Trouble in a Tight Dress (Six Points Security, #1) Read online

  By the time she finished, Shailene and Dorcas were looking at her as though she was trying to sell them a time-share in the Everglades.

  “If you didn’t want to tell us where you went last night, all you had to do was say so.” Shailene crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the recliner.

  “Yeah,” Dorcas added. “Because seriously...Russian mafia? Come on, you’ve got to try harder; that sounds like something I’d see on a bad soap opera.”

  “It’s the truth,” Nina said, fighting her frustration. Honestly, she didn’t blame them for being skeptical. If someone told her the same story, she probably wouldn’t buy it either. “My brother is—”

  “Say something in Russian.” Dorcas cut her off, the challenge plain in her voice.

  At first, the demand caught Nina off guard. But if that’s what it took for them to believe her, so be it.

  “What would you like me to say? That I’m telling you the truth? Or would you prefer something more clichéd?” It had been so long since she’d last spoken the language, the words sounded rusty on her tongue.

  Dorcas’s mouth dropped open, while her eyes got all big and wide. She cast a quick glance at Shailene, who seemed just as shocked. “Holy shit, you’re not messing with us, are you?”

  “I wish it was something that simple.” She felt bad about springing this kind of news on them, but they had a right to know who they were living with and what kind of danger they might be in. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. If you want to move out—or if you want me to move out—I totally understand.”

  “Why would we want to do that?” Shailene’s mouth warmed with a trace of humor. “Not everyone can say they live with a mafia princess.”

  Nina sighed. And here she thought she’d convinced them. “This isn’t a joke.”

  “We know.” Dorcas scooted a little closer to Nina and slung one arm over her shoulders. “What Shailene’s saying in her own special way is that we understand why you kept this a secret. But we also understand it’s not your fault that you’re related to an asshole. We’re not going anywhere, and neither are you.”

  “And I want to see your tiara,” Shailene said with a snort.

  Dorcas’s smile slipped a notch or two. “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. But we’ve also got your back. That jerkoff brother of yours isn’t going to hurt you while we’re around.”

  “Damn straight,” Shailene added with a nod, her Southern accent getting thicker. “If that man shows his face around here, I’ll kick his ass so hard he’ll be spitting out shoelaces.”

  Shailene raised her hand and Dorcas high-fived it. In a way, Nina was glad they weren’t upset with her, but at the same time she was frustrated because they weren’t taking the situation as seriously as they should.

  “So what happened after Austin came to the rescue?” Dorcas asked with a wag of her eyebrows. “When he brought you back to his place, did you thank him properly?”

  Nina rolled her eyes at the innuendo in Dorcas’s voice. She was starting to regret ever telling them the part about Austin. “Nothing happened. It was late, and I crashed at his house because I didn’t want to wake you guys up. He gave me a ride here this morning so I could change clothes, and then he drove me to work. That’s it. Nothing else. End of story.”

  “And where at his place did you sleep last night?” Dorcas asked.

  “On the couch.” Okay, that was a lie, but she hoped it would end this line of questioning. Normally, she shared her dating stories with the girls, mostly because a lot of them were disasters and she wanted to vent about them when she got home. But her time with Austin felt too personal to share.

  Lips pursed, Shailene shook her head. “Uh-uh. I can tell by the look on your face that’s bullshit. Now where did you sleep, young lady?”

  Nina let out a huff of annoyance. Jeez, maybe she should rethink this roommate thing. This was worse than getting grilled by the cops. “All right, I slept in his bed. But he didn’t sleep there.”

  Come to think of it, she had no idea where he’d slept. All she knew was that it wasn’t with her.

  Dorcas snorted. “Yeah, I’d be surprised if either of you did any sleeping.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake. I didn’t. Have sex. With Austin. Okay?”

  Dorcas gave her a long, hard look, and then glanced over at Shailene. “She’s telling the truth, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah, but she’s holding something back.” Arms crossed, Shailene pinned Nina with a look that would have made a nun proud. “Spill it, and don’t leave anything out.”

  Nina leaned forward slightly and met her gaze. “Nothing happened last night.”

  “How about this morning?”

  “He kissed me in the kitchen, nothing more.” Technically, the stuff in the workout room happened early in the afternoon, so she didn’t feel guilty about omitting that part.

  Apparently, the answer was enough to satisfy her roommates, because both of them broke out into huge grins, and then Dorcas high-fived Shailene.

  “You go, girl,” Dorcas said. “So when are you seeing him again?”

  “Tomorrow morning at work.”

  Shailene’s face scrunched up. “You know what we mean.”

  “Yes, I do. But it’s complicated.” Nina rubbed her face with her hand. In her heart, she wanted to take a chance with Austin, but her insecurities were exercising their veto powers. “He’s my boss.”

  “So?” Shailene said, undeterred. “You like him, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do, but—”

  “And it sounds like he’s on board,” Dorcas added. “What’s the holdup?”

  “Weren’t you listening? He’s. My. Boss. If we go down that road and things don’t work out, I’ll have to get another job.” Yeah, he claimed it wouldn’t be a problem, but she knew better than to believe that. Especially if things ended badly. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to work together, and considering he owned the business, she’d be the one filing for unemployment.

