Big Girls Don't Cry Read online

  Praise for Big Girls Don’t Cry...

  “Sizzling Romantic Suspense at its best! As the danger rages, their passions flare!”

  KDR

  “Taking down an international drug ring? Solving a vicious murder? All in a day’s work for the sexy special agent. Taming an irresistible woman as tough as she is beautiful? Now that’s another story!”

  L. Takamia

  “She’s an accomplished martial artist as fierce as she is beautiful. He sees the wounded woman beneath her tough exterior and is determined to protect her no matter how hard she resists.”

  J. John

  “The blond haired beauty hits the streets to find her brother’s killer. In the sleazy cesspool of drug dealers, strippers and pimps, she closes in on the killer. But he’s out to get her before she gets him.”

  Sneaky Romance Reader

  “An edgy mystery thriller with pulse pounding action and steamy romance. Unforgettable characters that will capture your heart.”

  Action Junkie

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  Afterword

  Other Works by Taylor Lee

  Works by Other Authors

  About the Author

  Contact Information

  Copyright Information

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  The strains of Welcome to the Jungle pounded through the crowded bar. Lexie closed her eyes and gave in to the beat. The pulsating thump of the drums drowned out the sounds, even the smells and most of the sights of the shabby bar. She sauntered and shimmied across the stage, pretending that she was on a private walkway available just to her and the music. Only the occasional “shake it baby,” cut through her dreamy state.

  The ruffie Maria gave her before she went on helped. Laughing a harsh laugh, Maria told her to give in to it. She’d winked. “Let the drug work. Hell, little girl, you’re gonna find that little pill makes a lot of bad shit okay. Maybe even fun.”

  When the music shifted and the throbbing heat of Naughty Girl filled the air, Lexie leaned against the pole. She closed her eyes, trying to remember how Maria showed her how to work the pole. Right, pretend you are a cat climbing the pole. Tossing back her head, Lexie thrust her chest up high. She inched her hands above her head and spread her feet apart. Clinging to the pole, she kicked her four inch high heeled shoe up and over the pole. Maria said that she should do that a lot, that she had great legs. Lexie turned her back to the audience and bent over at the waist. Maria told her men liked to see your butt. Much as she hated showing it to them, the whistles and cheers got louder when she wiggled it. Guess Maria was right.

  At the musical cue, she choked back a frightened gulp. This was it, time to “take it off.” Trying to gain time, she swayed her hips from side to side. Her fingers shook as she struggled to unhook the silver button holding the insignificant strips of satin covering her breasts. She reminded herself: Take a deep breath, don’t look at them. She whispered her mantra: It’s just you, Lexie girl, just you.

  At the welcoming roar, when she stood up and faced the blur of the crowd, she breathed a sigh of relief. They liked it! They liked her breasts! Encouraged, she tossed her long blond hair over her shoulders and pranced across the stage, twirling the strip of scarlet satin over her head. From the sidelines she spotted Moses, her boss. His fat lips curled in a sneering grin. His beady eyes gleamed. He jerked his head at her as if he was pleased. Relief flooded her. Thank God. Moses told her that if the men liked her, he might give her a job, maybe even a room in the back.

  As the music throbbed to the close, she turned away from the crowd and tugged at the strings holding the matching satin thong in place. She dreaded this part. She hated being naked, especially in front of all these men. Moses promised that once she pulled the strings and shed the scrap of material, the music would crash to a halt and the spotlights would go to black. She’d told Moses that she’d dance as many times a night as he wanted, as long as she didn’t have to face the screaming men naked. She couldn’t handle their ugly leers.

