Alpha Male Incorporated Under Your Protection (16 page)

“No, I haven’t,” Sahara answered a little worried now about keeping the new photo a secret from Jax, but it was done and she’d show him the picture eventually. Just not right now. She was still confident she was making the right decision.

“Why is this crazy person bothering me? What did I do to attract their attention?”

“Most stalkers aren’t psychotic and I seriously doubt yours is either. Stalkers are isolated and lonely. More than half of the time stalking is triggered by some kind of trauma in the person’s life which makes them latch onto something else.”

“I haven’t caused any trauma to anyone,” Sahara said, moving out of Jax’s arms. “All I want to do is write songs and perform.”

“Baby, I know,” Jax replied, touching the side of her face. “This person could also be suffering from some kind of psychiatric condition like depression, substance abuse or a personality disorder. All you have to know is I won’t ever allow them to get close enough to hurt you.”

Sahara felt the passion in Jax’s words. She knew he cared about her and would do everything in his power to protect her, but she shouldn’t have to live in fear because of someone else.

“I know you will.” She touched the back of his hand moving it off her face. “We need to get to the Kitty Kat club before it gets too crowded. There’s always a ton of people there no matter the time of day. Plus, I can’t wait for you to meet Archer. I know you’ll love him as much as I do. He reminds me a lot of you.” Moving around Jax, Sahara headed for the bedroom door secretly waiting for the question she knew was coming next.

“Who in the hell is Archer and why do you think you’re in love with him?” Jax demanded.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The soft wonderful sound of Sabrina’s laughter hit Zander’s ears the moment the elevator doors closed behind him. He’d gone by her house to check on her, but she hadn’t been at home. He had gotten worried and called her mother on his cell phone.

Sabrina’s mother informed him that Sabrina was at Alpha Male Incorporated picking up the last of her brother’s personal belongings.

After Zander got off the phone with Sabrina’s mother, he decided to head over to his office and see if Sabrina needed any help. He was more than a little disappointed she didn’t call him to help getting the last of those items they’d left there.

She was so important to him more than she truly knew, but every time he tried to bring up how he felt Sabrina would quickly change the subject or find a way to leave the room.

Well, the days of her avoiding him were over! He wasn’t as patient as Jax constantly teased him about when it came to Sabrina. She was his mate! His woman! They were supposed to be together and he wasn’t going to lose her.

He would make damn sure Sabrina understood that she really didn’t have any more excuses left when it came to them spending the rest of eternity with each other. Sabrina might put up one hell of a fight, but like always he would win in the end.

Zander was walking in the direction of Sabrina’s brothers’ office when he heard her laughter again and a few seconds later male laughter joined in.

What in the fuck was going on? Who was in there with Sabrina? He’d never heard her laugh with such fun and ease around him. To say he was jealous would be a lie! He was irate!

“Stop it!” Sabrina chuckled again. “You have to stop or I won’t be able to take it much longer.”

Oh, he was about to put a fucking stop to what was going on in that office.

Hurrying the rest of the way down the hallway, Zander rushed into the room stopping in his tracks when he saw a tall, slender man with sandy brown hair bent over Sabrina with his hands all over her tight body.

“Who in the fuck are you? Get your hands off Sabrina!” Closing the distance in two quick steps, Zander grabbed the guy off Sabrina and flung him so hard in the nearest chair that it fell over along with him in it.

“Shit! Keep your damn hands to yourself!” The guy shouted at him as he struggled to get up off the floor.

“Who in the hell are you? Don’t make me ask you again.” Zander snapped taking a step towards the guy who was now staring at him with a stunned expression.

“Zander stop!” Sabrina said. Running around him she placed her small hands in the middle of his chest. The light touch of her hand eased some of the boiling anger from his body, but not all of it.

“Somebody better tell me what in the hell is going on before I toss this bastard out of this building and I might not be nice enough to use the door.” He glanced away from Sabrina back to the stranger with the overly touchy hands who was finally pulling himself off the floor.

“Zander this is Brent Kelley. He was one of the guys who used to race against my brother. He was helping with the last of the boxes. You know I told you I would be back to get them.”

