He laughed at me, “Because he doesn’t. We are cordial with one another because my father had developed a business relationship with him. Steele Enterprises isn’t run by my father anymore. I’ve made a lot of changes, which ultimately affected Alfred’s businesses. I’m his biggest competitor, Brooklyn. You’re literally sleeping with the enemy.”
I laughed at him, covering my mouth to try to prevent myself from continuing.
“That’s hysterical,” I chuckled, wiping back tears. I almost told Alfred something else when he made that remark to me in the park. I tried to hold my laughter back. Logan’s hand skimmed over my thigh as he drove down the road.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.”
“Doesn’t sound like nothing”
“I was thinking about what I almost said to Alfred.”
“Which was?” I glanced to Logan, whose eyebrows were raised, shooting me small looks as he paid attention to the road.
“Blame it on my daddy issues.” He laughed, giving my thigh a squeeze.
CHAPTER 9
Brooklyn
It was nice to be back in LA, even if there was a certain someone I kept thinking about, whether I wanted to admit to it or not. LA was a place of glamour and sunbathing, and where I did most of my modeling shoots.
I was sitting in my trailer on the beach while Manny, my makeup artist, was applying my beauty products to my face before the shoot.
"Oh, I am just so jealous of your hair, Brook. It always does just what it is supposed to. And these cosmetics are so brilliant. Have you found an investor yet?" Manny asked as he fussed over me.
I smiled. Manny had always been my biggest supporter, and for good reason. He had known two people who had gotten breast cancer, and he was a member of the PETA street team. He was a big proponent of cruelty free and chemical free cosmetics that still looked beautiful. I gave him that. "I actually did, Manny," I told him, and his face lit up as I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was in soft waves, going along with the beach theme of the shoot. I always loved the way Manny could make my face transform as well, looking like some glamourous celebrity rather than someone who had been through hell and back.
"See, I told you that you would find someone. You are too talented not to take this so far," Manny gushed, finishing up my eyelashes.
I was directed out towards the set to get ready and was instantly greeted by a good, old friend of mine, Greer Matthews.
Trying not to mess up our hair or makeup, we shuffled over to each other and gave distant, careful hugs. "It's so good to see you again. It’s been too long." I gushed. Greer was a tall blonde with a hint of copper in her hair. She was pale with these piercing ice blue eyes that photographers either loved or hated. She was a great LA model, even more beautiful than the current standard.
"It's good to see you too. I haven’t been around for a bit. I have just been taking small contract jobs here and there while I’m finishing up my last few months at FIDM, and I don’t have a new agent yet. Though, I am looking," Greer explained.
"I am sure you'll find one. You’re gorgeous, but what is this I hear about you starting to design clothing now?" I asked her as the photographers were still setting things up for us. Modeling was glamourous and all, but it was also a lot of waiting around.
"I am, actually. I just love doing it. I graduate from FIDM in six months. I have this plan to use the money I make from modeling to fund the manufacturing of my clothes. I was looking for an investor, but I was so unsure of what I was doing. I need to do some more research first."
"My boyfriend is actually an investor." Did I just pop out with the word boyfriend? What was wrong with me? Ugh, I wondered if Logan had the power of hypnosis. “I could put in a good word for you."
"Are you serious?' Greer squealed. "That is so amazing. I would owe you big time, really. I totally appreciate it."
"Of course, I would. You're one of my closest friends in the modeling world. It makes me sad that we don’t get to see each other so often since I live so far away, but I am happy to have a friend like you." I had actually met Greer in my early teens, when we were modeling way back then. We had been friends ever since, even from far away.
"Oh, Brook, I have missed you."
"You know, a friend and I are going clubbing later. You should tag along," I offered, wanting to spend more time with her while I was in town.
"God that sounds amazing. I’m in!”
Just then, it seemed to be the crew was ready to start the shoot. So, Greer and I were told to sit down in the sand, the waves just barely lapping at us on one side. The water was a little chilly as it hit my bare skin, but I was used to those kinds of conditions. Models didn’t flinch.
