Page 4 of The Dark Side

Jolie replied, confused, "No? Look, your people are here because they are hiding from the cops. Why is your daughter with them? What is she doing out so late? What kind of parent are you?"

"Never mind. I found you. You better stay the fuck where you are, and don't touch my daughter."

"Like I would." Jolie snapped the phone off and tossed it back to Alexei.

He chuckled. "You are pissing off the wrong person."

"He attacked first," Jolie sheepishly replied. "How can he know where I live?" The guys didn't answer, but she's watched enough FBI shows to know about GPS signals. But what kind of person had that available?

Helina sounded, and Jolie glanced at Alexei for a translation. "What’re your cats' names?"

"Ming and Tae-Tae."

Alexei and Gil were silent in the awkward quiet. Jolie avoided eye contact.

Alexei shrugged out of his jacket with enough groans and moans that Jolie's attitude shifted. She moved to help, tucking the material off his ridiculous thick bicep. The sleeve of his white undershirt was red and wet.

"Oh, jeez, hold on." Jolie had to talk herself into going to the bathroom and taking her only towel off the rack. She told herself it was a good thing to do, although she hated seeing his blood destroy it. She wrapped the towel around Alexei's arm, tightening as much as possible and apologizing as he whined.

"Who would attack us?" Alexei questioned, leaning against the wall. "With Helina?"

"We shouldn't talk about that right now." Gil waved to Jolie. "I'm just relieved they missed."

Alexei shifted his blue eyes to her. She stood against the fridge, mindlessly wiping the blood off her hands, watching them. "You alone here?"

"Why?" she snapped. "So you can rape me?"

Alexei's mouth dropped open. "What?"

Jolie felt stupid for saying it, but it was just another comment her mother made after the drug dealers. Rapists were hiding in every alley. "Yeah. Just me."

"So, all the panda stuff…" His eyes went around the apartment. The panda pillows on the couch. The giant panda-face carpet in the living room. The massive painting of a panda over the TV. Her panda bedsheets. Her panda cookie jar on the counter. The messy coloring pages and panda drawings pinned to the refrigerator were the most condemning. Alexei suppressed a smile. "You don't have a kid?"

"No," she bit with bitterness. "I'm a teacher, and I like pandas."

He flicked his gaze to her pajamas, and when his face went red and his eyes to the floor, she remembered she never wore a bra to bed. She quickly folded her arms across her chest.

There was a knock on the door, and they all flipped to silence, staring at it. "Police! Open up."

Jolie slapped a hand to her mouth. She was going to go to jail. Harboring fugitives was a felony. Would they believe her if she said she was forced? Of course, they had guns! She was a sweetheart. Anyone could tell she was innocent.

Alexei lifted his gun, with a finger on his lips. He waved to Jolie, and with fast understanding, she scooped up Helina and headed for the bathroom.

"Alexei," a whisper came from behind the door. "It's Morgan; I saw your car out front. Your brother sent me your location."

Alexei rushed to the door and quickly let Morgan in. To Jolie's surprise, a cop stepped in, dressed in full uniform and with a hand unconsciously on his gun. "You guys hurt? What the hell happened?"

Gil growled, "Someone made a huge fucking—"

"Don't curse!" Jolie interrupted. Morgan glanced at her with knitted brows.

"Someone made a huge mistake," Alexei corrected. "But we don't know who."

"You think they were after her?"

"Maybe. They certainly didn't give a fuck if—"

"No cursing!" Jolie bit again.