Happily Ever Alpha: Until Mallory (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  “I thought I dreamt you!” she laughs.

  My responding grin fades as her smile turns down and becomes a puzzled frown. “Why did you break down the door? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I see Barbra looking at me like I just kicked a goddamn dog but it’s not like I had any clue what was waiting for me—for any of us—on the other side of that door. Also, as much as I don’t want to deal with it, right now I do have a job to do.

  “Raided the whole house,” I answer, “not just the basement. We’re here to arrest Mario Santini and any of his associates. Didn’t mean to scare you, honey. That being the case I need to ask why you’re here.”

  Mallory’s mouth forms a perfect O as her eyes widen. “He’s a criminal?” she asks.

  I jerk my head and nod once. “He is, and I’m really not fuckin’ happy that you’re in his house, babe. You got anything to do with him or his shit?”

  If Barbra’s eyes had the ability to shoot daggers, I’d be on the floor right now. I give her a pointed look before I go back to focusing on Mallory. It’s not like I don’t already feel like shit for asking my girl—someone I know is about as dangerous as a baby doe—if she’s consorting with trash.

  Her lips tremble as she takes a deep breath. “I have nothing to do with him or his stuff. I rented this place for a month from the Temp Rent site. It didn’t look this bad,” she gestures to the ramshackle space, “in the photos. I thought it was old but clean—boy was I wrong.”

  I grind my teeth together. Jesus fuck, she has terrible instincts. Even the best photos in the world would show this place for the tragic seventies leftover it is. The couch is brown with yellow accents and there’s shitty wood paneling everywhere I look. There’s no way this looked good online. “You rented a place without seeing it in person?” I ask.

  “I, um, just moved into town today,” she answers. “I rented it in advance so I’d have a place to stay.”

  I open my mouth to ask her what the fuck she was thinking but I’m interrupted by the sound of Barbra’s radio with a call in for an ambulance.

  Barbra shakes her head as she hastily stands and packs up her go bag. “No one else injured or in need of care here means I’ve gotta take this call.”

  “See ya,” she calls over her shoulder with a pointed look at me as she heads for the door.

  With a heavy sigh, I pull a small notepad from my back pocket and grab a pen from a slot on the front of my jacket next to my small flashlight.

  I already know her name and date of birth, so I write those down first. Looking up I meet her eyes. “Gotta ask you some questions.”

  Mallory nods. “Okay.”

  “What time did you get here?”

  When she looks down at the small silver watch on her wrist I think about the fact that jewelry is another thing she was never allowed to have before. “About three hours ago,” she responds.

  “Had you spoken to Mr. Santini at all before today?”

  “Well, not like spoke to him, spoke to him?” she says, like it’s a question. Even being interrogated she’s damn cute. “We never talked on the phone but after I paid for the month online he sent a welcome email telling me everything was good to go.”

  Mario is a piece of shit but fleecing innocent women of their money is next level. It’s good he’s currently in handcuffs or I’d be kicking his ass right now.

  “Did you notice anything weird when you got here?”

  Mallory gestures around the space again. “Other than the fact that the front lawn looks like a scrapyard, the entire place reeks of cigarettes and that Mario wasn’t into refunding my money? No.”

  “Was he tweaking?”

  She cocks her head to the side, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder as she does. “Does that mean drugs?”

  Fuck, she’s still so innocent. “Yeah, babe. I mean drugs.”

  She shrugs. “He seemed a little high strung to me but I’ve never been around anyone on drugs so I can’t be sure.”

  I sigh as I look around the dump of an apartment. “What did you pay for this?”

  She winces and bites her lip before answering. “Seven hundred for the month,” she murmurs.

  It’s a struggle to keep my composure and not stomp up the stairs and out to the squad car I know Mario is sitting in so that I can knock him the fuck out. He robbed my girl and that shit is unacceptable. This shithole is worth about seven dollars a year. There’s no insulation, which means it’s muggy as hell down here and the furniture looks like it’s probably one sneeze away from falling apart. Even seeing her sitting on that tacky velour couch is making me twitchy.