Sabrina was way too trusting. She didn’t know when a guy was trying to cop a feel on her gorgeous body, but he did.

“The hell he was. When I came into the room his hands were all over your body and I want to know why.”

“I was only tickling her,” Brent said, speaking up. “I remember seeing her brother doing it once to make her laugh.”

Zander’s blood started to boil again at Brent’s lie. He wasn’t tickling Sabrina to make her laugh at all. He could have told her a joke and gotten the same result. The guy wanted an easy way to feel Sabrina up and that was the lie he used.

Sabrina couldn’t read Brent’s thoughts like he could and Sabrina might not believe him if he told her the truth about Brent since he had been friends with Avery.

“You’re lying and we both know it.” Gently moving Sabrina to the side, Zander took a step towards the smaller man. He had at least eight inches and eighty pounds over him causing the man to stumble back.

“I’m not lying,” he stuttered.

“Listen Brent, this is the only warning I’m going to give you. Stay away from Sabrina. She isn’t interested in dating you. If I catch you anywhere near her, you’ll be reminded in a not so nice way about this little conversation. Do you understand me?”

His threat was loud and very clear. Zander seriously doubted Brent would ever speak to Sabrina again let alone touch her.

“Oh, I understand completely,” Brent answered as he walked backwards towards the door. “I guess I should get going since you’re here now. I know you can finish helping Sabrina remove boxes.”

“Brent, you don’t have to leave. Zander isn’t going to hurt you. He’s just a little overprotective of me like any family friend would be. He’s almost like another brother to me,” Sabrina insisted.

Zander’s head jerked around and he stared down at Sabrina in utter disbelief. She was out of her mind if she thought he saw her in any form of a sister role. God, was that the reason she was constantly running away from him? From the corner of his eye, he observed how Brent glanced back and forth between him and Sabrina.

“Hmm...I think I’m still going to leave because I’m getting the impression Zander doesn’t feel the same way. Anyways, I’m not worried about you finding a ride home with him here. I can see he’ll take excellent care of you.” Spinning around, Brent practically raced out the door leaving the two of them alone.

“Brent...Wait...” Sabrina started after her friend, but Zander stepped in front of her blocking her path. Did she truly think he would allow her to leave him to chase after another man?

“Let him go. We need to talk about what you told him. Do you really think of me as a brother?”

He couldn’t believe this at all. Sabrina’s attraction to him was right in front of his face, but she was fighting it hard. This meant, getting her to admit to him how she truly felt was going to be harder than he first thought.

Dragging her attention away from the office door, Sabrina looked up at him before walking around him back over to the banker’s box on the desk. “I need to get the last of my brother’s stuff and leave. We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Sabrina, answer my question. It’s very important that I know.”

Zander knew Sabrina so well. He didn’t even have to see her beautiful face to know she was nibbling at her bottom lip something she only did when she was extremely nervous about answering a question.

Yeah, she wanted him.

Now, all he had to do was make Sabrina understand her need to have him was okay. He wouldn’t be able to achieve his goal if he pushed her too far. Taking a step back might work better in this situation.

“Never mind,” Zander said. “I shouldn’t have pushed you like I’ve been doing. How about after we take the banker’s box out to my car I treat you to lunch? You can tell me how things are going at work.”

Sabrina’s entire body visibly relaxed as soon as the last of his words left his mouth. “Are you sure?” She picked up the box and faced him, clearly calmer than she’s been a few minutes ago.

Coming over to her, Zander took the box and kissed Sabrina on the cheek. “I’m positive. We can stop at the new Italian place a couple of blocks from your house.”

Sabrina’s beautiful face lit up with pleasure making Zander fight down the urge to drop the box and yank her into his arms. With her confession, he knew now how extremely nervous Sabrina was to be around him.

If he moved too fast, he would lose her which he couldn’t allow to occur. She might not understand it now, but she would later on after she’d given him the chance to explain clearly and completely what a
Unique
woman meant to her vampire mate.

