Chapter 08: Dirty Little Secrets

“Oh my god!” Alexa jumped up suddenly, throwing the covers to the floor as she pulled out of Gavin’s arms. “I’m late! Where are my clothes?”

“What?” Gavin peeled one eye open at a time, watching a frantic Alexa zip around his apartment, gathering up her belongings.

“Keys, keys, they’re here somewhere. Fuck!”

“What’s wrong?” Gavin stretched, and leaned back on his elbows. A pair of shorts flew through the air hitting him square in the face as Alexa tossed his bedroom in search of her house keys. “Hannah!”

“I’m supposed to be in court in 20 minutes! Your Dad is going to kill me!”

“No, he won’t. Relax, Hannah, it’s fine. I can drive you.” He groaned and pulled himself to the side of the bed.

“That’s all fine and dandy but I can’t show up in court wearing your Llamas’ jersey and candy red hearts boxer shorts! I need to get into my apartment, shower and change into something more…professional!” 

“Alright, tell you what, go hop into my shower while I look for your keys. By the time you’re done I’ll have found them and unlocked your door so you can get a change of clothes, ok?” Gavin laughed as Alexa slumped onto the chair near the window, hysterically tapping her foot and nodding. Pulling up from the bed, he sauntered over toward her, stepped in front of her wearing only his birthday suit and reached out his hand. “Come on, Babe. It’ll all be ok.” Gavin led her to the bathroom and waited on her to start the water.

“If you find my keys, can you grab me the gray Armani top pleated skirt and over-the-shoulder tied top, please? They are in the black dry cleaners’ bag at the back of my closet labeled ‘gray double A’.”

“Sure thing.”

“Oh, and panties and a bra,” she said, poking her head out of the shower door. “And my briefcase!”

“I’ll take care of everything, Hannah, no worries.”

It took her less than 10 minutes to shower and reasonably style her hair before she was staring at the tattooed mechanic once again. Gavin was smiling as he stood in his kitchen preparing bagels and coffee. “Did you find them?” she asked rushing through his living room. He motioned at the skirt and blouse sitting on the couch and calmly continued spreading the cream cheese. “Where…?” she started, hooking her bra straps and shimmying into her blouse. “Where were they?”

“I have no idea,” he shrugged and poured two thermoses of coffee. “I picked the lock on your apartment.”

“What?! How are you gonna get it locked again?”

“Already took care of that. I locked it from the inside and went out through the fire escape.”

“Oh.” She eyed him curiously and finished getting dressed. “You know how to pick locks?”

“Just a little. What? You thought I was just another pretty face?” His laugh made her smile as she grabbed up the last of her belongings.

“Are you ready? We need to be moving right now. I have less than 10 minutes to make it across town. What’s that?”

“Breakfast,” Gavin replied, holding the thermos up for her to take. “Every good lawyer should start her day off right.”

“You made me breakfast?” she replied taking a look at the items in his hand. A smile spread her lips as she noticed her name chicken-scratched across the front of the brown paper bag. He’d even placed a yellow smiley face sticker on the side. “Should I even ask?”

“Dylan. He covers me in them sometimes,” he replied, motioning to the numerous stickers on the fridge. “Now, less talking, more eating.” Alexa took the items from his hand and glanced at the clock on the wall and he smiled that boyish grin, grabbed his bag and started for the door. “I guess you can finish them on the road.” 

They pulled up to the courthouse at 8:48 a.m., 13 minutes past time for her to have been seated at her table. “Here! I’m here Your Honor,” Alexa shouted as she burst through the courtroom door. “I’m sorry; I was running a little late.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you could finally grace us with your presence.”

Tobias glared at her before turning his attention toward the door and the man entering in behind her. Gavin took a seat near the back of the room. Tobias smirked as he moved toward the Prosecution’s table and Alexa dropped her bag and picked up where he’d left off. “Glad you could make it,” he whispered as she took the seat beside him. “Running late huh? I guess it’s a good thing you bumped into Gavin Stark in the hallway.”

Alexa sighed in annoyance which only made the smug grin on Tobias’ face grow wider. “Where are we?”

