A Beautiful Heartbreak ( NYC Series #1) Read online

  “He’s a great guy.”

  “I never said he wasn’t.”

  Alexa looked up at me and smiled. “You know he holds the envelopes for us because he’s got the hots for you. You should give him a shot.”

  I sighed. Not this again. “I told you, and him, that we’re friends. I don’t have time in my life for a man; my hands are full enough with you.”

  “He’s cute in his own way, but I know why you won’t date.”

  I ignored the last part of her message because I wasn’t in the mood to hash out the reason why I don’t like to date. Brayden. The man dreams are made of and the love of my life. It’s been longer than I’m willing to admit since the last time I had his touch, or anyone’s for that matter. I know my heart hadn’t healed from the devastation he left in his wake when he left me and that’s why I don’t date.

  “Then you date him.”

  She knew I didn’t want to talk about my reason for not dating, so she stayed on the current subject. “I’m two inches taller than him, it’s weird.”

  “Well, he and I are the same height, so it’s weird.”

  She threw a pen at me. “That’s a stupid excuse.”

  “So is yours. Look, I don’t want to deal with Josh, so you go collect as many envelopes as you can,” I said shaking my chest. “And I’ll return these calls.”

  She laughed at me and said, “You look stupid when you do that.”

  “That’s why I leave the hard work to you.”

  “Sounds good.” She stood, grabbed her oversized white purse, and pushed her chair in. “I’ll be back.”

  Our business was located in Manhattan, and she’d be back within the hour because she’ll take a cab since she’s by herself. Most of the time Josh calls us with jobs, but we take any job we can get because we aren’t the only servers in town looking for their next envelope. Because there are two of us, we split everything, so we need more jobs than normal. We started serving people while still in college when we became best friends.

  Alexa and I were paired up as roommates in our dorm, and the first few weeks it was like we didn’t know each other existed. One look at each other and we knew we were complete opposites and didn’t try to be friends. A few weeks into our first semester, I had come back from a study group and found some guy on top of Alexa, who was struggling under him. He had an arm against her throat and the other one up her skirt. I dropped my books, pulled my rape whistle out, and jumped on his back with my arms around his neck. He stood, and I kept blowing the rape whistle in his ear and hung on while he swatted at me. Alexa jumped off the bed and kicked him in the balls, and he fell to his knees, and I pushed him over as I climbed off his back. She was shaken up pretty badly that night, and we stayed up all night talking. After the incident, Alexa felt comfortable opening up to me, which she doesn't often do. She told me about her shitty excuse for a parent while it took a little longer for me to open up about mine.

  After that, we were inseparable.

  We decided to keep serving envelopes after college and took a few online classes to become private investigators since we were good at tracking people down. Over the years, we’ve become friends with some lawyers, judges, police officers, and clerks, which helped us with our investigative services.

  Most of our messages were from current clients who wanted to know if their significant others were cheating, but we also had one new client message. I called the current clients, filled them in on the newest details on their cases, and then called the new client back.

  “Is Miss Hills there?”

  “Mrs. Hills; is this the investigator?”

  “Yes, how can I help you?”

  Ten minutes later I hung up the phone. This was a different kind of case and could bring in a lot of money for us. She wanted us to find her son. We’ve never had a case like this. She doesn’t know what to think, but the things she tossed out were not good: illegal activities and drugs. She wanted to know where he’s been the last six months. I didn’t like the sound of ‘illegal activities,’ but she approved twenty hours and was going to have a courier drop a check off to our office in two hours, and we needed the money.

  I checked our email, nothing going on there, and then made a to-do list for today. I slowly pulled the top drawer open and saw the check sitting there, just waiting to be cashed. I did the math in my head and figured I was paid two hundred and fifty dollars an hour. I didn’t even charge that for our investigative services, but maybe we should. Mr. Bale went out of his way to find me and hand delivered the check while raving about my calendar skills.

  I thought about his smile.

  The dimple.

  Those black rimmed glasses he wore so well.

  The tattoos.

  I smiled to myself and shut the drawer.

  Don’t forget about his bat-shit crazy wife.

  “Your boyfriend is in trouble.”

  “Alexa, don’t start with me about Josh.”

  “Not Josh,” she tossed the envelopes on my desk, “Mr. Bale,” she said using her sultry voice. “Poor Mr. Bale is getting served, again.” She leaned over my desk, showing me her cleavage. “Are you going to serve Mr. Bale. Again?”

  “Jesus, Alexa.” I shuffled through the envelopes until I found his and ran my hand over his name.

  “You better go service him, Ki.”

  “Stop talking like that.” I would see him again, but not right this minute. “I want to do it at the end of the day. Alone.”

  “You’re getting braver with the world, Ki; I love it.”

  I laughed. “Whatever.”

  We went over the list; I filled her in on the new client and then locked up after the courier brought us the check from Mrs. Hills. It was boring for the most part, but we served all the envelopes first, and then went to see if this Lucas Hills was at the coffee shop his mother said he liked to frequently visit.

  “Go charm the barista,” I told Alexa, “I’ll snoop around.”

