Always Been Mine (28 page)

“Valerie are you here?” She never thought she’d be so happy to hear Romero’s voice.

She dropped the plunger and hurried into the front room. He gaped at her. “What happened to you?”

Valerie knew she looked a mess. The dry heaves had made the tears come in mass. “I came by to pick something up and Bruce,” she stopped, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to cry. “The guy that’s been stalking me tried to force himself in.”

Romero walked over to comfort her, hugging her softly. “It’s okay.” He pulled away. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”

Valerie shook her head. There was a knock at the open front door. They both turned to see two uniformed officers. “Someone called about an attempted forced entry?”

Apparently, one of the neighbors had heard the commotion and called the cops. By the time Valerie finished answering all their questions she had about eight missed calls from Alex.

Romero stayed there the whole time, then went outside when they were done interviewing Valerie. He stood outside chatting with them.

She called Luke first to ask if he could call to cancel her appointments for her. There was no way she’d make them the way she was feeling. This incident had thrown a wrench in her entire day’s plans. Not only that, she knew she’d be on the phone with Alex for a while. He’d want to know every last detail.

She dialed Alex, sat on the sofa, and held her breath.

***

The morning had started out well, enough. Busy as usual, up to his eyeballs getting things ready for wedding, he’d hardly had time to worry about Valerie. Now he stood out back in the alley behind the restaurant, struggling to remain as calm as he could. It was a relatively cool day for summer, but Alex was burning up. He gripped the phone as he listened to Valerie. He’d spoken to her for nearly an hour. Not once had she mentioned Luke at her apartment.

When Hank, the guy watching Valerie, called to inform him that he’d just chased a man who tried to force his way into Valerie’s apartment, Alex dropped everything. He was already in his truck when Romero called to tell him. Romero had just pulled into the parking lot of her apartment. Alex was halfway there before Romero could convince him it was best he didn’t blow Hank’s cover just yet. Bruce was still loose, after all. Valerie needed someone watching her more than ever now. Reluctantly, Alex had to agree it was better if he didn’t tell her yet. Not before making Romero promise he’d call the cops and have a report taken.

Romero promised, then told him about Luke. Like Alex, Romero thought there had to be some kind of reasonable explanation. It couldn’t be what it looked like. Besides, Hank said Luke was there less than five minutes. What bothered him most was that Valerie didn’t mention it. Even if she wasn’t doing anything wrong, that still broke some kind of relationship rule in his book.

The worst thing about the entire situation was that because Valerie had actually opened the door, they couldn’t go after him for attempted forced entry. It was bullshit. Even though he was still on probation, assuming they ever tracked him down, he probably wouldn’t get more than a slap on the hand.

Thoughts of Bruce and Luke slammed back and forth in Alex’s head. He dropped the phone in his apron pocket and pulled out his wallet. Leaning his shoulder against the wall, he pulled out the note Valerie had left him that morning. There was no way Valerie could be doing anything. He felt it in his heart. The note went back in to its safe place. There was just no way. He knew this.

So, why was he still pacing outside trying to calm himself before going back in the restaurant? With his nerves stretched raw, the adrenaline still hammered through him. It hadn’t stopped since the moment he’d seen Hank’s number on his caller ID. He’d grabbed his keys before he’d even answered.

Hank was an expensive commodity, but worth every penny. Alex didn’t even want to think how grave the circumstances might be right now if Hank hadn’t been there.

He’d almost gone nuts not being able to get a hold of Valerie. When he finally heard her voice, even with the questions he had regarding Luke, he was still extremely relieved.

Finally feeling calm enough to walk through the restaurant without biting anyone’s head off, Alex stepped in the back door. Sergio, one of the busboys, appeared concerned as he passed him. “Everything okay, Chief?”

They’d all seen how he ripped through the restaurant to get out of there. And he’d been in and out taking phone call after phone call ever since. He demanded Romero call and update with every little bit of info he gathered.

“I talked to him this weekend. He said you guys were going to be real busy all week. I’m done for the summer, so I told him I’d help out. I’ll be here the whole week. I just gotta go back for one test on Friday, then I’m here until I start up again in the fall.”

“Well, that’s a relief. Where were you this morning when we were swamped?” Alex pushed the door to the office closed.

“I just got here. I didn’t even go home, came straight here.” Sal raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on with you? I heard you bolted out of here like a maniac.”

Alex frowned. He didn’t even want to think about it anymore. “Someone tried forcing their way into Valerie’s apartment. I’ll tell you about it another time. That shit’s giving me a headache.”

“She okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Shaken up, but fine.”

Sal studied him for a moment, then spun his chair around to face the computer again. “Is this really the guest list for the wedding? Good Lord!”

Alex sat down on a chair near the door and leaned his head against the wall. “Yep, that’s it. Mom and Pop are nuts. Sarah only has her mom and one aunt. Angel said they have a couple of her friends coming down from Arizona and a few local ones. The rest are all our side.”

Alex leaned his head back again, rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. “I started when pop said he wanted the wedding here. You know how he can be. I had a feeling this thing was going to turn into a circus.”

“Dude, you have graphs for the seating arrangements?”

Without opening his eyes, Alex chuckled before responding. “Mom and her sisters? C’mon—we all know who’s gonna snap and who’s not. I had to keep things under control.”

“Seriously, Alex, I’m impressed. I’ve hated every computer class I’ve taken so far. I just don’t have the patience. This is something else.”

