"I"m a co-manager, is that your girl over there?" I said pointing to the redheaded girl she was dancing with who was now over at the bar.
"Yes." She said a little confused.
"The bartender is giving me the signal that she is wasted, he is cutting her off. It doesn"t look like she is taking it that well and I would really rather not kick one of your friends out." I yelled over the music, thankful for her drunken friend.
"Dammit Darcy." She whispered staring at her friend who was now leaning over the bar trying to get closer to the bartender while a skinny guy attempted to pull her away. "I"ll take her home, thanks." Olivia started to walk towards her friend but stopped suddenly and turned back to me. "Wait you never asked for my name?"
"Oh I already know your name, Olivia." Smirking, I let myself take in her shocked face for half a second before turning towards the office.
I shouldn"t have done that but d.a.m.n she was just to tempting, I needed to stay far away from sweet Olivia or I was going to find myself in a bad situation.
Before my hand could open the office door Vinnie grabbed my arm pulling me in close, "Who was that?"
For some reason Vinnie always took a special interest in women Denny and I seemed to notice. "No one. Her friend is drunk, I told her to take her home before I kick them out."
Nodding his head Vinnie dropped my arm and went through the office doors.
A perfect example of why I had to stay away from Olivia.
Denny was waiting in his office, entering after Vinnie I shut the door cutting him off from his bodyguards.
"Boys, I trust the run to the safe house went well?"
Vinnie wasn"t my father and calling him a real uncle was out of the question, so his straight to business att.i.tude didn"t really bother me, but I know it bothered Denny that Vinnie treated him like an employee first and son almost never.
"It went fine." I answered giving Denny time to pull himself together and also wanting to get this over fast. "What"s going on Vinnie? You"ve upped your bodyguard count and we know aunt Annabelle left the state."
Vinnie gave me a look that showed his annoyance at being questioned before sighing heavily. "A small group is looking to expand their business into our part of town."
Oh s.h.i.t.
"Business or gang Vinnie?" I hissed through tight lips.
A business like Vinnie"s we could deal with because the ones that called themselves businesses had money and played by a set of rules. Gangs on the other hand needed the money and played by no rules. If they wanted to do business on our side of town they would do it till Vinnie paid them to go away or someone got hurt fighting, capturing the cops attention.
"Business. They used to work for Adam but now have decided to start their own."
"What are they selling?" Denny asked avoiding eye contact with Vinnie, which I couldn"t blame him for, Vinnie was being unusually calm about us questioning him.
Question was why was Vinnie being calm?
"The same as us."
When Vinnie said "us" I felt my stomach turn and vomit run up the back of my throat. I wanted to scream and tell Vinnie there was no us. But even though I never touched the drugs I touch the money, which was just as bad. This wasn"t who I was or who I wanted to be. Growing up under Vinnie"s roof Denny and I both knew Vinnie did something that wasn"t your normal job but it wasn"t until after graduating high school did we learn what Vinnie"s business really was. By the time we knew Vinnie"s business was selling high quality drugs to rich clientele it was too late, Vinnie had pulled us in too far.
"I want guns on you both in the club just in case they decide to come in."
In Vinnie talk that meant he most likely knew they would come into the club.
And that had me seeing red, I hated guns and I hated carrying one. I had always been a believer that you didn"t carry a gun unless you were prepared to use it and honestly I wasn"t sure I could ever pull the trigger.
Chapter 4.
The sound of rushing water had me knifing awake, causing me to hit my head on the bathtub but the pain was nothing compared to the cramp in my neck.
After Ty and I finally got Darcy out of the bar we just barely made it home before she started to throw up. Once we got her to the bathroom Ty and I played rock, paper, scissors, loser had to take care of her.
For the third time in a row I lost.
Opening my eyes I was greeted to the outline of Ty"s naked b.u.t.t behind the shower curtain. Well there was a site to see first thing in the morning, "Ty why is your b.u.t.t staring at me?"
"Sorry darling, I think you"re staring at it." He wasn"t wrong I was staring but only because he had quite a nice bottom, for a computer geek.
Shaking my head I pulled my mind out of the gutter and tried again, "What I mean is, why is your b.u.t.t in the shower while I"m currently laying on a floor I can"t remember the last time it was cleaned."
"It"s ten thirty Olivia, I have to get ready for work."
s.h.i.t.
Jumping up I stumbled over Darcy who was curled around the toilet and ran to my room.
I had thirty minutes to get ready before the lawyer from my dad"s firm showed up.
Gosh I didn"t even know his name.
Just as the door bell rang I was giving myself a once over in the mirror I had thrown on blue jeans, brown boots and a matching thick brown kitted sweater, left my hair down and put on as little make up as I could. This wasn"t a date so I purposely didn"t try too hard so it wouldn"t give him the wrong idea because all I was doing was humoring my father.
Pa.s.sing a now thankfully completely dressed Ty, he gave me an unhappy look, "I hate your father." Join the club I thought. "Want me to tell this guy to get lost?"
"Nope I have a plan. Plus its not all bad today I"m hopeful that if I played my cards right this will be the last humor date as the next date I go on will be with a very s.e.xy club manager."
"How s.e.xy we talkin"?" Ty asked eyeing me with a raised eyebrow.
"Mouth watering." I winked Opening the door I just barely kept myself from cussing as loud as I could and slamming the door shut, because my b.a.s.t.a.r.d father had done it again.
Standing outside my door, giving me a stupid smug smile was Christopher Fuller or as I like to think of him *the person my father was replacing my brother with".
