Kobo Indecent Arrangement Part II

by apple desk

  Jimmy was Vic’s oldest son, about five years older than Jesse and with much more of an attitude problem than Vic. Jimmy didn’t like Jesse. And he really didn’t like Max. But if Vic said jump, Jimmy jumped, even if it was over the side of the Ben Franklin Bridge. Or he fixed Max’s plumbing. Jimmy probably thought the two were equally as painful.

  “I’d appreciate it, Vic.”

  Vic nodded and grabbed his toolbox then headed for the door. Vic was a man of surprisingly few words for being from South Philly and Italian. “No problem. I’ll call ya.”

  Alone in the building now, Jesse released the breath he’d been holding and restrained the urge to kick the nearest solid object. Or put his fist through the wall. But then he’d be hiring someone else to fix it and he didn’t want to give anyone else the opportunity to screw with them.

  They were already screwed enough.

  Max was at Shivers, having the entire electrical system checked out. Jesse knew what they’d find without having to be told. Someone had tampered with the wiring there. He’d bet his left nut.

  And the mechanical problems at the brewery meant they’d have to check every single property they owned. Including the house.

  Where they’d fucked Mary Alice Monday night.

  His jaw clenched so tight, it cracked.

  Christ. At least he could admit to himself that it’d been more than a quick fuck. It’d meant more. At least to him. Max… Hell, he knew what it meant to Max. Max almost had himself convinced he had real feelings for her.

  And maybe he did. Maybe this was the girl for Max.

  Maybe she was the girl for both of them.

  Jesse couldn’t let himself think about that. Not now. Not when someone was trying to take them down.

  Jesse had known this problem was man-made. Vic had merely confirmed it.

  And even though it made him want to punch something, he needed Max to see that this damn arrangement with Mally wasn’t going to work. Not now.

  She needed to be far away from them.

  Or maybe you just need to keep her really, really close.

  That insidious voice in his head had been speaking up a hell of a lot more in the past three days. Taunting him with visions of Mally in their lives for more than a six-month fucked-up affair that was sure to end in heartbreak and broken bones. Not hers. Neither he nor Max would ever lay a hand on her in anger. Jesse would cut his off before he did that.

  No, the broken bones would be theirs when Mally’s parents, brothers, and bosses found out she was spending time with them.

  Adam and Tristan would know immediately what was going on between the three of them. They had the kind of relationship Max wanted. A relationship Jesse couldn’t believe would actually work. A relationship that would horrify her parents and her brothers. And when they got over their initial shock and picked themselves off the floor, they’d ship her away. Somewhere Max and Jesse would never find her.

  And damn, wasn’t he just fucking melodramatic today.

  Pulling out his phone with a sigh, Jesse punched in Max’s number.

  “I don’t wanna hear it. Whatever you’re gonna say, just fucking keep it to your goddamn self.”

  Max must’ve talked to the electrician. Who must have told him the same thing Vic had told Jesse.

  Jesse closed his eyes and rubbed them with his thumbs. “Shit.”

  “Yeah. I’m heading to the nightclub now. The electrician’s gonna meet us there in half an hour but I already know what he’s gonna say. I need you to set up inspections for the other properties. Quietly. Find out what else has been fucked with.”

  “And you’re gonna do…what?”

  “Try to figure out who’s screwing with us and shut them down.”

  “And how the hell are you going to do that? Legally?”

  The line went silent and Jesse knew Max was grinding his teeth together.

  Jesse sighed. “I’ll handle it.”

  “Fuck you. Fuck that. Just…don’t. I’m not in the fucking mood.”

  “Then don’t go off half-cocked. We’ll handle this together. Just like we have everything else.”

  Another silence before he heard Max sigh. “I know. Shit. I know. I just thought…”

  Yeah, Jesse knew what Max had thought. He’d thought maybe they’d actually be able to get away from the lives they’d been living. To not have to look over their shoulders every day.

