7 Degrees of Alpha (a collection of seven new BWWM, Alpha Male Romances) (46 page)

-Jaxon-

“I see your girlfriend is not all that she’s cracked up to be,” Lucille comments as she places two whiskeys in front of me.

I glare at her for a moment; her comment adds to me irritation. “Fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Ashley, right? Or is it Kaylee?” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

It was not the first time that Lucille passed comments about Ashley. Just last week, she caught herself trying to pull some racial bullshit when we came in for a drink. Though this place had been rumored to be racist, I actually witnessed the shit for myself. As I was about to put Lucille in her place, Ashley gave me that baby-I-got-this kind of look. It was a look that turned me the fuck on. So, I sat back and allowed Ashley to rip her a new one before I pulled her into my lap and kissed her passionately. 

“You know. Her not being who she says she is…,” Lucille comments, disrupting the hard-on that I was having at the thought of Ashley’s fiery attitude.

“I know for sure that you don’t know a damn thing about her, so keep serving beers,” I say dismissively.

She throws me an I-know-more-than-you-think kind of smile. “Yeah okay. You’ll see…”

“Are you threatening her?” I ask, rising from my stool. I wasn’t going to hit her, but I damn sure didn’t fuck around when someone spoke ill of Ashley.

“No—no, not at all,” she stutters as she looks from side-to-side. “I’m sorry.”

I cut my eyes from hers and down both drinks back to back before I shout out, “Give me another!”

“Whoa, cowboy, whatever happened to your two max rule?”

“Whatever happened to my no fucking conversation rule?”

Lucille shrugs. “Grumpy tonight I see.”

She quietly places another two glasses of whiskey in front of me before she moves down to the guy over to my left.

Shit didn’t make sense; Ashley deciding to leave so abruptly. How did we end up here? Within this month, Ashley and I spoke about plans of
our
future. There was never any pressure when we had those conversations either. I followed her flow and went as fast as she wanted me to go. Yet, she still wants to leave?

Last time, I had to come to terms with the fact that she wanted to live out her dreams. This time, I’m not too sure where this is all coming from.

I down my third glass of whiskey, hoping that the edge will come off, but it never did. After drinking the fourth glass, I decide to call it quits and head back to the ranch where I left Ashley.

She needs to make me understand why she’s leaving. I’m through with those bullshit answers that she has no problem giving me. I peel back a few bills and toss them on the bar before leaving.

As I drove up the dirt trail leading to my ranch, I see a red car with New York plates up ahead. I press on the gas, speeding damn near a hundred miles before I pull up along side of the car.

It’s empty
. I reach in my glove compartment and pull out my .32 and a box of bullets.

After loading my gun, I step out and drag my eyes to the front door. It is slightly adjourned. I steadily walk to the door, making sure that each step that I took did not attract any noise.

Pushing the door open, I quickly angle my gun and look to the left and right of me. I hear muffled whimpering, but it sounds too far away. Unable to pinpoint where the noise is coming from, I quietly walk throughout the house. Picture frames and other miscellaneous items are scattered all over the floor like there was a war that broke out.

“Please,” I hear a soft cry.

It’s Ashley
.
But where is she?

As I round the corner, I see a white man standing in the middle of the family den. He’s fishing for something in his pocket.

“Turn the fuck around” I order.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asks as he turns to face me.

I take a step forward and slam the butt of my gun against his head. He falls on the floor immediately. I take hasten steps to him as I watch him squirm like a fish out of water.  

I whistle a tune that I used to always hear my father sing. It usually worked like a charm to keep me focused. The more I look at him, the more I want to break his fucking neck. But a quick death would be too easy for him. I didn’t plan on making death simple and sweet.

“Please…Please don’t kill me. I have no problem with you, just that stupid bitch! That fucking whore is not worth it, man. She fucking lied to me about her name, drugged me, stole from me,” AJ whimpers as he places both hands in front of him.

