Keeping Steffanie (Alliez Security: Echo Team #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“This is a mistake. This is a mistake.” Steffanie Price’s skin itched, and anxiety crawled up her spine like a spider creeping up a wall.

The large group of people laughing and having fun at the two-year-old’s birthday party were all harmless, she knew that, but after her kidnapping, any type of gathering was too much for her to handle.

It had been over two years since she and Cynthia had been snatched off a street corner while doing their job. A job she could no longer do because the very thought of being so exposed was more than she could bear.

Cynthia was coping much better than her.

At least she’d been able to go back to work.

They weren’t as close as they had been prior to their kidnapping, considering they didn’t work together anymore, but they caught up occasionally.

Cynthia was always sending her messages, sometimes just smiley emojis to let her know she was thinking of her.

Steff appreciated it, and it always made her smile.

Cynthia was being a better friend than Steff was to her.

It was a surprise Cynthia still bothered with her, but Steff was glad she did.

Steff had no idea what her friend had endured during their captivity, and she hadn’t asked. She hadn’t wanted to know.

Had it been as bad as what had happened to Steff? Or had she been treated differently?

No matter how much counseling she had, Steff couldn’t seem to make any forward progress.

Leaving her house was becoming more and more of a chore, but she made herself at least try.

Even if all she could manage was to walk down to the end of her street and back home, she believed she’d accomplished something.

This party, though, was too much. It brought everything that had happened back to her. These people were the ones who saved her. Had seen her at her absolute worst. The man who’d carried her out, because she hadn’t been able to walk, had been so gentle.

Steff had no idea who he was because his face had been covered with black paint. Out of all the men gathered in the garden, one of them had been her savior. Was he looking at her now wondering how she was doing? Had he even given her any thought since that night so long ago?

What had she been thinking accepting Teresa’s invitation to come? She should’ve said thank you, but no.

Steffanie scratched at her arms; her nails filed to sharp points so that she was almost digging into her flesh.

Pain sometimes helped ground her, but not this time.

It wasn’t doing anything. The panic was consuming her to the point her vision was blurring.

Her breath coming out in short, sharp gasps. Perspiration beaded on her top lip.

I have to get out of here.

I have to leave.

I’m not safe.

The words shouted in her mind, like they always did when she was outside. Or around a group of people. Steff turned and rushed away, not seeing where she was going. Not seeing anyone. The need to escape, the driving force for her to run.

She slammed into something hard, and unmoving. Panic engulfed her as arms closed around her. She screamed.

They’d found her.

She was being taken again.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Steffanie twisted and turned to get out of their hold. She’d taken some self-defense classes after she’d been freed, but everything she’d learned was forgotten. Fear had robbed her of the ability to execute the moves to escape her captor.

Immediately she was released, but she didn’t feel free. Phantom arms were still closed tightly around her. The same ones that had dragged her to a dark room where the carefree, happy life she’d once known had been ripped from her.

“You’re safe, Steff. No one is coming for you. You’re safe.” The deep voice kept repeating the words over and over, but she didn’t believe them. How could she?

She was never going to be safe again. How could she be? The people who took her and Cynthia may have been caught, but there was always someone else waiting in the wings to take over.

“You don’t know that,” she whispered.

“Is it okay if I cup your elbow?”

The weird request penetrated her panic. “What?”

“Is it okay if I touch you?”

There was something infinitely calming about the way he spoke. Also, familiar. As if she’d heard him before. Which was totally impossible, because the only people she’d spoken to since everything had gone down was Cynthia, and more recently Teresa.

Had this man been there that night? He probably had been. But which one was he?

Did it matter?

Somehow, he’d managed to calm her enough to be able to look around. They were still in Teresa’s backyard. No one was paying any attention to them—now. Someone may have seen her when she’d attempted to escape like a startled gazelle.

Well obviously, this man had been.

Steff shifted her gaze from her surroundings to the man standing in front of her.

He was tall; over six feet. His dirty blonde hair was cut close to the sides and a little long on top.

His eyes were the blue of the Caribbean Sea.

He had a presence that should’ve scared her, considering what she’d been through, yet it didn’t.

His arms hung loosely at his sides, and his stance was casual, non-threatening.

He’d asked her something, what was it?

Can I cup your elbow?

“Why do you want to cup my elbow?” The words burst out of her, and while she should be embarrassed about it all, considering how she’d been acting only a few minutes ago, she wasn’t.

“I was going to move us to a quieter corner of the yard. You looked like you needed a few minutes to yourself.” Again, his voice was gentle, and a ghost of a smile whispered across his mouth.

“I was trying to leave.”

“Yes, you were, but I couldn’t let you run out.”

“I’m sorry?” She bristled at his words. Who did he think he was telling her that he couldn’t let her leave? Was he as bad as the men who’d held her captive?

Amazingly, the more she was around this man, the more her panic morphed into stirrings of anger.

Which didn’t make sense, because that had never happened.

In the past, when her panic threatened to overwhelm her, she dug her nails into her thighs until she had rows of half-moons puckering her flesh.

Only then did she feel like she could go on.

