Secret Maneuvers (7 page)

The Sullivan brothers stepped up to the bar with Belle stuck in the middle of them, taking stools as they played the role of rambunctious partiers. The redhead on the other side of Declan tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. In less than no time, both brothers were flirting with women while Belle was having an animated conversation with the bartender. Now, with all four teams in position, the building would be adequately covered if shit hit the fan and they had to move on something.

The comm. link buzzed in my ear as Arturo spoke in hushed tones. “Deputy Miles says one of the suspects has just walked past us into the back of the building. Be on the lookout for a white male, approximately five-foot-nine, a hundred and eighty pounds. Black hair, blue shirt and blue jeans.”

Doing a visual sweep, I watched as the suspect came through the door that more than likely led to a back office. The bar’s owner, Travis Henderson, caught sight of the man, excused himself from his conversation with Belle and walked over to where the suspect waited at the end of the bar. It took less than five minutes until it appeared they were having what looked like a heated conversation before the target waved his hands around in frustration, and then stomped off through the door leading into the back.

Henderson returned to his position behind the bar with a huge smile while handing beers, or whatever was ordered, out to the customers. As interesting as the scene was, it didn’t distract me from noticing that once again Sheriff Jenkins stole a thoughtful glance in my direction with a frown. He’d been doing that periodically since we’d arrived. Abruptly he stood, shoving his chair back roughly in the process, and stalked to where Belle was.

Tapping her on the shoulder, the Sheriff made a big production of asking her for a dance on the floor. The grip on the beer in my hand tightened as I did my best to tamp down the urge to throw it. Jaxon leaned over the table towards me.

“What do you think that’s all about?”

I shrugged my shoulders, doing my best to act nonchalant about it all. “I don’t know. Let’s just watch to see what happens.”

Belle and the Sheriff walked out to the middle of the dance floor before they started to sway to the music. Sheriff Jenkins held her closely with his hands placed intimately on her waist. It was a familiar kind of touch that told me he’d held her like that before. Perhaps with fewer clothes on and while in a bed instead of on a dance floor. I clenched my jaw, teeth grinding down in agitation. Belle put her hands on his chest as they danced. It became obvious pretty quickly that they were discussing something that Belle didn’t want to talk about. Her brow furrowed while her eyes lit in anger. The conversation seemed to escalate rapidly as Belle started poking her finger into the Sheriff’s chest to emphasize whatever point she was trying to get across.

Just about the time that I was sorely tempted to step in and break them up, something unexpected happened. A body landed in my lap. Throwing a hand out to steady the thrashing arms I heard Jaxon bark a laugh. Looking down I saw the top of brunette hair so full of hair spray that it could almost double as a helmet in a war zone. Two small hands were thrown over my thighs, clasping desperately to them for some semblance of balance. Bare, tan legs exposed by a denim mini skirt were tangled in front of her with one glittering red high heel still on her left foot whereas the right foot was shoeless. I glanced around the floor until I saw the missing shoe lying on its side just a few feet over.

Glancing back down, the woman’s head was tipped backwards until a pair of young, glassy brown eyes were looking at me. Her chest rose and fell with her stilted giggling, almost causing the straining buttons on her extremely tight shirt to pop open. She was adorable in an inebriated sort of way, but she also needed to get her head out of my lap before the off chance of Belle looking up here and seeing this shit happened. The side of my mouth hitched into a smile. “You okay?”

Shaking her head, “No. Wait. I mean, yes. Yes. I’m fine. I think. Apparently, long island ice tea and four inch heels don’t go too well together. Did you know that?” I shook my head and she continued talking, “Sorry I landed on you. Anything I can do to make it up to you while I’m down here?” Full red lips smiled back at me seductively.

Tipping my head back to look at the ceiling in disbelief, I chuckled, then slipped my hands underneath her shoulders to help her stand. “I appreciate the offer, but you could say I’m spoken for. Promise me that you’ll be more careful walking around in those wicked high heels from now on. I’d hate for them get the best of you and hurt those pretty legs.”

