Crap. I’d forgotten.
Matt started laughing. “Kash was busy.”
Kash was—or someone who worked for him.
Erik was standing in the hallway and I directed my question at him. “You’re getting paid triple overtime, right?”
He flashed me a grin. “We’re being compensated, yes. Mr. Colello treats his employees well.” His gaze slid in Hoda’s direction, and there was a burn there.
She flushed.
“Hey!” A knock sounded, but Torie had already announced her presence. She stepped in, took in Matt, Hoda, and me, and grinned. “Looks like an interesting party in here.”
Matt lost some of his smirk. “What are you doing in here?”
Her eyebrows pulled in at his tone. “Relax. Food’s ready. I was sent up to let you all know.”
He clipped his head in a nod.
Torie added to me, “I’ll let everyone else know.”
“Thank you.”
She left, and Matt had had enough. He shot Hoda a pointed look. “Get gone. I wasn’t done talking to my sister.”
Another flush, but this one was redder. Her mouth tightened. “Right.” Her eyes found mine, but she didn’t say anything more, and she only raised her hand up in a halfhearted wave. She left, too. Matt followed her to the door, shutting it so even Erik couldn’t overhear.
He didn’t make me wait.
He turned and announced, “Okay. So. I’m going to fuck either Fleur or Cedar this weekend. I’m assuming that’s why you invited them, for me.”
He would’ve been right, but I hadn’t been thinking that. Not exactly.
“I wanted you to know. It’s not a slap in your face, but I’m not coupling up with anyone here, and I either fuck, get blitzed out of my fucking mind, or raise holy hell to distract myself from doing what I really want. I’m trying to play it smart, so that means I gotta fuck. And a lot. I’m probably going to do them dirty.”
I winced. “You do not need to share all of that. Trust me.”
“I am trusting you, that’s why I’m telling you. If they get in your face about something, just know the real deal. It’s just fucking. That’s it. I’m not going to be nice to them. There’ll be no promises from me. They’ll know the score is straight sex. I’m giving you a heads-up.”
“Great.”
Another clipped nod from him. “So I’m going to go.”
“Right.” And to be a smartass: “Thanks.”
He shot me a grin before opening the door and saluting Erik. “She’s all yours to guard.”
He was gone and Erik was still standing there. He looked at me through the opened door. “He’s in a mood.”
Yes. Yes, he was.
I was missing Kash all of a sudden, more than I had been before.
I wanted him to call me. I wanted him to fly here. I wanted him to crawl into bed with me.
I wanted to be standing in his arms right then and there.
But I wasn’t, and that was just how the cards fell.
THIRTY-NINE
Kash
I had a gun pointed at my face, and I was not happy.
We flew from Chicago to Greece, one layover, and I had to endure Victoria the entire flight. And now, an hour into our arrival, Griogos Maragos had a gun six inches from my forehead.
I moved before anyone else could.
I saw the gun barrel and then red, just a whole ton of red. The next instant I was standing over Griogos’s body, his gun in my hand and his barrel six inches from his forehead.
He lay completely still, his usually dark tan an uncharacteristic pallor, and an odd smell that told me he’d pissed his pants was filling the room. That all flashed in my mind, but I simply did. Not. Care.
“You point a gun at me?” I growled, bending down, pressing the end of the muzzle against his skin.
“Kashton!” he choked out, throwing his hand up as if to ward off a bullet. “Please. Don’t. I have family.”
“I’m aware.” I pushed it harder against him, hoping I broke skin. My nostrils flared. I wanted to smell his blood in the air instead, but he just stayed there, frozen, pissing himself. “I came over here as a courtesy visit. I could’ve sent men to do my bidding, but I brought your granddaughter with me. I wanted her to hear how fucked you are.” I ground the gun barrel into his forehead again, and this time a trickle of blood seeped out.
Satisfaction.
“Now, tell her.”
I was jumping the gun here. Pun not intended.
I didn’t care. I got word twelve hours ago how heavily in debt Griogos was to my grandfather.
“Does your granddaughter know she has another aunt?”
Victoria gasped. “What?”
“You used his companies to traffic women for my grandfather.” Not asking. Telling.
Griogos started weeping. “Please. Please! Don’t—”
“You’ve been doing it since Victoria was a baby, and the only time you tried to stop was when her father begged you to find another transport company.”
“He’s going to kill my oikogéneia. Please. I am begging you.” A hiccup. More sobbing.