No. It was Gail’s absence that surprised me. Not that she needed to be here, but I’d sort of hoped to see her.
“Well, there’s not much you don’t know already.” Skye shrugged as she lifted her eyes to look at me over the top of her computer screen. “I’ve not found out who Q-Ball is.”
“Yeah, but I meant on the other side. The debts should be settled, and that should have the raiders off our back, right?” I glanced at Amy who was chewing on her pen.
“The raiders don’t have a pot to piss in.” Amy tapped her hand on her desk. “But I’m not sure how to actually take on Chet via the old corporate takeover method because, well, we just don’t have the capital.”
“Let’s table that for a second.” I glanced between them. “What is going on with the water pipes and everything else? Do we know who is building that new treatment plant?”
“Chet is.” Skye was already back to work on her computer screen. “Which is probably why he’s hitting us so hard since you bought those pipes from Modi. That was a bit weird by the way. They wouldn’t give them to us at all, and then all of a sudden,” - she snapped her fingers - “presto, we had them.”
Amy stood and gestured for me to come over. As I did, she turned her screen so I could see what she had mapped out. “As you can see, the whole public utility thing is sort of owned by three entities: Modi, Chet’s company, and a third one called Harlequin.”
“Looks like Harlequin is mostly power.” I pointed to the screen. “They don’t really cross into Modi or Chet’s territory.”
“Correct, and we think that’s on purpose. Like the three of them carved up the place and each has their own thing. They can’t really eat each other, and it’s not worth the cost to try.” Amy smirked. “Or it wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking at her in confusion.
“Well, when I bought your water pipes, Arthur asked me if I wanted the whole company.” She met my eyes. “It took me all afternoon to get the negotiations done, but now? All you have to do is go over there and sign for it tomorrow morning.”
“Wait, really?” I asked, surprised. “Why?”
“Arthur said he owes you everything and wants to be out.” Amy met my eyes. “If you do this deal, we can legitimately take on Chet.” She touched my arm. “We might not even need your pen to crush him like a bug.”
“That’s great,” I said, rubbing my chin. Part of the problem with pen-related assets was that they weren’t legitimate enough to do anything with. That was why we’d leveraged the casino to get some cash in the first place … but having an entire corporate raiding firm at my fingertips? That would move us way forward on the whole fix the city thing.
“I thought you’d be pleased,” Amy said, gently rubbing my arm. “And wouldn’t you know it, the market is closed for the day. We should celebrate.”
“Oh?” I asked, surprised as she kissed me. Hard.
“Yes,” she said when she broke the kiss. “It’s been a long day, and I need to work out some frustration. I’m thinking a spa, some martinis, and a ton of sex. You in?”
“That sounds great …” and it was weird because I felt like I should ask Skye if she wanted to join.
“You seem hesitant.” Amy gave me a long, hard look. “Am I not good enough for a solo venture?”
“Are you being serious?” I smiled at her. “I just didn’t want to be rude to Skye.”
“She doesn’t mind.” Amy shifted and waved a hand at Skye who was so wrapped up in her work that she didn’t notice us. “None of her people are even awake before noon half the time. Her workday is just getting started.” She turned back to me and tugged on my shirt. “And yeah, maybe it’s a bit rude to want you to myself.” She licked her lips. “But sometimes I wanna be rude.” Then she began unbuttoning her top, revealing the creamy goodness of the flesh beneath.
I stood there staring as she began walking off toward the back, pulling off her shirt and dropping it to the ground on the way. As she reached the threshold, she turned and looked back at me. “You coming?”
13
“Well, I for one had a great night,” I said as Amy climbed into the limo and settled beside me. “And I feel that deserves carbs.” I offered her a platter of pastries.
“Are those from Taste’s Right?” Amy asked with a surprised lilt in her voice as she looked from the platter to me.
“They are.” I smirked. “I wasn’t sure which was your favorite, so I just bought two of everything.” I gestured to the little table in the middle of the limo. “There’s coffee too. Hazelnut.”
“Man, I need to spend the night with you all alone more often.” She paused as she selected a raspberry scone. “But you don’t have to go to all the trouble of going to get them for me.” She took a bite from her scone and did a little shimmy of joy as the limo pulled into traffic. “Honestly, I’m surprised you even knew about it.”
“Oh?” I laughed, taking my own pastry. It was something called a ‘piestry’ and was really just a tiny cherry pie. “Then you’ll be really surprised when you try the coffee.”
“You didn’t?” Her eyes went wide as she grabbed one of the travel cups from the console. She took a sip, and admittedly, I was a bit jealous of her coffee. I don’t think I’d ever given her that much pleasure before. “I didn’t even know they made this anymore …”
“Well, they sorta do now since I bought the recipe.” I smirked. “You’re actually the first person to try it.”
“I’d been going through the last of my stockpile for months.” She held the cup in her hand like it might escape. “And you went and bought the recipe from the company just so I could have more?”
“It seemed the least I could do, Amy.” I smiled at her. “Well, it was more a whole production thing.” I shrugged.
