“Does Uncle know you bought these puppies?” Fionn crinkled his nose, the familiar trace of disgust washing over his features. He’d softened a bit with me this year, seeing me as more of an ally rather than an enemy, but that didn’t mean I was free from his resting bitch face.
“Not yet. They’re a surprise for when he gets out of jail.”
Fionn scrubbed his face with both his hands. “He doesn’t like surprises.”
“He does when they come from me.” I shot him a wicked grin. “And if he wants to get his dick serviced, he’ll accept his new children.”
Guinness, the dapple dachshund of the two, yapped at me, and I scratched his head, then plopped a kiss on top. He licked me across the cheek, leaving behind a trail of saliva that had Fionn’s nose wrinkling even more. I didn’t give a shit, though.
“Ugh, I didn’t want to know that.” He eyed Guinness with trepidation.
“Oh please, don’t act like you haven’t seen him fuck me.” I shrugged. Sloan liked to stake his claim over me publicly. Nearly everyone in the Company had seen him take me.
“That’s something Idon’twant to remember.” He heaved a sigh.
I grinned, ready to tease him more, but a cheerful tune echoed from my phone in my pocket. I knew the song immediately, since I’d chosen it specifically for Sloan and the new, illegal phone he’d obtained through connections in Rikers Island.
I glanced at Fionn when he shot me a curious stare. “It’s Sloan. I better take it.” I held the phone tight in my fist as I rose and escaped the foyer. Heading toward the formal dining room,I took a deep breath to steady myself. My stomach clenched. I missed him so fucking much that it hurt to hear his voice. Two weeks was already too long.
I answered the call and raised the phone to my ear with a shaky hand. “Hey, Boss. How are you?”
“It’s jail, Pet.” Sloan’s gruff tone filtered through the line. “I’m doing as fine as I was last week.”
“I....”Love you.I didn’t say it. Fuck that. We’d spent too long playing a game of resistance. If Iwasgoing to tell him what I felt, it wasn’t going to be while he was behind bars. And I also wasn’t going to be the first person to do it. He needed to fess up before I did. “I miss your dick.”
Sloan laughed, the sound flooding me with happiness I didn’t know I needed until now. The ache behind my ribs eased up slightly, and I closed my eyes as I took a seat at the dining table, imagining he was here with me and not in a cold dank cell.
“Do you?” he asked.
“Having to jerk off and fuck myself is very boring. I was almost tempted to liven up the mood with Fallon’s confetti dildo.” I grinned, despite the shit situation. His voice sent warmth through my chest and the clenching in my stomach released.
“Now that would be a sight to see. Haven’t you been using that dildo cast from my dick? We bought it for when I wasn’t there.”
I held in a laugh. We’d gotten a molding kit last year. We never expected to use it in a situation like this. The whole idea of buying it was for fun, and we were going to use it on my hole together, but we’d never had the chance to try.
I wished we had.
I still hadn’t used it. The dildo wasn’t the same thing and it would only make me miss Sloan even more than I already did—if that was possible. “I want you home, Boss. I need you here, not a fuck toy.”
“I promise I’ll do everything I can to get out of here. I’m working on it and so is Cashmore.”
I clenched my eyes tight, a red hot pain searing through me. Breathing felt like a thousand nails stabbing my lungs. “I know.”
“How is the Company? Is anyone giving you trouble?”
“Not yet,” I lied easily. I didn’t want to worry him. He had more important concerns, like being in fucking jail. Some of the men were beginning to express their dislike for me more openly with smart-arse comments and biting back against orders. The cowards thought the Company was weak without Sloan, and they didn’t trust me and Fionn to run it, but I wasn’t going to worry Sloan with that. “We’re handling it. You focus on getting out of there. Boss, I?—”
The dial tone echoed in my ear, and I froze, eyes opening now that the fantasy had disappeared. We’d been cut off, which didn’t happen often, but sometimes he had to end the call to avoid getting caught. Having a secret phone in the cells would get him into massive trouble if it was found, so it was probably for the best. Telling Sloan anything mushy would have to wait until he was back in our bed, safe where he belonged.
“Conall, we need you out here. Now!”
Shoving my phone back into my pants pocket, I inhaled to settle myself. The phone calls always shook me. When I slid the calm and confident facade back in place, I rose and stalked out of the dining room and into the foyer. I bumped into a wall with my shoulder when a sudden attack of dizziness took over, but I managed to straighten up. Grabbing my head, I stayed still for a second to gather myself before I started walking again. I slowed down and halted when I caught sight of three strangers standing in front of Fionn and Daire in the foyer. Their faces were oddly familiar, but I didn’t know them.
“Who are they?” I asked harsher than I’d meant to. While Sloan was in jail, I didn’t trust anyone. This was the time that the rats came up for air.
Fionn’s eyes burned with an anger I hadn’t seen from him in a few months and his hands were fists at his side.
Daire’s playful nature was gone, leaving behind the brutal enforcer I’d never truly met but had heard stories about. His spine was straight and his hand hovered near his hip, as though debating pulling out his gun. Fury danced over his face and the controlled glare sent shivers down my back.
