Covet: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Vivian Wood

  She turned her head and caught sight of him in the glass. Panicked, she turned, hitting the emergency stop button on the treadmill and ripping out her headphones at the same time.

  “You,” Viola said, leaning down and putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

  And all he could notice was the fact that he could see down her shirt when she did that.

  Not a good idea, he warned himself. He cleared his throat.

  “Yeah, I’m back,” he said.

  “I see that.” She stood up, grabbed the water bottle from the treadmill, then took a long drink of it. Head back, throat working, fingers gripping the bottle…

  He had to turn away.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay…” she said, following him as he walked into the living area. “What is it?”

  “Do you want to shower first?” he asked, looking her up and down.

  “Am I leaving the apartment?”

  “No.”

  “Well then, out with it.”

  Callum stared her down for long seconds, then sunk onto the couch. Disturbingly, she did the same, right beside him. Looking away, he spoke.

  “I need the description of the guy you saw, the one that ran off when you spotted him.”

  “In the parking lot?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “So you’re looking for someone to pin it on.”

  He looked up at her, startled. “What?”

  “If you’re here asking me about what this guy looked like, you’re looking for someone to blame. Right?”

  Callum cleared his throat. “Yes. How did you know that?”

  “You know, my mom might’ve been a model, but I’m no dummy.” The second she said it, her cheeks colored. She brushed it aside. “Season five of The Sopranos.”

  Callum had been God knows where crawling around and carrying a rifle when The Sopranos had aired, so he’d have to take her word for it.

  It doesn’t sound right, though…

  “So you’ve figured out my motive. Good for you.”

  “I can help, you know.”

  “Yeah, by giving me his description.”

  “I can do more than that. You’re looking for the guy, right?”

  Callum stilled. “How do you know he’s not on a plane to New York right now?”

  Her cheeks went pink again. She shook her head.

  “I don’t. I’m guessing.”

  He could sense a vague untruth in her words, but couldn’t suss out the meaning.

  “Mmm,” he said. “Right.”

  “I can help. I can be your Girl Friday.” She shifted her tone to be faux-serious, low like a drill sergeant. “Be on the lookout for the suspect, etc.”

  “Not a chance,” he said, standing up.

  She stared at him for a moment. “Then I guess you’re going to have to hope that your shitty Irish mafia connections work, huh?”

  She was right, of course. The Irish had no real connections here. The underworld of Savannah was all but untouched, as far as they were concerned.

  He glared down at her. She took the other road, grinning widely.

  She knew she was right, he could see it on her face.

  Rather than admit it, Callum made a frustrated noise. He turned and strode from the room, but he didn’t miss her small sound of celebration. No doubt paired with a victory dance…

  If only she realized the kind of danger she was walking into…

  11

  Vi banged her hand on the flimsy linoleum table.

  “No way!” she said. “There is no way that you were on the swim team.”

  “All four years of high school,” he said. “How do you think I got into the Navy? I had to be able to swim a shit ton of laps.”

  Callum looked around the diner, prompting Vi to look as well. She saw that the waitress was still occupied with the solo gentleman sitting at the counter, a dozen feet away.

  That was the thing about going to all-night diners at two a.m. — the service was shit, but no one noticed you coming or going. Plus, it was interesting to see their fifty-something waitress flirt with her handsome customer, who couldn’t have been older than late twenties at most.

  More power to her, Vi thought.

  “Ready to go?” he asked, pushing away his half-eaten steak and eggs.

  “Sure.”

  She watched him pull out his wallet and throw down cash. They got up and left, Callum following her. When they got outside, Callum took his time unlocking the car and helping her in.

  “What’s with you?” she asked him when he adjusted his side mirrors. “You’re usually rush, rush, rush.”

  “Nothing,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot.

  His tone had gone all tight though, worrying her.

  “Did you get a message from work? Is that what you’re all upset about?”

  “Just leave it be, okay?” he said, glancing in his rearview mirror again.

  Vi laid her head back on the car seat, looking out her window. She saw a car behind them, but didn’t think anything of it until they made several turns. Then she saw the same headlights, following them from afar.

  She sat up, her eyes trained on the rearview mirror.

  “Callum…”

  “I see them,” he said. “They’ve been with us since the diner.”

  “Really?” she said, trying to turn and see the vehicle better.

  A firm hand came down on her shoulder, pushing her down in her seat.

  “Don’t do that,” he said. “Just try to behave like a normal person.”

  Vi couldn’t hold still, leaning forward to catch their reflection.

  “They’re tailing us from so far away.”

  “They’ve had some practice, it seems.”

  “Is that what—”

  She was cut off when he took a right turn suddenly, then the immediate left turn. There was little to no traffic, enabling him to cut across some lanes, and quickly take another left.

  Viola was left clinging to the armrest, unsure what was happening.

  “What the fuck??” she said when they straightened out and drove as if nothing had ever happened.

  Looking in the rearview, he was calm.

  “Evasive driving maneuvers.”

