Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unhitched [The Double Rider Men's Club 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“I knew we shouldn’t have left her there alone.” Jackson started fidgeting in his chair even worse than before they’d turned around.

“No. You’re right. We should have brought her with us.”

“Right. That’s what we’re going to do now. She can spend the next few days in Colorado hiding out with us at the DRMC property.”

Derek nodded in agreement. A sense of dread descended over him. Getting the limo turned around and headed back to the hotel took seemingly forever. Naturally they hit every light red on the way back to the hotel. The trip seemed to take forever, as the traffic heading out of Vegas was not as congested as the traffic trying to get in. After a return trip that took three times longer, they finally made it back to their hotel.

They instructed the driver to wait and promised him double his normal rate. The plan was to pack up quickly and bring her with them back home to Colorado.

The elevator ride was interminable after crossing through the seeming hoards of people in the lobby. They finally made it to the room exactly forty minutes after they’d pulled away from the curb.

Derek opened the door to their suite with Jackson hot on his heels. He expected to see Alexis and her surprised face.

Instead, he first saw the stringy-haired blonde that Clay must have been talking about. Then he saw the filthy deviant man standing over her with his fists clenched. The obviously irate man turned toward the door, hand still fisted, and growled when he saw the two of them enter.

“She’s mine!” he screamed. “It’s my turn!”

The stringy-haired blonde shrieked and ran into the closest bedroom. The burly man growled again, sounding like a wounded bear in a frenzied rage, and moved toward them at a fast clip.

The next horrid vision that greeted him as the two strangers reacted was Alexis. Eyes closed, tears streaming down her cheeks, bound hand and foot to a dining chair, shirt ripped open revealing her lacy bra, with blood dripping down her chin, she didn’t even look alive.

Derek would be the first to admit that he wasn’t a physical person. Not that he was a wimp. But it wasn’t something that came up often. He’d never been in a fistfight. He’d never clocked anyone. He’d never wanted to. He’d never needed to. However, he developed his own embodiment of wrath in that split second of realization at what had just been happening in their absence.

The minute they got into the room and he saw what was going on with Alexis he wanted to commit murder. When he registered the blood on her face and that she’d been crying, he pushed Jackson back out of the way and tackled the rushing pervert to the ground. He punched the guy’s face more times than he remembered to count.

After what seemed like only a few seconds, he heard Jackson’s voice say, “He’s not worth going to jail for.” Jackson was the one who finally grabbed his arm to stop him and pulled him backward, ending his repeated punches.

“You’re right. Thanks.” The bloodied man beneath his knees was unconscious. He likely would have killed the guy if Jackson hadn’t intervened. Derek stood up and backed away.

Jackson went into the bedroom and brought the female accomplice out struggling as Derek moved to check on their precious wife. He heard Jackson call both the police and then the limo driver as he untied Alexis.

Once she was unbound, Alexis threw herself into his arms. “Thank you for coming back. I can’t believe it. I thought I was dreaming when you two came through the door.”

“Thank Clay. He called us just in the nick of time. He was notified that there was another female victim drugged in the hotel. The stringy-haired blonde was in that video, as well, and the man she was associated with was a criminal with a disturbing arrest record. We came back to insist you go to Colorado with us.”

She wiped her fingers carefully across her swollen lip. “Can I take a shower first?”

“Wait until the police come. We’ll call Dillon, too. He’s still here. Then we’ll help you wash up.”

Derek held her hand until the police had come and gone. They collected a multitude of evidence in order to prosecute. The other woman who’d been drugged was pressing charges, as well. Virgil and his accomplice, the stringy-haired blonde whose name was Marlene, were safely in jail.

Dillon stopped in and treated her injuries. She said, “Sorry to keep calling you. I’ll bet you thought you were getting a vacation.”

“Not a problem. It’s a conference more than a vacation. I’m sorry the asshole drugged you again and got physical this time. But I’m glad they caught him.”

Dillon looked at Derek’s knuckles and sighed. “Come here and I’ll dress your wounds, too.”

Derek frowned. “I’m fine. Just take care of Alexis.”

“It looks like you broke your skin open on his teeth. Do you know what kind of germs live in the human mouth? I should probably give you a tetanus shot.” Dillon reached in to his bag and pulled out a wicked-looking syringe.

“Whatever.”

Dillon snapped his fingers. “By the way, I got the results back on the blood tests from before. It turned out to be what we suspected. A modified version of Rohypnol. And it was significant in both of your blood samples.”

“Good thing you drank half of my drink, Jackson.”

He kissed her on top of the head. “I’ll never regret doing that.”

Once they were alone, Derek helped her undress. Jackson joined them in the bathroom and together they carefully washed her hair, scrubbed her body and kissed her face repeatedly, avoiding the bruised and abraded spots. Finally, they tucked her into bed to let her rest until it was time to go. Sandwiching her between them, they napped for a few hours until a phone rang in the late afternoon.

