Someone knocked, and I checked the peep hole. I doubted anyone but Dax would get by the guard I’d posted at the street, but I was ever cautious.
It was Dax. I opened the door and gestured for him to join us in the kitchen. He sat beside Corbin. “Do I get snacks?”
I threw up my hands. “You might as well raid my kitchen like everyone else.”
Corbin was happily sharing chips with Lance, and while I was gone, they’d helped themselves to cans of soda.
Once Dax had a soda as well as a bag of tortilla chips and spinach-and-artichoke dip, I told them about witnessing the man talking to Charles, then shooting him and leaving him for dead. The only details of the evening I left out were the ones related to Henri. That was my business and my business only.
I was sure Connor and Sully were well aware of what had happened in my car, but they knew the price for gossip.
“Fucking Landrys.” Dax clanged his can down on the counter. “We should rid the city of the rest of them.”
I held up a hand. “I’m as eager for their demise as you are, but we’ve got to play this in such a way that we rid ourselves of two problems at once, and wholesale slaughter is not on the table.”
“How about a little bit of slaughter?” Lance asked.
I glared at him.
“Lighten up, Remy,” Dax said. “Surely you can let us have a little bit of fun.”
I rolled my eyes. “For starters, we need to bring someone in for interrogation. Someone high enough in their organization to know things but low enough not to be missed for a while.”
Lance nodded. “I know exactly the guy. His name’s Stubby.”
Corbin looked like he wanted to add something, but he didn’t. I was glad he’d taken a mostly silent role so far. If it were up to me, he wouldn’t be at this meeting, but my father insisted he be included in any significant business, and that wasn’t an argument I could win. Corbin wasn’t ready to play with the big boys, but I was going to have to make him ready really damn fast.
“What else have any of you learned?” I asked my cousin.
“Talk on the street is Clark Landry is scared as shit of these gunrunners. They’re making him help them settle some scores. Maybe he refused or tried to get out of their deal, and that’s why they shot Charles. Clark’s weak. We might be able to turn him, especially if that asshole killed his brother.”
That was a good lead. I wanted these men out of my city. We didn’t need the kind of weapons they were selling, and I didn’t need anybody on my turf who didn’t want to follow my rules. But now that the problem had become more complicated, we were going to have to move slowly and deliberately. That was hard enough for me. For the rest of them, it might be damn near impossible.
7
Henri
When I came awake, bright light was shining into the room. It took me a moment to remember where I was, then the night came back to me. I knew the warm presence at my back was Remy, the man who’d wrecked his car last night.
When had he gotten into bed? I’d woken sometime in the night or rather the early morning and used the adjacent bathroom. Remy hadn’t been with me then, but he was sure as hell there now, surrounding me with his warmth. It felt amazing, something I could far too easily get used to.
Was it after noon? Should I leave?
Not without your money, stupid.
Right. He hadn’t paid me yet, but… something made me feel uneasy about talking to him again. Maybe I would feel better if I were dressed. Of course my clothes were disgusting, but it wasn’t like I had something else to wear. If only I could take a shower in his luxurious bathroom… But I wasn’t about to do that without permission.
Confronting Remy while dressed, even in dirty clothes that wouldn’t look nearly as impressive in the light of day, was better than naked.
I slipped from the bed and began looking for my clothes.
“Come back.” Remy’s voice was rough with sleep but still commanding.
I hesitated.
“Henri.”
I lifted my pants to find my phone. I wanted to know what time it was. My phone wasn’t there. My heart rate increased.
“Your phone is in my office. Don’t worry. I’ll give it back to you when we go down to get something to eat.”
“Y-you took it?”
“I did. I like to know who I’m in bed with.”
I’d known this was a bad idea. “That’s… You can’t.”
“It’s done, and I think you know very well that I can do whatever the fuck I like.”
I did, and it terrified me, yet when I looked up at him, even knowing what he’d done, knowing what he could still do, part of me wanted to climb right back in bed with him, pull him on top of me and… “What time is it?”
Remy shook his head. “Not time for you to be out of bed.”
“I thought you wanted me gone at noon.”
“I said you had to stay until at least noon. I never told you I wanted to get rid of you.”
“What did you do with my phone and—” I stopped myself from mentioning my license and the money that was in between the case and the phone. Possibly he hadn’t looked.
“Your license and money?”
“Fuck. You found those?”
“I did. Like I said, I wanted to know more about you.”
“So you’re just shamelessly admitting to stalking me while I slept?”
He nodded, showing absolutely no remorse. I hated to admit it, but his confidence was more than a little hot.
“Come back to bed, Henri.”
“Do I have a choice?” I needed a real answer to that question. If he wanted to keep me there, I couldn’t exactly run from him naked with no phone. I doubted I’d beat him to the door anyway.
“Do