  “Well, maybe let your passenger know next time!” she said.

  She looked behind them, and saw nothing.

  “They’re gone,” she said.

  “Only because I let them know I was aware of them following me. I’m normally a champion at shaking a tail, but this one… It’s hard to get rid of them without traffic.”

  “It makes me wonder who they are, and how long they’ve been tailing us.”

  He made a face. “I can guess on the first count. On the second, I think this is the first time. I actively practice ways to ditch a tail. I’m a hard man to follow.”

  “I see that, now.”

  He gave her a hard look and took a careful right turn. He glanced in the mirror, then cursed.

  “Shit. They found us,” he said.

  He stepped on the gas, picked up speed, but the other car wasn’t about to let them go again.

  “Viola, I need you to reach under your seat,” he said, calmly as possible.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  He was speeding now, outwardly calling attention to himself. What if they were pulled over?

  Then again, they weren’t doing anything wrong.

  She reached under her seat. To her surprise, she found two guns and some ammo.

  “Jesus,” she breathed as he took them from her and piled them in his lap.

  The guns were heavy in her hands; she’d never held anything but a revolver.

  A glance in the mirror showed that the car was gaining on them. She could make out the type, a dull red SUV.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked, uncertain.

  “We’re going to get on the interstate, and drive the loop that goes around the
city until they’re gone.”

  “What if that doesn’t work?” she said, starting to panic.

  “It will. Now see if you can fold your seat down and slide into the backseat.”

  He pulled onto the on-ramp that led to the highway, face grim. She did what he asked, took off her seatbelt and managed to get into the backseat.

  “Don’t bother trying to fold it up again,” he said as he gunned the engine. “Just get behind me, and get your seatbelt on.”

  She shut her mouth and focused on doing as he said. She looked out the window at the highway flying by, noticing that the headlights were right behind them now.

  The rear window shattered suddenly, making Vi scream.

  “Get down!” he said, though Vi was already ducking.

  He drove as fast as the car could go, but they edged closer. The other car pulled out wide of them, then came back to almost slam into them. Luckily there was enough room on their car’s left side to maneuver away, but just enough.

  Viola looked to the other side in a panic. They had less than three feet left to go on that side, and the red SUV was pulling out wide again.

  When the car started its collision course with them, Vi screamed and shut her eyes… only to be be yanked totally short when Callum stomped on the brakes at the last second.

  There was a grinding of steel as they slowed, then sped back up toward the exit ramp. It was another jaw-dropping moment when they raced to the exit ramp, just making it off by the skin of their teeth.

  When they got off, they hit the drag going fast, although not so fast as on the highway. Vi held the oh-shit handle by her head for a few more blocks.

  “You okay?” Callum asked.

  “Fine. Just… amped.”

  He looked at her for a second in his rearview, then pulled out his phone and called someone.

  “Marks, I need a pickup. Yeah, this car is dirty… Meet me at the parking lot of the Denny’s near downtown. Yeah. Alright.”

  They rode silently for a minute until they reached the Denny’s parking lot, where they pulled in.

  “Come on. Outta the car,” he said.

  Sliding out of the car, Vi realized that she should feel something. Anything. Panic, at least.

  At the moment though, she didn’t feel anything but a soft buzz, probably fading adrenaline from their brush with death.

  She turned to Callum, to say something to him. She was shocked when he bear-hugged her instead, not speaking. They stood like that, him grappling her, for almost a full minute.

  Then he released her, just as two men pulled up in a gray sedan.

  Callum exchanged a few words with them, then they traded cars.

  “Later,” he told them, unlocking the sedan doors for Vi.

  They pulled out, refreshingly slow.

  “That’s all?” she asked. “That’s all you do after being tailed?”

  He looked over to her, slowly nodded.

  “That’s all we will do, tonight. My guys will be out looking for the red SUV. Maybe the guy driving it is stupid, maybe he won’t dump it.”

  “You don’t sound very convinced.”

  He shrugged. “Let’s get you somewhere where they can’t see you, hmm?”

  It was silent the rest of the way home. Viola thinking…

  What was the bear hug? What did that mean?

  The city passed by her window, quiet as ever, not bearing witness to their escapades.

  12

  “Hey,” said Callum. “You ready to use those Savannah underground connections?”

  Viola looked up from reading on the living room couch. “Uh… sure. Do I need to change?”

  Callum eyed her outfit. Tight jeans, an old t-shirt that hung on her frame, and tennis shoes.

  “Nope. You’re perfect.”

  He went to the one and only painting in his apartment, a strange painting of fruit that hung next to the front door. Sending her a look, he took it down, revealing a wall safe.

  When he opened it and started taking money out, she looked at him skeptically.

  “Where are we going again?”

  “I didn’t say,” he said, counting out fifty grand and then closing the safe. “We’re going to Miss Mamie’s.”

  He felt Viola’s stare. “We’re going to just waltz into the biggest mafia-run illegal betting parlor? Isn’t that stupid?”