“You’re the ex-boyfriend?” I ask, needing to hear him say it.

“Yes, we were together, but this fucking bitch—”

I bring the barrel of my gun up to meet his right hand.  I press the barrel into his knuckle. “Are these the hands that you used to beat her?”  

“Fuck! Please don’t shoot me!” he begs.

Pop!

I blow off his right hand, causing AJ to wail in pain.

“Oh, oh, does that hurt?” I taunt him with a snicker of my own. Bringing the barrel to his penis, I whistle for him to look at it. “Apparently, you got off on putting your hands on her. Seems to me you’re only asking to be a bitch.” I smile at him before releasing the trigger.

Pop!

I blow his dick off, causing him to use his other hand to reach for the hole between his legs. I finish him off by shooting both of his kneecaps off.

Pop
!
Pop
!

Finally, I aim at his head.

Pop
!

I release the trigger and unload on him. Each bullet was for the pain that he put Ashley through. 

“Scumbag,” I spat.

“What a fucking surprise?” a familiar voice calls out from behind.

I turn around to face the familiar voice. “Rolo…”

“The one and only. How are you, Jaxon? Did you miss me?” Rolo aims his gun at me while holding Ashley hostage. She was tied up at her wrist, gagged, and blindfolded. 

“How can I forget about you?” I ask, trying to play it cool.

“Exactly! How does it feel to be face to face with me again? After all, I’m the reason why you’re off the force. Do you know how long I was looking for you?” Rolo questions. “I was this close to catching you in the hospital. This close,” he reveals as he brings his index finger and thumb close together to further accentuate his point.

“How did you find me?”

“It wasn’t intentional,” he waves the gun slightly. “But when this fool lost my money to that stupid bitch, I told him that it was his life if I didn’t get it back. But it was going to be his life anyway.” He laughs.

“So, how did you find me?” I ask again.

“Come on, Jax,” he sounds disappointed. “You know that I got the boys on my payroll. When we finally got her name correct, it was easy. Her hospital record narrowed the search to be in this town. That fine bitch at the bar was quick to give up the info about your girl. Finding out that you and her were an item is just a bonus.”

I smirk.
So that’s what Lucille was talking about…

“Fuck are you smiling about? After I kill you, I’m probably going to fuck her and see what all the hype is about with this pussy. Maybe she’ll be good enough to turn tricks.”

I aim my gun at him, ready to blast his fucking head off of his shoulders. But I regretfully lower my gun the moment he aims his at Ashley’s head.

“Tsk…tsk…tsk. Jaxy-boy, you don’t want to fuck with me. I will blow this bitch’s head off first before I do you in.”

Rolo pulls a school I.D. from his back pocket and glances down at it. “Oh, and she used to be a dancer at Julliard,” he says in a cynical tone. “I should have her dance for us; after all, this
is
a celebration. I get to finally kill you and the bitch that stole $30,000 dollars from me!”

“Take me instead! If it's about the money, I can give it to you plus interest.”

“Interest, huh? Sounds tempting, but I’m not negotiating. You’re going to die, Jax—”

“Police! Drop your gun and put your hands up!” an officer orders the moment he enters the family den.

When Rolo whips his head back to look at the officers, I grab a hold of Ashley and push her to the floor with my body shielding hers.

“You motherfucker,” Rolo screams.

Pop!

Pop!

“Fuck me!” Rolo howls in pain. I look up and glance over my shoulder. He had been shot in his hand and leg. The officer walks over to him and kicks the gun away from him.

“You’re under arrest…” The officer begins reading Rolo his Miranda rights as he   puts the handcuffs on him. “Get up!”

Two more officers enter the scene. One checks the pulse of the fucker that I killed and another comes over to us. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, we are. How did you know?”

“We received a call about a disturbance. A young woman dialed 911 just as the men entered the house. The operator said that she heard a scuffle in the background, but could hear the conversations clearly. We got the call and headed straight over here.”

