Ruthless Renovator : A Hero Club Novel

by Paisleigh Aumack

  “I’m not Zane’s woman.” I stood my ground.

  “Sweets, you and I both know that’s a big fat lie. What color is your hair?” Soraya asked. I knew where this was going too.

  “Still blue streaks. But that doesn’t mean the same thing to me as it does to you. The color of my hair doesn’t depict my mood, just liked the blue.”

  “Fine. But tell me this. Do you really think this thing with Zane isn’t going to work or are you just scared shitless?” See what I mean? Soraya had experience and didn’t pull any punches when she needed to get her point across. Even if my stubborn ass didn’t want to hear it.

  “Soraya, I don’t think I have ever been this scared of anything in my life. Not even when I did the hardest trick in the skating world. Zane walked away and ghosted me once and it drove me to therapy. If he does it again, I will probably end up the crazy cat lady because I won’t survive it. He’s always been the guy in my life, even if we were just friends when we were younger,” I told her honestly. Being honest with her was important so she had the entire picture of the situation I was in. Her column allowed her to use her humor and her honesty to give advice and she was damn good at it. But she required more from her friends because she cared and we weren’t strangers.

  “Joss, I completely get that. Graham and I went through our own shit before we landed where we are and there was a point there where I didn’t think we’d ever be together again and my heart was decimated. But with perspective and my utterly charming self, things worked out. Give Zane a chance, girl. I mean for fuck’s sake, he built your dream kitchen! That screams love. Take a few days but talk to him. Cooler heads and all that, ya know?”

  “I hear you, S. I’ll give it a few days. No promises though,” I answered.

  “All I can ask. Listen, I have to go. Lorenzo wants breakfast. Get your ass to the city soon, bitch. Talk soon. Love you,” Soraya signed off.

  That screams love were the words I focused on after we hung up. I knew he cared for me because I mean…kitchen. But was that really love? Love was such a strong word and an even bigger emotion. I’d been in love with Mac. Zane was different. More…man. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the capacity to love, it was more or less the fear of loving and losing…again. Also, I needed to know that trust was a mutually agreed upon necessity. If he thought of me in terms of love, he’d certainly trust that I wouldn’t step out on him, right? I mean neither of us were celibate and I was never married. His history was a little more in depth than mine so did I need to worry about his ex coming back?

  With all of that said, it was unfair of me to not answer Zane. We were adults who cared about each other. So with the radio show complete, and Ryanne gone, I headed back to my office for some privacy so I could call Zane. The door just closed and my phone dinged with an incoming text.

  Zane.

  ZIT: Baby, please talk to me. We barely started. How can we be done?

  So I found his nickname in my phone and hit the call button.

  It rang once, twice before I heard the call connect. There was some rustling of the phone and I a ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ muttered out before Zane’s voice came through.

  “Josselyn?” My name was more a whispered question than a greeting.

  “I’m here. Is everything okay, Zane?”

  “Yes. I just was excited and nervous to see you calling me. I dropped my cell under my desk and when I went down to grab it I hit my head on the edge as I was trying to answer your call,” he explained and I smiled. Then I started giggling at his misfortune.

  “That sound is one of the best in the world,” he told me.

  “I hope your head is okay. I didn’t mean to laugh. I was just picturing your big body crawling under your desk then whacking your head.”

  “It’ll be fine. Thanks for calling. I didn’t think you would.” Zane sounded hurt and I started to feel terrible about walking out on him. He really was trying and at the first sign of struggle, I left.

  Fuck. I left. I walked away from him. We needed to talk.

  “Just needed some time to think. And of course talk to my girls. Or more exact, Soraya since Arden is in and out of work these days and mostly unreachable,” I explained. My explanation wasn’t great; I knew that. But it was honest.

  “Shit. You talked to Soraya? Did she tell you to string me up by my balls and throw darts at them?”

  “Actually, no. Soraya seems to be Team Zane. She told me to stop shutting you out.”

