Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

He hadn’t realized how bad he was shaking until she covered his hand.  It was weird because as soon as her hand made contact with his, a sudden calmness overcame him. “I’m okay,” she told him as he continued to stare into her emerald eyes. She repeated the words. This time a little slower, trying to get her point across. “I’m okay.”

“You scared the shit out of me. When I heard…”  She cut him off by getting up on her tiptoes and kissing him, hurt lip and all. He pulled her close and hugged her as their lips stayed pressed together. She gave his waist a little squeeze and pulled away, and he stared down at her. Her eyes glistened, but he recognized the look and her expression and knew she was telling the truth.

The FBI guy reached into his pocket and pulled out his identification, and handed it to McDonnell. Once he confirmed it was a legit ID, he lowered his weapon and holstered it.

“What is your business in this residence, Agent Larkin?” McDonnell questioned.

“I’m checking up on a friend.”

“Mia Chambers is a friend of yours?”

“You could say that.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Ace interjected into the questioning, which drew a scowl from Detective McDonnell.

“Maybe I should be asking you three what you’re doing here?” The agent countered, and that just pissed Ace off.

Ace went to reply to the pompous ass, but McDonnell beat him to it.

“Spare me the sarcasm, agent.”

“Wait, did the bureau contact you?”

“Bureau? No, why would the bureau contact me?” McDonnell asked.

“About Mia.”

“What about Mia?”

Ace folded his arms across his chest. He slowly started to get frustrated as they were getting nowhere with this guy.

“Look, all we’re doing here is spinning our wheels. Why in the hell would the bureau contact the NYPD regarding my missing sister?” Ace asked the agent. Instead of another sarcastic response that he was expecting, the guy surprised him when his demeanor took on a whole different approach.

“You’re Mia’s brother? Wait…She’s missing?” He then turned toward McDonnell. “I thought the bureau had contacted the NYPD about what happened to Mia last week.” His eyes moved back to Ace. “I thought for sure she would go to you. I warned her to leave.”

“You know what happened to her?”

The agent ran his hand down his face and genuinely looked upset.

“Okay, I think we all need to take a breath and maybe have a seat and discuss this,” McDonnell stated and motioned to the kitchen table.

Agent Larkin turned to walk into the kitchen but clutched his side and moaned.

“Fuck!” He popped his head up, looking towards Alex. “Where in the hell did you learn to fight? I think you broke a few of my ribs.”

Alex grinned, and Ace couldn’t help the proudness he felt.

“I had some good teachers growing up,” she replied.

“Okay, now that we’ve established that you got your ass kicked by a girl, let's get back to the subject at hand. Everyone have a seat,” McDonnell ordered.

Once they were all seated, McDonnell started the discussion.

“Agent Larkin, this is Marcus Chambers, Mia’s brother. Obviously, we are somewhat here for the same purpose, but it seems there is a lot more to Mia’s case that’s not being disclosed.”

McDonnell looked at Agent Larkin. “Let’s start with a basic question. How do you know Mia?”

Ace watched him, and for a second, he thought the agent was going to feed them a line of bullshit, and he had been prepared to call him out on it.

Larkin tilted his head and cracked his neck. “Mia and have a past.”

“Oh shit!” Ace heard Alex whisper next to him, and he looked over at her.

“What?” He asked, and Alex grabbed his hand and gave him a warning look. It was a look he was familiar with; she was about to drop a bombshell.

Alex looked at Larkin. “You’re Mia’s ex?”

As the guy nodded his head, Ace’s nostrils flared. Son-of-a-bitch! Mia didn’t mention him by name much. When Ace found out he was a Green Beret, he nicknamed him the Green Beret, and when Mia would talk about him, she referred to him as the Green Beret to be sarcastic.

He looked over at the guy and glared at him. So this was the asshole who had disrespected his sister. The fucking Green Beret. He felt even better now that Alex gave him a good beat down, although he now wanted a crack at him.

As if sensing his anger, Alex squeezed his hand and reigned him in.  “Ace, now is not the time to deal with that. Let’s focus on the real reason we’re here.”

Alex turned toward Agent Larkin. “Agent Larkin, I’m confused. Mia said you worked as a Director of Security for some Fortune 500 company.”

Ace thought the guy would want to play games, but he surprised him.

“That’s my cover. Mia had no clue I worked for the FBI. Look, I can’t go into a lot of detail due to the assignment I’m working on, but I’m concerned about Mia.”

“Why?” Ace asked.

“Because I was there last week and saw the whole thing unfold. I witnessed Mia get pulled off the street.”

Ace felt as if he’d been punched in the gut as all the air left his body. His head felt like it was literally spinning.

“Agent Larkin, can you tell us what you know or saw? Why didn’t you help her, or call for help when it happened.”

“I did.  I mean, I called the bureau.” Larkin raked his hand down his face in frustration. “Because of my current assignment, I couldn’t just call the police, so I called my supervisor at the bureau and explained to him what was happening.”

“What the fuck actually happened? Why didn’t you help her when she was attacked?” Ace raised his voice.

“I was too far away. I couldn’t have made it to her in time. Look, let me start at the beginning with what I know. At the gala that Mia attended last week, she and I ran into each other. It was awkward