2. A Name. Jackson Storm

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Crystal's POV

My vision was beginning to blur from constantly staring at the computer screen as I tried to make sense of what was there. As I tried to find some clue as who Thomas Gavin was. Marrek had yet to call me back with news of any kind-good or bad-and I was getting restless. Wanting-needing to be doing something that felt like I was making progress.

The ringing of my phone cut through my thoughts and I practically lunged across my bed to get to it. Disappointment flashed through me as I realized it was not Marrek calling me back. Anger and annoyance soon replaced it as I stared at the familiar number. Annoyance because I didn't want to deal with him right now. Anger because right now that number was a reminder of my failure and Thomas Gavin's victory.

I debated letting the call go unanswered. He'd call back for sure, but not any time soon. Not if he believed I was in a position where I couldn't safely take his call. Ultimately though, I knew I would only be putting off the inevitable.

I answered the phone and put it up to my ear. "Carver," I said into the phone as way of greeting.

"There's been a lot of news coverage about you and your father," He said and my annoyance with him only escalated.

"Riveting subject," I replied dryly. "Do continue. I hadn't had the slightest idea that we'd been in the news. I mean it's not as if there are reporters camped out outside the gates of our house or anything."

"Tone down the sarcasm," He said. "I wasn't trying to poke fun at you. I was actually going to ask if you wanted me to deal with the media."

"Cut the crap," I said harshly. "You don't actually give a damn about the media shining a spotlight on us unless it interferes with your precious investigation."

"You can believe that all you want but I'm not your enemy, Miss Carver."

"What was the point of this call?"

He was silent for a moment. "I wanted to make sure everything was going alright and you'd still be able to make the exchange."

"Everything is fine," Lie. "This scandal changes nothing."

"The reporters camped out outside your estate say otherwise. You going to be able to get away unseen?"

"I always have, haven't I?" I asked. "There are more ways out of here than just walking out the front door. Don't bother dealing with the reporters. If my father gets wind that they back off he'll be suspicious and he'll start digging."

"Yes," He paused. "I look forward to our meeting Miss Carver, until then don't take any unnecessary chances. I'm going to be out of town for a little while, but if you need me call me. And let me know if you need me to do anything about the scandal."

"I've got it under control." I hung up. I so did not have it under control.

He did not need to be made aware of that, however.

I groaned and flopped back on my bed, my hands over my face. At the moment, I could not think about how this situation could possibly get any worse. Unfortunately, with my luck, I knew it was bound to get much worse.

Screw you, Thomas Gavin. May you rot from the inside out and be ground into dust.

I got up from my bed and walked out of my room, going downstairs to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. I sat at the kitchen counter for a while, gathering my thoughts and trying to figure out what I could possibly do next. When I came up empty I took the pot of coffee and went back up to my room.

I didn't know how long I was seated on my bed, computer opened in front of me and coffee cup nestled in my hands when Julie pushed open the door to my room and then stopped in her tracks.

"Have you been up all night?" She asked me.

I picked up my phone from beside me to look at the time. "I guess so," I replied as I put my phone back down.

Julie eyed the empty coffee pot and the cup in my hands. "How many of those have you had?"

I shook my head. "I wasn't keeping track."

Julie just gave me a look and took a seat on the bed next to me, looking over at my computer screen.

"Well you've made no progress," She said.

I glared at her.

"What?" She questioned as she started clicking through the various websites and searches I had up. "I take it Marrek has yet to call you back."

I nodded. "If it was anyone other than Marrek I think I'd be a little worried, but instead I'm just frustrated I haven't got a call from him yet."

"Yeah well," Julie started as she continued to click through screens. "I wouldn't know. You never told me exactly who Marrek is to you and what he does."

I knew she was expecting me to chime in. To tell her all about him, but I wasn't going to. Best friend or not, I made a promise to Marrek and I never broke a promise.

She seemed to understand that I wasn't going to say anything more about him and didn't press the matter any further.

We sat in silence for a long while as we continued to pour over the photos and documents I had printed out and searched through the internet for anything that could potentially lead to Thomas Gavin.

Problem was, I was certain Thomas Gavin was not actually his name. Which meant we were looking for a ghost. I didn't know his real name and I had no idea what he really looked like. It wasn't even like looking for a needle in a haystack, it was like looking for a particular piece of hay in a haystack. It wasn't going to happen.

The more time that passed, the more I was losing hope and the angrier I was becoming. I was practically convinced when Marrek did finally call that he'd be giving me nothing but bad news.

"Your parents don't think it's weird you've been spending all your time up in your room?" Julie asked me as she shuffled through a stack of papers.

I shook my head. "With everything going on in the media right now, they think I need time to myself to cope. Besides, my dad had a business meeting to go to and my mom was supposed to go see about some new role in a new TV show. Neither one of them are home."

Immediately after I said there was a crash from downstairs.

Julie jumped and dropped the papers she'd been holding. I jumped up and moved to the doorway of my room, holding up my hand to Julie to stay where she was.

I had barely cracked open the door to peek into the hall when the door was thrown open into me and I landed on my back on the floor with a large furry dog on top of me.

"Oh my God," Julie said and her eyes got wide as she stared at the dog.

I, however, was trying to fend off his slobbery licks as he licked my face.

"Hunter!" A booming voice shouted. The dog immediately got off me and sat in front of me, head tilted to the side and his tongue hanging out of his mouth, tail wagging furiously.

