The Nigerian laughed. “Do you think my bosses will continue to sell you product, if you murder me?”
When I stuck my hand out for a knife, Liam laughed at me, the fucker. Normally, I left this sort of work to him, but watching Cormac plunge that plug into Ginevra’s delicious ass had riled me up. I wanted to take my frustration out on someone, someone like this lowlife who knew where we got our product and seemed to think he could sell at the street level in our territory.Fuck no.
“Looks like there’s dissent in your ranks, Rian O’Conner,” Ikeji said, grinning, his white teeth flashing against the deep brown of his skin.
Liam chuckled, rolling up his shirt sleeves to reveal the tattoos covering his freckled skin. “No, Ikeji, no dissent. Just a good-natured argument about who gets to cut you up first. Rian already knows I’m going to win, so he’s going to back the fuck off and let me carve my name in your face.”
I fought the urge to pick a stupid fight with my best friend over who got to torture the Nigerian first and stepped out of the way. Liam cut a line down Ikeji’s face, forgoing the pleasure of letters in the interest of expediency. “This is to remember me by, friend. Stay the fuck out of our clubs. And tell your bosses the price of arms’ll go up if they pull this shit again.”
Liam pounded his fist on the door, and his second in command opened it. “Take the trash out, Declan.”
Once Ikeji was safely out of reach, Liam rounded on me. I expected a blow, not his wide grin. “Damn, Rian.”
I groaned. Was I that obvious? “I need a fucking drink.”
Liam laughed and laughed. Asshole.“Let’s get you one, then.” He took his shirt off before washing the blood off his skin, and I flicked my eyes over the clean lines of his taut muscles. He saw the direction my eyes had taken and winked as he buttoned up a clean shirt. He was a fucking animal in bed, but we’d never fallen into easy physical comfort with each other the way that Cormac and I had.
“Less daydreaming, more getting a move on, grumpy pants,” Liam said, snapping his fingers in front of my face. Back in his suit, he looked like he’d spent the last half hour in a boardroom and not punishing Ikeji for his insolence. “I’ve got to get home and relube Ginevra in another hour.”
I didn’t understand Liam’s insistence on caring for her. The previous night had been an aberration for all of us. Cormac was generally good about taking care of his toys, but Liam happily broke them and left them sobbing. That affable smile hid an emotionless core that terrified even me when he let it loose.
“We want her out of the way, remember?”
Liam shook his head as he slid into the driver’s seat of his SUV. “Stop fooling yourself, Rian. None of us want her out of the way.”
I looked at him sharply as I buckled my seatbelt. “She’s going to insert herself into our business.”
Liam shrugged. “We knew things would change when we tied our fates to the Russos.”
No, we thought I’d marry Sofia, break her, then send her back to her parents, dragging her out only on special occasions to present a united front to the Yorkfield community. Ginevra wouldn’t break so easily, and I didn’t want her sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. I suspected she’d provide better access to echelons of power in the long run, but at what cost?
“Stop brooding, Rian. It’s annoying,” Liam snapped, slamming on the brakes and throwing me forward in the seat. “She’s smart. She’s well connected. She fucking melts when we dominate her, and her pussy is the sweetest I’ve ever had. What’s not to like about her?”
I fucking hated it when he was right.
10
GINEVRA
Cormac poked his head in at five. “Ready to be a good girl?”
I yawned and stretched. With the exception of the humiliating and arousing breaks to relube with Liam, I worked in peace the whole day. Spinning around to face Cormac, I glared at him. “Pretty sure the answer to that question hasn’t changed since the first time you asked this morning.”
His white teeth flashed bright against umber skin as he smiled, amusement painting his features. “Sluts who sell their bodies don’t get to say no to sucking cock.”
God, I hated how much those words were a turn on, how wet I got when he used them to describe me. When he noticed me unconsciously pressing my thighs together, he crooked a finger.
I didn’t move, so he strolled over to my rolling chair and bent over, wrapping his hands around the armrests and looming over me. “Are you refusing because you don’t intend to obey, or because you’re not done working for the day?”
Fuck.
How was he so good at making me complicit in my own degradation?
I pursed my lips while he waited patiently for my answer. “I can wrap this up in fifteen minutes or so.”
He nodded and slipped out the door. I ruefully turned back to my laptop to close out the day. I’d have to log back on later that night, when I was back at my parents’ house. Signing out after eight hours did not a successful entrepreneur make, but I could afford to take a break for a few hours until I got home and ate dinner.
Fifteen minutes later, to the second, all three men walked into the office together. God, they were beautiful. Each wore a suit, perfectly tailored to their trim physiques. Rian, with his black hair and piercing blue eyes, loosened his tie and revealed the tattoos decorating his neck and chest. Cormac’s stark white shirt contrasted with his deep brown skin as he slid out of his jacket and rolled his shirtsleeves up, revealing the strength of his forearms. Liam’s shock of red hair shined bright against the gray of his suit as he pulled off his belt and snapped it.