Served (Breaking Free Book 3) Read online

  Paperwork was going to be the death of him. The phone in his office rang, but he couldn’t even find it under the mounded papers. He hadn’t even known there was a landline. Pushing the papers aside, he found the phone and picked it up.

  “Hello?” he said tentatively. Who the hell used a landline?

  “Hi, is this the employer of Roxanne Weller?”

  “Yes,” he said, sitting in the chair.

  “We got this number from when the police completed a report on an attack that happened a few weeks back.”

  “Yes, okay.”

  “We wanted to inform Ms. Weller and your establishment that Jon Hollis has been arrested.” Liam breathed a sigh of relief.

  “He was?”

  “Yes, just a few hours ago, he was found robbing a convenience store.”

  “Does she need to go down there and identify him?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary. It will all be handled.”

  “And you’re absolutely sure that this is Jon Hollis?”

  “Yes, had his wallet on him with his ID. We’ll run him through the system as well. It will take some time, but we’ll verify everything about him and then he’s going back to jail.” Hanging up the phone, he sat back in the chair. What did this mean? Did they really have him? Was Rox safe? He had to be one hundred percent sure that this psycho was locked up for good, and until then he wasn’t going to take any chances.

  He’d keep his security on her and ensure that she wasn’t in any danger. There weren’t very many things he was sure of, but he was sure that he would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. He hadn’t been able to help his mother, hadn’t been able to protect her, but he wouldn’t let the same thing happen to Rox. Over his dead body.

  His cell vibrated under the stacks of paper. He uncovered it and saw it was from the security guard he had following Rox.

  “Is she okay? Did something happen?”

  “Everything is fine. Nothing happened to her, but I thought you might want to know. I know we didn’t go over the parameters of my duties other than ‘keep her safe,’ but I thought you might want to know. I mean, I would want to know, if it were me,” he said, rambling.

  “Okay, fine. Spit it out!”

  “She went into a pharmacy earlier. I kept my distance, but I definitely saw her buy about five pregnancy tests.”

  A whooshing roar filled Liam’s ears. Rox. Pregnancy tests. What the hell? Rox might be pregnant? There was an initial bubble of elation, followed by the crush of his previous pregnancy scare. He wanted so badly for her to be pregnant. He could imagine it now: kissing her belly, heavy with his child, feeling the kicks, giving her foot massages. She would freak, but he would love it. Then all those little snipes Luc made came flooding back. And all the crap that happened with Yvonne replayed in his mind.

  Was she trying to trap him? Did she think a baby was a quick way to get something out of him? He wasn’t a guy someone like Rox should be with, he was a chubby nerd who hadn't gone on a date until he was in college. Old insecurities and fears came crashing down on him as he thought about what exactly this might mean for them. They had used protection, well most of the time…okay, there were a couple of slip-ups, but he’d assumed she was on something since she hadn’t said anything.

  Why hadn’t he asked? Why did he just assume? Thoughts raced through his mind so fast, he could barely follow the train of his own thoughts. He felt like someone was sitting on his chest. He’d just signed a several hundred million dollar deal earlier today. This could have been her plan all along. Was she that good of an actress? Could this all have been a giant ploy?

  He thought about the ring box he’d had sitting in his top dresser drawer for the past week. Waiting for the perfect time to take it out had been agony and now he was glad he hadn’t asked yet, wasn’t he? He didn’t know, but when they got home, he was going to find out. She still hadn’t said she loved him. She was going to let him know exactly how she felt about him, one way or another.

  22

  Chapter

  Rox pulled her bike up in front of the house at the end of the long driveway. She’d pull it into the garage later. Popping her helmet onto the seat, she beamed as she unlocked the front door. She’d been able to ride her bike, which Liam had been against for weeks. She felt good knowing he was finally backing off protective mode, which was starting to feel like smothering mode.

  Liam sat on the couch in the living room with his back to her. She came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Gripping her shoulders, he pulled her down onto his lap over the back of the low couch.

  “What was that for?” she said, laughing and looking at him upside down from his lap. She couldn’t quite place the look he was giving her. Running her hands along his stubble, she caressed his cheek and held his gaze.

  “What’s wrong? Did something happen at the meeting with your brother?” He shook his head.

  “I was just looking forward to seeing you, that’s all.” Aww, this man made her heart melt.

  “It’s not too often I take off for dinner, so you’re very lucky. What should we do with all this free time?” she said, trying to pull him out of whatever weird mood he seemed to be in.

  “Are you okay? How did the meeting go?”

  “Why do you want to know?” What the hell kind of question was that?

  “You mentioned being nervous about it and now you’re acting all weird.” Shifting from lying across his lap to sitting next to him, she turned to give him her full attention. “What’s going on? Did something bad happen?”

  “No, it went fine. They accepted the terms of the agreement. Everyone gets to keep their job for at least a year, severance for anyone they let go after that, and they bought us out at the price we asked.”