  “Can you show me anything to confirm what you’ve told me?”

  She nods and points to something behind me on the floor. Turning, I realize there’s a phone face down on the carpet. I grin when I see that the case is multi-colored and festooned with glitter. If Ruby were around, there wouldn’t be a cellphone at all. Walking over I pick it up and then bring it to her. Mallory looks it over and then breathes a sigh of relief.

  “I was sure the screen had broken,” she says softly. “Guess there’s a silver lining in this cloud after all.”

  She’s always been so sweet—no artifice or anger inside of her at all. It’s part of what draws me to her. Watching her sliding her fingers across the screen, I find myself praying that my dick doesn’t get any harder than it already is. After less than thirty seconds of scrolling, she holds it out to me. Taking it from her, I read the email she pulled up. Sure enough, she rented this shithole online about three weeks ago. The email exchange between her and Santini is brief and impersonal.

  “Looks like I picked the wrong rental,” she says quietly. “Now I’m out seven hundred bucks.”

  “Temp Rent will have to refund your money,” I assure her.

  She shakes her head. “They won’t, and it’s my own fault because I was too poor to pay the extra fee for travel insurance. I wanted to leave the second I got here today but without the insurance, there was nothing I could do. Now I’m really in a pickle.”

  “Babe—”

  “Hey.”

  Turning, I realize Nico came into the room at some point and he’s watching me with interest. I’ve been so locked on Mallory I didn’t even notice.

  He jerks his neck back toward the door. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Running my hand through my hair, I nod before looking back to Mallory. “Be right back, honey.”

  “Don’t worry,” she chuckles, “I won’t go anywhere.”

  I turn and follow Nico to the tiny hallway outside of the apartment. “We got his ass dead to rights,” he says with a grin. “ATF is coming in to confiscate the cases of stolen booze and the unregistered firearms. Dogs led the squad straight to a metric fuck ton of coke beneath the floorboards in his closet and then to his mattress, which was packed with heroin. They’re goin’ through all the junked up cars in his yard now. Leo says they already found a pound of weed in one of the trunks. This one’s a slam dunk for us, brother.”

  This should be cause for celebration but instead it sets my teeth on edge. We’ve been watching Santini for months, slowly building our case. If we hadn’t come today, Mallory would’ve been in this hellhole while one doped up fuck after another came through to score.

  Nico gestures over his shoulder toward where Mallory is in the apartment. “Gettin’ that you’re not thrilled about all the shit he had upstairs. Obviously you know her,” he says.

  I nod. “Yeah. She’s good though, not involved in this mess.”

  He gives me a duh look. “No shit, boy genius. Like I couldn’t guess just by lookin’ at her that she’s way too innocent to be wrapped up in any of this.”

  Looking over Nico’s shoulder, I stare at Mallory on the couch. Fuck, she’s anxious and knowing that does not make me happy. Lifting my hand, I rub it against the back of my neck as I try to figure out how to talk her into the plan I’ve been forming in my head since the second I saw her standing wit
h her hands up.

  “You got that look,” Nico says in a wry tone of voice.

  Damn, I’m so wrapped up in having Mallory close that I completely forgot he was even here for a second. Turning my attention back to him, I raise my brows. “What look?”

  “Boom.”

  I wait a beat or two. When he doesn’t elaborate, I say, “You gonna tell me what the fuck boom means?”

  “Means she’s your boom and you’re goin’ down. You found your match. Seein’ a wedding ring and some babies in your immediate future.”

  Thinking of those things with Mallory sounds great but for all I know she’s not feeling me. I gotta figure out what’s what so I can make a solid plan.

  “Wh—what the fuck?” I splutter. “You get into the drugs upstairs or did Sophie slip a little something into your coffee this morning?”

  He gives me the finger. “Nope. Just callin’ it like I see it. Guessin’ she’s the reason you haven’t so much as looked at a female since you got to Nashville?”

  I shrug. “What about it?”

