Kylie lounged in the pool. Her crisp, tan skin sparkled in the sunset. She looked as if she were a Malibu Barbie who had passed her prime. She tilted her dainty chin. She almost couldn't believe what she saw. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Alex Ambrose. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Alex, still perched atop the super soldier horse Gary, looked down at the woman. "Hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
As she waded to the other side of the pool, she beamed from ear to ear. Her teeth were a fake, bright white from overuse of teeth-whitening products. "Impossible. No such thing as a bad time with Alex Ambrose. What's with the giant horse?"
"His name is Gary," Alex said as he dismounted the stallion. "By the way, you may need to invest in a new security system, Naysmith."
Her mouth dropped as if she were scandalized, secretly loving the delicate dance she and Alex engaged in. "Don't tell me you broke in."
Alex smirked at her. "Of course, I did."
She smirked right back and pushed her sunglasses down to the edge of her nose to peer over them. "Well, I guess I've never known you to be decent."
"Well, you should thank me," Alex said. "Can you imagine if someone crazy broke in?"
Kylie tapped a manicured finger to her chin. "I think I can picture it."
Alex crouched at the edge of the pool. "Alright, that's enough small talk for the day. Kylie, I came here because I need your help."
She groaned and pouted her lips. "What? Have you forgotten that good, old Ambrose charm? No 'How are you? How have you been? What's new in the life of Kylie Naysmith?'"
Alex glared at her. He said nothing, as if he were waiting for her to answer her own questions.
She did just that, all the while blinking flirtatiously. Kylie propped herself up on her elbows on the pool's coping, closer to Alex. "I'm great. I just bought a vacation home in Palm Springs. I figured it's good to get out of Baltimore once in a while. You should come visit sometime. It's absolutely heavenly. I have my own hot spring. And, oh, look! I just got my nails done."
As she shoved her manicured hand in Alex's face, he sighed and pushed her away. "Very nice. Can we move on now?"
She frowned at him. "Fine. Since you care so very little about me, what do you actually want?"
"It's about Riley," Alex said.
Kylie crossed her arms, pushing her ample bosom together. "It's always about Riley, isn't it?"
Alex sighed, trying to maintain eye contact. "This is different, Kylie. It's serious."
"Let me guess. Did he kill a bunch of innocent people?" Kylie asked. She twirled her hair in her fingers.
Alex sat down. He took off his shoes and cuffed up his pants. Then, he dipped his feet into the water. "Technically, no. Or should I say, not yet. Somehow, it's worse. He's creating an army of super soldiers."
Kylie fixed her gaze on Alex. She raised a curious eyebrow. "What is a super soldier? And why should I care?"
Alex ran his hands through his hair. "He's genetically modifying humans against their will. He's kidnapping people and injecting them with a serum to turn them into big, hulking monsters. Then he's sending them after me. One of them almost killed Yvonne Wheeler."
Kylie's eyes widened. "Maybe I'm on their side, then."
Alex's expression dropped. "Come on, Kylie. I'm not kidding around. This is horrible. These creatures are unlike anything I've ever seen. He's even injecting it into animals. That's how I got Gary." He pointed back at the massive horse with oversized muscles. "To make matters worse, they attacked me in the streets of Baltimore and practically destroyed the city. I'm going to have to pay for all of that."
"Oh, please," she said as she pushed her sunglasses back up, covering her eyes. "You can afford it."
Alex leaned forward. "I need to know anything you can tell me. He has a laboratory somewhere. I'm certain of it. I need to know where it is and how to get in. I need to know why he's creating these super soldiers."
Kylie sulked, pursing her plump lips together. She waded back into the water. "And here I thought you rode here on your noble steed for me, just to see me, but, no, it's never about me. I always have to live in Riley's shadow."
"Kylie," Alex said. "This is about the greater good. He has the potential to destroy the world with these things. Did you hear what I said? He's making a super army."
Kylie waved her hand dismissively at Alex. "Oh, please. It's Riley. You know he'll find a way to screw it up sooner or later. You have nothing to worry about, Ambrose."