  “I do love that woman.” Zane’s tone had changed and I could tell he was smiling now.

  “Can we talk about Monday night? Maybe over coffee tomorrow?” I asked hesitantly. This was awkward and I hated rehashing things, but relationships of all kinds required communication so it was a necessary evil.

  “Why wait until tomorrow? I’m free tonight if that is an option for you.” Zane was always so confident and assertive. Seeing him today wasn’t something I prepared for, but I wanted to see him. I needed to see him.

  “Okay. How about you pick me up from work in about an hour and then we can head to the beach. Bring a blanket,” I bossed.

  Zane chuckled, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there, baby. Thank you for calling me.”

  “Thanks for answering,” I replied, smiling huge.

  “See you soon, Josselyn.” He hung up without letting me say anything back. I shook my head at him, still smiling, even though he couldn’t see it.

  With some time to kill and no actual work to do until Monday’s prep, I went in search of Wes. It was time to find out what the hell was going on with Arden, and I think my boss may be the only other person with the answers.

  _______________

  Wes was not in his office when I got there. His door was open and that creepy feeling started to crawl up my spine and caused my hairs to stand on end. I heard a throat clear behind me and when I turned, there stood Bruno. He stood there without saying a word with his arms crossed over his chest. Bruno and I had had a few run-ins and I tried my best to avoid him anytime I could. Every single time he was in the same vicinity as me, my body reacted as if screaming, “DANGER AHEAD!” Bruno was a nuisance to those around him most of the time but to women, he was a serious threat so my reaction was warranted.

  “Any idea where Wes is?” I asked Bruno.

  “He left for the day.” Bruno’s tone was off and put me on alert.

  “Alrighty then. Well, I will just talk to him later. Guess I’ll finish up and wait for Zane to come get me,” I said, hoping he caught the hint someone knew where I was and would be here shortly.

  “Zane. What is it with that guy? He thinks he is superior. Tell me, Josselyn, has he fucked you yet?”

  “I don’t see how that is any of your business or appropriate to ask me,” I asserted and checked my surroundings. If I needed to make a run for it, I wanted my best option for escape.

  “Right. Well, tell your boyfriend to stop looking into me. His informant isn’t very smooth. Besides, he’ll never find what he’s looking for.”

  “And what is he looking for?” Checking into Wes, I knew about. Bruno, I hadn’t.

  “Nothing he’ll find. Unlike his people, I know how to get rid of shit I don’t want out in the public.” He uncrossed his arms and started to walk toward me. He stopped a few feet away, still too close for my liking of personal space. Then a different feeling washed over me. The air in the entire office changed and that creepy feeling was replaced by safety and power. That’s when I saw Wes over Bruno’s shoulder. He had his finger held up to his mouth warning me not to make him. He also motioned with his finger in a keep going gesture to keep Bruno talking.

  What the hell was going on? Wes was always protective of the women in the office, but this was different in a way I felt like I might not understand. Still, I tried to keep Bruno talking.

  “Bruno, you don’t seem like a man who would need to hide anything,” I semi-flirted. If I knew anything about Bruno it was that he responded to a woman paying him attention.
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br />   “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Josselyn. Had you given me more than attitude, even though yours gets my dick extra hard, you’d know I usually get what I want. And, sweetheart, I’ve wanted to feel you from the inside out since I hired you. Then came Zane MacIntyre. I thought bringing him in here would get you so riled up, you’d beg me to get rid of him. But he just wormed his way back into your good graces, didn’t he?” He finished and while he’d been talking walked me back into the wall. He raised his hand to my throat but before he could tighten his grip, Bruno was ripped away from me, dropped on the floor, and Wes was placing him in handcuffs while reading him his rights. Three police officers in street clothes had their guns drawn and pointed at Bruno the entire time this took place.

  What the fuck was going on?

  But more importantly who the hell was Weston Moretti?

  All the answers to my questions had to wait.

  Zane walked in, a look of thunder on his face, and searched for me. When we locked eyes, his face softened and he came to me.