  He smirks. “Callin’ it now. Bet you fifty bucks that right this very second you’re plotting how to get her shit into your place by the end of the day.”

  I know I look guilty as fuck before I’m able to lock down my expression. A shit-eating grin spreads out across his face as he watches me. Jesus, when did fuckin’ Mayson become a mind reader?

  “I’m not taking that bet and I think we’re done here. If you’re through giving me shit I’m going to go back to Mallory,” I say gruffly.

  Nico grins. “You do that, John. I’ll expect that fifty on my desk tomorrow morning.”

  I give him a pointed look. “I didn’t take the bet.”

  Nico throws back his head and laughs. “You didn’t need to. The boom, man. When it hits, it hits. Have fun, brother.”

  Before I can respond, he steps around me and walks up the stairs. I take a minute to get my head right before I head back to Mallory so I can do whatever I need to do to get her to come with me.

  Chapter 3

  Mallory

  I watch as John comes back into the apartment. It’s unreal that the man I’ve had the world’s biggest crush on since I was twenty years old is right here in front of me. For the longest time I thought he was interested in me but when he never asked me on a date, I started to think I was wrong. Still, I quietly coveted him. Since he went from the Chattanooga police department to the department in Nashville six months ago, I haven’t heard a word from him. My grandmother went on and on about how Nashville was a city of singers and sin, and she made sure to tell me over and over that John had probably fallen for the first easy woman he came upon. It didn’t matter what she said—I refused to believe it. Two months ago, I started planning to come here so that I could find John to determine one way or another if he is interested in me.

  The reminder of my grandmother saying John would be snatched up by an easy woman has my eyes going to his hands. No rings. I feel silly for hoping that means no one has tied him down yet. Maybe, I think to myself, there’s a chance. Then again, I’m a mess and he’s… well, not. He’s hot, funny, hot, sexy, hot, successful and, of course, hot. Like stupid hot. He’s a little over six feet tall with brown hair, hazel eyes and a smile that makes me feel butterflies in my stomach. Since the last time I saw him he’s grown a tightly cropped beard that I am absolutely on board with.

  I inhale sharply as he takes a seat on the couch next to me. With him so close, I get a whiff of his cologne, which is something sporty and sexy that makes my mouth go dry. Nervous, I bite my lower lip as I look up at him.

  “Babe,” he growls, “fuck. You’re killing me.”

  I blink up at him like an idiot. “Uh, what?”

  He barks out a laugh as he waves the question off. “You don’t know anyone around here do you?”

  I shake my head. “No one.”

  “What brought you here?”

  Now I know I’m blushing from head to toe. “Well,” I say slowly, “this neighbor I had took a transfer to Nashville six months ago. Before he went he kept telling me how awesome the area was. My grandmother died a month after he left and since I didn’t want to be there anymore I started saving up to get out of Chattanooga. I didn’t know where I wanted to go but I just kept thinking about how he…well, um, you, were always saying how cool Nashville is. I decided it was time to take a chance and do something wild.”

  He’s looking at me like I’ve just said something truly incredible. “I’m glad you did, honey,” he says after a few seconds. “Been a good move for me. Only been here six months but if I have my way this is where I’ll stay. You’re going to love it here.”

  “I liked what I saw as I came in,” I say, “but I have to admit having the cops burst in here was a buzzkill. I thought this area was pretty safe.”

  He gives me a look. “First, the cops busting in today is how we found each other again, so I gotta think that’s turned out to be a good thing. But seriously, babe, even the best towns have shady areas and drug dealers. I gotta work on getting your street smarts up to par.”

  I frown and look away. I’m trying to hold onto my emotions but I’m devastated that the plan I worked so hard to put into play just blew up in my face. “Not sure I can stick around long enough for you to teach me street smarts.”

  John gives me a pointed look as he shakes his head. “You’ll be here,” he says gruffly. “Not lettin’ you walk out there into God only knows what, honey. You made it to me—you’re staying.”

