Page 11 of Point of Contact

“There's no reason for you to feel guilty. Courtney worked hard to put herself in a position where we can't believe a thing that comes out of her mouth." Reed paced along the sidewalk, trying to wrap his head around the current situation he was facing.

This was not the trip he expected. He was supposed to come down here, tell Courtney they were done with her, and rid himself of one more of the ties binding him to the less than upstanding side of Alaskan Security's business. They would never be completely free of questionable jobs, but at least they would no longer be protecting criminals.

"I get that, but still." Heidi yawned, the sound long and loud. "What do you need me to do?"

Reed stopped his pacing and glanced up at the hotel. "I don't know yet. I haven't decided if I'm going to bring her back or not."

"You're kidding, right?" Heidi snorted. "You know as well as I do there's no way Pierce will let you leave her there. Not if she's actually in danger, which it sounds like she might be."

"Yeah, but it sounded like that before."

Courtney didn't hesitate to claim to be in fear of her life. She'd done it more times than he could remember at this point. And not in a single one of them did she actually end up being in any sort of real danger. She was just fucking with them. Amusing herself by seeing how many times she could make them jump through hoops.

They didn't have time for her bullshit. Not then. And sure as hell not while they were facing another threat they hadn't yet been able to identify.

Someone was focused on taking down Alaskan Security, but their motives were still unclear. He should be back there. Doing what Pierce had hired him to do—tracking down whoever was behind it.

Not here dealing with a spoiled brat.

Reed rocked his jaw from side to side, trying to ease the tension making it ache. "If Pierce is so worried about her, he can come here and handle her."

Courtney had always known how to push his buttons. Always did everything in her power to aggravate the absolute shit out of him any time they were in the same room. And while she might actually be telling the truth about her current situation, she still clearly intended to be a complete pain in his ass.

"You and I both know that's not going to happen. Pierce won’t leave Alaska until this whole shit show is resolved. He can't stand to have Mona and the baby out of his sight right now." Heidi yawned again, but the faint sound of her keyboard carried through the line. "It looks like I can get Rico out there tomorrow afternoon." She paused. "Or maybe it’s today afternoon. What the fuck time is it there?"

"After midnight." He'd gotten a couple hours of sleep before Courtney somehow managed to worm her way into getting a key to his room. "Afternoon is the earliest you can get him here?" He wanted to be rid of her. Done with Courtney once and for all so he could get back to real work. Maybe not the kind of work he’d hoped to be doing at this point of his life, but at least it wasn’t as bad as it used to be.

Especially with her gone.

"Right now that’s the soonest, but I'll look into it a little more and let you know if I can bump it up." Heidi continued typing. "And don't be a complete dick to her. If someone really did just try to kill her, she's probably terrified."

Reed glanced up toward the window of his hotel room. "I can promise you she's not terrified."

Determined, maybe. Terrified, absolutely not.

Which was a little surprising considering every other time she'd called for help, Courtney had claimed to be absolutely beside herself with fear.

Heidi groaned. "Whatever, just be nice anyway. I don't want to feel even worse knowing you're being a prick to her."

"Not putting up with her bullshit doesn't make me a prick." Everyone else could humor her as much as they wanted, but that was something he would never do. "And somebody needs to tell her she can't just do and say whatever she wants."

Heidi groaned again. "You sound just like my father." She snorted. "Better be careful with that, or she’ll be calling you daddy."

He cringed at the possibility. "She better fucking not."

She would though. If the thought occurred to her, Courtney would absolutely do it. Especially if she knew how much he fucking hated it. The same way she kept pushing her offer of a blow job.

Although the thought of that wasn't as repulsive as it should be. He liked the image of the woman who’d tormented him unrelentingly dropping to her knees, submitting and swallowing him down, a little more than he should. Almost as much as he liked the thought of bending her over his knee and smacking her bare ass, giving her the spanking she asked for.

"Hello?" Heidi's voice was loud in his ear, dragging his focus back where it belonged.

Reed rubbed one hand over his face, trying to scrub away the images that came to mind way too easily. He was just tired. Exhausted enough that his mind was wandering all on its own. "Yeah. I'm here."

"I'm gonna get in touch with Rico and we’ll figure out how soon we can get him to you. I’ll send you the information as soon as I have it."

He gripped the tension building at the back of his neck, trying to get his mind back on track. "Just get me the hell out of here as soon as you can."

He ended the call, sliding his cell into his pocket before turning around and heading back into the hotel. He was half tempted to get them a second room while they waited this out, but he wasn't convinced Courtney wouldn't just find her way back into his anyway. The woman was fucking annoying and seemed to take great joy in it.

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