Breaking Into the Business (31 page)

As
I neared the gun, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeremy clip Greg in the
jaw, sending my friend sprawling backwards onto the floor. Jeremy dove for the
gun and he was much faster than I was.

His
hand was on the handle and he turned to face me, pointing the barrel of it
right in my face.

“We
could have had something special,” he said. I could detect a hint of sadness in
his eyes and his tone.

“We
could have,” I agreed. “But you lied to me.”

I
saw his finger tighten around the trigger, and then my ears were accosted with
the sound of gunfire. My vision filled with the spray of blood.

I
fell backwards onto the couch and watched as Jeremy fell to the ground. His own
gun was sent across the room, and he held his hands together against his chest,
blood pouring from between his fingers.

My
mind raced, and I turned to look at the broken window. Betsy stood there, her
gun still upraised, pointing at Jeremy. Behind her, Mike and the other guys
were moving past her and into the living room.

“You
shot me,” Jeremy roared. “You bitch!”

“You
messed with my friend, you sick freak,” Betsy said. Finally, she lowered the
gun.

“Thank
you, Betsy,” I said. I ran across the broken glass and hugged her tightly. Derrick
wrenched the gun from her closed fists and set it down on a nearby table.

“This
isn’t over, Lana,” Jeremy growled.

“Yes,
it is,” Greg said as Ray helped him up.

“What
do we do now?” Ben asked. “The police will probably be showing up anytime
soon.”

“Not
necessarily,” Mike said. “They may not even respond unless someone called them.
And if they do, we’ll just have to come up with a story.”

“What
about Jeremy?” I asked.

“Here’s
what’s going to happen,” Greg said. He spoke as if he was talking to the room,
but he stared straight ahead at Jeremy, who was still crumpled on the ground.
“You’re going to leave here right now, and don’t ever think about coming back.
If you so much as call Lana, one more time, I will hunt you down and kill you.
That’s not a threat but a promise. If I can’t find you, I have a dozen people
saved in my cell phone who would kill you for less than a hundred dollars.”

“You
are garbage,” Jeremy hissed.

“Yes,
I’m garbage to you,” Greg said. “But the fact remains that you are out of our
lives forever.”

“I
could go to the police and have your friend arrested,” Jeremy said.

“It
was self-defense,” Greg continued. “We have more witnesses than you.”

“This
isn’t over.”

Greg
walked over to Jeremy and stooped down in front of him. He reached out, grabbed
the author’s hands in his own, and began squeezing. Jeremy howled in pain.

“Let
me tell you that this is very much over. In fact, you’ll terminate your
contract with your publishing company, but you will send them an e-mail
praising the wonderful talents of Lana Ford. If you don’t comply with this
first thing Monday morning, I will kill you.”

“You
don’t have it in you,” Jeremy challenged.

Betsy
walked across the living room and stopped next to Greg. “But I do. I had no
problems shooting you in the hand, and I would love to have put that bullet in
your face. So I dare you to continue arguing.”

“I
should rip your face off,” Jeremy said to Betsy.

Betsy
reared one foot back and then planted it right in his face. I had never seen
her move so fast.

“You
bitch,” Jeremy said as he spat blood out of his mouth.

“You
will leave my friend alone,” Betsy said. “Are we clear?”

Jeremy
nodded, and then he tried to stand. It took him a moment, because nobody would
assist him. We all watched as he managed to get to his feet and then he slowly
made his way to the door. He held his hands together the whole time, and it was
almost comical to see him try to open the front door.

When
he was gone, I walked over to Greg and put my hands on his broad shoulders. I
inspected his face and touched his chest to make sure that he was okay. I could
see a bruise already forming on one of his cheeks.

“Thank
you so much,” I whispered. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into this.”

He
smiled. “I’m glad you’re in my life, and I would gladly do all of this over
again.”

I
turned around and looked at all of my friends who had gathered in the room to
come to my aid. “Thank you all for being here for me. I owe you all so much.”

“You
don’t owe us a thing,” Betsy said. “I know you’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah,”
Mike agreed. “You are amazing, Lana. For the first time in so long, you’ve
given me something to be excited about again. I think I’m the one that owes
you.”

Pearl
screeched. “Okay, this sappy shit is nice and all, but do you think someone
could get me out of this damn rope.”

Derrick
and Ben ran over and started undoing her rope to free her from the confines of
the chair.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Nothing
else was said as we all started trying to get the living room back in order.
Greg and I got the bleach out and started cleaning up the blood. The guys
lifted the lounge chair off of the couch and took it back outside. Luckily, the
only thing that had been permanently broken was the glass window.

