Chapter 21
TYSON
Jewels falls asleep in my arms, and I feel content, for the first time in my life. Most successful people don’t feel content, at least not for long. I want people to see my name and know I mean business and that they need my type of power on their side. I’m not one of those people who worry if someone is friends with me because of who I am. I have my family for that. Slipping out from Jewels, I have to stop myself before I include her name onto that list of mine.
Going to my computer, I search around on it. I don’t trust Andrea. My fingers twitch at the thought of wanting to blackmail someone, anyone. I just wish I fucking knew who. First thing is placing surveillance on Andrea. I want to know her every move.
Just as the sun comes up, I slide in next to Jewels, closing my eyes and hoping for sleep to take me under.
*
Waking up, the sun is shining right into my eyes, and I throw a pillow over my face, not ready to start the day. Slowly, the smell of bacon and coffee drifts into the room. The thought of my country girl in my kitchen cooking for me makes me smile. No one I ever fucked could cook, never mind cook me anything. I supplied the dinners they supplied the fuck. That’s usually how it went. It wasn’t like a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am thing; I was polite, we enjoyed ourselves. But at the end neither of us would want to stay, we had shit to do.
Getting up I change into my sweat pants, purposely leaving my shirt off knowing what her reaction will be. I love the way her eyes hungrily look me over. Wanting and needing me, like she can’t get enough.
The bacon sizzles in the pan and the music plays softly in the air, her small figure swaying to the beat as she hums along with the music. Our first real date when I made her dinner rushes into my mind. The only reason I made her dinner was because she kept refusing to go out with me, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was in every fantasy I played out that week. And somehow we managed to get here. I wait for the feeling of her invading my personal space to rip through me. It never comes. I wait for the feeling of her trying to steal my secrets away from me. It never comes. I am happy she is still here. And I know, without a doubt, that she’s my girl.
Making my way over to her, I bend down and give her a full kiss before pulling away, teasing her. The way her eyes hood and her breath hitches has my cock stirring back to life. “Morning.” I smile onto her lips.
“Morning.”
Slowly, I step back, giving her room as I pull out my laptop and set it on the island as I watch her cook while I go through my email.
Nothing from my private investigator but there is an email from an address I don’t know. Opening it, I am intrigued as to what I might find. A video is attached so I click on it, muting the sound just in case.
I watch a grainy video of my father walking up to Andrea’s house, her opening the door and throwing her arms around him. He kisses her cheek then she leads him in. Lots of things flash in my mind. I know what they want it to look like. A scandal. But I know my parents’ relationship is solid. Andrea has a thing for me, not my dad. William was doing the right thing. After all, her dad just died and he was his best friend. He must have just gotten back into town, I figure.
“I need to do some running around today to gather some information for the ranch,” she says as she goes onto her tiptoes to get two plates down. I can’t help but wonder if Trevor is somehow a part of this.
My eyes lift to admire her body, distracting me with my thoughts. “No problem.” Looking back to my computer, my thoughts shift once again to the problems I’m facing. My mind racing faster than ever with explanations as to why Lewis is missing and how it may involve the society. Immediately, I come to the conclusion that I need to watch Andrea personally. This needs my touch. I can’t just put someone on this for me.
Typing out another email, I call off the PI. I pause, thinking it through some more before deleting what I had written. Retyping my message, I instruct him to find out her location and then pull back from this one. I reread my message to only add in an extra section. I hate that I feel like this is needed, but I also instruct the PI to look into Trevor more. The fact that he seems to have no boundaries when it comes to Jewels makes me uneasy.
*
The day is cool for Texas. Wearing pants doesn’t make me want to kill myself. It looks like a shopping day for Andrea. I have watched her go from store to store. I look for her car or a driver, and see nothing. She goes into another shop and I take the moment to slip into the shade in the alley between two buildings across the street from her store. I am able to see the front door perfectly.
I’m relaxed, thinking that I could follow her all day, feeling like she will slip up at any moment. That’s when I get sucker punched in the stomach. I was so fixated on Andrea, I didn’t hear any footsteps near me. I’m shoved down on the hard, pebbled concrete before I’m pulled up and get punched in the face, making me see stars.
My arms are restrained behind me, and I hear laughter and clapping. Duct tape is placed over my mouth before a hand covers it and I’m pulled deeper into the dark alley. The tape is tight across my facial hair, the thought of it being pulled off makes my body rigid momentarily. It’s mid-day you would think someone would shout about what they are seeing, but no one does. People go about their business, never stopping.
I try to toss and turn out of the grip but it’s no use. Three on one when jumped just isn’t fair. I want to know who the pussy is that he can’t even fight like a man.
Stepping out from the corner of the alley is a polished suit. I recognize the one. Richard McKinley. Immediately, the image of his right-hand man overdosing on my couch plays in front of me. Making me regret my decision to save the fucker’s life. I should have just hid the body.
“Tyson Bennett.” He is smiling at me like we are at some function together and there aren’t thugs holding me back from kicking his ass. “I thought we had a deal.” His smile is big as he waits for my response.
“No one died. There was no scandal. It was a case of confused identity.” I am cursing Andrea inwardly for her fuck up. If only she had waited. She had brought the wrong guy in. How that error was done I have no idea. In fact, I kick myself for not cleaning up loose ends. I had raced off to win Jewels back and overlooked my job.
Stepping closer, he sucker punches me in the stomach. I grunt, trying not to give him the satisfaction of hearing me growl in pain.
“You need to fix this mishap that you have caused.” One of his thugs steps away to hand him a large hunting knife. Attempting to refrain from showing any emotion, I steady my breathing and keep a neutral expression.
“Want to know how you are going to fix it?” He slides the knife slowly and horizontally over my throat, I can feel it scraping but not cutting. He stops at my Adam’s apple that bobs up and down despite me trying to keep it still. I can feel the pressure on it and it pinches, I know it will leave a mark, but I’m still breathing.
“I—want—Andrea.” He says it slowly and menacingly. So this is why is he going after me and not her. Or maybe it’s the gentleman inside of him that doesn’t lay a hand on a woman.
“She needs to be on my arm and fucking me by the time I am announced to be a candidate for president of the society.” He is referring to the succession meeting. The one where our future is outlined. Who we are backing and who is in the role for leadership. And now who will fill Lewis’s role. Having Richard for a president has never been discussed. And who the fuck does he think he is, in that I will allow for that. That is my rightful place. I came back for that role.
I nod, never expressing what I really think. I could have ruined him then and there by allowing information of the night to be leaked to the press. Cocaine is a big no-no. Maybe I should have. The only loose end I left was allowing for one human to live. And that sample fact seems to be ruining my easygoing life.
Slowly, he steps back, giving the knife back to whomever, and he rips the tape off of me. I bite back the pain I feel from the tape taking the facial hair I have started to grow out. I fight back my underhanded comments as he spits on my shoes. I’m raging inside, but I’m smart enough to keep my cool. Nothing good will come of anything I say or do. What he doesn’t realize is that I can make or break him. He just started a war.