  “I, um—” I’m trying to think of a way to tell him that if I stay here and have to live in a motel for a while, I’ll be broke as a joke if I don’t get a job within days. If I go back to Chattanooga, I’ll be able to get my old job back and stay with someone from my church while I get myself together.

  Before I can say this to John, he continues, “Getting your stuff and taking you home with me, Mallory.”

  My eyes fly up to meet his. “Home with you?” I parrot.

  “It’s where you belong and I know you’ll like it. More than that, you’ll be safe. Good place to live—you won’t be sorry.”

  “But, but,” I splutter. “I don’t even know if I can afford to stay with you. What’s the rent?”

  His eyes narrow as he gives me an affronted look. “Didn’t say shit about rent, honey. Not taking your money.”

  “You’re not?”

  John shakes his head. “Fuck no.”

  “Okayyy,” I drawl, “you won’t take my money but you want me to move into your place.”

  He nods as if that’s somehow perfectly reasonable. “You’re getting me now,” he says.

  No. I am most certainly not “getting” him. Never—even in my wildest dreams (and I admit those dreams were specific and involved me finding him in Nashville and making him fall in love with me) have I imagined John asking me to move in with him within one hour of our seeing each other.

  “You have an extra, um, bedroom?” I ask.

  He nods. “Bought a three bedroom house when I got here.”

  “And you want me to move into one of those bedrooms?”

  His face clouds for a few seconds before he seems to shake it off. “For now, yes.”

  For now is the best offer I’m going to get and I know it. I don’t have the money to rent anything on my own until I get a job and let’s face it, living with John won’t be a hardship. After all, I came here to find him. “I am going to owe you so big,” I squeak.

  “Don’t owe me shit,” he says as he stands and holds his hand out to me. I shiver as I slide my tiny hand into his much bigger one.

  “Let’s get your stuff and get out of here,” he says. I nod. He doesn’t let me go when I try to pull my hand away. Instead, he links our fingers together before gesturing down the hall with his free hand. “Show me where your luggage is.”

  My stomach is full of butterflies as I take him into the bedroom. Only when we get there does he let go of my hand. This he does as
he barks out a laugh when he sees my suitcases. I don’t see anything about my hard-shelled dark pink suitcases that would cause a laugh.

  “What’s funny?” I ask.

  “Babe. The pink. You’re so colorful now.”

  Ah. That makes sense. Without my grandmother around extolling the virtues of being unnoticeable, I’ve taken to color in a big way.

  “I like pink.”

  He grins at me. “I’m seeing that.”Crossing over to the bed he gets busy slamming my suitcases shut before he secures the locks on each. He does this deftly and without paying real attention since he is glaring around the room as if it’s a crime scene.

  Hefting both of my giant suitcases from the bed, he sets them down on the floor. “Shit hole,” he says gruffly. “Pisses me off to even think of you spending even one hour here, much less a night. Lucky I found you, honey. This could’ve ended badly.”

  It’s a fair point, one I don’t even try to argue since he was one of three cops who burst into the apartment an hour ago.

  “This ain’t much, Mallory. You got anything else?”

  I nod. “I have a backpack, a toiletries bag and my purse.”

  “Grab it all.”

  Going to the bathroom, I take both my toiletries bag and my backpack off the hooks on the back of the door before I grab my purse from the sink. None of the things are exactly as I left them—come to think of it, neither were my suitcases—which I suspect means the cops must’ve gone through them. I’m not sure how I feel about everyone knowing how boring I am, but it’s not like I can make a big deal out of it. They were just doing their jobs. With a sigh, I take my stuff back into the bedroom.

  John reaches out for it. “Give it all to me.”

  I put my hand on my hip and pin him with a look. “I can carry some stuff, you know.”

  Throwing back his head, he laughs before meeting my gaze again. “In addition to the color you’ve gotten some sass since the last time I saw you.”

  I shrug. “I don’t like feeling useless.”

  He stares at me for a few seconds before he nods. “Fine. You can carry your purse and the toiletries bag.”