  Her response didn’t seem to faze Shailene, who waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “So you get another job, big deal.”

  With a shake of her head, Nina glared at her friend. “Actually, it is a big deal. I happen to like my job, and I like the people I work with.”

  Over the past thirteen years, she’d had a lot of jobs before finally getting hired by Six Points. A number of them hadn’t been pleasant. Sexism ran rampant in the information technology field, and she hated the thought of navigating those waters in search of another position.

  Then again, now that her brother was in the picture, she might have to leave town anyway. Just the thought of abandoning everything she’d built put a sour taste in her mouth.

  Dorcas rolled her eyes. Her voice softened, and it took on a quality that made her sound older than her twenty-four years. “Oh honey, I understand your concerns, but you might be missing out on the kind of thing that only happens once in a lifetime.”

  “Yeah, or I might be dodging a bullet. There’s no way to know which one it is, and I’m not about to find out.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  AUSTIN STOOD OUTSIDE a diner in a part of Orlando that tourists rarely frequented. There wasn’t much to see, just lots of buildings with bars on the windows and graffiti tags on the walls. He checked the time and glanced over at Nate. “He’s late.”

  “Relax; I’ve been working with Luther for over a year now. He’s solid. He’s just not punctual, and you can’t knock him for that, because he doesn’t own a watch.”

  Nate had been cultivating contacts within the rougher parts of Orlando, and that included the homeless population. Often ignored, they saw and heard a lot on the streets, and that made them great sources of information.

  A minute or two later, a lanky kid who couldn’t be older than eighteen shuffled around the corner. Dark dreads framed his angular face, and a thick scruff covered his jaw. He wore dirty jeans and a dingy white shirt with a radio station logo acro
ss the front. An overstuffed backpack identical to the one Nate had brought made his right shoulder hang lower than the left. At the sight of Nate, he grinned, showing off a set of straight, bright white teeth.

  Then his gaze shifted to Austin, and the smile dimmed a few notches. “You didn’t say anything about company.”

  The statement didn’t seem to faze Nate. “Chill, man; this knucklehead’s my brother. Austin, this is Luther—he lives out by Central.”

  With open reluctance, Luther shook the hand Austin offered. For a kid who was built like a beanpole, his grip was surprisingly strong.

  Nate tipped his head toward the front entrance of the diner. “Come on, I’m starving. Let’s get some lunch.”

  The diner was old but well maintained, with two rows of booths running the length of the dining area and yellowing linoleum on the floor. A sign up front said to please take a seat, so they claimed a booth in the back where there weren’t any other patrons. Austin slid onto the bench beside Nate, while Luther plopped down on the opposite side and set his pack on the seat to his left.

  The waitress gave Luther a wary look as she approached, but she quickly covered her unease with a smile. She handed them each a laminated menu, took their drink orders, and walked off toward the kitchen.

  “Thanks for the food, dawg,” Luther said once they were alone again. “It’s been a few days since I had anything hot.”

  “No problem. You said you heard something about the woman getting kidnapped downtown.” Nate had put the word out to his contacts in the hopes of finding something—anything—that could be used to implicate Ivan in Nina’s abduction.

  Luther shook his head, and his dreads swayed gently around his face. “Didn’t hear about it. Saw it.”

  Austin’s hands curled into fists under the table. “You were there, and you didn’t do anything to help her?”

  “What the fuck, you think I’m Batman?” Luther shot back. “There were three big dudes, and one of them had a gun. Ain’t no way I’m stepping in the middle of that shit.”

  “You could have called the police,” Austin said through clenched teeth.

  “With what? I got no phone, and I doubt those guys were gonna let me borrow theirs.”

  Austin drew a deep breath as he reined in his temper. In all fairness, the kind of people they were dealing with would have left Luther dead in that alley if they’d known he was there. “These big dudes, what did they look like?”

  All conversation stopped when the waitress returned with their drinks. She wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t friendly either, as she jotted down their orders and then headed back for the kitchen.

  Luther slumped against the bench seat and draped one arm over the back. “It was hard to tell what they looked like with it being dark and all.”

  Irritation flickered across Nate’s face as he pointed a glare at Luther. “Dude, don’t jerk my chain. You know how this works. Give me something to work with, and I’ll make it worth your while.”

  That seemed to perk up Luther, which was a good thing, considering Austin’s razor-thin patience when it came to matters concerning Nina. Two days had passed since their talk in his truck, and her silence was deafening. Well, not exactly silence. She was polite enough when they interacted at work. Nothing more, nothing less.

  Perhaps it was her way of turning him down without actually having to say the words. Though he didn’t like it, he wasn’t the kind of guy who forced himself on a woman. And he still had every intention of keeping her safe from her asshole brother.

  Luther braced his forearms against the chipped Formica countertop and looked around as though making sure no one was eavesdropping. “It was three white guys. Big motherfuckers. Two of them were around my age. The third one looked older and was a couple inches shorter. I think he was in charge.”

