Chapter 10
Ten
Laila
A n hour later our limo pulls up outside a place I’ve never heard of before. I take Con’s outstretched hand and follow him through the revolving front doors. A blanket of red carpet stretches out in front of me with a leather settee dotting the expansive foyer. What doesn’t have carpet is all marble. Crystal chandeliers hang overhead. There’s no doubt someone with power owns this place and my men are here to meet with them.
A faux raven-haired beauty greets us the second we come out the other side of the revolving door. Her smile is wide, genuine and her hand in mine is soft, but her grip is firm.
Dante and Bastian come up behind me. Cocooned between all three I know I’m safe, but I still get the chills up my spine knowing why the carpet is red. Or at least I think I do and it’s not a comforting thought.
“Welcome to Club Genesis. You slash ’em we stash ’em.”
Con’s face doesn’t even twitch, but I don’t have the same resilience against her brand of humor.
“You’ll have to forgive Con. His humor is as dry as the desert.” I slip my hand into his and he twines our fingers together. Sweet, right? I don’t think so. His hard look aimed my way promises torture in my future.
“My humor is just fine,” he drawls slowly with his accent coming to the forefront. “I was only trying to remember if I slashed the last guy or not. Or if we needed more of a stab and slab kind of service.”
Words roll off his tongue that I’ve never heard before.
I fight a smile and lose. “Con telling jokes…must be a full moon out.”
“No joke, malyshka. ” Con winks at me and I know right then and there, if I ever had any doubt, the men I’ve fallen for have a much darker side I’ve yet to see.
And now all I can think about is if I’ve met any of their victims before. The guy who kidnapped young girls for a rival family in their territory? I only caught whispers of him, but I heard enough to understand his crimes. He visited the men a few times and then suddenly nada .
My mind wanders down those lengthy corridors with various people’s faces popping up in my mind’s eye who have come and gone at their Seattle penthouse.
I let my mind have full rein until Bastian’s and Dante’s rough rumbles of laughter send goosebumps over my skin. One of the two steps so close to my ass I can practically feel them touching the rose plug…well, in my rosebud if you know what I mean.
I wait for the wash of heat to cool, but as the seconds tick by and they continue to talk I’m only growing hotter under this dress.
“I knew you guys would be funny. Harlon says my jokes turn people off. I say when you’re in the business we are in, a little dark humor livens up the place.”
Our greeter shoves a hand into Con’s. “Aster. Aster Constantine. Harlon won’t like me sharing that last bit, so we keep that on the down low, okay?” Her leather pants, white shirt, and motorcycle boots have me missing mine. Since ditching the “old me” from our New Orleans days I haven’t needed to hide my feminine side.
All three men continue to stare at Aster unmoving, but it doesn’t seem to faze her. “Yeah, okay then. Tough crowd. Let’s get you corpses to the dark floor so you can get your freak on with Harlon. He and his partners won’t be long.”
I tuck my head down and hide my smile behind a wall of hair. I like her. Not many people stand up to these three and walk away smiling.
A few seconds later we are settled inside a room with a large wooden desk, four chairs, and not much else. Even the overhead light is pretty bland. I mean, sure the marble floor is nice, and the subtle piano music is a little calming, but the walls are way too close for comfort.
“You okay?”
Bastian is in front of me, and I don’t realize I’m breathing hard until I see he’s not.
No. I have a butt plug in my ass, and I can’t seem to cool down. I don’t know if I want to find a bathroom to remove it, a bed for all four of us, or an ice pack.
“Yeah, it’s just a little cramped in here. Maybe I should step out. Give you guys the room so you can do the whole freak thing Aster was talking about.”
Con chuckles and lowers his substantial weight into a leather chair on this side of the mahogany desk. He pulls me into his lap and… “Oh, my God!” The pressure on my ass is beyond anything—and I mean anything—I’ve ever felt before.
