Letting go of the tight grip she had of my hair, her hands travelled down my neck to my chest. “I lied the other day, the suit has nothing on your day-off look.”
Pulling in a deep breath and pushing Olivia’s hands away, to keep her from undoing my tie I pulled out my cellphone and put it to my ear.
Within seconds Mason answered. “Hey brother.”
“Mason where are you? I need your help.”
“Just parked the car outside the club. What’s up?”
“I have some business I need to take care of but I got a friend inside the club who is drunk off her ass. I need you to take her back to my house.”
“Is she just drunk Jonah because I’m not dealing with that other shit?” Mason asked his tone turning hard.
“Jesus yes Mason it’s not like that.”
“Just checking. Be there in two.”
“Thanks, meet me behind the club.” Ending the call I pried Olivia’s hands off of my shirt and took her hand in mine pulling her towards the backdoor.
Joe opened the door but his eyes were locked on Olivia’s body. I had a ridiculous urge to growl ‘mine’ like a caveman and maybe poke out Joe’s eyes so he couldn’t look at my girl ever again.
Shit, but she wasn’t my girl, what the hell was I doing?
Wind whipped down the alley causing her hair to tangle around her face and her eyes to water, making the blue in them glisten.
God she was beautiful.
Running my fingers under her eyes to clear the tears that had escaped I shook my head, no matter how beautiful, I was pissed at her. “I have to go. My friend Mason is going to take you back to my house until I can take you home.”
Hurt flashed across her face before her already redden cheeks went redder, her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line.
“I can get myself home Jonah, I don’t need your help.”
“The fuck you can. You’re going with someone I know, who will take care of you until I can do it.”
“You don’t get to do anything with me. You made that clear last Saturday.”
The back door opened and slammed shut as Olivia tried to pull away.
“We have to go Jonah.” Denny said walking up with Mason.
“Mason, Denny, Olivia.” I said shrugging off my suit jacket. “Walk her to the house Mason let the air sober her up a little.”
“I’m going home.” Olivia snapped turning and attempting to walk away.
Pulling her back into my front I leaned over her dropping my jacket around her shoulders catching the scent of her hair that sent a tingle down my spine. “Please go with Mason,” I whispered into her ear, “I can’t do what I have to do if I’m worrying about you trying to get home. Plus, I think we need to talk.” I felt the fight leave her shoulders and saw her eyes water again.
“I don’t really want to talk about it.” She whispered so low I barely heard her.
“Did you come to the club for me Olivia?” A small nod was the only answer I got, “Then we need to talk.”
Mason offered his elbow to Olivia. Olivia looked up at me with her big bright eyes silently asking if she should take it. Despite my anger with her I couldn’t help but let a little smile slip on to my lips. Nodding to her she took Masons offered elbow with shaking fingers.
I waited till Mason and Olivia exited the alley before I joined Denny in the car.
“What’s going on?” I asked Denny as he pulled out of the alley.
“Tell me who the girl is first?”
“That’s Olivia.”
“No shit,” he yelled staring at me instead of the road, “What’s going on between you two?”
“I turned her down last Saturday.”
Slamming on the breaks and almost sending me through the front window Denny turned his whole body to look at me. “Why the hell did you do that?”
“This right here is why Denny. Olivia is drunk and upset I should be the one taking care of her, not Mason. But instead Mason has to because I have drug business to take care of.”
“You don’t think she could handle it?”
“She shouldn’t have to handle it Denny. Not her.”
Denny nodded his head looking back at the road letting the conversation drop. “Ben was meant to meet Kay at a bar down-town, he never showed. When Ben called to see where he was a voice he didn’t recognize told him to tell Vinnie to meet him at the location that would be sent to his phone or they were keeping Kay.”
“Is Kay ok?”
“Don’t know. Ben said the guy said his part and hung up.”
“Guns?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
“Guns.” Denny confirmed.
****
Mason told me Jonah lived with Denny, the other good-looking guy with them, in a town house five minutes away from Club Risk.
By the time we made it to the house the air had sobered me up enough that I was starting to feel sick from far too much alcohol.
Mason let us in through the back door that led right into the kitchen.
Mason must have noticed I wasn’t feeling good because he locked the door and took me straight up to Jonah’s bedroom, leaving me to get settled whilst he went to get me some water.
It felt strange to be in Jonah’s room.
His room was huge, a king size bed with grey sheets and grey pillows sat in the middle of the room, opposite an on suite bathroom, a closet was opened on the left wall and a drawing table sat under the window on the right side.
Every surface on all four walls was covered in hand drawn sketches. Some were in color while others were black and white. One drawn above his bed was both color and black and white and for some reason I couldn’t look away from it.
A boy was drawn standing in the middle of a field on one side it was bright and colorful while the other side was dark and somber.
It took me several minutes to work out why the picture meant so much to me and when it did, it had me falling on to Jonah’s bed.
The drawing was my life.
