Before I can say anything else though, Fiasco beats me to it as he lowers his own gun to his side.
“Listen up, James. You better have at least a thousand for us next week or you’re going to be in a world of pain,” he warns Sean, making me wince because a threat to her brother was not exactly the last thing I wanted to leave Jetta on, but what choice do I have? I can’t give the asshole special treatment just because I banged his beautiful sister at a rock concert and want her again.
“He’s not giving you anything!” Jetta announces, looking like an angry kitten, so cute and adorable trying to be tough. Fuck, I’ve missed her.
“We’ll see about that,” Fiasco says and then he’s pulling on the back of my cut to get me moving out the door before I can say or do anything else.
Chapter Ten
Jetta
* * *
“Now start talking,” I tell my brother after the men leave. “Was Devlin here looking for me? Is that why he took the television and hit you?”
“How the hell do you know Dev?” Sean replies.
I clear my throat and the sudden, extremely vivid memories of that night from my head. “That…is a long story.”
“Yeah, well, so is mine,” Sean says when he gets up from the sofa and goes over to the fridge. Grabbing some ice cubes, which have now apparently become a trigger for me because it makes me think of Devlin, he tosses them onto a paper towel and holds it up to his lip. “You first.”
“Fine! I met Devlin at that concert I went to a few weeks ago.”
“So you fucked him?”
“We hooked up, yes,” I reply through gritted teeth. God, my brother is so judgmental. “Now tell me what he was doing here, Sean?”
“I owe the Dirty Aces a little money, that’s all. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” I repeat indignantly. “It looked like a huge deal since they carry guns and were pointing them at you.”
How is it possible that the sweet, funny guy I met is a gun-toting outlaw and I had no clue?
“Maybe you should be more careful about the guys you fuck around with,” Sean says. “Never know who they could really be out of bed.”
“He wasn’t wearing the leather vest thing with a skull and patches on it that night,” I say in my defense as I take a seat on the sofa with my arms crossed over my chest, pissed at my brother for getting into who knows what kind of trouble, and furious with Devlin because he’s apparently not a nice guy.
“What are the Dirty Aces?” I ask, recalling the words on the patches of Devlin and the other guy’s jacket.
“A motorcycle gang,” he explains as he comes and sits on the arm of the sofa. “They run some shady businesses in town.”
“Ones you apparently go to?”
“Something like that,” he huffs.
“How much do you owe them?” I ask Sean.
“No clue. Those assholes make shit up as they go along, adding ridiculous interest rates.”
“Well, I’m guessing it’s more than the thousand you need by next week,” I mutter. “What the hell are you going to do, Sean?”
“No clue.”
“That’s just great,” I scoff with a roll of my eyes.
“I’ll take care of it,” he says when he gets to his feet and starts walking toward his bedroom. “Just promise me you’ll stay away from Devlin. Those guys are nothing but trouble. I bet they want cash for a drug problem or some shit.”
“Are you into drugs?” I ask in concern.
“Fuck no,” he grumbles. “Are you going to stay away from him or not, Jetta? He fucks a different girl every damn night. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
“Yeah, of course I’ll stay away from the jerk,” I promise him. I already knew he was a playboy. “Why would I want anything to do with him now, after what he did to you?”
“Good,” he says with a sigh. “I’m going to bed.”
“It’s only eight o’clock!” I point out.
“So? Today sucked. They took my fucking phone, and I don’t have a television!”
“Sorry, Sean,” I say as he disappears, and then I hear his bedroom door slam shut.
This is what I get for deciding to spontaneously break my three-date rule before sleeping with a man. If I had waited, then I would’ve found out more about Devlin’s “job” and why he carries a gun and beats up on people.
But then I wouldn’t have had an epic night with a rock star…
Devlin
* * *
I still can’t get over the fact that Jetta, my Jetta, is the sister of a humongous asshole.
“So was that the Jetta you’ve been asking everyone about?” Fiasco asks as we head to the next stop on our list of debtors.
“Yep.”
“Well no fucking wonder no one knew her, man!” he says with a chuckle. “She has blonde hair, not purple. How drunk were you that night?”
Rolling my eyes, I tell him, “She had purple hair before, I’m certain of that. I held it and pulled it and…yeah, it was definitely purple.”
“Got to admit the blonde is a good look.”
“Yeah, it is,” I agree as I drum my fingers on the windowsill. I really want to tell Fiasco to turn this Thing around and go back so I can talk to her. Which is stupid since she just threw us out.
I’m only vaguely present when we show up at two more residences to demand the Dirty Aces’ money.
In fact, I don’t even remember Fiasco driving us to the pawn shop. I just suddenly look up and here we are in the parking lot.
“Not much to turn in today except the guitar,” Fiasco says as he reaches into the back seat and pulls the instrument out, hitting me in the back of the head in the process.
“Ow! Fuck,” I mutter as I rub the sore spot.
But then, I finally remember what’s in my pocket.
“I’ve got Sean’s phone!” I exclaim while retrieving the device from my pocket.
“That’s worth a few hundred probably,” Fiasco comments.
“No, it’s worth a helluva lot more!” I tell him as I put in the code Sean gave me, and boom, there’s Jetta’s name in his contacts. I get my own phone out to add her number in my phone, and then I scroll through his photos and send a few of him and her and her alone to myself. What a perv. I’m not sure why he has so many photos of his sister, but I can’t complain since I’ll be jerking off to these bad boys later tonight.
“Here. Take the phone and guitar in to see what you can get for them. I’ll wait here,” I say when I hand the phone over to Fiasco.
“Suit yourself,” he says when he climbs out with the goods.
While he’s gone, I start drafting a text message to Jetta. I enter in various greetings before deleting them, unable to figure out what the hell to say to her. Odds are, I’m only going to get one shot before she blocks my number. I really don’t want her to block me. I’ve waited for what feels like a lifetime to find her again, so I can’t blow this shot.