  “What makes you think that?” Nate asked.

  “I don’t know.” Luther shrugged. “I guess because he wore a suit while the other two had regular clothes. And he was the one who put the cloth over the bitch’s mouth. Whatever was on it knocked her out pretty quick. Next thing I knew, a car drove up, and they dumped her ass in the trunk and took off.”

  Austin’s vision flashed red as he pictured the scene in his mind. And the knowledge that her own brother ordered her abduction pissed him off even further.

  The waitress returned with plates of food stacked on her arms. She rattled off each meal before setting it down in front of the person who ordered it: a Reuben for Austin, cheesesteak sub for Nate, and a double cheeseburger, fries, and bowl of chili for Luther.

  For a dive, the food was pretty good, Austin decided when he took his first bite.

  “I almost forgot, they didn’t speak English,” Luther said past the food in his mouth. He’d practically inhaled the chili and was making quick work of the burger and fries. “Wasn’t Spanish either. Kind of like German, but different.”

  Nate slanted a look at Austin but didn’t say anything. Didn’t have to. They both knew what language the kidnappers had been speaking.

  “Did any of them see you?” Austin asked before he took another bite of his sandwich.

  The kid made a dismissive sound as he picked up a French fry and dunked it in ketchup. “Are you kidding? Nobody sees me. Well, except for the cops, and that’s only if I’m asking for change in front of the nicer buildings downtown.”

  “Good. Keep it that way.” Nate paused to drink from his glass. “Those guys are dangerous. If you see them again, get your ass to a pay phone and call me, okay?”

  “You got it, man.” Finished with his meal, Luther wiped his mouth with a napkin. He slid out of the booth, picked up Nate’s pack, and sauntered out of the restaurant without looking back.

  Austin eyed the grungy pack left behind on the bench seat. “I’m almost afraid to ask what’s in there.”

  Nate shrugged. “Laundry. Whatever’s salvageable goes in the wash, and the stuff I throw out gets replaced. If there’s room, I’ll add a few extras like deodorant and disposable razors. Next time I see him, we’ll swap packs again.”

  That explained why the shirt Luther had on looked familiar. It was one of Nate’s old tees. The waitress reappeared, took their empty plates, and left the bill on the table.

  Austin pulled out his wallet. “So what’s Luther’s story? How’d he end up on the street?”

  “I don’t know,” Nate said. “He’ll tell me when he feels like sharing. Until then, I keep him in clean clothes and give him a few bucks every now and again.”

  Once Austin paid the check, they drove back to Six Points. Nate parked his Camaro in the back of the lot, partly because there weren’t many available spots, but mainly because he didn’t want anyone scratching his pride and joy.

  As they crossed the lot, Austin fished his keys from his pocket.

  “You’re not coming in?” Nate asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute. I just need to get something out of my truck.”

  Austin cut to the right, while Nate continued toward the building. When he got a little closer, he pressed the button to unlock the doors, but instead of unlocking, there was a high-pitched chirp, and then the truck exploded with enough force to throw him clear off his feet. He flew back and hit the asphalt so hard it knocked the air out of his lungs.

  Time seemed to stretch as he simply laid there, his mouth wide open as he struggled for air. He hadn’t experienced a blast that large since his second tour in Afghanistan, and back then he’d been expecting it. Noxious black smoke billowed from the truck, while a sickening chemical stench assaulted his nostrils. In the lot, multiple alarms blared, probably from the vehicles that were parked close to the truck.

  Nate’s face filled his vision. “Dude, are you okay?”

  Ears ringing, he nodded and then accepted the hand his brother offered. Still dazed, he stared at what was left of his truck, which was fully engulfed in flames, as were the vehicles on either side of it. “Good thing I didn’t bother filing an insurance claim
for the bullet holes.”

  Clearly relieved, Nate huffed out a laugh as he clapped a hand on Austin’s shoulder. “I guess that’s one way to look at it. Are you sure you’re okay? You flew back about eight feet.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little scuffed up is all.” In reality, his whole damn body ached, but he wasn’t about to admit that to his younger brother.

  Someone must have called 911, because sirens wailed in the distance and were getting louder by the second. A small crowd had gathered outside the adjacent building that housed some kind of telemarketing firm. One guy in a suit was screaming into his phone, while a crying woman was being consoled by the small cluster of people around her. If he were a betting man, he’d say they were the owners of the vehicles parked closest to his truck. Later, after the mess was cleared up, he’d offer to cover the cost of their deductibles if his own insurance policy didn’t pay for the damage. After what happened, it was the least he could do.

  As a fire engine swung into the lot, the front door to Six Points flew open and Larissa, Nina, and Ryan rushed outside.

  “Oh, my God,” Nina said, her eyes all big and wide. Her gaze darted from him to the truck and then back to him again. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Can’t say the same for my truck, though.”

  Without warning, she flung her arms around him and hugged him so hard he thought his ribs might crack.

  “You might not want to do that,” he said. “I’m all smoky.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Truth be told, he felt a lot better just having her with him. She felt so strong, so warm against him, a comfort he couldn’t quite put into words. Giving in to the need, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.