Derek got up to answer as Jackson continued to snuggle closer to their wife.

She
was
their wife. He’d never admit it to Jackson, but he’d wanted to come back maybe even more than Jackson had. Leaving her behind earlier today had been the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. And that was saying a lot.

He pushed the button on his phone.

“Hello,” he whispered and exited the bedroom suite.

Clay’s voice came through on the line. “Everything all right there in Sin City?”

“Yep. Thanks for the timely call. We made it back just before he was about to really hurt her.”

“I spoke to Dillon, briefly. Is your girl okay?” Clay asked. Derek paused, Clay didn’t usually concern himself with women that weren’t projected to be permanent. Derek wondered momentarily at his attention to Alexis.

“Seems to be. A little banged up, but she’s a fighter.”

“You going to bring her back here to the DRMC property?”

Aha
. The true reason for his question. He
really
just wanted to know if he’d have to give up another DRMC remote gate key.

“Don’t know yet. Problem?”

“Not sure. I did some research. Your girl was in a bit of trouble back home. Did she tell you about the guy following her around?”

“Yes. Some ardent, would-be suitor has been hounding her after only one date. She came to Vegas to hide out. How do you know about him?”

Clay laughed. “The same way I know lots of things. I have many sources. When you had me pull the tapes from the recent drug-induced wedding free-for-all, I also did a little history check on her and found out why she left North Carolina for a sudden Las Vegas vacation.”

“And?” Derek didn’t know what he was getting at.

“And just to let you know, that guy she was trying to ditch is on his way to Las Vegas.”

“Her idiot stalker?”

“Yep. His name is Brett Bogner.”

“How in hell does
Brett
even know she’s here?”

“My guess is that he saw her on the Internet like millions of other people. The scene of her and Jackson in the hotel’s central foyer fountain is still on several top lists of must-see footage.”

“Didn’t it mention that they got married? You’d think it would hold him off.”

“I don’t believe that came up in this particular section of footage.”

“Fuck. Do you know when he’ll be here?”

“Yep. His flight lands in about two hours.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.”

“You bet. Try not to hurt this one so much. He’s not quite as bad as the guy you bloodied earlier.”

“How do you know it was me that hurt the asswipe?”

“Dude. Who am I?” Clay snorted.

Derek smiled. “Touché.” Clay had his ways. They were very special secret ways of finding out information. It was probably best for his methods to remain a mystery.

Clay hung up without saying anything else.

Derek crossed to the bar and poured himself a healthy-sized glass of whiskey. He swallowed and poured one more.

Now that the primary threat against Alexis was solved, he wondered how long it would be before they had to say good-bye to her. Again.

He didn’t want to. She was beautiful. His heart tripped over itself a little every time he looked at her. A little more conservative than he might have selected on the outset, but intriguing in every other way. And he loved her laugh. Maybe this trip to Colorado would convince her that the three of them had a shot at a good life together.

Derek slipped quietly back into the bedroom. Jackson still had his arms wrapped around her. Derek didn’t want to disturb them, but needed to tell Jackson about the next idiot stalker in her life on his way to Las Vegas.

He didn’t know how long he watched them snuggled together. But it gave him time to think long and hard about how to convince her to give up a life she obviously loved. He didn’t want to let her go, and that was the primary drive.

A glance at his watch and he realized he’d have to alert them to the coming problem.

“Jackson,” he said in an overloud whisper.

Jackson’s eyes popped open immediately. He turned his head and focused in on Derek. Alexis didn’t even stir. Dillon said she’d been drugged again, only with not as potent a drug. She needed to sleep, which was why they hadn’t left yet.

“We need to talk,” he added. Jackson nodded and carefully extracted himself from her still-sleeping form.

They left her in the bedroom and went out into the main part of the hotel room. Jackson wiped a hand down his tired face. “What’s up?”

“Unfortunately, more bad news.”

“More bad news? Really?” Jackson seated himself in a chair in the living room. “Fuck.”

“I know. The hits just keep on coming.”

“Tell me. What now?”

Derek cleared his throat. “When I talked to Clay a while ago, he told me that the guy Alexis is hiding from in her hometown is on his way here. He’ll be here in less than an hour.”

Jackson’s eyes widened. He leaned forward in his chair. “How does he even know we’re here?”

“Clay thinks he must have seen the viral video of you and her dancing in the hotel fountain.”

“Shit.” He covered his face with his hands. “I will never in my life live that stupid video down, will I? Not even from my wife’s stalker.”

Derek shrugged. “Likely not. There are worse things.”

“Like what?”

“You could have been roofied and married a man-hating bitch on wheels.”