Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“He has that much respect?”
“I don’t know the history. I just know that’s how it works. I also know no one gets an audience with this guy unless they know him, or they’ve got an in. We’ve been trying for six months to get in front of him.”
Thank you, Jinx.
“And last, he hasn’t made it a secret he’s pissed as shit this crew that took Homer is operating in his jurisdiction the way they are,” Eric concluded.
“Do you know where his garage is?”
“Everyone does. We’re en route now.”
“Okay, baby. See you soon.”
“Jess?”
This time, he caught me from hanging up. “Yeah?”
“We called Clarice who got us in touch with Javi. He and Jeff are coming down.”
My stomach sank.
“We need to know what they know,” Eric explained. “We tried to get it over the phone, but Javi refused. Demanded face to face.”
Which meant he was also going to demand they be in on the takedown.
This also meant I was right.
Damn you, Javi!
“But they’re at least an hour out,” Eric continued. “So, if Titus can get us the intel, we can deal with this before they get here.”
My stomach sank further.
“No one has anything good to say about these guys,” I told him.
“Because there’s nothing good to say,” he told me.
“What I mean is—”
“Jessica, did I promise to get Homer for you?”
My breath was shaky again when I drew it in and let it out.
Then I said, “I think this is more than your average dangerous, Turner.”
“And I think we’re in a trust exercise we didn’t expect, Jess. This is not all I do, but it’s part of it.”
Okay, trust.
I could trust him.
It was the bad guys I didn’t trust.
“You with me?” he asked.
“Mostly.”
“Jessie,” he whispered.
“I’ll get the rest of the way while you drive here.”
“There’s my girl. See you soon.”
“’Bye, Eric.”
We hung up.
“So there it is. They’re coming,” I told Raye something she heard herself.
“Great…and fuck.”
My thoughts exactly.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
We went to the door and knocked.
“If I know you’re coming back, you don’t have to knock!” Titus yelled.
We went in, with Raye saying, “Sorry. We didn’t know the protocol.”
Titus grinned, wide and white.
“They’re coming,” I told him.
“And here’s me with my SI, waiting for the Suns game to start, thinking my night would be boring,” he replied.
“We’re not really good at boring,” Harlow, for the first time, chimed in.
“I’m gettin’ that, pretty baby,” Titus cooed to her.
She blushed.
Good Lord, it was like she was collecting gorgeous, gigantic, morally dubious, but still sweet hot guys.
Titus stood, and we all watched, for my part, with my lips parted, as he demonstrated how gigantic he was.
I was understanding some of the respect now.
“I’m feelin’ wine. A good red. Anyone feelin’ wine?” he asked.
He got a chorus of “Me!” from Jinx’s crew.
I stepped forward.
“I’m a mixologist, and I’m sorry to contradict, but if this situation doesn’t say dirty martini, none do.”
Another grin, an extended arm toward the bar, and an invitation of, “Mi cantina es tú cantina, darlin’.”
Everybody’s cantina was my cantina.
I moved behind the bar, got the lay of the land, and as I was in my happy place, I felt a little bit better.
Though, only a little.
When the knock came at the door fifteen minutes later, we were all lounged on the couches drinking martinis (except Jinx and Persia were lounged on the arms of Titus’s chair, and Genesis and Skyla were sitting at the bar).
Titus looked to the screen on his watch, which told me he had a camera that showed him who was at the door.
“Enter!” he bellowed.
The men entered.
Not just Eric and Cap with Mace thrown in.
All of them.
Eric, Cap, Mace, Roam, Liam, Knox, Gabe and Brady.
I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of hotness, so I had to blink rapidly to assist my brain in not shutting down due to overload.
“Well, fuck me, it’s The Expendables, the early years,” Titus remarked.
I wanted to laugh, because it was funny, but I was too busy taking in Eric staring at me, lounging on a killer tan leather couch, drinking a martini.
“I think they do this investigative shit a lot better than we do,” Mace muttered.
I bit my lip.
Harlow let loose a giggle, then swallowed it.
Titus stood again, saying, “The ladies are comfortable. Let’s take this outside.”
I stood too.
Titus instantly stopped moving.
Eric said quietly, “Jessie.”
It messed with my head, but I sat down.
The men moved outside.
Once the door closed, Persia advised, “You gotta give ’em room to swing their dicks.”
“Even if they don’t know you’re givin’ ’em room,” Genesis chimed in.
“They’ll think they claimed the space.” That was Skyla. “They never figure out you cleared it for them.”
“You got Javi, you got Titus, you tapped a direct vein to the street, bitch,” Jinx said. “You get that, you play the game the way they make the rules.”
I didn’t like being left out, but I took in their wisdom.