The Law of Motion (Law Series) (56 page)

             
Her voice rang with sincerity and I crushed my lips to hers. “That’s all I needed to hear baby, I won’t bring it up again.”

             
She laughed again, this time pleased, “You shouldn’t be so quick to give up what is yours.”

             
I grabbed her, “I’m never giving you away.”  I practically growled as she traced her fingers along my tattoo, her head buried into my bare chest.

             
“Well good, because I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” She laughed running her fingers across the stars that arched underneath it. A hint of soft sadness filled her voice as she commented. “I was going to get something like this… to honor Tango, but I couldn’t get the courage to be touched long enough to sit through it.

             
She knew exactly what my tattoo meant, because my dad, and every other person in Bravo had one, except mine was slightly different. Mine had stars underneath it, symbolizing each guy that was lost under my command. My dad’s was used for the same purpose, except he never lost a man under his command, except for Anderson, and he had a heart attack on the way back, he didn’t even tell anyone he was sick.

             
She really looked sad, “Baby, you honor your team every day. In fact you carried the guilt for over four years, hell you still do.”

             
“I suppose I have enough permanent reminders.” She sighed referring to her scars.

             
I rubbed the through shot scar on her shoulder completely unfazed, “Where would you have gotten it anyway?” I asked her taking her mind away from what she saw as imperfections.

             
“Around my insignia.” She answered with an eye roll as if to ask ‘where else’.

             
I shook my head playfully growling in her ear. “No way.”  She grinned, and her hand instinctively covered the area on her stomach just along her pelvic bone where her tattoo sat. “No one is getting anywhere near that but me.”

             
“You do tattoos?” She asked innocently, biting her lips to refrain from laughing at me. 

             
“Very funny,” I chuckled rolling my eyes right back at her. I raised an eyebrow at her when she looked up at me to see if she was forgiven. I could never
not
forgive that face though. I lied back on in the bed bringing her down with me, finding a comfortable spot with her intertwined with me. “What do you want for breakfast in the morning?” I inquired after another few minutes of silence.

             
She shrugged against me, “Whatever it is, we need to make enough for everyone else and cart it to the office. We should probably get everything from the coffee shop across the street.”

             
“Nope, I am having a
real
breakfast with my girl before we go into work, so what do you want?” I demanded.

             
She rolled her eyes at my stubbornness. “Well we are bringing some for the crew regardless. I’m cooking, so you decide what you want.”

             
“You know what I want.” I laughed grabbing her ass beneath the covers.

             
She grinned at me. “Nice to know you’re willing to share me with the rest of Gravity.”

             
“Uh huh, I’ll show you share—”I threatened rubbing my hands against where she was most ticklish and watching her disappear under the blankets giggling like a girl as she tried to get away from me. I felt like an idiot and took comfort in the fact that this side of her no one else got to see. This was something that was just us,
my
Alyssa.

———————

              Those twenty-four hours away from the world seemed to do Alyssa justice. She was her normal cheery self, but focused on the tasks ahead. She did make breakfast the next morning, and I opted to have ours in pajamas on the bed. We kissed, fed each other, and just all around absorbed ourselves into one another, getting loss in time. If Tink didn’t call we probably would have made today another day off, but we pulled ourselves out of our blissful bubble and were now heading towards the real world again.

             
We pulled in to see half of our crew making it in with coffee, the other half already inside. Alyssa grabbed my hand from the passenger seat of my Challenger, and smiled at me. “You and me remember?”

             
I smirked bringing her knuckles to meet my lips. “That’s all I want Honeyface.”

             
We walked into a conference room that seemed way too somber, and way too on edge for my liking. Kristen and Joanne were leaning over Tink as she sat at the head of the long table, whispering. Jackson was looking at a file, but kept a narrowed eye on the situation. Dario and Jeff looked first to Alyssa, and then to me, their expressions grim. Macon, who seemed just as bothered until he saw the containers in Alyssa’s hands, was the first to break the silence. “You brought food!”

“Shut up man.” Ross sighed helping Doc take them from us as Kristen disappeared to probably get paper plates.

“What? She made tostones.” Mack defended taking one out of the container and grabbing a bite. Everyone else grabbed a plate after thanking her, eating, not saying much at all. The only person I didn’t see was Victor.

              Alyssa noticed it too. “Where’s Victor? I made his favorite muffins.” She inquired, her voice still attempting to sound upbeat.

"Sit, sit, sit," Tink chanted as Juan ran out of the computer room, greeted his
tia,
made a plate, and ran back into the other room to finish his computer game.

Alyssa’s eyes looked worried when Juan shut the door behind him. “Where’s Victor?” She demanded turning to my father.

"The deep shit starts now," he sighed sipping his coffee and eating some of the food Alyssa brought. “He’s where he feels needed.”

She turned to Hunter giving him a loo
k that promised physical harm if he didn’t give her a straight answer and demanded again, “Where is Victor, Hunt?”

Hunter sighed apologetically, “Well yesterday you seemed so upset that you couldn’t have your hit, and we needed a man that could fit into a prison environment…"

“Victor came to Hunter after his talk with you and wanted the whys and what for’s, so I told him,” Doc chimed in, feeling like Hunter was doing a horrible job. “He didn’t even ask he
insisted
, packed up, and headed out to where he would need to go to make this happen for you.”

