by Naomi West
He kissed her forehead, smiling at how innocent she still sounded despite what they’d just done.
There were so many things they still had to talk about, but they contented themselves with just enjoying their bodies lying so close together.
13
It had been over a week since she’d seen Blade. He’d only warmed her bed for one night, but it still seemed so cold without him. Venus fell asleep every night thinking about the way the dark hairs on his chest had felt against her bare breasts, the way he’d looked when he was on top of her, the warmth of him when she had been enfolded in the sanctuary of his arms.
Blade had been far gentler than she would’ve imagined a man like him could ever be, or perhaps any man. He’d given her chances to back out, making sure this was what she’d wanted, too. Heaven help her, she’d wanted it desperately. Venus had read about how painful and miserable it was supposed to be the first time, but that hadn’t been the case with Blade.
They’d lain together afterward, feeling like the only people left in the world as they murmured their plans for taking Jet down. It was nothing concrete, no bank heist or military scheme, but a vague idea of ruining business for the Skulls to the point of falling apart.
When she’d no longer been able to think about the terrible reality of life, she’d turned to him for another round.
“Are you sure?” Blade had asked, concern in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’ll only hurt me if you turn me down,” she’d replied, wrapping one leg around his hip and pressing herself against her. “I’m not done with you yet.”
He couldn’t say no after that, and for their second go-round, Venus had straddled him like a cowgirl and taken what she needed. Blade had looked surprised but pleased, and Venus had felt the same way. She’d never imagined she could take control in a situation like that, and Blade had seemed more than happy to let her have it. He’d gotten what he needed out of the deal as well, and Venus had nearly fallen asleep in his arms afterward.
But then she’d remembered just who and where she was. Most people could sleep with whomever they wanted to and it didn’t matter to the rest of the world, but what they’d done had just put them both in danger. She’d practically kicked him out of her bed then, insisting that he leave before they put themselves at even more risk. The look in Blade’s eyes had been one of hurt, anger, and frustration, but she knew it wasn’t because he’d thought she was rejecting him. He’d wanted to stay there to protect her. Venus had wanted the same thing, but it wasn’t possible, at least not yet.
In the meantime, she knew she had to keep up her act of being the good daughter. “Good morning,” she said with a smile as she sat down at the breakfast table, glancing at Jet’s coffee to see if he needed a refill.
He didn’t, nor did he look like he was in a mood to talk. He frowned at his cell phone and occasionally scratched his temple, a sign she’d learned over the years meant he was trying to make a decision.
She left him to it. Venus kept her distance from Jet while he got over the fact that she’d refused to be handed to Maurice, and soon enough she fell back into his good graces. He didn’t say anything more about the situation, and he hadn’t yet tried to sell her off again. She was biding her time, and she didn’t know how long it would last. Jet wasn’t going to stay cool and calm forever.
Venus focused on her avocado toast, barely tasting the wonderful nutty flavor as she once again thought of her night with Blade. It was constantly on her mind, a reminder of just what a traitor she was. It shouldn’t matter, and Blade had been right. Jet probably deserved to die for his crimes. But bridging the gap between that and the fact that he was her father was difficult. If he only knew what she’d done, Jet would probably kill her instead.
And then there was the fact that she didn’t know what this meant for her relationship with Blade, or if it meant anything at all. Was it just business, a state of affairs that had arisen out of his desire for her body and her desire to be rescued? What would he do with her once they’d taken the Skulls down? There was the possibility that he’d keep her for his own, a thought that sent a pleasant cloud of warmth drifting through her body, but he might just as easily cast her aside in favor of someone who hadn’t been his rival’s daughter. Venus had never been allowed to have a boyfriend or even date before, so this was all new territory to her. It was only made more complicated by the fact that he was the leader of the Fangs and she was Jet’s daughter. Would things have been different between them if she’d been someone else?
“Did you send those letters out for me yesterday?” Jet asked, startling her out of her reverie.
“Hm? Oh yes. I made sure they went out, just as you asked.” It was an old-fashioned way of doing things in this age of cell phones and emails, but Jet had discovered that his threats were far more menacing when they arrived on a piece of paper, tangible evidence of what Jet planned to do if people didn’t act as he said. There were several businesses in the city that were obliged to submit to Jet if they didn’t want their precious storefronts smashed, and it was turning into quite the lucrative business for him.
“Good. We’ve got a meeting this morning. Do you plan to be there?”
Venus had to fight from raising her eyebrows in question. She’d been able to hang out in the back at the gang meetings, but she’d never been outwardly invited to one. If Jet was actually talking to her about it, then she must’ve been playing her part better than she’d thought. “Yes, I was thinking I would. I’d like to hear what the plans are for the week, see if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Jet set his phone down and looked at her, his eyes for once not angry. “You know, I realize I’ve been thinking about you the wrong way.”
“You—you have?” She picked up her coffee mug and took a sip, just so she’d have something to do.