  “Liam, that’s great!” She threw her arms around him, but his still hung limp at his sides. “Are you worried about letting the company go?”

  “It’s not that. It was time to move on and start something new.”

  “Exactly, and you’ve been doing a really great job at the bar lately. No more getting locked in the walk-in, missed keg deliveries or anything like that. Things are going really well.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you okay?” She placed her hand on his forehead and he did feel a little clammy. “I’m going to see if there’s anything in the kitchen to make chicken soup. You seem like you could use it.”

  “How was your day? Did you do anything special?” What was up with him? He was starting to freak her out.

  “No,” she said, hopping up from the couch and heading into the kitchen.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary happened?”

  “Nope, did morning prep, lunch service went smoothly, helped get things ready for dinner and then came home.”

  “Nothing else?” What was he getting at? Why would he think that anything different happened today?

  “No, what are you talking about? What else could have happened?” She opened the fridge and started to pull out ingredients for the soup. Success! A roasted chicken from two nights ago. Pulling the covered glass pan out of the fridge, she kicked it closed.

  “What about the pregnancy tests?” She dropped the glass pan, shattering it on the floor as she stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen.

  “The what?” she asked, her voice shaky. How did he know? Shock turned to anger as her hands started to tremble and she closed them into fists.

  “The pregnancy tests?”

  “How do you know that I might have bought pregnancy tests today, Liam?” she said, her voice barely more than a growl. He, at least, had the good sense to look ashamed.

  “I…I hired a security guard to follow you,” he blurted out.

  “You what?!” All this time. All this time she thought he was honoring her wishes, but he’d gone behind her back. The paranoia of someone following her suddenly made sense. He’d turned her into an anxious mess by not listening to her.


  “After the box from Jon showed up, I was worried about you, so I hired someone to look out for you when I couldn’t be there.”

  “You had me followed,” she said, seething.

  “I had security looking after you in case something happened and Jon tried to pull anything,” he reasoned, but she could feel her head swimming and pulse pounding as she fought the urge to slam his head into the wall.

  “You had me followed.” She repeated, getting closer and closer to him, until she was standing, toe-to-toe with him. “You turned me into a paranoid mess for a week because I swore someone was following me!” His head whipped to the side before she even realized she’d slapped him across the face.

  “You wouldn’t listen to reason. Teaching you a few boxing moves was not going to be enough. I had to do more to protect you and make sure you would be safe, even if I wasn’t around.” He rubbed his cheek.

  “You don’t get to tell me if I’m safe or not! No one can know if they are safe or not! But I can sure as hell tell if I’m with a controlling asshole who had me followed and then starts asking about private purchases I made.”

  “So, you admit that you bought pregnancy tests.”

  “What if I did?!” How could he have done this?

  “If you did, then I want to know what the results were.”

  “Fuck you, Liam,” she said, pushing past him. He grabbed her arm and whipped her around.

  “I need you to tell me what happened with the tests.”

  “Why? Who knows if it’s even yours? I mean, you’ve only been having me followed for a week. What if I’ve been out fucking guys all over town? Maybe I was buying them for a friend. Maybe I have been with so many men, I can’t even remember whose it might be,” she said, seething.

  “Rox, just tell me,” he shouted. She ripped her arm out of his.

  “No! You don’t get to know. Why don’t you have your security guard go search through the dumpster looking for it? Or better yet, why don’t you have him hold me down and get me to piss on a stick in front of him to prove whether I’m pregnant or not?”

  “I’m not going through this again, Rox.”

  “You’re accusing me of trying to screw you over?”

  “I just want to know the truth!”

  “I wasn’t even going to tell you. If you hadn’t had your little super spy following my every move, you wouldn’t even know I bought those tests. I’m not trying to screw you over, but you sure were quick to jump to that conclusion.”

  “I’m not jumping to any conclusions. I just want you to tell me.”

  “You’re not jumping to any conclusions? What was that crap about not going through this again? You think I’m going to try to squeeze some kind of settlement out of you, pretend to be pregnant? Well, fuck you very much, I’m out of here.” She stormed away from the kitchen and into the bedroom. She grabbed a bag from the closet and started to throw her stuff in there.

  He thought she was trying to screw him over. After everything they had shared and been through, and he didn’t even have the slightest bit of faith that she wasn’t a gold-digging piece of crap. Well screw him! Screw him for not trusting her and having her followed. Her mind looped back around to that one. Had she missed signals? Jon would follow her all the time. Every stop for coffee or trip to a store was questioned. Every interaction was tracked, receipts, charges, anything she did was under the microscope. Had she fallen into that trap again? Her biggest fear was repeating her past mistakes and not even realizing she was doing it. Is that what this was? She was so deep, she couldn’t even tell. She was happier than hell she wasn't pregnant. The thought of being forever tied to Liam turned her stomach right now.