  She smirked and swiped some glossy lipstick on her lips, stood tall, and went to chat up the barista.

  I walked around the tables while trying to listen in on the conversations and slowly made my way toward the bathroom, where the office door was located. The best thing about me is that I don’t stand out. Most of the time I’m invisible. Everyone’s always paying attention to the pretty girl and forgets about the ugly one. I made sure no one was watching, and I turned the handle.

  It was unlocked.

  I slipped in, saw a computer with a screensaver, but it was password protected so I ditched that idea. I wasn’t sure if I’d find anything in the office, but it couldn’t hurt. Maybe he was dating someone who worked here and they had a picture of him in the office. It was a long shot and probably a dead end, but my thoughts wander toward all kinds of ideas and I liked to follow them. I went to the gray filing cabinet and pulled the top one open. Nothing with his name on it. No pictures, or hidden money or drugs.

  I checked the second drawer.

  Nothing.

  That would be fun. To find drugs or a bunch of money lying around. How crazy would that be; I mean it’s New York City. Crazy shit happens all the time.

  I slid it shut and shuffled through the papers on the desk, but there was nothing with his name on it.

  I left, shutting the door behind me, and found Alexa talking to a different barista who was bussing a table by the front door. I shook my head at her, and she wiggled her coffee cup at me, as I made my way through the lobby.

  “Nothing,” I said as the door closed.

  “Nothing but free coffee.” She pushed it toward me. “Want a drink?”

  “No, thanks.”

  I pulled out my notes, and we came up with a new plan to find Lucas Hills. He can’t hide forever.

  Chapter 4 - Ki

  “So, do you like my color-coded calendar?” I asked leaning against the doorframe to Prescot’s office. His pen stopped and he looked up, wearing those black glasses that looked like they were made for his
face.

  But then he took them off.

  Such a shame.

  “Yes, although it confused her,” he looked behind me, “for half the day.”

  “Where do you find these people?”

  “Some temp service my partner uses.”

  “Partner?” I was hoping he wasn’t going to say wife.

  “Business partner. We just haven’t got the new signs yet.”

  “Moving up in the world.”

  “That’s the point.” His eyes quickly glanced down and back up my body. I was wearing blue jeans with running shoes and a tank top, with my camera bag slung over my shoulder. I always had it with me. It was hot outside, and I wanted to stay cool walking around the city, but I hated my legs, so I never wore shorts. The look in his eyes made me want to look down to make sure I didn’t have any stains on my shirt. He finally said, “I’m good at what I do.”

  “You must be if you can pay me two hundred and fifty dollars an hour.”

  He put his hand out, inviting me inside his office.

  “I don’t think I should stay,” I warned, patting the side of my camera bag, which doubled as a purse.

  “You take that thing everywhere.”

  “I do.” Pulling out the envelope, I slowly walked to his desk to set it down. He kept his eyes on me, void of any expression. Then, I snapped his picture with my camera.

  “You should smile more,” I told him stepping back from his desk.

  “But then I wouldn’t be as good as I am.”

  “But I like it.” My eyes went wide, and I spun around. I can’t believe that slipped out. “See you later.”

  “You should come back to work for me,” he yelled behind me. “You were the best I’ve ever had.”

  I smirked at the black-haired girl sitting at her desk, who heard what he had just said.

  “It’s just colors,” I said passing her. “A simple color-coded calendar.”

  She started mumbling under her breath, and I was at a loss for words. How can he go through so many assistants? I mean, this is New York City. There had to be tons of qualified people that could do the job. I waved at the receptionist at the front desk, whose name I learned a few minutes ago was Molly, and hit the elevator button. While I waited, I briefly thought about working for him, but I’d only do that so I could look at him all day. Plus, I’d never fit into the dress code here, and I had my own business to run.

  I went back to Molly’s desk and waited for her to end her call. Her curly, red hair was tied up with her earpiece sitting in her left ear.

  “Even though you don’t work here, you should still come to happy hour tomorrow. All the assistants go on Wednesday, plus me.”

  “You’re asking me to join you?”

  She gave me a genuine smile. “I heard about the calendar, the colors, and that he paid you a shit load of money. And, a client told Mr. Bale that you were very professional on the phone and was happy you called to confirm their appointment because they had the wrong time written down. We’re all jealous.”

  I knew which client she was talking about and stated, “I’m not sure why everyone’s making a big deal about it.”

  “Trust me; it’s all anyone’s talking about. You could probably—” She held her finger up. “Hold on.”

  She took a call, and I heard the elevator ding, but I ignored it. I wanted to talk to her about something else.

  “You should come. Sparrows on seventh, tomorrow at five-thirty.”

  “How many assistants?”

  “Ten. Two for the two partners and eight of them are assistants for the eight associates.”

  “And how many assistants has Mr. Bale been through?”

  “A lot.”

  “And they all come from the same temp service?”

  “Yes, the other partner, Mr. Hopkins, has a client that owns a temp service.”