He nodded. “I always thought having a daughter was more of a burden than anything. I have to worry about who might hurt you, always trying to keep you safe. Eventually I’d need to marry you off to some bastard and hope he was the right choice. You understand.”
“Of course.” She didn’t understand at all, especially since Jet had never gone to any lengths to keep her safe. But she wasn’t about to argue with him.
“Now I’m starting to see that I can keep you on as part of the gang. You’ve been a lot more useful over the last couple of weeks, even if some of it is just with secretarial work. Eventually I might be able to use you to negotiate some deals. Think about it. Some man will see a gorgeous woman and think he has the advantage, and then we can surprise him with the real deal.” Jet smirked at the thought. “It could be a nice way to get the upper hand on some of the businesses and groups we deal with.”
Venus nodded. “That’s a really good idea.” It was basically the same idea she’d proposed to him just a couple of weeks ago when she’d offered to kill Blade. He hadn’t wanted to listen then, but now that he thought it was his own idea, it was different. “I’m happy to help in any way that I can.”
“And I think I’ve got the perfect way for you to do that. You know a bit about numbers, right?”
“I think I do well enough.” The truth was that she was great at math and accounting when given the chance. The only thing her father had really given her a chance at was standing around looking pretty.
“I want you to go over this month’s books this evening. I’ll leave them in the top drawer of my desk for you. There’s something off about them, and I’m not sure what it is. I think someone might be ripping me off, and I sure as shit hope it isn’t Bill. He’s been taking care of my accounting for a long time, but I’m starting to wonder about him.”
“I understand,” she said with a nod, feeling both terrified and excited about this opportunity. “Where will you be?”
“I’ve got a dinner meeting with some associates. Tomorrow evening I’ll be dealing with the Broken Hearts. I’ve been hesitant to deal with them, but they’ve got a valuable sh
ipment of goods they’re interested in selling.” He picked up his phone again, losing his focus.
“I see. That sounds like it could make us some good money. Are you going to have to go far to meet them? I mean, I don’t imagine they’ll want to come onto our territory.”
Jet grinned without looking up. “You’re starting to get more of a head for this business. You’re right; they don’t want to come here. We’re meeting them out by the docks on neutral ground. It’s safer, and it’ll keep us close to where their shipment is located on a barge. If things go wrong, we might be able to just take it anyway.”
Venus forced a smile. “It’s going to be a very productive day, then.”
“Yes indeed.”
It was difficult to wait through breakfast and then through the meeting. Jet had invited all of his top men to the big conference room in the east wing of the house to discuss the events of the week, and Venus had been given a seat just to his right. She noticed a few of the men giving her wary glances and muttering to each other, but nobody dared to say anything directly to her. They might’ve if they caught her alone, but they were all afraid of Jet. Venus paid attention to every minor detail, determined to commit it all to memory.
The day dragged on slowly, and Venus felt her anxiety building. She couldn’t do anything until Jet was out of the house. Even when he was closed in his office, she was worried he could discover what she was really up to. She continued the dance she’d been reenacting every day since that night with Blade, striving so hard to be the perfect daughter.
“I’m heading out,” he finally called after dinner. “Don’t call me when you find something with those books. Just tell me when I get home. I’ll be busy.” Jet shut the door to the garage without so much as telling her goodbye or that he loved her. It was nothing unusual, and she no longer cared.
Venus raced to the front window, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she waited for his car to go peeling out onto the street and toward the other side of town where the docks were. She then raced up to her bedroom, locked the door, and called Blade.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey.”
“Hey.” It shouldn’t have felt awkward to talk to him, not considering what they’d done together, but it was. “I need to talk to you.”
“Can you meet me?”
“No.” She wasn’t sure how many men Jet had taken with him, but it was rare for someone not to at least be in the vicinity. Besides, if she left the house and Jet came back early, he’d want to know why she wasn’t looking over the books as she had been told.
“I can be there in about twenty minutes. Is that soon enough?”
“Yeah, I think so.” In truth, it sounded like an eternity. She hoped she’d have plenty of time to give him all the information he needed to make this work.
While she waited for Blade to arrive, she slipped out of her bedroom and worked her way through the entire house. She didn’t see evidence of any of the other Skulls here, but she knew she couldn’t be too careful. One of them might be lying in wait, ready to ambush her should she suddenly decide to cross the boundaries her father had set for her.
The thought had occurred to her more than once. She’d been cooperating with her father, but that was all just a façade to keep herself safe. It was quite possible that Jet was doing the same thing, pretending to make her feel like part of the Skulls until he could draw her out and discover what she was really up to. If he knew what she was doing, he’d probably kill her on the spot.
She still had a few minutes before Blade was due to arrive, and so she ducked into Jet’s office and took the accounting books he’d left for her. She wasn’t sure she could concentrate enough on them to get the job done, but they could serve quite a purpose on their own.
They were spread out over her desk when she heard a rattle at her bedroom window. Venus jumped out of her chair, stepping backward and feeling a ripple of fear shiver under her skin.