“Cross. Defense has not been on their A game today and the jury may be leaning toward our side. Feels like this could be a win. Let’s see what you got, Michelle.”

“What did you say?”

“I said it feels like a win but it’s too early to tell. Why? What’d you think I said?”

“Nothing; forget it.” Alexa browsed through her notes on the case and turned toward the witness box, but not before noticing the faint smirk on Tobias’ face. He was looking into her, and from the sounds of it, he’d found something. 

At recess, Alexa took a moment to shoot a message to K concerning her suspicions about Tobias.

                    10:53 a.m. – Are you sure? –

10:55 a.m. – Pretty sure. He called me ‘Michelle’ while we were in court today. –

10:57 a.m. – What? A, if he knows that, there’s no telling what else he may have uncovered! –

10:58 a.m. – I know! Which is why I need you to check and see who made the inquiry. I know Tobias, and he’s gotta be working with someone. –

11:00 a.m. – I’ll look into, A. But you need to be ready for whatever this guy has planned to use the information for.

11:03 a.m. – That’s why I’m afraid. –

11:04 a.m. – I’ll see what I can find. –

11:05 a.m. – And while you’re at it, can you get me information on the Diamond Elite courier service? –

11:06 a.m. – I’ll look into it. –

11:08 a.m. – Thanks, K. –

11:09 a.m. – No problem, A. And hey, I don’t know what might be waiting out there so…be careful. –

The words flashed on the screen and Alexa stared at them a moment as if they were a coiled viper, preparing to strike.

                    11:11 a.m. – I’ll talk to you tonight. –

She signed out of the program and headed back inside the courtroom. Passing Gavin in the gallery. For the rest of the hearing, Alexa did her best to ignore Tobias and the ceaseless grin that adorned his arrogant face. And after court, she looked for Gavin but realized he’d taken off sometime before the last recess.

“Gavin?” Alexa asked in surprise, seeing the S.A.’s son walking through the lobby hours after court had ended. “What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at 3.”

“We are but I wanted to drop by and make sure you were ok,” he replied, following her into the copy room. “Sorry I had to bail on you but I had to get to work. I just wanted to see if you’d made it back alright.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s no problem. I figured you were rushing off to work. Besides, I had to speak with the judge in chambers and that would have definitely made you late. Afterwards I got a ride from Tobias,” Alexa admitted and instantly regretted. After her breakdown about Tobias’ ‘friendly hands’, being alone with him should have been the last thing she would do, and that is most definitely what Gavin would expect; especially after the party. But Alexa wanted to see if he’d say something else about ‘Michelle’ while they were alone. Disappointingly though, the conversation mostly remained about the case and his thoughts on the jury.

“Ok,” Gavin’s eyes narrowed on her and she could tell he was thinking the same thing she was but he didn’t say anything. “I also wanted to make sure you got these.” He handed her the missing key ring and leaned against the door as she organized the folders beside her. “They were beneath the couch.”

“How on earth did they get under there?”

“Well, I have a guess,” he smiled deliciously toward her, raking his eyes over her body.

“Cut that out, someone might see you.”

“And?” Gavin shrugged and stepped closer as Alexa placed a stack of papers beside the copier and set the printer for the amount she needed. “I’m not following why that is such a bad thing.”

“Because, I told you I don’t want to be seen as ‘that girl’.”

“Oh right, the girl who sleeps with her boss’ son, to get what she wants. Well…” he moaned, stepping directly behind her. And as she reached over to add a page to the glass, she felt his hands caress her ass cheeks through her skirt and his warm lips nuzzle against her neck. “We have been dating for a couple of weeks now.”

“Dating? We’ve been on dates. I wasn’t aware we’d made things exclusive.”

“And you don’t strike me as the kind of girl who cares what others think of you,” he muttered as he ran his fingertips gently along her curves, ignoring her interruption.

Gavin groaned, pressing the hardening bulge in his jeans against her. “Mmm, what are you doing?” Alexa asked, feeling Gavin reach around and cup her breasts through her blouse, making her nipples harden instantly. His fingers closed around her nipples and he pinched them a little. 

“Testing a theory,” he growled in her ear, carefully pulling the lobe into his mouth with his teeth as he worked her nipples into two erect pebbles.

