“I just want to know how it felt, Alex. I could really use something like this for my next book. I need sights and sounds and smells and emotions.” She placed a hand over her ever-growing belly and sighed. “I would hope after all the help I gave you that you could just tell me a few facts.”
He thought about growling, but it was his wedding day and Serena had been helpful. “It was a mud pit filled with snapping alligators. It smelled like ass and not particularly clean ass. It smelled like ass that hadn’t been washed ever. As for emotions, well, I kind of didn’t want to get torn apart by alligators.”
Like Warren had been. He felt a fierce smile cross his face. When they’d drained the pit, his former partner had been in pieces. There was justice in the world.
Simon stepped up to the bar, looking perfect in his tailored tux. Alex could practically hear the unattached subs drooling, but Simon ignored them, preferring to frown affectionately at Serena. “You giving him hell again, love?”
Serena sighed. “He won’t talk about the gators. It makes me sad.”
Simon ordered a vodka tonic and shook his head. “He’s got PTSD.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “I don’t have PTSD. I’ve got regrets, though. The feds can link the fertilizer to Evans, and they have cell phone records of Warren calling Evans. But I can’t bring down Warren’s brother without witnesses.”
It was the only damn thing he regretted about the whole affair.
The senator had held a large press conference apologizing for his brother’s actions and accusing Warren of being the one who had the affair with Carmen Garcia. So far, everyone was buying it. The senator looked golden.
“He’s a weasel,” Serena said. “I’m not voting for him.”
Jake walked up, holding his hand out to his wife. “None of us will be voting for him. Adam is going to dig up the dirt. We just have to be patient. Now, dance with me, baby.”
He led Serena off, but Alex was still thinking about the problem of Senator Petty.
It was the only thing that had gone wrong. Well, maybe not the only thing.
“I also wish I knew where she went.” Alex took a long drag off his ridiculously expensive Scotch. Apparently nearly dying in an alligator-filled bog opened up the purse strings because he’d gotten several bottles of increasingly old Glenlivet as gifts. And the fifty-year from Ian was past heavenly.
“Are you talking about the Kristen girl?” Simon asked. He’d sent a lovely batch of alcohol to Alex’s new house. He would likely start a trend. A liquor bouquet.
“Yeah.” He couldn’t help but wonder where she’d gone. He’d woken up in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and one of the first things he’d felt was a deep gratitude because he could have been shot earlier in that day, before he’d had a chance to defend his wife. Kristen had made that happen. No matter why she’d done it, she’d saved Eve and that meant something to Alex. He’d asked about her just about everywhere he could and he’d gotten nowhere. She hadn’t been back to her condo.
“Well, I’m intrigued. I have to admit it,” Simon said. “Any girl who can wake up from major surgery, pull out her IVs, and walk out of the critical care unit is a female I’d like to meet. Not to mention the fact that she managed to avoid all the security cameras. We should seriously consider bringing her on the team. We need some females.”
Kristen was a loose end, and he hated loose ends.
Alex took a long drink. He glanced around Sanctum, feeling a deep sense of relief. This was his home. He might have screwed up by killing the only two people who could have exposed a conspiracy, but these people had his back. They were his family. “I don’t know about that. I think she might have had ties to Evans.”
God, he hoped he was proven wrong. It was a testament to how much he liked her that he really hoped he was fucking wrong.
“Alex, I told you that doesn’t fit my profile.” Eve walked up, and his heart damn near stopped. She was so fucking gorgeous in her leather miniskirt and bustier. She was wearing his collar…and his wedding ring. She was his everything. “Kristen was focused on living a good life, on doing what was right. She wasn’t insane. She knew right from wrong and Evans was wrong.”
Alex pulled his wife close. He had her back. Oh, sure, it had taken a couple of bullets to the chest, but she was in his arms and legally his, and he was fucking keeping her. His wife. His sub. His forever. “Sure, baby. If she comes back, I’ll welcome her with open arms.”
It wasn’t an untrue statement. He still had no idea why Kristen had done what she did. After the events of alligator road, as Alex called it, Kristen had disappeared from the world. He’d tried to find her, but had not an ounce of luck.
And Eve had been so disappointed that she couldn’t invite her to their second wedding.
If he did find out she was involved with Evans, he would do what he needed to in order to help Kristen get over her mental problems. He would support her because deep down, she was good.