by Ana Night
Marco arched a brow at him and said, “Then get on your knees.”
“No,” Rome said and crossed his arms. They’d had this conversation already and he knew saying no wouldn’t make Marco question his loyalty. Otherwise, he’d have been on his knees in a heartbeat.
Marco let out a sigh. “Nothing you wouldn’t do, huh?”
“Except that.”
“Too bad.”
“Why? It’d only be to provoke that spook of yours,” Rome said.
The anger in Marco’s eyes didn’t scare him even though he knew the man had killed for less than mentioning the CIA officer Marco’d had a thing with on and off for years. They’d been good for a while until Marco’s sister had been murdered almost four years ago. Marco hadn’t said a word about it and Rome hadn’t asked. Whatever happened between them was, well, between them. He wasn’t gonna get involved, especially because he was lucky enough that Marco never got involved in his love life. Or, sex life, really. He wasn’t sure love was for him. It certainly hadn’t been for his father. He knew plenty made men who had wives and kids, but he would never have a wife. Not unless he was forced into the marriage. He was gay and Marco knew it. They’d fooled around as kids, only sharing their secret with each other. Trusting that the other wouldn’t talk and get them killed. Neither had, and that was why Marco trusted him. Why he trusted Marco with his life.
“I need you to go secure the next shipment. Just you and two men of your choice. I trust your judgment,” Marco said.
Rome bowed his head before turning on his heels and walking out of Marco’s office.
He found two men he knew he could trust and handed one of them the keys to the truck they’d be transferring the shipment to. Then they drove to the container terminal. They waited outside the gate for longer than he liked. He knew their container was already there. They just needed their man to come let them in and show them the way. Rome was leaned against the side of his SUV, his gaze moving back and forth between the gate and the two men in the truck behind him. They’d have a lot of work to do moving the shipment from the container to the truck, especially seeing as they were fewer men than usual, which was also the reason they were there earlier than they usually were.
He let out a breath when he noticed someone walking toward the gate, the yellow vest shining bright in the headlights of his car. The man got the gate open and waved them inside, so Rome got in his car and started it. He drove through the gate and stopped next to the man and rolled down his window.
“What took you so long, Denson?” Rome asked.
“I had to get clear of the newbie. Can’t have him questioning things, right?”
Rome grunted and rolled his window back up. He drove further inside so the truck could get through and the gate could close behind them. Then he waited for Denson to get into his passenger seat and show him the way.
Once they were at the right container, Rome put his car in park and got out. He waved his men over and hung back while they opened the container. He kept an eye on Denson, noticing he seemed a bit nervous. That was never a good sign.
“Uh, Rome? You’d better come take a look at this,” Eduardo yelled.
Rome took a deep breath and silently counted to ten as he made his way to the container. Eduardo held the door open as Rome walked inside.
Empty. It was empty.
Rome pulled his gun and marched back to Denson, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pressing the gun under his chin.
“Why the fuck is it empty?” Rome growled.
Denson blinked up at him, looking surprised. “I-I d-don’t know. It wasn’t when it got here.”
“Of course it wasn’t, you imbecile. Someone took it. Who the fuck had access to it?”
A flash of light was his only warning before shots rang out. Rome cursed and threw Denson to the ground while ducking behind his car. Eduardo and Santino were stuck behind the container. At least they had cover. Rome peeked out, trying to locate the shooters and nearly got shot in the face. With a growl, he pushed his back against the car.
With a deep breath, he got up from his hiding spot and returned the fire. Soon after, Eduardo and Santino joined in. He heard one of the shooters yell in what he thought was Spanish and then car doors slammed and tires squealed. Rome knew they had to drive past his car to get to the gate, so he readied himself for the one shot he may have. One of the men had the window rolled down and was shooting wildly around as they passed Rome.
The idiots must’ve cleaned out the container a while ago, so why were they back? Why were they shooting at them when they should’ve been long gone? It didn’t make sense. At least, not until he recognized one of them. He aimed his gun at the window and pulled the trigger, shattering the glass but the man continued shooting so he doubted he’d hit him. Then the guy’s face came into the light and Rome felt his stomach drop. He pushed to his feet and shot at the back of the car, but it was gone too fast for him to do any real damage.
“Fuck,” he yelled.
He clenched his hand and only just stopped himself from slamming it against his car. He turned and walked back to the container. He holstered his gun and pulled out his phone. He let out a sigh before calling Marco.
Chapter Five
Rome
HE WAS standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze following Marco as he paced the living room. Everything was fucked up. Their situation was bad. Really bad.
“Of course, you had to go piss off a cartel,” was said from the doorway.
Rome had his gun out the next second, pointing it at the spook. Neil didn’t seem to care, his attention fully on Marco.
“Fuck you,” Marco grumbled, though there was no real heat behind the words.
Marco waved Rome off and, with his jaw clenched, Rome holstered his gun. He didn’t like having the spook this close to Marco. There was no way of knowing what Neil’s motives were, though one thing he did know was exactly where the spook’s alliance laid; with the CIA.
“If you don’t want my help…” the spook trailed off, taking a step backwards. Marco’s glare stopped him from going any further.
