Desired: Loving An Alpha Male (15 page)

I turned and faced her. Looking into her teary eyes had me shook.  I took a deep breath to try and calm down.  I was going to end up killing someone with my bare hands, and it’s going to be Manual Agosto the moment I find this son of a bitch.

I put my hands in her hair and moved her closer to me.  I tilted her head up, so her eyes were directly on me.  She looked so lost and scared, and that bothered the hell out of me. At that moment, I actually felt every bit of the fight I had to not let her close to me dissolve instantly.  I said months ago that she was mine and damn it if I wasn’t going to claim what was mine starting this moment.

My car came into view. When it got to the curb, I opened the door and told her to get inside.

“What about my car?” she asked me.

“Give me your keys.” She handed her keys to me, and I nodded at the bouncer at the door. He immediately approached him. I handed him the keys, telling him which car they belonged to. “Give these to Rock and have him take the car to my place.  Tell him to take precautions when coming to my house and tell him to put the car keys in Lucille. I’ll get them later.”

“Yes sir.”

“Who is Lucille?” she asked when I got in the car.

“My pickup truck,” I said simply and turned on my car, feeling the V-eight cylinders spark and come to life… I love my car.

As we drove through the city, she remained quiet next to me.  I wanted to ask her so many questions, but I knew whatever I said to her wouldn’t come out right.  I was steaming, fuming and if I didn’t calm down soon, one of these non-driving idiots were going to get ripped apart.

I cleared my mind and took soothing breaths before I asked, “How long have you been here?”

I looked over at her, and she looked down at her lap.  She then brought her eyes to me and said, “Three months, I guess.”

“So you came here right after you left Cabo?”

“Yes.”

Yeah… seems I should have kept my mouth shut.

So she was here all this time, and I knew nothing about it.

I turned on the radio to my favorite rock station and as Linkin Park screamed at me about being “victimized,” I tried not to let the murderous feeling I was getting curse all through me.

I drove to my condo on Arch St. close to I-95, and once I parked in my parking spot, I looked over and found Georgia sleep.

I watched her for a moment, wondering how in the hell did I leave her that morning without giving her my number. I kept telling myself that it was for her sake, but right then I just didn’t know. If she wasn’t supposed to be in my life, why was she there? Why after months did I see her in my club of all places? Philly is a big city; the odds of us running into each other had to be off the charts.  But there we were. I was not going to second guess it anymore.  I was going to see where this went.  I hoped she was in for the ride because it was going to get rough.

I called her name, touched her arm, and she practically jumped out of her skin. “Whoa, baby. It’s just me. We’re here.”

She stared at me for a second longer, and then gathered herself.  She looked around the garage. Then as I got out, she asked, “Where are we?”

I closed my door, and when I opened her side to help her out, I said simply, “My place.”

She stopped, halfway out of the car. “Oh no. Drake, I can’t stay with you.”

“Yeah, you can.  Come on.” I pulled her up, and I took her hand, but she snatched it back.

“No, you don’t understand…,” she started but I moved closer to her caging her between my car.

“No, it’s you that doesn’t understand. First, you’re not going to some damn hotel; not while I’m breathing. Second, I’m not letting you out of my sight for a while, at least until I can assess the threat.  And third, and this is the most important one, you will not spend another night in your car. Now, get
the fuck
out of the car, Georgia.”

I tried to drive home my point with the fear of God in my eyes, but she just looked back at me like a deer in headlights.  She blinked and again tears started forming in her eyes. I didn’t remember her being this emotional.

“Shit, I’m sorry… It’s just... I don’t want to put you in danger,” she said softly.

“Baby, if I’m helping you, I’m already putting myself in danger.  I’d rather be in danger knowing where you are than not.” I wiped at her eyes. “Now, come on. I know you would love to have a nice hot bath.”

Her eyes lit up as if I was giving her diamond earrings or something.  “Oh, yes please.”

I smiled at her. “That’s my girl… Now come on.”

We rode the elevator to the top floor of the building.  There were only two apartments on this floor, and one was owned by some old rich guy who seemed to always have a steady stream of young girls in and out of his apartment.

When I opened my door, I let her walk in before me and she sort of just looked around in awe. I closed and locked my door, turned off my alarm and moved to the kitchen.  I hadn’t been home in a while, and I wasn’t sure if I had any food in the fridge.

