Never by Blue Saffire

Chapter 18

Digging

Sal

We make our way back to the hotel and through the casino lobby. I look at the slot machines and blackjack tables longingly as we pass them. I wasn’t ready for our night of normal to end.

I sigh as we get into the elevator. Gutter hasn’t said a word since we got into a cab to head back to our hotel. I can see his thoughts moving in his head. I’m not sure what all he’s thinking. I just know he’s lost in whatever it is.

His phone buzzes as we ride up to our floor. He pulls the device out and grunts at the message. He replies as he pulls me closer into his embrace. It’s a possessive and protective hold.

I look up into his face, trying to read him, but his eyes give nothing away. It’s as if he has checked out. I can totally see him as one of the Squad. It’s that look that has me almost certain I know who a few other Squad members are.

We step off the elevator and head to our room. I stiffen as we get closer to the doors and voices float out from inside. Gutter doesn’t seem to be alarmed at all, so I relax just a bit as I follow him into the suite.

I relax completely as Grim and Reap come into view. Reap sits in Grim’s lap with a frown on her face. These two are always together, but always fussing at one and other for something.

Grim has an amused look on his face as Reap looks like she’s about to lash out at him. Gutter shakes his head, wrapping me in his arms to pull me in front of him. That seems to break right through whatever Grim and Reap were fussing about.

Both their heads whip in our direction. Erica raises a brow as she looks between Gutter and me. Grim groans and pulls a hand down his face. He looks right at Gutter.

“Please tell me Prez knows about this,” he says.

Gutter shrugs. “Not yet. Haven’t had time to talk about it.”

“Ah, shit. I’m going to have to kill you.” Reap chuckles.

“Nope, King’s going to do this one himself.” Grim snorts.

“Too bad. You two look so cute together.” Reap smirks.

“Erica, I’m a grown ass woman,” I hiss. “King will have to just get over it.”

“Easier said, doll. That man is going to lose his shit.” She winks at me.

Reap hops her little self up from Grim’s lap and moves over to pull me into a hug. As I hug her tightly, it hits me. I miss my old friend more than I knew. Gutter releases his hold on me as Erica and I embrace for a few beats longer.

He moves to Grim, and they lock heads together and begin to murmur to one and other. I pull away from Reap, trying to listen in on their plans. The dark looks on their faces send a chill through me.

“What’s going on with you? Something happened to your place,” Reap says at my side, softly, but seriously.

“Yeah, someone broke in, but I honestly don’t know much. I think I may have run too quickly. I should’ve paid more attention to details,” I say in frustration. “Something else is going on here.”

Reap nods. “Yeah, but we both know you did pay attention. Just relax and pull up everything you remember. What did you see, what did your brain record?”

I lick my lips and nod. She’s right. I furrow my brows as I move to retrieve my backpack. Images of my apartment and things I hadn’t realized I cataloged pop up in my head. I plop down in the nearest chair and flip open my laptop.

If whoever broke into my place was truly looking for my laptop, they would’ve had a time getting past my screensaver and still they would’ve been lost. My desktop is false. There’s another password that opens to the real desktop and my hidden files.

I open the file on the false desktop to get into my computer. Within seconds, I have the picture I’m looking for up on my screen. I start to hack my way into the database I need, while Reap looks on.

Lately, I’ve been getting this feeling like I’m being watched or something. I’ve been paranoid since coming back to the States from London, but this was different. I remember a strange guy about a week ago hanging around my building.

I paid it no mind at first, but I’d discretely taken a picture of him, after feeling like I’d seen him one too many times and not just in front of my building.

I didn’t want to alarm King with my paranoia and I’d been distracted with work. I’d taken the picture and forgotten about it after not seeing the guy in the following days.

“Who’s that?” Reap asks as she moves her face closer to the screen. “Where have I seen him before?”

She says the last part more to herself than to me. I don’t stop to reply. Things are clicking into place.

“You guys should get over here. She’s doing her thing. This may help,” Reap calls out.

Grim and Gutter move to stand around me as Reap sits on the armrest of the chair. I’m in my zone, focused on the task before me. I tune out everyone as my brain puts all the pieces together for me.

This man in the picture. I’ve seen him in the supermarket, standing by the fresh fish. I remember the woman who stood to his right, waiting for her order. She was staring at him with lust in her eyes.

I remember it because she had a toddler with her. The little boy was in the cart whining. A tall, dark-haired man came along as she was handed her order. He calmed the child and kissed her on the cheek.

The man in the picture ignored her the whole time, trying to seem inconspicuous. I remember feeling like I was being watched that day. That was months before I started noticing him around my apartment building.

