Keeping You: KJ Elite Inc. (31 page)

“Honestly, I’d probably take Marcus over Bryant. Even on his worst day.” I said.

“You mean best day?” Bitch boy asked.

“Nope, his worst day. Like, when he was shot six times and had a piece of rebar sticking out of his flank. You should have seen him. He was dying right there before my eyes and still took out thirty two towel heads. The thirty second, the nasty sumbitch yanked the rebar out and stabbed haji in the throat through and through, front to back.” I gave a shudder remembering.

Bryant might be a rogue but he was crazy good at his job.

“Jesus.” Peyton swore appreciatively.

Baby later told me that was the night little Louisa was conceived. The story always makes me laugh.

But I digress.

“Then I’m a dead man no matter what.”

“Not necessarily. There is a third option. Us. Would you be a rich man? No. But being a dead man, now that’s up to you.” I shrugged.

This’ll be so much easier if he doesn’t ask questions. He might not be so cooperative then.

We sit in a tense silence for no more than four minutes when he takes a deep breath and says, “Roberto.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. He’s got a house in Spanish Wells. Transport goes through Miami to Spanish Wells where he inspects personally and then sends it all off. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to bend their morals for a little extra income.”

Mike released an exasperated grunt that lifted his whole upper body while I shook my head in disgust.

“It doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

Bryant had himself a real genius on his team. This guy has to be here for a reason and I’m willing to bet we all just learned what it is. Dude is weak and folds like a house of cards.

“You got a name or should we just keep calling you ‘bitch boy’?”

“Jeffery ‘Jay’ Morgan. 29, divorced, two kids, prior Army. Has an affinity to internet porn and doesn’t pay his bills on time. Tsk, tsk, Jeffery. You’ve been a naughty boy what with an extensive record as a youth dabbing in a little bit of everything and then getting kicked out of the service you were forced into to spare you from jail time. For rape and aggravated assault nonetheless.” Luke was standing just behind me in the doorway. He was holding a piece of paper that he crinkled up and tossed behind him after he finished reading.

“Like it rough, do you?” Candace said suggestively.

“It wasn’t rape. She liked it until her old man found out.”

“He literally means her old man. And your wife, too.” Luke interjected. “I don’t suppose she was so fond of you poking the sixteen year old babysitter while your kids were in the other room, awake. Or the part where you threw her around and left a few bruises, broken bones and missing teeth. I bet the poor girl really liked that.”

Peyton took a deep breath and started counting. Kids were his thing. Women and kids were his ultra-soft spot. Mike threw the chair across the room and hauled Jay up to his feet.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have promised you’d be safe with us. I didn’t know you liked getting handsy with little girls. See, that’s a problem for us.” I nodded, tightening my smile.

“You wanna play rough with someone your own size?” Candace asked walking over to him with a sway in her hips.

“Candace, out.” Mike commanded.

“Not if I was dying and fucking him were the only chance at survival.” She argued.

I laid my hand on Mike’s shoulder and pulled him back from Jay. She clearly had something she needed to do or say. With all of us here, there’s no way even his crooked breath would touch her.

Jay smirked at Mike, Candace and me before turning his body to face her fully.

“What are you gonna do, girl?”

Before he finished rolling off the l, Candace had punched him square in the nose, kneed him in the groin, elbowed him in the mouth and was flipping him over her back. He slammed into the concrete floor with such force, he surely broke something. She shoved her booted foot into his solar plexus and dug her heel in.

“Don’t you have any manners, you pig?”

Jay was speechless. Mostly because he was trying to catch his breath again but also because no matter what he did or said, he was at our mercy not the other way around.

Peyton skipped over like a fairy and wrapped an arm around Candace’s shoulders.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand, Candy.”

Mike flexed his fists and followed like Beast from the children’s cartoon.

“He’s flying into Miami as we speak. Roberto knows we found Jamie here and wants to be nearby when we have her. He also knows that something isn’t right with Bryant or his plan. I’ve kept him updated and after hearing that Bryant and his team were the best of the best, he wants to know why we don’t have her yet. Suspicion and paranoia are getting the best of him.”

“I’m not going to object to more insider info, but just know that you are not going to walk away scot free from all this.” I told him, turning to leave.

Luke covered my back and slammed the cell door shut before locking it and coming to walk beside me.

“We’ve got to fucking find Nolan.”

“You sound like you could use some cheering up.”

“Hit me.”

“Nolan reached out. Wants to meet. Says we rendezvous at the B&B to retrieve Baby.”

“Because that doesn’t sound weird at all.”

“I trust him. There’s something about him.”

“Now you sound like Jamie.”

“She is a smart woman. Hot as sin, too.”

“You couldn’t handle her if she came with step by step instructions and tips.”

“You’re probably right.” He agreed, solemnly.

“Oh, you’ll find your own one day, little brother.”

“So you searched his porn collection, huh?”

“That part was just a guess based off of his personality and records.” Luke laughed.

“Damn. Remind me never to have you write my Eulogy. Or speak at the funeral.”

We shared a laugh and split at the door to my room agreeing to meet back in his cave in twenty.

The room was still dark and Jamie was curled around Diesel who had his snout along her arm.

“Spoiled, lucky bastard.”

Diesel wagged his tail once and closed his eyes again.

I wrote Jamie a small note and dressed. After staring at her for far too long without being labeled a creeper, I kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you, sugar.”

Jamie moaned and mumbled, “I love you, too, No.”

Thank God Peyton came for me or I never would have left that room.

