Unwritten Rules (Filthy Florida Alphas 3)

I don’t know what I expected. Maybe I thought he would kiss me back, or demand a deeper kiss. Instead, he turns away from me and focuses on the men again. In fact, I get the distinct impression he’s blocking me out. The reality of that kind of hurts.

“Let’s get on with this. I need to take Toi back home and fuck her. Why in the hell are you here taking up my air?”

“And there’s the asshole again,” I mutter, mostly to myself, but Graves laughs. Hound just looks at me and there’s something different in his look this time.

“I misjudged you, little one. You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for. It’s good you found a man who recognizes this.”

I don’t know how to answer that, so I don’t say anything.

“Cut the shit, Hound. What the fuck do you want?”

“I don’t think I can answer that. Or we will be fighting and I don’t think Toi would appreciate me killing you.”

“You could try.” Marcum shrugs.

“Word on the street is you’ve attracted the attention of the Garcia bastards, Marcum. That’s dangerous eyes to attract—even for you.”

“Ask me if I give a fuck,” Marcum responds with a shrug. On the surface he looks very relaxed, but my hand is back on his leg and I can feel the tension he’s hiding. I press my hand in tighter. I don’t know why, really. I just want to remind him I’m here.

“Still. You have something valuable now. I’ll admit I didn’t know how valuable until today, but you should watch out.”

“I didn’t get where I am by being stupid. I don’t need you to warn me, Hound. You know who I am. Anyone wants to fuck with me, you tell them to bring it on. I’ll dance on their fucking bones. Let’s go, Dragonfly,” he growls, standing up.

“Dangerous words for a man who holds gold in his hands,” Hound says. Marcum’s body goes still.

“Gold?”

“Five million.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I do now. You get word back. Spread it wide. Anyone fucks with what’s mine and they won’t need to worry about money. They won’t need it where I’ll send them.”

“I’ll spread it,” Hound says, and I’m confused as to what they’re talking about, but I know it’s not good.

“Good, and tell them where I send them, they’ll go in fucking pieces,” Marcum growls.

“It will be done,” Hound agrees.

Marcum wraps his arms around me and pulls me deep into his side—so deep I almost can’t walk. Rachelle the waitress is still there and Marcum looks at her. “They’re paying for our damn bill.” Then he almost pulls me toward the door.

“If you need backup, my crew and I are available.”

“Why? We have no alliance,” Marcum says.

“No. Bu, Toi deserves happiness.” Hound shrugs.

“I’ll be the motherfucker to make sure she gets it. You and your crew can stay out of it,” Marcum answers and with that, we’re gone.

I have no idea what just happened, but I’m not stupid. There’s big shit going down and I got a bad feeling I’m smack dab in the middle of it.49MarcumWhen we got back, I took Toi straight to her room and ordered her to stay there. I put Topper at her door and gave him a brief report of my run-in with Hound and Graves. Then I ordered a meeting.

When I woke up this morning, I had no fucking idea how the day was going to go. I sure didn’t expect it to go to fucking hell the way it has. Now I’m sitting here looking at my men about to declare a fucking war that will put all of their lives in danger.

I don’t take that shit lightly. These men put their lives in my hands and in our life you know the risks, but that doesn’t mean you don’t take every fucking precaution you can to stop it.

“What the fuck is going on, Marcum? You look like you’re about ready to shoot someone’s balls off,” Ride mutters after the silence gets to be too much for him.

“Better watch your berries, Ghost,” String laughs. The other men join in a bit, but the mood is fucking somber and they feel it. For his part, Ghost doesn’t respond. He’s watching me, but it’s not with the anger he has been showing me.

“Got word today there’s a contract out on one of our own.”

“Motherfucker,” someone growls. I don’t know who, but there’s a chorus of similar words spread around the room.

“Who the fuck would do something like that? We’ve beat down most of the fuckers around here to cement our hold,” Moth demands.

“I don’t know the specifics. Ghost, that’s your job. By the end of the day I want to know every fucking detail you can get on the contract, the terms and exactly when and who ordered it.”