The brunette shrugged before grabbing the offending shoe to slip it back on her foot. “Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?”

Walking away she seemed a fuck of a lot steadier than she had a few minutes ago when lying on top of me. Cocking an eyebrow at the development I looked over to see Jaxon’s shoulders shaking in laughter. “Damn, Baker, you’ve got the ladies performing to get your attention. What’s next? Someone going to walk up to you juggling beers to impress you?”

A slow grin spread across my face. “Now, if she’s juggling beers at least that would come in handy. We might get a few free drinks out of it. Not to mention, if she’s desperate enough she might be willing to settle for you instead.”

Jaxon flipped me the bird.

Sliding my eyes back to Belle, who was still on the floor with the Sheriff, it seemed that their conversation had turned for the better. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that her eyes were shooting daggers in my direction. Apparently, she’d caught my interaction with the brunette. A smart man would have been scared about the possibility of her anger over it. I was not a smart man. That killing look aimed in my direction gave me hope. If that could piss her off that bad, then that meant she still cared for me, and if she still cared, then I could talk her around to my way of thinking. This brought a smile to my face. A smile that was not appreciated by Belle. The Sheriff dropped his mouth down to her ear to whisper in it and they held their heads together, closely talking for a few minutes before separating. Belle kissed the man on the cheek, and then went back to her stool next to Declan. The Sheriff ambled back to our table.

Before I could think better of it, I blurted, “What the hell was that about, Jenkins?”

Sheriff Jenkins gave me a blank look. He seemed to be considering what he should say. “Just needed to have a quick chat with Annabelle. Glad I did, though. We need to keep eyes on her. She’s got that look in her eye, the kind she gets right before she does something crazy. Or stupid. Don’t know what she’s up to yet, so don’t bother asking.”

Jaxon cocked an eyebrow at the Sheriff’s diversion tactic before looking back to me. Frustrated, I ran my hand over the back of my neck. Keeping my mind on the mission was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. First, it was because of Belle’s obvious rage and avoidance towards me. Now, it felt like I was having my face rubbed in Sheriff Jenkins’ obvious romantic feelings for Belle, which was salt on the fucking, bleeding wound, in a manner of speaking. Between the two issues, the short fuse on my patience was quickly burning down and it felt like it would be just a matter of time before I exploded and did something drastic. Something stupid.

Belle’s vibrant laughter cut through my musings on the Sheriff. Looking back over to where she sat sandwiched in between the Sullivan brothers, I watched as she worked Henderson and the people surrounding them with her charm. Belle suddenly waved her hands around in the air while enthusiastically debating something with Henderson. Her shirt rode up her back enough to catch a glimpse of what looked to be a tattoo there, making me groan as I had the sudden fierce desire to strip her naked and expose the ink on her body to my eyes.

A man could only take so much before he lost all rational thought, dammit. It especially didn’t help that, at this moment, she was surrounded by men who were trying to ply her with alcohol. Or knowing my luck, proposing marriage to her. I locked down on the growl vibrating in my throat before anyone heard it.

Looking up to Jaxon’s amused face, he laughed at my obvious torture. “That’s one hell of a girl there, Bobby. Want to tell me why you let her get away?”

Shaking my head, I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. Looking back up, I found that not only did I have Jaxon’s full attention, but I also had the Sheriff’s attention. A calculating look on his face. “You’re telling me that you had Annabelle’s affections? You actually had that woman and you let her go?” His attitude seemed more serious than curious.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I answered, “Yeah. Belle and I were together for two years. Letting her go was the biggest mistake of my life. I knew it less than a month after I did it. The problem was, by the time I figured it out, she was long gone. Now she seems to be so mad at me that fifteen years later she won’t even talk to me. I know I hurt her. Yeah, I’m an ass for doing it, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why she is as mad as she is after all these years.”