"He's our hit on Myles?" I verified, raising an eyebrow at Dario. I had no idea that the old man cared that much about her.

"Well, we're getting him in position to do so," he answered with a shrug. "The call comes from Liam and Alyssa. He’ll be in Ft. Leavenworth waiting for his entry." He paused for a moment, and looked to Alyssa. "He told me to tell you that...he'd 'take care of it, Miss Alyssa.' He was pretty upset with what you've gone through. Once he heard about everything Myles said and did, he packed his shit up."

“Bring him back.” Alyssa replied shaking her head. “He shouldn’t be there, not for me. Hunter, make the call and bring him back.”

“He was arrested in Virginia an hour ago. It’s done.” Hunter sighed.

Alyssa’s jaw locked, and she spoke through clenched teeth. “You knew and didn’t tell me. Doc, why didn’t you call me?”

“He asked me not to tell you until he was already gone; he knew you would be upset. If anyone can understand that it’s you.” She responded.

She turned to my father, “Liam... he shouldn’t be in jail for me.”

“He’s exactly where he wants to be sweetheart,” My dad comforted. “Just let him do his part. You’re a favorite of his you know…”

Alyssa's nose wrinkled, but a small smile curled her lips, because she liked the big, scary man. "Poor Victor…”

I chuckled, squeezing her hand. "
Poor
Victor...he's a hitman, Alyssa. This is what he does. He infiltrates unusual places and waits until the perfect time. I've heard stories from my dad that Victor even became a prisoner of war in Vietnam, just to be able to get inside the compound —which is now rubble, mind you."

Her eyebrows rose up, but she didn't say anything.

"His looks are perfect for that," Jackson mused, shrugging one shoulder. "He's so damn big and mean looking, no one will touch him in jail."

"Right," Dario snorted. "Anyway...I guess if you want to talk plan, we can."

“We already have a plan?” Alyssa asked blandly, and I smacked my forehead, because I was supposed to bring the idea to her gently yesterday, and I had completely forgotten.”

“Sorry guys.” I groaned.

Alyssa eyes cut to me warily. “Whose idea was it?”

             
“Mine.” Tink piped up. “Well Doc and Kristen helped but, mostly mine.”

             
Kristen rolled her eyes picking at her muffin. “Gee, thanks for the inclusion Tink.”

             
“What’s the plan?” Alyssa rushed bringing the conversation to focus.

             
My dad sighed. “Alyssa, I need you to keep in mind that this is to get everything over with, and Victor home as soon as possible…”

             
“What is the plan?” She repeated not liking to be left out of the loop.

             
Tink sighed, “You’re really going to have to sit…”

             
This was the third time this month that I walked into a building owned by Paul Neil. This time however, it wasn’t an enraged stalk that pushed me across the lobby; it was my boyfriend, my old friend, and my best friend pushing me.

             
“Stop fidgeting Chance.” Tink suggested as we entered the elevators and pressed the button to the sixty-second floor.

             
I had my arms crossed and was biting the nail on my index finger, a habit I had lost a long time ago. She pulled my hand out of my mouth and tugged them down by my sides. “Sorry Tink.” I grumbled and Adrian wrapped a firm arm around me.

             
“You don’t have to do this baby.” He reminded kissing my temple and whispering in my ear.

             
I nodded remembering our conversation the night before, but my girls had come up with this plan, and I trusted them completely. “No, the sooner I do this, the sooner that Victor can come home. If he can go to jail for me, I can damn sure do my part.”

             
“You ready?” Hunter asked reading updates on his phone as the elevators opened to Paul’s floor.

             
“Not in the slightest.” I answered honestly. “If I fuck this up don’t be mad.”

             
Tink rolled her eyes. “You are
not
going to fuck this up. We won’t let you fail.”

             
“Let’s go talk to
daddy.
” Hunter encouraged as we exited the elevators.

             
I narrowed my eyes at him, because I knew he did that to push my buttons. “Say that again and they are going to have to wheel you out of here, Hunt.”

             
Hunter just chuckled. “There’s my girl.”

             
I walked up to his receptionist’s desk. “Alyssa Marshall, here to see Paul Neil.” My voice sounded dead.

             
I looked at her name plate as she looked into the system, Clara. She eyed Tink, Hunter, and Adrian, lingering a little longer on the latter before diverting her attention back to me. “Will the three of them be joining you as well?”

             
“Every step of the way.” Adrian answered her and reassured me with the same sentence. He winked down at me as he signed in on the sheet as well as the others.

             
Clara didn’t miss this; she smiled weakly jerking her head to the leather sectionals behind us. “Well have a seat and Sarah will be out shortly to take you back.”

             
My ass didn’t even hit the sofa before Sarah was coming down the hall. “Alyssa Marshall, you and your guests can come this way.”

             
She looked me over from head to toe, and then turned on her heels and led us away.

             
“You got this in the bag Chance.” Tink encouraged as we walked.

             
I sighed looking down at her. “Think so?”

             
“Yep, just remember what we talked about in the car,” And she raised an eyebrow, she was referring to her ‘catch more flies with honey’ speech.

             
“Got it.”
              “Remember Alyssa, stick to the points first, we aren’t sure how much time we have.” Hunter reminded as well.

             
Sarah let out a haughty chuckle, “Time is no factor Miss Marshall, Mr. Neil has cleared the entire day for you. The power of an appointment.”