Christopher was the most arrogant person I had ever met and from the three family dinners he had been at, I learned that the only things he cared about were the way people looked and how much money they had.
And from the foul look on his face he did not like my look or my apartment.
"Do you need more time to get ready?" He asked in his stuck up voice looking me up and down with a grim look on his face.
"Nope, I"m ready." I smiled sweetly at him.
"Really?" he whined.
"Really," I snapped, "Not all of us feel the need to wear a three piece suit on a freaking Sat.u.r.day morning."
Really I should just slam the door in his face and go back to bed but it was the weekend, which meant my father would come over to yell at me instead of just his usual over the phone yelling.
Nope, didn"t want that.
"Lets go." I said slipping my purse over my shoulder and grabbing my keys off the hook.
Not wanting to get stuck in a car with him and knowing in forty-five minutes I was going to get a text asking me to come into the animal shelter I volunteered at, I suggested we take two cars.
Thankfully he was apparently too good for my car so he didn"t put up a fight.
I desperately needed coffee so I told him to meet me at a little coffee shop I loved downtown.
By the time I got there Christopher was already sitting at a table with a cup of coffee in his hands.
I guess he was too good for the speed limit and too stuck up to be a gentleman and get me a coffee.
Getting my own coffee I debated whether I should just leave but unlike him I wasn"t rude so one cup of coffee and then I would.
I sat down in the chair opposite him.
With a loud sigh he got up and took the chair closest to me pushing it even closer as he sat.
"So here"s the deal," Christopher said pushing his hand into my hair, "Your dad will put me on his team if I can get you to date me."
"Excuse me?" I asked slapping his hand that was now traveling down my neck.
"You heard me."
"And why would my father want me dating you?"
With his foot Christopher pulled my chair around to face him and his hand went back to my neck. "If you"re dating me your father can claim that you"re just biding your time with that silly vet thing till I get around to asking you to marry me." Oh G.o.d. "Don"t freak out I"m not going to marry you or ask. You"re not my type."
"Then why do it?" I barked.
"I want on your father"s team and I"m guessing," he dropped his head on to my neck, "You"re a h.e.l.l of a good time in bed."
I cringed back as his wet tongue darted out licking my neck.
Struggling to push his face away an arm fell across my shoulder pulling me away from Christopher"s disgusting tongue.
"Olivia I didn"t know you were around today?" Jonah"s deep voice said from behind me.
Turning round I did a double take, the man sounded like Jonah from the club but he sure as h.e.l.l didn"t look like him. The man wore tight black jeans that hung low off his hips, showing the waistband of his boxers as he leaned over, a white t-shirt covered his chest and a black leather jacket was in his hand. His golden blonde hair was pushed down falling across his forehead onto black-rimmed gla.s.ses and a sliver eyebrow piercing. Another piercing was in his ear and numerous tattoos could be seen on both arms.
Jonah in a suit was an amazing sight but Jonah like this had my mouth dry and sweat forming on my neck.
G.o.d please let it be Jonah and not a brother I silently prayed.
Reaching across me he offered his hand to Christopher, "Jonah, Olivia"s friend."
Sweet Lord his tongue was also pierced.
Shaking my head from the naughty thoughts I was having about that tongue ring. I cleared my throat and said "Jonah this is Christopher he works with my father."
"Tell me Olivia do you want an employee of your fathers to be licking your neck in a coffee shop?" Holy s.h.i.t. "Answer me Olivia."
"No, I really don"t." I whispered pulling at my sweater trying to cool myself off.
"My advice Christopher is to leave and do it very quickly." Jonah said in a deadly quiet voice that promised a fight if he didn"t do so.
With wide eyes and his mouth all but hanging open Christopher jumped up from his seat and stormed out of the coffee shop.
Shaking his head Jonah took Christopher seat. "I"m sorry about that it"s just I heard the offer he made you and it was either ask him to leave or kick his a.s.s. For your sake I went with the first option."
I was speechless no one had taken care of me like that since Alex anda Tears stung my eyes as I stopped my mind from even thinking his name. Choking back the tears I smiled at Jonah but I could tell he wasn"t buying it.
"So does your dad make it a habit to set you up with a.s.sholes?"
"Sadly, yes."
A muscle in Jonah"s jaw jumped as his face turned hard and unhappy. "I"m sorry." He said quietly.
"Don"t be, I"m use to it." Taking a sip of my coffee I let my eyes take in his different look and couldn"t help telling him what I was thinking. "You look so different without the suit."
"The suit"s just something I wear for work. This," he gestured to his body, "is me."
Before I could blurt out how much I like the *just him" look I took another sip of my drink.
"Does it bother you I"m not a clean -cut suit?" He asked tilting his head to the side.
"Honestly," I smiled, "It makes me like you more." Jonah"s lips twitched up slightly. "Suits don"t really do it for me. Although I would happily take you either way."
Giving me a s.e.xy come-hither look Jonah leaned in closer. "Who are you and where have you been?"
Feeling confident by the s.e.xy look he was giving me I went for broke. "I"m Olivia and it doesn"t matter where I"ve been because right now, I"m right here." Leaning into him so close I could feel his breath on my lip I whispered, "So tell me Jonah what are you going to do with that."
Licking his bottom lip his eyes dropped down to stare at my mouth. Taking his tongue ring between his teeth his eyes moved slowly back up. Letting go of the ring he murmured, "I"m going to walk away."
Pulling back to look at him full on I felt my heart shatter at what I saw. His eyes were looking down, his lips were preset into a thin line and the haunted look was back.
"I don"t understand." I whispered.
"You need a nice guy Olivia."