  Right.

  “Why don’t we meet at the brewery tonight? We can eat, have a few beers, and go over the place after hours with Rick. No one will think twice about us being there.”

  Another pause. “I was going to call Mary Alice tonight.”

  Jesse knew Max had no business function tonight. So there was only one reason for him to call her. But Jesse asked the question anyway. “Why?”

  He heard Max’s sigh through the phone. “You know exactly why.”

  “Max—”

  “No. Don’t start in on me again. I’m going to call her. I’m going to ask her out for tomorrow night. Somewhere high-end. Somewhere we’ll be noticed.”

  “Jesus fucki—”

  “Come with us.”

  Yes. “No.”

  “We’re safer together. You know that.” Max paused when Jesse said nothing else. “Now’s the time to take what we want. To show no fear. Because if we flinch now… If we show any weakness, we might as well just raise a white fucking flag and surrender.”

  “You keep saying that, Max.”

  “Because it’s fucking true.”

  Jesse heard the stone-cold resolution in Max’s voice and knew Max had reached the end of his rope with this conversation. They’d had the same argument before Max had taken her to the mixer. Jesse knew it was time to either get on board or cut and run.

  “I’ll see you at the brewery at seven.”

  “Jess—”

  “I’ll see you tonight.”

  Then he hung up and dropped his phone on the nearest table before he threw it across the room.

  * * * * *

  About two o’clock Thursday afternoon, Mary Alice looked up to find Adam standing in the doorway to her office.

  Gasping, she caught herself before she threw her pen at him. “Jesus, Adam. What the hell? Are you part ninja? Seriously, don’t do that.”

  “Mally.”

  Uh-oh.

  He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression relaxed and his eyes hard.

  Shit.

  Damn it. He knew.

  And, damn it, she refused to feel guilty. She had no reason to be. He wasn’t her father or her brother. He was her boss.

  She raised her eyebrows and stared straight at him. “Do you need something?”

  “An explanation would be nice.”

  “For what?”

  His gaze narrowed ever so slightly. “I’m pretty sure you know what for.”

  “No, I really don’t.” She sat back in her desk chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why don’t you give me a clue?”

  “You sure you want to play it like this?”

  Her chin went up before she could stop herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Fine.” Adam walked into her office and closed the door behind him. Then he sat in the chair opposite her desk and settled in, looking completely at ease. “Do you want me to start with all the reasons it’s a bad idea?”

  She opened her mouth to protest.

  “Or,” he continued, “do you want to hear why I think you should tell me to go to hell?”

  And shut her mouth with a snap.

  Adam’s lips quirked into a self-deprecating grimace. “Nothing to say yet?”

  She shouldn’t. But she couldn’t help herself. “Other than I’m a grown woman and you’re not my father or my brother?”

  Adam’s laughter surprised her. He didn’t do it often and then usually only with Kat, who shared the same dry sense of humor. Even so, he didn’t often just burst into laughter.


  She sighed as he wound down, shaking his head and continuing to grin at her.

  “Oh, just spit it out.” She knew she sounded grumpy but she didn’t care. “You’re going to anyway. How’d you find out?”

  He shrugged. “Eyes and ears everywhere. Something you should remember. And yeah, I am gonna talk. So…bad idea. They’ve got a history they’d can’t change or outrun. And eventually they’re gonna have to meet it head-on. I pity anyone who thinks they can take something from Max and Jesse because obviously they don’t know them well enough to beat them. But there’s always going to be someone out there who thinks they can.”

  Spoken so plainly, the words packed more of a punch than she’d expected. Because they were totally true. She swallowed hard and nodded, more to herself than to Adam. “And the good?”