The colorful side was my life before Alex and the dark side was my life now without Alex and…No don’t think his name I told myself I didn’t need to have a panic attack. I was normally really good at stopping his name from even crossing my mind but with the alcohol and everything with Jonah, Nicky’s name hit me like a shot to the heart.
All the air in my lungs rushed out and a sweat broke out across my skin. If I didn’t push his name back I was going to have a full on panic attack.
I was so focused on picturing Jonah’s face to hold the panic attack off I didn’t even notice that Mason had come back in the room until he sat down next to me on the bed.
Breathing deeply I distracted myself further by comparing Mason to Jonah. Mason was the opposite of Jonah in every way. Dark brown hair was shaved closed to his head, light brown eyes lit his face, big defined muscles covered his body and not a single piercing or tattoo could be seen. His size was intimidating but those light brown eyes showed he was a really caring person.
“Are you ok?” He asked searching my face.
Shaking my head I answered around the fingernail I was taking my feelings out on, “I shouldn’t be here. I should never have come to the club in the first place. Jonah made his feelings clear.”
“So why did you?” he whispered gently pulling the nail from between my teeth before I chewed it off.
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“You went to the club for a reason, right?” He paused while I nodded my head, “So it does matter. Even if right now it doesn’t seem like it matters you went for a reason. So it mattered then, it matters now and it will matter later.”
Before I could stop them tears filled my eyes and fell down my face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you.” Panic was clear in his voice and out of the corner of my eyes I could see him fidgeting nervously. “Jonah is like a brother to me I’ve known him for years and you have to know Olivia his life is a complicated mess. I
don’t know what happened between you guys, but him turning you down means you matter to him.”
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense.” I sniffled, wiping away my tears with the back of my hands.
“He turned you down to protect you from his life.”
“I understand.” I said even though I didn’t.
Chuckling he playfully ruffled my hair, “No you don’t.”
“Thank you.”
“For what, making you cry? Lets not thank me for that or tell Jonah, he might kick my ass.”
“No for what you said. No one has talked to me like that for a long time not since...It’s just been a long time.”
Letting his hand fall from my hair Mason patted my upper back, “I guess I can see why Jonah is caught up on you. Just one drunk hour and I want to take care of you.” He laughed softly.
“My brother used to take care of me until he found something better.” I said leaning into his touch, feeling ridiculously tired all of a sudden.
“What could be better than you?” Mason smiled at me while I yawned embarrassingly loud.
“For him, drugs.” I let slip from my lips as my eyes closed.
Mason’s hand stilled and I heard the sharp in take of breath before the darkness took me.
****
Denny slowed the car and pulled into a rough looking area just outside of town but my mind was miles away. What had Olivia been thinking showing up at Risk? She was underage for one thing and if Vinnie had been there. God, what would Vinnie have done if he saw me pulling Olivia off the dance floor causing a scene like that?
“I know you’re worried about Olivia Jonah but I need your mind here.” Denny said looking around the parking lot.
Denny was right but I couldn’t turn my mind off. Did Olivia coming to the club change things? I had my reason for saying no to her but I also had reason to say yes. Did she come to the club because she had reason to say yes? Did she need me in her life?
“That’s Cole’s car,” Denny said, getting out of the car, “Lets go.”
Getting out I made myself stop thinking about Olivia but her name only moved to the back of my mind, there was no way I could get her off my mind completely.
Loud country music pierced the cold night air making my feet stall on the gravel. Four suits walking into a country bar, this was going to go over great.
Denny no doubt thinking the same thing gave me a small shrug and continued to the door.
Taking a deep breath I followed after them.
Despite the loud music the door creaked open alerting everyone in the immediate area of our presence. A room full of cowboys stared at us while I tried to get past the overpowering smell of beer and wood.
The whole bar was rough and old looking, dirty fading wood covered every surface and half of the table and chairs were close to breaking.
At a back corner booth standing out like a sore thumb −as they were the only others not dressed like cowboys −were a group of ten young guys.
Awesome, four to ten and half a dozen drunken cowboys, we were so screwed.
“What’s going on gentlemen?” Denny asked evenly as we approached the booth.
“I don’t think I asked to see Vinnie’s boys. I asked for Vinnie.” The guy in the middle snorted into his drink.
Was this guy for real? God I wasn’t in the mood for this shit. “Then you’re either dumb or stupid, Vinnie doesn’t take meetings.”
The dumbass had the audacity to smirk. Automatically my hands curled into a fist, I had a bad temper on a good day and this day was far from good.
“What do you want with Kay?” Denny asked in that even tone again like we were talking to a group of old friends.
“I want a meeting with Vinnie.”
“I’ll give him a message.” I snapped.
“You do that. Tell him Nick wants a meeting next time or we won’t be calling you to come get your boy.” A big smile lit the guys face causing his already light blue eyes to glow and the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.
Who was this guy? There was something about him, something I thought I should know.
“I’ll tell him if you’ll take some advice.” Light blue eyes glared at Denny, “Vinnie is not the kind of person you play with. My advice, go back to Adam.”
