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“I’m going to call you tomorrow. You text me if you need anything, understand?”
“I will.”
No, she wouldn’t, and they both knew that. He’d had some groceries delivered today, so at least she wouldn’t starve if she was sick for a few days.
Still, he lingered over her.
Fuck. He had to leave.
Her face softened as she stared up at him. No doubt he looked fucking confused.
“Maxim, you’ve done your time. Now go.”
He rolled his eyes. “I haven’t been in prison.”
“Some people would say that spending time with me feels like being in jail.”
She grinned up at him, but he didn’t like that. Not at all.
“No talking about yourself like that.”
“It’s called making a joke.”
“I don’t find it funny when you say bad things about yourself, Aston.” He made certain that his voice was stern.
She bit her lip, looking unsure.
Without thought, he moved forward and removed her lip from between her teeth. “Don’t be upset. Just don’t do that, all right? As your friend, it’s up to me to make sure that you treat yourself well.”
Then he realized he was still touching her, his fingers on her chin, and he moved his hand away.
“I have to go. Lock the door behind me. Be a good girl.”
Once he was on the other side of the door, he waited until he heard the lock engage.
Then he slumped against the wall.
Be a good girl? Friends didn’t say that to each other, did they?
Friends didn’t notice that their friends wore sexy as fuck panties. And had smooth, firm thighs.
Or soft, warm lips.
Or the sweetest little dimple when they smiled.
Nope. Friends didn’t do that.
Lord. He was so fucked.
Over an hour later, he pulled up to the warehouse that Victor had directed him to. One of Regent’s men was outside, waiting for him.
“Inside,” Logan said. “Down below.”
Maxim nodded. After dragging himself away from Aston, he’d quickly showered and changed, putting on some old dark clothing.
He walked into the warehouse, over to where he knew the secret trap-door that led down to the basement was.
That was where he found Victor and Regent. That surprised him, as he hadn’t expected his oldest brother to be here.
“You only left one guy on the door?” he asked.
Regent raised his eyebrows. “There are more out there.”
Good. He nodded.
Victor turned to give him a surprised look. “You’ve never worried about Regent’s protection before.”
No, that was Victor’s job and Jose’s, Regent’s bodyguard, who was standing off to the side.
“Just making sure he’s safe. There a problem with that?”
“No problem,” Regent drawled. “Glad you could make it, brother.”
“I came as quickly as I could.”
They were all looking at him like he’d grown a second head. Was it so strange that he was worried about Regent’s protection? There were plenty of people who would love to take out Regent Malone.
And he wasn’t late because he’d been fucking around.
He turned away from their curious glances and looked at the guy hanging by his wrists from a chain attached to a hook on the ceiling.
The guy groaned. He was in a bad shape.
“You started without me?” he asked.
“I didn’t realize you wanted a piece of interrogating him,” Victor replied.
Because he never had before. But this was personal.
“He sold this shit at Glory. I have the right to interrogate him.”
Regent nodded slowly. “That you do. He hasn’t given us anything concrete yet. Feel free to take a turn though.”
With a nod, he stepped toward the guy. He was young, and while Maxim didn’t exactly want to look at him, he forced himself to study his face. It took him a moment to recognize him, mainly because his face was swollen and bruised.
“It’s Jeremy.”
“You know him?” Regent asked.
“Yeah, he used to work for me. Fired him when he stopped turning up.” He pulled his fist back and slammed it into his stomach.
He smacked his fist into the other man’s balls. Jeremy let out a choked cry that would have had Maxim’s own balls shriveling in sympathy. If he wasn’t so mad at himself for banning him from Glory.
Then he wouldn’t have been selling that shit in his club.
And perhaps that poor guy, whose Regent’s cleaning crew had dumped across the other side of town, would still be alive.
And Maxim wouldn’t be worrying that Stephanie would crack and go to the cops on him. It wasn’t like they didn’t have cops on their payroll to take care of shit like that, but he didn’t want to fire the girl or run her out of town.
Which is what would happen if she blabbed.
Fucking Jeremy.
He landed another jab to his dick.
Jeremy started gagging, and Maxim backed up quickly before he puked. As soon as he was finished throwing up, Maxim stepped back in until Victor pulled him away.
He was heaving for breath, angry at everything this asshole had done.
“Let me finish, brother,” Victor said in a calm voice.