Now, my brain won’t stop showing me all the places he has appeared. I’m freaking out because I’m always so cautious. I can’t believe I’ve seen this man sniffing around for months and only registered him in my subconscious.

Reap snaps her fingers. “I knew I saw this motherfucker before,” she blurts out.

At that moment, I get a match for the picture on the FBI’s database I’ve just hacked. I download what I need swiftly and back my way right out of their system.

“Did you just do what I think you did?” Gutter asks as he narrows his eyes at me.

“I plead the fifth,” I say with a small, unapologetic smile.

He smirks at me and shakes his head. “We need to ask and answer some more questions later,” he says and gives me a wink that blows my mind.

It’s unexpected and sexy as hell. Somehow, the gesture softens his face and makes him… real. Gutter is so gorgeous and larger than life. It’s the little things that make him real and down to earth. Something tells me not many people get that about him, or at least he doesn’t show it to many.

“So, where you know this fucker from?” Grim asks Reap as he stabs a finger at my screen.

“I ran into him that time I went to see Sal at school. He was outside her dorm. He looked suspect to me then. He tried to approach me, asking if I came to see a friend. He was pissed when I blew him off. Called me out my name,” Reap sneers and looks up at Grim through her lashes. “You saved his life. I was going to carve his ass up, but you rode up and started barking that we had places to be.” Reap shrugs as she pulls a lollipop from her pocket and pops it into her mouth.

Nope, she didn’t just mention cutting anyone up. Not at all.

“Where’d this pic come from?” Grim quizzes.

“I took it recently outside my building, when I noticed that he’d been around a lot of places I’ve been,” I say as a shiver runs down my spine.

Gutter plucks the laptop from my lap and walks over to the couch to sit. He pulls his phone out and starts to make a call. I sit with my mouth hanging open. I had more I planned to look up.

I feel my cheeks burn. I try not to lash out at him. I know he wants to protect me, but I have more digging I need to do. I need that laptop.

I narrow my eyes as I watch him on his phone. Something tells me when it comes to my safety, Gutter is always going to be high-handed. I grunt to myself and fold my arms over my chest, while my fingers itch to get to the bottom of this. I’m not used to sitting around when there’s something I should or could be doing.

“Oh, forget whatever you are thinking. The way he held on to you when you guys walked in, he’ll have this shit sewn up before we hit the road.” Reap chuckles as if reading my mind.

“I wasn’t done,” I huff. Gutter looks up from my computer screen right into my eyes. “I thought it was someone after club business that broke into my place. Now that I think about it, something was off. I don’t think there was only one intruder. I think there were two different parties,” I explain.

“What do you mean?” Grim asks.

“The place was tossed differently in the bedroom. The person or persons who were in there were more passionate about it. They weren’t just looking for something. They had a different motive.” I shrug and pause to think.

“I was so pissed off about my bike, I hadn’t given it much attention before. The living room looked more like someone needed to find something, and fast. Do you get what I mean?”

“Yeah, I understand.” Gutter nods.

He murmurs something into his phone, then hangs up. He makes another quick call before he hands my computer back over. I sigh and go for the next thing I’d planned to look into.

I have cameras in my apartment. With all the adrenaline pumping in my system and my flight reflex kicking in, I never thought to check them. My first thought was to get somewhere safe.

I pull up the time around the break in and fast-forward until the intruders come into sight. The guy from the picture turns up at my front door, just as I thought. My heart starts to race.

I still don’t know who he is. He does look familiar. I just don’t know where I can place him from yet.

Gutter makes his way over to watch the screen as well. I can feel the rage coming off of the three of them standing around me. I’m pissed too. The cameras switch to inside the apartment. The guy moves straight to my bedroom. I turn my head when he starts to go through my things, sniffing at them.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Grim growls.

I peek at the screen to see the man has climbed into my bed. Suddenly, something must piss him off. He jumps up and starts to trash the place.

My room is ruined in seconds and he rushes from the apartment. Only a few seconds later, two other guys arrive at the door and pry their way in. They toss the rest of my place. It’s one of them who lowers the gate and hops on my bike, headed for the back elevator.

I’m pissed all over again. That bitch ass stole my bike. I want to smash his head in for it.

“That one is mine. Cage gave you that bike. I’m going to fuck him up for even thinking about taking that shit,” Reap seethes.

Gutter and Grim lock heads again. They’re talking too low for me to hear. Reap moves into the conversation as well. I don’t feel welcome to do so, so I stay put.

After squinting at them and straining to hear for a few minutes, I give up and turn back to the screen in front of me. This is my world, me and my computer. I look closely for clues that may help me figure out who the other two in my apartment were.

