William believed that would be your charity?”
Gio pursed his lips and nodded. “When he found out I’d flown out there, he showed up at my hotel, furious. Accused me of betraying him, lying to him about our relationship, and not trusting him.”
“What a fucking asshole.”
“Yes, well, I ended it. He pleaded with me. I refused. And then…” Gio sighed. “He broke my arm.”
Joker jumped to his feet, his fists at his sides. “He what?” The no-good son of a bitch! Granted, Joker had pretty much hated the guy the moment he’d laid a hand on Gio, but now he wished William was in front of him. He’d show the guy what a real soldier could do.
“It was so unexpected I was dumbstruck. I hadn’t anticipated him to come at me, much less when my back was turned. Fighting isn’t exactly my area of expertise, so I managed to fracture my wrist when I punched him, which led to him breaking my arm. I was able to fend him off long enough to call the authorities. Not that it helped. By the time I was out of the hospital, the charges I’d pressed had disappeared, and so had William.”
Joker dropped back onto the couch. “And he had the fucking balls to show up tonight?” This guy was officially on Joker’s shit list.
“He was trying to convince me to have dinner with him and discuss the proposal. My guess is things with his business partners aren’t going well.” Gio’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “What a surprise, he hasn’t been able to find any more investors.”
“Talk about a piece of work.” Joker shook his head at the nerve on the guy. Then again, he knew little about the investment world. Just enough to know where money was concerned, it could get ugly.
“Knowing William, he’s spent money that’s not his and doesn’t know what he’s going to do to get it back. I don’t doubt he’ll find a way, though. He’s resourceful like that.”
If William knew what was good for him, he’d get resourceful somewhere else. The guy had already assaulted Gio once. No way was Joker letting William anywhere near Gio again.
“What are you thinking?” Gio asked.
“I think we need to teach you some self-defense.”
“Are you going to teach me how to throw someone over my shoulder?”
“You want me to teach you?”
Gio looked confused. “Why not? You may not be my bodyguard, but you were a Green Beret, same as the others. You’re a big part of Four Kings Security, same as the others. I trust you.”
Joker refused to acknowledge how those words made him feel. “Yeah, okay,” he replied, his voice rough. He was often overlooked when in the company of his brothers-in-arms. When faced with the Kings, all of whom were muscled and over six feet tall, no one ever questioned them being Green Berets, and for the most part Jack, but most looked skeptical when Joker was included. Gio had never treated him as anything but equal to his brothers. A lump formed in his throat, and he quickly pushed it down.
“I’m sorry,” Joker muttered.
“For what?”
Joker shrugged. “That you had to go through all that shit with William. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Thank you.”
A knock sounded on the front door, and Joker stood to answer it. “Yeah?”
“Mr. Wilder,” one of their security agents called in. “Room service is here.”
Joker motioned for Gio to stay seated. He went over to the doors and greeted the waiter as he wheeled in a cart carrying several dishes covered with big silver domes. Everything was set up on the dining table, and Gio thanked the man as he signed the receipt.
Once the waiter was gone and the doors were closed, Joker dropped down into his chair. “Thanks for dinner.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
Gio’s smile did something weird to Joker’s stomach, but he chose to ignore it. He was still trying to wrap his brain around his earlier revelation of finding Gio attractive. Not just attractive, but hot. Really fucking hot. Not that he planned to do anything about that. It was only an observation. He’d found plenty of people attractive or hot as fuck over the years. It didn’t mean he pursued them.
Even if Joker was wrong about Gio, which wasn’t outside the realm of possibility—he could be wrong on occasion—nothing would come of it. Outside of his brothers-in-arms and now the Boyfriend Collective, Joker didn’t do attachments. Romantic relationships were nothing but a pain in the ass, and in the end, they always turned ugly. They