Alexis didn’t notice as the client sauntered out into the waiting area, she was too lost in her thoughts to speak, let alone ring someone out on the register
The woman’s words were a garbled mess in Alexis’ ear. “I think your receptionist is having a breakdown.”
From the corner of Alexis’s blurred vision, she watched Cliff join the client, then drop his black latex gloves to the ground as he rushed to Alexis’ side. He gripped her face in his hands, the phone pressed to her ear fell to the floor with a clang.
“Alexis,” he cried out, his gaze moved over every inch of her body. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” As if remembering the client standing in the room, Cliff turned to her and told her to leave, letting her no there was no charge for the tattoo. It was not until the woman huffed as the door closed behind her that Cliff turned his attention back to Alexis.
“What is it, baby? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Did she? Seen and spoken to a ghost of her memory, only to find out that he was a vicious drug and sex trafficker hell-bent on paying off his debts with Harposia using his daughter as payment.
“Father,” Alexis whispered and Cliff’s face turned ashen.
“Fuck. Fuck!” he shouted. “On the phone?” he asked and at her curt nod, he released her face and picked the phone off the ground. Alexis watched as he quickly glanced at the calendar on the desk then back at her. “I’m going to call Preston and Dylan, then we’re going upstairs. I want you to stay there for the rest of the day, not a single person can get in without me. You’ll be safe, I promise.”
And she trusted him. He would keep her safe at all costs, and she’d do the same for him. Even considered giving herself up to protect him and this town that had welcomed her with open arms.
Her head was spinning by the time Dylan and Preston marched into the shop. They took one look at her and their expression morphed from carefree to one of anger and rage. Cliff had only told them on the phone that he had some new information. He kept it as vague as possible in case her father and his minions had the town bugged. They couldn’t form any other explanation as to how he was getting information.
As they walked toward the back of the shop, leaving Wade in charge, Alexis revealed the short conversation almost word for word.
“Somehow he knew that Cliff and Preston went to Raleigh to throw him off with the locket. How would he have known that without bugs somewhere?” she asked.
“I think we need to make sure that everyone in town is on the up and up. At least until all of this is over,” Cliff added.
At the top of the stairs, Dylan rested his hand on Cliff’s arm, garnering her protector's attention. “We may want to start thinking about plan b.”
Moving until he was a breath away from Dylan, Cliff leaned into his space. “I’m not sending her to witness protection just so some mole in the FBI rats her out. You know as well as I do that the system isn’t foolproof. We’re going to do it my way, or you can get the hell out.”
Holding up his hands in surrender, Dylan took a step back until his back rested along the railing of the steps. “I know, man. I’m just afraid that you’re getting too close, that your head isn’t in this fully. I want to protect Alexis just as much as you do. She’s been my friend for a long time.”
Finally speaking up Alexis interrupted the two alpha men. “I’m staying here because it’s where I feel safest. If it gets to the point when I feel innocent people are in danger, I will leave.”
Cliff shook his head as he opened the door to his studio. “You know that isn’t how it works.”
“Well, it is going to have to,” she told him as she slipped past and into the open room. “Now, tell me what we’re doing in here.”
“I need to trace the call and find the bugs in town.”
The group stared at him, then back down to the six government-issued computers then back to him again. Confusion was clear as day on their faces.
She watched as Cliff opened a small picture frame and placed his hand against a biometric reader on the wall. Before them, a false wall opened up to reveal a room with monitors across every open surface on the wall and one computer set in the middle. Cliff smiled smugly as he waved a hand in front of the room.
“I’m so jealous right now,” Preston mumbled as he stepped inside. Dylan nodding his agreement as he followed.
Alexis stepped up to Cliff and wrapped her arm around his waist. He pulled her close, her face rested against the taut muscles of his chest.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cliff whispered against her hair.
In his embrace, Alexis closed her eyes and nodded – she believed him. They stayed like that for a minute just relishing in the safety and warmth of each other before joining the men inside the room. As Cliff entered, he pressed a red button that shut the door behind him.
“This is pretty swanky,” Alexis told him as she walked around the room, looking closely at the monitors. He had a view into every building and space on Main Street, even the newly constructed retirement center near the outskirts of town. “Why do you have all of this?”
“Just in case. I don’t come in here unless there is an emergency. It’s not for spying, but you never know,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Cliff sat in the chair in front of the monitor and as the computer came to life, she could see the program requested a zip code, address, or name.
“Oh my gosh, you can see everywhere.”