Unfinished Business by Brenda Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

to loosen her up. She’s been playing hard to get and I intend to get into her stuff tonight. The beauty of it is that she won’t remember a damn thing about it in the morning.”
    The other guy chuckled. “You’re finally going to find out if she’s really a redhead, huh?”
    Kevin laughed. “You know it.”
    Alex stopped dead in his tracks, just inside the bathroom doorway. Fury coursed through him. The bastard had given Christy a date rape drug! He burst into the men’s room ready to kill somebody.
    The two men turned around and Kevin said, “What the hell!”
    Alex went straight for Kevin, grabbing him by the throat. “You bastard!”
    The other man grabbed Alex from behind. Alex elbowed him in the stomach before giving him a quick jab to his midsection, followed by a hard kick that sent him sprawling against the wall, where he collapsed, unconscious on the floor.
    Alex then turned his attention back to Kevin, who’d remained pinned up against the sink. “What’d you give her?” he asked, his voice deadly.
    Kevin was clearly terrified. “Hey, man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t give anybody anything.”
    Alex snatched him up and brought his face within inches of his own. “Then maybe a little flushing might help you remember.”
    With a firm grip on the collar of Kevin’s shirt, Alex pulled him into one of the stalls and dunked his head in the toilet and held it there, then pulled him back up. “Can you remember anything now?”
    Sputtering, Kevin nodded. “I . . . I had the waitress, who’s a friend of mine, put some ketamine into her drink.”
    Ketamine ! Alex’s stomach muscles tightened. That was one of the most potent sexual assault drugs on the streets. He was well aware of the effects it had on a person. “How much did you give her?”
    When Kevin didn’t answer fast enough to suit Alex, his head got another dunking. “N-not much, just enough to do what I planned to do to her,” Kevin said, sputtering water again. His hazel eyes were bulging and he was fighting for breath. “L-look, I-I didn’t mean any harm.”
    In Alex’s book that was the worst thing the bastard could have said. “You didn’t mean any harm? Then in that case, neither do I.” He grabbed Kevin up out of the stall and threw him against the wall.
    Kevin matched Alex in weight and height, and although he tried putting up a good fight, he couldn’t compete with the skillful Alex. Moments later, when Alex had beaten Kevin to a pulp and he lay sprawled on the bathroom floor barely able to move, Alex stared down at him in disgust. Alex knew there was no way he could turn Kevin and his waitress friend over to the authorities without getting Christy involved.
    “If you ever come within a mile of Christy Madaris again I’ll kill you.” Without looking back he left the men’s room.
    He glanced around. Evidently Christy had gotten bored waiting for Kevin to return, as she was sitting at the bar chatting away with a woman. Alex could tell from the way she was talking to the woman that she was someone Christy knew. Damn, he needed to get her out of this place.
    He quickly crossed the room to her, coming up from behind. “Christy, we need to leave.”
    Both women turned and looked at him. A surprised Christy then smiled. That smile alone was a definite indication that she wasn’t herself. He couldn’t remember the last time she had smiled at him. “A-Alex, what are you d-doing here?”
    He sighed deeply. Her speech was slurring already. “I came to take you home.”
    She smiled at him again. “That’s sweet, but I’m supposed to leave with Kevin.”
    Alex’s eyes darkened. “Not tonight you aren’t. Come on; let’s go.”
    The other woman stood, blocking Christy from him. “Hey, who are you and where do you think you’re taking her?”
    Alex narrowed his eyes. “And who are you?”
    “I’m Shemell Parker, a friend of Christy’s. We work together at the Enquirer .”
    He nodded, feeling