“Gavin, I’m at work. What if someone comes in?” she moaned softly, tilting her neck to the side, offering him easier access.

“Then they’ll be in for a show,” he chuckled lightly, his warm breath caressing her ear as he whispered against it. “Last night I got to thinking, you seemed to come hardest and quicker when I played with your tits. So, I wanted to see just how easily it would be to get you off.” Alexa moaned louder as Gavin applied more pressure. She leaned back into his arms, clawing at his hands as he held her breasts tighter. Gavin slid his hand beneath her shirt, rubbing her creamy, soft skin slowly. 

Alexa closed her eyes and chewed on her lower lip, gasping lightly the more aroused she became. Moments later she was trembling in his arms and a wicked smile grew on his face as he felt her convulse against him. “Mmm, just as I thought.” He slipped his hand inside her skirt and cupped it against her mound, stroking and rubbing at her slick bud through the moist cloth of her panties. “Damn, that got you so wet.”

Slipping his hand inside, Gavin eased between her soft lips and roughly thrust two stiff fingers deep inside her while continuing to nuzzle her neck. Alexa gasped and leaned more against him, trying her best to contain her sounds of pleasure. Slowly, he moved his fingers in and out of her inflamed sex, teasing her throbbing clit between his fingertips.

As his hand stroked between her legs, she moved her mouth back to his, kissing him hot and hard and rubbing herself against his touch until he made her climax; moaning and sighing again in satisfaction. Alexa turned in his arms, quickly unbuttoning his jeans as he worked on hiking her skirt above her hips.

Hastily tearing the plastic top off the condom with his teeth, she helped him free the rubber jacket from its cover and rolled it onto the length of his cock. Bending her over the copier, Gavin wasted no time before sinking between her sopping wet thighs, fulfilling both their burning need. “Oh!” Alexa grunted in surprise as his first thrust took her breath away. The machine roared to life as she frantically looked for a stable handhold the harder he pumped his hips into hers. 

Gasping loudly, she pushed back, relishing the assault. “Oh fuck,” she groaned. Chuckling, he covered her mouth to muffle her cries. Alexa shook and trembled as her third orgasm crashed through her with Gavin’s cock plunging in and out of her creamy center even faster. With a powerful thrust of his hips, he drove his cock deep into her. Alexa had to use both hands to muffle the scream that erupted from her throat as another thrust followed, burrowing him to her hilt and pressing his balls against her dripping sex.

Gripping her hips, he slowly pulled back then rammed in deep again. “Keep those hands over your mouth, Baby. I’m not letting up for a second,” he growled as he thrust deeply into her, struggling to keep his own orgasm at bay. Gavin began fucking her harder and faster, savoring the multiple orgasms he felt rippling through her.

His deep thrust caused another orgasm to tear through her body and her clenching muscles soon drove him over the edge. “Ooh…holy shit. Mmm…Baby, you make me come so hard.” He bent over her, pumping every drop from his twitching cock into her and muffling his cries of pleasure against the back of her neck. “Fucking goddamn.” His hot load shot into her fiery core, filling the condom with his seed and Alexa giggled seeing the copier spit out a page with her face smashed against the screen.

They stayed like that for a full minute, both of them waiting until their breathing returned to normal. Slowly Gavin pulled his limp cock from her body before whirling her around and capturing her lips in an intense, hot kiss that made her head spin. He tossed the used rubber into the bin, fixed his pants and watched as her face turned up in a grimace when she pulled her panties in place. “What’s wrong?”

“Um…it’s kind of hard to explain since you don’t have a vagina.”

“Try me.”

“Ok. I don’t like when my panties get wet then I pull them up and get that cold, squishy feeling between my legs; it feels funny.”

“Oh. Sorry,” he said, giving her one of his sexy, boyish grins. Snatching the paper from the machine, Gavin folded it neatly and stuck it into his jeans pocket. Alexa eyed him curiously and he graced her with another of his smirks. “Just a little something to remember this by.” 

