Dominion (Alpha Domain #1) (3 page)

I half folded, half balled it up and shoved it into my back pocket.

“God, this wind is freezing! I should’ve brought a coat,” Amber exclaimed with a shiver.

I glanced around, quickly realizing that her boyfriend was nowhere in sight. While I should have been using that knowledge to put together theories, my body was reacting to her words without thinking. I was shrugging my jacket off my shoulders to give to her, not once pausing to consider the absurdity of my actions.

Amber did though. She raised her eyebrows high and held up her hand to stop me before I had a chance to hand her the coat.

“No, no. Thank you so much for the offer, but that’s not necessary.”

Logically, I damn well knew that. But for reasons I couldn’t explain, I argued back.

“It’s not a problem at all,” I insisted as I shrugged the coat off and held it up to her. “I’m warm-blooded.”

She smiled at the chivalry, but it faded away as she shook her head again. “No, thank you. I don’t think… I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate it.”

“Oh,” I said dumbly, the thought of how the boyfriend I
knew
she had might react not once crossing my mind. “I’m sorry.”

“No,
I’m
sorry,” she said with another genuine smile that seemed to make her eyes sparkle. “I’m Amber, by the way.”

She reached out her hand and I gently took it in mine.

“John,” I told her, immediately berating myself for not making up a fake name.

What the hell is this girl doing to me?

“It was nice to meet you, John.”

“Amber!”

Both of our eyes turned to the entrance of the building and I locked my gaze on Chris’s. Well, my anonymity was definitely blown now. There was no way I could continue to watch either of them without a major risk.

Allen was going to be
pissed
.

“Have a good day,” I said stiffly to Amber, tipping my head to her before spinning around and walking away, ignoring the confused frown on her face and the possessiveness on Chris’s as he began to stalk towards us.

I walked fast on the way back to my car, never once glancing back to see if I was being followed even though the urge to do so was almost overwhelming. It wasn’t until I could see my car from the crosswalk that I allowed myself to look around, letting out a relieved sigh when I realized I was alone.

Well, alone as one could be in Manhattan.

My whirlwind of thoughts as I got into my car and relaxed back into the seat could be easily summed up into three major points.

One— Allen is going to fucking kill me.

Two— Amber was easily the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.

Three— Allen is
definitely
going to kill me.

“
W
ho the
fuck
was that guy?”

I rolled my eyes as—for the millionth time in our relationship—Chris started on another jealous rampage. It happened any time a good-looking man spoke to me alone. Unless they asked Chris for permission to speak me, I wasn’t to be spoken to.

“Are you really going to do this now? We’re on vacation, Chris!”

Chris shook his head before gripping my arm and dragging me to the street as he raised his hand to hail a cab. “No,
you’re
on vacation.
I’m
here on business.”

“What?” I asked with a frown. This was news to me, I thought we were coming into the city to visit Chris’s friends and have a much-needed getaway. “What business, Chris?”

He froze and I knew he hadn’t meant to tell me. When he turned back, he looked hesitant.

“I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m trying to get a job in the city. I know how much you love it so I thought it’d be cool if we moved up here.”

“Oh my—Are you serious?” I asked, totally surprised by the news.

Chris smiled. “Of course, Amber. I’d do anything to make you happy.”

I smiled back and thanked him when he opened the door of the cab for me and made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm.

“My lady.”

I giggled as I slid into the seat. He hopped in beside me and slung his arm across the back of the seat as he told the driver the address of his friend’s apartment in Brooklyn. I looked out the window as the city passed by, enthralled by the idea of moving to such a lively place.

I tried to think about what it would be like living here, but for some reason, my thoughts kept drifting back to John—the stranger on the street who kindly offered me his jacket.

Something about him seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.

“
W
hat happened
?” I demanded the second John crossed the threshold into my office.

He froze in his tracks and regarded me nervously. “What do you mean?”

“It shouldn’t have taken you so long to get back. Did something happen?”

There was a brief pause— enough of one to make me narrow my eyes at him before he spoke.

“I stopped to fill up the tank when I got off the island. And empty my bladder since I hadn’t taken a piss since six am,” he added dryly.

Something in the back of my head whispered to me that he was lying, but I shrugged off the paranoia as ridiculous. John was my best friend, had been for years now, and he wouldn’t lie to me about something as trivial as getting gas and pissing.

“Alright. Have a seat, then.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stand. I’ve been sitting in my car for hours.”

I laughed. “Understood. So, what are we going to do about this new revelation?”

