Page 38 of Avenging Azalea

“Okay, fine…call the team. I’ll let the guards know to expect them.”

“Yes!” Steph jumped up with a cheer. Swiping her phone off the coffee table, she bounced on the balls of her feet. “You’re not going to regret this,” she said, skipping out of the room.

Famous last words.

TITUS

Man, it was good to be home. I loved to travel, but not when the entire time was spent rushing from one event to another, speaking to dozens of people, and smiling like it was my new favorite pastime. Not to mention fending off the advances of a woman who had obviously never been told no. So much for Vera and her apology about the naked photos and just wanting to get to know me better. The only thing she wanted to get to know was my cock.

At one point, I locked myself in the bathroom just to get a few moments of peace. If Vera wasn’t touching me, she was asking what I liked sexually before going right back to the touching. I’d never experienced anything like that and had a whole new appreciation for the girls who worked at our clubs. They put up with ignorant, drunk, belligerent men and treated it like it was just another day.

I skipped the last few days in Russia by feigning a work emergency. Vera had asked if someone else could take care of it, but I was done and flew out as soon as possible. Resting my head back against the seat, my eyes were so heavy that it was a struggle to keep them open. My phone picked that exact moment to ring. I groaned and pulled it out of my pocket.

“Hello, brother,” I said, yawning.

“Come on, out with it,” Nathaniel said, but my brain was too tired to play this game.

“Out with what?”

“How was the trip with your fiancé,” Nathaniel asked, but there was a mocking tone like he knew exactly how I felt.

I let my eyes close and sighed.

“Can this conversation wait until…say…never?”

Nathaniel chuckled, and I hated that I envied him and his relationship with Savannah.

“What else do you have to do in the back of a limo? I know Vera didn’t come home with you, so you can’t use her being there as a reason not to spill.”

“You are a grade-A fucking stalker, and I’ll sleep,” I drawled.

“I’m not a stalker. I’m just well-informed,” he said, and I could picture the stupid grin on his face.

It was nice to hear him joking. Before Savannah came back into his life, it had been a long time since I’d seen my brother smile. Pulling away from Father, and the soul-crushing ridicule he’d been under daily, seemed like it had also lightened his load.

“That is the same shit in a different pile,” I grumbled and looked around at the cars passing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him waving at me.

“Fine, be a dick. You don’t have to tell me. I already know you hated it. You looked constipated in every picture from France.”

“Prick,” I said but smiled. “Do you have another reason for calling other than to poke fun at my pain?”

It was obvious that Nathaniel wasn’t going to let me rest. How he knew the exact moment I got into the limo was beyond me. It was probably better that I didn’t know. My brother was a little too good at what he did.

“I almost got myself killed,” he said, and I sat up straight.

“What the fuck? What happened? Did you and Father have another round, or did one of our shadier clients come for you?”

“No, nothing like that. It was Savannah,” he said, and I relaxed. She could kill him, and that was fine. If she did, he totally deserved it.

“What the hell did you do,” I asked as we pulled into my driveway.

Nathaniel was explaining about a shipment of drugs that had come in on the wrong day while I stared at the gigantic tour bus parked in front of my house.

“That wasn’t me. I don’t fuck up like that. Either Ronan did it, we all know he sucks with paperwork, or….”

“Father did it to fuck with me,” Nathaniel said.

The driver opened my door, and I got out, still very confused. A team name and logo were plastered across the side of the white bus.