My apartment had an open floor-plan. As soon as you walk in the door, you see the living room, dining areas, and kitchen. The space had bamboo flooring throughout with a nice size kitchen and island, ten-foot ceilings, and oversized floor to ceiling windows.  All three bedrooms were upstairs. Going around the corner to a set of stairs is where I led her.

“You’re apartment is…” She paused and when we reached the top of the stairs, I looked at her.

“Surprising?” I added.

She smiled for the first time since I’ve seen her in Cabo. “Um… Yeah okay. We can go with that.”

“I’m not in Philly mostly, but when I am here, I like to be in something nice.”

“I get that. You just don’t have a leather or suede sectional downstairs.  You do have a very large screen TV, but you have pictures and plants and lamps… pillows even.”

I laughed as I opened my bedroom door and moved aside so she could enter. “I had a decorator come in, so don’t give me too much credit.  I just told her not to make me look like a dumb ass bachelor or make it seem too feminine, and this is what she came up with.”

“Well, it’s very masculine.  It suits you.” She then looked at my four-poster king size bed. “This suits you too.”

I smiled “Come on. Let’s get you bathed. Are you hungry?”

She paused, looked at me, and then touched her stomach.

She nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”

I chuckled. “Okay, take as long as you want.  I don’t know what’s downstairs, but if there’s nothing to make fast, I’ll order out. Chinese okay with you?”

Georgia was no longer paying me any attention.  She was looking at the huge ass tub in the corner of my bathroom.

“Do you need any help getting undressed?” I asked. 

She looked back at me and frowned.

You can’t blame me for asking.

“Just show me how to work this,” she replied and moved further into the bathroom. 

This bathroom was redone to my specifications. Since I owned this condo, I made sure to make it feel like me.  The walls and floor contain gray slate tiles that cover the large whirlpool tub, and the walls and floor of the large two-person walk-in shower.  I had large his and her porcelain sinks that sat on top of the large vanity cabinet with chrome faucets.

I showed her how to use the tub, and then brought her a towel and washcloth.

“This is my lucky Eagles t-shirt, so please take care of it.”

“Yes, sir. I will.” She shook her head and sat on the edge of the tub.

I watched her for a minute as she ran her hands under the faucet letting the water run through her fingers. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking about, but I hoped she knew I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

I finally moved on, and as I made it into the kitchen, I called Angel.

The phone kept ringing, and then went to voicemail. I hung up and called him again. It was about 1 a.m. He was probably into someone, but, hell, I don’t give a shit.

I was right when he answered on my third try. “What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you get the hint that I’m busy?” The way he was breathing told me I probably just interrupted him deep in his swing.

I smiled. “Oh, shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Yeah, why aren’t you busy doing something else or someone else?”

“Well, that’s the reason why I called you.  Georgia came to see me.”

Angel got quiet, and I heard him moving about. When he settled, he said, “So, yeah, why aren’t you busy doing her?”

Yeah, don’t I wish?

I sighed, gave up on cooking and looked at my many takeout menus. “She didn’t come for that, unfortunately. She came for my help.” I told him what she told me, the edited version, of course.

When I was done, Angel was all business like I needed him to be. “Okay, you know we have to play this shit cool. You don’t need any bodies, understand?”

“Of course… Not yet anyway, besides I wouldn’t do it here in the city. I have a place in mind though.  But we have to find him first.”

“Do you think he’s alone?” he asked me.

“Not for long.  I don’t know what his end game is or the game that was being played in Cabo, but I’m done with this shit. Hold on a second.” I grabbed my house phone and placed an order for shrimp fried rice, beef and broccoli, teriyaki chicken, white rice, and three egg rolls. I wasn’t sure how long she would be, but I wanted to get everything ordered so when she did come down, the food would either be here, or it would be on its way.

“Do you have a plan to smoke him out?” he asked me when I got back on the line.

“I thought about a plan, but I think I can find him easily. If he was just sitting around the hotel that day, he’s sitting someplace else, eating or having a beer.  I’ll call my connections and will probably have a location by tomorrow.”

“I need to talk to Pops.  You know he hates freelance jobs.  Besides, aren’t you still working on that Santiago family business in Miami?  Eddie is chomping at the bit.”

I grunted. “Yeah, something isn’t right with that family, Angel.  Eddie has something going on behind this family’s back; I can smell it. I’ll check with my contacts tomorrow to see what they’ve found so far.”

