Dima takes over the conversation, which I am grateful for. I want to know who touched Aaron, more than I care about the information he came to bring me.
“You good, Aaron? Your face is a little bruised,” Dima says.
That fucking freaky smile of Aaron’s appears as he answers, but his eyes remain on me as he speaks.
“Oh that wasn’t tonight. I got into a fight a few days ago. I’m good now.”
Well that smells like bullshit to me, but it's not my business.But it is.
“Alright, what you got, Aaron?” Dima gets straight down to business.
He smiles at me one last time, then takes a seat in front of my brother and starts to explain the events of tonight, from finding the text on his brother's phone and then what happened at the abandoned factory site.
Dima’s questioning eyes flick to me now and then as Aaron explains tonight in detail with such excitement, it might as well be show and tell at pre-school. I have never met someone with such varied personas, and I wonder if there are more sides to him yet to uncover.
Just another reason I need to stay away from him, his quirks and odd behavior thrill me and I need to shut that shit away. After he has finished his story of his never-ending list of stupid decisions tonight, I walk over to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted a sticker saying “star pupil” on it with how eager he is.
“Gimme the phone,” I order, hand stretched out to him. He passes it over and gently places it in my palm. He touches the tips of my fingers with his, keeping those doe eyes of his fixed on mine. I don’t think I am imagining the look of adoration he is aiming my way, and I have no fucking idea why, but I like it.
I scroll through the phone until I find the video footage and the one picture of Jake shaking hands with some guy. I zoom in, and I am surprised the phone has not burst into flames with the fury I am aiming at the picture. Steam must be leaving my ears, because I am about to fucking blow.
“Those motherfuckers!” I flip the screen around to show Dima. “It’s Carlos Silva’s men, D. I thought you said we could trust him. That son of a bitch.”
Dima made a deal months ago for Carlos to be our new distributor, but looks like we are getting fucked over big time. Dima stares at the picture, confusion on his face, lips pursed. He looks up at Jules and Simon and turns the phone to face them.
“Do either of you know their names?” he asks.
Jules takes the phone and looks at the screen, with Simon looking at it over his shoulder. Simon and Jules both nod.
“Yeah, that's Hugo and Mario,” Simon says. “They are normally at the container handovers, a couple of Carlos’ grunts.”
“I doubt he knows,” Dima says as he looks up at me. “I know Carlos, Lev. If this was him he would have been there or at least his right hand man. These guys are lower members. From the look of it, I’d guess Jake’s crew has formed an alliance with Carlos’ guys to start their own trade, that's my thought.”
“So, what now, D?” Jules asks.
“I'm gonna call Carlos,” Dima says, knowing what I want. “Jules, Si, find out where these guys are since you know where they hang out, and bring them in. Use force if you have to. I will let Carlos know what happened and we will deal with it ourselves. I'll ask him to get his boys to stand down when you are on their turf. Then, we can bring Jake and his boys in.”
I nod in relief. Finally, we are getting somewhere. After Jules and Simon leave, Dima stands to leave too, with phone in hand already calling Carlos.
“I'm going to find my husband before they bring them in. I’ll see you in the pen later, brother.” He then looks to Aaron who is still sitting obediently, grinning. I would love to get inside his head to see what goes on, the pull of intrigue is becoming stronger and it needs to fucking stop. “Good job, Aaron. You were stupid for following them on your own, but well done.”
Dima smirks at me before leaving with his phone to his ear and no doubt on his way to fuck his husband for probably the hundredth time today.
I look back to Aaron who gets to his feet and walks over to me, no smile this time. He looks different, stoic, cold and intense as he watches me. It's like another person has entered the room. Looking at him now, this is the Aaron I knew was there amongst all his other traits. This is personal for him, and he also must be wondering what it all means for him now.
“I want to watch,” he states. It doesn’t feel like a question, and I am a little surprised by the ice in his voice. Hmm, I like this cold Aaron, this could be fun.
“You wanna watch me play? Why?”
“I love watching you work.”
Again, that surprises me. I would have remembered him had I seen him before, and most of the work I do is here in the holding pen.
“When have you ever seen me work?” I am not sure how we have gotten closer, but we are so close that I could take that sexy ass mouth for a kiss that I really want. That cold look in his brown eyes does something to me, triggers the need to fuck him while hurting others at the same time.
“I saw a couple of months ago when you removed the snitch’s teeth from Mark's crew. I watched through the window,” he says with a soft lilt to his voice like he is recollecting a happy memory.
I think back and, ahhh yes, I remember. That little bastard had been gloating around town about our business and talking up his involvement. He needed to be put in his place. It worked and he is an obedient dog for us now, with a nice set of dental implants.