Marco let out a sigh and asked, “What do you know?”
Neil took two steps toward Marco, then stopped when Rome matched his steps.
“You can call off the guard dog,” Neil drawled.
Marco crossed his arms, his lips quirking at the corners.
“Rome stays.”
Neil hid his displeasure well, but Rome already knew how the man felt about him, so it was easier for him to spot.
“Start talking,” Marco said and cocked his head to the side. “That is why you came, is it not?”
“It is. The Henchmen MC had some beef with the Nuevo León cartel. The shootout was between them. The men you killed were low in rank. But one was family to another who isn’t. Hernandez Alvaro. The uncle of Jose Alvaro. He’s a tenientes. A lieutenant. He’s the one who’s pulling all this shit. According to my source, he asked for permission to take you out and was turned down, so he’s resorted to fucking up your business instead.” Neil gave Marco a pointed look. “Seems like he’s been doing a pretty good job of that so far.”
“You don’t fucking say,” Marco hissed.
“What do you want to do?” Rome asked, not because he didn’t already know the answer, but to get Marco thinking of something else, because that temper of his tended to go red hot around the spook as it was, and with all this on top? It wouldn’t end well for the spook, nor Rome as he would be in the way.
“Kill the fucker,” Marco growled. “But it’s not gonna be fucking easy when I’m out of people to trust.”
Neil nodded. “You do have some allies in Baltimore.”
“Like who?”
“The Salvation Kings.”
Marco was already shaking his head before Neil finished speaking. “Not a chance they’ll help. Since they went ‘clean’ they’ve been keeping their distance from me.”
“They’ve got a stake
in this already,” Neil said.
“How so?”
Neil arched a brow at him. “The Henchmen are now the King’s Disciples.”
Juno
He was half asleep on one of the couches in the clubhouse. He’d eaten too many of the pastries Polly had dropped off over an hour ago. He’d had to fight Gabe for the last blueberry muffin. Of course, Gabe had ended up winning because Joker had taken one look at them and cleared his throat, making Juno give up. No muffin was worth Joker’s wrath. Now, if it’d been cake, though? So worth it.
Crinkling paper had him sitting up and looking around. Grizz was sitting in an armchair, a muffin in hand.
“You shouldn’t eat that,” Juno said.
Grizz looked up at Juno over the muffin he was yet to take a bite of.
“And why is that?”
“Because Nancy will kill you if you have a heart attack.”
Grizz cocked a brow at him and drawled, “Kinda hard to do if I’m already dead.”
“Your funeral,” Juno said with a shrug.
Grizz snorted and held Juno’s gaze as he took a big bite. Grizz’s exaggerated moan had Juno flipping him off. The man just moaned louder with the next bite. Juno rolled his eyes and shook his head. He got up and made his way outside where he found Gabe pacing along the row of bikes.
“I’m gonna strangle him,” Gabe grumbled.
Juno fought back a smile and threw his hands up, saying, “Whoa. I know you and Joker get kinky but that doesn’t mean I want any details.”
Gabe sighed before turning a glare on Juno. It only lasted a second before Gabe rolled his eyes and said, “You and I both know that’s a lie.”
Juno let out a chuckle that had Gabe shaking his head at him, though there was a smile on his lips.
Juno leaned a shoulder against the wall. “So, what’s he done now?”
“Oh, you know, just treated me like I can’t do any fucking thing myself. Like I’m a fucking kid.” Gabe let out a low growl and shook his head. “I fucking hate that. Kid.”
“You know what you should do?” Juno asked with a wry smile. “Tie him to the bed and torture him until he begs you to forgive him.”
The blush spreading on Gabe’s cheeks had Juno grinning.
“You already thought of doing that, didn’t you?”
Gabe opened his mouth, then sighed and shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. A door slamming had them both looking toward the garage. King and Joker were walking their way, scowls on both their faces. Joker’s turned into a soft smile when he saw Gabe, though.
“Juno. Gabe. With us,” King barked on his way to his bike.
Juno pushed away from the wall and nearly got run over by Joker in the man’s haste to get to Gabe. Joker cupped Gabe’s face and kissed him. Gabe wrapped his arms around the back of Joker’s neck and leaned against him.
Juno watched for what was probably longer than socially acceptable but, seeing a kiss between those two was a rare experience, so he didn’t care. Joker must be really sorry if he was kissing Gabe in front of King.
“Knock that shit off and let’s go,” King growled.
Juno didn’t care to stop a smile from spreading on his lips. That was, until he turned toward King. The smile evaporated the second he saw the deadly look in King’s eyes. He hurried to his bike, not wanting to get involved in all that.
He grabbed his helmet and put it on, then pulled out his key and turned on his bike. He pulled out behind King while Gabe and Joker were getting on their bikes. Juno waited until Joker was next to King before taking off, Gabe behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, they parked behind a restaurant and when Juno had pulled his helmet off, he turned to King and said, “I take it we aren’t here to eat.”
King’s grunt was the only answer he got so he glanced over his shoulder at Joker who was too busy watching Gabe to notice. He sighed and followed King into the restaurant. Serrano’s was one of the nicest places in Baltimore. You had to book a table months in advance to even get in. To most people, Marco Serrano was a nice and generous rich guy who did much for the community. But not to them. They knew who he really was.