“Alright. Do that. In the meantime, I’ll talk to my father about your... uh… girlfriend?”

I grunted again. “Yeah, you do that.”

He chuckled and said, “So are you done messing with my night?  I have more fucking to do.”

“Yeah. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I hung up the phone and turned on the television.  I had watched CNN for about thirty minutes before the food came. About fifteen minutes later, Georgia still hadn’t made it downstairs, so I went looking for her.  I walked in my room, and I saw her curled up in the center of the bed with just the t-shirt on I gave her, fast asleep.

I pulled the cover over her body and made my way back downstairs.  I had a lot going on, so sleep wasn’t an option for me that night. Besides, I know me; if I had crawled in the bed with her, she would be violated for sure. Looking at her bare legs had my dick screaming to feel her again.

I grabbed my laptop and sat at my dining room table. While I ate, I started finding everything I could on this Manual Agosto, the Santiago family and that black guy I saw Georgia with.

By morning, I had more questions than answers.  There were so many emotions flowing through me. I couldn’t think straight.  I needed to prioritize. Otherwise I was going to lose my mind. As I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, I figured I’d start with her.

When she came into view, she smiled. Damn, she still looked amazing when she woke up.  I don’t know what it is about her, but damn.

“Good morning. Sorry about yesterday.”

I didn’t waste time. I said, getting straight to the point, “Who is Gregory Sayers to you?”

I froze in my tracks and stared at him, eyes wide, hand in mid hair rake.

This was a great time to ask for a time out to get myself together, but I don’t think he was going to give me one. I sighed and finally moved toward him.  I thought about sitting far away from him; I could see that he was pissed and honestly looked like he had been up all night.

I should be upset that he was looking into my business, but what did I expect?  I knew for a fact he felt threatened by the unknown of Greg and my implications didn’t help anything yesterday.  And, wow, the murderous look in his eyes at that moment; I thought it better to not beat around the bush and just say it.

“He’s my brother… or rather my half-brother.”

“What? I thought you had no siblings.”

I laughed slightly. “Yeah, me too.”

I then explained everything; from the call I received at the airport in Cabo to me coming here, the meeting I had at the attorney’s office, the shares I own… I told him everything… Well, almost everything.  When he asked me why I left, I just said we had differences that we couldn’t work out.

“Greg doesn’t like me at all, and when he found out I knew you… he became a little crazy.”

Drake sat up. “Crazy how?”

Seeing the murderous look again, I started waving my hands. “Easy… not like ‘crazy’... Just … you know... ‘I don’t want that kind of thing around my father’s family’…”

Drake grunted. “Yeah, well, baby, he needs to stop being a hypocrite.  I knew I recognized him from somewhere. His father has done business with my uncle for years. As a matter of fact, his father made a deal with my family in order to pay off his gambling debt.  Junior knows all about it.”

Uh what?

“What kind of deal?” I had asked before I realized it. 

Drake however ignored my question and asked, “So do you know how much your stock is worth?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t know anything about the business. I just go to the meetings because that’s what my father wanted.”

He nodded his head. “So you found your family?”

I gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, I thought I did. Can we just drop the topic of them?”

“Okay… Tell me about the break-in in your hotel room.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Did they take anything of value? Or did it just look like someone went in there and just tore up the place?”

I leaned back against the chair and started biting my nails.  I hadn’t had that nasty little nervous habit since I was fourteen.

“I don’t know, Drake. The room was in shambles. It was like a hurricane ran through the room. A Tasmanian devil would be more like it. Do you know that cartoon character?”

He nodded with a half-smile. “Yes, I remember... Did they take anything of value? Watch, money, jewelry? Anything like that?”

“No, nothing like that.  But they made sure I couldn’t use any of the clothes I had right down to my underwear and bras. It’s like twenty thousand worth of damage… I can’t pay for that.”

He frowned. “You won’t have to pay for it.  Don’t worry about that.”

“How can you say that? I’ve already heard from their lawyer. They’re suing me.”

“Baby, I promise you, you won’t have to pay them a dime. Now I need you to think hard… Do you remember having a feeling of someone following you or watching you?”

I didn’t hesitate. “No, nothing like that.  I know what you’re getting at, but I didn’t see anyone suspicious around me.  And I was staying at my father’s house for most of the time I was in town. I only got a hotel room when Dara and I would hang out in the city.”