“Know that I want to kiss you, but to do that, I’d have to stop drinking this.” She took another swig of coffee. “And that’s never going to happen.”
“Well, enjoy then because once we get to Modi, I doubt it will be all fun and games.”
I was right. Sort of.
The rest of the drive passed rather uneventfully, and I was just finishing my first cheesecake creampuff when we arrived. I hastily shoved the entire thing in my mouth as we pulled into a space and the driver parked the car.
“You know you didn’t have to shove the whole thing in your mouth,” Amy said before taking a sip of her coffee. “We could have waited a few minutes.”
“Mmmph mmph,” I said which translated to ‘pastries wait for no man.’ Then I nodded confidently and moved to the door as Brant opened the door and stood aside so we could exit.
“Indeed,” Amy said, taking a wistful look at her coffee as she set it down and followed me out. “So, how much Hazelnut Dream do you have now?”
“A lot,” I said around the mouthful of pastry before swallowing hard. “Enough that you never have to worry about running out.” I smirked.
“Won’t the stuff you processed go bad though?” She looked back at the coffee inside. “Maybe we should drink it all now before it goes bad.”
“Amy, it’s okay. I own the fields they grow it. The farmers who tend it. The ammonia cooled cold storage center it’s stored in. Everything from soil to, well, cup.” I smirked. “You won’t ever run out.”
She nodded, understanding dawning in her eyes. “Well then, it seems someone is definitely getting a blowjob later.”
“I look forward to it.” I laughed, and Brant had the good sense not to comment as he shut the door and moved back to the driver’s seat.
“And don’t think you’re getting off that easy, either.” She took my hand in hers as we walked across the lot toward Modi’s entrance. “I think it’s gonna take a great many blowjobs to properly show my appreciation.” She did a little shimmy of pleasure. “Hazelnut Dream forever …”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind playing second fiddle to coffee.” I don’t think she even heard me because she was too busy daydreaming ab
out coffee. In fact, I was pretty sure I could see her doing one of those Scrooge McDuck plunges into a vat of the stuff, though I was fairly sure that wouldn’t end well.
Either way, as I pulled open the door and gestured for Amy to head inside, I found myself staring at a very pissed off Chet McMahon. Well, at his back, anyway, as he continued to lambast Arthur Modi, who seemed like he’d given his last fuck about an hour ago.
“Look, Chet, I really don’t care.” Arthur shrugged. “I know we had plans and all that, but I, well, I don’t need the money.” He smiled, and I saw that he was growing tired of dealing with Chet but was still trying to be polite for some crazy reason.
“But we were so close to taking over, Arthur,” Chet growled, anger filling his voice. “You’re just going to throw all that away?”
“By ‘throw away’ you mean sell for three times market value and retire to a beach with my family? Then yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you to do the same.”
“I would never do that,” Chet snarled as I walked up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, Chet.” I nodded to Arthur. “Arthur.” I turned and gestured to Amy who had barely moved beyond the threshold. “I believe you spoke to my associate Miss Soli on the phone?”
“Why would you pay so much for this piece of shit company?” Chet growled, turning his hatred on me.
“Because I want it, and I have infinite money.” I smiled brightly at him. “More than you can ever hope to have, actually.”
“I doubt that very much,” Chet said, looking from me to Arthur and back again. “And I don’t know what this is, but know that when you come crawling back, I won’t help you, Arthur.”
“That’s perfectly all right because I’ll have ten billion dollars to dry my tears with.” Arthur Modi shrugged before turned and heading toward the elevator. “Come, let’s finalize the paperwork.”
“Even with Arthur’s assets, you can’t beat me.” Chet stared at my back so hard as I approached the elevator that I was worried I might combust. “You’re not good enough.”
“Perhaps not.” I shrugged. “But she is.” I gestured to Amy.
“Now I know you’re crazy,” Chet said with a laugh as he pushed open the door. “No woman could ever beat me at this. After all, it’s a man’s job.” The door swung closed behind him, and Amy watched it for a moment.
“You know,” she said as she stepped into the elevator with Arthur and me, “Part of me wants him to get hit by a bus.” She looked at me wistfully for a second. “But most of me just wants to show him how wrong he is.”
“I have no doubt you’ll do that, Amy.” I squeezed her hand while Arthur watched with a smile.
“Dipping into the company ink, eh?” He waved a hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”
14
Thanks to Amy and Arthur having set everything up beforehand and a bit of well-planned penning, the whole deal, as well as all legal hurdles, were handled in only a few hours, and I was now the owner of Modi Asset Management. Or, well, most of it because it was a publicly traded company and had some debt.
That was fine though. We could take care of both of those things with relative ease.
“Thanks again for everything, Roger.” Arthur Modi waved to me as I headed to my limo with Amy. “I mean that. You did what no amount of drugs and therapy could.”
“I’m glad to help.” I took a deep breath as I stared at the man. “And if you know anyone else in the same situation …?”
“I’ll be sure to send them your way.” He nodded to me, a genuine smile on his face as he glanced back at the building. “You’d think I’d be sadder to let it go, but I’m not. It was fun, sure, but I feel like I’m off to bigger and better things.”
