Kace (Allen Securities) (4 page)

“Understood,” Kace replied and hit off.

The window was slightly ajar. It was clear someone had been in a hurry when they left. Broken bottles littered the area. The harsh smell of liquor still filled the air, and it was clear what they had been after. Seemed like such a petty thing for the Russians to go after, but then again, liquor smuggling had a pretty large profit potential. He might have even suspected Finn of stealing his own liquor if he wasn’t spending so much time trying to shut him out.

Puzzled with his findings, he walked back to the front and strolled in. Officers nodded to him as he made his way to the office. Several of the staff at the club were giving witness statements, but from the little he had garnered, no one seemed to know what had happened.

He was glad to find Jessica sitting while two paramedics looked her over. Someone had wiped the blood off of her face. He had been shocked at how much she bled and wondered if she might suffer, but the color seemed to be coming back to her face. He was glad to see her sitting up without swaying.

He turned to mention the bottles to Finn but was surprised to find his brother Reed there.

“What are you doing here?” he said to Reed. His brother was an imposing force, and even if he wasn’t keen on getting him involved, it was a relief to have someone on his side.

“I hired him.” Finn stared pointedly at the paramedics. “A security firm seems like a good idea. Not like we can always rely on the cops.”

Kace frowned. Maybe if Finn could stay on the side of good, he wouldn’t feel that way.

The paramedics finished wrapping Jessica’s head. The thick, white cloth wrapped around her head was a reminder that he had failed her. One of the paramedics looked around the room and paled. Kace could see why they might be intimidated. Each of them was scary in their own right. The paramedics glanced between the various large men and hurried out of the room.

Kace turned and saw Jessica struggle to stand up. He frowned and lowered her back down. When he sat with her on the couch, she stilled.

“I’m here because they are having a problem,” Reed said. He leaned against the desk and watched out the door. “Money and liquor have been disappearing. They hired me to find out where it’s going.”

“I think tonight must have been about the liquor,” Kace said. All eyes turned to him. “Out in the alley by the window, there are freshly broken bottles. It must be how they are getting them out of here.”

Reed nodded. “I’ll send some men around to check on that. Maybe just securing the window will help on that front.”

“Or at least prevent any more unwanted guests.” Kace turned to look at Jessica. She was watching them quietly. It was the least he had ever heard her speak.

“Of course,” Finn continued. “All that changed tonight. They will be watching the place from now on. I can’t have my employees being hurt.”

Kace looked to his brother. He knew this was what he did, but it didn’t mean he liked it. There were plenty of things that Reed and his crew did that more than crossed the lines of the law.

“Olivia okay with this?” Kace asked.

Reed chuckled. “It will mostly be Liam and Ryder on this one. She’s not so keen on me being out in the field after the last assignment.”

“You didn’t tell her about all this did you?” Kace watched as Jessica worried her bottom lip. His eyes fixed on her mouth.

“She just knows there was trouble, and you’re fine,” Reed said. “Try not to go into detail. Her hormones…” He looked around for help.

Jessica laughed. “I know. She’s a prego crazy lady.”

Reed grinned at her sheepishly.

Kace knew things had been a little tough, but the problem was less about Olivia being bitchy. That they could all handle. No, she worried over the slightest of things. Last week, his brother Ryder got a small nick from the razor. She nearly had them heading to the hospital. Not that anyone blamed her. After the run in with Neil and the Russians, Olivia had her fill of the bad situations.

“So what’s the plan?” Kace spoke finally.

“I’m going to continue with the tracing,” Reed said. “This trail for the accounts has been more difficult than we anticipated, and so far, they have us going in circles. One of the men will be on duty in the club. When they close, they will take Jessica home.”

“I’ll take her home,” Kace said.

The room got quiet. He bit back a remark when Finn raised an eyebrow and grinned at him.

“You really don’t have to do that,” Jessica said quietly next to him.

He couldn’t explain it, but her comment really pissed him. Like hell he was letting Liam or Ryder anywhere near her. He stared into her eyes and wondered what it was that he was hoping to get from this. It would clearly be a very bad idea to get involved, but he couldn’t help the heat that rose in him.