  He put the painting back on the wall and stuffed the money in his jacket.

  “It would be, if my boys weren’t robbing two of their strip joints right now. By the time we roll into Miss Mamie’s, it’ll be just us. Well, us and the staff. That’s who we need to talk to.”

  “The money’s for a payoff?”

  “If necessary. I’d rather it wasn’t, but whatever’s needed.”

  She pressed her lips together. “I know someone that works there. A bartender.”

  “I bet you do. That’s why I need you.”

  “Alright,” she said, getting up. “Just remember that.”

  He looked at her oddly as she walked to the door, but she didn’t say any more. They walked out to the elevator, took a ride to the parking deck.

  Callum chose his black Mercedes sedan to ride in, deciding that the flash would be appropriate. Especially considering the fact that he’d nearly wrecked the SUV version of it two days ago, he felt like the sedan was safer somehow.

  He saw Viola eyeing it critically, but luckily she chose not to put up a fight.

  He pulled out of the parking deck heading west.

  “This isn’t the way to Miss Mamie’s,” Viola pointed out.

  “Evasive driving techniques.”

  She shuddered, which for some reason made him crack a smile. She turned on the radio, some pop station, and seemed comforted by that.

  He looped around the city before heading outside the limits. The gambling parlor was historic in a sense, named after the freed slave who had first opened the doors. It was in an old plantation house, and even did so-called dinner theatre, that was how they kept the cops out.

  Well, that and the fat stacks of money. Bribery was definitely a known currency around here.

  “Wow,” he said as they pulled up in the parking lot of the Georgian manor. “That’s… something.”

  The building was three stories tall and quite impressively broad, done in white with black window sashes. There were several outbuildings standing behind the main house, giving it the feel of a palatial estate.

  “Yeah,” she said, scrunching her face up as she looked out the window. “Pretty big place. I’ve only been in there once, and I got sooooo lost.”

  “Well… I guess we should go in.”

  She raised her brows, and nodded. They both got out of the car, and walked toward the grand front steps.

  “It’s not nicer inside, is it?” he asked.

  “Not in the section where Damien works.”

  “Damien?”

  “My friend who works here.” She pointed toward the side of the house. “We should go in around the side. Apparently that’s how people in the know get around.”

  He glowered, even though he had no right to be angry. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care, hurrying ahead of him a couple steps.

  When they turned the corner, the air gained a definite derelict quality. There were several questionable characters standing outside, and a big burly doorman flipping the pages of a magazine.

  “Shit,” he said.

  She turned back and looked at him.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Just wasn’t expecting it to get so seedy so fast.”

  She cocked a brow, but turned and kept going. She walked right past the doorman; obviously he was more interested in kicking misbehavers out than letting anybody and their weapons in.

  Worked for Callum. He wasn’t exactly jumping up and down to be searched. He would just need to keep in mind the fact that everybody in here was more than likely carrying.

  Putting his hand on his own weapon for a moment, just
to be sure they were prepared, Callum walked past the doorman on his way in.

  The place was a little bit of everything. There was a strip club-esque corner, with a few a girls dancing in various states of undress, a sign above offering For Girls By The Hour, Ask Management.

  There was a food area, which turned Callum’s stomach. Who would eat food at a place like this? People who almost never leave.

  The larger portion of the place was off-track betting, showcased by lots of televisions, and various gaming tables. Like Callum had predicted, it was a graveyard. One guy sat by the first big screen TV, scowling at the results.

  “Hey. Don’t look now,” said Viola, “but the fella with the Hawaiian shirt, behind the bar? That’s Damien.”

  Callum slowly scanned the room. Damien was at the far end, wiping dust off bottles and looking bored. He could also be found attractive, if a girl was already into that look. Dark hair, mussed clothes, heavy beard.

  He slid a look at Viola, but she was already off to see her friend.

  “Coulda been a girl…” he grumbled as he followed her.

  They attracted Damien’s attention as they closed in on the bar. Fucker was tall, too. Not as tall as Callum, but nearly so.

  “Hey, look at you! Long time no see!” Damien crowed as they sat down.

  It’s unfortunate that his voice isn’t squeaky, thought Callum.

  “Hi. Yeah, what’s it been? Two months?” she said.

  “Yeah. Remember the last time we were together? So much tequila…” Damien moaned. “Killer, just killer.”

  “Oh, Damien this is my… friend,” Viola said, perhaps just realizing that she had no idea what to call him.

  “Callum,” he said, sticking out his hand.

  The handshake was more a hand-clenching, both of them trying to impress the other. Both sizing each other up, and casting glances at Viola.

  “Nice to meet you,” Damien said, releasing his hand. “Any friend of Viola’s is a friend of mine.”

  “Of course,” Callum said.

  “What can I do for you two?” Damien asked.

  “Well, how about three shots of your favorite liquor,” Viola said, giving Callum a look that said be quiet.

  With a quick look at Callum, Damien picked a tall, dark green bottle filled with clear liquid.