“Well, you won’t be leaving quite yet. You still need to handle the transition, Arthur.” Amy smiled at him. “I’ll be here bright and early in the morning to start kicking ass and taking names.”
“How you expect to do that in a week is beyond me.” Arthur smirked as I slid into the limo. “But I guess with him,” - he gestured at me - “anything is possible.” He winked at her. “Not that you aren’t amazing. Hell, had I known you existed, I’d have tried to hire you away ages ago.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” Amy said, waving as she got into the limo. “But I wouldn’t have come.” She gave my arm a squeeze. “I’m quite happy with my current boss.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Arthur gave us one last wave before turned and heading back to the office, and I was glad he’d agreed to stay on for an extra week. Sure, it’d cost a billion dollars, but feh, money, right?
“You know,” Amy said as the driver shut the door and headed to the front. “I could stay here and do some work.” She bit her lip, looking concerned. “In fact, I should do that.”
“We can do that tomorrow.” I glanced at my watch. It was just past noon which meant I had about four hours until the meeting with Ashley and Jane. Thankfully, we’d eaten lunch with Arthur during the signing since, evidently, he ate promptly at 11:17 every day.
“I know you keep saying that, but I’m not sure why.” She crossed her arms over her chest, clearly wanting to get back to work. “This is like exactly what I’m good at.” She gestured at the Modi building, which I also owned. Actually, I owned the whole block.
“Well, if I recall, Modi owns that treatment plant and those pipes. Or, well, I own them.” I smirked. “I want to check it out.”
“Again …” Amy hesitated for a second. “That’s really not my expertise.” She waved a hand. “That’s more Cami or Gail’s thing.”
“Fair enough,” I said with a shrug. “I just figured you’d want to see some of the assets we just purchased. And, well, I like your company.” I sighed. “I feel like I haven’t given you enough time recently.”
“Well, when you put it like that, I actually kind of want to come. Not for the seeing assets part either.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “How about you leave me here instead, and we catch an early dinner?” She waggled her eyebrows. “I know this place I’ve been wanting to take you.”
“Wait, you want to take me out?” I asked, confused.
“Yep.” She nodded as she leaned in close and kissed me. “After all, it’s a woman’s job to make sure her man is fed well.” She grinned. “Now let me go back to work.” She patted my thigh.
“I’m not sure if you set womankind forward or backward with those statements, but I do want you to be happy.” I waved at the building. “Go knock ‘em out, tiger.”
“Will do.” She gave me another long, hard kiss before slipping out of the car. She gave me a quick wave before calling to Arthur and heading after him, already asking about some asset I had no idea about.
That was good though. The last thing I wanted to do was get all up in Amy’s business because, honestly, as much as I wanted to crush my enemies beneath my heel, and I really, really did want to do that, I wanted Amy to be happy. And, right now? Well, she was like a kid with a new toy. How could I deny her that?
“Hey, Brant,” I said, lowering the window and signaling him. “Can you take me to the treatment plant anyway?”
“Sure thing, boss.” Brant nodded and started the car.
Satisfied, I closed the little window and found myself alone in the back of the limo. It was a bit strange because I hadn’t really been alone with my thoughts for a while. After all, someone was always around, which was probably why Marty and Lisa had taken a trip to Cabo that kept getting extended.
Good for them.
That said, I found myself missing my girls. And it’d only been a few minutes. It was especially weird because as I had that thought, I realized I had my phone out and had already paged over to call Cami.
And, to be honest, it would be a little rude not to call her at this point.
“Roger, hi,” Cami said, seeming distracted. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me to the new treatment plant I b
ought?” I asked, and as I spoke, she laughed into the phone.
“Actually, Amy asked me to do that already.” I heard her shuffle around. “A few minutes ago, actually. She wanted me to bring Maggie.”
“Maggie? I thought she was doing the doctor thing with Gail?” I said, picturing the redheaded dancer-turned-doctor. “In fact, I thought she was preparing to do one of those Doctors Without Borders things? That’s why we were trying to set up the hospitals now.”
“Maggie got bored because Monique has been taking care of everything with Gail.” Cami paused a moment. “Do you not want her to come or something?”
“I don’t care at all, actually.” I laughed, suddenly feeling a bit bad because I’d barely talked to Monique. Like Maggie, she’d asked for medical doctor knowledge and had really dove into the research end of it. No small wonder she and Gail had taken over the planning. “I just feel bad is all. It’s gonna be boring.”
“Then this will be a good opportunity for you to entertain her,” Cami replied, quite smugly I might add. “She just wants to help.”
“Sure, bring her along then.” I shrugged. “We’re just gonna be looking at the treatment plant stuff you talked about.”
“Yeah, that’s why she wants to come.” The way Cami said it made me think there was an ulterior motive.
“Let me guess. She wants to build something similar overseas?”
“You got it in one,” Cami said right before the phone got muffled a bit. “He’s on to you, by the way. Told you, you should have just asked him.”
“Tell her we’ll do whatever she wants, she doesn’t need to come.”
To Vegas with love Page 7
