Chapter Two
Jimmy’s gaze cut to her abdomen, and he raised his brows. “You knocked up?”
“What? No. Not that kind of trouble.”
“What kind of trouble, then?”
God, he was so gorgeous! At twenty-three, he’d been the handsomest man she’d ever laid eyes on. After she learned how to give herself orgasms by masturbating, his face was the one she always pictured. His voice was the one who said dirty, sexy things to her. But now, he was all grown up and still just as devastatingly handsome, only edgier.
The clothes couldn’t hide his muscles. Those tattoos peeking out from under the long sleeves of his shirt made her wonder if they were all over his body. His leather vest was adorned with the same patches as the ones on Gorgon’s and Phenex’s vests. It made him look dangerous, which in turn made her pussy wet.
“It’s a long story,” she said.
“I have plenty of time.”
“I’d like to see the rest of the building.”
“Only if you tell me what’s going on.”
It was only right she did. She’d shown up unannounced and told him she was in trouble. Letting it drop without an explanation would be cowardly and rude. “Okay.”
They descended the stairs, and she glanced around the club. “This is really upscale. I mean they have places this nice in the city, but I didn’t expect one to look like this in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’re proud of it.”
“You should be.”
As they entered the back hallway again, the smell of pork chops frying drifted toward them. Voices floated from both directions. “I guess this isn’t a very private place to talk.”
“Then we’ll talk in my room. Dinner will be ready in about an hour, so there’s plenty of time for you to tell me what’s going on.”
She pointed toward the opposite end of the hallway from where they’d entered the building. “What’s down this way?”
“Offices and conference rooms.” He indicated a hallway off to the right. “Down there is the laundry and storage. Kitchen and dining room are this way.” He pointed out the entrances, but didn’t take her inside either room.
“Not much of a tour, Jimmy.”
“People are working, and you have a story to tell me.”
Clearly his focus was on that now. They went up the staircase, which led them to a long hallway with closed doors on both sides. In the middle, hallways extended left and right. Each of those had closed doors lining them as well.
“The officers and patched members each have a room up here. Some of the dancers are on this floor, too.”
“How many people live in this building?”
“Fifty-two.”
“Holy moly. That’s a lot of bedrooms.”
“Yep. The third floor is the same setup.”
“Where are the bathrooms? That’s a lot of people to share with.”
He smiled. “No one has to share. Each of the rooms has its own bath.”
She stopped walking. “Are you kidding me? This building has fifty-two bathrooms?”
“It has fifty-eight. There are two bathrooms downstairs for public use, or for when one of us doesn’t feel like running up the stairs. There are twenty-eight rooms on both the second and third floors, each with its own bath.”
“So, it’s like a small hotel.”
“Yeah, except it’s not like a hotel at all. We each have a job to do here, from keeping the books like I do, to scrubbing all those toilets.”
“Where does the staff stay?”
“No, you misunderstood me. The people who live here are the staff. Every member, prospect, dancer, bartender, and sweetbutt does double duty.”
She knew what a sweetbutt was from hearing Digger talk about the MC. How many of the women here had Jimmy had sex with? How many times? Why should she give a shit?
“This is my room.” He opened the door, and she stepped inside. It was neat and clean. Not what she’d expected. A king bed dominated the center of the room. Two large windows had open blinds on them, and filtered sunlight streamed in.
A nightstand on each side held small lamps. There was a sofa, a large screen TV against the opposite wall, two armchairs, a small table and four chairs around it. His room was larger than her entire apartment.
“What do you think?”
She took in the framed pictures on the walls. Mostly old motorcycles and pictures of his relatives that she recognized from the copies in his parents’ home. The faint scent of vanilla drifted past her nose, surprising her once again. “It’s not what I would have pictured.”
“What did you think I’d have in here? Greasy bike parts?”
“I don’t know.”
He sat on the sofa and patted the space next to him. Why was she nervous around him? She’d known him all her life. And you haven’t seen him since before puberty hit.
Marie sat next to him, turning her body to face him. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“The beginning is always best, but let me ask you a question first. Do you know why Digger is here?”
“Yes. Di Stefano sent a man here to kill Donny, but it failed. He’ll try again, you know.”
“I know.”
“Then you also know Donny will be pissed as hell when he finds out you and Digger are planning something on your own.”
“He won’t find out until it’s over, unless someone opens their big mouth and tells him.” His voice was hard now, but she understood why.
“I have no reason to tell him.”
“Good. Now tell me why you’re here and what trouble you’re in.”
So much for his comments earlier about her appearance. He was just like any other man. Once he got past her looks, it was all business. Then again, she was the intruder here, not the other way around. “Do you remember Vince Falcone?”
“Yeah…” He gave her a look that wasn’t unexpected, but still made her second-guess her decision to come here.
“That’s who I was engaged to.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Marie, what the hell? His great-grandfather practically ran your family out of town!”
“That was a long time ago.”
“There was a turf war. Are you nuts? I can see why your family hated the idea of you marrying him.”
She stood and walked over to the windows before turning to face him. “God. You sound just like my parents.”
“Maybe you should have listened to them?”
“I’m thirty years old, Jimmy. I think I can make up my own mind about who I marry.”
“Apparently not, if you said ‘yes’ to Vince Falcone.”
“This has nothing to do with his great-grandfather or mine.”
“Oh, really? You think your family just forgot what his did to them?”
“It has to do with one of my friends from school.”
“Which one?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because she’s hiding from Vince, okay? She was his next target.”
Jimmy stared at her with disbelief in his gorgeous brown eyes. “Fuck me sideways, Marie. Did you hide someone from your fiancé?”
“My ex-fiancé.”
“Is that why you broke off the engagement?”
“I didn’t break off the engagement. He did.”
“Because you hid his next target.”
“No, because he suspects I had something to do with it, and because he no longer trusted me after those suspicions took hold.”
“What happened to make them take hold?” Now he was mocking her, but what had she expected? That he’d listen to this story and not react?
“Sofia and I were spotted by one of his associates.”
“You just told me her name.”
“Her first name only.”
“I know who you mean, Marie. We know the same people.”
“Well, keep it to yourself!”
“God dammit! We got enough fucking trouble here right now without hiding someone from yet another fucking Mob boss!”
Shit. He hadn’t heard the worst part yet. “I know that. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Does Digger know this story?”
“No.” She held up both hands. “I swear it. I told him I needed to get out of Brooklyn for a while because of the break up. He believed me.”
Jimmy shook his head and stood, slamming his hand against the back of the sofa. “Son of a bitch. Where is she hiding?”
“I am not telling you that.”
“Why is she hiding, then? What did she do?”
“I hadn’t seen her in years. We ran into each other in the city. It was a coincidence.”
“Go on.”
“You know, I don’t really care for the tone you’re using. I’m not a damn child.”
“I don’t care if you like my tone or not. Do you understand what we’re dealing with here? This isn’t a fucking pit stop for runaway witnesses! Tell me what’s going on or I’ll drive you back to Brooklyn myself, right now.”
He meant it, too. There was anger along with absolute conviction in his eyes. She wouldn’t be able to charm her way out of this, and she sure as shit couldn’t go back home. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
She had two choices. Tell him the whole story and hope like hell he let her stay until she figured out what to do next, or leave this place now and find another city in which to hide.