by Mia Knight
She turned her back on him and headed outside. Beau barked in welcome, and Lyla smiled as she rushed toward the cabana. She gave Lyla a tight hug and a kiss on her temple before she took Nora who beamed at her.
“Oh, I missed you so much. Yes, I did,” she said as she bobbed the baby from side to side.
“I’m glad you came over. We’ve been playing phone tag for a couple of days now,” Lyla said.
“Yes.” She cast an eye over her cousin who was looking much more like her old self. “How’ve you been?”
“Sleeping a lot. Gavin’s working in the office, so I came out here. I went to see Mom yesterday.”
“How is she?”
Lyla grimaced. “She didn’t say a word.”
“Give her time.”
Lyla nodded and took in her outfit. “You look fab. What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been trying to look for a new place.”
“Why?”
“Mom’s engaged, and I don’t want to live in that house by myself.”
Lyla straightened. “Aunt Isabel’s engaged? How? When?”
“They’ve known each other for years, but they started dating six months ago. She didn’t know how I’d feel about it, so she kept it on the down low.”
Silver blue eyes locked on her face. “How are you taking it?”
“I want Mom to be happy.”
“Who is this guy? Did you check him out?”
“Of course. He’s clean as a whistle. Marvin Armstrong’s never even had a speeding ticket. I talked to several of his former employees. He used to run a mechanic shop, which he passed onto his son, but he goes in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He owns his house, goes on hunting trips once a year, and can’t golf even though he loves to watch it. His wife passed away from breast cancer eight years ago.”
“Is that all?” Lyla asked dryly.
“And he loves anything lemon flavored. I don’t want to stay in the house by myself. It was bad enough without Dad there.” She pressed her cheek against Nora’s and willed her restlessness away.
“Do you want to move back here?” Lyla asked.
“No. I need my own place.”
“Have you found something you like?”
“No. I haven’t found anything. Charisse thinks I’ve gone off the deep end.”
“Give yourself time. There’s no rush.”
“There is a rush. I need to settle somewhere and not toss five thousand dollars shoes in a pile on the floor. I need a place to decorate and sleep and be. Vinny deserves a better place than my dresser.” She made happy faces at Nora even as her insides shriveled into a ball. “I need, but I don’t know what.”
Lyla leaned into her. “It’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna find exactly what you need.”
“I woke up at two this morning and went to the RV park to visit Sally.”
“You did? How is she?”
“She’s good, but I’m thinking about redecorating her in leopard print.”
Lyla laughed. “I’m sure Sally would appreciate that.”
She eyed Beau who rested his head on Lyla’s feet. “Maybe I should get a dog.”
Loyalty, love, contentment. Nothing else existed for animals. Beau was with his pack, and no matter what drama came with it, he didn’t want to be anywhere else. She had no pack anymore. It was no wonder she was acting a little nuts.
“Maybe you should.” Lyla leaned down and kissed Beau. “I love him. He’s great.”
“Are you coming to the animal adoption this weekend?”
“No, I don’t think I’m ready to go to anything with a crowd yet.” Lyla made a motion with her hands as if she was smoothing a tablecloth. “I just need more time.”
She took note of her trembling hands. “Nightmares?”
Lyla closed her eyes. “Every fucking night.”
A nightmare had woken her in the wee hours of the morning. It had been a replay of the night in the canyon, but in the dream, Nora was slaughtered in front of her. She woke with a gut-wrenching scream. She hadn’t been able to go back to sleep, which is why she was at the RV park at the crack of dawn.
“I’ve been talking to Luci. She’s great,” Lyla said.
“Me too. I talked to her on the way here.”
“She really wants to visit, but I agree with Gavin. It’s going to take time to see how the underworld adjusts to Angel.”
Kiki’s comments about Lyla’s exploits in Hell tickled the back of her mind. Did Lyla know she was now as notorious as her husband? She probably wouldn’t appreciate that little fact, so she kept it to herself. “Luci saw a picture of Cormac and I on the internet. She thought we were together.”
“Cormac Hart? Oh, my God. I haven’t seen him in years. How is he?”
“Same. I ended up at a party with him. Someone snapped some photos of us. Luci was over the moon for me. She’s a fan of Cormac’s, and she thought I would divulge his fucking routine.”
“What’s a fucking routine?”
“Like, does he always fuck in the morning? Does he like blowjobs on Wednesdays? Hand jobs under the table at certain restaurants?”
Lyla raised a brow. “And what did you say?”
“I never fucked Cormac; you know that.”
“Just checking. What about Kody?”
“Just heavy petting at the hospital, nothing more.”
Lyla’s eyes tracked over her outfit. “Besides looking for a place, your mom, and this party you went to with Cormac, what else have you been up to?”
She hesitated, and Lyla’s eyes narrowed. It was almost as if she knew about Marcus… He had been on her mind this morning. If it wasn’t for the Kody incident, she would have visited him on the off chance that he was available for a fuck. She opened her mouth, but Beau interrupted whatever she would have said as he barked to announce Blade and Gavin’s arrival.