Our arms rested on our knees, and our heads turned towards the camera, posing. Then, we laid down in the sand on our backs and stomachs for some aerial shoots. That was when the fun got to happen. These beach shoots always took on two moods; the serious photos for high fashion and the fun ones, where we got to play on the beach while they snapped away. They would choose what looked best for the brand when they went over the proofs.
I took the white jacket I had to cover the bathing suit while I was standing and waiting before and tossed it at Greer. It caught her off guard and made her laugh.
Greer grabbed it at the same time I did, and we had a tug of war, both of us running around and digging our feet into the wet California sand. We began to laugh, and Greer let go, letting me fall down on my ass. I loved how it didn’t always have to be so stiff and that I had reunited with my friend. This was going to be a fun night.
***
I was pumped, ready to party with my girls. We were all at the bar ordering our drinks when Elise heard her favorite song come on and went off to dance, guzzling her vodka down faster than I could have imagined. Atlanta had some great spots to have fun, but nothing beat the party scene in LA. Though, my thoughts, as I looked around The Studio, the club we had come to, were on Logan. It wasn’t just because certain parts of me were craving him as I ordered a shot of tequila; it was because he had mentioned he owned the place when I talked to him earlier.
Everyone in Atlanta made jokes about how the Steeles owned the city, so I knew he owned a lot there. But I didn’t know he invested in quite a bit outside of Atlanta as well, including this club.
I took the shot at the same time that Greer took hers, slamming the glass back down on the bar and then going for one more before I saw Elise on the dancefloor, making a fool out of herself all alone. I looked to Greer and we both cracked up before I took her hand and led her out to the dance floor with me, just as an Usher song came on. I was taken over by the music for a moment, just dancing with my girls as my hair swung from side to side, no longer perfectly quaffed from the shoot.
"Sloane!" Greer called out loudly, and I turned my head to look towards the bar where we had been sitting before. I had met Sloane a couple of times but didn’t know her very well. Greer's family had adopted her when she was about ten. The opposite of Greer, she was at least in part, Latina, with black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. She was also, generally, the louder of the two. Greer's loudness could be contributed to the alcohol. But then again, Greer had always been a bit of a lightweight.
"Hey bitches!" she called, loud enough to hear over the booming bass. It made me laugh a little. Greer was so right about how loud she was. After we finished the song, we went over to her, sitting back down at the bar for some more shots.
"So, Elise, what is your take on this one’s new boyfriend?' Greer asked Elise.
"Oh, he’s a total hottie. They met at a club, and they instantly had the hots for each other. I can’t believe she roped him down, though," Elise answered, sipping at her martini.
"Well, it sounds like he's a hottie with money," Greer said. I rolled my eyes. It so annoyed me when they talked as if I wasn’t there. "He's an investor."
"Yeah, he’s a Steele," I said, wanting to get my own word in the conversation.
<
br /> "A Steele?" Sloane shouted, making some of those around them turn and look at her strangely. "Is he the man that owns this club? You have scored big time. Take it to the bank, girl!" Some of her Latina spice was coming out the more she drank.
I shook my head and scoffed. "You guys are so embarrassing."
"Just wait, we aren’t done yet!" Sloane piped up again, dragging her sister to the dancefloor. Elise did the same with me for another round of shaking our asses around as a Britney Spears song blasted form above. I had to admit, this one was my jam.
We were all singing along and having a good time when I felt someone come up behind me, trying to grind on me. "Yeah, that’s how I like it." I had forgotten what kind of trash you could run into in this city if you went looking for it. I bumped him off of me and tried to ignore him, but the man came right back, his hands on me as they shouldn’t have been. My mind closed in on me, thinking about the way Bryce had treated me. As far as I was concerned, this might as well have been him.