It was after I asked the question that I became absolutely
certain
that John was hiding something from me. His fingers twitched at his side and I saw the barest hint of guilt in his eyes right before they shifted away from me.

John was pretty good at wearing a mask to hide his emotions. I couldn’t deny that. He always had been a decent actor.

Unfortunately for him, I was pretty much an expert at noticing when people were faking it.

“I had a thought,” he started before he sat sitting down, surely to hide all the slight guilty reactions that he knew his body was having. “What if she didn’t know why they were there? I mean, like you said, there were multiple businesses in the building. She could’ve been in a waiting room somewhere.”

Logically, the theory made sense.

Which only made me further question how John came up with such a sound theory.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “A minute after we got off the phone, I saw her outside. I don’t think she went into the meeting because Chris didn’t come out with her.”

“Did she see you?” I hissed.

“No.”

There was a long pause and he damn well knew I wasn’t buying it. But his jaw flexed as he clenched it and I knew that nothing I said would get anything more out of him. I slammed my hands down on the desk and growled in frustration.

“
Fine
. Go get some rest then take over for Derek tonight at the apartment. We’ll move forward as if she doesn’t know, which means it’s
your
job to make sure she’s safe.”

John stood up and gave me a sharp nod. “Will do.”

I watched him leave my office through narrowed eyes, sneering after he closed the door behind him. I hated being angry at my best friend, but I couldn’t help it. He was blatantly lying to me and even though I understood the occasional need for discretion in our line of work, I
really
didn’t appreciate being left in the dark about anything that concerned Amber.

A thought popped into my head and I pulled the phone from my pocket.

“Yep?”

“Are they back yet?”

“Yes, sir. They went into the apartment about ten minutes ago. Looks like they’re watching a movie now.”

“Alright, good. Listen—John’s going to come by and relieve you in a few hours. I need you to come back here before you go home though.”

“Sure thing. But can I ask why?”

“I need audio access to the feed. Can you do that from here?”

Derek hummed for a moment and I could practically see him scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I think so. The feed stream should be strong enough to reach you at the house. All I need to do is enable your computer’s ability to receive it like I did with the tablet.”

“Wonderful. And one last thing.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Do
not
mention this conversation to John.”

“Got it.”

I ended the call and slid the phone back into my pocket. I opened the feed from the camera and sneered at the sight of Amber curled up on Chris’s lap as the two of them watched a movie in his friend’s living room.

Definitely a masochist.

I
snickered
to myself as I snuck up to the car and looked inside. Derek was curled up in the driver’s seat, the tablet closed and turned off as he caught a nap he shouldn’t have been taking.

Granted, this was more my fault than his. I was supposed to be here an hour ago to relieve him from watchdog duty, but I got preoccupied with more important things.

Which was just a fancy way of saying I overslept then spent ten minutes jerking off in the shower.

There was an evil grin plastered on my face as I reached up and pounded on the glass window. I wished we were in a less open space so I could’ve screamed at the same time and really scared the piss out of him, but his frightened jump as I tore him out of sleep would have to do.

“Jesus
Christ
, John,” Derek said sleepily as he rolled down the window. “What the fuck?”

“Sleeping on the job? Allen won’t be happy to hear that.”

His eyes widened as he realized what he’d done. “Oh fuck,” he mumbled as he hastily turned the tablet back on.

I stood quietly by the car while we waited for the screen to load and when he opened the feed and saw that Amber and Chris were still in the apartment, he let out a long sigh of relief.

“Oh thank fuck. Please don’t tell Allen. I’ve only been out for a few minutes, I swear.”

I shook my head and reached in to take the tablet from him. “No worries, man. Your secret is safe with me. Now go home and get some sleep.”

“Will do, you have a good night yourself. Hopefully they’ll do something more interesting than spending the entire day fucking cuddling and watching movies for you. At least there was audio, I guess.”

“What movie did they watch last?”

Derek made a face. “I have no idea, but there was a hell of a lot of crying.”

I laughed out loud then quieted myself as I remembered where I was. “No wonder you passed out.”

Derek turned the key and started the engine. “No kidding. See you later, man.”

I waved as he pulled onto the street then made my way back to my own car for another stakeout. I grabbed my dinner and my headphones, putting them in my ears to listen to whatever was happening inside the apartment.

“Let the show begin.”

“
A
nything interesting happen
?” I asked as Derek came into the office looking a little worse for wear.

“Only if you think cuddling and chick flicks are interesting. Otherwise, no. How’s your day been?”

