“Hey,” a deep, heavily accented, Jersey voice called to her and Jazz turned.
She looked at the pair of men that were walking down the alley towards her and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She had a feeling that her time had just ran out. Shit, she thought and took a deep breath and then smiled big at the men.
“Yes?” Jazz said.
“We are looking for someone, you kinda look like her.” The larger dumb looking man said.
Like she was going to answer that question. “Uh, who is it you are looking for?”
“Jasmine Tucker.” The idiot said and Jazz tried hard not to change her expression.
Reaching up, twirling her long red hair around her finger, she smiled. She knew that any picture would not look like her when she was young; she had dishwater blonde hair and braces. Now she was a five-foot ten redheaded Amazon, thin and in shape, she had long lost the baby fat that had plagued her until she was fifteen. Her face was still round and eyes blue, but she wore green contacts and had been trained in makeup. She knew she looked good, and completely different.
Playing the dumb girl, she said. “Jasmine, sure, she"s inside auditioning. I don"t think she"ll get the part though; you know they are looking for someone a little skinnier.” The men laughed and smiled. Obviously they had been given an old picture of her, she thought. “Will she come out this way?”
“Oh of course, everyone comes out this way; the steps to the stage lead right out here. In fact if you want, you could go in and see if you can find her. She was in the next group.” Jazz said and stepped closer to the big man. “If you can"t find her, I will be dancing at the Pony tonight, you should come by.”
Jazz thought of the strip club that was popular with Digrossi"s goons. “Sure, sweetheart, I will stop and get some ones for you.” Jazz smiled real big and stepped away, walking down the alley. Well hell, what big spenders they were. Even if she did dance at the Pony, she would have laughed at them if they held out a one-dollar bill to her.
She turned the corner and then grabbed a cab. If they knew she was auditioning, they had been to her place. Knowing this was a possibility; Jazz had rented a storage locker and put the things she would need to disappear in it. A computer, pay-as-you-go phone, clothes, and money, anything else she could buy on the way. Thank goodness her mother had a life insurance policy. Jazz had been used to living on her income. So when her mom died, and the check came in the mail, Jazz had cashed it, put the money in an envelope, and put it in the locker. It was like her savings account. Every time she got a little extra money, she would visit the storage locker and put more into it. Now she had a nice little bundle to help her out.
She also had a car that was parked in a garage on the other side of town. It was registered in her father"s name, she kept up the plates, and insurance in his name so she could use it without anyone knowing. Inside the glove box were the originals of the papers she had given to the FBI. She was going to need those now.
Jumping from the cab, she arrived at her storage place. Walking swiftly to her locker, she pulled the key from around her neck and opened the door. Flipping open the door, she entered her storage area. She almost screamed when she saw two extremely handsome men sitting in chairs eating hamburgers and drinking soda, like they did not have a care in the world.
Jazz turned to get the hell out of there when she felt a hand on the back of her shirt holding her in place. When she looked over her shoulder, the man who held her had not even got out his chair or put his food down for that matter. Instead, he held a hamburger in one hand and her in the other. He looked up at her, and grinned before taking a huge bite of his burger.
She let her shoulders slump, then slammed the door shut, leaving her in the tiny space with the two men.
“Who are you with?” She said wearily.
“Now, Darlin", what"s with the sad face? I thought you would be happy to see us, since obviously you are in high demand today, and not by the most polite people. That poor woman who lives next to you had to be taken to the hospital because of those assholes who visited before us. You would think she would be grateful we found her friend when we did. She gave us a key to your apartment and we found your little hidey-hole. Hell, I would think you would be relieved we found you, in fact, if you want to cry or show appreciation my shoulder and lips are right here.” The taller of the two men said. He had black hair, and looked like he stepped out of an advertisement for GQ, with his baggy, worn jeans and tight, black shirt. He was a wall of muscle, and taller than her by at least six inches. She looked at his face, and wanted to smile at the twinkling blue eyes and full mouth.
The other man stood, and was only an inch shorter than the other was, but he was a little sleeker. He was wearing a gray suit and tie, short, blonde hair and gray eyes. His features were a little smother than the other man"s, and his face a lot more serious. She could tell between the two, the one holding her shirt was the funny one.
“We are with the FBI.” Suit man said, and she dropped her head and sighed.
It had been going too well, she thought and shook her head. “Not going to work guys. I made my statement and that was it. Hell, I handed over all the information you need.
Why are you coming now?” She said frustrated.
“Let me think?” Funny man said. “You made a statement about Digrossi killing your father in front of you, you turned over records of his operations that your mother took, and you gave a fake name and address. Why would we be looking for you?”
“Fuckers, can"t you just leave me alone? I gave you what you needed, are you too stupid to use it?” Jazz growled, then pulled her shirt out of the man"s grasp and went to the cupboard she had put in the storage room.
