I even thought about hooking up with some random chicks just to see if that would help, but every time I picked up the phone to dial one of my favorite booty calls, I couldn’t make myself actually go through with it. I didn’t want a random pussy. I wanted Lex.
That was why I was sitting in her chair in her empty office like a jackass staring at my phone. I needed to call her and apologize. I knew that. I wasn’t quite sure yet how I was going to ask her to come back. I didn’t want her to leave. I didn’t know what I’d do if she took off before I had a chance to tell her that.
Finally, I screwed up the nerve to hit the call button. I put the phone to my ear and waited. It rang several times and then went to voicemail. Shit. She was avoiding my calls. I was going to leave a voicemail but chickened out at the last minute. I wanted to apologize live, not through a recorded message. I hung up.
Half an hour later, after hitting the shit out of the bags, I tried her again. Still no answer. Did I really blame her that she was avoiding my calls? I had to leave some kind of message to get her to call me back.
“Lex, it’s me. Call me back, please. We need to talk.” There. A nice, safe voicemail. Now I just had to wait for her return call.
A couple of the guys asked if I wanted to grab something for lunch. The distraction would be nice. I took a quick shower but kept my phone just outside the stall so I wouldn’t miss her call. I kept leaning out of the stall looking at it and willing it to ring.
I was toweling off when the phone screen finally lit up. The picture of the caller was the photo I’d taken of Lex the last time we hooked up, and I smiled in relief. I was going to fix this mess. She just had to give me a chance to explain.
“I knew you couldn’t resist me,” I said as I picked up the phone.
“Ice Malone?” The voice definitely wasn’t Lex. It was a man’s voice. Hard. Cold.
“Who the fuck is this?” I demanded.
“We’ve got your girlfriend.”
The words sent a chill through my body. “Where’s Alexa?”
“She’s here. Somewhere.” The man chuckled. “Quite a firecracker you got there.”
I felt my blood start to boil, but it was followed by a flash of fear. Alexa had stormed out of here almost four hours ago. What the hell had happened to her? “Who am I speaking to?”
“Nobody. But a nobody who has something that I think is important to you. We’ve got her tucked away for safekeeping for the moment.”
“I swear to God if you’ve touched her, I will kill you.” I felt a flash of panic. It was as if some kind of horrible scene was on replay in my mind. The phone call. The warning. It was as if my past was rearing its ugly face in the worst possible way.
“Relax, pal. Nothing is going to happen to her as long as you do as I say. Got it?”
“What do you want?” I ground out.
“Two hundred grand. Cash. In two hours.”
“I don’t have two hundred grand cash on me,” I said. I did some quick calculations in my head. It was slightly brilliant that I had just had my latest financial recap with Lex that morning. I knew that I had half that on hand. The other half I could probably get, but I’d have to make some calls. “I need some time.”
“Time is one thing you don’t have, my friend,” the man said.
“We’re not friends.” I didn’t bother trying to control the venom in my voice. “I can get you a hundred grand today. I’ll get you the rest tomorrow. But I need to know that Alexa is okay.”
“She’s fine,” the man said. “Taking a little nap at the moment.”
“Prove it,” I snarled. I heard the ding of a notification on my phone. I pulled the phone away from my ear. There was a picture displayed there. It was Alexa tied up and bound to a chair. Her long hair fell over her face, and I could see a smattering of blood next to her left ear. “You motherfucker. I swear to God, if I find you…”
“You’ll what? I’ve got your girl. But to prove good faith, I’ll take your hundred grand now. The rest I want by noon tomorrow. No more time. I’ll text you soon with instructions on what to do next.”
“You won’t hurt her anymore,” I ordered. “I’ll get your money.”
“I know you will. She’s a pretty little thing. It would be a shame to have to kill her, and my associate has already been admiring those tits. Have you seen those tits? Of course, you have. Your girl and all. Those are a delicious pair. You are a lucky man.”
I saw red as I listened to him speak the lewd words. I had the horrible image of Lex being assaulted by a dirty, burly man, and I almost roared into the phone. “You will not touch her!”
“Get us our money, Ice, and we’ll play nice. But don’t be a hero. No cops. No funny business. Or else, she’s dead, and we’ll make sure it’s as thoroughly pleasurable for us as it is painful for her.” Then the line went dead.