“I love Italian food.” Sabrina grinned brushing past him.

“And I love you that’s why I’m doing all of this for you,” Zander whispered under his breath enjoying how the tight skirt hugged Sabrina’s perfect ass as she left his office.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The dusky, dingy, and dank little nightclub assaulted Jax’s senses the second he stepped inside. Standing close to Sahara, he heard the clinking of glasses along with the chatter of people in the background as the smell of food, sweat and liquor touched their noses.

He couldn’t believe this was the Kitty Kat Club, the place Sahara was positive would launch her career further up the billboard charts. Sahara’s voice was fantastic. She didn’t need this out of the way place to help promote anything with her.

“Isn’t the Kitty Kat Club amazing?” Sahara asked as she grabbed him by the arm pulling him over towards the bar. “I can’t believe I’m going to be performing here on Friday.”

He wouldn’t go that far as to agree with her. The Kitty Kat club had only two windows. One was located right next to the front door and the second one to the far right a little ways from the bar.

Neither one of the windows had any bars on them. In addition, they were large enough for anyone to climb through if there was an incident.

The rest of the Kitty Kat club was set up like a regular nightclub with a dance floor in the front with the DJ booth at the back. Several bright spots were created by the neon signs on the wall, but he didn’t like how about eighty percent of the club was in semi-darkness. None of the surroundings were safe enough for Sahara in his opinion.

“I don’t think you should perform here. The area isn’t big enough which will make it hard for me to protect you. You need to tell Archer you’re going to cancel your show.”

Sahara’s head whipped around so fast, Jax thought she might have gotten whiplash. He could see the passion building up in her face and knew he was in for a fight about this with her.

“Are you crazy? The Kitty Kat Club is the hottest place in Florida. I got a personal invite to perform here. I couldn’t turn it down if I wanted to. Now, you’re supposed to protect me while I’m Coco. I know you can do it. I have all the faith in the world in you. Don’t ruin this for me, please.”

“Sahara, you know the danger you’re in. There’s a good chance your stalker will make an appearance here tomorrow night,” Jax warned. “I know I can keep you safe from him, but I’ll just feel better if you told Archer no. This club isn’t equipped enough for you and if I didn’t tell you this then I’m not doing the job Frank hired to do.”

“Jax, I can’t do what you’re asking. Archer
─” Sahara was cut off mid-sentence when someone called her name.

“Coco, I’m so glad you made it,” a man gushed rushing up to them, but Jax stepped in front of Sahara blocking him from touching her.

Stopping in his tracks, the tall dark-haired man with chiseled features and a dimple in his chin glanced at him with a slight frown on his face. “Oh, when did my little Coco hire Tarzan to protect her?” the guy asked. “Don’t worry, I’m Archer Nash. I’m the owner of the Kitty Kat Club. My only interest is Coco is purely professional, but I have to say that you’re a very handsome addition to her entourage.”

“Jax, will you please move?” Sahara asked, tapping him in the middle of his back with her finger. “I need to talk to Archer about my song and when I’ll be going on.”

Instead of moving, Jax crossed his arms and took a step closer to Archer. He wasn’t fond of the smug look or the way the club owner talked to him. It was like Archer knew something he didn’t, but he tried to read his mind and it came up completely blank.

“Why are you calling her Coco? That isn’t her name,” he demanded.

“Listen, Goldilocks, I’m a club owner/promoter. I call all of my singers by their stage name to keep things very professional. I know Coco’s real name is Sahara, but I’m not paying Sahara five thousand dollars to be here on Friday night. I’m paying Coco, so that’s what I’m going to call her. Now, can I please finish our conversation? I want to have an idea of how Coco wants the stage set up for her performance,” Archer said, glaring at him.

He wasn’t going anywhere especially not across the room. Archer could speak with Sahara with him right there at her side.

“You can talk to her with me here. It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on. I’m Sahara’s bodyguard and where she goes, I go. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Jax, will you please stop it!” Sahara complained, moving to stand next to him. “I can’t afford to lose this show tomorrow. Please calm down and let me talk to Archer.”