Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unhitched [The Double Rider Men's Club 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

He’d forgotten how great it was to have a really good belly laugh over someone acting in a completely unexpected way. Watching stern, stiff, conservative Jackson frolicking in a Vegas hotel fountain was the funniest thing he’d seen in ages. He backed it up three or four times and watched the part where Jackson proclaimed his utter and complete love for his sexy Lexi, over and over again. Even by the fourth time, it was still hilarious. He burned a copy to show at the DRMC Christmas party. He would entitle the clip,
Jackson Cordell Finally Lets His Hair Down
.

He also got video feed of what happened in the elevator on the way up to their penthouse suite. Even with the bell boy riding along, they hadn’t stopped undressing each other or touching each other for the entire trip.
That
particular clip would go into the X-rated file section he also kept. And would
also
make it into the film footage for a future DRMC party.

After he called Derek a few days ago with the list of antics Jackson and his new “wife” had gallivanted through, Clay had painstakingly gone back through the available footage to see if he could determine who or why one Alexis Sherwood had been drugged and by whom.

The only person besides the bartender and Jackson who’d even gotten within three feet of her was a stringy-haired blonde who’d ordered two drinks and waited next to her for the bartender to prepare them.

Clay had looked up a history on the bartender, and he seemed clean. With a wife and three small children, he seemed an unlikely suspect to be drugging women’s drinks. Plus, he hadn’t left the bar until the wee hours of the morning.

The alarm bulletin he’d set to see if there were any other reports of drinks in the hotel being drugged suddenly went off like a bang. He read the complaint of a woman having no memory of her evening after drinking in one of the hotel bars. But it was a different bar than the one Jackson and Alexis had been in. He pulled the video footage and saw something very familiar. Was that the same stringy-haired blonde?

Clay looked at more hotel footage. Now that he knew what to look for, he checked on the movements of the blonde. He suddenly saw Miss Stringy-Hair with a rough-looking man. There wasn’t truly a dress code in Las Vegas, but this guy looked worse than a few skid row bums he’d seen. Once he got a facial recognition report on this loser, he’d bet money he was involved in the drugging of Jackson and Alexis.

He reached for the phone to call Derek to alert him.

* * * *

Jackson couldn’t get comfortable in the limo. He fidgeted and slid back and forth before they’d moved four blocks away from the hotel. The threshold of his sudden anxiety at leaving Alexis behind was well over the maximum limit.

“What is wrong with you?” Derek asked.

“Do you feel like we’ve forgotten something?”

“No.” Derek looked puzzled. As if he didn’t miss Alexis already. Jackson took that to mean he didn’t love her as much as Jackson did. They’d never really spoken in terms of permanent or even a future meeting to have sex once more. Jackson had always been adamantly opposed to marriage. What did he expect?

“I want to go back and check one last time.”

“No.” Derek sighed. “You just don’t want to let her go.”

“And you do?” Jackson’s heart sank like a heavy stone in a pool of water.

Derek sighed again and pressed a finger to his temple. “No. Not really. I have a very strong affection her. Perhaps even a bit of puppy love. She’s different and wonderful. However,
her
intentions were very clear. She wasn’t looking for a husband or a change of landscape. She has other issues to deal with that she wants to take care of on her own. She said repeatedly, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want a fresh set of stalkers in her life.”

Jackson nodded. Derek was right. They’d said their good-byes a couple of times. As much as he wanted for her to express a further desire for a future, she hadn’t. She would hide out for another day and then go back to her complicated life out East. He needed to let her go. Then he remembered her laugh. She had a great laugh. He already missed her dimpled face and exceptionally adorable giggle. “I never wanted to get married, you know.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want the annulment.” Jackson turned and looked out at the back of the limo at the hotel getting smaller and smaller.

Derek glanced over at him. “If we turn back now, we’ll miss our flight. There isn’t another until too late in the morning to get us back in time for our business meeting. We’d have to hire a private plane.”

“I know. You’re right.” Jackson turned to face the front and eyed the booze in the limo’s impressive drink cabinet. Too bad it wasn’t even eight in the morning. He could use a stiff drink.

“So what do you want to do?” Derek pulled out his phone, which had started to buzz annoyingly.

Before Jackson could say, “I don’t care about the stupid meeting or making money on a new business deal. Let’s go back,” Derek held up a finger and answered his phone.

He mouthed the words. “It’s Clay.”

Jackson nodded and went back to looking out the window. They continued on to the airport. Clay likely wanted to ensure they were on their way back home. He was the one who’d called the meeting to discuss the property that the DRMC had leased south of theirs and what opportunities they could reap from it.

He sincerely wished the limo would run over a nail so they’d be stuck here. But each light was green, and they were probably making excellent time, unlike the last couple of times he’d been here. They weren’t really moving incredibly fast, but they also hadn’t stopped dead in traffic. He studied the streets that passed without really seeing anything, until he realized they were already within view of the airport.
Damn the luck
.

Jackson heard Derek suck in a surprised breath. He said, “Really? Who was it?”