But it was only Blade standing on the rooftop under her dormer window, smiling mischievously. Venus glared at him as she unlocked the sash and slid the screen aside. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked, glancing at the ground below before she closed the window. It was a long way down.
“I thought it’d be a good idea to come in a different way every time. I didn’t see any guards outside, but I don’t want anyone to start picking up on my habits.” His pale emerald eyes were warm as they regarded her, sliding their gaze down to her lips.
Venus purposely looked away, unsure of how to react. She’d asked him over here because she had information to give him, but the memory of what they’d done hung in the air between them like a thick mist. She couldn’t pretend it hadn’t happened, nor did she want to. But she was also a little embarrassed by it, knowing he’d seen her completely naked, a version of herself that nobody else had ever had access to.
“Here,” she said once she’d cleared her throat, crossing the room to her desk. “This isn’t the main thing, but I thought it might be helpful. Jet asked me to go over the books. I don’t know what all the abbreviations mean for sure, but I can at least guess for most of them.”
Blade came to stand beside her, the heat of his body radiating, reaching out for her. It was so tempting to turn to him and lay her head on his chest. She’d missed him so much in the intervening week, and the phone calls here and there to pass on bits and pieces of intelligence she’d collected hadn’t been enough. But he pulled out his phone and began taking pictures of each page.
“I won’t waste time trying to look through it all right now, but at the very least my men can probably make some sense of it. Seems like his bottom line is running a little thin, though.” Blade pointed to the current balance.
“Yes. He said he thinks someone is ripping him off, and it may be his accountant. He thinks I can figure it out.”
“Are you good at that sort of thing?”
His question made her realize that they hardly knew each other at all. The only true comprehension they had of each other lay in the way their bodies fit together and the terrible pasts they’d both been through. And while that comprised a large part of who they each were now, there had to be so much more to both of them. “I am, or at least I always was in school. I’ve offered to do the books for him more than once, but he’s never wanted me to until now. I have to admit, I’m worried he’s trying to set me up. My little act seems to be working all too well.” What might happen if she did accuse Bill of falsifying the records to put more money in his own pocket? Would Jet be proud of her, or would someone go after her for being a snitch? It was impossible to tell.
“If he is, then you just have to be sure you don’t fall for it. Watch your back constantly, and don’t leave any evidence of what you’ve been doing or that you’re talking to me.”
“Easier said than done.” Just as a precaution, Venus had saved his number in her phone as Betty. If anyone happened to go through her call list, they would think she was just talking to one of her friends. They could look into it deeper, but only if they were smart enough. “But the books aren’t the only reason I asked you here.”
He’d finished taking pictures, and he turned to her with one raised eyebrow. “Oh?”
She let out an involuntary breath that made her entire body tingle. He shouldn’t be standing there in her room like this, that seductive look in his eyes, his strong shoulders making him look like a marble monument to strength. It would be so easy to just reach out wrap her arms around him, pull him close for a kiss, and see where things led. Her body needed that sweet release he’d shown her.
But she didn’t have all night, and she had important recon he needed. “Jet’s been talking to me about his business more than he ever has before. At first, it was just simple tasks. He’d ask me to go pick up a package or run to the post office, nothing more exciting than any secretary might be expected to do. But now he’s having me sit in on the business meetings, and he says he wants to use me as part of his negotiati
ons.”
Blade’s face clouded over. “I thought he’d already tried that a couple of times.”
She instantly realized the error in what she’d said. “Oh no. I mean in a different way. He says he thinks the organizations they deal with will be caught off-guard if a woman comes to deal with them. It’ll be a distraction, at the very least. Either way, he’s trying to find a place for me within the Skulls.”
He backed away a step or two, enough to make Venus wonder if she’d said the wrong thing. “I suppose that’s a good thing.”
She couldn’t deny the ache in her heart at feeling the distance between them. If he abandoned her now, there would never be any way for her to get away from Jet. Maybe she’d misinterpreted everything about him and put too much hope in what he’d said about protecting her. At the very least, she had to keep this going long enough to see the downfall of the Skulls and Jet.
“It is a good thing because it means I’m getting a lot more information than I would’ve otherwise. The account books were a surprise, but this morning he told me that he’ll be meeting with the Broken Hearts soon.”
“Interesting.” Blade ran a hand along his jawline, where a shadow of dark stubble was beginning to grow. “They’re a pretty new organization, practically still a street gang. I wonder what he wants with them.”
“It sounds like they contacted him, from what little he told me,” she explained. “They have a shipment of goods they’re trying to unload, and they think the Skulls can profit from it. In the meeting this morning, Jet talked about this shipment with the other men. It’s a massive load of electronics, big enough that they need a barge to move it around. They’re meeting at the docks, on what Jet calls neutral ground.” She knew just as well as Blade did that it wasn’t neutral ground at all. That territory belonged to the Fangs.
“Wow. They’re really trying to break into the big time. That’s going to make for some major problems around here. There’s not enough room for another gang in this city, not unless they start taking territory from someone else. Did Jet say anything about that?”
