AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that why you’ve been ditching the downtown project lately?” Nicolas asks.
I swivel around, letting my focus fall off the sight of Isabella at the bar. He sips on a beer that he’s taken from a passing waiter, almost oblivious to the insult he’s just lashed me with.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
Nicolas looks perplexed. “What?” He shrugs, taking another gulp. “I’m just pointing out the obvious, Carter. You haven’t been at work lately. It wasn’t a dig.”
“Bullshit, it wasn’t,” I reply. “I’ve been working my ass off these last few months to make sure the entire family doesn’t fall through the cracks that led to Frances Johnson getting his ass locked in a four-by-four cell at Sing Sing. I don’t need you to tell me I haven’t been at work.”
“The office,” Lorenzo mutters. “That’s all he meant. You haven’t been to the office. We’ve been at the job site you bought off the Laceys after their unfortunate demise. The downtown building. That’s just the place you haven’t been around; that’s it.”
I trade a look between them both. “The day you get to run things is the day I give a shit about what you both have to say about my whereabouts.”
Nicolas looks offended, but I don’t give a damn, even if I try.
“Carter, please,” a demure voice cracks behind me.
I turn, taking Isabella in my arms. She leans against my chest hopelessly, panting while it’s clear she’s already suffered through an orgasm or two.
I flick the switch in my pocket, but her knees still tremble underneath her.
“I’ll be back,” I sigh, looking at the guys. “I need to handle something first.”
My cock is begging to break out of these pants just to drag up her silky wetness, but something stops me. The music in the venue is loud, making the chatter among the guests even louder, but I still catch a few words I don’t think I was supposed to hear.
“Yeah, just like always. Tend to her instead of the business on hand.”
Even Isabella looks perplexed, forcing herself out of my arms. She hangs her head slightly, pushing her fingertips into my chest.
“I’ll go back to the bar. I just… I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” I bite.
I hold my finger up, signaling her to give me a minute. Turning back around, Lorenzo takes a long stride backward, trying to make himself invisible. Nicolas clearly regrets his choice of words by now, holding his hand out in surrender while the other clings to his beer.
“I’d like to know where you get the balls to tell me how to run this family,” I snarl.
Nicolas swallows before speaking. “I was just being an asshole. Sorry, Carter. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but come on, even you can admit that things have been different since she came along.”
“Different doesn’t matter,” I bite. “What I say, goes. That’s final. I’m still in charge, even without you keeping tabs on my whereabouts.”
He looks as if he’s realized my looming ferocity, but he speaks again, proving his idiocy is far from over. “I don’t need to keep tabs, Carter. I know where you’ve been. Besides, I’m not saying you can’t play with your woman; it’s not about her.”
“Then what the hell is this about?”
He hesitates, tripping over his words at first. “Well, I guess it’s about—”
“Don’t fucking say it,” Lorenzo cuts in.
I trade an irritated look between them both. “Don’t say what, exactly?”
Nicolas chugs the rest of his beer and sighs. “The fact that you swing your weight around in this family, but you’re not even a real Blackthorne.”
Whether it’s true or not, I can’t be sure, but the room goes absolutely silent. I step forward, standing against Nicolas while he rattles slightly. He is afraid, as he should be, but I can’t make a scene here. It’s the election party, after all. I have to uphold some level of decorum.
Instead, I flick a look toward the exit, and he takes it without pause.
Ernesto presses his hand to my chest, muttering something about taking a seat. I acquiesce to his suggestion, finding a table off to the side of the party commotion. Isabella lingers a few paces behind as if trying to stay out of the way. Lorenzo shoves past her and Ernesto, coming to sit down beside me.