Derek lowered the phone. “Clay figured out who drugged the two of you from watching the hotel’s video surveillance feed.”

* * * *

Alexis woke with a start, but didn’t open her eyes. Had she dozed off? Where was she?
Crap
. Had she been drugged again?

Just as she had the last time she’d been drugged, she felt a little bit loopy. Although this time didn’t seem as deeply saturating as the last time. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet, but could tell either bright lights were blazing in the vicinity, or it was still daylight out.

Feeling was coming back in her arms and legs in the form of a hundred thousand stinging needles of pain marching up and down her limbs. She didn’t remember that from the last time she was drugged. She tried to open her eyes. They felt like she wore lead makeup on her lids.

“She’s waking up,” a voice to her left said. A woman.
Who is that?

“About time,” said the other voice. A man. “You made me wait while you were fucking around with that other man.”

Other men
, Alexis corrected mentally. Who was talking?

Then the full memory of her abduction came back like a stake to her heart.
Crap
. Her pulse spiked as she realized the trouble she was in.

“That man is my husband.” Alexis wasn’t aware her voice even worked until she spoke.

“Fuck that. He’s your convenient husband.” He sneered. “If you hadn’t been drugged, you never would have married him.”

“And whose fault is that?” She sneered in return. “You put the roofie in my drink, didn’t you?”

“I had you drugged for other reasons, not for
him
.” The distain in this pervert’s tone at the word “him” was laughable. “Now we’re almost out of time.”

Alexis giggled suddenly at the ridiculousness of his anger. She couldn’t help it. Perhaps the drugs weren’t completely out of her system, because she found this cruelly hilarious. The man was insane. She was in terrible trouble. It wasn’t funny at all. And when he backhanded her without warning, she tasted blood. Then it truly wasn’t amusing anymore.

She was so foolish to have remained behind here alone without her husbands. Even without being drugged again, she should have considered leaving home with them. Her memories of before being drugged surfaced.

The second they left in the limo she’d regretted it. Why hadn’t she gone home with Jackson and Derek? They’d offered, and she’d been the one to say no. She’d thought about her life out East. Her job that she loved. Stupid. She’d been so stupid.

Alexis hadn’t wanted to be the one to chase after this unexpected marriage. She hadn’t wanted them to think she wasn’t on board with the initial plan to have fun in Vegas and then promptly annul the marriage when they parted. She missed them desperately. She had even before they’d left the hotel.

The truth was, she’d never been so happy with a man before now. She’d never been with men she knew in her soul she could trust completely. Why hadn’t she told them she loved them?

A sudden sadness overwhelmed her senses. She sucked in a deep breath, and her humor suddenly changed to a more appropriate tone. She started sobbing quietly in grief. Not so much over the current situation, but because she truly should have gone home with the two men who’d delighted her beyond all expectation.

“Quit your whining, bitch. Or I’ll shut you up with my stronger hand.”

His harsh tone made her sob even harder.
Odd
. She wasn’t a crier. She rarely shed tears for any reason. She wasn’t truly sad, but so angry she could hardly think straight. To be honest, a small amount of fear also played a part in her current attitude. But not as much as her fury when he backhanded her again. A trickle of blood escaped one corner of her lips. Apparently, he
had
used his stronger hand the second time. She stopped crying, sniffed once or twice, and let his inappropriate abuse feed her wrath.

Given the opportunity, she’d kick this guy between his legs so hard his balls would lodge in his throat. That visual wedged in her brain and hung there. The moment he got close enough to lick her face, she uselessly fought against the ropes that bound her legs to the chair.

“Is it time yet, Virgil?” the woman asked excitedly.

“Yes. It’s time to get her ready. She’s awake enough. Let’s tear her clothes off and make her scream.”

Virgil reached out and grabbed the two lapels of her button up shirt and ripped it wide open. Buttons went flying, and Alexis shut her eyes, not wanting to witness what was about to happen to her next.

Chapter Eleven

“The woman who drugged their drink isn’t why I called.” Clay’s voice came over Derek’s cell phone clearly.

Derek snapped his fingers and motioned for Jackson to turn the limo around before he even answered Clay.

“What’s the problem, then?”

“The guy she’s with in all the hotel footage is very bad news. He’s got a rap sheet as long as my dick, including arrests for kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted rape, just to give you the highlights.”

“Shit.” Derek grabbed for his armrest as the limo did a possibly illegal U-turn and headed back to the hotel.

“What?” Jackson asked as Clay continued talking.

“There was another woman in the hotel that reported being drugged in one of the hotel bars the day before Jackson and Alexis were drugged. The stringy-haired blonde was seated next to this other victim at the bar as well. It either smacks of practice run, or perhaps a serial rapist drugging victims with help from a nonthreatening cohort. Either way, it’s not good.”

“We’re headed back to the hotel now just to be on the safe side.”

Clay didn’t miss a beat. “Good idea. I’ll reschedule this afternoon’s business meeting for tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Clay.” Derek hung up and relayed what Clay had told him.