“Thank you, officer,” I shook the man’s hand and turned my attention back to Ashley. I remove the scarf from her eyes, ungag her, and untie the strings wrapped around her wrists.

“Baby, are you okay?” I ask as I further inspect her body.

She meets my eyes with a tearful gaze. “I’m so sorry. I thought that I would be able to leave before they got here, but they found me. I’m so sorry, Jaxon. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“Shh, don’t worry about it.”

“What’s going on in here? Why are all of these police officers in the house, Jax?” I turn around to see my uncle standing in the doorway.

“Don’t worry about, Uncle James. It’s all over now.”

*~*~*

Later that night…

I held her close to me, needing to feel her body. She had been too close to losing her life, and I can’t help but feel angry still. All I needed was five minutes alone with Rolo, but the officers were already hauling him back to New York.

The force’s attorney contacted me shortly after. Apparently, the recordings from the 911 call were sent to him. They were in the process of bringing up damning charges to Rolo and completing an open investigation on the officers that secretly worked for him. Apparently, Rolo refused to go down by himself because he implicated Lucille as being an accomplice.

The conversation ended with the attorney offering me my job again. For months, those were the words that I wanted to hear, but somehow they meant nothing now.

So, I turned it down.

Now as I lay here holding Ashley, I can’t help but replay everything that was said. “Why did you go by another name?” I finally ask.

She glances over her lowered shoulder, yet keeps her eyes focused on the bed sheets. “School wasn’t going good, the diner closed down, and to top it all off, I was still in love with you. I just wanted everything to stop. When AJ came around, I saw that as my opportunity to run, be someone else for a change. In the beginning, everything was okay. We spent more time apart than I expected since we lived together. I always assumed that it was because of work. But I soon realized that there was more to him than he let on. The last time that I tried running away from him, he pushed me down the stairs, causing me to fracture my ankle. I couldn’t call the police or get it checked out because he locked me up in the house for weeks. When I was finally able to come out, I called my school. By that time, I was already expelled.”

I wrap my arms around her body even tighter, completely cloaking her. I press my lips into the crown of her head. “I’m sorry, baby.”

She whispers softly in my neck, “Thank you.”

I lift my head up to meet her stare. “For what?”

“For saving me.”

“I’ll always protect you. You’re my heartbeat. Without you, I’m a dead fucker.”

I release my hold of her and hop off of the bed. I cross the bedroom and pull out the top drawer. As I look at the grey box that has occupied the corner of my drawer for the past nine months, I know that I can’t go any further without Ashley knowing the truth about where I stand.

“I left once. I’m not doing that again,” I say aloud before turning around to face her questioning eyes. “There were many nights when I would look at this box,” I say as I approach my bed. As I sink my knee deep into the mattress, I continue, “Instead of calling you, convincing you that your place was with me, my pride seemed to rush to judgment. But, in spite of it all, one thing was for certain…,” I pause.  “I knew that this ring belonged on your finger. I trusted that somehow this ring would find its home. Don’t get me wrong…,” I chuckle. “I wanted to stop loving you. I wanted to move past us once I touched down to in Georgia. But, fuck, I couldn’t.”

“How could you still feel the same? I had entered a new relationship,” she says, choking back the tears that glisten in her eyes. 

As I lean closer to her, she quickly looks away. With my curled index finger rubbing against her chin, I lift her face up to meet my eyes. “Don’t ever underestimate the power that you have over me.”

I lift her hands and place her soft fingers into mine. “I know that a lot of time has passed between us, but there’s something that I’ve been meaning to ask you for nine months.”

I place the box into her hand. Her eyes widen as she lifts the lid. “Ashley Francis, whenever you are ready to place this ring on your finger, I’ll be here. Ready to make you my wife.”

She looks up at me, as if needing reassurance that my words were true. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Sweeping her into my arms, I press her body into me, needing to be as close as possible to her.