ALPHA (Dark Waters #3)

Chapter 2

Ivy

The sound of people talking brought me back. I was in a heap on the floor of my office. I desperately tried to clear the fog that held me captive.

Was he gone?

I strained to listen, too scared to move. Silence. My teeth started to chatter as pain made its way through my consciousness. I felt it build as I lay there.

“Oww.” I started to cry but instantly went quiet when I heard a noise. I was simply too terrified to move as I stayed where I had been left, by him.

“You know what I’m capable of, Dr. Knight.” His threat came back to me in one horrific flash, and I blinked as the memory of it all overwhelmed me. I remembered how I watched him as he went through my purse then held up my ID. I knew it had my home address on it. “You open your mouth, and I’ll kill you.” I’d never forget the look on his face.

Stop.

I forced my eyes open to take in the room. I saw my chair, the one my mother had so proudly given me when I moved into this office. It now lay on its side with two broken legs. My lovely glass office table was shattered, and the desk looked like a tornado had hit it straight on.

With all my might, I sat upright. My head pounded, and I gently touched it. My fingers felt around a large, tender goose egg, and when I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood.

I brushed the wet hair from my eyes and carefully toed off my heel. I tried not to make any noise as I used the wall to help me stand. I forced through the vertigo and eyed the closed door to my personal bathroom. Slowly, with shaky knees, I moved across the room, took a deep breath, and pulled the door open. It was heavy and creaked on its hinges, and I felt my heart beat my rib cage with the force of a baseball bat.

As soon as I saw it was empty, I lunged across the room for my phone. My fingers were slick with blood as I madly tried to swipe the screen open. Finally, I took a second to wipe them clean on my shirt, and with a desperate swipe, I was awarded an open screen.

One, two, three…finally, on the fourth ring, he picked up.

“Ivy?”

“Uncle,” I tried to make sense, “I, I don’t know what happened, but he was here, and—”

“Who was there?” His voice turned serious. “Where are you?”

“I’m at my office. Reid, please…” Suddenly, my office door opened, and his murderous eyes found me. “Noo!” I screamed.

I jolted awake and sucked in a lungful of air as I took in my surroundings.

“Welcome back.” Mark studied me from the front seat. “Sounds like you were somewhere dark?”

“No,” I sat up straight and ran a hand through my hair to catch my breath, “I’m good.” I must have slipped off to sleep. I pulled my laptop up off the floor and tucked my paperwork back into my bag. I glanced at the time and saw Ty should have landed by now. He’d taken the redeye to New York, and I was concerned that he’d barely said anything to me before he left.

I unconsciously reached up and touched my head where the goose egg once resided. That night had been one of the scariest of my life, and until things were resolved, I knew I’d continue to be in this tailspin of flashbacks.

“I used to have nightmares.” My hand dropped away as Mark eased forward from the stoplight. “Every time I closed my eyes, there was my mother dead on our couch.” He cleared his throat. “You want to know what I did to make them go away?”

“Let me guess. You saw a doctor?” I tried to curb my annoyance that he’d seen me at such a weak moment.

“Nope, I faced it.” He looked at me in the mirror. “I know you’re dealing with something. That’s obvious. We’ve all seen Frank talking to you privately. But I also know it’s none of my business.”

“It’s not like I’m trying to hide from it,” I muttered. “It’s just taking a long time for something to happen—at least for my part in it to happen.” That was partly true.

“Oh, it’s court related.” He scrunched his face and nodded as he hit the nail on the head. “Savi’s been there.”

“So I’ve heard.” I hated that I sounded rude, but I was not happy on this topic. Always having to be cryptic, the secret was growing old. I was trained to get people to open up and talk about their problems, and here I was having to dance around my own issues. I hated that I had to suppress it all. I felt like a hypocrite. It was totally unfair.

“Did Savi tell you what I did to help her get through that pissed off feeling you have right now?”

“No.” I sighed heavily and caught his grin in the mirror.

Mark chuckled but held up a hand to end the conversation as he pulled into a parking space near the bus stop. We both could see Olivia happily chatting with her friends and their parents as they gathered in the parking lot. She was leaving for Girl Scout camp. I hopped out of the truck when I spotted the Logans as they watched from the edge of the group. I was glad they’d called us so we could catch Olivia before she left. We’d been on our way to run some errands when we got the call that they were here.

“Uncle Mark?” Olivia threw herself at him. “I thought I missed you.”

“Me?” He beamed down at her. “Let my Livi leave without a hug? Please, child.” She hugged him again then reached over and hugged me, too.