Sheriff Jenkins watched me thoughtfully. After what felt like an eternity of analyzing me like I was some bug under a microscope he nodded his head. “Don’t give up then, Baker. I’ll tell you that I’ve known Annabelle for the last ten years. She’s had a hell of a tough life in that time. That’s probably got a lot to do with her response to you now. Don’t bother asking me for details because I won’t give it to you. Annabelle’s a good friend of mine. I care a lot for her. Hell, I would have taken her off of the market years ago if she would have let me. So trust me when I say, I’m not tellin’ you a damn thing except this, if you still care for her at all like I think you do, it’d be worth your while to make a spot for yourself in her life. I think she needs it as much as you seem to want it. I also think ya’ll got an awful lot to talk about.” Turning in his chair so that he faced away from me, displaying his tense shoulders and stiff you-can-fuck-off body posture, the man was silently indicating to me that the conversation was over. I got his message loud and clear. That didn’t mean I understood it, or whatever it was that he was trying to convey to me. What a strange conversation that had been.

The next thirty minutes were a proverbial comedy about a bunch of drunken rednecks mixed with scantily clad women drinking, shouting, dancing, and a few brave souls trying their hand at the mechanical bull. During that time, I watched Belle pretend to throw back two more shots while acting like she was tipsy. Her movements appeared sluggish, but I knew that it was all an act since her, Declan and Riley had an elaborate game of ‘switch out the glasses’ going. Instead of Belle actually drinking her shots, either Declan or Riley would change them out with an empty shot glass from one of the patrons next to them, giving the impression that Belle was drinking heavily. 

Dozens of people partied hard with the trio and, eventually, Belle staggered sloppily backwards for a few seconds. Turning, she continued a drunken swagger, pushing through the thick mass of bodies towards the back of the bar, but instead of continuing her path, she veered quickly to the right, stumbling through the door at the end, where the suspect had entered not so long ago. Henderson caught sight of where Belle had disappeared to and yelled for her to stop. Ignoring him, she pushed her way through the door. Henderson slid the beer he had in his hand to Declan, and then quickly left the area behind the bar to follow Belle into the back.

Travis Henderson had just unknowingly allowed the back of his bar to be infiltrated by a highly trained ATF agent. One who would love to do nothing more than hang him high and dry if he was, in fact, cooperating in this ring of black market firearms sales. My body went incredibly taut with tension at the thought of Belle out of sight without any back up.

Precious seconds ticked by that I spent literally on the edge of my seat. Ready to jump up with the need to do something. Anything. Whatever it took to make sure my girl came back out of that room safe and sound. A few more minutes ticked by and it felt like an invisible hand had reached inside my chest and had a stranglehold on my heart.

Jesus, I’d never felt anxiety like this on any mission I’d ever gone on. Put me in a room full of crazy terrorists and it would feel like another day at the office, but this, well, this was almost more than I could take. Suddenly, I had the overwhelming desire to put Belle in a padded room somewhere safe just to make sure she never got a boo-boo; much less, let her walk into a dangerous situation like she was in now.

Just when I was ready to storm the castle, so to speak, the door to the back opened. Henderson firmly held one of Belle’s arms in his grip while escorting her back towards the Sullivan brothers. Declan looked over to the pair with a frown on his face seconds before I noticed his hand briefly touch his watch and then his voice crackled over the comm. link.

“Hey there, guy. What are you doing man handling my sister like that?”

Henderson gently pushed Belle into Declan’s direction. “No harm, man. Your sister wandered into the office looking for the bathroom. If she still needs to use it, the ladies room is located at the back of the building and to the left.”

Belle patted Declan on the shoulder. “Calm down, big brother. The bartender here was just showing a lady around is all. Hey, you still got that pack of cigarettes on you? I need one bad.”

Sending one last glare to Henderson, Declan wrapped an arm around Belle’s shoulders and headed towards the front door. Riley grabbed his bottle of beer before following them out. A few minutes of silence passed while the group presumably put a safe distance between themselves and any ears that might be listening. Finally, I heard Belle’s sweet, southern voice as she spoke lowly to Declan.