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“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Lila?” I ask, holding the blade beneath her chin, tip pointing upward. Her gasped squeal barely registers, and her wide eyes send a thrill of excitement through my whole body.
“Fuck, Zak. I thought—”
“Whatever you thought, unthink it. This is not what we do. Ever.” I see her relax, but she’s crazy if she thinks I won’t hurt her. I push the tip up, just enough for her to know I’m fucking serious. My cock twitches at the whimper that expels from her, but I shove the lick of arousal away.
“Shit, okay. I’m going.” She inches away from me, edging back out of the bed she stupidly thought she was invited into. Shoving her clothes back on, she grumbles about what a crazy mother fucker I am, and I fight a smile.
As she turns toward the door, I call out, “Key, Lila. Give me the damn key.”
She halts, turning back to me before digging into the pocket of her leather hot pants and pulling the key free. She strides towards me, and it feels as though she’s the one brandishing the blade, stabbing through my flesh with every step.
“You’re a fucking arsehole! I hope she’s worth it,” she fires at me, turning on her heels and walking away.
I bite back the retort sitting on the tip of my tongue, and only because I don’t have time for clearing up blood and disposing of another body at this ridiculous time of night.
If it had been Maddox, she would have been dead before the words left her mouth. Not that murdering hapless females is his usual MO, but I think anything goes would have been more accurate after tonight.
I carefully place the blade back beneath the pillow as the front door slams shut downstairs. Light spills into the room through the now wide-open bedroom door, and I climb from the bed and close it just as a pleasurable scream rattles down the hallway.
Fucking Maddox.
I collapse back into my bed, throwing the other pillow over my head to drown out the onslaught of sex noises coming from two doors down. The walls in this place aren’t thick enough for this shit.
I let my mind wonder back to tonight’s meeting with Rox. I’m not surprised she chose to end her own career her way. She now has just under twenty-four hours to execute it, or shit is going to blow up for her big time. She wouldn’t share details, but she assured us we’d know when it had happened.
Maddox isn’t happy, but I warned him she would push back. And she has in typical Rox fashion. I’m quietly amused about the whole thing. Anything that pisses Maddox off tickles my warped sense of humour.
I’m in the small gym at our flat above Rogue, pounding the ever-loving shit out of the punch bag the next morning when Maddox bursts through the doors with murderous rage in his eyes and waving a newspaper in the air at me.
“Is she fucking crazy?” he rages, storming across to me.
I land another left jab before grabbing hold of the bag and resting my head on it. Blowing out a breath, I wait for him to elaborate. When he doesn’t, I raise my head to look at him and narrowly miss being whacked as Maddox slams the newspaper on the punch bag where my head was just resting.
I scan the page before me, taking in the photo of what appears to be Rox accepting an envelope from a guy wearing a hoodie and whose face is hidden from view. The headline claims that she has resigned amid claims of corruption.
I shrug. “And?” I shove the paper off the bag and prepare to continue my workout.
“That’s all you’ve got to fucking say.”
Left, left, right. I pause my assault on the punch bag again.
“Yeah, it’s all I’ve got to say. It’s Rox, what did you expect? She knows what she’s doing, Maddox. Besides, isn’t this what we planned?” I shrug again and go back to hitting the bag before I hit my brother.
I watch as his eyes scan the paper again, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf fromLittle Red Riding Hood.
“She did what you asked, man, just fucking leave it alone. It’s not going to affect our plans, if anything it will help,” I pant out between punches. He hears me, sighing deeply before turning and stomping back out the way he came.
After I finish in the gym, I take a quick shower and meet Maddox at The Scarlett Door. Ripley is behind the bar with Lila, who eyes me as I pass but doesn’t say anything, and I don’t look her way. I know she was hoping for more, but I never made her any promises. She knew the score.
I stop outside Maddox’s office and listen for any sounds of him banging another bird, but all I hear is him yelling at someone.
Giving a quick rap on the door, I walk in and find him pacing behind his desk with his phone to his ear.
“I don’t give two flying fucks what Axel told you, I’m telling you it ain’t happening. Get your fucking arse to the docks now and sort this shit out. If I lose another shipment because you can’t do your job right, Bowser, you’ll be shitting out teeth.” He ends the call, throwing his phone down on the desk and dropping into his chair.
“Problem?” I ask mockingly.
Maddox side eyes me, and I give him a wink. “Yeah, several. Let’s start with why the fuck Lila looks like someone took a shit in her morning coffee.”
