by Tijan
“Nothing. That’s just odd is all.” He sat up and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
I caught his arm. “Why do I get the sense you’re about to get out of this bed?”
His face cleared. Whatever had been troubling him disappeared, and the softness from last night came back. He smiled, and his eyes darkened as he leaned down. His lips touched mine, holding there softly, like the promise of a caress, and he murmured, “We don’t have to stay in bed all day. There are other places we can go.”
“Like whe—” I let out a surprised shriek as he swung me in the air and carried me to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower.
I was ready for him, even as he waited for the water to heat up, even as he lowered me to the floor, even as he pressed me back against the wall. His head dipped, his lips found mine again, and I kissed him. But this was more. It wasn’t sex anymore. It wasn’t whatever he’d had before. There was laughter, teasing, but there were feelings.
There was more. We were more.
I think we already had been, even before he left the last time.
Cole left two hours later, and so did I.
Sia texted, asking me to come up to Jake’s floor, but it was Jake who met me at the elevator with his hands in the air. He wore pajama pants, socks, and a wrinkled T-shirt. Half of his hair stuck straight up, and he held a finger in front of his mouth.
“Sia doesn’t know,” he whispered.
“Know what?”
He waved his hand in the air, as if pushing it down. “Lower your voice. I really don’t want to get into it with her.”
“What do you mean?” I was almost whispering, but I glanced toward his bedroom. The shower was on. “I don’t think she can hear us anyway.”
“I know, but just in case.” He motioned to the farthest corner of the floor, and I followed him through the living room. Jake turned with his back to the window so he could look over my shoulder. Then he crossed his hands over his chest. “Okay. Here’s the deal: she’s upset.”
“What’d you do?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Me? Nothing. This is on you.”
“Me?” My eyebrows went up, too. “What’d I do?”
“It’s what you didn’t do.” He bent his head closer to mine. “She found out from someone last night about your in-laws. One of her socialite buddies eavesdropped on the conversation at the party.”
“But we didn’t talk about the case.”
“No, but evidently this person told her you and I ‘looked friendly.’” He used his fingers for air quotations. “And she got Mahler’s name, and Liam’s parents. I guess they weren’t on the guest list, so she’s been on the phone for an hour this morning already trying to figure out how they got in.”
“Mahler probably brought them.”
“That’s what she found out, but she’s pissed. Majorly pissed. She wanted to know what they said to you.” He shrugged. “I didn’t know what to say, so…”
My mouth dropped. “You said nothing? Please tell me you said something.”
“I didn’t know what to do.” His shoulders raised nearly to his ears. “I said there was attorney-client privilege, and she needed to talk to you.”
I groaned. The urge to smack my forehead had my hand twitching—no, it was the urge to smack Jake in the forehead. “Why’d you say that? She probably thinks it’s worse than it is.”
“Why haven’t you told her about the lawsuit?”
“Because…” I searched for a reason. “I don’t know. I haven’t really seen much of her lately. She’s been happy, and if I told her what Carol and Hank are trying, she’d be pissed. There’s nothing she can do, so I didn’t want to burden her with it.”
“Oh.” He straightened. “That’s really thoughtful of you.”
I shrugged. I was already lying about Cole. Lying by omission to Sia was nothing compared to that. “Don’t give me too much credit—”
“I can hear you.” Sia’s voice interrupted us.
She stood in the bedroom doorway, dressed in jeans and a sweater, her hair in a ponytail—looking ready to go for a casual lunch. She seemed refreshed, except for the look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. She was pissed.
“I want to know what the hell happened last night.” She turned to focus specifically on me. “My girlfriend calls me up and tells me something was happening last night between you, my boyfriend, and an attorney. Then I find out Liam’s parents were there, too.” She softened her voice. “Are you okay? Did they say something to you? They weren’t supposed to be there. Alfred Mahler brought them as his guests, and he’s a high-powered attorney. Beth told me she was scared to tell him his guests couldn’t attend.”
“It was fine.”
Her nose wrinkled in disbelief.
“I mean it, Sia. They didn’t even say much. I didn’t keep this a secret on purpose. You’ve just been…” I swung my gaze to Jake. “Preoccupied.”
“Addison.” Her voice softened. “You can tell me anything at any time.”
