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The door cracks open slowly and Punk creeps into the room. He looks us both over to make sure we’re indeed dressed. Well, I’m dressed. Josephine is in her underwear. He clears his throat. “Chase asked me to find you,” he addresses me wearily.
“What about?” I pull Josephine by the hips till she’s flush against me. I snap her garter on her thigh like a rubber band for added effect.
She slaps me on the chest this time. “Stop trying to make Punk uncomfortable. It’s bad enough all your brothers believe you’re going to murder them if they look at me the wrong way.”
I chuckle. “Okay, I’ll behave.”
“What’s that?” Punk points at Josephine’s leg.
“It’s my practice garter,” I say pompously.
Punk cocks his head. “A practice garter?”
“Yeah, you know, when I get to go under her dress in front of everyone at the wedding to take it off with my teeth,” I say, smirking, and lick my lips.
Punk’s eyes go wide, drinking in my words. “That’s fucking hot. I want one of those! Where do I get one?”
Josephine snorts. “You kind of need a fiancée to practice on.”
“Hard pass,” Punk says before shouting over his shoulder to the living room. “Ebony, do you have a garter?”
I try to reel him back in. “What does Chase want?”
Punk looks back at us. “He says we’ve got activity on Jacob’s end.”
“Sonofabitch,” I mutter, pulling myself away from my sweet woman’s body.
Striding past Punk, I hear him addressing Josephine. “Fucking hell, woman! You need to cover your curvy ass up if you’re going to follow Atlas outside.”
“You walk around in your damn boxers,” she spits back, insubordinate as always.
“Yeah, well my ass cheeks are covered. No one wants to see me in a thong, but they sure as hell will want to see you in yours. Atlas is going to kill everyone out there if I let you past this door,” Punk insists.
“Cover up, Pixie!” I growl out, making my way through the house and outside. Ultimately, it’s her choice, but Punk is right, and I’d probably go into a rampage if she leaves the bedroom in only her underwear. I know she’s eager to come out to the garage to see what Chase has, but she should hide what’sminefrom everyone else. It’s bad enough Punk got another fine look at her backside. I don’t need any of my other brothers drooling over her.
I enter the garage to find Chase working. “What do you have?”
He drops what he’s doing on one computer and spins to another, waving me over. “We definitely caused a stir. He’s getting sloppy. He’s still taking out large amounts of cash, but I went over his most recent credit card transactions, and it seems he made a recent trip to a hardware store. Tape, rope, gloves, even a Bowie knife. He’s planning something and the fact he’s using his credit card means he doesn’t care if he gets caught.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. This is the shit I was worried about, that we would push him over the edge, and he would become extremely dangerous. “He’s planning on making a grab.”
Chase nods. “It appears that way.”
“Too bad for him he won’t get me,” Josephine says with defiance, making her way through the garage with Punk in tow. Thankfully she listened and put some shorts on.
I spin to face her head on. “You’re on lock-down starting now,” I order.
Her eyes nearly pop out before narrowing to slits. “I’m not going into hiding, Maceo.”
Oh, how I’m going to love finally using her own words against her.
“I do believe it was you who suggested I stow you away in a ‘bunker’ as long as you were used to draw him out. Well, guess what buttercup, you played your move and now it’s my turn. This is what I do, it’s my fucking job, and I’m the fucking best at it. You will do what I say from here on out. Am I clear?” I say with all the fucking authority in the world.
Josephine glowers. “Crystal,” she bites back, but says nothing else, folding her slender arms over her perky chest. I stare her down, waiting for her to challenge me like she always does, but thankfully she doesn’t test me on this. I don’t want to have to be an asshole to my pixie, but if push comes to shove, I most certainly will. I nod when I feel confident she’s bowing out of the fight.
“Keep tabs on Jacob. Get Ziggy and Butch to help you. I want to be informed of anything and everything,” I tell Chase before addressing Punk. “I want you out scouting the whole damn city. Take four men to help you. I’ll tell Gauge when he gets back to talk to Lorenzo’s men about being on alert for Jacob’s appearance. Esteban is not the current threat we need to worry about.”
“Where’s Gauge?” Punk asks, finally realizing he wasn’t in the garage with us.
