I dropped my head. “I know. I apologize.”
“I’m just glad you’re not into that anymore. And I’m glad you wanted to change. Everyone deserves redemption.”
I smiled.
“If you think I’m safer here, I’ll stick around, I guess. I don’t want him showing up at my house and threatening my parents the way he just threatened me. God only knows what my dad would do.” She waved a dismissive hand, like the mere thought of that annoyed her. “Knowing that the El Jefe is in your back pocket is in-fucking-sane but I’ll never say a word. And it’s not like he’ll be in your hair every day. Right?”
“Not every day, but having him around period is dangerous.”
“I know…” She looked so worried. Seriously, I didn’t deserve her. As badly as I wanted her in my life, I knew she didn’t belong here. She didn’t grow up the way I did. She didn’t know how to handle situations like that—especially ones that involved notorious kingpins.
“He shouldn’t have done that to you,” I murmured. “I’m sorry, Kandy.”
She held me tight. “It’s not your fault, Cane. Let’s just get through this and hope he never comes around again.”
I clasped her chin between my fingers and lowered my head, dropping a kiss on her lips. “You don’t have to go through any of this with me, babe. You know that right? If you wanted to walk away from all of it, I wouldn’t stop you. You deserve better than all of this shit.”
“I know I don’t have to,” she insisted.
“So why bother?”
She stared up at me. “Cane, I love you, okay? I fucking love you. When I came back, I knew there would be more to this than what happened with Kelly, but I prepared myself for it. Am I shaken up about what just happened? Yes. But…this is your life. This is your world. I wanted to be in it, and now I’m here. I’m not running away this time. We’ll get through this, just like we’ve gotten through everything else.”
She was truly something else. “You’re crazy. You know that?”
“Only for you, obviously.” She rolled her eyes, but I saw the smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
I wrapped her up in my arms. “This will all blow over soon. I promise.”
Although I had hope that it would, I suspected the drama was just getting started. Buck was free, without cops on his back. Jefe was lurking around in my new city, and I had no idea how long he was going to be around. And Kelly…fucking Kelly. If I didn’t do something about her, she’d return too. Not now, but eventually.
I had no idea what Kandy was thinking, and hell, it was selfish of me to keep her around with all of this chaos in my life…but she had accepted me for who I was. The real me, not the man she thought she knew years ago. Not the man who put on a facade for her and her family.
Me, Quinton Cane.
My only hope was that she’d be able to handle me once the storm was over.
Chapter Twenty-Three
KANDY
El Jefe returned one more time after his first arrival. When he showed up again, he didn’t have a gun pointed at my head, but he did have a man and woman with him, who were both strapped at the waist with guns and knives and other things I didn’t want to know about.
The woman had strong, lean arms, wavy black hair, and she looked easy to piss off. To be honest, she was just as intimidating as her boss.
The man seemed much more relaxed. He had dark hair, pale skin, and golden-brown eyes. He kept smirking at me as I sat on the love seat in Cane’s office. Cane was in front of his desk, on his laptop, typing something up and murmuring with El Jefe. The people he’d brought along, showed up with so many brief cases. The brief cases filled up every single room, from the den to the kitchen, and even our bedroom. I had no doubt there was money inside each and every one of them.
Cane had introduced the woman as Patanza and the man as Clark.
“I’m sorry. I have to know something. You’re young as shit,” Clark said, looking me over and laughing. “And you’re boning this man, right over here? Is it just a sexy thing going on or is it serious?”
“Clark, shut the fuck up,” Patanza muttered with a thick accent.
“Hey, I’m just asking.” He held his hands in the air. “It’s just weird as fuck. She’s way too fucking young. He might as well be her babysitter.”
I glanced at Cane, who looked me in the eyes and simply shook his head with a long blink. “Ignore him,” Cane mouthed.
“I’m sorry, but what exactly makes it weird?” I asked, folding my arms and ignoring Cane’s directions. This Clark guy was super arrogant, and he didn’t know shit about what Cane and I had. I couldn’t stand his judgmental attitude. From the moment he'd walked through the door, I could tell he was a cocky jackass, with all his smirking and arm-folding.