“No, her dad’s good. I’ve tried everything I can think of. Names, birthdays, nothing. Even my buddy isn’t having any luck.”
Great, he’d be stuck in this torture house even longer than he thought. “What about Jones’ real name?”
“That was easier. Jonas Bradshaw.” Finally, at least something was going in their favor.
“Where is he?”
“It’s complicated,” Colin said hesitantly.
“What do you mean complicated? Do you or do you not know where he is?”
“Bradshaw was military-discharged for insubordination. He worked at a security firm for a short time after he was discharged, then he fell off the grid.”
“So how is he connected to Wallace?” Two men in security teams but not the same one.
“I’m looking into the security company he last worked for now. It looks like it might be a shell company because there isn’t a lot of detail on it. Not even a website.”
“What’s it called, maybe we can do some research on it. Don’t want to dump everything on you.” It would give him something to occupy his time.
“Sure, I’ll text you the details.”
“Thanks.”
“And, Alex…” There was a warning in his tone.
Alex knew what was coming. “What?”
“Break her heart, I’ll break your face.”
Alex wasn’t worried about his threat. It wasn’t because he thought it was empty. Colin would totally break his face if he broke Payton’s heart. Alex wasn’t worried because he had no intention of letting things get out of hand with Payton. So his threat was pointless.
“You hear me?” Colin wasn’t playing around and was obviously waiting for an answer.
“I hear you. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Colin just chuckled. “We’ll see if you’re still singing that tune in a few days.”
He would. He vowed it to himself. Alex would work harder to keep his distance from Payton. It would be easier if she could wear baggier clothes. Seeing her nipples poking through her shirt constantly wasn’t helpful.
But he was going to do it. He would resist. He was a damn Delta Force operative. The best of the best. He’d been trained to handle any situation with a clear and level head. He’d been on more missions than he cared to mention. He’d been held captive for four days before he escaped.
If he could do all of that, he could certainly stay in this house with Payton for a few days and keep his hands off of her.
“Oh, before I forget, keep Payton from the news.”
That was an odd request. “Why?”
Chapter 21
Payton had pretended she couldn’t hear Colin on the phone. It was sweet that he was worried about her. Acting like the overprotective big brother. At times she wished it was him she was stuck in this house with instead of Alex.
It was torture having the object of your affection only a few feet away from you but always just out of reach. His mood swings kept giving her whiplash. He was rude to her, then looked at her like she was lollipop and he wanted to see how many licks it would take to get to her center, and then he was back to cold and aloof. She couldn’t keep up with it.
It wasn’t the fact he kept trying to kiss then push her away that upset her the most about it. It was the damn apologizing. Like almost kissing her was something to be sorry about. There was nothing wrong with her. She wouldn’t say she was super model gorgeous, but she wasn’t plain-looking either.
She wore minimal makeup to at least feel feminine in a man’s world. She didn’t wear skin tight clothes, but they weren’t baggy either. Just because she was a detective didn’t mean she had to hide behind suits. She was proud of her body and wasn’t afraid to show it off.
Her detective brain decided to look at the facts. They never lied. People did, but evidence didn’t.