Nora got a little hysterical when she saw her father. Before she could attempt to calm the baby, Gavin took her. Nora tucked her head under her father’s chin. Gavin wore a gun holster on his hip even though he was home, which was an unpleasant reminder that Vega might be gone, but the danger the underworld posed would never disappear. Lyla went to talk to Blade who was down on a knee petting Beau.
“I heard you were at the RV park this morning,” Gavin said.
She jerked. “How do you know that?”
He ignored her question. “What are you planning, Carmen?”
“I just went to visit Sally.”
“Sally?”
“My RV.”
“Are you planning to go on the road again?”
“I don’t know.”
Gavin glanced at Lyla, who laughed at something Blade said. “I think it’s best if you stay put for now.”
She had been planning to anyway, but she didn’t like him ordering her to do so. “We’ll see.”
His attention snapped back to her. “Don’t make me freeze your accounts again.”
“What do you care what I do?” she demanded and then it hit her. “You think she’ll still want to come with me? You’re high.”
A muscle clenched in his cheek. “I didn’t say that.”
“But that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Stay put, and we won’t have problems,” he said through clenched teeth.
“You have someone following me?”
He hesitated and then said, “I keep tabs.”
“Why?”
“You and your fucking wild hairs. You could decide to convince Lyla to go skydiving or travel to Bermuda on a moment’s notice. After you took her from me twice, you think I wouldn’t have you watched as closely as I do her?”
“So, you have someone following me?” she pushed.
“I don’t employ someone to follow you, but I will if you force me to.”
“What I do is none of your concern.”
“It does when it concerns Lyla.” The light bouncing off the pool made his eyes appear gold instead of hazel. “She’s been through a lot.
She needs you, and until things settle down, I’m telling you to stay put.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll get your own security detail who will keep you grounded in Las Vegas by any means.”
She lifted her chin defiantly. “If I want to leave, I will.”
He crowded her, but she refused to back away.
“You talk a big game,” he said quietly, “but you love her and wouldn’t add to her burden.”
She went on tiptoes to hiss, “Then why threaten me at all?”
“Just in case you decide to be selfish and go on the run.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you have to deal with your life, and when you don’t like it, you do stupid, impulsive, and sometimes dangerous shit.”
That hit far too close to home. “You know what, Gavin? You can suck it.”
She stepped around him and stalked into the house. With Gavin’s words ringing in her ears, the last person she wanted to see was Angel. He walked through the front door looking like something out of GQ magazine. Today, he wore a slate gray suit. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and mirrored aviator sunglasses shielded his eyes, but she didn’t need to see them since his smile spoke volumes.
“Carmen.”
His voice was smooth and intimate and pissed her off because she couldn’t control her response. The memories dancing through her mind were proof positive that she was as wild and reckless as Gavin said she was. It didn’t help that the memory of Angel leaning down to smell her made her nipples tingle. Some women would have been mortified, but it turned her on. A man who liked the way a woman’s pussy smelled was a man who sought to taste and therefore savor. Angel would kill between the sheets. She regretted not taking him up on his offer of no-strings sex. It would have been dirty, raunchy, and glorious. So what if she did two different guys a day apart? She wasn’t going to run for office or apply to be a nun so what did she care? She blamed Vinny for training her to be monogamous.
She went to the Red Diamond to reclaim her womanhood and feel a modicum of power after having her life manipulated and torn apart by Vega. She went on stage to work out her demons and let it all hang out. Angel ruined that. He ruined it by tempting her, by making her wonder if hooking up with a crime lord wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He made her question her sanity by turning him down. Over the past couple of days, she speculated more than she cared to admit about what might have happened if she gave Angel the green light, and now here he was, in her face, taunting her by looking like a million dollars.
“Hey,” she said dismissively and tried to go around him.
He blocked her way. “What’s the rush?”
She gritted her teeth. “I have somewhere to be.”
He took off his sunglasses to show gleaming blue eyes. “Great. Tell me where and I’ll make sure to be there.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure you have more important things to do than stalk me through the city.”
He grinned. “I can work and stalk at the same time. I’m talented like that.”
“Is that what you were doing at the Red Diamond? Working? You weren’t there to ogle strippers?”
“They’re dancers, not strippers. I would’ve thought you of all people would use the correct terminology.”
She made a big show of looking at her diamond encrusted watch. “Time is money, Angel.”
“Right. And you know all about that.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
Angel rocked his sunglasses from side to side between his fingers. “You’ve made some lucrative investments in this town.”
She froze. “Excuse me?”
“Local businesses, real estate, but most interesting to me is Red Diamond, the most successful gentlemen’s club in Las Vegas.” He paused for a beat and then finished, “And also a hot spot for underworld information and blackmail.”
He knew. “What did you do to Kiki?” She wouldn’t have given that information willingly…
“She’s fine.”
“What did you do to her?”
Angel kept swinging his glasses casually, as if their discussion was as mundane as the weather. “I drugged her.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. “You what?”
“I drugged her.”
“Why?”