“Have a wonderful trip, sweetie.” I’d barely planted a kiss on the top of her head before she raced off at the sight of another of her friends.

“Are we sure about this?” Savannah threw an uneasy look at Cole.

“You think I’d let her go if I wasn’t?” He nodded to a woman, and when she bent over to grab a bag, I saw she was carrying her sidearm. “I hired two undercovers.” He grinned.

“And Liv has no clue, right?” Savi eyed her husband. “Because we agreed she was going to have a normal run-of-the-mill kid trip.”

“Ten bucks,” Mark leaned in close to whisper, “Liv’s already spotted them and knows their history.”

“You think?” I eyed him then held out my hand to take the bet.

“Liv,” he called, and she bounced over with her friend trailing behind, “you feelin’ good about this trip?”

“Yes. Oh, Dad, thanks so much for letting me go.” She beamed at her parents and wrapped Cole in a hug.

She trotted over, and I could tell she caught Mark’s mischievous expression. She looked carefully at him then at me.

“Well, all set? Everything good with the trip?” Mark asked. She playfully rolled her eyes.

“Poor Ivy.” She glared at him. “How much did he bet you?”

“Ten.” I smirked. Lord, she was good. “Have you spotted them?”

“No, but I know they’re here. Dad would never let me go anywhere without someone. I don’t care.” She shrugged. “I’m just excited to be going with all my friends!”

“And that’s all you should be thinking about,” I added.

“I gotta share something with you, Ivy.” She looked very serious. “Anytime my uncle bets you on something, never take it.”

“Hey,” Mark playfully pushed her arm, “you can’t tell her that. That’s my thing.”

“I thought eating was your thing.” She giggled and turned to her friend. “Ivy, this is Milly and her dad, Callen.” A tall man stepped forward and rested his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.

“Dad, this is who I was telling you about.” Milly grinned up at him. Callen was quite handsome, strong arms and jawbone, pleasant smile, green eyes, almost red hair.

“Ah, yes, the famous, Dr. Ivy Knight.” He smiled at me. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I can assure you none of it’s true,” I joked and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Callen.”

“Isn’t she pretty?” Milly whispered, and I felt my cheeks warm. “Do it, Dad.”

Oh, God. I looked at Mark, whose eyes were now slits as he studied Callen. I knew he was thinking of Ty. I made a show to roll my wrist and check the time, thankful I’d worn my watch. Sometimes the simplest things could give you that moment you needed.

“Please excuse me. I have a session in fifteen, and if we don’t leave now, I’ll be late. We just took a quick side trip to come and wish Olivia good luck on her trip.” I turned to Olivia. “I hope you have a wonderful time. I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back.”

“Deal.” She hugged me again and danced over to her parents.

“Ivy,” Callen ran a hand through his hair, “maybe we can go for coffee sometime?” He held out his card, and I took it, not wanting to be rude. “Or maybe ice cream.” He smiled. “The girls have been filling me in on what you like.”

“Oh, really?” I eyed Milly, who winked at me. “I’ll remember that.”

“Lovely meeting you.” He steered Milly away, and I glanced at Mark. He looked unimpressed.

“What?”

“Don’t what me,” he scoffed and followed me back to the car. “You flirted with him.”

“I wasn’t flirting. I was being nice.”

“To a guy, that’s flirting.”

“So, I have to be rude to someone,” I opened the door and hopped in the back seat, “so I’m not sending mixed signals?”

“Yes.” He started the engine.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“I didn’t make the rules, Ivy. That’s how it is.” He pulled out into traffic.

“And men say women are complicated.” I rolled my eyes and lifted the lid to my laptop.

“We’re not complicated,” he went on. “We’re very simple creatures once you understand us.”

“Oh, please enlighten me,” I huffed.

“I’ve taught you so much already, but if I must.” He took a deep breath, and I groaned dramatically. “Men need obvious clues, so when a woman looks them in the eye, answers their questions, smiles, takes their number,” he looked in the mirror, “we think, ‘Great. She likes me. We’re on.’”

“So, you’re saying by me being kind to Olivia’s best friend’s father, I have agreed to a date?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes, and because you took his number, you sealed the deal.”

“I did not seal a deal!” I laughed. “Okay, tell me how I should have handled it, then.”

“You should have said hi, backed up a step, and not made eye contact.” He held up a finger to show he wasn’t finished yet. “Then ignore him, and if he misreads your body language and still asks you out on a date, you say no, I’m dating Ty who just came back from a special ops mission in Afghanistan.” He grinned. “Sprinkle a little fear around you as a barricade.”

“You’re insane!”