I chance a peek at the three in the room with me, when nothing jumps out at me. Gutter looks at his phone as it buzzes. He taps the screen to open something and sits as he reads. His face changes with the more he reads.

At some point, he stops reading and places a call. I watch him speak through tight lips. I swear, his face turns all kinds of red.

“Tell me what the fuck I’m looking at,” he demands into the phone.

The growl that rumbles in his chest as he listens chills me. I feel myself curl into my own body. The room is thick with a new tension.

The growl only gets louder as he continues to listen. If his anger could take on life, it would be dancing in front of him. Without a word, he ends the call.

Gutter looks at me and I truly believe his head is about to explode. He stands silently. I know he intends for me to follow him without needing his directive.

This isn’t good. Not good at all. I don’t know what’s on that phone, but it may be enough to get someone killed.

Gutter

I haven’t felt this kind of rage in years. My guys are some of the best in security. Sal made it a lot easier with her skills, I’ve never seen anyone hack into the FBI database that fast.

I try to breathe without running out of this hotel, headed straight for the targets of my ire. You just can’t make shit like this up. Identical cousins. That motherfucker who raped Salalia wasn’t her professor. I don’t even know how to tell her all of this.

Still stewing, I close the door to the bedroom and lead Sal over to the bed. I sit, pulling her into my lap. For a moment, I stare at her gorgeous face and try to find the words that are going to turn her world upside down.

I don’t know how to make them pretty or hurt less. I know this is going to open a hole we thought we just plugged up. I close my eyes and breathe, before opening them again and locking on hers. This is how she got through to me, looking into my soul.

“Your professor, the one you told me about. He has an identical cousin,” I say slowly and watch her flinch. I wrap my arms around her tighter. “I don’t believe it was actually your professor that… you know.”

“What?” Sal whispers. “What are you talking about?”

“They found your professor hanging in his loft in London, not too long after you returned home. He’d been hanging there for a few weeks.” I pause and rub my forehead.

“Somehow, his cousin… the fucker traded identities with the professor. He then returned in his place. The authorities have been looking for him for years. Philip Spencer is wanted for identity theft, counterfeiting, rape, stalking, extortion, and a ton of other crimes,” I explain.

Sal’s lips start to tremble and her whole body quakes. “I don’t understand. What does that have to do with the man in the picture and my apartment?”

“Here is where it gets crazy. The man we’re seeing in the pictures works for Philip, or at times, he could be Philip Spencer. It’s who Philip wants everyone to see.

“At times it’s a disguise, one of many, but the asshole has two sets of fingerprints. Which leads me and my guys to think there are two people here, not one. Marvin Hoover, that’s the name in the FBI database, but I think it’s bullshit. I want to send over all the footage you have to my guys. They have the photos.

“Your professor, Donald Spencer, was the man you trusted. After what Philip did to you, he killed Donald and hung him, made it look like a suicide. Donald’s wife came forward and told the American authorities that something was foul back in London.

“Turns out she was right. Philip and his buddy followed you and Donald to Europe. Philip managed to pretend to be Donald before Donald’s wife turned up and he had to disappear.” I stop there, not wanting to freak her out any further.

If you ask me, Philip returned to the States looking for Sal. The fuck has some sick hard-on for her. Donald’s wife, Abigail, told authorities that Philip spent a lot of time going to the college campus, harassing his cousin.

He would trick the staff and students into thinking he was Donald at times. Even before the incident that led to her husband’s death. Something tells me Philip orchestrated everything about Sal’s accommodations.

Abigail said her husband threatened on more than one occasion to report him if he didn’t stop. He never got to make good on his threats. I have a few threats of my own, no make that promises.

“But if he hung him…, how did he return in his place… I… that’s crazy.”

“I want to say ego. He could’ve used one of his disguises or aliases, but he didn’t. It’s like he’s taunting the authorities. It’s how they made the connection once Abigail reported her suspicions,” I reply.

“What do they want with me?” Sal says through a trembling voice.

“I don’t know, but I do know they’re not getting it. Listen to me,” I say and pinch her chin between my fingertips. “There are a lot of motherfuckers who have signed their death certificates by coming for you. I will find them all and put each one to ground. You have my word.”

My heart breaks as she nods her pretty head and a tear slips free. I reach for her shoes and pull them from her feet. We aren’t going anywhere until the morning. Grim and I have a few things to get in order. Until then, she can rest. I’m here now.

I slide back on the bed, bringing her body with me. With a kiss to her forehead, I cradle Salalia with all that I am. She will never want for safety as long as I have breath in my body.