The conversation around me went on. I kept tabs on the discussion, amusement filling me as my brothers tried to get a handle on Alexei with the vague details I’d given them, but it wasn’t long before my thoughts drifted to the man himself. After he’d left me naked in my room and I’d got over the fact that he’d been there at all, I’d followed his instructions and knocked out for six solid hours. Apparently, a handjob from him was better than a Zopiclone and I couldn’t wait for my next dose.
I picked up my phone, ignoring Cracker’s ugly face—my secretary didn’t like electronics at the table, his revenge for me banning the booze—and pulled up my message thread with Alexei. He was still saved as Teddy in my phone, a fact that amused me even more than Rubi’s proposed notion that he was a mafia goon from the Sambini family, sent here as a goddamn honey trap. “Trust me, mate. If you met the bloke, you’d know how ridiculous that is.”
“That’s the point, though, isn’t it?” Rubi countered. “That you wouldn’t have a clue.”
I looked up from my phone, death oozing from my glare. “You think I’m that stupid? That a good fuck would be enough for me to compromise this club?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“What are you saying, then? Clarify it for me.”
Rubi lit a cigarette. It was all wrong for him, but I didn’t allow weed in church either, so it sucked to be him. “I’m thinking out loud, boss. You’re the one who brought him to our attention, and I reckon that’s because you couldn’t get your brain around it on your own. Let us try.”
It was probably the most reasonable thing he’d ever said, but I wasn’t feeling reasonable. I was restless as ever.More. And I was unsettled too. Every instinct I had told me Alexei meant me no harm, but what if I was wrong? What if I was so blinded by the fire he’d lit in me that I was putting my brothers and my club in more danger than we were already in?
A pack of smokes hit my drumming fingers.
Saint.
I met his gaze and he shook his head, the action minute but unmissable to anyone who cared to look.
In Saint-speak? Yeah. He had my back, and he didn’t believe Alexei a threat to me either. If he did, he wouldn’t be here. With Mateo at his back, he’d already be halfway back to the penthouse I’d made him stand outside while I’d locked lips with my enigmatic cat burglar.
I nodded and sparked a cigarette, waiting for the chatter around me to die down. When it did, I addressed the whole table. “That’s all I have on that right now. If anything else becomes important enough, I’ll bring it back to the table, but until then, we have bigger shit to worry about. Namely, securing the compound and figuring out our next move against the Sambinis.”
“We need to bring the green shipment in too,” Mateo said. “I have guys on it with me, but given that everything we touch right now turns to shit, I need officers at my back while I set things up.”
Saint and Rubi gave him the nod.
I took a breath, but Nash shook his head.No. Stay off the road.
Motherfuckers.
I held my tongue and let the business of the night play out. Then I pounded my gavel and sent my brothers away, Embry, as ever, lingering to bend my conscience in the right direction.
“I’m glad you told us about the accountant. Trust is important, Cam.”
It irritated me that he tacked my name on the end of the sentence. I glowered at him. “Works both ways. You gonna tell me about every fucker you bang?”
“If it was relevant to club business, yes.”
“Go on then.”
“Explain the relevance first.” Embry’s smile warmed. He was bantering with me, and I had nothing, too wrapped up in my own shit.
I flipped him the bird. “Father, respectfully, fuck you.”
“Maybe it would be easier if you did—fuck someone in the club, I mean, not literally me.”
“Shame. I’ve been hanging out for your proposition all this time.”
“Can we be serious for a moment?”
I sighed and gave my chaplain my full attention. “Is this the part where you tell me to use condoms, guard my drinks, and sleep with a kitchen knife under my pillow?”
“No, it’s the part where I remind you how many balls we have in the air and how many threats we’re facing on multiple fronts. If you trust our new accountant, that’s enough for me, but be careful, okay? We need you. We love you.”
He rose as he spoke the last few words, leaning in for an embrace I gladly accepted. For as long as we’d known him, Embry had been the family many of us so desperately needed. I held him a moment, breathing him in, then I let him go, hating that his job for the night was something he despised: frequenting the strip clubs we owned and/or protected in search of unfamiliar faces or loose tongues. He was too good at it. Without club colours, no one noticed him sipping rum in the corner, listening, watching. He was as effective as Mateo and his knife.
