Jeremy’s jaw clenched as he looked away for a moment. “Don’t congratulate me for a throne I didn’t want.”
Sullie stepped down, and Jeremy was officially the king of St. Louis, leader of the Crew. I also knew all about his street racing empire. Romano had been trying to push his trafficking through there for months.
I smiled. “You and I have a lot more in common than you think.”
His head snapped back to me. “Youwantedto be over this empire,” he hissed.
“There was a time when I just wanted to be a normal kid,” I explained, my face hardening as my lips thinned. He looked down. “But that isn’t an option for men like you and me,” he finished.
“That’s right. Would you care to explain why you came into my house threatening to kill me?”
He scoffed. “I wasn’t going to kill you; I just liked putting a gun to your head. You know, since you put a knife inside me?”
I winced. “I am sorry about that.”
He waved me off. “Had worse done to me. Besides, you did it to save Gwen, and for that I am grateful. What I am not grateful for is going to Dean instead of me,” he said, referring to Dean’s job offer.
I tilted my head slowly, studying him. “You don’t play baseball, Mr. Jones.”
“No, but I run guns.”
My demon inside smiled. “Oh, I am well aware of that. But are your friends?”
“They're your friends too,” he deflected
“Haley is a friend. Everyone else is still on eggshells, and I know that will take time to go away,” I explained with a sigh. “Not that I give a shit what you people think about me. But Karina does, and for her sake, I'm willing to make amends and heal. Let’s cut the bullshit, shall we? Do they know?”
His eyes held mine. “They will soon enough.”
“So why street racing?” I wondered out loud, sitting back in my chair. “You went out and built your own thriving underground in St. Louis. Why? Did your uncle’s old ways bore you?”
Sullie and Dom had been running drugs and weapons to Mexico and Canada for the last thirty years.
Romano wanted a piece of that but ruined his chances when he tried to take over St. Louis through trafficking and baseball. Sullie’s crew pushed back and kept their booming business under wraps. The majority of their buyers didn’t even know the weapons were shipped from the Midwest.
“I'm going to need protection,” my angel’s brother finally said.
“And you think I'm going to give that to you?”
He smiled. “That and more.”
I huffed a laugh. “You are bold, I’ll give you that, Jones. No wonder you survived prison.”
“And now you have my cellmate working for you.”
Xander.My jaw tightened. “Yes.” No point in denying it.
“Who am I protecting you from?” I asked.
His eyes flicked up from the desk to mine. “A common enemy. A greedy one.”
My mind drifted back to a phone call I had a few weeks ago…when I was inspecting Gwen’s dagger.
The Russian Mafia.
“What’s in it for me?”
He raised a brow and his gun. “I don’t kill you for kidnapping my sister.”
