Max sat up straighter and rested her head on her hand. “What’s Taboo?”
“Kink club in Miami,” Angel answered instead of letting me field the question.
I leaned back, fingering the base of my margarita glass. “It’s the club James used to be a member of a long time ago. We were following a lead in one of his cases. No big deal.” I shrugged it off, but I could tell they wanted more, and I hadn’t said anything to deter their interest.
“Ooh. Do tell,” Suzy said, turning toward me. “Did you meet some of James’s old friends?”
“I met some interesting people.” I didn’t want to talk about it. The ladies always had a million questions, and for some odd reason, I figured they were always picturing me naked with James pulling on a leash. “We’re going to hire a new girl at Inked,” I said to change the subject.
The table grew silent, and every set of eyes landed on me.
“Excuse me?” Max said, jolting backward.
“I’m sick of being the old chick. We need new employees, and we’re starting with a woman.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at them as they gawked at me. By the looks on their faces, I could tell they weren’t happy.
“How can we trust someone else around our husbands all day?” Max asked with a little bit of a snarl.
“Yeah,” Suzy joined in, usually the quietest of the bunch.
I held up my hands before the lynch mob started. “Have you all gone mental?”
Never had I know any of them to be the jealous type, but I could see the flashes of insecurity behind their eyes as they thought about a woman starting at Inked that wasn’t a member of the family.
I needed to quash this before they had a chance to whisper in their husband’s ears and we ended up with yet another dick at Inked. “Ladies.” I leaned forward, clasping my hands and keeping a straight face. “Calm your tits, please. Your men love you, so there’s nothing to worry about. Plus, do you think I’m going to hire someone more beautiful than me?” They didn’t look convinced as they glanced at each other and brought their eyes back to mine. “I’ll make sure she’s married, okay?”
“Married women cheat all the time,” Max added with a smug look.
“Oh, please.” I slapped my hands on the table. “I’ll never make everyone happy, but know this, my brothers love you for some odd reasons, and I’ll rip their dicks off if they even flirt with the woman.”
Angel grabbed her drink and lifted it to her lips. “She’s right,” she said before taking a sip.
“Yeah,” Suzy said on a sigh. “We trust you, Izzy.”
“I got you girls, but I can’t deal with another man at Inked. Those three meatheads are enough, and I need a little girl power to even shit up.” The table was entirely too quiet still, and I knew I hadn’t fully convinced them, so I changed back to the topic I knew they wanted to talk about. “I met the Master that trained James.”
They were filled with questions, and all thoughts and insecurities over hiring another female at Inked were forgotten, and we drank until Suzy fell off her chair and it was time to Uber our asses back home.
James
“Finally tracked Victoria down,” Flash said as he breezed into my office just after three in the afternoon.
I peered up from my computer as he slid into the seat across from me. “And?”
“She’s safe. She went to visit her mother in Detroit.”
“You talked to her?” He nodded and started to shake his foot that hung over his other leg as he sat with his ankle propped on his thigh. “What did she say?”
“Matías did spook her. She decided to leave town after they spent an evening together. She knew something was off, so she thought it was best to get as far away from him as possible.”
“I’ll make sure to let the guys at Taboo know she’s safe. I know they’ve been worried.”
Flash didn’t move even though I’d basically dismissed him. He stared at me, which was awkward.
He’d grown on me over the years. His past with Izzy made it a little harder for me to become friends with him. The whole, he fucked my wife bit kind of grated on my nerves. I won in the end, slipping the ring on her finger and making her mine, but it didn’t make it easy to sit across from a man every day who knew exactly how she tasted.
“Something else?”