  Adam’s mouth curved into a hard smile, one she was sure made grown men quake. “I’ve known Max and Jesse since I was a kid. I used to think I was a hard-ass…until I met them. Even back then, they were a unit. Always together. Always looking out for one another. I’d thought—” He shook his head and huffed out a laugh but he didn’t finish his sentence. “Max is one of the smartest people I know. Maybe the smartest. And Jesse is one of the most loyal. Together, they’re a force of nature. They can pretty much do anything. Together. They draw you behind that wall, they’ll die before they let anything happen to you. I admire the hell out of that.”

  She sensed a “but” coming and braced for it. There had to be a “but.”

  Adam didn’t disappoint. “I know you didn’t ask for it but I’m gonna give you the best advice my dad ever gave me.”

  Since his dad had once run the criminal organization Max and Jesse had recently left, she figured this was the “but.”

  “Never be afraid to take what you want and never listen to anyone tell you you shouldn’t want it. But never forget to look over your shoulder because, sure as shit, something will come up to bite you on the ass if you don’t.”

  A little shocked that he hadn’t come right out and said she shouldn’t see Max and Jesse, she gave herself a few seconds to think about what he’d said. “That sounds…sad.”

  Adam shook his head. “It’s not. It’s just life on the streets. Something you really don’t know anything about. But if you’re going to…associate with Max and Jesse, you need to be prepared to get bit.”

  Because the first thing that jumped into her head at the thought of being bit was probably not what Adam had meant, she had to bite her lip against the smile that wanted to break loose.

  But she must not have been fast enough because Adam actually rolled his eyes at her before standing and heading for the door.

  “And that’s my cue to leave.” He shook his head before he turned back to look at her. “You know if you need anything, Mally, you only have to ask, right? If you’re in trouble or…hell, anything at all. Even if you just need to talk. You know I’ll be there, right?”

  Tears sprang into the corners of her eyes at the sincerity in his voice. Adam was always such a hard-ass. The only time she saw him soften was with Kat or his nieces and nephew. “Yeah.”

  Adam nodded. “Okay. And I’ll try to keep Tris off your back, but I don’t know for how long.”

  She grimaced. “Does he know?”

  Sighing, Adam shook his head. “Not yet. I haven’t said anything and I won’t. But take pity on me. Tell him before he finds out from anyone else. You know Tris. He gets pissy.”

  From the hall behind Adam, she heard Tristan say, “What the hell? I don’t get pissy. What the hell are you talking about?”

  Adam’s eyebrows rose and she sighed before nodding. Might as well get it over with all at once.

  “Hey, Tristan,” she called out, “do you have a minute?”

  * * * * *

  By the time three o’clock in the afternoon rolled around, Max finally had a few minutes to take a breath. And make a phone call.

  After his talk with Jesse this morning, he hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone. Especially not the woman he wanted to ask out to dinner. They way he’d felt earlier, he would’ve fucked up that conversation completely.

  Of course, after dealing with about ten tons of shit all day, he probably should wait until tomorrow to attempt this.

  Fuck that. I’m sick of waiting.

  Picking up his desk phone, he rang the outer office. “Delia, hold all my calls until I get back to you.”

  “Of course, Mr. Burdanov. Do you need anything else?”

  Max caught back a sigh at her use of “Mr.” “No, thank you, Delia.”

  “Then I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  As the connection ended, Max released that sigh.

  They’d brought Delia Kincaid with them from the Oleksy organization. At twenty-nine, she had ten years of experience as Mickey Oleksy’s office assistant, a job she’d taken after nearly dying from a knife wound in a drug deal gone bad.

  Streetwise and more cynical than Jesse, Delia had been friends with Max since seventh grade, when she’d offered Max her virginity in exchange for protection. Her uncle had been taking bids, and as soon as he’d found the highest buyer, she was to be drugged and given to some old pervert to be raped.

  She’d told Max, at least if it was him, she wouldn’t puke or end up beaten or dead. They’d been each other’s first and when her uncle had beaten her senseless afterward, Max had gotten her into the Oleksy organization, where David Oleksy had set her up as a ward of the ancient aunt of one of his captains. She’d taken care of the old woman until she’d died three years later then Delia had hit the streets with Max and Jesse.

