He kicked the leg of the table and shouted at me, “Don’t even mention Quinn’s name again! I protect her! I fucking do what needs to be done to make sure the lass is safe.”
Lass. Goddammit. This guy needed to come with Google Translate.
“Okay, okay, fine. What happened with the Italians this time that made you let a perfectly good whiskey bottle go to waste?” I
gave up on the Quinn subject. For now. I was for sure going to explore it a little more when Carter was not in a mood to kill a motherfucker with his bare hands.
Carter licked his lips, grabbed a chair and sat down, getting right to business.
“Right. Graham wants you to be more involved now that shit’s going down. Basically, we took over their latest shipment at the pier. We stole four of their shipping containers, most of it drugs and jewelry knockoffs, which were pretty useless, granted, but there you have it. This was two nights ago and we thought we’d call it even. Graham thought they’d get the hint and leave us alone, or better yet, want to sort it out through the usual route and talk about it, maybe come to some kind of an understanding.”
“And?” I lost interest at ‘knockoffs’. My mind drifted into more important matters, like how I needed to eat Jade’s ass that night and how I needed to steal her computer and credit cards to make sure she’d never leave here. Ever. But Carter leaned forward to whisper to me, looking pretty into the conversation.
“They’ve sent a threat to Graham’s house,” he said. I cocked one eyebrow.
“To New Jersey?”
Carter nodded silently. “Dahlia opened the door and two Italian men in suits delivered the message. They said they’d kill Graham.”
“Fucking hell,” I breathed out. Carter grabbed his hair from the base and tugged at it in frustration.
“Graham’s lads are too young, too inexperienced. The ones that are professionals, like you and me, are overworked and knackered.”
Mmmm. Knackered. It sounded like a chocolate bar.
“What’s your point?” I got up from my chair, taking my empty plate with me and washing it in the sink.
“My point is, you need to prepare. We’re going to war, Cole. And you’re coming.”
“You literally have no more work to give me,” Jade complained, sitting across from me in my office. I blinked at her a few times. Surely, she didn’t ask me to give her more responsibilities? What the fuck did she care? She still got paid, and all she needed to do was sit in front of me and look amazing as hell, which she obviously did.
“Why are you wearing a dress tonight?” I inquired. It was a simple green and yellow summer dress with palm trees and smiling suns print. Pretty ridiculous and juvenile, but she pulled it off, like anything else this chick wore.
“Because it’s hot outside,” she half-stated, half-asked.
“Or maybe because you want me to have better access to your pussy and ass,” I concluded.
She stared at me with a mixture of hatred, lust, and fascination leaking from her eyes.
“Look, if I don’t have anything to do, I’d like to go online and look at this college course I found in Indiana.”
“Indiana, huh?” I asked. “What kind of course is that?”
“Business development,” she answered.
“Are you interested in business?” I rubbed the stubble on my chin, then moved my hand across my tied hair. She followed my hand, and I loved how she was so fucking hot for me, even when she tried to tell me—and herself—that she was moving away.
“Not particularly,” she admitted. “But this particular course is not too difficult to get into.”
“Eh.” I nodded. “That’s a great career choice.”
“I’m serious, Cole,” she said. I stood up from my chair because I’d had enough of her bullshit and needed her on my tongue right that second. “I’m leaving. I’m going away by the fall.”
“Fine.” I didn’t argue. What was the point? She wasn’t going anywhere. She was staying here with me.
“You promised you wouldn’t stop me.” Her voice sounded like a warning, and I kneeled in front of her, turning her chair from my desk to the side so I could stand on my knees between her soft thighs.
“Do you see me arguing with you? If you wanna go to Indiana, go to Indiana. I’m not going to stop you. But you’ll be back in three days, mark my words. Because New York has one thing Indiana doesn’t.”