“I know—”
“Just tell her!” Jake threw his hands in the air. “Sorry. I want her to know so we can talk.” He gave me a look. “So we can talk about the other thing.”
“The other thing?” Sia echoed him, confused.
The other thing was Cole. My insides twisted in a knot. I figured Jake had guessed that Cole was our landlord, but I didn’t relish the idea of having conversations about him.
“Yeah.” I took a breath. “The other thing.”
Sia looked back and forth between us before shaking her head again. “Okay, someone start. I’m dying to know what I’m missing. Missy mentioned there were two delicious-looking guys at the party, but she didn’t catch their names.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Wait. She told me one, but she didn’t know the other…” Her wheels were spinning, and then it hit her. Her eyes got big and wide. “Oh, holy shit. No way. You guys talked to Carter Reed?” She turned to Jake. “The Carter Reed, the mob guy?”
He nodded.
“So?! You guys have to tell me everything now.”
“Okay. Okay.” I held up a hand. “You need to sit down because I know you’re going to get worked up about the first part.”
“She might get worked up about the other part, too,” Jake mumbled, scanning his place. “You can’t throw anything, Si. Promise me that.”
“Huh?”
I ignored that and waited for Sia to sit. Once she did, I took another breath. “First, you have to promise me you won’t do anything.”
“Why would I do that?” She shot Jake a look too. “Why would I throw anything?”
“Sia, promise.”
“Okay. I promise.” She drew an invisible X over her heart. “You get my drift.”
One breath. Then I started. “My in-laws were there with Mahler because he’s representing them against me.”
She turned to look at Jake, but kept quiet.
“And Jake is representing me against them.”
“What’s the case?”
I kept going, not skipping a beat. “They’re suing me about the house, but it’s a bullshit case. They have nothing legal to stand on.”
“What?” Her mouth dropped.
I nodded. “They’re saying I don’t have the right to sell the house, that Liam bought it with their money.”
“Assholes!” Sia said. “What complete, utter assholes. Who do they think they are?” She jumped up and started pacing. Her hands were flying in the air. “And let me guess, next they’ll say you don’t get Liam’s inheritance? I bet they’ll try. I bet that’s why they started with this lawsuit. Don’t tell me—they had to see your bank statements?” She didn’t wait for an answer. Her head bobbed up and down. “I’m livid at them. I want to cast them out of every social event in the city. Wait.” She stopped in her tracks. “Can I do that? How connected are they?”
“And that brings us to the other thing,” Jake announced.
“What thin
g?” Sia turned to her boyfriend.
Jake glanced to me, and his shoulders rose slowly before he said, “Our landlord.”
“What?”
I fought against squirming in my seat. Sia read body posture like no other. If I started fidgeting, she’d know immediately something more was going on. I tried to keep a stone face.
“Cole Mauricio,” Jake said.
“Who?” The ends of her mouth dipped down. “That’s the name of this building.”
“We met him last night, too,” he added.
“I’m confused.” Sia’s gaze skirted between the two of us.
Jake was waiting for me, but I shook my head. I was smack in the middle of this “other thing,” but I wanted no part of talking about it. I looked at the elevator with longing. I could escape. I just needed a valid reason to go. Jake could explain all of this without me here, including Liam’s connections to Cole’s rival family. But when he started talking, I didn’t have a good enough excuse. I had to sit and listen, and Jake loved telling her everything.
By the end, her mouth was on the floor. “No fucking way.”
Jake’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “He’s our landlord, Sia. The head of the Mauricio family owns this building.”
“But you aren’t sure?”
“I’m mostly sure, but we can dig it up. There are public records.”
“Whoa.” She leaned back in her seat, fanning herself. “Addision, you had no idea?”
“About Cole?” My words were out before I could stop them. Shit. I hadn’t meant to say his first name, like I knew him. “I mean—what?”
“About Liam and his grandmother.”
“Oh.” The knot that had twisted in my chest as Jake talked loosened slightly. “No. I had no idea, but it makes sense.”
“Yeah. He didn’t like his family, and you’re right. He kept you away from them for so long. That does make sense. A lot makes sense now.”
I nodded, silently hoping she wouldn’t start in about Cole, but I knew that was senseless. He was powerful, elusive, mysterious, dangerous, and wealthy. He’d be Sia’s new project for months, and Jake looked just as excited. He should’ve been scared. Cole was in the mafia. What if someone did something to our building to get back at him?