* * *

The second the door shut behind us, I spun on the toe of my black, spike covered, six inch Louboutin’s and sucker punched the air out of Bryant’s sternum.

“What was that for?” He gasped, doubled over.

“Have you got amnesia? I know you’re not stupid, so it must be amnesia. Or you have an evil twin out there somewhere?” I rambled on and on, moving to sit on the bed and remove my shoes. This wasn’t planned so I have no idea how long it’ll be until the boys show up. If they’ve told Noah it could be any minute now. Better safe than sorry – you don’t want sore feet and a migraine when getting ready to kick ass.

Once they were off and tossed across the room, Bryant came to kneel before me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry’s not good enough you lying, backstabbing, deadbeat, good for nothing, two timing, double crossing, ugly, fatheaded, prick.” My voice rose in pitch as my air supply dwindled.
“I know I can’t make up for all that I lost and for what I put you through, but I swear on my last breath, I’ll try. Everything I did, I did for a good reason.”

“There is not one good enough reason that could excuse you for what you’ve done. Even if there was, I wouldn’t let you use it.”

“You have to know I never meant for this to happen.”

“What, pray tell, do you mean by that? Jamie having a fucked up life or giving one to your own daughter?”

“She did not have a fucked up life. First of all, she’s three and second, she had you.”

Damn him.

“I see you’re still just as slimy as you’ve always been.”

“In less than an hour, you’re going to know everything. It’s all going to be laid out in pretty little color coded indexes for you.”

“Why do you want me here?”

“So you can understand. I did this for you and for her.”

There is so much in that statement that I don’t know which way to go with it.

“What’s with the getup? You do not have blue eyes and you used to have the most beautiful, inky black hair that fell in waves over your forehead. The tips touched your eye and drove you nuts but you never cut it.” I smiled at the internal image I had of him.

“So you think it was the most beautiful, huh?”

I’ve never been one for romance but that would have been a perfectly ruined moment had I not wanted it to be.

“It was the only beautiful thing about you.” I rolled my eyes at him and looked away.

Bryant leaned forward, sliding his large hands up my skinny jean clad thighs, wrapping around to my butt. He nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck and shoulder and inhaled.

His proximity, the way his hands hold me perfectly, the smell of him, it all sends me into overdrive.

“If I remember correctly, it’s not the only thing on me you called beautiful.”

Bastard. My pussy tightens at the memories of him sliding beneath my legs.

Now my body is beginning to tingle, aching for his touch to travel all over me. I have to take a deep calming breath.

“Your memory sucks then. I said it was magnificent, not beautiful.”

He chuckled and then bit down on my throat, lightly.

A moan escaped my lips and I gripped his shoulders like it was still the natural thing to do.

This was always how it happened between us. He’d sweet talk, I’d lose all thought and fall right into his big, burly arms. When the sun rose, he would be gone and a note apologizing.

“No.”

“Wrong man, babe. No doesn’t have shit to do with what’s between us.”

I shoved at his shoulders and jumped back to the side of the bed out of his reach.

“Noah has everything to do with what’s between us. When you ran off like a coward, he stepped up and helped me raise OUR daughter! She adores her Uncle Noah and because of him, she has a much more positive outlook on men than I do.” I shouted, not caring if everyone else in the B&B could hear me.

Bryant stayed there, on his knees with his mouth open to speak when a knock came at the door.

Whoops.

“Hold that thought, babe.”

I mumbled under my breath, “I’m not your babe.”

Bryant swung the door open and got an instant shiner, knocking him back a foot.

Welp, Noah’s here. My guy!

“Baby?”

He stepped around Bryant and checked me out from head to foot, circling me.

“You alright?” Noah asked, enveloping me in a hug.

“I’ve been gone a couple of hours at most. What could have happened?”

Besides riding my brains out on Bryant’s magnificent cock.

“Too much.” He said quietly.

“I’m perfect.”

Bryant got a wet washcloth and walked over to a chair by the window on the far wall. Taking ice out of a bucket nearby, he filled the washcloth and held it up to his eye.

I hadn’t taken the chance to look around but our room really was adorable. The theme was a bordello room and it was done gloriously. When I thought of B&B’s I pictured patchwork quilts and kitten pictures on the pink and floral walls. This was far from it. And giving it a better look now, I’m almost certain this is their version of a honeymoon suite.

The bed is round with a striking black and white damask print design spanning the whole wall behind the headboard. The furniture is all done in a dark cherry wood and linens are that sassy, blood red that one would only associate with a bordello. A sectional couch sat to the right of the room in black fabric with matching red pillows. All the little knick knacks and lamps matched the theme to a T, making you feel like you have just stepped back in time. I love it.

The rest of the gang filed in through the door; Peyton, Tommy, Mike, Candace, Charlie, Paulie, Andy, GQ, and Luke pulling up the tail. They must have left the others in Betty to watch over the women and children.

“Before we get into whatever it is we’re here for, I wanted to let you know we called in a friend and the government is very interested in ‘speaking with’ Mr. Morgan. You won’t have to worry about cleaning up that mess.”

Bryant nodded his head and lifted his right leg to cross his ankle over his left knee.

Everyone found a place to sit, sticking with the living area. Peyton kept eyeing me and looking back to Bryant with a twisted expression. I reached out and took his hand, lacing our fingers together. He’s a sweet little thing and if it were any other day, I would have taken him for the ride of his life. Something tells me that despite the fact he’s Taylor’s twin and they’ve known them both all their lives, no one is pushing him out of their bed.