Later,
I found out that Betsy and the guys had chased Jeremy’s goon for several blocks
until they suspected that he was just the diversion. When they returned to the
house, they found the door locked and suspected the worst when I didn’t answer.
Greg was the one who had formulated the plan to crawl in through Mallory’s window,
while Mike and the guys threw the chair through the window. I asked why they
had chosen to do something so destructive, and they said that had been the most
distracting diversion they could devise.

The
broken glass didn’t bother me in the least. I was just glad to finally be over
this crazy stalker business and have my life back to normal. Although, somehow,
while I cleaned the blood off the wall, I knew that my life would never go back
to normal. In the past five days, I had taken the steps to change the course of
my existence, and send myself down a path I didn’t think I would ever be able
to recover from.

However,
that didn’t mean that it was bad. No, I knew that there were many things about
my ‘new life’ that would be nice and refreshing. I was more confident, although
the incident with Jeremy had taken a chip out of my pride.

By
the time all the cleanup was finished, it was late, so we all sat outside for a
little while and had a few beers. We were all too amped up to try to get any
sleep.

I
made a mental list of everything I would have to do the next day. The first
item on the agenda was to call my two wonderful children and tell them that
everything was okay. Of course, I would have to try to get the glass replaced
on a Saturday morning to ensure that it was repaired before they came home. I
didn’t want to give them any reason to be worried or feel weird being back in
the house. It was already bad enough that I would feel that way.

Jake
and Mallory had been through so much already. They had faced their father’s
sudden disappearance and that had been hard enough. I had learned a few things
about Frank, but those new tidbits, I would have to keep from them. It was bad
enough that their dad was a dead beat, but I couldn’t let them know that he had
gambled away their college funds.

That
would be just one more thing I would have to take on. The escort business was
now even more important than it was before. I had to find a way to make it
profitable and fast. I only had three years until Jake was in college and those
bills would start coming in. If I had to, I would resort to selling myself to
make sure that their futures were as bright as possible.

I
looked around the circle of my friends, both old and new. Betsy and Pearl had
been with me through so many hurdles, and like the amazing friends they were,
they had picked me up and helped me over. I owed them so much and I only hoped
that I was given the chance to repay them for everything.

My
guys had also come through for me. Even though, I had just met Greg, and had
only known the other four very casually before this week, they proved to be a
solid protective force in my life. That meant that I would have to protect them
through the success of the business. All of them were in some sort of financial
hardship or struggle, and they were depending on me to come through for them. I
could not fail them.

After
an hour or so, we all retired to bed. Due to the hour, everyone decided to find
a place to crash somewhere in the house. Greg gave his bed up to Betsy and
Pearl, and volunteered to sleep on the living room floor.

I
knew that was a ruse, but I needed him on every level. I only had to wait a few
minutes after all the lights went out before he crept into my room. I had no
idea where he had shed his clothes, but when he reached my bed in the darkness,
he was already naked.

As
he pulled the sheet back, he slid down into the bed next to me. Neither of us
slept for a few hours as we had other things on our minds. We made love, and
this time, we fought to break our record of four times. By three in the
morning, we had met the record, and from the look on Greg’s exhausted face, I
didn’t know if he had it in him to break it. Literally.

“Thank
you,” I whispered to him.

“You
know, it’s about time you stopped thanking me after sex.”

“I’m
not thanking you for that.”

“Then
what?”

I
reached over and kissed him on his forehead. “For being you.”

Greg’s
face changed from his usual expression of jovial cleverness to one of
sincerity. “Lana, if you only knew me, you would know that I have so much more
to thank you for. Meeting you that night at the bar has changed my life
forever.”

I
chuckled, breaking the mood. “You’ve only met me five days ago. Let’s give it a
little more time and see if you’re still glad you met me.”

He
smiled and went in for another kiss. By the feeling of his hardness poking me
in the thigh, I could tell he was ready to try to break the record.

To find out what happens to Lana and the
Madam Men, check out the next volumes in the series:

Book 2:
Family Affair

The Madam
business continues to expand and revenue is increasing, but another blackmailer
arrives on the scene. Can Lana balance both of her careers, a new nemesis, and
a new man whose occupation might be just as bad as an escort? On top of all
that, her entire family is converging on her home for a fancy party that she
can’t afford to host.

Book 3:
Gigolo Murder

When one of Lana’s escorts turns up dead,
accusations start flying. Nearly everyone she knows is a suspect. To make
matters worse, the murdered escort had a company cell phone on his person, and
Lana is sure that the phone’s history will lead the police right to her
doorstep.