I shrugged nonchalantly, unwilling to admit that I had spent my day alternating between checking in on the rest of the team to see how their current jobs were going and checking the camera feed to see what Amber was up to.

“It was alright. Pretty slow.”

“I know the feeling, man,” Derek sympathized as he popped something into the USB port on my laptop. He clicked a few things on the screen, installing whatever drivers he needed to work the equipment before he reopened the feed.

“Ta-da!” he exclaimed as the sound came out clearly through my speakers. “That’ll do ya. Just pop the booster in the port when you need it.”

I was curious to ask how it worked, but Derek looked exhausted. I figured my curiosity could wait to be sated until tomorrow.

“Thanks for your help, Derek. You can go home now.”

“Thank you,” he breathed out. “See you tomorrow, boss.”

With that, I was left alone with only my thoughts and the feed of Amber and Chris. I plugged a pair of headphones into the jack and sat back in my chair to watch and listen.

It’d been a long time since I had seen or spoken to Amber. Almost three years since I’d seen her—longer since we’d spoken. Yet as I watched her darting around the apartment in her skimpy tank top and shorts, it felt like no time had passed since we were teenagers living under the same roof.

T
wo hours
after I started watching the feed, I was beginning to understand why Derek looked so damn tired. As much as I loved seeing Amber—even if it was just on camera—watching them do nothing but sit around was fucking
boring
.

I groaned when Chris asked if Amber was up for another movie. How many fucking movies could someone watch in a day?

“No, I’m tired,” her sweet voice carried over the headphones. “Bed time?”

“Sure, babe.”

I grit my teeth together at the term of endearment. Amber deserved better than to be called ‘babe’ by this fucked up asshole. I rolled my eyes when he grabbed her hand and kissed it as they left the living room.

I switched cameras, smiling when I successfully landed on the correct one for their bedroom. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to switch the audio feeds and when I finally managed to get patched into the correct microphone and reopened the video, my blood ran cold.

My eyes closed and I let out a long, slow breath. I sucked in another breath slowly, then released it again, trying to calm myself down. When I reopened my eyes, the image was still enough to send rage coursing through me. I lifted the phone, my eyes never leaving the screen until I had to do so to find the contact.

“I take it you’re catching the show,” John said dryly after he answered.

“Turn off your feed. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

“Allen, I—”

“Turn it off, John,” I whispered lowly. “I’ll call you when it’s over.”

He sighed but I heard the sound of the tablet powering down over the telephone.

“It’s off.”

“Good.”

I ended the call and returned my full attention to the screen. Much to my irritation, even Chris’s presence wasn’t enough to keep my cock from twitching with interest as he removed Amber’s shirt and began gently nibbling on her perfect pink nipples.

The sound of her moan coming through the headphones was my breaking point. My dick reacted immediately, straining in my jeans and demanding attention. I could feel my breaths becoming shallow as she laid back on the bed and he reached to tug the shorts down her hips.

I can’t watch this. I can’t sit here and watch this prick fuck the woman I love.

Yet, I also couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from the screen. I was too entranced by her naked body and her breathless moans to look away.

It was a blur of activity as Chris undressed himself and I nearly flipped my shit when I saw him try to go inside her without a rubber. But she stopped him before he could get there, sitting up and trying to modestly cover herself with the bed sheet.

“We talked about this, Chris.”

“Come on, babe. I know you’re on the pill.”

“That’s not the point,”
she huffed.

I watched with a proud smile as she got out of bed and began to redress herself. Like I told John multiple times before, the girl wasn’t stupid. Did she make questionable decisions? Sure. But who didn’t from time to time?

From my own memories of Amber, when it
really
mattered, she always made the right choice.

Or at least
usually
.

“This isn’t about me at all, is it? Are you seeing someone else?”

Amber turned to look at Chris with disbelief.

“
What
? Who on earth would I be seeing in New York?”

Chris stood up and turned wild eyes to her as he jerked his jeans back up and hastily refastened the button.

“It’s that motherfucker from SoHo, isn’t it?”

I felt the ice-cold chill of betrayal creep up my spine. I held my breath while I waited to hear her response to the accusation.

“Who?
John
? I don’t even know him!”

“Oh, so a total stranger that you spoke to enough to get his name just up and offered you his coat out of nowhere? And I’m supposed to buy that?”

“There’s nothing to
buy
! It’s the truth!”

I didn’t know where to direct my rage. All I knew was that it was quickly becoming overpowering and I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to make it through another face-to-face meeting with John without punching him square in the jaw.