“Yeah, yeah.” She rolls her eyes.
I place a hand on her back to steer her out of the way of the drunken group heading toward us. It’s a warm night. Perfect for an evening at the beach.
“Want to go for a surf?”
When I look down at her face, I have to hold back my laughter. If this moment were a meme, the captain would read, if what the fuck was a person. Her expression is priceless.
Luckily, I’m saved by her phone. It rings and a smile beams across her face. “Hey, it’s Torque. I need to take this.”
“No worries.”
I watch her take a few steps away. I know this isn’t going to become a permanent thing for her without Torque. I need to decide if I’m willing to take his mouthy ass on.
My phone rings and I pull it out. I groan when I see it’s Missy. I shoot her a text instead of answering. I’m not in the mood.
She’s one of the reasons that Roni and I are staying at a hotel. The other reason being my brothers. They will pop up unannounced whenever they feel the need.
I want to introduce Roni on my terms. Speak of the devils. My phone rings and it’s my brothers Facetiming me.
“What’s up?” I answer.
“Felix wants to barbeque and introduce us to the kid,” Wyatt says.
“Dae-Dae, right?”
“Yeah,” Felix replies proudly.
“Cool, I’m game.”
I look toward Roni. This would probably be the right time to bring her into the fold. I’ll invite her to come along.
“This weekend it is. I’m ready for some grub,” Brax says.
“When are you not ready to eat?” Ry says.
Brax tosses him the finger. “Bite me.”
“Hey, I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
They all say their partings and we end the call. I stand and watch Roni as she talks on the phone. Torque is one lucky kid. He pulls a smile no one else can get from Roni. She’s gentle with him.
I think she’d make a great mom.
My mind goes immediately to her being swollen with my children. She would be gorgeous. Damn, John, you’re in trouble.
Roni
“I’ll be back soon.” I laugh into the phone.
“It sucks here without you,” Torque says.
“I know. I’m just trying to see if this is the right thing for us.”
“He wants me too?”
My heart aches at the sound of his voice. It never crossed my mind that I would take a job with John and leave Torque behind.
The only reason I didn’t push for Torque to be able to come on this trip was because I wanted to see if it’s even something we should do. I didn’t want to get his hopes up and find out I don’t want to do this. I still don’t know what this is.
“How is it?”
“It’s cool. I haven’t done much, but it’s okay,” I say.
“They’re going to let me come with you, right? You’re my sister. My family.”
“I’ll burn that motherfucker down if they try to stop us.”
He laughs. “I can see that.”
I turn and find John watching me. “Hey, I should go.”
“Okay, I love you, sis. Be safe.”
I’m silent for a moment. “Yeah, love you too, kid.”
Chapter 33
Try Outs
John
“We almost done here?” Roni murmurs.
I nod. I want out of this dank basement as much as she does. She’s cagey and I can’t blame her. This job was not what I had in mind for her first, but it’s what came up.
“Good,” she mumbles.
This entire try out hasn’t worked out the way I intended. Everything that could go wrong seems to be happening. After the first week, Roni questioned our staying in a hotel instead of my home.
I could see on her face she didn’t like my response. Shit, I didn’t like it. How do you tell someone you have a psycho ex that pops up and gets on your damn nerves?
To top that off, I received a call from the ER about Missy. Apparently, she still has me listed as her emergency contact. Ever the nice guy, I went to see if she was at least okay.
However, by the time I got there she was discharged, and I couldn’t get more information beyond that. Which was weird as I was her emergency contact to begin with. Thank God at the time Roni had decided to do some exploring on her own.
I’ve learned she likes being on her own. I tried to get her to come to Felix’s barbeque and she totally blew me off. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t disappointed. I felt Wyatt’s eyes on me when he realized she wasn’t going to show. I was sorry I even mentioned it.
However, I’m not going to lie and say it didn’t feel good to find out that Felix already knows about Roni. It’s actually a relief. She may not want to meet my brothers yet, but having Felix and Wyatt know about her feels right.
Now this.
I look to Ole, the asshole we were hired to recover. Actually, my cousins asked me to do this favor. I turn my gaze to Maximilian as he leans against the wall, watching his guys work over the dude we dragged back here with us. The triplets wanted to know who exactly targeted their business associate that we were hired to extract.
This poor fuck better cough up some answers while he still has a chance. They don’t call the Triplets and their crew the Slaughter House for nothing.
“You should put some ice on that,” Roni grumbles to Mil as he flexes his fists.
I can’t help wondering where the busted knuckles came from. He hasn’t hit the guy they’re roughing up. He looked pretty pissed when we arrived, now that I think of it. However, I know better than to ask questions now.
“Thanks, love. I’ll get it taken care of,” Mil says to Roni.
“Not your love. And suit yourself,” she replies.
Mil turns his eyes on her and glares a beat before he snorts to himself. He shoves his fists into his pockets and pushes off the wall to head over to his men and the ass whipping across the room. Again, I have questions. Maximilian is always decked out in a suit and converse. Usually, his appearance is impeccable—even after he kicks someone’s ass.
Something is definitely up with him.
“I want to thank you for being so shift and discrete about this,” Ole says, drawing my attention.
“Doing my job,” I say curtly.
He lights a cigarette and squints his eyes at me, then turns his focus to Roni. He’s been doing that a lot. I’m trying my best not to knock his teeth down his throat. That would be bad for business.
“You sure do have a pretty crew.”
I turn to him fully and glare. Placing my arms across my chest, I look him over as if he smells like shit. “Sorry, I’m not into guys, but thanks for the compliment.”
He chuckles. “While you are on the pretty side. I was talking about your little friend,” he says, letting his eyes scan over Roni and licking his lips. “I guess that works. She sure did have that motherfucker distracted when you came for me,” he says.
“I’ll filet the skin off your fucking face,” Roni hisses.
“Oh, yeah, I like you.”
“Mil, you done with us,” I bellow out to my cousin.