“God. I can’t believe I let you do that to me here,” she sighed, picking up the fallen paperwork and started making the copies she needed as Gavin rested against the table behind her. The door opened and Tobias entered the room, his eyes darting between the two as he took in a deep breath. Gavin hid a smile behind his gaze when he looked at Alexa, noticing her anxiously rubbing her neck. He knew instantly what she was thinking. Had Tobias entered a few minutes earlier, he’d have caught them in the act.

“Hannah, I was just coming to let you know that our witness is in; thought you’d like to sit in on the preliminary.”

“Thanks, Tobias. I just have a few more copies to run and I’ll be right there.”

Gavin cleared his throat before starting toward the door. “Well, I should get going. Gotta get back to work before they think I got lost on my way to the hardware store,” he stated, turning to look at her one last time. “I’ll catch you later?”

“Sure,” Alexa nodded, looking up at Tobias as he inquisitively glared at the SA’s son.

The preliminary interview was painfully slow and awkward. The entire time, Tobias kept sneaking glances at Alexa and she knew it had to do with Gavin; just one more thing to add to his growing stack of ammunition. By the time the witness left, it was almost time for her to meet with Gavin. But Alexa hadn’t heard from K yet and was growing more and more concerned about what Tobias may have over her.

Settling behind her desk, she pulled her laptop open and quickly navigated to the Sweet Tooth website but K was not online. Sighing, she tried her email and was greeted with the envelope icon indicating new items in her inbox. One was marked urgent and she quickly clicked the link:

A,

I hope this message gets to you. I’ve had to shut down my operation here and am looking for a new place to set up; I’ll explain more a little later. Right now, I need you to be extra vigilant. The man Tobias hired to look into you is named Daniel Bertram. He was convicted of wire fraud, identity theft as well as a handful of other white-collar crimes by the S.A.’s office and, thanks to Tobias, turned state’s evidence and is out on parole. From what I can tell, they retrieved much of your first identity of Michelle Brand. I’m doing what I can to erase her now but Tobias might have a hard copy of all of this information. Be careful, A. I’ll talk to you soon.

Later,

– K

Dammit, Alexa thought. Michelle Brand was a juvenile delinquent, grifter and car thief. It was the persona that helped her establish contact with the Piozzo crime family. If Tobias had information on her first identity, then it was possible he suspected she never attended law school. There was no telling how he’d planned to use the information and right now, he was trying to rattle her.

Alexa created ‘Michelle’ when she first learned of the identity of the man responsible for her family’s deaths. It was before K’s time and, unlike the others, she did not have him to protect her electronically. But his email gave her hope that he would somehow figure out a way to delete past identities and keep this from happening again.

She sighed and clicked the red X at the top of the screen. That message was sent to her at 1:45 p.m., but an hour before that, K had sent another message with the subject heading: ‘Starks’.

“Shit…” she gasped. After reading it, she realized the client may have many more reasons as to why he or she wants to see the Starks dead. But one thing in particular stuck out to her. “Shit, shit, shit.”

            K,

            If you get this, sign onto the chat; we need to talk!

            – A

Alexa labeled the message ‘urgent,’ closed out of the computer and shoved it into her bag. There wasn’t a protocol for something like this. In fact, it was the first time in 14 missions anything like this had ever happened before. Either someone was messing with them, or the client wished to see the Starks hurt because of something Alexa personally caused. She grabbed the rest of her personal items and hurried for the door. It was unprecedented and she was determined not to allow it to harm innocent people. 

Alexa hurried home and tried contacting K again. Still no word back and it was causing her more worry. In all of their time together, he had never been out of contact for longer than an hour; it had already been half a day. Pacing for the better part of the evening, she finally settled at her desk, going over past case notes.

She couldn’t understand how anyone could reach the conclusion that placed the Starks lives’ in the line of fire. A noise startled her from behind and she paused a moment, turning toward its location. It sounded as though someone was standing outside her door but she knew Gavin would not be home for at least another hour. 

Blaming it on her paranoia, she resumed the task of active recollection; meticulously writing down her memories of each case. She’d gotten as far as Jessica Fullerton when she heard it again; the distinct sound of floorboards creaking beneath weight. Someone was outside her door! Closing down her laptop, Alexa removed her weapon from her desk drawer and slowly started forward. Whoever was out there was in for a big surprise!

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