Chapter 14

The office door was open, so Ian leaned in it waiting for Brent to hang up the phone. Reid wasn’t anywhere in sight, which made Ian feel a little better about the insane thing he was contemplating doing.

When Brent hung up the phone, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. “Felicity is close to bringing a mattress down here and crashing in the office.”

Ian shrugged as he stepped further into the space. “I could think of worse things than having a woman like Felicity wanting to spend time with you.”

A happy look filled Brent’s eyes. “That’s true.” Clearing his throat, he stood up. “What brings you here at this hour? Even Reid called it a night.”

Wandering over to the big table that sat in the middle of the room, Ian stared down at the papers scattered all across it. Tucking his hands in his pockets, he sighed. “I was on my way home and thought I’d swing by and see if there are names to go with the pictures.”

Brent leaned against the front of his desk, sending Ian an odd look, he held out photos. “We’ll have answers by morning. I thought you’d be busy tonight.”

Hesitating for a moment, Ian moved across the room and took the pictures. Flipping through them, he paused on one of Alec and him on the dance floor. Damn. The cop snapping the shot had caught them when they were looking at each other, intense expressions on both their faces, their bodies with no air between them. “Anyone else see these?” He tore his focus from the image of the woman against him in the photo and looked back to Brent.

Brent shook his head. “Just Reid and I.” He motioned to the pictures. “Those are the only copies. Maybe you should hang onto them. If Alec sees them, she’s going to go ballistic.”

“And then some.” Ian fidgeted with the photos in his hand and glared at the floor like it was going to magically give him the words to say what he needed to.

“What’s going on, Ian?”

Ian didn’t answer him, not sure how to explain.

“Maybe I should call you Dante?”

Ian’s head snapped up and he glared at Brent. “How do you...”

“Sandy.” Brent crossed his hands over his chest. “She was worried, so she came to me. I haven’t told anyone, but I think I need some answers.” His expression hardened. “Just what the fuck do you do that you need to use an alias?”

Setting the pictures on the table, Ian paced across the room and stood under the window. “It’s a little complicated to explain, but that’s one of the reasons I’m here tonight. What I’m working on seems to be connected to the threats to Alec...”

“I thought you were between jobs?”

Ian turned and leaned against the wall, trying to appear more relaxed than he was. “I was. I had an offer and it was one I couldn’t walk away from.”

“If it’s connected to Nick Colette and this guy targeting Alec, it’s not corporate research.”

Ian wished Brent’s voice wasn’t filled with so much suspicion. “No, this time it’s a little more complicated.”

“And illegal?”

Ian straightened away from the wall, unable to stay still a moment more. “Not on my end. My part is just...”

“If you say complicated, I’m going to snap on your ass,” Brent stated, his tone filled with a warning.

“I was going to say dangerous. I have to get next to some very important, powerful people to get the information needed.”

“Needed to do what exactly?”

Ian blew out a breath, feeling a lot like he was walking on fragile glass. “The person that hired me wants enough information on all the parties involved to expose them.”

“Exposing organized crime isn’t really an easy task.”

Ian chuckled. “If that’s all it was, I’d be halfway there by now.” He shook his head and held the look of the other man. “What I’m helping expose goes way beyond a few criminals and all the way to the top, or damn close to it from what I can tell so far.”

“What are you exposing? Give me the details, Ian, stop prancing around it.”

Running both hands through his hair, Ian spun around and stared at the computer station. “I can’t, just yet, but I need you to pull some strings and get Alec out of here for a while.”

Brent laughed. “She’ll never go and you should know that by now.”

Feeling defeated and aggravated because of it, Ian took a deep breath and turned to look at him again. “Yeah, I’m finding that out. She’s stuck in the middle, Brent, she needs to be somewhere else and nowhere near this or Bill...”

Brent stood, looking alert in a heartbeat. “Bill’s involved?”

Clenching his jaw, Ian silently cursed for letting that slip. “I have reason to believe he is, yes. It’s no coincidence that Willard was let go on a screwed-up report.”

“Fuck.” Brent said quietly. He glanced at his watch. “I’ll need your contact and any information you’ve found so far...”

Bring on the white jackets...now. “I can’t. I don’t know who hired me, it’s all done through a broker of sorts...” He threw his hands up, frustration gripping him. “I don’t have anything but lines leading from one name to another right now...”

“What the fuck do you do exactly?”

“Shit.” Ian moved over and leaned on the big table, dropping his head down and trying to find the right words. “When I said I overheard a threat to Alec, it was the truth...” He straightened away and studied Brent for a moment. “What I didn’t share was how I overheard it.”

His brows furrowed, a confused look filling his face. “I don’t understand. We’ve been hanging out in dives for the past week so you could find that voice again...”

“I don’t hear it with my ears.” Ian straightened, his spine stiff waiting for the reaction he knew was coming.