Alex took a deep breath, still keeping his eyes closed. Deep inside, though he’d never admit it, there was a part of him that still delighted in impressing his older, much more anal brother. “The software does it all, Sal. It’s not rocket science.”

Sal didn’t respond. Alex opened one eye and saw Sal still clicking through all the hours of work he’d put into organizing this wedding.

“Has Angel seen this?”

Alex sat up, remembering all the work he still had to do. Valerie’s incident had thrown his whole day off. “I dunno. He’s been busy trying to find a place for his restaurant.” He stood up checking his phone just in case. “Oh, I meant to ask you. You bringing anyone to the wedding?”

“Too swank. Too in-your-face sexy. Too outspoken.” He turned back to Alex. “I might’ve been able to live with all that. It’s when she got too pushy that really did it.”

Alex smiled curiosity getting the best of him. “How so?”

Sal shrugged. “She knew we weren’t exclusive. I made it clear from the beginning, and she said she was okay with that.” He shook his head. “Somehow she got into my place one night, made dinner and was waiting for me in her birthday suit when I walked in.”

The remark didn’t lessen Alex’s laughter. He walked out the office still laughing. Knowing how proper Sal always strived to be only made the visual of him walking into that with a date even funnier. Sal muttered something under his breath, but Alex heard him chuckle as well. Today of all days, he needed the laugh. Thankful for the break in his mood he threw himself back into his work.

The restaurant was a madhouse on the eve of the wedding. Food and supplies rolled in all day. Angel opened the place, helping with the set up of the banquet room. Certain things like the dance floor and the stage set up he wanted done just so. It was his wedding, so Alex watched and let him have at it. In a way he a was a little surprised Angel didn’t seem nervous at all. Then again, Angel had been sure since he’d met Sarah back in high school that she was the one. The only reason they’d waited this long was because they both wanted to finish school first.

As if the wedding preparations alone weren’t enough to make things hectic, Sal arranged for the pay-per-view heavyweight champion fight to be watched at the bar that very evening. He mentioned doing a little promoting on the internet. Alex now knew what was behind the sly grin when Sal had told him. The place was already packed. The main fight wouldn’t even start for another hour.

Alex should’ve known when Sal mentioned he’d hired a couple of Romero’s guys to make sure things stayed under control. They’d never needed security before, but the bar area was already nearing capacity and customers were still arriving. Romero was there, throwing a few back. He said he was off duty, but Alex could see he was doing more looking out than drinking.

Valerie, Isabel and Sofia had taken Sarah out for dinner and some drinks. They assured Angel it wasn’t a bachelorette party. More of a dinner and girl talk the last night before the big day. Alex told Valerie it sounded an awful lot like a bachelorette party to him. She just laughed and promised it wasn’t.

With the exception of Monday’s incident, the week went without episode. Wednesday, Alex accompanied Valerie to the hearing. There was no doubt the judge would rule in favor of granting Valerie the restraining order, especially after what just happened.

He did, but the problem was the restraining order was only good for three weeks. Bruce had to be served first for it to be permanent. Anybody but Valerie could serve him. Alex wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Unfortunately, when Romero went to serve him at the homeless shelter listed as his primary residence, they hadn’t seen him in weeks. His probation officer was no help either. He’d finally returned their calls today, simply to say that Bruce was only required to check in every ten days. The last he’d heard from Bruce, he’d said he was staying at the shelter at night and looking for work during the day. Bruce wouldn’t be required to check in for another week. There was no way of getting a hold of him either, since Bruce supposedly didn’t have a cell phone. The whole system was a damn joke.

Bruce was more frightening than Alex expected. He’d been in the armed forces until he was dishonorably discharged for computer fraud. Most of that information was classified, so Romero was having a hard time getting the details of it. But apparently this guy was some kind of computer wiz. Great. This just kept getting better and better.

All his priors were violent ones. His stalking wasn’t just limited to following his victims around. In all the cases, he’d done extensive snooping, hacking into their computers to gain more info. He’d even served a couple of weeks in a mental facility. Why they ever let this nut out was beyond anything that made sense to Alex.

Most of his crimes included attacks against women. The only one that included an attack on a man was when he tried to run an ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend off the road. Alex more than welcomed the animal to come after him. He’d make sure the guy got what he deserved, but most importantly they’d have him locked up.

The only positive thing that came from the background check was that it appeared his ex-wife’s disappearance was more of a self-initiated disappearance. There was evidence she’d already changed her name once. Her family never even attempted to file charges against Bruce. Basically they accepted she’d disappeared and went on their merry way. It was unlikely that a family would do that unless they knew where she really was and were intentionally keeping quiet about it.

Very small consolation, but at least as far as Alex knew, Bruce didn’t have blood on his hands… yet. With that thought lingering, Alex decided to check on Valerie. He walked toward the back room. The restaurant was just too damn loud for him to make a phone call out there.

Once in the back room, he was quickly distracted going over some of the wedding details on the computer. When he was done, he decided it was better to leave Valerie alone. Hank would call and update him if anything happened. He went back to the bar. The place overflowed with loud patrons now. Alex leaned over to Sal. “You sure we’re not over capacity?”

“We’re good now, but we had to turn some people away. They weren’t too happy about it, either. It’s a good thing we had Romero’s people here. They started getting rowdy.”