The guy gave nothing away holding his face perfectly still even with the mention of Adam, his supposed former boss.
With a nod from the guy with black hair and blue eyes, a fat guy got up from the bar across the room revealing a very pissed off Kay.
Out of the fat guys shadow I could see that Kay was a little banged up, his lip was spilt and a cut above his eye was still oozing blood but other that that, he looked fine.
Once Ben and Cole with Kay in front of them made it to the door, Denny and I slowly made our way out not turning fully around until we were half way out the door. People were staring at us like we were crazy but I was not about to turn my back so the little shit could shoot it.
In the car Denny’s control broke, slamming his hands on the dashboard, “That little fuck is asking for a war.”
Denny was right, the guy was, Vinnie would never meet with this Nick no matter who they hurt and once we told Vinnie about this, Vinnie would likely tell us to kill the guy.
Feeling the weight of the gun in my waistband like never before I had to take a risk, “Vinnie can’t know about this.” If Vinnie found out we didn’t tell him something like this it was us who would be getting hurt.
Denny said nothing while pulling out behind Cole but nodded his head in agreement.
“I will not kill for him Denny and I will not let you do it either.” As soon as the words left my mouth Denny’s foot hit the gas and his head whipped around to face me almost sending us into the back of Cole.
Here was the heart of the matter and something we never spoke of. How far were we willing to go for Vinnie? I knew I was not willing to take a life for Vinnie or anyone. Denny didn’t have it in him to kill someone but sometimes the need to be accepted by his father made Denny do stupid shit. My fear was if Vinnie pushed it Denny would do it.
Thankfully Denny turned his attention back to the road and took his foot off the gas but like the last time I brought it up, he said nothing.
Back home Cole and Ben helped Kay to the living room couch and Denny grunted some cusses and stomped to his room slamming the door hard enough to rattle the windows.
“What’s eating him?” Mason asked coming into the living room. With a quick look at Kay sprawled across the couch with a blood soaked washcloth held to his face Mason shook his head, “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
Mason knew the basics of what we did for Vinnie’s business but that was enough for him, he never asked and we never told.
“Where’s Olivia?” I asked
Mason’s face turned hard, “Asleep in your room.”
“Good?” I asked raising my eyebrows in question to his tone.
“No. Not good brother, we need to talk.”
Gesturing to the kitchen I followed after him.
“You have to let Olivia go Jonah.”
“Excuse me?” I snapped
“Did you know Olivia has a brother?”
No. Honestly I didn’t know much about her except that she was freaking beautiful and for some crazy reason she had a hold on me.
Shamefully I shook my head no.
“She told me her brother use to take care of her until he found something better.”
What could be better then her? “Get to the point Mason.”
“Her brother used to take care of her, until he got into drugs.”
Oh shit. Mason was right; I had to let her go.
Nodding to Mason I walked to my room feeling like the World’s worst person. It wasn’t self-pity, it was true.
Was it Vinnie’s drugs that were sold to Olivia’s brother? Did I cause her World to fall apart?
Opening my bedroom door quietly I walked to the bed. Mason hadn’t shut the c
urtains so the moon spilled light across the room lighting her face against the grey pillow. My heart squeezed inside my chest and in that moment I truly hated myself for the choices I’d made.
The sight of Olivia was breath taking. Her black hair was sprawled across the pillow and blanket; her creamy skin was flawless, bright red lips asking to be kissed. She looked peaceful and happy. And here I was, the Devil about to wreck the Angel’s world. There was no place in her life for a person like me.
I should have woken her right that moment but I couldn’t. I knew in my heart that this was the last and only time I would see her like this. Call me awful and selfish but I didn’t care. For tonight I wanted to feel like she was mine.
Rushing into the bathroom I put my piercings back in, took my contacts out, kicked my shoes off, threw my tie and dress shirt on to the floor and ran back into the room and crawled into bed with Olivia.
As soon as my back hit the bed Olivia curled into me wrapping her arms and legs tightly around my body. This should have been one of the most amazing moments of my life but instead because of the risks I had taken in my life it was the second time in my life I felt my heart break.
Chapter 7
Sunlight streamed through the window hitting me in the face. Odd, I never leave my curtains open and what was that noise? It sounded like a bunch of guys talking which was weird because Ty never brought his boyfriends home.
Squinting my eyes open I came face to face with a tattooed chest.
Oh my...It was a very nice chest, but where the hell was I?
With a speed that almost made my head explode the nights events came rushing back.
What had I been thinking, drinking and the dancing?
Oh no, the dancing.
If Jonah wasn’t sure whether he wanted me before, he most certainly wouldn’t want me now.
Or did he?
Lifting my head up I found Jonah on his back with his arms cuddling me to his chest.
I thought nothing could be more beautiful than Jonah holding me, but then I looked upon his face and I knew that it was the most beautiful face I would ever see. His golden blonde hair was messy, sticking in every direction; his cheekbones were flushed red and his lips were pressed into a small smile.
Risk Page 4