  Now, she managed their office like she’d dealt with the street—no bullshit and no tolerance for it. And total loyalty. He had no doubt she could handle anything thrown at her.

  Mary Alice…didn’t have the same life experience. And that was a complete understatement.

  Pushing that thought out of his mind, he picked up his cell and punched in her number.

  It rang four times before she answered. And he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d seen the number and had to decide whether she wanted to pick it up.

  “Hello, Max. How are you?”

  “I’m good, Mal—Mary Alice. How are you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  And silence. Christ almighty, he sucked at this. “I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night.”

  A slight pause. “Is this for a function?”

  “No.” But it wasn’t merely a date either, was it? His jaw clenched.

  “Sooo…this is an actual date?”

  Was she going to say no? “I need to make appearances at places other than our own. I have to be seen around town.”

  “Ah.”

  What the hell did that mean? And did it really matter? She’d made the bargain. She’d stick to it. “I’ll pick you up at 6:45.”

  “Will Jesse be with us?”

  “Do you want him there?”

  Say yes.

  “Not if he doesn’t want to be there.”

  Which sounded exactly like something Jesse would say.

  Be careful what you wish for. “He’ll be there if that’s what you want.”

  “And what do you want, Max?”

  He smiled at the exasperation in her voice. And told her exactly what came to mind. “I thought I made that perfectly clear the other night. I want you in bed between me and Jesse. Or on the couch or on the floor or in the damn car. I don’t really care as long as I get to be inside you.”

  Her sharp, indrawn breath was either arousal or shock. Considering what she’d demanded of them the other night, he was going with arousal.

  “And if I want to skip dinner and simply go to your house?”

  Was she trying to avoid being seen with them? “Then I’d remind you of the terms of our arrangement.”

  A very short pause. “Fair enough.” And did he hear amusement in her voice? “But, Max, it’s customary to at least call a woman after you’ve had se
x with her. And I don’t mean three days later. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  When she hung up, he was smiling.

  And when he met Jesse at the brewery that night, he continued to be amused by her dig. He’d deserved it. Hell, he liked that she had sharp claws. Any woman they took on would need to be sharp.

  He and Jesse and Rick Kerr, who’d started the brewery, had gone over every inch of the brewery together and found no signs of tampering. And since Rick had built every piece of equipment himself, he’d know if anything had been tampered with.

  By the time Jesse and Max got home, Max was ready to decompress before bed.

  “You want another beer?”

  They’d brought two growlers home with them and Max was in process of opening one.

  When Jesse didn’t answer his question, Max looked over his shoulder to find Jesse leaning against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Max.

  “Why the hell do you keep smiling?” Jesse asked.

  That wiped the smile away and Max glared over his shoulder. “Did you seriously just ask me that question? What bug crawled up your ass and died?”

  “I don’t find any humor in the fact that someone’s fucking with us. Yeah, the brewery’s clean but that doesn’t mean everything else is. We need to have all the buildings examined then we need to figure out who the hell—”

  “I talked to Mally today. We’re having dinner tomorrow night.”

  Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “Dinner. As in a date.”

  Since Jesse didn’t seem to want a beer, Max poured one. “She wants you there.”

  Jesse’s face expressed extreme disbelief. “Did she actually say that?”

  “She asked for you.”

  “She wants me there? For dinner?”

  “I believe that’s what I said.”

  Jesse paused before releasing a huge sigh. “And you still think this is a good idea?”

  “I think someone’s fucking with our business. Not with our lives.”

  “Maybe they just haven’t gotten to that point yet.”

  Frustration twisted in Max’s gut. “Christ, Jesse—”

  “No. Wait.” Jesse held up one hand. “I don’t want to start this fight again.” After a brief sigh, he nodded. “I’m in.”