Page 24 of Because You're Mine

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Allison Klassen!” a voice yelped in recognition right before Allie found herself seized in a chokehold and squeezed until she was breathless. “How the heck are you, little girl!?”

Allie laughed and tugged at Serena’s elbow, pulling it down and gasping for breath. She looked into the beautiful brown eyes of one of her mother’s oldest friends. Warmth flooded Allie and she felt completely at peace for the first time since coming back to the coast. She knew Serena would be pleased to see her. Allie was just happy to find the older Salish woman still working at the shelter where Veronica and Allie had first met her twenty-five years ago when they’d been evicted from their Downtown Eastside apartment a few blocks away. Serena had welcomed them with open arms back then too.

“You look wonderful, Aunty Serena,” Allie said, grinning.

She touched the long braid, now shot through with thick strands of silver, that hung over Serena’s shoulder. Serena wasn’t her aunt by blood, but she was kin in the way that mattered. Veronica had encouraged Allie to call Serena ‘Aunty’ since their second week at the shelter. There were more lines around her eyes and mouth, but her eyes were as bright as ever. She tugged a lock of Allie’s hair affectionately and picked up the laundry basket she’d been carrying when she buzzed Allie into the building. She motioned for Allie to follow her into the back.

“Thank you, my girl. Compliments are always welcome around here. Now, you’ve certainly turned into a beautiful young woman,” Serena said, throwing a grin at Allie and shoving the door to her office open with a hip. “You’re mama wasn’t lying one bit about that! It’s no wonder Jay was impatient to bring you home.”

Allie gasped and gripped the door of the office with frozen fingers. “You knew I was back?”

Serena set the basket down and turned to Allie, her expression more serious, but her eyes still twinkling. “Mama Veronica called before her bodyguard of a husband whisked her down south. She warned me you might show up around here. I told her Jay was too possessive to let you come slum it with me, and too smart to let you convince him otherwise. Apparently I overestimated him.”

Allie laughed out loud, covering her mouth to contain the shocked exclamation. Then, dropping her hand, she said wryly, “Or underestimated my determination to get to Victory Square.”

Serena shrugged. “Whichever, it’s so good to see you again, my girl.”

“And you, Aunty,” Allie said, smiling softly. “When Jay catches up to me, which he will very soon, you’ll have to promise to come visit me at the house. You should see the pool, it’s this insane infinity type thing. I’m not kidding, I’d probably live in it if he let me. I doubt I’ll convince him any time soon to let me come work with you, and I could really use a friend.”

“Of course, my girl.” She sighed and leaned her elbows on the basket, looking Allie up and down. “It’s a pity that man is such a worrier when it comes to you. We can sure use someone like you around here. A good addictions counsellor I mean. Our last one wrote a book about the “infamous Vancouver Downtown Eastside,” got more famous in the wallet than the heart and left us high and dry.”

The two women excitedly discussed the goings on at the shelter when Allie heard the unmistakeable sound of the buzzer letting someone into the building. A prickling sensation ran down her back and she knew, without a doubt, that Jay was striding toward her. Her heart started pounding, her mouth went dry and she could no longer hear a single word that Serena was saying to her. Serena quickly caught onto her distraction and look over her shoulder at the cause for Allie’s alarm.

Nodding her head, Serena came around the side of her desk and wrapped an arm around Allie’s waist. Allie was a few inches taller. She leaned up and whispered in her ear, “Be strong, my girl. This man has loved you since the moment you came into the world, he wouldn’t harm a hair on your head.”

Allie nodded and gave Serena a strained smile. She braved a glance over her shoulder. Jay had stopped to talk to a security guard, an old friend from the street. But his eyes never once wavered from her as he spoke. They were pure molten steel. He was angrier than she had ever seen him. Though she knew he would find out about her sojourn to Victory Square, somehow she thought his men would collect her and bring her home, mitigating some of the damage of his actually finding her in the exact place he had expressly forbidden her from being.

“If that’s not his angry face, then I don’t want to see him mad,” she whispered as he finished his conversation, shook the guards hand and strode toward the women.

Serena stepped in front of Allie and held her arms out to Jay. “Jay Le Croix, how are you, my boy?” she said warmly.

