fuck your vehicle. I want to know about my fiancée,” Whitmore snarled.
“Hey, fuck you, okay? Keep in mind, I didn’t exactly ask to be made part of your merry little band of screwups, Those jackasses can’t seem to do their job without screwing it up even worse, got it? Last night was a fuckup of epic proportions. What do they do, walk around with their hands on their dicks all night or what?”
Harsh, heavy panting breaths came over the phone now. “Last night.” Whitmore’s voice was ugly with its hate now. So very ugly. “What do you know about last night?”
“I know I came with another delivery, and your stupid men were too busy running around with dicks in hand to take the damn delivery.”
“You . . .” More harsh breathing.
Joss smiled and stroked Dru’s neck. Temper is getting the best of you, boy, he thought.
“You were at the compound last night.”
“Well, not exactly. But your lazy-ass boys were too busy jacking off to let me in. I ended up leaving. Now my partner is dealing with the merchandise, you tell me the job is off, but hey, you want your fiancée . . . what the hell, are you trying to fuck up my life?”
And even though he wasn’t there with Whitmore, he could feel the flickers of the man’s rage. It streaked through Joss’s vision, tainting everything with ugly streaks of red and black. Seconds ticked by. The erratic cadence of Whitmore’s breathing calmed, and when he spoke, his voice was calm. Calm and smooth as glass.
“Whether or not I fuck up your life remains to be seen, Mr. Sellers. Why don’t you tell me how you came to find my fiancée?”
“Again, she found me. Can you not hear?” He checked the rearview mirror. He couldn’t see Taylor’s people. They wouldn’t be around just yet. They’d be close. But not that close.
“She found you.”
“What in the hell is your problem, Whitmore? Yeah, she found me. I was having breakfast and there she was, cool as a cucumber, she sits down and asks me, How would you like to make more money than my fiancé could ever hope to pay? I just stared at her for a minute, and then she goes on to tell me that she can pay me more than you can ever hope to.”
“And here you are, on the phone with me. I wonder what you told her.”
“Well, that’s neither here nor there. The thing is, she wouldn’t tell me who she’s working with. You know how I like answers. She wouldn’t give them to me. Then . . .” Joss blew out a breath. “Then she decides she’s going to get all heavy with the threats. I don’t much care for those. So I figured maybe I’d just . . .”
“You’d just maybe what?”
“She pissed me off. I brushed her off. Waited until she left, then I followed her. I was just going to teach her a thing or two, but I figured I’d make sure you were done with her. Was going to call you tonight, but then you called me . . . anyway, I had her with me when you called, but I wasn’t at a place where I could explain that.”
“You.” Whitmore started to curse, long and low. “You’ve had her for how long?”
“Since a little after seven. Took a while to make sure I wouldn’t have an audience.”
“And you have her now?”
“What, you think I called just to talk about the weather? This isn’t exactly how I’d like to be spending the day,” Joss snapped. “You called about the job, remember?”
I’m going to kill you—
The thought came loud and clear.
It might have been Whitmore’s, but Joss shared the sentiment. He wanted this bastard so very, very dead.
“Excellent. And who knows about this?”
Smiling, Joss said, “My partner.”
“And who is this mysterious partner?”
Laughing, Joss said, “You think I’m telling you that? You’re the one who kept telling me how some of your associates kept meeting this bad end. Don’t worry. My partner will stay out of your way, as long as you stay out of his . . . and mine. Think of him as my insurance policy.”
Insurance policy.
Boss.
General pain in the ass.
And occasional lifesaver.
* * *
“I don’t have time for this.” Whitmore spit out the words like they tasted bad.
Joss leaned back against the car and smiled as Whitmore came storming out of the house.
Images flooded his head the second he drove through the gates. Whitmore had his men stationed