Brent stood there, looking at him, several thoughts crossing his face but nothing sure enough that Ian could predict what he was going to do. With a little smirk, Brent shook his head. “Six months ago, I’d be dialing the phone right now, but I have a broader acceptance of certain things now.” He looked at his watch again. “It’s too late now to explain, but we’ll set it up for tomorrow.”

Ian stood there, confused and not sure he knew what Brent was saying. “I don’t understand.” He frowned and looked down at the floor. “Your reaction isn’t quite what I expected.”

Brent sighed loudly and turned around and wrote something on a notepad. Straightening, he held out the piece of paper. “Meet me here at Jac’s at eight tomorrow and I’ll explain why I’m not laughing my ass off at you right now.”

Looking at the address for a moment, Ian puzzled over what was going on. “What about the identities of the people in those pictures?”

Brent grabbed his jacket off the hook and motioned to the door. “They’ll still be the same people in the morning. We’ll go over it then.”

For a moment Ian debated on trying to listen in on what Brent was thinking. He’d never been able to, but he also had never wanted to as much as he did now. He let him usher him out the door and waited until he locked it.

“See you in the morning.” Brent turned and took the stairs two at a time.

Ian stood there, not at all sure what had just happened. Not only didn’t Brent comment on what he’d said, he basically had no reaction at all. What was going on? Stomping up the stairs, he shook his head. A few weeks ago his life had been simple. Move from job to job with ease, get paid, and take a little downtime every now and then. It had been that downtime that had gotten him into the mess he was in now and the reason he’d been hanging out at the Lucky in the first place. Now he was spiraling out of control at a nice fast clip. Not only had he just exposed himself, to family no less, but he’d been brushed off after he had. He didn’t even want to think about the job at hand and the cluster of crap that all of it implied, and he sure as hell couldn’t afford to think about Alec at this moment either.

Pausing in step on the sidewalk, he cursed. He’d forgotten the pictures back in the office. Shit. Hopefully, no one saw them before he got back in there to get rid of them. Not that he had plans to dispose of them or anything, more than likely he’d spend many hours staring at them wishing for things he really couldn’t afford to want.

If this goes any further south I’m going to feel the flames burning through my shoes.

Climbing into his car, he sat there and debated for a moment whether he should call Alec and see how she was doing. Considering the way he’d run out on her, he’d be lucky if she didn’t hand his balls to him the next time he saw her. Sighing, he lowered his forehead to the steering wheel, “All you need to do now, you pathetic bastard, is admit that you are falling for the cold hard-shelled detective.” He snorted. “Falling? Try fallen.” He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he may as well have been wearing a t-shirt saying as much when he’d tried to persuade Brent to get Alec to vanish for a while.

Sitting back, he started the car. What he needed right now was a good stiff drink, or three and some sleep. Not that he figured it would be a peaceful one. With the images of Alec playing through his brain like a video, rest wasn’t going to come easy tonight.

Alec lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling she couldn’t quite see in the dim light. The shower hadn’t gotten rid of the taste of Ian out of her mouth, his masculine scent off her. The entire night was as if she’d been possessed by someone else. Alec McGowan did not dirty dance with strange men or any men for that matter. She also didn’t stand in halls and let herself be seduced. It was a matter of self-preservation, she did the seducing, and was in control of all situations.

A shiver went through her as her body reminded her of just how she’d felt in that hall with Ian. Intoxicated was the best word she could come up with. He was potent, his touch, his mouth, even his voice. A small tremor went through her and she felt familiar warmth fill her.

Sitting up, she flung her legs around and got up. She shouldn’t be lying here thinking of Ian. What she needed to be focusing on was how all these players linked together and who she had to take out to stop the threat to her own life. With Brent’s message they must be bringing in Jacinda, it was the only reason she could think they’d be meeting there. Maybe the guys had decided both Jac and Felicity could play some part in fishing out who they needed to get to, possibly at the courthouse in the morning. They were all too well known there, so it’s not like they could waltz in and follow Willard around. Sighing, she moved out of the bedroom, not bothering with any lights. Some thoughts were better processed in the dark.

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ian, about what had happened. How did he get around her defenses and..? She didn’t know what he did. It felt like he was able to wake her feelings and definitely her body. It wasn’t something she needed to be dealing with right now, if ever. Feelings were something that she couldn’t afford. Been there and done that, have the emotional scars the size of a jumbo jet to prove it.

Her stomach felt like it had butterflies in it, Alec paused and held her hand over it. She definitely didn’t do those mushy feelings, so whatever this feeling was it had better be gone by morning. Reaching up, she ran a hand through her damp hair. For a few moments earlier she had almost felt like a normal woman, completely feminine, her body being played by a man’s touch. A shiver moved through her. “You’re being completely ridiculous, Blondie. Get your ass to bed before you do something sappy like phone him.” Shaking her head, she spun back toward the bedroom door. It’s just hormones, probably won’t feel a thing by morning. Hopefully.