Jay accepted her greeting and kissed the top of Serena’s head. His gaze never left Allie. Jay conversed with Serena for a few moments, his words warm with no hint of censure toward Allie’s presence. Without prompting from either woman, he invited Serena to the house and made sure she had their contact information so she could visit Allie whenever she wanted. Allie watched his skillful maneuvering with awe.

Allie hugged Serena once more before Jay took hold of her arm in a firm grip and led her from the shelter. Her jaw dropped when she saw that Jay had brought no less than three black armoured cars to collect his woman. She was about to direct a scathing comment about his overkill when she saw a man she recognized. She was surprised and pleased to see Greg standing outside in the sunlight, holding the back door of one the cars open for her.

“Greg, you’re back!” she said excitedly, starting toward him.

“Ms. Klassen,” he said grimly, not glancing down at her.

Jay pulled her back from the bodyguard and pushed her into the vehicle, a firm hand on her head to protect her from the frame. She frowned and looked up at him quizzically. “I don’t understand, he was calling me ‘Allie’ just a few days ago.”

Jay sat next to her and buckled her seatbelt before buckling his. He turned to her and spoke in a quiet voice that nonetheless held a ruthless quality that made her shiver. “He has the sense to understand exactly how angry I am with you. He knows it’s best for both of you to maintain some boundaries at this time.”

Allie’s mouth dropped open for a second, then she snapped it shut. She sat stiffly in the circle of Jay’s arm. Though he said he was very angry, he was holding her close, like a lover. He didn’t speak to her again during the long drive back to the house, instead making a call to his secretary. He seemed to be rearranging his schedule to clear his afternoon and evening. While Allie would have enjoyed the idea of his having an entire evening to spend with her, she didn’t think he had anything wonderful planned after she took off on his security team.

She gazed unseeing out the window and twisted her bracelet around her wrist. She pushed it up her hand as far as it would go, shoving it until it bit painfully into her skin. She’d done this a hundred times over the past several weeks. It had become a nervous tick now. Jay’s hand came down on hers, squeezing tightly until her fingers were forced to release their hold on the bracelet. Startled, she looked up at him. He frowned down at her and slowly released her hands, pulling them apart. He retained his hold on her right hand and continued his conversation.

Allie went back to staring out the window. Clouds were gathering across the sky, stretching out towards the mountains. She wondered what Jay was going to do to her. Despite Serena’s words, she knew that Jay wasn’t going to let her go unpunished. He couldn’t. He was a powerful man, head of a powerful organization. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by letting challenges go unanswered. Allie may be the one person in his world that held influence over him, but she would not get away with challenging his authority unscathed. Especially with a direct command. He had told her to stay away from the Eastside. She had disobeyed, knowing he would have to retaliate.

She shifted in her seat and glanced sideways at him through the curtain of her long hair. He had always seemed serious to her. Beloved, yes, but always serious and commanding in every situation. Like the weight of the world was on him. Even now, when he looked grim and angry, she wanted to soothe him. Jay abruptly ended his conversation as they pulled up to the house. He pulled Allie from the car and issued several rapid commands to Greg.

Cool rain was beginning to splatter against the grey paving stones. One of the orders Jay snapped at Greg that had Allie’s heart beating uncomfortably was to keep everyone away from the house for the duration of the night and not to disturb them. When he finished with Greg and the car pulled away, Jay placed a hand at the back of Allie’s neck and led her toward the doorway of the house. She went with him willingly, but broke away as soon as he opened the door and ushered her inside.

Wrapping her arms around herself she turned to him and watched as he disarmed the alarm system. She watched him warily as he set about his usual routine of opening each window, despite the steadily building rain storm. She could sense the leashed tension in him. She jumped and gasped as a clap of thunder sounded overhead. Thunderstorms were a rare occurrence on the coast, though she was used to wild storms from living on the prairies.

Finally, after what felt like a year, though it had barely been minutes, Jay approached Allie where she stood nervously next to the kitchen island. He stood inches from her, not touching, just looking down at her, his grey eyes unyielding. He took his phone out of his pocket, glanced down at it for barely a second, turned it off and then placed it deliberately on the counter behind her. His arm touched against hers, brushing against her hair and sending tingles cascading up her arm. She shivered in reaction and tried to edge away from him, but he brought his hand down on the other side of her, trapping her against the island.

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