Page 36 of Lau Ahi
“Watch how you’re fucking talking.”
He had his hands up laughing again. I needed to stop snapping on him like I was because he would continue to needle this point just because he could get a rise out of me. “Not like that, damn. But I see what I said was right because you’re about to go toe to toe with me and I’m just teasing. She could’ve been in there getting knocked down by five with a line waiting out the door and I wouldn’t have shit to say.”
I worked my neck back and forth because the visual of something like that happening with Asha had me ready to snap. Specifically Vega’s neck, since he put the image in my brain but I couldn’t do that since he was just talking.
He needed to learn to shut the fuck up, though.
“I don’t know why you think she turned me out.”
His stare moved from amusement to blank disbelief. “It’s clear that she doesn’t treat you deferentially at all. No cowering and, most importantly, no reflex to following your commands. That shows you never established any with her. But the way you’re itching to shoot me in the kneecap is screaming that she had an effect on you. She’s fucking exquisite so I can’t blame you for being enthralled. Even if it is so unlike you.”
“You know I don’t have a problem with the entire OC Cartel coming after me because I killed you.” That was my natural response to him calling her exquisite and it put a smile back on his face.
“You don’t have to say shit. I already know what I see and that’s fine. The way you’re going to act over the next weeks is going to say everything. I’ll hold off and tell Cochran that you’re going to handle introducing her to the team. Unless—”
“I’ll take point on it.”
“From the looks of it, you better get on your knees, whatever you did left her not wanting to fuck with you like that. Can’t believe you’re leaving them disappointed, Nakoa.”
Yacouba was always callin’ Xerxes ass theCreole Casanovabut I dealt with the Cuban version daily. Alec had no qualms about being a ladies’ man since he was single as hell. At thirty-three he was slightly younger than I was but in his culture he was a fucking old ass man. He and his cousins were being looked at funny because they hadn’t settled down yet but none of them wanted to. It was one of the main reasons we bonded. He was just a whore and I was unable to be vulnerable enough to let a woman get that close to me for a consistent period of time. I’d get a new case and end up halfway across the world so having a relationship wasn’t conducive to my profession.
Besides, trusting a woman was the last thing I wanted to do because the one who should’ve loved me first hurt me the worst.
Alec stood up and straightened his blazer. “You’ve got time but not a lot. Cochran wants her here within the week.”
“Why the hell is now the time to be doing this?”
I knew I was getting irritated for no reason but I didn’t care. It wasn’t a state of being that differed from how I normally was because, honestly, I could be an asshole when it came right down to it. My grandfather had called me up and said that I was needed for business. Instead of it being a phone call or something that I could do covertly under the cover of night, I was told I was needed in the middle of the day.
That was the first warning that something was up. We had a satellite office in D.C. that my grandfather insisted on, since it was local to me. This place was constantly monitored but rarely used. I nodded to two of the security guards who were stationed at the entrance of the elevator. No one was allowed up onto the floor except me and Pappy. I hit my palm on the scanner my senses heightened despite the trust he put into the staff of this building. No one had my trust but him and depending on what this was about, that could end today.
The door to the car opened and I lumbered inside not bothering to move with any stealth. I needed everything to feel my wrath, even the damn air, so moving gently wasn’t much ofan option with the way I was distracted. My palm was placed on the reader that allowed the elevator to move. There was only one stop possible on this ride so I didn’t need to press any other buttons once I allowed the system to vet my print. This thing was top-of-the-line, sensing temperatures, weight and perspiration before it would allow the car to activate. It was to ensure no one was moving onto the floor under duress and that the car would only carry authorized personnel. My grandfather and I were the only ones in the system so it made tracking movements easy.
Dom’s ass is too good at what he does.
I closed my eyes and calmed my mind about what I was getting ready to walk into. I hadn’t thought too much about it because she’d been on my mind. The balance that I was trying to find between the person I’d fucked in a club and the woman I’d met at work was near impossible. Asha Avery had been someone who was truly a Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde type personality. Not that women couldn’t have a hidden side, but she seemed to be two different people entirely. The problem was I wanted the one who was hidden behind the mask of respectability that she gave me that day in her office. The one who will tell me exactly how much she couldn’t stand men while she rode my dick. I’d battled going back for weeks in-between cases to catch up with her again and that type of hyper-fixation was something I never allowed myself.
And now I have to work with her.
The car glided to a stop and the door opened with an almost soundless swoosh.
“What’s this about?”
I was never one for formalities, but his not telling me anything over the phone was something that irritated me even more. Pappy stood and greeted me with a brief hug before moving back to his place at the large conference table.
“Not now. We’ve got a meeting to log into.”
“Log into? What—”
He shot me a look that made me clamp my lips shut but I was still pissed off. I could feel my nostrils flare. I reined in the disrespect and waited for whatever this meeting was. I took the seat that he’d pulled out next to him and eased down instead of throwing it out the window. A screen came down from a wall in his office and I was nearly surprised by who was on the other side. It was still on mute but I could clearly see Xerxes speak to someone just slightly off-screen, probably his cousin Midas, before he turned back to the camera with newly interested eyes.
“To my fellow members of the elders’ council, there was a proposition brought to us through an outside source to plead their case with joining the consortium. Since our numbers are limited, only the parties that will be directly affected by this have been invited to the meeting today. Once the discussion progresses, we will move forward with discussing it with the rest of our members.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
I could feel my grandfather’s eyes on me but I didn’t give a shit. I wasn’t fully out of the government yet because of the restrictions they’d placed on me leaving. I knew it was because they needed me but I was years past being done with being a puppet.
“Ori, just listen along with everyone else. We are trying to solve a problem and you and Xerxes are the only two who have the solutions. If you would allow Mr. Avery to speak, he can give you all a better idea of where we’re at.” I was so focused on hearing the chiding tone of my grandfather that I almost missed what he said.