  “You okay?” he asked, cradling my face in his hands.

  “Mac,” I whispered, scared out of my mind at the events that just went down.

  “I got you. It’s over now.” Zane held me tighter when I started to shake.

  I was confused and in a bit of a daze but I was able to ask the question I really needed an answer to.

  “Did you know Wes was a cop this whole time?”

  “He’s an undercover agent. I’ll explain once we get you home, okay?”

  “Okay.” That’s all I could muster. Now I just wanted to go home, take a few shots of Fireball or whiskey, and find out why no one told me what was going on at my fucking show.

  CHAPTER 16

  Apologies and Takeout.

  Mac

  SEEING THE FEAR and confusion on Joss’s face when I walked into the radio station hallway, wrecked me. Hearing her recount what took place before I arrived, the agents and officers, had me murderous. When she finally answered my call after I was a major jackass and agreed to meet me, I let Wes know. It was all set to go, he just needed word from me. I pushed to see Joss for selfish reasons and for this takedown.

  After I had Davien look into Bruno, I asked him to look into Wes, which Joss knew. What I didn’t tell her was Davien has connections with the local police department and he asked around. Come to find out, there had been a woman, Gabriella Martin, running that satellite radio station and she had lodged multiple complaints against Bruno. They had gone unanswered because Bruno intercepted them from the email server and made them disappear. That’s when Gabriella decided she’d had enough, after Bruno tried to slide his hand under her pencil skirt, and went to the cops to file a sexual harassment report. The local PD kicked the case up to the FBI when they ran his name and it hit that he was a suspect in a pretty big embezzlement case.

  Wes and I communicated after I found out he was trying to get Bruno on charges and went undercover with his team of feds to do so. Apparently not only did Bruno Haynes have a touching problem, he also had a problem skimming money off the top for himself. Allegations were, he had set it up that the rent checks were made to him personally instead of the landlord of the building the station was set in. Bruno had told us the rent was at twenty-five thousand a month when it really was ten thousand and pocketed the difference.

  We’d gone back to my place after the scene with Wes and were sitting at the table in the kitchen, Joss with a bottle of Fireball, me a beer. She hadn’t looked up from the table at me since we got to my house. My girl was not going to be happy when I explained. Add that to the mess from Monday night, and I was basically fucked.

  But I was willing to fight for her always. No question. The problem was; would she fight for me?

  “Josselyn, look at me, baby,” I demanded gently, as I pushed a blue strand of her hair away from her face behind her ear. She looked at me and I saw hurt mixed with anger in her eyes. Knowing I helped put that look there made me feel like a complete dick. Fuck.

  “First, I need you to know how incredibly sorry I am for being a jealous asshole Monday night. It’s not easy for me to know that there were other guys in your life before me. And before you say anything, I know it’s a double standard and completely fucked but it’s something I can’t help but feel. I’m a man who is owned by a woman who doesn’t realize how insanely crazed she makes me. Joss, I’m going to feel possessive because I understand what a man sees when they look at you, but I will always trust you,” I admitted.

  “I understand being jealous and it getting the best of you. Trust me on that. But you can’t react like that every time I get a call from someone you assume I slept with. If you do, it will be the same result as Monday night, every time. I want to trust you, I do. But you aren’t making this easy, Zane,” she retorted.

  “Baby, I’m going to fuck up, probably more times than you will like, but all I need you to do is believe I have the best of intentions and fight through the emotions I evoke and stick with me. Can you do that?”

  “As long as you don’t fly off the handle and communicate to me like an adult. I won’t be made to feel like I did something bad by living on my terms before you decided to come back into my life.”

  “Fine. Done. Now, do you want to talk about what happened with Wes at the office?” I questioned. Joss used to have to get it out. Rip the bandage off fast, type of processor.

  “Honestly, I think I pretty much put it together, but I need you to tell me your part in all of it. You had to have known for a while who Wes was, but you chose to keep that from me. And in the honor of our agreement two minutes ago, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that is was with the best of intentions. So let’s hear it, Zane.”

