And Gene could be very confusing. “Perhaps you give me address.”
“Now that’s a real good plan. I can do that.” Gene wrote down the address, and Alexei bid him farewell.
Perhaps by tomorrow he would be gainfully employed. Maybe between the blood tests and a real job, Caleb would relax a bit.
Maybe when Caleb realized he wasn’t alone in caring for Holly, he would discover that he could handle a relationship. After what had happened to his wife, Alexei couldn’t blame him for being scared of commitment. Watching his wife butchered in front of his eyes would have had an effect. But Alexei meant to draw Caleb back into life. He was too good a man to let himself wither and die. He’d given Alexei his life. Alexei meant to return the favor.
He was just about to open his door when he noticed someone had beaten him to it. He wasn’t a fool. There were still people who wanted him dead. He’d left a small thread hanging in the door. It was on the concrete of the sidewalk now. Gene’s staff didn’t clean at night.
Someone was in his room.
Alexei very calmly pulled the Glock from the holster at the small of his back and flicked off the safety. Luckily Holly hadn’t noticed it. He would more than likely have to explain why he walked around armed all the time. But for now he was thankful for the feel of it in his hands. He thought briefly about leaving. He could head for town and talk to whoever was manning the sheriff’s office, but this was his problem. The last thing he needed was to run into Logan Green and ask him to watch his back. The last time he’d talked to Logan Green, the man had been tortured and nearly killed by Alexei’s mob boss, buying Alexei time to save Holly. If Stefan Talbot hadn’t come along, he wasn’t sure Logan would have made it. No. He wouldn’t ask anyone to risk his life for him. If he really had people trying to take him out, he would have to consider leaving Bliss. He couldn’t risk Holly.
In one smooth move, he opened the door and got into a firing stance, his legs strong beneath him, both hands on the gun.
And sighed because his past was following him. And they were kissing on his bed. He now knew who had checked in while he was gone. “You could not make love on own bed?”
Michael McMahon rolled off his partner and looked up at Alexei with a grin on his face. “We’re lucky that was you and not someone else. One of these days they’re going to fire us.”
Jessie buttoned up her shirt. Unlike Holly, Jessie didn’t blush. She simply winked at Alexei and smoothed her straight dark brown hair. She was dressed in her normal uniform of slacks and a button down. Jessie dressed like she was one of the boys. It suited her slender, athletic build, but Alexei greatly preferred Holly’s curves. “Hey, Alexei. Surprised to see us? We were surprised you left.”
Was he surprised to see the US Marshals in Bliss? Not really. But he’d hoped they would just let him go. “The job was over. The trials are done.”
Michael was a former linebacker. He often told Alexei about his college days. He flexed his arms over his head, displaying a body built on broad lines. He was dressed in dark slacks and a button down, though it fit him differently than his partner/girlfriend. “Two of those cases are still on appeal. I explained that to you.”
Appeals. Yes. There was nothing appealing about the prospect. The appeals process could take even longer than the trials. It was a criminal’s last legal out. “I don’t wish to stay in Florida motel room for years waiting to see if criminals’ lawyers will get them out. I wish to get on with life.”
“So you traded a motel room in Florida for one in Colorado?” Jessie asked, a little smirk on her face. “That doesn’t make a lick of sense. And this place is so boring. I don’t get it. Unless, of course, there’s a girl involved.”
He’d never mentioned her name to either of his handlers. He’d kept that to himself. He’d erased her texts and burned her letters. He wanted no mention of her to come to anyone who might leak it. Now that the trials were done, he’d felt safe enough to find her. No one would care that Alexei Markov had disappeared into the west and found his wife. He would even insist that Caleb be the one to legally marry her so there was no record of his name linked with hers.
“Her name wouldn’t happen to be Holly Lang?” Michael asked.
“How did you know?” Shit. He’d fucked up. He’d known he couldn’t keep it a secret, had never meant to from the locals, but he didn’t want anyone outside of Bliss to really know about her.
Jessie looked at him sympathetically. “No one broods the way you did over anything but a woman.”
“I don’t know. I think I brood over many things. Dead brother. Many crimes committed in name of revenge. Lots of peoples wishing to eviscerate me.” He had many things to worry about.
“Yeah, you’re a walking mental health issue,” Michael replied, his dark head shaking. “But we always knew it was about a girl. We had your file, man. Holly Lang is a local waitress. You saved her life.”
“She is very nice lady.” He downplayed it. Let them believe he would have done the same for anyone.
“And you’re in love with her.” Jessie wasn’t going to let up. Alexei had often compared the slender brunette to a badger. She could be very mean and very stubborn when she got an idea in her head. “You’re here for her. And don’t think I didn’t know about the cell phone. I’m just a great believer in forbidden love.”
Michael sent a little leer her way. “She is. Now marriage is another story. She doesn’t believe in that at all.”
Dark eyes rolled. “Dude, seriously? You bring that up now? We would both be fired.”
“Or one of us could move to a different department, maybe something less life threatening.”
Jessie’s lips pursed. Alexei got the feeling this was a well-worn argument. “Sure you can. Enjoy the paperwork, buddy, because I’m not moving.”
Alexei reholstered his gun. He wouldn’t be using it this evening. “Please to be having relationship discussion later. Tell me if you’re taking me back into custody.”
He would have to find a way to talk to Holly. He couldn’t just disappear again. He couldn’t walk into her life, kiss her for all he was worth, and then step back out. It would crush her, and he couldn’t trust Caleb to pick up the pieces. Not yet. Caleb was like the nursery rhyme Humpty-Dumpty. He required piecing back together after a long fall. But Alexei couldn’t put him back together again if he was holed up in a motel in some nondescript city in Middle America.
“Technically, if you don’t want witness protection, we can’t force you into it. You’ve proven very valuable to the government, but not in an eyewitness fashion. If you choose to leave the program, we can’t stop you,” Michael explained.
“I choose to leave.” He breathed a deep sigh of relief. He’d done his duty by putting the criminals away. He’d saved lives by cutting their careers short. Now it was time to do his duty to Caleb and Holly.
“I told you we shouldn’t have called him Howard.” Jessie smiled at him. “We knew that would be your answer, but we’re here anyway. Look, we’ve grown to really give a shit about you. I think the judge is going to throw these suck-ass claims out, but if I’m wrong, we should know in a week or so. The brass doesn’t have to know you’re opting out. We’ll just say we’ve moved you to another location, and if these dirtbags get another trial, we go deep and take this Holly person along for the ride.”
“No. I do not wish this for Holly.” Holly would wither being forced to change her name and stay in cheap motel rooms, always hiding. And she wouldn’t go. She couldn’t live with never seeing her son again. “If I must go, I will go alone.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Michael said seriously. “We should know soon. In the meantime, neither one of us has mentioned your new home to anyone. Not even our director. You should be safe here. I take it you traveled under an assumed name?”