  Just as she made a teasing show of tugging at the satin strings there was a crash of splintering wood and angry shouts from the back of the bar. The music screeched to a ragged halt. Horrified at her naked body, Lexie covered her breasts as best she could and stumbled back. At first, she thought it was a fight. But the huge man causing the ruckus was rushing toward the stage. He kicked over chairs as if they were toothpicks and knocked a table to the floor, glasses and bottles shattering in his wake. Saul, the mammoth bouncer, tunneled his way through the crowd to the stage. A tight knot of angry men surged forward, but the big man pushed them aside and charged the stage. Lexie cowered against his advance and for once didn’t mind Saul’s meaty fist gripping her arm.

  The blond haired man grabbed the bouncer’s wrist and jerked him back. Saul roared and launched himself at the stranger. The man was as tall as Saul, but nowhere near the two hundred and eighty pounds of the beefy bouncer. The blond man feinted to the left and did the impossible. He drove his hip into Saul’s gut and threw him over his shoulder. Saul crashed against the stage, smashing his head against the ridged edge, blood spouting from his ear. The attacker closed in on him with a series of fearsome kicks and strikes and pummeled Saul in the gut, head, and face. He stepped back only when Saul lay on the floor, a quivering mass, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

  As Moses, the bar owner, and Panches, the other bouncer, muscled their way to the stage, the crowd stepped back, muttering in amazement. Moses reached out to seize Lexie when the stranger spoke. His voice was astonishingly calm, given the melee surrounding them.

  “Touch her and it’s the last thing you will do.”

  Moses’ face flushed an angry red. He sputtered, “What the fuck!” but stepped back when the man leapt on the stage and strode toward him.

  Encompassing Panches in his menacing glare, the stranger said, “You heard me. Either one of you touches her and you are a dead man.”

  He locked his eyes on theirs, daring them to move. Stripping off his jacket, he eased toward Lexie and wrapped the fleece around her shoulders. Lexie gasped when he pulled her up next to him and put a protective arm around her. Through the din in her ears, she recognized his voice. She knew it, but refused to believe it was him.

  Moses shrieked, sputtering with rage, “Who the fuck do you think you are? That’s my property you are manhandling. Let go of her now, you son of a bitch, or so help me God, the police will be here any minute and…”

  The man held up his hand and stopped Moses in mid-sentence. His voice was soft, threatening.

  “Who am I? I am the man who is taking my sister out of this hellhole.” He added, “My sixteen year old sister.”

  Moses paled. “What the hell? Hey, man, no way!”

  He stared at Lexie. She cringed at his angry glare.

  “Fuck, man, she told me that she was eighteen. She had an ID.”

  He backed away from the big man and held up his hands.

  “Christ, dude. You think I’m gonna take a chance like that? Ruin my whole fucking business hiring a little… p…”

  The ugly word died in his throat when the blond man grabbed him. Twisting his shirt front in a tight fist, he dragged Moses up close to him. Moses’ face was purple, his eyes bugging out as he struggled helplessly to free the big man’s grip.

  The blond man’s eyes were like ice, his expression savage. “What do I think? I think you’d hire a fourteen year old girl if she was desperate enough, hungry enough to shed her clothes for a bunch of perverted assholes who get off seeing vulnerable kids naked.”

  Shoving Moses back against Panches, the man broadened his angry gaze to include the customers close to the stage.

  “To be clear, I’m al
so the man who will kill anyone who stands in my way.”

  Turning back to Moses, he glowered, “And, you, you disgusting piece of pigshit. Don’t bother to call the police. They’re on their way. A better idea is to call your lawyer. You better have a good one. There isn’t a court in this state that won’t shut down a skin joint that forces sixteen year old girls to strip.”

  The big man half dragged, half carried Lexie off the stage. He looked over his shoulder, piercing the stunned bar owner with a fierce glare.

