Keep Her Close - Jenika Snow Page 0,21

a pawn. There would be no more talking things out, coming to an agreement that could make them both a lot of money.

It wasn’t that Joey didn’t allow people into Bourbon, but he ran things here. The Bacelli crew had been in this town all his life and even before that. His father had been the Boss, had run this town and made it what it was, and Joey had no plans to let some back alley group of wannabe mobsters take that away. He took a sip from his coffee and stared out at the people walking back and forth on the sidewalk below.

His apartment was in the heart of the city, and although he loved Bourbon, there were more times than not he just needed to get away and clear his head. He was ruthless, and he wouldn’t change that for anything, but that also didn’t mean it didn’t chip away at his humanity. Sometimes getting his head on straight to think clearer made him a better leader, and one that could handle the brutality of the life he led.

“What the fuck kind of vendetta?” He turned and walked over to the sink to set his mug in it. It was early, and although the sun was just barely starting to crest over the skyscrapers, Joey hadn’t gotten more than a few hours of rest. Marra was still asleep, which was good because if he had to see her right now after how worked up he had been just hours before, he might molest her before she even had time to rub the sleep from her eyes. Joey scrubbed his face with a hand and braced his back against the counter.

Just thinking about her got him harder than a fucking steel pipe, and that was bad news especially with the Carlos shit happening. Pushing away his thoughts of Marra and wanting to do some pretty fucking wicked things to her body, he focused on Niklo and what his younger brother was saying.

“Carlos is keeping his intentions and the reason for all of this hush-hush.”

Joey felt pissed that all of this was going down, that Marra was in the thick of it, and that his people were in jeopardy of being hurt.

“I might have gotten the info out of some Sugar Hill drunk that heard too much, but enjoyed talking to the end of my baseball bat,” said Niklo.

Joey shook his head despite Niklo not being able to see him. His brother did like to use violence to get what he wanted, but fuck, they all did, he supposed. They might all use muscle to get answers, but Niklo was definitely a sadist at heart, and liked to come up with “unique” ways to get the answers he sought.

“Seems like Carlos isn’t so hush-hush now with what he wants, not after Mario and two of his guys are gone.” The sound of the voice on the other end dimmed, and then Niklo was the only thing Joey could hear. “Joey, man, this Carlos might not have his shit in order, and be so unorganized I could mow his crew down with a kick to the balls, but regardless of all of that he has some revenge on the brain and in his blood.”

Joey exhaled, knowing that even the most unplanned things could be followed through if the person wanted vengeance. “Find out what you can. I want to know everything about what this vendetta is, and why we never heard about it until now.”

The sound of the bedroom door opening had him glancing at the hallway. Marra looked at him, their gazes clashed, and he swore the fucking connection and heat slammed into him enough that he actually took a step back.

“Joey, did you hear me?”

He saw her lips part. Yeah, she had felt it, too, but she was still trying to refuse what was happening. She moved down the hallway and disappeared into the bathroom. He turned from her, focused on the stove, and thought about what the fuck he needed to do. “I’m staying in the city for the time being, at least until I can figure out what the hell to do with Carlos and this revenge mindset he clearly has.”

Niklo grunted in agreement. “You keeping the girl there with you?”

“Yeah, for the time being. At least until this blows over and I know she’s safe.”

Niklo was silent for a moment. “You can keep her safe without taking her into the city, Joey,” Niklo said seriously.

Yeah,