“You’re okay living here?”
Sia voiced my question, but she directed it at Jake.
Surprise flashed over his face. “What do you mean?”
“The mafia is a big deal. Like, a really big deal. Aren’t you scared something could happen?”
He shrugged. “I was pissed at first, but I’m not in the mob. The guy’s never here, or I don’t think he’s here. This building’s been fine since it opened. What are they going to do? Hurt the building’s shut-in? I think we’re the furthest thing from being in danger. All the security makes sense now, too.”
Jake’s response was weird. Sia narrowed her eyes, so I wondered if she thought the same.
“Besides.” Jake gestured to me. “She’s a Bertal, and she’s living here.”
“I’m not a Bertal.”
“Basically.”
My mouth opened. “I am not. Liam’s parents aren’t either.”
Jake snorted. “I hate to break it to you, but they are. Mauricio himself alluded to that last night. They’re still in, Addison. They just haven’t brought you in.”
“Jake,” Sia said softly.
“What?” he asked.
He didn’t get it. This wasn’t real to him. But Sia was concerned. So was I, more than they knew. Whichever way I turned, I was headed toward someone in the mafia. My own money had come from the mafia—something I hadn’t let myself think about. I didn’t know how I felt about that, or how right it was to keep the money. I’d have so many problems if I gave it back. I’d have to move out, and I really would need the money from selling the house.
I felt a headache coming on. No. I would stop worrying until I knew more. Until things went past the point of no return.
They already are, a voice said in my head.
“I have to go.” I stood abruptly.
Concern clouded Sia’s face. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Uh, I just have to go.” My hand flicked between them. “You guys seem like you need to talk anyway. This is couple stuff.”
Sia stood up with me. “You live here, too. Do you feel safe?”
In Cole’s arms, yes. Outside of them? Still yes. But as we went to the elevator, I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. This place seems separate from that life. We would’ve noticed something by now if it wasn’t, and there’s also Dawn. If something iffy was going on, she’d know.”
Yeah, Dawn. The realization had merit. The Dawn who hid in closets, who staged a sit-in to find out who owned the building and had her bench removed because of it. The Dawn who snuck around, stole phones, who probably knew everything or most of everything that went on in this building. I didn’t think she knew about Cole.
I hoped not, anyway.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Sia’s tone didn’t agree with her words.
I hit the button to call the elevator. “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” She’d been chewing on her lip.
I pointed at it. “You do that when something’s on your mind.”
“Well, I mean—” She peeked over her shoulder at Jake, who was sitting at his desk now, and quieted her tone. “Cole Mauricio. Even that name is scary. I saw the news coverage about Carter Reed. There was a mob war, and some of it happened here. That guy was their hit man, and now what? Is he out? We don’t really know anything. Yeah, I’m worried. I’m really worried. I don’t want to lose my boyfriend and my best friend.”
He was their hit man. I’d read that online the night before, but hearing those words out loud sent chills down my back.
“Jake’s a mob nut. The geek inside of him is doing somersaults. He can’t see this as reality. Someone really dangerous lives here.”
Carter Reed was dangerous. Cole was dangerous. My throat closed. Cole could kill someone, probably already had…and he’d been inside me just hours ago. And I knew he’d be there again tonight. And the night after, and any other night as long as I let him. I didn’t think I could stop. I didn’t think I wanted to stop.
“Why aren’t you scared?” She grabbed my arm, holding it lightly as she moved closer. “Why am I the only one who’s nervous?”
Because… I had a vision of Cole holding me in the shower as he thrust inside of me. His hips moving, holding mine as I moved right along with him. My body heated, and that ache came back. It was always there. It just took a thought, that was it.
He was my drug.
“Addison?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“You’re insane. Both of you,” she said. “You guys have lost your heads.”
I couldn’t speak for Jake, but maybe I had.
I said my goodbyes, promising to meet Sia for lunch on Monday, and as the elevator closed, my eyes did the same. I leaned back against the wall and felt the car carry me down.
Maybe I was crazy.
Maybe I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had fallen more than I realized.
Just maybe.
As Jake predicted, Liam’s parents dropped the lawsuit two weeks after I saw them. Mahler said it was because they realized they’d caused me enough grief. Jake and his partner laughed at that once the doors closed behind Mahler and his team. A judge would never
