He ignored the hole I’d put in the wall. It wasn’t the first one I’d ever put there and it probably wouldn’t be the last. “Yes. Ben’s got some of the guys watching her and has reported no problems. No backlash from Mario’s people.”
“Good,” I murmured.
“You calmed down enough to discuss Phil Deacon?”
“Yeah, what the fuck’s he up to now?”
“Ben’s been investigating, and has confirmed Phil’s definitely putting a bid in for the Hurley job. Ben’s also been able to confirm Phil’s got you in his sights.”
I frowned. “How so?”
“Not sure yet, but he’s told his men anything goes.”
“Yeah, I bet he has. Keep Ben on him.” I stared at him for a moment. “This is gonna be a fucking cock fight, isn’t it?”
He grimaced. “Yeah.”
Just what we fucking need.
Chapter Thirteen
Layla
“Have you heard from him?” Jess asked while she straightened the bottles of alcohol on the shelf behind the bar.
I watched her from the bar stool I’d sat my ass on fifteen minutes ago. Weariness had claimed me and it was only four in the afternoon. How the hell was I going to make it through the night? “No,” I answered her and did my best to ignore the ache in my heart.
She jerked her head around to look at me. “Shit, what’s it been now? Like, five days?”
“Jess, I know you’re obsessively compulsive about those labels facing out but even you’ve taken this too far. This is the third time you’ve done it today and the day’s hardly even begun,” I said, distracting her.
Glaring at me, she muttered, “Shut up. We hardly have any customers and I get all fidgety when I’m not busy. The fucking labels call to me, and I can’t shut them up.”
I laughed and held up my hands defensively. “The labels are all yours.”
“Now answer my question,” she said as she finished with the bottles and gave me her full attention.
I sighed. “Yes, five days.”
I miss him.
“Why don’t you call him? It’s not like you to let a man walk all over you.”
I sighed. “He’s broken somehow.”
She shrugged. “So? We all are in our own way, babe.”
“Yeah, we are, but he’s really struggling with it at the moment I think.”
“So push him. If you want to pursue something with him, fucking fight for it.”
“I know I should, but . . . ”
She cut me off. “No fucking buts, Layla. Either you want him or you don’t. It’s as simple as that. And really, it surprises me that you haven’t confronted him and squeezed his balls till he came to his senses. So unlike you.”
I leant against the bar to get closer to her, almost like I was sharing a secret. “You know guys . . . some of them fuck you around with bullshit commitment hang-ups or other shit. Donovan’s different. I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s all fucking man . . . I don’t think he has it in him to fuck around with trivial shit like that. The stuff he’s dealing with seems bigger than that, and I feel like he just needs some space to sort through it.”
She listened to what I said and then moved closer to me. “Okay, I get that, but you should still call him. Let him know you’re here for him. Let him know he’s not alone if he doesn’t want to be.”