I slapped his hands off me and turned around, tears threatening to sting my eyes. "Get the fuck off me before I call my boyfriend. He owns this club."
CHAPTER 10
Logan
I looked at my phone, annoyed that it kept going off. Jordan was the name on the caller ID, and I was certain it could wait. I had just spoken to both of my brothers that morning as I was preparing to take another small shipment by myself, personally, to some friends of mine in Tennessee. They were in a pickle and needed the extra ammunition, it wasn’t necessarily smart for me to be doing this on my own, but I knew the DEA would never expect me to do something as stupid as this. I was hiding right under their damn noses.
I pulled up to the club, church as they liked to call it. My friends happened to be members of a powerful motorcycle club known as the Skulls Renegade MC. Their Prez, much like myself, had been handed the club and turned it as legit as he could. For someone who made a career out of being a criminal, he was a good guy. Most of them were pretty good people.
I walked inside and saw my friend Oliver, known more familiarly as Seamus. He was standing with his girlfriend, Daisy. I hadn’t seen either of them in a while, but it looked like she was pregnant. Perhaps congratulations were in order.
I walked up with my jovial smile as some of the other members went to deal with the shipment. "Seamus, long time no see. Looks like I missed something?" I made sure it was a question as not to offend anyone just in case I was wrong. I was always the gentleman, as long as it had to do with business I liked.
"Yeah you did. Dais is pregnant. We just found out it was a boy on Friday."
"Wait, what? I just saw you a couple weeks ago and…Wow, that is amazing. Congrats to you both. He’s coming into a good family here." Daisy was just glowing, and I remembered how I used to hit on her, much to the dismay of anyone she was with, Seamus especially.
“Yeah, it was a surprise to us both” Daisy added, smiling adoringly up at her man.
"You better not be fliting with her now or joking about taking her home. She’s more than spoken for, Steele." Seamus warned, jokingly.
"I’m looking to take anyone home," I admitted, almost proud to. "Like I told you last time, I have a girl now” Just the thought of Brook made me both smile and gave me a hard on at the same damn time. She was a whirlwind to be with, and I loved every crazy fucking second of it.
Seamus bellowed out a laugh. "Are you paying a girl?"
"No." I shook my head and shoved him a bit. The guy loved to joke. "I have a girl, and she’s not the one-night-stand kind. She’s second wife material."
That made Seamus chuckle. "I never thought I would see the damn day, especially what Tara did to you. Fun how things change, ay?" I completely agreed.
While I was talking with Seamus, I saw Reed, the Prez, come up out of the corner of my eye. He looked all business, and I had a bad feeling in my gut about that he had to say to me. I knew they had been linked with Rafael as well, so who knew what trouble we had all gotten into?
"I am sorry, Sea, but I need to speak with Logan directly, in my office," Reed said, pulling me away from my friends. I followed Reed to his office, sitting down, feeling like I might sweat with the way Reed was looking at me. I was a tough guy, but so was he. He was the Prez of an MC. If he thought I had done something to sabotage them he could fuck shit up for me and my brothers.
"How is your brother?" Reed asked immediately upon us sitting down. What did he mean? As far as I knew, both my brothers were fine. I had spoken to them just that morning. "What do you mean? I talked to both my brothers this morning. What’s going on?" I thought back to the barrage of phone calls I had been getting from Jordan and began to really worry.
Reed was staring so intently at me, and then he told me the news I did not want to hear. "Christian was in a pretty serious accident. I don't have all the details yet, but it looks like someone put a hit out on your baby brother." What the fuck? Why would someone put a hit out on Christian? My heart began to race, wondering if my brother would be okay and also wanting to know who had caused this because I was going to get the fucker.
"Christian was going pretty fast, and it looks like someone cut the brake lines. He’s pretty mangled, from what I hear."
"It is nice to see you again, but I think I better go deal with your family situation," I said in a daze.