The hostess smiled at them and asked if they had a reservation to which King answered that they were there to see Serrano. She nodded and motioned for them to follow. She led them through the restaurant to the far corner.
Juno swallowed hard when the first person he saw in that booth was none other than Rome. He knew Rome was one of Serrano’s men, of course, but seeing him there was a whole other thing. It certainly got his blood pumping, he just wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing.
King slid into the booth and Juno sat down next to him, knowing Joker would remain standing and Gabe would stay with Joker. He’d only met Marco Serrano once before, but he’d heard plenty about the man and he was fighting chills as those dark eyes ran over him and King. He met Rome’s gaze instead, but that was even worse. He looked into those brown eyes and vividly remembered coming harder than ever before, and that was not something he wanted to think about while having King to his left and Serrano across from him. He shifted in his seat and tried to will his dick to calm the fuck down.
“Serrano,” King said.
“Hello, King. It’s been a while.”
“Fortunately,” Joker said.
Juno bit his lip to keep from smiling. Joker wasn’t kidding. They hadn’t exactly seen eye to eye with Serrano for at least a few years. Since they’d stopped running guns, pretty much. Serrano was deeply involved in the gun and drug trade in Baltimore and King didn’t like it. Guns were one thing but the Kings had always been against drugs.
“Well, our differences aside, I believe we can agree on one thing,” Marco said and met King’s gaze. “Neither of us liked that shooting in front of our kids’ school.”
Almost a year before, there’d been a shooting involving the Henchmen in front of the school King’s daughter and Serrano’s nephew attended. They’d come together to try and find the men involved back then, though they’d only found one of the guilty parties. Joker and Saint had gotten some information out of the ones they did find and then King had let Serrano do with them what he wanted. If Juno wasn’t much mistaken, those guys were now at the bottom of the ocean.
“I found the other men,” Marco said.
Juno felt King go still and braced himself.
“When?” King asked, his voice sounding too calm.
“A few months ago.”
“And you didn’t care to share that information with me back then, because?”
There was the tiniest tic in Serrano’s jaw but other than that, he didn’t react.
“I wanted to deal with them myself,” Serrano said.
King let out a low chuckle and leaned back in his seat. “And how did that go for you? Not so well, I take it, seeing as I’m here now.”
“There’s no need to rub it in, Ezekiel,” Marco said, a spark of danger in his eyes.
It wasn’t often anyone used King’s real name which was probably why it had such a chilling effect. King only smiled at Serrano, but it was a chilly smile. Juno knew King would hold back, not wanting to make an enemy out of Serrano.
Rome
When he’d seen Juno walk into the restaurant, that little smirk on his lips, his heart had skipped a beat, his pulse spiking as Juno got closer. He was fighting a boner while sitting next to his boss who was discussing business. Normally, he would’ve been all over King for that comment, but he had a hard time focusing. Pun intended.
“Who are they?” King asked.
“The Nuevo León cartel.”
King went still and Juno’s eyes looked close to popping out. Yeah, they hadn’t expected that, either.
“It’s only one guy,” Marco said.
King put a hand up to stop him talking. “It’s never just one guy. It’s a cartel.”
“He was ordered to stand down and he hasn’t. Makes him free game in my book.”
“It’s insane,” Ki
ng said with a shake of his head. “Why should we help you?”
“Because the cartel has beef with the Henchmen and while they’re technically gone now, some of those people are connected to you. Let’s take them down before they take us out.”
Before King could answer, Sally, one of the waitresses, came walking up to their table and asked with a smile if she could get anyone anything. Both Marco and King looked like they were going to tell her no, but before they could, Juno smiled up at Sally.
“You guys still have that risotto with mushrooms?” Juno asked her.
“We sure do,” Sally said.
“Great. I’d like one of those to go and do you have tiramisu today?”
When Sally confirmed that they did indeed have tiramisu, Juno ordered that as well and rubbed his hands together like a gleeful kid.
“Dude, I thought you’d already eaten enough,” the one Rome only knew as King’s son said.
Juno grinned and his gaze was on Rome’s when he said, “I can eat Italian all day, baby.”
Rome tried and failed to keep his lips from twitching and from the look on Juno’s face, he noticed.
Marco cleared his throat, and everyone turned serious again, seeming to remember why they were there.
“I’ll have to put it to a vote,” King said and stood.
Marco nodded and got up to shake King’s hand.
“Thank you,” Marco said.
“I’ll let you know.”
King and the two others walked away while Juno remained seated. Rome stood and noticed Marco glaring at Juno, so he cleared his throat. Juno glanced up at Rome who motioned with a jerk of his head for him to get out. Juno wore a confident smile as he got out of the booth.
“Serrano,” Juno said with a nod before walking up to the bar.
Rome watched him for a moment, then walked outside in time to see the three others drive by on their motorcycles. He continued walking until he couldn’t be seen from the windows of the restaurant and leaned against the building. It wasn’t long before Juno came walking out the door. When he neared, Rome could smell the food from the bag Juno was carrying.