couch next to her putting the glasses on the coffee table.

Amour picked up one of the glasses and sipped. “Do you ever worry about Alex? You know…because of his line of work?”

“Yeah but I know he can take care of himself. He’s been doing this for years and so has Jason. You don’t need to worry about him either. He’ll protect you and himself, you can rest assure of that.” Shyla’s lips curved in a slight smile that told Amour she had known the real reason behind the question.

She sipped her cola again.  “He
is
very good at his job.”
Among other things, like using his tongue
. She clamped her thighs together trying to push the memory of last night out of her mind.

“I’m sure he is,” Shyla said with a wink. “And he’s hot too.”

Amour took a sigh of relief when the guys walked back into the room. She really didn’t want to continue
that
conversation. “What’s going on?” she asked Jason.

“I had to get a weapon from Alex. He’s going with me to the police station. I need you to stay here with Shyla until I get back alright.”

“My father gave me the location of the safe deposit box. I think I should go with you. We can stop by there while we’re out.”

“No, we can go when I get back. I don’t want you anywhere near that station since they already know you’ve been there. Just stay put and we’ll go when I return.”

She was not happy with this. She hated just sitting around doing nothing. But she knew Jason was not going to change his mind. “Alright.”

“Shyla knows where all the guns are in the house just in case,” Alex said. “You guys should be okay but if you need us, call us.”

“You got it big bro!” Shyla said giving Alex a salute.

After the guys had left, Amour and Shyla sat at the kitchen table in an awkward silence. She didn’t know Shyla that well…actually, she didn’t know her at all so she wasn’t sure what to say so she just sat there quietly until Shyla finally spoke.

“So you’re from the Midwest huh?”

“Yes, Nebraska.”

“I hear that’s a great place to eat and get drunk.”

Amour laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Is it as peaceful there as I imagine it is?”

“Oh yes, very. I love it. I’m beginning to love L.A. as well…minus the getting stalked and almost killed part that is.”

“I can imagine.” Shyla said as she rose up from her chair and walked towards the refrigerator. “I know the feeling and it sucks!”

“What do you mean?”

She opened the refrigerator door, looked inside and pulled out several items. “My dad, he’s…sort of in that line of work if you know what I mean.”

“Is he a cop?”

Shyla looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. “No, he’s sort of on the
other
side of the law.”

It didn’t take long for Amour to figure out what Shyla was referring to. Although she hated to perpetuate the stereotype, their last name
was
DeMarco so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Should she be telling her this?  “Oh…”

“Are you hungry? I can make a mean pizza,” Shyla said placing the ingredients on the counter.

She hadn’t eaten all day and her stomach was growling. “I’m starved actually.” Shyla gave her a quick grin and then focused on preparing the food again. “I sure hope the guys are okay.”

“They’re fine. They’re used to this sort of thing. You don’t have to worry.”

Amour nodded in agreement. She didn’t want to asked Shyla the next question that came to mind because she knew it was none of her business, but she couldn’t help being curious. “What’s going on between you and Mack? Are you guys together?”

Shyla began flattening the pizza dough she’d removed from the refrigerator. “No. Well not yet at least, but we will be.”

This girl was completely delusional. “You do know he’s with Chandra right?”

“No he’s not. I know he sleeps with her, but he’s not at all serious about her.”

Well Amour knew that much. Jason had told her. But why on earth would she want to be with Mack when he clearly treated women like shit? “If you don’t mind me asking, are you sleeping with him too?”

Shyla began slicing a pepperoni stick. “No.”

“So why do you think the two of you are going to be together then?”

Shyla obviously noticed the look on Amour’s face and instantly knew she thought she was insane. “Look, I’m not crazy Amour. I know Mack doesn’t have feelings for me now, well at least not those kinds of feelings, but he will eventually. If he doesn’t, then I’ll back off. I won’t try to force a relationship on him. I’m not
that
hard up.”

With her exotic looks, Amour didn’t imagine she would be which is why she found this whole thing rather peculiar. “But you think he’ll come around?”

“Yeah, I know he will. He’s known me every since I was thirteen so right now he just thinks of me as Alex’s little sister but that will all change soon when he realizes that I’m twenty-five now and how good I’ll be for him.”

“I take it you’ve been in love with him every since then.”

“Yep.”

“What about Chandra? According to Jason, he’s been involved with her for quite some time now.”

Shyla spread tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni and peppers on the pizza dough before popping it in the oven. “Yeah. Once upon a time he was serious about her until he realized how much of a skank she was.”

“What do you mean?”

She sat back down at the table next to Amour. “She cheated on him about a year ago.”

That would explain Mack’s nonchalant attitude about he and Chandra’s relationship and also why Chandra went out of her way to
impress him, even if it meant risking her job to do so. “He must’ve been pissed.”

“He was. He dumped her afterwards and she begged him to give her another chance. He told her that all he could give her was sex and nothing more but she didn’t care. She’s a very desperate woman. It’s pathetic really.”

And lusting after a man that’s not interested in you for twelve years isn’t pathetic?
Amour wanted so badly to ask her that very question, but she kept it to herself. Even though she’d felt that way, she did find her crush rather cute.

Shyla had taken a phone call and several minutes had passed by before she’d gotten off.  Amour inhaled deeply. “That pizza sure smells good!”

Shyla got up and walked towards the oven. “It’s almost done.”

Amour was starting to get fidgety. “I hate sitting around doing nothing. This is driving me crazy.”

Shyla opened the oven door to check the pizza. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“What do you mean?”

She slid the pizza out of the oven and sat it on the stove. “Didn’t you say you had a safe deposit box or something?”