  “Well, I knew who Wes was the day you overheard me talking on the phone in your living room. My friend, Davien, had connections and asked the right people. Wes had been undercover at the radio station for a long time. Long before you came aboard. If I told you who he was and what he was doing, it could have jeopardized the entire operation. I knew as long as Wes was there you were safe. And that was always the most important thing for me. Wes and I talked after I was informed who he was and what he was doing. Then we stayed in communication because he told me what he wanted to do. Believe it or not, I almost fucked up his whole sting by being a dick Monday night. If you hadn’t agreed to see me today, they wanted to pull the plug on the entire thing. It sucks that you were in the position you were in this afternoon, but I promise you, you were never in danger. I wouldn’t allow that,” I explained.

  “So Wes is a federal agent who was undercover as the manager at the radio station where my show is. Why even hire me if Bruno was under investigation?” Joss inquired. Her face screamed exhaustion. We needed to wrap this up so I could get my girl to bed.

  “Because he needed to make it look like he was the manager. You had talent and was what that channel needed to put it on the map. Otherwise, he’d have blown his cover. Bruno isn’t stupid and questioned a ton of decisions that Wes made. So he needed to be on all the time. What I will tell you is that Wes knew you’d be confused and hurt when you found out he wasn’t exactly who you thought and will make that right. He’ll be looking for a replacement but will continue to manage the show until he does. So, baby, you’ll have a chance to talk to him.”

  “It’s weird. I always thought his overprotectiveness and lectures on being aware of my surroundings were hints to something else. I guess in Wes’s way, they were. It all makes sense now. Except, how he was with Arden.”

  “That I have no idea about. You’d probably have better luck talking to Arden,” I explained then continued, “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about Wes, baby.”

  “I know you are. And I know you were protecting me so it’s really okay with me. As for Arden, she has been MIA the past week or so. She should have been back to work by now. I’ve texted her and called a few times but she isn’t returning either. And I have been so wrapped up in my own s
hit; I didn’t even think to go check on her. God. I suck.” Josselyn Easton’s heart was big and warm. Her affection for her friends was evident and it made me fall a bit deeper into her trance.

  “You don’t suck. You’re a good-hearted person, Josselyn. Never doubt that. I mean, you forgave my dumb ass so that’s saying something,” I told her. The need to hold her overpowered me so I stood with my hand out to her. Joss took it and I immediately held her tight against my chest. I kissed the top of her hair and asked, “Wanna order takeout and watch a movie or do you want to go out somewhere for dinner?”

  “Takeout and a movie. But I’m going to need to borrow some clothes,” she decided.

  “Not a problem, baby. I’ll be right back.”

  _______________

  Josselyn was in my tee and a pair of basketball shorts that she had to roll multiple times to keep up on her waist. There was just something incredibly sexy about your girl wearing your clothes. We’d ordered some Italian takeout from this spot in town called Aluigi’s. They had the best damn penne vodka with grilled chicken I’d ever tasted so I got both Joss and me an order. Now we were back on my couch, watching some ridiculous movie about a high school girl who wrote letters to all the boys she previously crushed on. Joss seemed to be enjoying it but I wanted to gouge my eyes out. I needed a distraction and the gorgeous girl with her head in my lap was just the type of distraction my dick was interested in, so I started to play with her hair. Seeing the goosebumps break out on her arms and neck, I proceeded gently.

  Lightly, I brushed my fingertips down her luscious neck, her hair splayed over my legs, over and over again. My fingers itched to make their way to the top of the shirt, where I was able to see her ample cleavage. Just the thought of touching her tits made my erection grow hard as steel. There was no mistaking Josselyn was turned on. The evidence poked through my T-shirt and my control was slipping the more I kept touching her. Joss started to squirm as I dragged my forefinger down to the collar of the shirt and traced it, torturing myself more. When my finger started to head back up to her cheek, Joss turned, leaned up as best she could, and pulled my mouth down on to hers.