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“You’re an ass,” she spat.
“Get used to it, sweetheart,” he drawled. “Because as long as you keep me here, against my will, I’m not going to be thankful or polite.”
“Good to know,” she said, “but, for the record, you can leave any time you like. I mean, sure, you have no home to go to and your own father has men out looking to kill you but go on and go. Don’t let me keep you.” Shit, she was right. He had no place to go, and he wasn’t sure who to trust. Hell, he didn’t even trust Trish, but she at least had kept him alive for the past twenty-four hours.
“What’s it going to be, Vic?” she asked.
“Victor,” he sighed, “and, you already know my answer. I have no choice but to hang out here with you until I can get some answers. I’ll need a burner phone,” he said. “I’ll need to call in a few favors to find out what’s going on.” He also planned on figuring out if any of the other families were involved in this mess. Victor wasn’t sure that it was just a coincidence that Bowie and Carter asked to meet with him on the same day that the Gluttony family took out a hit on him. But first, he needed to find out if his father was involved in any of this, and that would be something he’d need to hear directly from the horse’s mouth. His father never bullshitted him, even when he was telling Victor something that he didn’t want to hear. His dad was a straight shooter and would tell him exactly where he stood with him and the other Sloth family members.
“Fine,” she said. Trish stood and walked over to the corner of the kitchen to where her purse sat on the counter. She started to rifle through it and shouted, “Ah, ha,” when she found what she was searching for. “I packed an extra burner phone before I left. The only person who has this number is Bruno,” she said, handing him the phone.
“You gave your brother the burner phone number? Do you trust that he won’t try to track it and give your father our location?” Victor asked.
“You know that he’s trying to change things in our syndicate. I heard all about your and Bruno’s meeting with the other families to oust our fathers. Why do you think they’re coming after you? Bruno will be next on our father’s hit lists, and we’re trying to stop that from happening. I can’t lose my brother.”
“Why isn’t he here with us then?” Victor asked.
“Because he’s trying to help me save your ass,” Trish said. “He’s giving me updates that will help us stay one step ahead of both of our fathers. But if things go sideways, he has a place to lay low. It was always a part of our plans. Bruno and I both know how dangerous our father is. There was no way that we wouldn’t have a backup plan for when, not if, our dear old dad turned on us. We’re both expendable—me more than Bruno, since he’s the first-born son and I’ve always been just a disappointment to my father.” He couldn’t believe that about Trish. She seemed so capable; what father wouldn’t want a daughter like her? Hell, she had kidnapped him without batting an eye, and that spoke volumes. Victor never let his guard down and the fact that she was able to slip past his defenses was a big deal.
“I appreciate you both sticking your necks out for me,” he admitted. That was as close to a thank you as she was going to get from him. Sure, she had whisked him away before he could go home and get blown to pieces at his place, but he still needed answers. The first one being—could he trust Trisha Gluttony?
Trisha
Trish crossed the kitchen and handed Victor the extra burner phone. Giving him access to the outside would wasn’t part of the plan, and might be a huge mistake, but she needed him to trust her. She learned a long time ago that the best way to earn someone’s trust was to give them some in return.
“Just be careful with who you call and who you trust,” she warned. “Remember, it’s not just your ass on the line here.”
“Got it,” he promised, taking the phone from her. “So, now what happens?”
She shrugged, “Well, I plan on taking a shower and then, possibly a nap. It took most of yesterday to get here and I’m exhausted. You might want to take a nap too—you look like shit, Victor,” she said.
“Gee, I wonder why,” he growled. She thought that he was sexy as hell when he gave her shit right back to her. There was something about his grumpy exterior that turned her on, not that she’d ever let him know that. “What the hell did you give me anyway?” he asked.
“It was just a little bit of Ativan,” she said. It was actually a lot, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “I take it for my anxiety once in a while. It can’t hurt you.” She left out the part where she doubled the dose and wasn’t sure if it was too much for him or not. Trish could have totally killed him, not knowing what the hell she was doing, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
Victor squinted his eyes at her, and Trish knew that he wasn’t believing a word that she was telling him. “You knocked me out for a full day,” he challenged.
“I did not,” she countered. “It was just around noon, and you just woke up, so it was more like nineteen hours,” she said, trying to count the difference in her head.
“That’s almost a day,” he countered.
“Are you going to constantly argue with me and disagree with everything that I say?” she asked.
“Probably,” he admitted.
“Well, then, I’m going to clean up this mess, take my shower, and have my nap. If you’ll excuse me,” she said, standing in a huff.
“Don’t worry about cleaning up,” he ordered. “You made breakfast, so it’s only fair that I clean the dishes.” She wasn’t about to argue with him on that point.
“I appreciate that, Victor,” she said. Trish grabbed her mug of coffee and topped it off, starting out of the kitchen. She turned back to find Victor still sitting at the table. “I can trust you not to do anything stupid, right?” she asked.
“You mean, like kidnapping someone, drugging him, and dragging him back to my safehouse?” he drawled. Yeah, he was being a total ass, but she got his point.
“Yeah, like that,” Trish said.
“I think that I can promise not to do any of those things,” he assured.
“Good,” she said, making her way out of the kitchen. She stopped in the hallway to catch her breath. There was something about verbally sparring with Victor Sloth that turned her on and right now, she was ready for an ice-cold shower, even if every one of her aching muscles were screaming at her for a hot one.