Julie was still staring wide-eyed at the dog and I knew why, because this dog looked a lot more like a wolf than a dog.

I reached my hand out and started to scratch him behind his ears. "I thought you were going to call," I said as I turned to the man leaning in my doorway, looking down at me and his dog, arms crossed over his chest, and his expression unreadable.

"I was in the neighborhood," Marrek replied. He gestured to Hunter. "Sorry about him, he got excited and he might have knocked over a vase downstairs." He turned to Julie and nodded in acknowledgment and greeting. "Julie."

I waved him off and continued to scratch Hunter, his tail swishing loudly across the floor and his whole body practically vibrating with energy. "It's fine," I said. "I'll take care of it later."

Hunter gave a loud bark as if knowing we were talking about him. Marrek narrowed his eyes at him. "He's supposed to be better trained than this."

"He missed me," I said with a smile and Hunter gave another bark. "Besides, I've seen you with him out in public, he always stays by your side."

"Yeah," Marrek agreed. "He listens when it involves strangers. If it's someone he knows fairly well then all bets are off." He waved his hand at Hunter. "As you can see."

Hunter turned and barked at Marrek. Marrek frowned at him and Hunter opened his mouth, showing off all his teeth. Marrek glared at him and Hunter barked happily and ran over to him, pressing himself into his leg.

Marrek's glare disappeared and his frown softened as he rubbed Hunter's head, Hunter trying to lick his hand the entire time.

"I'm sorry," Julie spoke up. "But am I to actually believe that that's a dog?"

Marrek shrugged. "Half, and then half wolf."

"He looks all wolf," Julie replied.

Marrek didn't comment on this but I saw a small smile tug at his lips. He liked that Hunter looked entirely like a wolf. It made people back away and stay away from him. He made Marrek appear threatening, not that Marrek needed him to look threatening.

Marrek was just over six feet tall and all bulging muscles. He was the equivalent of a human tank. He kept his hair cut in a military buzz cut, his eyes were dark brown almost black in color and the expression he usually wore on his face was that of an enraged bull. I didn't know his actual age but guessed it to be somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. His skin tone was definitely darker than mine but lighter than Julie's. He was half black and half I didn't even know what else. I didn't even think he did and I knew he would have no desire to find out. His name was actually Sean Marrek, but he hated being called Sean. So, Marrek it was.

"I didn't know you had a dog," Julie said as she watched Hunter with a look of curiosity.

"I didn't want to talk to you," Marrek said bluntly.

Julie's eyes narrowed as she glared at him. She had met him before, but as he said, he'd never really spoken to her other than to acknowledge she was in the room.

That was the other thing about Marrek. He was stubborn as hell, hard to handle, volatile, always spoke his mind and was blunt to the point of being rude. More often than not, people found him extremely unpleasant to deal with. Sometimes I agreed with them. He had no filter and didn't give a damn what anyone thought of him, or whether or not they liked him.

"You could have just called," I said as I finally got to my feet and took his attention away from Julie and back to me. Her attitude would run rival with his.

Marrek shook his head. "No, I couldn't have. There was an . . . we'll call it an incident. My phone was collateral damage."

"Incident?" I asked. "Care to clarify?"

"Not particularly."

I glared at him. He glared back.

Finally, he blew out a sigh and shot me a look of annoyance. "I had a run-in with the man your father hired. Let's just say your father won't be hearing from him anymore."

"Um, what?" Julie questioned, her eyes wide.

I grabbed Marrek's arm. "We'll be right back," I said to Julie as I pulled him out of my room and into the hallway, closing the door behind me. "You did not need to say that in front of her."

"She's your friend," Marrek stated. "I assumed you explained to her what was going on."

"I've kept her mostly in the dark about all this."

"Your mistake."

I blew out a long sigh. "I wasn't going to go into all the details about this stuff. I don't want her dragged into this mess any more than she is."

"She's a big girl, she can take it."

I glared at him again.

"I'm sorry, but do you know your friend at all?"

I frowned at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"She's part of the underground street racing ring in this city and her brothers take her to all the street fighting matches."

"Yes," I replied. "I am aware, but there is still a difference between that and killing people."

Marrek shrugs. "Just a moral compass."

I glared at him yet again. "So, why is it that you've decided to grace me with your presence instead of just picking up a new cellphone and calling me?"

"I found out several things about that guy you wanted me to look into. First, there's no such person as Thomas Gavin, or I'm sure there probably is, but they're not the guy you're looking for. Second, you will not believe how many aliases and names I had to go through just to learn anything about him. Third, you were right when you guessed that he changed his appearance often. I have a whole suitcase's worth of pictures that don't look anything alike, and yet they're all of him. And finally, I got a name. Whether or not it's his legal name, I don't know, but it is the name he goes by when he's not conning people."

I felt my heart to start to beat faster as excitement and adrenaline started to kick in. "Well?" I asked him when he said nothing else.

Marrek was looking at me sternly. "Just because I found you a name, doesn't mean this guy's going to be easy to find. It could take a long time to track him down."

"I don't have a long time," I replied. As a matter of fact, I was out of time.

"I figured that would be your answer."

"Are you going to tell me the name or not?"

And then he spoke the name, first and last, of the bastard I was going to strangle first chance I got. The man who'd singlehandedly destroyed my public image and shined ever spotlight in my direction in a bad way.

"Jackson Storm."

It was more than just a name though. It was a place to start.

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