“Dara was the one with you at my club?”

I nodded and brought my hand back up to my mouth; thinking about that night, seeing him with that woman.

Drake took my hand from my mouth. “Listen, I’m getting close to getting this solved, okay? Don’t worry about anything.  You can stay here until this whole thing blows over. We’ll get you some clothes, so you aren’t living from that small ass bag you’re carrying. Is that car a rental?” I told him it was, and he added, “Okay, well we’ll take that car back.  You can drive my car; I’ll drive the truck.”

A complete feeling of warmth came over me like the feeling of a warm blanket when it’s below freezing outside. I felt myself tearing so I turned my head. Those hormones were driving me crazy. I’d never cried that much in my life.  I was completely embarrassed to tell him. I actually cried myself to sleep that night because of how much he was taking care of me.

“Georgia,” he said softly.

I shook my head. “I’m fine… it’s just…” I met his eyes. “Thank you so much for helping me… I don’t know what I would have done if you turned me away.”

Something washed over his usually hard features that I couldn’t begin to explain to you. It was something that I’ve never seen before, and it made him look less scary, less mean, less bad. The moment that it appeared, it was gone. 

He said to me, “The moment you came to me, I knew I wasn’t going to turn you away.  This bartender and I have unfinished business, and I hate having loose ends. They always find a way of coming back.”

I didn’t want to take that personal, but with all of those hormones I kind of did.

Drake closed his laptop and stood. “Make yourself at home. There is food from last night in the fridge if you want to heat up anything. There’s also eggs in there but the milk, I wouldn’t risk it. I’m going upstairs to lie down for a little while. When I get up, we’re out of here. First stop; take your car back. Then get you some decent clothes. Okay?”

Tears again! I just said softly, “Okay.”

Drake stared at me for a long moment before he left.  He was probably wishing he’d said no to me in Cabo.

But he had no idea how much I was glad he didn’t.

I took a shower in one of the other rooms. Then I found the laundry room and washed my clothes.  I was tired of the short sleeve shirts. It was downright cold out there.

Lately, I’d been able to keep some things down, so I attempted to eat the shrimp fried rice, which I have to say was really good, and I drank plenty of water.  I took a prenatal pill after I ate, learning the hard way I needed something on my stomach before I took them and watched television until Drake woke up.

While he drove my rental, he had me drive his “monster,” which happened to be a tricked out Dodge Charger, big and loud and oh so beautiful. We took my rental back to the airport, and he ended up paying cash for it, which I tried to get him not to, but he gave me one of those murderous looks, so I got quiet.

He then took over driving and we drove downtown to a place called The Galleria, which was right in the middle of downtown Philly. 

Before we got out of the car, he looked at me. “I don’t want you to use any of your credit cards.  From now on, you use cash only.”

But I don’t have any cash
, I thought. I started to say that,  but I saw him come out of his pocket with a wad of money. He counted, and I just stared at all the one hundred dollar bills he had.  He then handed a small stack over to me.

“That’s two thousand dollars. That should be enough to get at least the bare necessities, some clothes, underwear, shit like that. Shoes and coats can get costly, so I’ll take care of those. I know women like to shop, but we are on a time clock here. Do you think you can be done in three hours?”

I… was… speechless.

Timeout.

Did this man just give me two thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bills and then say he would charge anything else to his card? And did he just say if three hours of shopping would be enough time?

I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and tell me that I’m being “punked.”

Drake smirked. “Yeah, I know, but I’m trying to be sympathetic to your needs since you’ve been through a lot.  Don’t think this is going to happen all the time.”

He got out of the car, and I sat there feeling like I was gut-punched twice.

Did he say “don’t think this is going to happen all the time,” as if I’ll be around ‘all the time’?

Drake opened my door and helped me out. “Are you okay?”

All I could do is nod and grab his hand, walking quickly into Macy’s.

So I shopped for only two hours, actually he shopped for me for two hours and ate for thirty minutes before we left.  I don’t want to admit it out loud for fear he’d take this the wrong way, but I had the best time of my life.  He nixed almost everything I picked out, reminding me I was in Philly, not Miami.  Then he started reminding me how old I was and to get out of the old lady section.

He didn’t realize that most hip clothes wouldn’t fit on this body.

This rare specimen took a look at me, and then started shopping for me.  He started handing me clothes to go try on, and I have to say he had some really great taste. When I looked shocked when something looked phenomenal on me, he would just shrug and say, “It’s a gift.”

