Page 62 of Business vs. Pleasure

“You should be thankful I’m offering you this opportunity, Mr. Morrison, instead of immediately going after your families the way I was tempted to.” The Pigeon of Darkness laughed again. “I was thinking I’d start with the grandmother⁠—”

Ricardo pressed his good hand over August’s mouth before he could get out the first threat to slowly castrate this piece of shit for even mentioning L’Avia.

“—but it might be more fun to start with the ex. Eve, isn’t it? She seems nice. Has a hard time finding a good man, though. Her last two dates ended poorly.”

Shit, that was true as far as August knew. He and Eve sometimes video-called for post-mortems of her dates, and the last one had taken them two hours and a full bottle of wine to get through.

“What do you think she’d say if I slid into her DMs and offered her a night on the town?”

She’d say ‘Fuck off, creep!’

“There’s no need to involve anyone else,” Ricardo said, always the voice of reason. “Now is fine.”

August pointed at Ricardo’s swollen hand. Ricardo rolled his eyes.

Don’t you roll your eyes at me!

“Wonderful. I’ll let you know where to go. Don’t be late, boys.” NightPigeon ended the call, and August immediately pulled Ricardo’s hand off his mouth.

“Now is not fine!” They were wet and cold and exhausted and Ricardo was full of scorpion venom and if they had to drive he would have to drive, and August hated that he was going to put that on him when he was injured but if he didn’t they might not make it more than a block, and⁠—

“It’s better than him going after Eve,” Ricardo pointed out.

It was.

But that didn’t mean August had to like it.

CHAPTER 17

“Do you have any dates coming up?”

Eve was silent, letting Ricardo’s question hang unanswered for a long moment. Then, in a low, warning voice he recognized from the many times he’d tried her patience while they were married, she asked, “Why do you want to know about my dates?”

“Because someone is threatening me,” he said bluntly, “and they’re threatening to get to me through you.”

Another silence, this one not as protracted. “Fuck. I never imagined there’d be a time when I missed the version of you who was cagey and didn’t like to give me straight answers.”

“That version of me would’ve been this straightforward if he thought your life was in danger.”

More silence. His comment was true, too; he wasn’t the best husband in the world to August, and he’d been even worse to Eve. That they were friendly now was nothing short of a miracle. But even in the most volatile days of their marriage, he’d have done anything to keep her safe. Including be as honest as she’d begged him to be the rest of the time.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For which part?” she asked with genuine curiosity. “Not being as honest back then? Or for… this call?”

Closing his eyes, Ricardo sighed. “Both. And hopefully this won’t be a problem for long. August and I—we’re going to take care of it.”

The fourth extended silence of this call was as loaded as the others. Eve wasn’t stupid. She knew now what he and August did, and she could read between the lines.

“Do whatever you need to do,” she said evenly. “And be careful? I’d like both you and August to still be in one piece after… whatever this is.”

Ricardo glanced at the cold pack loosely wrapped around his aching right wrist. “I’m always careful. I promise.” That was one promise he’d never broken, though Eve and August might both insist otherwise.

They ended the call, and he sat back against the headboard and sighed. He trusted Eve to take his warning seriously and not do anything reckless. She was also military-trained herself, and she’d make sure anyone who tried to move in on her regretted their life choices. And she was smart enough to know that safety in numbers was a thing, so he hoped she was texting Elodie right now to see if she could stay with her for a while. He hadn’t suggested it because he couldn’t be sure that NightRaven wasn’t listening, but he trusted her to connect those wires herself.

His ex-wife was alert and would be safe. She’d be fine.

Which meant he could no longer use her as a distraction from the situation at hand.