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My lips dropped apart when I saw it. "That was in the bottom of my drawer." He'd gone through my stuff?
"Yeah, and now it's in my hand," Ice said lightly, unapologetically. "You should wear it more often. It smells nice on you. If you had, I would have worked out who you were sooner."
That didn't sound like a good idea to me.
"It would have been easier if we'd worked it out earlier." Mannix took a step towards me.
I took a step back, eye wide, hands raised.
He kept walking until my back hit the wall, then pressed me against it, his chest on mine, thigh holding my legs.
My heart raced. I barely contained a whimper. This was it. He was going to kill me.
He raised his hand and wrapped it around my throat. He applied a slight amount of pressure. A little more.
My head spun. I started to run out of air. Panic rushed through me.
"We're going to explain who and what Eric Parcell was." His breath brushed my cheek.
I was both scared and aroused at the same time.
"And," he continued, "who we are and what we do." His lips brushed over mine, barely more than a touch before he stepped back and undid his tie. He let it hang around his neck and worked at the top couple of buttons of his shirt loose.
"My family is connected to the people who run this city."
I rubbed my throat. I already missed the way the pressure felt. The perfect combination of terrifying and arousing as fuck. Every moment was more conflicting than the last.
"Reuben and Caleb Brantley," I said. When he looked surprised, I added, "Charlie told me. He said they were… Mobsters?" He hadn't said that in so many words, but that was what he implied.
"That's basically accurate," Ice said with a smile.
I frowned. "So your family is connected to the mafia?"
"Not just connected, we're part of it," Ice said. "Mannix's dad is pretty high up. He answers to Ric DiMarco and Hilton Blake. And Daze Lasalle. In turn, they answer to Caleb Brantley. Reuben Brantley is at the top of the food chain."
"And you three answer to Leo." It was a statement not a question.
"For now," Mannix said. "Until I take his place."
"Are you in competition with your brother, Gunnar?" I asked. Talking about all this so casually was surreal, but I needed to know if I was going to get stuck in the middle of a gang war. Wait, was I actually thinking about sticking around?
Yeah, the jury was out on that one.
"No, he's happy to be an enforcer." Mannix looked indifferent.
"An enforcer?" I echoed.
"Yeah, he beats the crap out of people to keep them in line," Ice said. "Although, mostly, he just threatens people. Most of them don't like the idea of having their kneecaps broken, so they do what they're told."
"Right," I said. That wasn't fucked up at all. Only a lot. "Is that what you guys are? Enforcers?"
Mannix bristled, but Ice said, "We do some of that, when we have to. When Leo needs us to. But we have other roles."
"What about this Eric guy?" My head was swimming, but I really wanted to get down to why they killed someone. The rest of it, I'd figure out later.
"He worked for a rival." It was the first time Ares said anything for a while. "He was in town trying to stir up some shit for ages. He'd been told not to."
Ice nodded. "He'd had several warnings to get out of Dusk Bay, but he wore down Leo's patience."
