Alexei rolled out of bed. The evening had slid into night. The room was dark, but there was no doubt that the doctor was finally getting some sleep.
Perhaps he shouldn’t worry about getting a job. He should go to school and become a therapist.
If he lived that long.
Alexei found his jeans and pulled them on. As quietly as he could, he left the bedroom and started toward the kitchen. They would be hungry when they woke up.
Was he doing the right thing? Jessie’s words came back to him. Was he putting Holly and Caleb at risk?
“Hey. Is all the crazy make-up sex done?”
He turned and saw Nick coming in the back door. He liked the young man. Despite the fact that Nick’s coloring was different, he reminded Alexei so much of Holly. It was in the way he smiled and held himself.
“The up making is finished. We are fine. I was going to make a little dinner. You are hungry?”
Nick smiled. “Not exactly. The women around here like to feed a growing boy. I’ve had lasagna and brisket and enchiladas and a whole bunch of cookies. I was the official taster. Remind me not to taste for Nell anymore, though. She puts tofu in everything. And there was a woman there who thought I should eat beets. I didn’t think beets were real. I kind of thought they were something parents told their kids about, like the boogeyman. They’re real and they’re horrible.”
“I will not cook beets, then.” He actually kind of liked them, but they were obviously not for Nick. “I will make something you like.”
The phone rang. Alexei answered it quickly, not wanting to wake Caleb.
“Hello?”
“Alexei, thank god.” Jessie’s voice sounded small over the phone line. “I’ve been worried about you. Look, we got some information about the man I nearly caught this afternoon. We have a credible source who claims that Angelo DiStefano hired a hit man to kill you.”
He gripped the phone and tried not to show his anger. DiStefano was one of the men he’d put in jail. Would it ever be over? “I understand. Do we have identifications on this man who has been sent?”
“I got a look at him. Hope at the sheriff’s department sketched him. The sheriff faxed it back to our office, and we’re going to see if we get anything, but you have to see that it’s time to come in, Markov. It’s too dangerous.”
“What does Michael say?” He knew what Michael would say, but he was drawing out the conversation, putting off the moment when he had to leave them. He couldn’t stand the thought. “Can I talk to him?”
“No,” she said suddenly. Her voice calmed. “Not right now. He’s in the shower. He thinks we need to get you in hiding. Tonight.”
Of course he did. “I will come and talk to you. I need to get my things out of motel anyway. I will be there in twenty minutes. You can meet?”
“Absolutely. I’ll be there. Alexei, I’m sorry about this, but you’re doing the right thing.”
He hung up. He wasn’t so sure about that.
“Was it the cop again?” Nick asked.
“Yes. I need to go see her.”
“No, you don’t.”
Alexei shook his head. “It is not so simple.”
“It’s very simple. She wants you to go back into hiding. You can’t do that. You owe my mom. Don’t leave her.”
How did he make him understand? “Nick, I owe your mother safety, too. I don’t want to leave. I love her. I love the family we are to be building, but I can’t make her target.”
“I think the men of this town can handle it. I didn’t get more than a foot inside my bedroom before I had six guns aimed at my head. Some of the women are scary, too. Remind me never to cross Rachel Harper.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “If you walk out, I worry they’ll fall apart. You’re the glue that brought them together. Everything in life is a risk. I think my mom would rather take the risk than be safe and not have you.”
But how could he live with himself if anything happened to her?
“Nick, I don’t know what to be doing. I love your mother. I want to be marrying her and spending my life in Bliss, but I think all I offer is danger. I don’t even have job.”
“Uh, that’s where you’re wrong.” Nick grinned and looked deeply pleased with himself. “I talked to the big, superhot guy. Wait, that could be anyone here. Do you people know how to grow them ugly? Anyway, the big guy who runs the tavern.”
“Zane.”
“Yes, that’s him. Anyway, he was talking to his wife, the really pregnant one, and he said he needed to find a bartender to help out because he wants to spend more time at home once the kid shows up. I negotiated for you. He’s a cheap bastard, but I think you’ll find the salary works.”
“I have job?”
Nick nodded. “You have job. And we’re going to work on your use of articles in sentences. Naw, it’s actually kind of cute. Anyway, you start on Friday, and if Zane asks, you’ve worked at many functions. You graduated from the Bartending School of Eastern Moscow.”
Alexei laughed. “I think Zane knows my history. He will not believe, but he is man who will give points to you for creativity.”
“Hey, I’m a man who gets the job done. So you can’t leave.”
His heart hurt. He would love to work at Trio, talking to people and becoming part of the town. “I think it still might be best.”
Nick sighed. “Fine, then go and talk to this woman, but you take Mom and Caleb with you. You can’t cut them out of this decision. That’s not what family does. If you’re going to walk on them, they should have their say.”
Alexei looked at the door to the bedroom where his partner and woman lay sleeping. It would be easier to walk away. Simpler.
Family was not simple. With a heavy heart, he went to wake them.
Chapter Seventeen
Holly clutched Alexei’s hand in hers, threading their fingers together as Caleb drove the Benz out of their little valley toward the motel.
Caleb talked in rapid staccato bursts, betraying his anxiety. “After we talk to the Marshals, we need to meet with Nate. I want to see what they’ve come up with on this guy. If Nate can’t find anything out, I’ll sic big brother on them. I think he’s still friends with the head of the FBI. Eli can find out something.”
Holly wished they were still in bed. When Alexei had awakened her, she’d reached for him, hoping for a kiss. She’d immediately known something was wrong by his frown and the sad look in his eyes.
Alexei’s hand squeezed hers. “I am very appreciative that you would contact brother for me. I think we should to talk about this, though. I don’t want you or Holly hurt. I hate fact that we cannot leave Nick in house alone. Perhaps I should leave so you would be safe.”
Holly had asked Laura to watch Nick. Despite the fact that he was seventeen, she couldn’t leave him there alone when someone was stalking one of her men. The assassin didn’t seem to discriminate, either. Whoever this killer was, he didn’t mind who he hurt. He’d nearly killed them all at one point in time. She couldn’t risk her son. But she also couldn’t imagine her world without Alexei in it.
“No.” There was nothing anxious about Caleb’s pronouncement. There was a determined finality to his favorite word.
Alexei sighed. “You cannot be saying no. Caleb, no is not an argument. We need to be talking about this.”
“No.” Caleb’s eyes focused on the road ahead of him.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think he’s going to relent on this one, babe. And I agree with him. And Alexei, you’re forgetting that the good doc there has some serious connections with the Justice Department. I don’t mind calling Eli Sommerville and telling him exactly what I think he should do. We can get these people to take threats to you seriously. And if we can’t find the proof, I bet Nicky can fabricate it.”