“I’m taking you home,” he said slowly.

Her pupils dilated. Something in him flared. She was so close, he could almost smell the soap on her skin. She shivered and wrapped herself deeper into the coat. He liked that it was his smell she was snuggling into.

Reed cleared his throat, and Kace looked at him. “So, you are on car duty. What are your orders?”

Kace hesitated. Lt. Jackson never really said anything about what he could or couldn’t tell. He sighed.

“Watch the place and report if there is any activity,” he said.

“And if there is?” Finn cocked an eyebrow.

Kace folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by him.

“If there is, I call it in and try to contain things,” he said. “We don’t care about your war, but we can’t have this thing going to the streets. There are a lot of innocent people who could get hurt.”

Finn nodded. “I think we both have the same mission in mind.” A sinister smile slipped on his face. “However, our execution might be slightly different.”

Kace knew what he meant. Despite being bound by the law to try and bring in Viktor, the local head of the Russian mob, he wouldn’t exactly weep if the scumbag turned up dead. He held Finn’s gaze for a moment and then nodded.

“I think I should get you home,” Kace said and turned to Jessica.

Her eyes were drooping closed. He worried that she might need to go to the hospital.

“Is she cleared to go?” Kace asked.

Finn glared at her. “No,” he said firmly. Her impatient sigh was all the confirmation he needed. “She needs to have a CAT scan and be watched for a concussion.”

“I told you,” she said, shifting to stand. She made her way up and stood without wobbling. “I’m fine. I just need some damn sleep, and I’m off tomorrow.”

His eyes widened. It was the first time he’s heard her talk that way to Finn. Kace looked back to the man.

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, but if you aren’t better tomorrow, off to the hospital with you. I’m not going to have you dropping dead on my watch.”

Kace would have laughed at the situation if he didn’t agree completely with Finn, which only managed to really piss him off.

“And don’t forget the wrench,” Finn said. He reached over to a chair, picked up a heavy wrench and then pushed the heavy tool into Kace’s hands.

Jessica walked over to Finn and patted him on the chest. Kace frowned.

“Thank you,” she whispered and walked out of the room.

Kace nodded to the man and followed her.

Chapter Four

Jessica slowly inched into the car. Despite what she had said, her head felt like hell. If her sister weren’t at home waiting, she would have gone to the hospital, but it would have worried Victoria, and she really didn’t need that. Besides, there was no way Jessica was going to waste a perfectly good day off in the hospital.

Kace climbed into the car next to her. She wrapped his coat a little tighter around her. For some reason, since being in his arms, she couldn’t forget the feeling of being held by him. Her nose dipped down to the collar of the jacket. His woodsy smell surrounded her and made her nipples tighten with need.

She laughed a little. Maybe she had been hit a little harder than she thought. The two of them were like oil and water.

“I’m sorry,” he said after letting the car warm up a little.

She turned and gave him a puzzled look.

“About your dad,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t fair, and I was just flustered.”

Jessica froze. Her father had always been a sore topic for her, but she was surprised Kace would apologize.

“Just remember,” she said, staring out the window. “I’m not him.”

“That’s obvious,” Kace said.

She smiled. It was obvious. She had gone out of her way to separate herself from her father.

“Thanks,” she said. She smiled at Kace and snuggled down deeper into the seat as he drove out.

She continued to smile and look out the window as they moved through the still night. It had been one bad day, no doubt, but she was glad to have made progress with Kace.

As she watched streets go by, she frowned. It was pretty amazing how he knew to get to her house without so much as even a slight suggestion.

“Have you been spying on me?” She turned and watched his previous good humor vanish.

His hands gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “It’s my job.”

Jessica choked on his words as they lanced through her. His job. That’s all this was to him. She had to keep reminding herself, or this would be trouble.

They pulled up outside the house, and she jumped out.

