Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
We didn’t need additional Mafia families joining. The war was between West and Walden and me. They needed a couple name.
Walst?
Or Tristian and Ashton . . . Tristian was commonly called Trace.
Trashtan. Just Trash.
Team Trash. I liked that.
The Trash Twins.
The Trash Twins fucked up.
The war was between them and me. Not Cole Mauricio. The grievance happened on his territory, so he’d decide what he would want for repercussions. My guess was that Mauricio would want territory. If he did, it’d be inevitable that Mauricio would enter this war. They wouldn’t give him what they were already fighting me to keep. And once I won, I’d have to turn my fight on Mauricio for that exact territory that Team Trash shouldn’t have given away.
All of that was a big “if,” but I needed to be prepared.
Cole Mauricio ran Chicago and had moved into running the Twin Cities with his new allegiance.
I needed to dispatch my recruiters to those cities and to start gathering information.
I’d just gotten back from my trip to Chicago, and I was tired. I just didn’t know why. I didn’t think my actual body was tired, so what did that mean?
My heart? It barely functioned except when Blake was around.
I didn’t care about stress or responsibilities. I was more confused than anything else, but we arrived at the warehouse, and soon, all those questions faded.
My driver brought me to the back. There was still a line in front, people waiting to get in.
I gave this event to Nogoskeski to run. He wouldn’t be able to help himself and would notify his brother. After that, sometimes a string would unravel itself and sometimes it wouldn’t. This time, it unraveled, and a little kitty came to play with it.
I’d been notified Blake was here.
Slipping inside, my men stood back. Each dipped his head in a nod. I greeted them, but this night I had more important people to see. I would check in with my men later.
Lassiter was coming down the back stairs as I began to head up. He took me in, his usual scowl in place before his facial expression switched. There was a window, a brief one, but I saw inside before he masked it with a smirk instead.
Too late. I saw the pain he was hiding.
I hardened.
I was obsessed with Blake. He knew this. It had always been the way, even before he came. And Lassiter was obsessed with me. He didn’t think I knew, but I did.
He stopped three steps above me. “She’s here with her friends.”
“And one of them is all over Levi.”
He didn’t ask who had given me the report. It didn’t matter. I had thirty men inside this warehouse. They all reported to me.
Lassiter’s hand tightened around the handrail before he jerked it free, stuffing it inside his pocket. “She doesn’t want you here.”
I moved past him.
He turned with me, hissing, “Leave her be.”
No. “She came to me. The rules changed.”
“Because you tricked her.”
Yes. I did. I wasn’t a good man.
He let out a frustrated sound and began down the last two steps.
“Last.” I used his nickname.
He paused.
I was normally patient with him. He was family.
“When I go to her, she doesn’t turn me away.”
Hurt flared in him before he shoved out the door.
I could be patient, kind, to him. Just not tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Blake
Junior year in college
Cincinnati
God, I was nervous. Really nervous.
“Hey, you.” One of my roommates popped her head into my room. She whistled. “You look hot. Where are you going tonight? One of Creight & Barrel’s nightclubs?”
That was her nickname, which wasn’t a nickname at all, for Creighton. I must’ve made a face because she straightened up. “Uh oh. What is it? Are you two fighting?”
When weren’t we? I just shrugged. “I’m not going to one of his clubs.” I met her gaze in the mirror, letting my hands drop back down to my side. I’d been fussing with my hair. “I have a date.”
Her eyes got big, really big. She sucked in her cheeks and let out another whistle. “Damn. Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Crate’n’Barrel knows about the date?”
My jaw clenched. Everything in me tensed. I jerked up a shoulder and went back to getting ready.
“Who is it?”
“Tommy Pritsch.”
Her eyebrows drew together. She was trying to place him.
“He’s in my cross-cultural class. He’s nice.”
She still couldn’t place him.
I relented, “He’s on the football team.”
Her eyes went big again. “Damn. That Tommy Pritsch? Didn’t he date one of the cheerleaders last year?”
“Thought you’re my roommate?”
She flushed. “Sorry. Yeah. You’re right. What do you have planned for the night?”
I smoothed my hand down my shirt. I wasn’t sure what to wear, but since it was spring and not that cold, I opted for a cargo skirt. A white tank top. Black bra with a bra strap that would show. I had a cute jacket that matched my skirt if it got cold. My hair was perfect since I went to the salon and spent the whole day waiting for a blowout. Sometimes my hair got frizzy, and it was that type of weather again.