He meets my stare; he’s more on edge than usual. I’m assuming he is still irritated with me over the hot tub incident. Not that I can blame him. He’s just trying to look out for her. So am I and right now, as predicted, she hates me.
I’ve been shamelessly stalking her training sessions. I’d love to be the one pinning her down on the mat, but I know Icouldn’t control myself if I did. My hand is starting to get calluses from the amount of times I’ve been in the shower picturing her naked body beneath mine.
“Are you going to tell me what the fuck you want, dickhead?” Ethan snaps me from my stupor.
“I need you to hack The Lucky Rabbit’s HR computers and pull all the employee files,” I say.
“You can’t be fucking serious. I don’t have time to go through all that,” he whines.
“I’m not asking you to go through them, just get them. I’ll take care of the rest.” I’ll look through them myself in my spare time.
I’m sure Vade will be willing to help. We aren’t expecting another shipment of guns for another couple weeks. He has some free time. He might own Diamond Aces Casino, but he pays people to run it for him. It gives him much more flexibility with our weapons trade.
Speaking of which, I need to reach back out to Diaz and see if he has any leads.
“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” He doesn’t look up from his computer again.
“Thanks.” I turn to leave his room and my eyes lock on the beautiful woman downing a glass of water in my kitchen.
She’s standing there, sweat still dripping down her body. I wish it was me who had her dripping wet. We lock eyes for a moment when she sets the glass down.
Instead of walking past me to get to her room, she picks up the kitten and heads to the back porch. This is a perfect opportunity for me to talk to her about escalating things.Hopefully, Ethan won’t hear us and come running outside. Things are entirely too tense in this house as it is. No need to add to it.
“I need to talk to you.” I take a seat in the lounge chair next to her.
“What would you like me to do now, master,” she huffs.
“We have to escalate things. As you know, Kaleb starts working at The Lucky Rabbit tomorrow…”
Maya cuts me off. “Let me guess, you want me to blow him for information.” Her face turns red and she refuses to look at me.
My heart rate spikes, heating my anger to a boil. She knows how to push every damn button with her smart mouth. Usually, it’s cute. But right now, I want to fuck that attitude right out of her. Make her scream my name until I’ve erased every drop of self-doubt I’ve caused by telling her she should see Marcus after our night in the hot tub.
“No, I don’t want you to blow him. More girls have been reported missing and Kaleb might be a dead end. Vade thinks we need to get you inside sooner rather than later.”
“Fine. Let me know when. I’m ready to get this over with anyway so I can move on with my life.” Her sharp words cut like a razor blade.
I know I said I was ready for her to move on but I selfishly want to keep her under my wing a little bit longer.
“As soon as I have all the inside information, you’ll apply for a position.” I stand to walk back inside. “I really am sorry, cupcake, but it’s for the best if we keep things professional between us.”
Her chest puffs up, and I have to walk away before the first tear falls. I can’t bear to see her cry and know I’m the one responsible.
Chapter 27
Maya
“Please come with me today. I don’t want to be alone with that bitch.” I give Ethan a pleading look.
“Once with that girl was enough for me, Rivers. Now she won’t stop calling. Be glad I offered to drive you.” He buckles his seatbelt and starts the Hummer.
“I can tell by the way she looks at me that she hates me.” She has no reason to either.
“She doesn’t hate you, she’s jealous of you.”
Bullshit.
“Her, jealous of me? Whatever.” I buckle my seatbelt with annoyance. It’s going to be a long day.
