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I swing my confused gaze on Cole, his eyes darkening when they meet my own and his lips turning down in a deep frown. “I thought I told you to wait in the car?” he growls out, the harshness in his tone making my skin prickle.
Gavin narrows his eyes, looking between the two of us with amusement. “Wait a second, are you two…?”
“We’re done here,” Cole grumbles, reaching to grab the envelope he brought in off the table and tucking it under his arm. I see the barely contained rage burning in his eyes as he strides toward me, and though my instincts are telling me to turn and run, my feet are rooted to the spot I’m standing in, powerless to escape his wrath.
“Come on, Bauer!” Gavin calls after him. “Don’t make a hasty decision that you’ll regret…”
Cole doesn’t respond or look back at Gavin. He just grabs me by the arm, his fingertips digging into the soft flesh of my bicep as he yanks me around and pulls me to the door with him.
I have no idea what I just walked in on, but the stone sinking in the pit of my stomach tells me that I just messed up big time…
And I have a feeling I’m about to pay for it.
17
“Stay here,” I say sternly, staring intently into those big baby blues. “I mean it, Juliet.”
She flops back against the passenger seat with an exaggerated eyeroll. “Whatever, Sarge,” she snarks, dismissing me with the flippant wave of a hand.
Such a fucking brat.
I’ll address that later, because right now, I have business to attend to.
Heaving an exasperated sigh, I climb out of the Camaro and start toward the dilapidated redbrick building where I’m to meet Gavin Holley to drop off the signed contracts. I still can’t shake the feeling that there’s something off about the guy, but I had our IT team run another background check and again, he came up squeaky clean. So without a good reason to pull out of this deal, I’m moving forward with it in spite of my own reservations.
I throw one more glance in Juliet’s direction before pulling the door open and stepping into the dimly lit back entryway of the building. It’s not ideal to have her along with me on this errand, both because I don’t make a habit of mixing my personal life with business and because I don’t like the way Gavin was leering at her the other night. But since I’m just dropping off paperwork, I should be in and out quickly.
I pass through the dimly lit entryway and push through the only other door inside, emerging in the main area of the building. It isn’t much- just a large warehouse space full of pallets of liquor- which checks out, considering the line of business Gavin is in. I spot a few of his guys milling around, sorting cases of liquor onto different pallets to fulfill orders, but I don’t immediately see Gavin himself and it’s like a damn maze in here. So much for getting in and out fast.
I spot a table and chairs set up in the center of the space which, judging by the papers scattered upon the surface, must be where Gavin conducts business. So I stride in that direction, tossing the envelope containing the contracts down onto the table when I reach it and looking around with a frown.
“Can I help you?” a man asks, stepping out from between a row of pallets and folding his arms over his chest in an obvious effort to intimidate.
I square my shoulders, crossing my own arms to mirror his stance and lifting my chin. “Looking for Gavin.”
The guy nods, giving a little flick of his head to indicate for me to follow him as he turns to head back the way he came from. I do, and after a few turns through the maze, I spot Gavin ahead talking to one of his employees, pointing to a pallet that appears to be an order fulfillment with a mix of boxes stacked upon it. As I follow the other man closer, I see the guy with Gavin nod to him and reach into one of the boxes, pulling out a large bag full of pills and a square white package.
I’ve never messed with the stuff, but I know drugs when I see them.
I stop in my tracks, right as Gavin swings his gaze on me.
“Cole, there you are!” he says smoothly, lips turning up into that jovial grin of his.
My feet are still rooted to the spot I’m standing in, refusing to go any further. “The fuck is going on here, Holley?” I ask, gesturing to the guy holding the drugs.
“Just getting our orders together,” he replies cavalierly. He claps the employee with the drugs on the shoulder as he turns away from him and heads in my direction, completely unphased that I just caught him red handed.
I shake my head. “Nah, I don’t mess with that shit.”
“You don’t have to,” Gavin supplies without missing a beat. “I’ll have guys working each of your clubs on weekend nights to offload it to your customers. You won’t have to lift a finger.”
“That was never part of the deal,” I growl as Gavin approaches and stops short in front of me.
“How do you think we can price the liquor so cheap?” he laughs, maintaining his nonchalance as if this is all normal and I’m the one who’s being unreasonable here. “Higher profits in exchange for access.”
I shake my head, turning on a heel and starting back the way I came.
“Oh come on, Bauer,” Gavin groans, hot on my heels. “If it’s not me it’ll be someone else supplying your patrons! No club is squeaky clean. At least this way, you’re getting something out of it.”
