Velvet Fire - Ashby Crime Family Romance

“What is all this shit anyway? This plan sounded complicated, but not this complicated.” The car was filled with cases and cords and shit.

Cal laughed and clicked a button that seemed to shut everything up tight. Nice and secure. “We need the equipment to execute the plan,” he said and pointed at the bigger silver and black hard cases that sat off to one side. “And the rest to monitor and make adjustments as needed.”

I groaned, suddenly regretting letting the resident nerd get involved. “This seems like too much shit not to get caught.” The only way the plan would work is if the Feds believed it was an inside job.

“Settle down, man. It’s all taken care of. I promise.” He flashed a self-assured grin and I did relax. Cal was young and he wasn’t dumb, but it looked like we all needed to give him a little more credit.

“I promise,” he said again.

“I believe you. Where do you want to set up?”

Cal looked around and shrugged. “Library or media room, I guess.”

I nodded and we took fifteen minutes to carry everything to the media room, which had enough floor space to lay everything out plus room for Cal, Jasper and Sadie to monitor from a safe distance.

“Good?”

Cal looked at everything twice and with a critical eye before he turned his gaze to me. “I’ll take about forty-five minutes and then I’ll be good to go.”

I frowned at him. “You’re not going anywhere. You stay here and watch.”

Cal barked out a laugh. “And you’re gonna operate the drones? Do you even know how?”

I wanted to bristle at his incredulous tone, like it would be so fucking ridiculous that I did something he could do, but he was right. I knew fuck all about these gadgets.

“You can teach me.”

He shook his head, amusement fading when he realized I was serious.

“Besides,” I said, serious now. “Sadie will kill me herself if something happens to you.”

She didn’t play favorites but Calvin was the baby of the bunch and she did treat him differently.

Calvin sighed. “I can take care of myself. The sooner you and Jas start acting like it, the sooner she will too.”

His frustration was palpable and I understood it completely, but that changed nothing.

“I know you can, but the shit I do is dangerous. No matter how prepared you are, a stray bullet can find you. It might be a risk you’re willing to take, but you’re not the boss.”

His thick auburn brows pulled into a low, annoyed vee and Calvin waved his hand dismissively in my direction. “Fine. Go do whatever it is you need to do while I get things set up.”

I left Calvin to it and made my way back to the front of the house, just as Jasper arrived with Sadie, who always dressed like some Upper East Side trophy wife.

“When I said dinner, I meant dinner,” she said instead of a proper greeting. “But a working dinner is still dinner,” she said with a smile and clapped her hands, which sent two vans filled with service workers—cleaners, cooks, wait staff and assistants—into a frenzy of movement. They piled out, one by one, each of them carrying supplies relevant to their assigned duties. In less than a minute the vans had been moved to the back of the property and all evidence of the help had been erased.

It was impressive even for Sadie. “Where’s Kat?”

“Busy,” Jas answered vaguely. “She’ll be here later. Are we good to go?”

I shrugged. “Cal is setting things up now. He’ll let us know when he’s done.”

“Not good enough,” Jasper growled and glared at me like it was my fucking fault.

“Then I suggest you take it up with Cal.”

“Take what up with me?” The question came from behind me but Jasper’s shocked expression said he’d meant to speak a bit more quietly.

“Well?” His black and gray button up, the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, was now open to show off a black t-shirt underneath.

“Jas wants to know why you work so fucking slow.”

“Asshole,” he muttered and flipped our older brother off when Sadie’s attention was on the young men dashing around the place to get it ready for another Ashby family meal.

“Everything is set up,” Cal said trying not to boast. “Come on.”

All of us, even Sadie, followed Cal down the hall and into the media room where everything was set up just as he’d explained to me. A snifter of whiskey and four tumblers were also on a small table right in the center of the room. Jasper’s request I assumed.

“This isn’t a school project, little brother.” Jasper, of course, couldn’t help but give Cal shit and, as usual, it didn’t go over well.

“No fucking shit. This is how you make sure shit goes according to plan when you need it to. It’s called practice but you might know it as jacking off.”