While I am fighting hard not to move my hips and give the butt plug something to work against, Con continues talking as if I am not ready to strip him bare this very second.
“She’s way too mouthy for her own good. We’re just signing contracts tonight. No bodies to stash or slam.”
The door opens and a tall dark-haired man walks in with two more behind him. “That’s a shame. I was looking forward to a little excitement tonight.”
I quietly slide out of Con’s lap.
I recognize their handsome faces from the news. Their reputations are as dark as my men’s. Harlon is the head of the Northern Alliance and rules most of Chicago with their territory growing every day. Santi is the dark Latino and Cassius is more of a mystery. To me anyway. He hardly makes the news which tells me he’s the one to watch out for most. In the few times I watched my mother’s world work, it was the quiet ones with the deadliest touch. Take my stepfather for instance. Though I’m alive on the outside, I can’t help but feel that man killed parts of me he had no right to touch.
Not that Cassius is anything like him. Darkness comes in many shades.
I tug at the collar of my dress and wish I’d gone with motorcycle boots and leather pants instead. The walls seem to grow closer with six men packed into one small-ish room. I’ve never felt so out of place in my life. I edge toward the door, but Bastian’s two hundred pounds of muscle blocks my path.
Shit.
“I’m Bastian. That’s Dante and Con.” Bastian juts his chin out toward his brothers.
Introductions pass around and everyone shakes hands.
“I’m Harlon Constantine. Santi and Cassius. Talking to them is like talking to me. While you are in our territory you can count on their support and mine. Just don’t fuck us over and you will be welcome to stay in our city for as long as you require.”
Con nods. “If you’re ever in our neck of the woods out west, count on the same support.”
“And the same would apply. Don’t fuck us and we won’t fuck you.” Dante loves pushing people’s buttons, but these three don’t look ruffled.
“ Naturalmente caballeros .” The one named Santi with the Spanish accent eases his weight onto the edge of the desk and crosses his thick arms. He’s left off the suit jacket, but the red silk tie is spot on.
Oh, good. Now that the dick measuring is out of the way maybe we can get a move on so I can find a private place to remove this plug.
“This is Laila, our partner.” Hearing my name draws my attention off Santi’s red tie to a set of dark eyes and an even smile. It looks practiced but not fake.
Years of proper training under the care of my mother in similar circles has me raising my hand to shake theirs. But my mind is hooked on the word “partner” coming out of Dante’s mouth. Partner? This is the first I’ve heard of it, but okay.
“Welcome to the dark floor. I trust you found your way here easily.”
“Aster made us feel very welcome.”
It’s slight, but the inner corners of Harlon’s eyebrows twitch inward as if to signal friction with the spirited hostess.
Interesting.
“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 underworld.
I almost tell him my full name but there is a reason Con kept it first name basis 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 a 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.
His lips are against my ear when he speaks. “Do you know how gorgeous you look so flushed and horny?”
I turn my head so only he can hear me. “I probably look like an addict thanks to you three.”
He gives me his usual dark chuckle. “Guilty. But don’t you dare come. Not until we make you and that’s going to be later. Much later.”
My heart hits the marble floor and just lays there stunned.
“A while? Like not the second we are in a car?”
His low, gravelly grunt is the right tone to have my clit throbbing with an impending orgasm on top of the one already attacking my insides.
To try and take back a little control, I tune back in on what Harlon is saying, but just barely. His words enter the fog clouding my brain and just kind of disperse from there.
“We’ve had a lot of unrest among our people with my taking over for my father. We don’t want our enemies knowing we have gained another ally.”
Dante eases the hem of my dress up just enough to run the tips of his finger over the rose’s petals and I swear to God I nearly scream.
Holy Shit. Don’t come. Don’t come. I clench my ass and cross my legs as the men all shake hands.
“Our lips are sealed.”
“Thank you. There’s a driver downstairs waiting to take you anywhere you wish. Enjoy your stay in Chicago.”