“She’s a riot. Trust me. If there was anyone else I could get to be an undertaker I would.”
“Undertaker?”
“Yes. A death dealer.” Cassius offers in a neutral voice. “Our undertaker is Sapphire, Harlon’s cousin. She’s good but the uptick of bounties and contracts is almost too much for just one undertaker. Besides, she quit.”
Oh. “Typing up contracts doesn’t seem that hard.”
Cassius offers a grin that says an undertaker is so much more. “There’s that. Then there’s the removal of unwanted bodies after conflicts, filling contracts for Genesis members, keeping the runners in line and that’s just the tip of the job description.”
Ah. Now I get Aster’s slash and stash joke.
“Sounds fun.” He thinks a little shop talk will send me skittering into the corner. I can fill in the blanks like what—or rather who—runners are. Hired killers for the mob.
I almost tell him my full name but there is a reason Con kept it first name bases so I leave it there, too.
For a second Cassius looks like he wants to pass me his number for a job interview but suddenly thinks twice about it. My men would probably shove me into a closet and not let me out if I told them I was interested. Either way, I tuck that idea into a neat box until I need it.
“Laila is many things, but an undertaker won’t be one of them.”
Con. I roll my eyes.
“Too bad. Could have been fun.”
Con slides a thick envelope across the desk to Harlon. “Our fee for being in your territory.”
Harlon tucks his chin near his chest in a formal nod of acknowledgment to the respect shown to him and his partners. I’ve seen it a million times with people working with my stepfather.
“Thank you,” Harlon says and passes the envelope to Santi. “You want to establish a casino in our territory.”
They do?
“Yes. We want to funnel our clientele to your city in the hopes you would want to do the same. We are all aware that control is an fucked-up illusion, but if we make sure we have what the people want their money goes into our pockets. Simple math.”
Cassius produces two sets of contracts. “We’ve given your proposal a lot of thought since our last conversation and it’s why we’ve asked you out here. If you agree to our terms, we are agreeable to working something out with you.”
“As long as the terms go both ways. We are not interested in partners who like to tip the scales only in their favor.”
There’s a lot of back and forth that goes on. Everyone offers me a chair but there is no way I can sit with this thing in my ass.
My heart squeezes as tightly as my thighs. I must look like a real bitch standing here clenching everything.
I blush furiously when Con’s gaze lingers on mine every few minutes. His gaze is piercing and I feel like he can peel back my layers the longer he looks. And then one of us blinks and he tucks back into the work he has in front of him. I can’t tell if he’s gauging my reaction to what they did to me or wants my input. Who can fucking think right now? I move and I either want to gasp, moan or climax.
Thirty minutes later I don’t know if I can walk much less make my way down to the limo when everyone signs and shakes hands. Every time I shift my weight from one foot to the other I feel the walls of my ass stretch. I clench and unclench my fingers behind my back in the hopes that small movement will take my mind off my live nerve endings, but nope.
I’m panting like a cat in heat under this facade of calm. My whole body is running at a cool two hundred degrees. I rub my sweaty palms down my dress and hope like hell no one is watching me try to walk when everyone stands and we move out of the tiny room in the back of the death floor.
I can’t even unpack that brain full of thoughts right now. Not until I have this thing out of me and them fixing the issue with the swirling orgasm begging to be released.
“One more thing, gentlemen.”
Harlon stops our progression toward the elevators and I want to stamp my foot like a petulant child.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
My knees start to buckle. Dante wraps an arm around my middle and takes some of my weight, but he’s not doing it out of chivalry. The hard muscle of his thigh presses into my ass and I am so damn close to climaxing right where I stand. I shimmy my hips…yes, fuck, yes. Just a little more.
He pulls away, killing my rhythm. Tucked in behind Bastian and Con there’s no one to stop him from cupping my breasts and pinching my nipple. I shudder in his hold. This is insane. Doesn’t he understand the ache they’ve caused? I wrap my fingers around his wrist and beg for him to pinch my nipples just one more time. That’s all I’ll need.