Alex let out a long breath. He had a feeling coming here would be a mistake. "Kylie, he's hurting a lot of people."
Kylie took off her sunglasses and shoved them into her bleached blonde hair. Her piercing blue eyes glared at him. "Well, you had no problem hurting me, Alex."
Alex took his feet out of the water and rolled down his pants. He wanted to avoid this conversation at all costs, but he knew he couldn't. He and Kylie dated long ago, but she always carried a torch for Alex. "That was ages ago, Kylie. It's practically ancient history. Plus, we would have never ended up together. You know Riley would have stood in the way."
"Liar!" She said through gritted teeth. "It wasn't Riley. You were the problem, but you'll never admit it. You just didn't want to fight for me. You just used me and threw me to the side. Well, I'm not letting you use me now, Ambrose."
Alex rubbed his temple. He always found Kylie to be a bit overdramatic. "It was high school, Kylie. You know what happens to people who marry their high school sweethearts? They get divorced."
She stood up tall, as if she were trying to stomp her foot in the water. "You're infuriating. You always were, but I adored you. I was head over heels in love with you. I wanted to start a family and work to build an empire, but you didn't want anything to do with that. At least, not with me. You broke my heart."
Alex rolled his eyes. "You don't even want a family, nor do you ever want to work."
Kylie nodded, acknowledging he had a point. "Okay, sure. But you know what I mean!"
Alex got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Well, it's not like you didn't get me back."
Kylie put a hand over her voluminous chest. "I don't know what you mean."
Alex raised his eyebrows. He even hated to see her pretend as if she didn't know. "Let me jog your memory. The night of the biggest charity gala Ambrose Pharmaceuticals had ever thrown, the guests went home with an extreme case of diarrhea after someone put laxatives in the punch bowl. The same person stood outside the bathroom all night snickering, watching as people literally shit their pants."
Kylie chuckled, then bit her bottom lip. "Then that same person screwed your brains out. Or did you conveniently forget that part?"
Alex brought his palm to his head. He could guess where this conversation was going. "Listen, Kylie, I just want information."
Slowly, with purposeful movements, Kylie climbed out of the pool. She was sopping wet. Droplets of water fell from her skin, and she tossed her wet hair behind her head. "Well, you're not getting anything from me, Ambrose. My lips are sealed. I just don't have it in my heart to betray my poor brother."
Alex clenched his fists. "Bullshit, Kylie. You and I both know you couldn't care less about Riley." He knew exactly what he needed to do, but he didn't want to do it. "How about this? I give you what you want. You give me information."
Kylie wrapped a towel around her waist. Then, she sauntered over to Alex. Her hips accentuated each movement. "You don't know what I want."
Alex squinted at the woman with a smug gaze. He tried to keep himself from gawking at her pendulous chest barely covered by the bikini. "I have a feeling I know exactly what you want."
"You don't," Kylie said indignantly, leaning closer to Alex.
He didn't move a muscle. He watched as Kylie needily tilted her head up. "You sure?"
Kylie's big eyes blinked rapidly as she looked up at Alex. "No," she said. Then, she crashed her lips into his. Alex didn't resist, kissing her back. It was fiery, and passionate, all tongue and teeth.
Alex knew it was wrong. He knew he shouldn't be doing it. He thought of Debbie and Yvonne. Kylie couldn't hold a candle to either of the women, but she was a fierce lover, and Alex couldn't deny he wanted it, too. He had so much stress and pent up energy. He wrapped her arms around her, deepening the kiss. Kylie welcomed the touch. She pressed her body against his.
Alex pushed the feelings of guilt out of his head. This was about saving the world, not cheating on Debbie. Kylie was petty and immature. She would never give him information without something in return. He knew the only way to pull information out of her was to put himself inside her.
She ran her fingers through Alex's hair. "God, I missed you, Ambrose." Alex didn't respond, as he didn't particularly feel the same way.