The men watched as she organized, and took things out of the drawers and cubbies, packing them all into a large duffel bag that she had taken from the corner. She refused to talk to them anymore, as far as she was concerned she did what he had to do. Now she was leaving, there was nothing they could do to stop her. She had done nothing wrong.
After she finished packing, she turned to the corner, again pulled out her necklace with keys on it, and opened the small safe that was in the corner. She pulled out her money, stuffed half in the side pocket of the bag and half into her purse. Reaching inside, she pulled out pictures of her family before the fat asshole destroyed it all. Sniffing, she looked at her father"s face briefly before putting them into the bag. The last item in the safe was her parent"s wedding rings, and the necklace they had given her that last Christmas. Putting the rings on the necklace, she fastened them around her neck and the stood up and turned.
Both men had turned their chairs, placed them against the door, and watched her.
Funny man grinned when she looked at him. While the suit folded his arms, leaned back against his chair, pointing out she was going to have to get through them in order to get out of the small room.
“What?” She said sarcastically.
Funny man held up his hands and stood. “Darlin", you just called us stupid and you expect to leave here without a discussion. Really?” He said grinning.
“Listen, I am sorry, I was frustrated, today has been a long day. I need to get out of here though, and since I have done nothing wrong, you can"t arrest me. I realize that I am in danger, and I am going to leave town for a while until it all blows over. I was going to call the bureau and let them know where I was, but I gave you everything I had, along with a statement. You must know that I can"t testify, it has been years and they have no clue what I look like now. Two of Digrossi"s goons walked right by me a few hours ago, that is the way I want to keep it.” She said wearily.
The suit frowned and stood up. “Digrossi"s men already found you?”
“Yeah, when I was coming out of an audition.” She said.
“We didn"t even know where to find you. How were they able to get ahead of us?” The suit said and looked at his partner.
“Shit.” Funny man said, then ran his hands through his long
er hair. It left it looking rumpled and sexy.
“We need to get out of here.” The Suit said and Jazz frowned at them.
“No, we don"t need to go anywhere. I have a plan.” She said smartly.
“Well you had better include two more people in your plan because we are sticking to you like glue.” Funny man said grimly and looked at his friend. “We need to lose the phones.”
Jazz watched as the men both took out their expensive looking phones, took out the battery, and shoved them in her safe. They pulled their wallets out and moved things around, including what looked like new identities. What the hell was going on?
“Uh, guys, wanna clue me in here?” Jazz said nervously.
“There is a leak, it is the only explanation. Someone in the FBI is giving Digrossi information. We called in right before we arrived here, they can track our phones. Now they can"t. We have other identification also; we need to stay hidden with you until we figure all of this shit out.” The suit said.
“I am not going with you, I have a plan of my own, and I will be heading in the opposite direction as you. Trust me; you would hate having to look after me. I snore.” She said desperately. She knew she would not be able to be in a small confined space with these two handsome men without going crazy. Hell, she hadn"t had anyone look at her like this ever, and right now, her panties were so wet they could probably smell her. Since she walked in the door, there had been something about these men that pulled her to them. That sucked since there were two of them. Why couldn't she be normal and just find one man?
Funny man laughed and said, “So do we, we are perfect together.” Jazz looked at his eyes and knew he was talking about something else. Shit, what was she going to do?
Okay, deep breath, she would go with them and then when they were out in the open, she would take off on her own. There was no way she was going to convince them she could take care of herself. She just needed to make it to her car and she was home free.
There was a small hunting cabin about a hundred miles away she could hide out in. Her father used to take her up there all the time. She knew the family that owned it. They were in a small town upstate. It would just take a phone call to arrange it.
Chapter 2
Drew stood and watched as Jasmine thought about what he said. He knew that they affected her. When she had first walked in the door, he felt Rex tense up and then he saw his face. Rex felt the same thing he did. The woman was the one they had been looking for. Both of them felt like they had been hit by a two-by-four. Drew recovered the quickest and grabbed her shirt when she tried to leave.
There was no way she was going anywhere without them. Rex had told him and his friends about when Andre and his friends had met each other. He said they all felt the same thing, like a part of them that had been missing had finally shown up. Drew felt the same way. He knew his friend did too; Rex had a fierce look on his face like he was preparing to tell this woman exactly the way things were going to go.
Well, if nothing else it would be entertaining, , but Drew thought they needed to get the hell out of this tiny death trap before someone showed up. And he had no doubt that someone was going to show up. There was a leak, there was no other explanation. They had to find a secure place and figure out how to flush the informant out. The Digrossi case was going to tank if they didn"t.
Looking back at the beautiful woman standing before him, he smiled again. Her long red hair and hypnotizing eyes made his dick hard just looking at her. Shit, Drew thought and shifted a little to relieve the pressure in his pants. Rex looked at him and chuckled because he knew what he was doing and was probably feeling the same.
“We have two choices, and a decision needs to be reached in the next thirty seconds, because I am starting to feel a little claustrophobic. One, we can leave here nice and quietly, all of us working together to save our collective asses. Or two, we can tie you up, create lots of attention carrying you back to the car, and perhaps put us all in danger, because our hands will not be free to reach our weapons. That is pretty much how this is going to go down.” Drew said.