  I pulled my phone out and took some notes. “What’s the name of it?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  I shrugged a shoulder. “I know someone who needs a job.”

  She smiled ear to ear. “That’s so sweet of you. It’s called Horizon Temp Service.”

  The phone rang, and I told her I might visit tomorrow night, while I Googled the temp service’s name and address. It was a mile away and too late to visit, but it was on my to-do list. I thought it was funny they would continue to use the same service if they kept sending over idiots. This was the reason I wanted to be a private investigator, even though I majored in business. I liked asking questions. I liked being nosy. Plus, I over think things and have a tendency to get too involved in other people’s business. I’ve justified it over the years with my new career.

  I texted Alexa about dinner and she said she was picking up Chinese food, so I was on my way home.

  I felt like we needed more information on Lucas Hills, so we had to call his mother again tomorrow and get some more information. It was part of the job. Finding people, catching them doing what they aren’t supposed to be doing, and I always loved a challenge.

  “So, do you want to talk about your mom yet?” I asked after we sat down for dinner, which was on the couch because business papers and mail covered our table.

  “It was emotional.”

  “I’m sure it was. Your mom was—”

  “Please don’t, Ki; your parents aren’t perfect either.”

  She was right, but at least my mom didn’t do drugs. She came to all of my school programs, pretended we were a happy family, so that was better than nothing. Her mom never gave her anything but heartache.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She set her food down after a few bites and grabbed her glass of wine. “She’s trying. It’s hard because of the lies and betrayal, but like I said, she’s never gotten this far. I hope this is it. I just want her to live and be happy, drug-free.”

  “I know you do.” I finished my egg-drop soup and washed it down with water, then I went for the wine.

  “If she fucks up, then you can say, I told you so, for the hundredth time.”

  “Never.”

  “Good, I wouldn’t want to give you a black eye.”

  “You know I took a kickboxing class,” I reminded her.

  “For a day.”

  I laughed. “So did you!”

  “I know. It was a lot harder than it looked.”

  “I’m just not talented.” I took a sip of wine and it was so good, that I drank the rest in a steady sip.

  “Whatever.” She set her glass down and got up. “So now that we’re done with my mother, let’s talk about how you serviced Mr. Bale.”

  “Can you please not say service like that?”

  “Nope. It’ll never get old, especially if we have to keep serving him.” She came back and poured more wine into our glasses. “I wonder if he’s in trouble. One was for a grand jury testimony.”

  “I never asked.”

  “I’m sure Josh would tell us.”

  “We aren’t going to get him involved, or into trouble.”

  She sat back down. “They probably have to sign a gag order or something.”

  “We do know a lot of people,” I reminded her.

  “We do.”

  “You still friends with that detective guy?”

  “A few of them.” She winked, then picked her glass up and got comfortable on the couch with me.

  “You should snoop around; see what you can find out.”

  “Why? So you can better serve him?”

  “If I could reach you, I’d kick you.”

  “I’d be scared if you actually learned the kicks in the kickboxing class.” Alexa laughed but moved slightly away.

  “So, we have to figure out more about Lucas Hills. I’m calling his mother tomorrow to let her know that we didn’t find anything at the coffee shop.”

  “Please, before you make her worry more, just verify that we went to the right coffee shop.” Alexa gave me a knowing look.

  I grimaced. “It was one mistake
when we first started. I learned my lesson.” Yes, I’m still defensive about it. I made one little mistake, went to the wrong store, and made a woman fly off the handle on her husband, threatening divorce. I fixed it though, and it’s not happened again.

  “Still. Better safe than sorry. This client is big; we don’t need to lose it before we even get started.”

  “True. I’ll verify with her before I break the news. I’ll need you to start scouring the internet and social media for any mentions of him or profiles.”

  Alexa grinned. “You got it. I still have my fake accounts in place, so if I do find him, we could totally bait him into giving us more information.”

  I felt satisfied with our next step in getting information for Mrs. Hills; I just hope that Lucas doesn’t continue to give us problems.

  We sat in silence sipping our wine and listened to the sounds of the city coming through the open window, then called it a night.

  Chapter 5 - Ki

  At noon, after we served eight envelopes, Alexa and I went our separate ways. I was off to the temp service while she went to talk to one of the detectives about Lucas Hills and Mr. Bale. I had no idea what I was doing or looking for, but I at least had to check out the agency.

  It was in a very small building that looked like it was wedged between two other ones. The door squeaked when it opened, and the front desk was empty. It had clipboards on it, with applications attached, so I grabbed one and put a bunch of fake information on it. None of it had anything to do with being a receptionist.

  I called out for someone and got no reply, so I set the clipboard down and went to snoop around. I walked down the skinny hallway and saw one empty office on the right and a bathroom on the left. After a few more steps I could hear faint voices coming from the only door left in the hallway. It was closed, but not completely latched shut, so I got close enough to make out what they were saying.

  “That’s it,” a male voice said, “ride that cock.”

  I tried not to laugh.

  “Not until you listen to me,” a woman’s voice replied.

  “Don’t tease me,” the guy said.

  “You aren’t sending the right person.”