“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Lance’s bellow of protest was silenced as he watched all the color drain from Dusan’s Slavic features.All his men were statues, hands poised on their weapons.
Jasmine didn’t even flinch from the beefy hand gripping her arm in what had to be a bruising hold.“My own man grabbed me and I beat his ass with an ASP, what the fuck do you think I’m going to do when a human trafficker grabs me?Let me go or there will be a hole in you no one can fix.You’ll bleed out before your men can muster their unsurprisingly few brain cells and get you to a hospital.”
Well fuck, it may be more than the undercover op that is over.I could be about to lose my life.Lance waited for a moment to make his move.
Jasmine didn’t blink or take her stare from the pale blue one holding hers.The anger that had burned in that gaze began to morph into respect and amusement.Then it came, the barest of lip twitches.
“You know of me.”
Yes, you slimy piece-of-shit motherfucker.Of course I know you.I know all about you and what it takes to impress you.
She lifted an eyebrow and looked down her nose at him, even though he towered over her.“Of course I do.Anyone who wants to stay alive in this area knows you and your men.”
He grinned and shifted only to freeze when she pushed forward with the nose of the Springfield Armory Hellcat Compact she held against his femoral artery.
Jasmine clucked her tongue.“I said Iknowof you.Nowhere in that statement does it mean Itrustyou.”
“Lance.Tell your woman I won’t hurt her.”Dusan grinned and, honestly, she was a bit more concerned bythatthen his previous anger.
“Baby?”
Lance moved up beside her and hooked a finger in her belt loop before tugging.She appreciated how he didn’t block her shot, and she was sure her detective was ready to draw down as well.
Wait.He’s not mine.
Fuck.
Dusan continued to smile even after Lance had pulled her back, settling her against his chest, still giving her a shot if it became needed.She waited and Dusan looked back at his men.“It has been so long since someone has gotten the best of me.”Back to her.“You need to come with me and tell me how you know of me.Perhaps I have work for you in my organization.”
“Sorry, I don’t deal in humans.”More than a bit of derision in her tone.It told everyone there what she thought of him and those in his network for doing what they did.
Dusan sidled closer, eyes wide with curiosity.
“That statement implies there’s something you do deal in.”He stroked his hand along his clean-shaven jaw.
“Maybe I’m going clean.”A small lift of her shoulders.
“Perhaps, but if that were the case you wouldn’t be with Lance.That man is far from clean.”He crossed his arms.“He doesn’t mind getting his hands bloody.”
The man at her back stiffened, not enough that those watching could see but she felt it.Even so, she didn’t react.Instead, she shrugged and leaned deeper into his chest and patted Lance’s cheek with her unarmed hand.
“He’s my man and he’s one who does what is needed.And right now, I’m in need of his cock.You’ve kept him from me for days.He has things to make up for and, believe me when I say, neither you nor your men are welcome to join in the fun.”
“You will come tomorrow for breakfast and we will find a spot for you on my crew and you will tell me how you know there are cops watching me.”He stroked his chin.“I want to make you come now.”
“So do I,” Lance grumbled, much to the amusement of all there.Even Michel eeked out a smile.
Pushing the gun in the waistband at her back, Jasmine tossed the head of the Jankovic crime family a rare smile.This was an arena she knew how to get muddy in.“I know things like that because I’m fucking good.Better, in fact.That’s why I have no record and why cops can’t catch me.I’m better than they are.”The man at her back tightened his grip once.“I don’t trust people and Inevertake people back to my place.We can talk if you want but I’m not riding with you, I’ll follow along with my man.”
Jasmine lifted her chin and glared at the group there.“Then afterward, I get him to myself for a full two days.I don’t want any goddamn interruptions or him needing to go save your stupid sperm over there from some other shit he’s gotten himself into.”
“Most people are scared of me.”
She was, but she’d also survived on her own after she’d been abandoned and had learned the hard way not to show fear.Jasmine blinked.
“I’m sure they are.Let’s cut to the chase, you want to know about me.I, however, don’t give a damn about you.Are we going now or do I get to go enjoy the cock that I’ve been missing because your son got grabby with his little fingers?And that resulted in him getting his pecker smacked by me so he tattled to you.Do you always fight his battles for him?I hope he’s not the one you expect to take over this business of yours.He’ll run it into the ground before you’re even cold in your casket.Or hot in the lower realm of purgatory, not sure of how you are going to be taken care of.”