He slowly walked backward until he reached the door, with Kylie following his every step. "Mind if I let myself inside?"
Kylie scoffed. "Said the man who destroyed my security system."
She jumped up and wrapped her legs around Alex. In one fell swoop, he gathered her up as if she weighed nothing. They began to kiss again, but Alex stopped before he closed the door to the house.
He lifted his head in the direction of his horse. "Gary, stay there. Don't move."
With that, the two resumed their makeout session. Alex carried Kylie toward her bedroom. He already knew the way from their previous rendezvous.
As he leaned down to brush his lips on hers, Alex tucked a piece of hair behind Kylie's ear. "Shall we?"
Meanwhile, while Alex was busy with Kylie, his cell phone, which was tucked away in the pocket of his pants, was blowing up. Christopher and Louis left voicemail after voicemail.
****
"Riley, give it up. This is useless. He isn't answering!" Louis said, his stare fixated on the monitors in Alex's basement.
The two friends were frantically trying to get a hold of Alex.
Christopher waited with bated breath as the phone rang, but, like every time before, it went to voicemail.
"Hi, you've reached–" Christopher didn't even let the recording finish before he slammed down the phone.
"God damn it, Alex!" He shouted.
Somehow, Riley had found a way to hack into SCOT, Alex's AI system. He incessantly barked orders at the men. "Keep calling or quit stalling. It's your call, no pun intended. Where is he?"
Christopher hung up the phone again as the call went straight to voicemail. "I already told you, Naysmith. We have no idea where he is, Riley. Even if we wanted to tell you, we couldn't."
"This is wasting everyone's time," Louis added.
"ENOUGH!" Riley's voice echoed throughout the basement, causing Christopher and Louis to tremble in fear. "You'll call him until sunrise if you have to. We're getting a hold of Alex Ambrose."
***
The next morning, Alex woke up before Kylie. She lay, sprawled out on the king-sized bed. With her hair stuck in her mouth, she drooled on the pillow.
Alex's mouth twisted wryly. "This had better be worth it."
A wave of regret washed over Alex. He knew he had broken Debbie's trust. It was a double-edged sword. On one hand, he knew he needed to get information from Kylie, and he knew the only way to get it was through sex. On the other hand, he loved Debbie, and he didn't want to hurt her. He hoped when he told her that she would understand the predicament he was in.
However, if Alex were being brutally honest with himself, he felt guilty because he actually thought about Yvonne the entire time. It was becoming impossible to deny the feelings he still had for her. She was ever present in his mind.
Sitting up, Alex pressed a hand to his forehead. I can think about this Yvonne and Debbie situation when I'm done fighting Riley, but until then, I need to stay focused. I have to take down Riley, even if that means having sex with Kylie a thousand times, he thought.
He looked back at Kylie. Her fake tan was rubbing off on her white sheets. Alex cringed. Hopefully, it doesn't mean having sex with Kylie a thousand times.
Alex slipped out of bed, butt naked. He looked around for his clothes, which were nowhere to be found. He assumed Kylie hid them in the middle of the night so that he couldn't go running off in the morning. Not that he would run off. After all, he still needed information from her about her brother.
Another thought popped into Alex's head. He wondered what was happening at the house with Louis and Christopher. He hoped that if there was another super soldier attack, they would protect Yvonne and Debbie. Surely they were back from the pharmacy by now. And hopefully, they had gathered some clues as to Riley's whereabouts.
I wonder if Louis and Christopher tried to contact me, Alex thought. My phone is in my clothes. Kylie had better wake up soon and tell me where she hid them. I don't want to spend all day in the buff.
Alex strutted over to the huge window that overlooked Kylie's backyard. He looked out to see his trusty horse standing guard. Gary turned toward Alex, and Alex saluted him. "All in a day's work."
Behind Alex, Kylie's eyes fluttered open. As she watched his every move, her lips twisted into a devious smile. Perfect, she thought to herself. We have him exactly where we want him. He's going to fall right into our trap, and little does he know, Riley is just the beginning.