“I needed to know who her partner was.”
“How dare you! You have no right—”
“It’s my business to know who’s behind a business that blackmails influential people. It’s also my business to know who has financed so many projects in the valley and desperately wants to remain silent.” He cocked his head to the side. “Why so secretive, Carmen?”
“None of your business,” she hissed.
“Hiding your intelligence so everyone underestimates you?”
He saw too fucking much, which pissed her off. She was none of his business. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know the dirty secrets of every politician, cop, banker or businessman who has the money to enter your establishment. You think I wouldn’t turn Red Diamond upside down and find out who runs it? You don’t know me at all.”
“Gavin didn’t do that!”
“He trusted the establishment because Vinny vouched for it. Things change. I’m starting from the ground up. No one’s safe, no one’s trustworthy, no one gets a pass. You should be happy Kiki dropped your name, or I would have pushed her a little further to make sure she wasn’t lying to me.”
“Happy? You fucking drugged her!”
“It could have been much worse. That’s how Vinny knew so much, right? You were feeding him information.”
For the first time in a long time, she was speechless. She knew not to take anyone at face value, but she had grossly miscalculated Angel Roman, and it might cost her everything. His calm delivery as he dissected her world made her see red. The fact that Angel visited the Red Diamond within a week of becoming the crime lord, armed with drugs and God knew what else was alarming in the extreme. He would turn the city upside down.
“If you touch my businesses,” she began, but stopped when she heard the rumble of voices as Gavin, Blade, and Lyla entered the house. “Did you tell him?”
Angel’s eyes gleamed. “Not yet.”
She stuck her finger under his nose. “My investments are none of his business, and if I find out that you hurt Kiki, I’ll kill you!”
Angel stared at her lips. “Have dinner with me.”
“What?”
“Come to dinner with me, and I won’t tell Gavin you’re the silent partner for a whorehouse masquerading as a gentlemen’s club.”
“Suck my dick,” she hissed and backed away as Gavin’s voice carried toward them.
Angel chuckled. “Don’t tempt me.”
Gavin strolled into the living room while Lyla and Blade stayed in the kitchen. Gavin stopped and glanced from one to the other suspiciously before he focused on Angel. “All set?”
Angel nodded without taking his eyes from Carmen. “Yeah.”
“Everything going smoothly?”
“For the most part. There have been some bumps in the road.” Angel raised a brow at Carmen. “Some very lovely bumps, but I’ve got it under control. You weren’t kidding when you said the natives are wild.”
Her hands fisted at her sides. He was baiting her. She wanted to stomp his foot with her stilettos, knock those sunglasses out of his hand, and knee him in the balls, but then he would definitely tell Gavin her secrets. Gavin might be out of the underworld, but he still had the power to crush whoever he wished. If he knew she was part owner of the Red Diamond, he would find out that she was CM Enterprises, which owned several properties he operated out of. Fucking Angel. He would ruin everything. Gavin would use her businesses as leverage to make her dance to his tune.
“Where you been?” Gavin asked.
“I’ve been making my way down your list. Chasing some of these guys down has ta
ken me to some clubs, offices, homes…” His eyes glittered, and his smile widened. “The most interesting place by far was the Red Diamond.”
Gavin grunted. “Used to be a dive before new management spruced it up. It brings in boatloads of money. Their New Year’s Eve parties are more popular than some of mine. You find out anything interesting?”
Angel gave her an expectant look. “I ran into Carmen when I was there.”
Her heart sank as Gavin rounded on her.
“Carmen.”
His voice was disapproving and didn’t bode well for her. Normally, she would smile and flip her hair at him, but she couldn’t. Her investments were owned by friends and acquaintances who didn’t need Gavin Pyre showing up on their doorstep. Fucking Angel. What the hell did he want from her?
“Carmen,” Gavin said through clenched teeth.
“Huh?” She gave him a deliberately unconcerned look.
“What business do you have at Red Diamond?”
Angel snorted. “Business? I think it was more—”
“Weren’t you on your way out, Angel?” she interrupted.
He shrugged as he continued to swing his sunglasses. “I have time.”
“Not if I’m going with you.” She slid her arm through his and pulled him toward the exit. “See ya, Gavin.”
“You two are leaving together?”
Gavin sounded alarmed. When Angel laughed, she dug her nails into his bicep in warning.
“We’re having dinner,” she said with a wave.
“I don’t think—” Gavin began.
She hauled the door open and shoved Angel out. “I’m sure you have much more pressing things to do like run your company, get Lyla pregnant again, or kill people so don’t worry about us.”
Gavin took a step after them. “I don’t—”
She swung around. “Do you want me to move back in?”
Gavin stopped in his tracks and scowled. “No.”
“Then butt out,” she said and gave him a sugary sweet smile before she slammed the door.
“You two have an odd relationship,” Angel observed.
She hissed in his face before she stalked to her Aston Martin. No man had ever turned the tables on her, and she didn’t like it worth a damn. Fuck Angel. When she reached for the driver’s door, she found herself being pushed aside.
