I grab my sandwich and juice then leave Juliana sulking by herself as I go in search of Emilia.
Rico
“Shouldn’tI be back there with Oni?” Mario says as we walk upstairs to the office I’ve set up for myself while we’re here.
“You should, but I needed you to get your hands off my girl. Then I needed to warn you to be careful how well you play your part,” I snarl, knowing I’m wrong even as the words come out of my mouth.
“Calm down, bro. I know who she belongs to. I was just selling the part. You know I mean no disrespect,” Mario tells me.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Fuck.”
“Should I head back down there?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, man. All this shit is starting to get to me. Go make sure she’s safe and stays out of trouble.”
“It will all work out. I’ve already sent a message on your behalf in New York. You will get the right results. I have your back, man.”
“I know. Thanks. You don’t have to do any of this,” I say and turn to continue to my office.
When I get there, I have a seat as my mind wanders to all the shit I’ve learned from Mario’s report. There’s no question someone is trying to set me up. My only questions now are who and why?
It might be time to shut the operation down. It’s too risky with all this activity in the background. I rub my jaw in thought.
One more job … I need to complete one more job. The others were bonuses. However, this one job will put the jewel in my crown.
I sit back in my chair and think over my options. I need to clean house. I can’t trust everyone around me.
If I risk this final job, we’ll be working with a skeleton crew. If this were my old crew, I might have been okay with that, but having Oni on the crew and now not knowing who I can trust changes everything. I grab my hair by the roots.
This is business, I shouldn’t be making decisions based on a woman. Fuck, she’s not even a woman yet.
“Pull it together, Rico. Handle your business,” I breathe to myself.
Music blasts from the backyard, telling me that the party has started. I mumble under my breath. I’m not about to get any work done. Between my thoughts and that music blasting, I won’t be able to focus at all.
“Fuck it.”
I get up and head to my room to change into something else.
Mario
“He’ll be out herein the next half hour, I promise,” I whisper in Oni’s ear as I stand with my arm around her shoulder.
She looks up at me, and I’m punched with the reason Rico is so taken by her. She’s a beautiful girl. I would never violate the friendship I have with Rico. He’s like my blood brother.
However, I have eyes and it’s hard to miss how gorgeous the girl he’s in love with is. Oh, my friend is in love, whether he’s ready to admit it or not. Rico has never been interested in girls for more than a good fuck.
However, this girl has held his attention since she arrived. She’s as smart as she is beautiful. I think she’s good for him.
Rico is ambitious; he wants to make a great name for himself. I am here to make sure he does and to keep him and the love of his life safe while he does so.
“He has work to do. We probably won’t see him until tonight,” she replies, then shrugs. “It’s cool. I’m in good company and it’s not like I could hang out with him if he were here. I can feel her eyes on me.”
I glance up and she’s right, Juliana is staring daggers at her. I smirk, turning Oni so that my body is blocking hers. I then dip my head to bring our lips closer together.
“Rico might kill me for this, but I’ll explain it to him later,” I say as I hold her close.
Oni reaches up to cup my face. “Just keep your tongue to yourself and your hands above my ass.”