  “In case, you’re wondering who is responsible for shutting you down, the name’s Beloi, Sergeant Anthony Beloi, Special Forces, U.S. Army.”

  ~~~

  Anthony grimaced at her ragged jeans and dirty t-shirt. It was all he could find behind the makeshift stage. When he asked her where the rest of her things were, she just shrugged and refused to answer.

  She hunched in the passenger seat, putting as much distance as she could between them. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, Anthony almost grinned at her defiant glare.

  His voice was soft. “Ah, Lexie, you’re as stubborn as you ever were, aren’t you, girl?”

  She snapped. “Don’t call me that. My name is Alexis.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, honey. You’ve always been Lexie to me and you always will be.”

  She tossed her head and said through clenched teeth, “Ha! I’m surprised you even remember my name.”

  Anthony sighed. “Lexie, a day hasn’t gone by in the last six years that I haven’t thought of you. You’ve been at the heart of every prayer I’ve said.”

  He glanced at her when she didn’t answer. He thought he saw tears in her eyes.

  “God, Lexie, don’t cry. You’ll break my heart.”

  She spit out an angry retort, “I don’t cry. I never cry!”

  Anthony shook his head in disbelief.

  “You used to cry when you were a little girl.”

  She glared at him, defiance glittering in her eyes.

  “I’m not a little girl anymore. And, I don’t cry. Ever!”

  She turned away, her lips stuck out in an angry pout.

  Anthony smiled. If it wasn’t so sad, he’d laugh. It was the way she looked when she was eight--furious when he took her bike or wouldn’t let her tag after him.

  He sighed, trying to connect with her, to break through the hard shell that she’d built around herself.

  “Lexie, you gotta know something. I’ve done some bad things in my life.”

  For a split second, she looked interested then dismissed him. “Who hasn’t?”

  He agreed. “You are right about that, Lexie. We both have. But, honey, the path you’re on is a steep one and it goes straight down. It doesn’t get any better.”

  She tossed her head. “You’re wrong. I’m a good dancer. Moses says I am. If you hadn’t barged in and ruined it for me.”

  Her voice rose and she glared at him.

  “You spoiled everything. They thought I was eighteen. Some people even think I’m twenty. But, oh, no. You had to ruin it, didn’t you?”

  Anthony’s voice was firm.

  “You’re not eighteen or twenty or thirty-five, Lexie. You are barely sixteen. And, honey, those assholes didn’t give a rat’s ass how old you are. They’d have kept you until the drugs and the pimps took you down. Then they’d throw you back out on the streets and find another gullible fifteen or sixteen year old with big tits.”

  He frowned, trying to squelch the anger rising in him.

  “Do you think I don’t know all the stuff that’s happened since I left you? That I don’t have nightmares about it every damn day of the week? Do you think I’m that stupid, Lexie? That I don’t know what happens to girls and boys who run away from home, who live on the streets?”

  When she looked at him surprised, he continued. “Yeah, Lexie, it happens to boys, too.”

  She peered out the window and wouldn’t meet his eyes. Her face glowed pale in the flashing neon lights of the shops they passed. His heart clenched. The garish makeup smeared on her face couldn’t hide the vulnerable girl beneath.

  “Lexie, let me tell you something, honey. And you better listen to me. If I do one goddamn thing right in my life, I’m going to make sure that from this minute on you’re safe. Do you understand?”

  She sneered. “Kind of like you told me when you let the cops take you away. That you’d be back? That you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me?”

  “Lexie, I meant those words. It’s taken me six years to find you. Ever since the army helped me get my head out of my ass, I’ve been tracking you. I’ve ploughed through child protective services in four states and finally got a bead on you.”

  He continued, his voice stern, intense. “You understand, Lexie? I never stopped looking for you. But I’ve found you now and I will never let you go.”

  They rode in silence.

  Lexie glanced over at him. He was staring straight ahead. He looked upset.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To your new home.”

  When they turned the corner, Anthony pulled into the driveway of a small house. It looked like it was connected to a low building that had a sign in Chinese.

  Lexie sneered. “Oh great. Now, you’re gonna sic me on a bunch of Chinks?”

  “Chinese, honey. The word is Chinese.”

  She sniffed and looked away. She bit her lips to keep them from trembling.

  “Are you…are you leaving me here?”

  Anthony’s voice was resigned. “I’ve already overstayed my leave. I gotta head back to Afghanistan first thing in the morning.”

  Lexie crouched against the door, trying to shove down her fear.

  Anthony’s voice was gentle. “Listen to me, Lexie. Wan Li is a master martial artist. He is proficient in seven different forms of hand to hand fighting. He saved my life. He and his wife have offered to let you stay here until you are old enough to be on your own. All you have to do is help clean the dojo and not run away. Will you do that?”

  He opened her car door and helped her out. She tried to pull away, but his grip was firm.

  The front door of the house opened. An older Chinese man stood in the doorway. He bowed to her. “Good evening. You are Alexis?”

  She sneered, “Maybe, maybe not. What’s it to you?”

  Anthony scowled. “Lexie, please.”

  Lexie gave a scornful snort. She pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and blew smoke at the older man.

  The Chinese man frowned.

  “We do not like smoking in our home.”

  Lexie gave him an insolent smirk, “What are you going to do about it?”

  To her surprise, a smile crinkled his stern face. Ignoring her, he grinned at Anthony.

  “She will be a strong fighter, yes?” With a knowing smile he added, “When she starts training, she will stop smoking.”

  Anthony returned his grin. “Yes, she will, if she wants to breathe.” His grin faded. His expression was solemn. “Teach her to protect herself, Master Wan.”

  The Chinese man smiled. “The way I taught you, Anthony?”

  Anthony bowed low. “Yes, Master Wan. The way you taught me.”