“Don’t worry about tomorrow,” she said. “There are others who can take me home that won’t automatically assume I’m a criminal. Thanks for the ride.” She tossed his jacket in his face and slammed the door. Jessica stomped up the stairs and ignored his calls to her to stop.

After she shut the door to the house, she sighed. Maybe she could put this shitty day behind her.

“Where the hell have you been?” Victoria said. She stood, looking angry, in the entry of the living room. Her face fell when she spotted the bandage. “What happened to you?”

Jessica stopped and stared at her sister. It wasn’t often that she cursed, but when she did, all hell liked to break loose. Better to head this off with the truth.

“We had trouble at work,” she said and headed to the kitchen.

“What kind of trouble?” Victoria said as she followed. Her voiced was thick with worry.

“Someone broke in and whacked me on the head when I wasn’t looking.”

Victoria gasped. “They didn’t…” Her eyes widened. “They didn’t do anything to you, right?”

Jessica rummaged through the fridge, pulled out a beer and sat at the table. Victoria took a seat across from her.

“They just wanted to get away.” Jessica took a long drink off her beer.

“And did they get away?”

Jessica nodded.

“But I don’t want you to worry,” she said. “Finn has hired a team to watch the place, and that was a policeman who dropped me off.” Jessica took another long drink. “I’m telling you this so you can be aware. I wasn’t paying attention. That’s why this happened.”

“It’s not safe there,” Victoria said quietly. “Mrs. Masing talks about how she doesn’t think you should be working there. That the man who owns the place is a thug.”

Jessica sighed and took another drink. She knew Mrs. Masing wasn’t Finn’s fan, but she had hoped to avoid making Victoria worry.

“It would be hard for me to find another job that pays this well,” she said and took another drink. “Besides, there’s a cop that will be hanging out around the club from now on.”

She reached across and patted her sister’s hand. “I promise I won’t take any unnecessary risks. I’ll be fine.”

Victoria nodded her head, while Jessica finished her beer.

“I’m tired,” Jessica said and put the bottle in the trash. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jessica slowly climbed the stairs and realized just how tired she was. It had been a long day, and she was done. Both emotionally and physically.

She stripped down and climbed into bed. She’d like nothing more than to have this day disappear.

Angry tears leaked from her eyes. She wiped them. Everything was going to be okay. She had only been hurt a little, and now guards were going to be around, not to mention a very pissed-off cop. She smiled at the thought of Kace.

There was something very comforting in thinking about him. She sighed and snuggled down. If only he weren’t such an asshat half the time.

Jessica drifted off to sleep thinking about Kace.

* * *

“Damn it. This is so stupid,” Kace mumbled.

He had been pacing outside her apartment for the last ten minutes and just couldn’t bring himself to ring the bell. All the previous night, he had trouble sleeping as he thought about Jessica and how pissed she had been. He just didn’t know what he was supposed to do. It was his job to check all angles. It couldn’t be helped that she was an angle in this case.

So maybe he could have been a little more discreet in the whole thing. His last three girlfriends had said pretty much the same things, but this was his life. He worked in a job that required certain things out of him, and those things didn’t just shut off because he was home.

“Are you a plumber?” The little lady next door to Jessica had poked her head out and was staring him down.

Kace lowered the wrench Jessica had left in his car last night.

“No, I’m a cop,” he said.

Her eyes lit up, and she smiled. “Even better. Well, you better come in.” She opened the door wider.

Strange as it was, he found himself going into the older woman’s house.

“Jessica will be along shortly, dear.” She closed the door and smiled. “Why don’t you and I get to know each other in the meantime?”

The older woman led him to the couch. If he had been thinking, he might have laughed at the décor. It was like a time capsule for the 70s.

“I’m Mrs. Masing,” she said politely and raised an eyebrow for his name.

“Kace Allen, ma’am,” he said.

“And did Jessica send you to fix my sink?” she asked.

He blinked. This must have been why Jessica needed the wrench. After last night, he doubted she would be in any shape to do any kind of work like that. Despite her protests, she had been hit pretty hard, and he was sure she should have been looked at further. If this was one of the many tasks she had planned today, it would just be better if he did it.