  23

  Chapter

  Her phone vibrated on the bathroom counter. A number she didn’t recognize, but it flashed City of Los Angeles. Seething, she wiped all her toiletries from the counter into her bag and stomped back in the bedroom. She accepted the call and held it on her shoulder as she packed. Shoving her clothes into a bag, she waited for someone to say something.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Juliette Miles?”

  “Who wants to know?” she said, shoving another handful of clothes into the bag. She’d take whatever she could fit now and either come back for the rest of the stuff later, make Liam bring it to the bar, or, better yet, mail it to her.

  “I’m a caseworker who with the LAPD. We’ve been informed Jon Hollis has been apprehended. He turned himself in three days ago.” She nearly dropped the phone.

  “And I’m just finding out now!”

  “I’m sorry about that. Caseloads being what they are, we’re only now getting around to calling you.” She sat on the bed, relieved it was all finally over.

  “What do you mean calling me back again? When did you call the first time?”

  “We left a message at your place of employment when we couldn’t find your number in the case files. Things are always getting misplaced. We found the number of your employer from the police report from the night you were attacked, so we called there and left a message with your boss. The note said it was a Liam. He said he would forward on the message, but we always like to confirm with the victim.”

  “How long ago was this call?” He knew. He knew Jon was in jail. A shiver ran down her spine. She fell for it. She’d fallen into the trap all over again. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she snapped her eyes shut and willed them back. Not now. She could break down once she found out where she was going, but not now. She needed to focus on getting out of there first.

  “The note says it was three days ago.” Three days! He’d known for three fucking days and he hadn’t told her. He’d continued to have her followed, even after he knew that Jon was locked up. She wanted to punch him in the face. How could he?!

  “He’s in jail?” she said, as the woman on the other line cleared her throat.

  “Yes, he’s in police custody. He turned himself over to the police and confessed to everything he did.”

  “And that’s it? He’s not going to get out?”

  “They haven’t granted him bail and if he has confessed, then they won’t need to go to trial. He can take a deal with the prosecutor, so there’s no way to know how long he will be locked up, but I would say it will be for some time with his attack on you and the harassment, coupled with his previous convictions.”

  “Thank you for telling me,” she said, hands shaking with anger and rage. It pulsed through her. She couldn’t believe it. It was like she was in a nightmare world.

  “Again, sorry it took so long for us to call back and make sure you knew.”

  “No problem,” she said through clenched teeth and a haze of rage. It was like a red film had been thrown her over eyes.

  “We will let you know if there are any further developments.”

  “Thanks,” she said, ending the call. Experiencing an out of body type of moment, she realized she didn’t have to be afraid anymore. He was gone, locked away, at least for now. Maybe now would be a good time for a change of scenery, while he wasn’t able to follow her. She could go farther this time. Put some real distance between them. Maybe drop in on Mark and Jen in NYC. Glancing up, she saw Liam stood in the bedroom doorway.

  The fear that had been wiped away by the news of Jon being locked up was redirected as unbridled rage focused solely on Liam. He’d betrayed her. Had her followed without her permission for who knows how long. Sure, he was trying to protect her, but that didn’t mean it felt any less like a violation. Even after he knew Jon was locked up. What did that say about him and his trust in her? Did he even care about her safety to begin with? Maybe this was all an excuse to have her followed, the ex-con he wouldn’t want trying to screw him over.

  “I heard the good news. Jon’s been locked up.”

  “Yeah,” she said, buckling the straps on her bag. She stood and slung it over her shoulder.

  “I guess this means you’re safe out there. Don’t have to worry anymore.”
/>   “No, I don’t. I think it’s best that I go back to my apartment. It’s been a while since I checked on it and I need to make sure that everything is fine there.”

  “Rox—” he started, but she held up her hand.

  “Don’t even try it. You had me followed without my permission. You told me you wouldn’t. I can’t trust you Liam, and if I can’t trust you, I can’t be with you. And to top it all off, you knew he was locked up!”

  “What?”

  “The woman on the phone. She told me she talked to you three days ago, Liam,” she said, thrusting three fingers in his direction. “Three days! You knew I wasn’t in any danger and you had me followed for three more days.”

  “I didn’t trust that it was true. I didn’t know if they got all their information right. Maybe he would be let out. I couldn’t take that chance.”

  “More like you didn’t trust me.”

  “That’s not it at all. I do trust you, and I love you.”

  “Bullshit. If you trusted me, you would have told me about the call and that he had been arrested.”

  “I didn’t want you to be lulled into a false sense of security,” he said, and she scoffed at his excuse. This was all about him. He wanted the control. He wanted to know where she was. He didn’t care one bit about what she thought.

  “You wanted to keep me here,” she said, her eyes darting around the room. Her chest tightened and her breath started to come out in pants. “You wanted me afraid and dependent on you. Gah, what an idiot I’ve been! It seems I’m a magnet for manipulative men.” The walls started to close in on her and she needed to get out of there.