“Why?”

“I’m an outgoing person, Mark. I won’t be someone I’m not.” I stared at him in the mirror. “You’re just protective of Ty.”

“Yes, I am. That’s how Blackstone works.” He paused. “You should’ve brought up Ty. Just sayin’.”

“Why do I need to bring up someone I’m casually seeing just to draw that line in the sand for someone I just met?” I huffed. “There’s no ring on my finger, Mark. I can be kind and talk to whomever I want. I never said I was going to call him, and I have no plans on calling him.”

“And yet you still took his number.”

“Okay,” I closed my eyes, tired of the argument, “truth?”

“When do you ever lie to me?” He quickly turned around with a look and made me chuckle. It was like arguing with a child.

“I really like Ty, but I also know he’s got unfinished business with someone else.” It was true.

I thought back over our night at Zack’s. He’d draped his jacket around my shoulders, and I thought we’d made progress, then the next night he left my room when she called and never came back. I couldn’t deny that s*x with him was great, but neither of us knew if there was much more than that. I pulled myself back to Mark.

“Yeah, I mean, how can you get serious with a guy when he’s got someone else on the side doing God knows what with? Why should I close the door on my life when he hasn’t on his?”

“I didn’t know that.” His tone relaxed.

“I love that you’re protective of your brothers, Mark, but I’m a good person and would never hurt or cheat on Ty. I’ve dated and was even engaged a few years back. I finally know what I want in a man and won’t settle for less.”

We sat in silence for a moment, and he tapped the wheel as he mulled over my words. He pulled into the UPS Store and parked by the door. We were here to pick up the first package I’d ordered from an online store that Savannah had put me on to. I was excited to see how well the clothes would fit. She’d explained how it brought her piece of mind to shop that way instead of having to go into the city. It got tiresome always having to watch your back. We always had to be escorted, and it was a waste of time and manpower. She was right; it certainly was a lot less stressful this way.

“I really feel like Dad should be here for this conversation.” He rubbed his head.

I tapped my pen on my lap and grabbed the opportunity to change the topic. “Forgive me for not knowing all the dynamics of the house, but why do you call Daniel Dad? Wasn’t it Abigail who adopted you?”

“Yeah, but he’s just my dad.” He shrugged.

“Then who is Sue?”

“Mom, or Sue.” He popped a piece of gum in his mouth. “Abby is Abby or Mom, doesn’t matter.”

I laughed. “I’m confused.”

“I see what you’re doing here, by the way, so don’t think you’re off the hook about takin’ that guy’s number.” He smiled, and I had to grin at the bright pink gum that showed between his teeth. “I’ll enlighten you since I’m sure your doctor brain is spinning off its axis.” I lifted a shoulder, as it in no way bothered me, but I liked the spotlight on him instead of me.

“I had a shitty mom, no real idea who my father was, and my brother—” He shook his head like the memory was too hard. “In school, all the kids had moms, dads, uncles, aunts, grandparents, but I had no extended family, at least none I knew of. So, the day I found the Logans, everything changed. I decided I wanted it all. I wanted a real family. As far as I was concerned, Abby adopted me, and I love her like no other, but I got two moms that day, and a dad, and a brother. s**t, I even got a dog.” He smiled. “It might be confusing to some, but to me, it all makes sense.”

“That’s incredibly sweet, Mark.”

“Oh, I know.” He grabbed the keys. “My sweetness and this smile,” he beamed wider, “it’s all the Lopez charm.”

“And you never changed your last name.”

“Nope. That’s the one thing I kept. Needed that to fuel my fight. Long story, but a reminder and some controlled anger never hurts anyone in this business.”

“You really have your head on straight.” I was impressed.

“I do.” He reached for the door handle of the truck then hesitated and looked at me hard. “And I also know when I’m being used, so where were we?” I knew we were back on me again. “What are you looking for in a man?”

“Why? So you can give Ty an advantage?” I grinned, and he raised a brow at me and got out.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said as he opened the door for me, and I was blasted with the intense heat. We hurried inside. “Oh, and one more thing,” he whispered. “Never let Ty come here.” He pointed with his chin, and I saw her. She stood behind the counter in a red dress. Her fake boobs spilled over the top of the low neckline, and her JBF hair was so full of spray it looked like you could snap it off. “Yeah.” He rolled his eyes and made a motion for me to follow him.

“Be sure to step back and not make eye contact,” I whispered in his ear.

“Pfft.” He threw a glare at my attempt to toss his own words back at him.

“Good morning, Mark.”

“Christina.” He shuddered.

Yikes.