  ~~~

  The next morning, Anthony slipped into the living room. Lexie was huddled in the chair she’d slept in all night. He wanted to say good bye. To reassure her that he would be back in six months, that he would e-mail every chance he got. Looking at her tousled hair and lovely face lined with fatigue, his gut clenched. She looked like the little golden sprite that had chased after him adoringly until their lives had gone to shit. Once again, he made a silent promise that no one would hurt her again. He wouldn’t allow it.

  He tucked the blanket around her, careful not to wake her. Leaning down, he kissed her cheek and whispered, “Love you, Lex.”

  The door closed softly behind him. Lexie swallowed hard and tugged the blanket tight up under her chin. No one had told her that they loved her for six years, since the last time she saw
Anthony.

  Chapter 1

  10 Years Later

  San Francisco, Ca.

  Fists and feet pounded the heavy bags. Flying bodies crashed against the floor and walls. The high pitched shrieks of the fighters ricocheted through the dojo. Lexie breathed in deep. These were the sights and sounds she treasured. She focused on the young Chinese girl standing in front of her, her worshipful eyes wide with admiration and excitement. Lexie smiled at her and motioned her forward. “This is it, Ming Su. One more week and you will get your black belt, yes?”

  The young woman smiled tentatively, then frowning in concentration, she assumed a fighting stance. At Lexie’s signal, Ming Su shrieked a warrior cry and aimed a fierce kick at Lexie’s shoulder. Lexie feinted to the side and blocked the kick. But Ming Su spun in a circle and caught her on her hip. Lexie grinned and shouted, “Right on, girl! That’s the way to show up your sensei.” The young woman followed the kick with a flurry of strikes, all of which Lexie parried while grinning in delight. She allowed herself a moment of triumph at the young girl’s skill. Two years ago, Ming Li had been a frightened fourteen year old, a shadow of a girl cowering in the corner of the dojo. Now she faced her acknowledged master with determination and skill.

  Ming Su ducked to the left and in a flying leap drove her heel into the side of Lexie’s head. The kick wasn’t hard, but Lexie was lost in her thoughts and didn’t see it coming. A blinding pain reverberated through her head and she fell to the floor. A wave of fury swept over her. Red haze blurred her sight. She rose from the floor with a shriek and aimed a ferocious kick at the startled young girl, knocking her to the floor. Lexie spun in a circle, her fists raised, preparing to launch a vicious attack, when a stern voice rang out.