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* * * *
Weston and York sat on either side of Aspen on the private jet. Weston thought she looked so tired, but every time she began to doze off she would jerk awake.
“Lean on me. I don’t mind, Aspen,” Weston told her. He hoped she would because he loved the scent of her perfume, and the softness of her body leaning against his. He had this overwhelming feeling of protectiveness over her, and it only seemed to ease slightly when she was right nearby.
He glanced at York who turned to face her.
“Still having trouble sleeping at night?”
She ignored his question, an obvious show of her refusal to discuss anything personal with any of them. Storm’s actions were misconstrued by her, with help from Storm of course. He lied to hide his true feelings and completely insulted her. Now she believed they didn’t care about her and that she was more of a job. That was a lie. She was everything they ever wanted and couldn’t have. Though he was thinking just maybe, they could.
“They have things that you can take for that. Nothing addictive, maybe take the edge off so you can get a good night’s sleep,” York pushed.
Aspen shot her head up and looked at York. “Is that what you do? Take drugs to forget about the things you did while serving? Is that how you deal with being part of the Russian mob?” she asked with attitude.
“Don’t push me, Aspen. You’re in no position to gain more enemies.”
“Oh really. Like I give a shit? I think I’m in a great position to gain more enemies. Why not? I’m as good as dead anyway.”
She turned away and began to finger through some fashion magazine. Weston covered her hand and grabbed it. She stilled under his control but didn’t look up.
“We know you’re scared but this is the best way to protect you and keep Andrei from hurting you. You don’t know what kind of monster he really is.”
“Oh really? You don’t think I know anything about mob bosses? You know what? Maybe you’re right. You want to teach me, since the five of you seem to be listed under the title ‘made men.’”
“Don’t push your luck, Aspen. You’re under our control now. What we say and order you to do, you will do,” Storm interrupted.
She sat forward in the seat, pulling away from Weston.
“I get what you really feel about me. I get that I’m an obligation, so back off. I’ll work at the damn company and clean it up so it functions better than it ever has before. My personal life”—she looked at Weston and York—“my sleeping habits are none of your business.”
She sat back and closed her eyes. Weston looked at Storm who stared at her and appeared about ready to bolt out of his seat. But he was holding back. He was fighting the urge they all had to claim Aspen completely and protect her with their bodies, their hearts, and souls as well as their connections and power. But still they couldn’t. Not with Andrei wanting to cause her harm, and not with all the changes coming in the family operations. No, they had to bite their tongues and see who made the next move amongst the bosses. Then they may be all involved with a blood war.
* * * *
It had been four days since they all arrived back in Salvation. It took thirty minutes to drive into the city to Pro-Tech Industries, and Aspen already had a list of employees she was going to further investigate. The men gave her total control of decision making, hiring, and firing employees and how she handled all aspects of her job. The employees learned fast that she expected respect. She sat in the small office the men had set up for her and she looked over the training manuals and testing programs set up to monitor employees who took the initial calls from potential clients. From there she began to rewrite the manuals and offer advice on the types of questions phone reps needed to ask and then the follow-up interview process.
Some of the employees argued that there wasn’t enough time to conduct the whole interview process and they lost potential customers because of that. She ensured them that any potential customers they lost who didn’t have the patience or acceptance to answer the questions and provide legitimate documentation were clients Pro-Tech Industries didn’t want or need. There were plenty of private investigators out there sleazy enough to only care about the money and nothing else.
She took a deep breath and released it, feeling her head begin to pound from the lack of sleep. She should be sleeping perfectly in the king-size bed, and especially with the cool country air filtering through her bedroom window at night. But she couldn’t. She kept thinking about the men in the house, how they made her move in with them and of course the moment she drifted off to sleep she had nightmares.
Weston heard her one night and knocked on her door and asked if she were okay. She blew him off, and last night Zin heard her and she denied there was any problem.
She should feel safer with the five Navy SEALs in the same house with guns galore around the place. But the strength of those memories and the fact she should have died seemed to overpower anything else.
Aspen looked at the list she began to devise then pulled out the iPad mini and sent the list and information to Dmitri. She then sent a bogus report to Andrei but also asked for a few of his inside people planted in the firm. She figured what the hell. Just like most people she was a lot more brazen over e-mail then in person. Maybe he would actually give up a name or two. That would give her a greater start to her list of suspects already. She hit send and then quickly deleted her mail and the bogus account she set up then reached down and placed the iPad mini back into her bag.
She was yawning and covering her mouth when she heard the knock on her door.
Zin walked into the room and she couldn’t help but to react to him. Her heart began to beat faster, a smile began to form on her face, and she quickly hid it and looked down at her desk, placing her fingers on the keyboard.
He looked incredible in his dark blue polo shirt and black dress pants. No wonder the majority of female employees who worked there drooled over the men.
“Are you just about ready to leave?” Zin asked her. His blue eyes zeroed in on her blouse, and as she adjusted her position in the chair, she noticed how the collar parted, revealing more cleavage than she intended and the pearl necklace was lost inside her blouse between her breasts.
“Sure. Let me just log out of here and grab my things.” She typed on the keyboard and then stood up and gathered some files she wanted to look over as well as the thumb drive with the material she began to use to rewrite the training manual.
She walked around the desk and toward the filing cabinet she set up and as she turned to set the items into her bag Zin stood in her way.
