AllFreeNovel
Share Us
10
ABRAM
“You know they’re just trying to see how much they can get out of you. They’re professional swindlers,” Josiah says as we drive through the city.
“Yeah, but they’re still bad at it. How the hell are you supposed to form alliances with anybody when you’re trying to hustle literally everybody?” I reply, irritated and despondent.
Our meeting with the cartel was more of a heated, pointless argument than anything the whole way through. We tried and tried to come to an agreement somehow, even allowing them to take a bigger cut of the net profits. Still, they wanted more.
“I think you might not have been on your game, and we both know why that is. You need to stop letting yourself get so damn emotional,” Josiah responds somewhat harshly. He’s always trying to take the fatherly route no matter what we’re discussing, and it’s gotten to be exhausting for me.
I scoff, deflecting. “Either way, I don’t trust them. Nobody in this business is trustworthy, not completely. But those guys seem to revel in it. But you have to admit that if we did get involved with them, we’d have more ground to cover,” I reply, staring out the window at the people crossing the street as we wait for the red light to change.
“I’m advising you against it. These guys aren’t going to fucking play games with you, and if your mind is elsewhere, you’re going to get your shit rocked,” he replies.
“I need you to drop me off at the apartments near the club,” I interrupt. I absolutely hate being lectured about business by my uncle Josiah. As much as I hate the idea of Anthony taking over the club, Josiah can be one sanctimonious prick.
He notices the change in tone, and he glances over at me. “The club isn’t open. What business do you have over there?” he asks skeptically.
“There’s someone I have to go see,” I reply.
“It’s almost four in the morning. If you need pussy that bad, you need to reevaluate your choices. No woman is worth losing an empire over,” he responds. I can hear the quiet disgust in his voice.
“I’m not asking. That’s where I need you to drop me off. Whether or not I’m getting laid has nothing to do with you or the business, and quite frankly, it’s weird how preoccupied you are with where my dick goes,” I snap.
He scoffs, pulling alongside the sidewalk near the apartment building. “Alright, guess I can’t talk you out of it. It’s a shame that this is where your energy is going,” he says.
I get out of the car, trying not to slam the door too hard on my way out. I hate it when he sees me upset or agitated, but he has a special way of bringing it out of me that I can’t get a hold on. If he wasn’t family, I’d have blown his brains out a long time ago.
I use my master key to get into the building. It ismine,after all. Even if it is late, I have to make sure that Cambria is alright after what happened today. I witnessed Ariella pull her off to the side to make sure she got away from it all, but she might still be shaken from it.
The hallways are eerily quiet at this time of night. The carpet absorbs every footfall, and the typical daytime sounds of music or conversation are nowhere to be found. All I can hear is the buzzing of a dying overhead light as I make my way over to the elevator.
When I arrive at Cambria’s floor, I approach her apartment slowly to make sure I don’t walk in on her with someone else. I don’t know how I would react if I found another man in her bed, and that makes me feel weaker than ever.
I use my key to open her door, and in the pitch black of the front hallway, I feel something engulf my entire foot, trying to bite it clean off.
I scream, and my vision goes completely grey as I reach down to pull whatever-the-fuck this is off me. Is that dog? I didn’t know she had one.
As soon as I reach down to pry the jaws off, Cambria turns on the light, aiming a pistol at my head.
I look down to see that she’s caught me in a bear trap. What the fuck is wrong with this woman?!
“Abram! What the fuck are you doing here!” she shouts, angrily slamming the gun onto the countertop nearby as she rushes over to free me from the trap.
“Why do you have a bear trap in your fucking front hallway!?” I scream, feeling the blood loss beginning to cloud my judgment.
She runs over to a cabinet near the sink and fishes a key out of the bottom. As soon as the trap opens, another searing jolt of incredible pain flies through my nervous system when the teeth are removed.
“Okay, shit, we need to get to a hospital,” I say, trying as hard as I can not to panic as I feel my vision beginning to suffer. This is worse than a goddamn bullet to the chest.
“No, no. You’re going to be fine. I just need to get a bandage around your ankle,” she replies, more annoyed with me for awakening her than anything. Under the circumstances, I can’t be angry with her for not being more compelled to help me.
She grabs a hand towel from the kitchen and wraps it around my ankle. “Put pressure on this. I’ll be back in two seconds,” she says, running to the bathroom and shuffling through her medical supplies until she finds some gauze and an ace bandage.
When she returns, her expression has softened somewhat, as if she has any reason to feel guilty about me trying to get into her apartment without permission.
As soon as she touches the gauze to my leg, I feel that same electric need for her that overrides all other impulses or feelings.
