“Meet you at your place in twenty,” he said as I heard the pre-orgasmic mewls of a woman before the called ended. I shook my head and sped over to Jasmine’s complex. I showed my ID to the gate guard, looked into the facial recognition camera, then entered the code to open the gate. The security of the place was the only reason I hadn’t put up a fight when she decided to get separate places while we “dated.”
On a tight schedule, I scanned my card at the door, then pressed my thumb to the reader, then bolted through the door and up the stairs. I let myself into her apartment and called out, “Jasmine!”
“In the office!” she replied. Her website design and management business had really taken off and I was so proud of her. It had been her dream that became her reality. Things were coming together beautifully for us too.
When I hit the doorway, she was already up and throwing her arms around my neck.
“I missed you,” I said, and she giggled.
“You just saw me this morning before you left.”
A grin stole across my face as I nuzzled her nose and pressed a chaste kiss to her bee-stung lips. It didn’t matter how long I was away from her, it was always too long. When I had to fly to Texas to help Voodoo’s brother-in-law and his friend, I’d only been home a week. The distance had me crawling out of my skin.
“And that was entirely too long ago,” I said, then I stepped back to kneel at her feet. “Daddy loves you, and I’ll be back later.”
I kissed her very large belly as she sifted her fingers through the longer hair at the top of my head.
“What time do you think you’ll be back?” she asked. “Or will you go to your place when you get back?”
“Don’t wait up. It’ll be late. But I’m coming back here so I can hold you.”
An affectionate smile lifted the corners of her mouth, followed quickly by a concerned frown. “Please be careful,” she begged. She had no idea where I was going or what I was doing, but she knew I had a mission.
“Scout’s honor,” I said, and she snorted.
“You weren’t a Boy Scout,” she scoffed with a smirk.
“No, but we can play like I’m one and you’re a Brownie so I can eat you,” I said.
Her laughter rang out, and my heart soared at the sound. “You are terrible.”
Reluctantly, I stood. “Unfortunately, I gotta go.”
One last kiss, and I rested my forehead to hers. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her how I was feeling, but I couldn’t. Not yet. She hadn’t said it either, and I was loath to ruin the good thing we had going if she wasn’t ready for it.
“I’ll be back before you know it. Do you need anything before I go?”
“No, I have three more websites to update and I’m done for the day. My back is killing me, so I think I’ll soak in the tub after I’m done.”
“Grrr, now I’m thinking about you naked in the tub. I’ve got a chub from the mental image.”
Again, she laughed. It was my favorite sound. One last kiss and I left, ensuring her door was locked.
I made it back to my place with five minutes to spare, but Ghost was sitting on his bike thumbing through shit on his phone.
“Damn, what did you do? Nut, smack her ass, and leave?” I joked with a chuckle.
He shrugged. “Pretty much.”
My eyes rolled, and I went inside to change. While Jasmine had chosen an apartment, I had bought a house. It was in Angel and Korrie’s gated neighborhood and was the perfect setup for a family. Jasmine had fallen in love with it, but she was being stubborn about moving in. I respected her choice, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.
Dark jeans, black T-shirt, black boots, black hoodie, and an old black leather jacket was my uniform for the night. In less than ten minutes, Ghost and I were heading down I35 toward Kansas City.
The job was a sadistic, abusive husband who was cheating on his wife with his secretary. The last time he’d beat his wife so bad that he put her in the hospital for two weeks and had the authorities believing it was a mugging. While she was in the hospital, he was fucking his secretary in his office and in their bed.
Her brother found out and tried to get her to go to the authorities, but she was terrified.
That’s where we stepped in. The brother was loaded and connected to Gabriel De Luca. Oh, and he also happened to be another of Voodoo’s brothers-in-law. Storm Montgomery had married Voodoo’s stepsister, Rose. We’d all been surprised as fuck when she had turned up, but we’d quickly taken her under our wing.