I couldn’t wait to get out of the clothes I had on and into the clothes he bought for me.  I did attempt to tell him I would pay him back every cent of what he spent, and he gave me that murderous look again.  I figured that look was used often, but as quick as he brings it, it’s gone.

When we got back to his place, he was only there for thirty minutes before he told me he had to run out.

“Listen, I’m going to take you out to dinner tonight. Nothing too fancy since we didn’t shop for that kind of stuff yet… but nice.  I’ll text you the address of the restaurant and the time to meet me.”  He dropped the keys to the “monster” on the kitchen counter. “I’ll see you later, and please burn that jacket you have, baby. Wear one of the ones we bought, okay?”

With that bit of instruction, he left the apartment.

I took another long, hot bath and crawled into his bed again, feeling drained from the outing and all the emotions that I’d been feeling. Drake sent me a text about two hours later, giving me an address that I knew I would have to map on my phone.  He asked me to meet him there at seven-thirty, and it was five o’clock at the time, so I had some time.

Unfortunately, this dang pregnancy had me crazy because I woke again to the buzz of my phone and saw it was six forty-five.  Drake had text messaged me and just said, “Get up.”

“Shit.” I stood quickly, actually too quickly, got dizzy and fell flat on my ass.

Did I say this dang pregnancy had me crazy?

Anyway, I got dressed as fast as I could, putting on a sweater style dress and leggings with a pair of four-inch platform boots. I left the condo a little after seven and, seeing that the restaurant he was sending me too was about fifteen to twenty minutes from his place, I was confident that I would make it in time… However, yeah, that wasn’t the case.  I ended up having to use the restroom as soon as I got to the car, so I had to go back upstairs. I ended up finding the restaurant closer to eight.

There were no parking spaces in the front of the restaurant, so I went to find a parking garage somewhere close.  It was that moment when my phone went off.  I found a parking lot to park in, and I raided Drake’s change to pay for the meter. I saw that Drake texted me asking where I was, and I told him I was parking.

I had to park around the corner, so I moved as fast as I could, knowing I was so late.

When I turned the corner, Drake was standing outside in a pair of brown slacks and a black sweater. He wore a fedora on his head, something that he’d done for most of the trip in Cabo, and his trademark cigar was parked between his lips.  He looked so fine and sexy so much so that I almost fell, tripping over the sidewalk because I was paying so much attention to him.  When his eyes came to mine, I smiled. However, my smile wasn’t greeted very well.  He took the cigar out of his mouth and moved quickly to me.

“Where are you coming from?” he asked me, looking behind me, and then back in my eyes.

A little thrown off by his tone, I pointed behind me. “I
parked the car
. There were no parking spaces in the front of the restaurant, so it took me a minute, but I found one a few blocks away.”

“A few blocks? You have got to be kidding me. Give me the keys.”

Now I was getting pissed, so I slammed his keys in his hand.  He gave me a sharp look but turned and signaled one of the valets to come over to him. He tossed him his keys. “Go and get my car, and park it in the front of the restaurant.”

“Yes sir,” the valet responded.

Drake looked at me. “What’s the name of the parking garage?”

“It’s not a garage; it’s a lot. I’m not sure of the name. It’s around that corner though, about two or three streets down.” As the guy ran off, Drake gave me another funny look, and I’d just about had it. “I don’t know what the big deal is, Lincoln. I don’t know why you’re pissed at me.”

Drake squared his shoulders in front of me. Brows furrowed, he said, “I’m not pissed at you. I’m pissed at your fucking past.  I’m pissed that no one in your life has taught you how you’re supposed to be treated. What you’re supposed to expect from a man. Understand something; if I ask you to meet me somewhere, my club or a restaurant, and there’s a valet,
you valet.
Don’t worry about paying for it; consider it paid because I’ll be out there waiting for you to arrive anyway, and I’ll have already taken care of it.  It’s not cool that you parked blocks from the restaurant in the cold at night. I don’t want you walking around at night alone. It’s not safe, number one, and number two, I just don’t get down like that.  When you’re with me, you’re with me.  If we are both going someplace and I have to park far from the entrance of wherever we’re going, I’ll let you off at the front door and go park the car. And I’ll go and get the car while you wait inside for me when it’s time to leave.  That’s how I roll, understand?”