"I agree, but know that this isn’t over yet. Whoever did this wants to start a fuckin' war, and I have a feelin' that the cartel has somethin' to do with this." I nodded, knowing he was unfortunately right. Rafael was up to no damn good, and he would have to pay. But first, I needed to know how my brother was.
CHAPTER 11
Brooklyn
I hadn't seen much of Logan in the past three weeks. I knew that his youngest brother, Christian, had been in a serious car accident, causing Logan to keep more to himself. Once in a while, there would be a phone call with him before bed, but he always told me he had business meetings half the night with associates overseas. I didn’t necessarily think he was lying, but I was sure he was either changing his schedule around to be with Christian, or he was keeping himself busy to not stress over what was going on. I missed him dearly, but I understood. He could have lost his brother, and I didn’t exactly know his injuries and what kind of recovery was happening.
So, I had taken the time to go into work mode myself. Logan had been handling a lot of the advertising, but I needed to be sure everything was absolutely perfect, since my name was tied to it. I wanted my beauty line to be a success, not a failure.
I was sitting in front of my laptop with a knot you might call a bun placed on top of my head. I had on my reading glasses, a comfy tee and a pair of old shorts. I was not dressed for company, and yet, the doorbell just happened to ring right then.
I got up, unsure of who it could be, and went to the door. The person I didn’t expect to see was Logan, but he was standing right there in my doorway, seeing me at my sloppiest. I was instantly embarrassed. I never planned on Logan seeing me like that, in complete work mode.
"We're going out, go get ready," Logan told me with a soft smile on his face. "I have been so distracted lately with everything going on, and I want to make it up to you." I looked down at myself and nodded.
"Are you sure you don’t want me to go out like this, though?" I joked, trying to make myself feel better about him catching me in that state. He chuckled, and I let him in the door while I went into my bedroom, pulling something I thought would look great from my closet.
I came back out in a black and white number that went just to my knees, my hair now in a braid instead of that awful bun. I saw the way Logan looked at me and knew I had made a good choice, though, I wasn’t expecting too much, other than maybe some news of his brother. I hoped he was alright.
He took me in his car to a beautiful place; the kind that had dim lighting with beautiful chandeliers overhead. The menu had everything I could think of to choose from, and it was delicious. "So, how is everything
going with your brother?" I asked Logan, sipping at my wine.
Logan looked a little uncomfortable at the mention, but he cleared his throat and answered anyway. "He is recovering alright, at home, but it was a pretty big scare. He is in good spirits, making jokes and being an ass like usual. It’s good to see him acting like himself, but he still has to take it easy and be on some meds for pain." I nodded, glad that they had dodged a bullet there. I was sure it could have been much worse. Car accidents were frightening.
"I am glad he is okay." I wasn’t sure what else to say. Even though I had been through a tragedy with a family member, I still was no expert at the right thing to do or say to those affected. I felt a little silly even trying.
"I am too. I was worried." There seemed to be more to his tone, like there were things he was leaving unsaid. I didn’t want to push, though, and I decided just to enjoy the evening with him.
When we were done with dessert, he led me out to the car, and we went back to my place. "Coming in?" I asked him with a smile on my face as he leaned in for a kiss.
"I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else." I thought we were in for a nightcap and maybe even breakfast in the morning, but when we walked into my apartment, I knew none of it was happening.
My apartment was not the way I left it. Vases were broken, drawers were left open with papers covering my floor, the couch even had cuts in it. The stuffing was pulled out and lying all over the place.
“What the…” Logan’s hand went over my mouth, shoving us into the linen closet closest to the door, shutting the door behind us. He pressed a finger to his lip, motioning me to be quiet.
I nodded, my hands shaking even more than they had been before. I looked at the bottom of the door, the light shining in, it suddenly became black, making me realize that Logan and I weren’t in my apartment alone.
Logan messed with the back of his pants, pulling out a decent sized gun. My eyes went wide at the sight of it. I would’ve screamed if I didn’t know there was someone on the other side of that door. Why did he have a gun?!
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