“What I said sounded worse than what I was thinking. All I meant, was that I could see you were lost in your mind, and I didn’t think it would be safe for you to leave or drive.

” He offered her another smile. “I should introduce myself to you. I’m Dalton Jaeger, the guys call me Jag.

I’ve been with Alliez for a couple of years now. ”

Again, with just a few words, he managed to nip her anger. Not in a controlling way, but more of a rational way.

While they’d been speaking, he hadn’t attempted to get close to her again. If anything, he’d taken a step back to give her more room to leave if she wanted to.

“I’m Steffanie Price, my friends call me Steff.” She shoved her hand out, something that had been an automatic part of her life when she’d been a reporter. Steff couldn’t remember the last time she’d instinctively done that.

His large hand clasped hers, and warmth seeped into the places that had been cold for so long, she thought they would remain frozen for the rest of her life.

“Pleased to meet you, Steffanie.” He released her hand, and she mourned the loss briefly before she pulled herself up short as the realization sank in.

This was the first time she’d allowed a man to touch her since her kidnapping.

What did that mean?

No way was she cured, because beneath all the calm, her panic bubbled away, ready to erupt and curl around her until she couldn’t breathe again.

“I think I should go,” she uttered. “I’m okay now.”

Dalton shoved his hands in his pockets, as if he was trying to stop himself from touching her.

Had she misread his actions? Did he still want to detain her?

“We haven’t had the cake yet. I heard from Angel that it’s ‘very cute’ and tastes amazing. Apparently, the frosting is ‘sublime,’ and everyone should ‘sample it.’”

Her lips twitched with the urge to laugh when he used his fingers as quotation marks.

“I’m sure it is, but I guess I’ll have to try it another time.” Yet, the thought of leaving didn’t seem so pressing now.

Over Dalton’s shoulder she could see Teresa watching them. Steff knew if she gave any indication that not all was well, then Teresa would be over in a flash rescuing her.

But she didn’t need rescuing, not anymore. At least she didn’t think she did.

“If I say that I’ll be nearby and if you need to escape, I’ll help you, will that encourage you to stay? Also, if you don’t want to, I’ll totally respect that and I’ll escort you to your car.”

Could she do it?

She’d already been out longer than she had been in months. Of course, the reason for that was standing in front of her. Without him stopping her, she would likely be driving home erratically and putting not only her life, but the lives of others in danger.

Perhaps Dalton had been right in stopping her from leaving in the state she’d been in.

Steff looked again at Teresa, who mouthed, Are you okay?

She nodded, because she was. And also, she didn’t want to let her friend down.

She knew that Teresa felt responsible for what happened to her and Cynthia.

That it was because of her investigation into the Ramirez Cartel that had ultimately caused her to be snatched from an opening she was reporting on.

And for two of their other colleagues to be hurt. “Okay.”

“Okay what? To staying, or wanting me to walk you to your car?”

“Staying.”

This time when Dalton smiled, it reached his eyes, and laugh lines appeared at the sides of his mouth. “Excellent. Do you think we can taste the frosting without anyone noticing?”

“No! We can’t do that.” Even though part of her wanted to do exactly that. “It’s Angelica’s birthday cake; it has to be perfect for her to mess.”

“I suppose you have a point. How about I get you a drink?”

“I’d like that.”

“Excellent. What would you like?”

“Sparkling water will be fine.” If she had any sort of alcohol, she would fall into a funk.

She’d found that out shortly after she’d been released.

While drinking had been numbing, it had gotten to the stage where it was becoming a crutch.

Amidst all of her scurried thoughts, she’d had the foresight to know that if she continued drinking, nothing good would come of it.

Then she found that pain helped.

Steff shut those thoughts down, knowing that what she was doing was wrong. She should go back to her therapist to tell her about it. But that had meant going out, and she hadn’t been able to manage that.

Maybe she could now, considering how she was doing at the party. Then again, perhaps it was because of the man in front of her.

Again, Steff closed her mind to those thoughts. She’d just met Dalton. He was being nice. Once he left the party, she would be a forgotten thought for him.

He probably had a girlfriend, wife, or partner of sorts. A man that good looking couldn’t possibly be single.

If he did have a significant other and was spending time with her, then perhaps he wasn’t the sort of man she wanted to be hanging around with.

Who did that? Speak to another woman? Touch another woman, when their partner was in close proximity?

Or had Dalton spoken to whoever he was here with, and told them he was going to help her out and they were fine with it?

Why was she still there then?

“Do you think you feel up to sitting with Teresa?” Once again, Dalton dragged her back from the brink of her thoughts spiraling out of control.

The reason she was at the party was because Teresa had asked. She hadn’t pressured Steff in attending, more like encouraged her, and Steff, for the first time in ages, hadn’t been able to resist.

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Excellent. Let’s go. May I?” He pointed to her elbow, and she recalled his earlier question.

“You may.”

Dalton’s touch was light, and as he led her over to where Teresa was seated at a small table with two chairs, she couldn’t help but think what would’ve happened if it had been someone other than Dalton that had seen her panic attack.