He watched her as she tried to make a decision and wanted to laugh out loud. Like she had a choice. He glanced at his partner who was trying hard not to smile also. They knew as soon as they were clear of the small room she was going to try to get away. That was a given.
“Fine.” Jazz said blowing air out of her mouth like she was frustrated, causing the bangs on her hair to flip to the side.
Drew smirked and said. “Okay, we make a sandwich. Bread.” He said and pointed to himself and Rex. “Peanut butter.” He said pointing to her. “You stick like peanut butter, you hear me?”
She nodded and grabbed her purse and pushed it into her bag. Looking around making sure she did not miss anything, Jazz felt her face grow warm when she saw a pink thong sticking out of her bag.
Rex obviously noticed it also, and reached down and pulled it out with a tug. “Nice.” He actually smiled and handed it back to her.
“You are not allowed to touch the panties.” She growled.
Rex stepped closer and whispered into her ear, “Darlin", I am gonna touch more than your panties. By the way, my name is Rex.”
Jazz shuddered when she felt Drew come to her other side. “Get used it; we will both be touching more than your panties.”
She leaned back in shock and looked at the men who had just declared they were both going to have sex with her. Both of them smiled and nodded. She was stunned into silence, which was unusual for her. Rex leaned down and kissed her. Kissing may be an understatement, it was more like ravishing. He demanded a response. She opened her mouth and allowed him access to her. He teased and played with her tongue, making sure that she knew his intentions. He released her and Drew quickly took his place. His kiss was just as demanding and devastating.
When Drew finally released her, she was breathing hard, and had a confused look on her face. “Just think about it. And I am Drew.”
Back to the matter at hand. Drew went to the door and opened it a little, not seeing anything unusual he turned and nodded. Rex pushed Jazz in between the two of them, pressing against her, letting her know that she was not supposed to move out from between them.
Drew opened the door wider and then looked again, making sure that no one was in the small hallway before turning around and nodding to Rex. They worked as a unit and made their way through the halls of the storage facility. When they turned one of the last corners, Drew held up his hand in a fist, signaling they were to stop. He could see two big men asking the owner of the storage place some questions. When he saw one of the men slip the owner some money, he knew that they were going to have to run. He pulled the gun out of the back of his jeans and heard Jazz gasp. Rex did the same and Drew pushed them back around the corner.
“Two, by the door. We have to get around them. When they go one way, we go the other until we can get to the door. Let"s go play a game of cat and mouse.” He said and grinned.
Jazz shook her head and thought that he was crazy. They stood waiting until the two men went to the left and they went to the right. Slowly they wove their way to the entrance. Jazz kept looking over her shoulder and was the one to see the two men turn the corner behind them.
“Company.” She whispered, and Drew moved so fast, pushing her behind him that she was almost dizzy.
Ducking down behind the men, Jazz heard one of the men yell from down the hall.
“Just want the girl! That"s all!”
“Not gonna happen!” Rex yelled and raised his hand that had the gun in it and smiled.
“You see, what we have here is a Mexican Standoff. One I don"t intend on losing, so maybe it would be best if you just went back to whatever hole you crawled out of and forget you ever saw us.”
“You see, we just can"t do that. Our boss would be mighty unhappy if we returned without the girl, and to be honest with you, he scares me more than you do.” One of the men said and she grimaced. He sounded like the gu
y from the alley. I guess they weren"t as stupid as she thought.
She jumped when she heard a gunshot and was pissed. “You did not just fire a weapon at us!” She yelled.
“Darlin", I think we can do without the commentary right now.” Drew said and pushed her further into the doorway that she was in. She felt Drew fire in return, saw Rex jump across to the doorway across from them and crouch on the floor. Soon bullets were flying all around her. She covered her ears and closed her eyes; resting her head on Drew"s back.
“Fuck, Rex, let"s make a run for it!” Drew yelled.
“Jazz, you turn and run for the door, don"t stop until you get to the black 4 runner out front. It is unlocked, get in, and get on the floor.” Drew ordered and she nodded. “One, two, three, GO!” he yelled and fired in the direction of the men who were still down the hall.
Jazz ran toward the entrance and she saw the owner on the floor talking on the phone and knew the cops were going to be there soon. She hit the door and paused for a second. She could leave right now; she thought and looked at the car she was supposed to get into. Someone had slashed the tires. They were not going anywhere in that, she couldn"t leave them here without a getaway. So she ran to the corner and held out her hand. When a cab finally pulled over, she saw Rex and Drew come through the door.
She knew that they were hurt by the way they were both holding each other up.
Rex looked around wildly until he saw her waving and jumping up and down on the corner. The men ran toward her. Rex was limping and Drew was holding his side.
Damn it, they had been hurt because of her. She got into the car and waited until the men were inside before giving the driver instructions to take them to her car.