“Got some fresh meat for you. Get them settled, wave all registration fees, and have them fill out their schedules.” I turned to the grumpy guy. “Name?”
“Lance.” He gulped. His eyes clouded with uncertainty.
“Lance here…” I slapped him on his back. “Is going to be your liaison with the rest of the group. Whatever he says goes unless it’s illegal or gets people killed.” I was really giving them a lot of power. “And Lance?”
“Yes.” He gulped.
“Betray me, and I slit your throat while your friends watch, and then one by one they’ll have the same fate, do you understand me?”
“Y-yes.”
“Good.” I sighed. “I’m placing men outside the building for your protection not to keep you in, but to keep others out, Tank’s gonna stay and contact me if you need anything, we’ll be in touch.”
With that, I left.
It wasn’t lost on me that Serena walked by my side like my queen with Ash and a very silent Claire behind us. Breaker was in his spot in the back as always.
When we got to the car, Izzy was on her computer, typing away, while Maksim was in the back on his phone. “Am I seriously finding student ID’s for all of them right now?”
“Yes?” I grinned.
She rolled her eyes. “All right, I’ll just be up all night, nothing new. Glad none of you died, now can someone please take me home?”
“I got you.” Maksim interrupted with a wink.
She flushed a bit and then whispered, “Okay.”
When they were gone, I shared a look with Ash. “Anything going on there?”
“Well, if there is one or both of them will die, so let’s hope not because I’m really attached to my sister, and if Maksim touches her wrong or even breathes wrong, I’m cutting his dick off.”
“Graphic,” Claire muttered next to him.
“What?” Ash shrugged. “She’s too young.”
“She’s your twin dipshit.” This from Breaker.
Age talk just reminded me how young Serena and I had been. So I just mumbled, “Yeah,” then got into my car.
By the time I got to Serena’s house, I was wired, adrenaline pulsing through me, because in a few hours, I was going to get to work off this aggression, and I hoped to God she was ready for me.
Because I sure as hell was ready for her.
Chapter Nineteen
Serena
I put on a pair of black spandex pants and a hot pink sports bra, then threw a loose white tank on and pulled my hair back into a tight braid. The last thing I needed was for him to grab my hair while we were sparring.
My blood buzzed beneath my skin as I made my way down to the gym.
My parents were both sleeping; I checked about a billion times and prayed that my dad wouldn’t hear the soft click of the basement door as I headed down to meet Junior.
Darkness wrapped itself around me as I made my way down the stairs and into the main gym where Junior was already wrapping up.
Of course he was early.
And it looked like we weren’t using gloves, fantastic. He truly wanted to draw blood.
Funny thing about that, I kind of wanted to kiss him for what he did today, I wanted to tell him I thought it was ballsy, it could blow up in his face, but the fact that he took that chance for them was huge.
Though I really would not want to be him when all the bosses found out in a few hours.
If he wanted to bleed, all he had to do was wait until Phoenix learned his son not only failed to kill any De Lange survivors, but he’d invited them to live with us.
I almost laughed at that.
He was either very arrogant, stupid or had a soft spot that he refused to let anyone see—anyone but me because I’d known it was there all along. Music pumped from the sound system; I knew my dad wouldn’t hear because the dungeon, as we liked to call it, was soundproof—for very obvious reasons.
“You’re late.” He didn’t look up, which gave me adequate time to drink him in. He was wearing low-slung black Nike sweats and no shirt. His golden tanned, muscled skin was in full view. A few tattoos swirled down his right arm, while the larger one, the Nicolasi crest, was drawn in the middle of his chest like the rest of the eldest kids.
I got mine on my back since my dad about had a heart attack when I told him I was going to have to lay topless in order to get it done.
I hadn’t meant it, but it was worth it to see his face. He pulled his gun on the tattoo artist. It was the best day.
“You gonna stare at me all day or get your ass up here and fight?” Junior bounced on his feet and gave me a glare that meant he really needed to get some aggression out.