Chapter 10 Frankie #2
He’s a younger man, but his dark eyes assess me with the focus of a predator. Nodding once, he buzzes me through. There’s a heavy clank as the steel door unlocks, and I quickly enter, making sure the door locks behind me before I continue down the hallway.
While I might be here doing my job, I’m relieved to see that the break room and offices are vacant.
Almost vacant. The unmistakable thumping and moans coming from behind the closed door of the last office space make it very clear that whoever is in there will be too busy to bother me. I hold my breath as I walk past, but I still manage to catch the scent of Roan through the door.
Shit, if Roan is the one in there, that means his brother is here too, and that won’t end well. The relationship between those two is downright weird and toxic as fuck.
Pushing through the last door, I walk into the main section of the warehouse. A huge area that we have organized using a system that was born from the brilliance of my older brother. A system complex enough to keep the cops off our backs and keep any two-timing dogs from stealing from us.
Music is thumping in the loading bay. A couple of Lirael’s crew are gathered around the tables, cleaning the various disassembled weapons.
Enzo spots me and runs up to meet me. He’s young, a cugine who’s shown a lot of promise and will most likely become officially part of the Family by the end of the year.
He’s attractive, good enough to be model-worthy if the right people saw him. His skin is a dark gold, seeming to bring out the amber of his eyes even more. His dark hair has recently been shaved, making him look older than his twenty-one years.
“We are ready to go, sir.” His voice is smooth and deeper than expected, but it doesn’t make my stomach clench like Seth’s voice does.
“Lirael picked you for his crew? When did that happen?” I ask with a smile. He’s one of the few younger men who actually has some common sense in that brain of his.
He ducks his head, and I chuckle at the red flush on his cheeks. “Yes, sir. He told me yesterday.”
“I’m proud of you, lupino. You’ve come a long way from the scab-kneed kid we first took in.” I pat his shoulder, and the smile he gives me is blinding.
“Thanks, sir. It means a lot to me for you to say that.” He clears his throat, and the spots of red on his cheeks flare brighter. “Um, Charlie has some paperwork for you, and Zeke will probably want to go over the plan again.”
I’m laughing by the time we reach the tables. “I will let Lirael go over the plan again. He’s just as anal about that shit as Zeke.”
“It pays to be prepared.” Zeke doesn’t even look up from the pistol he’s reassembling.
That man has the single-mindedness of a machine, sometimes.
Out of all the soldiers, Zeke is the one who would most likely take over my job if there were ever a need.
I don’t know if he’s a sociopath or just a good actor, but he’s shown zero emotion even as someone is getting skinned alive in front of him.
If I were anyone else, he would scare me.
Despite coming out here to check over things, I didn’t have any actual doubt about Lirael’s crew, and talking to the guys is always refreshing.
They are the only crew that I can feel myself with.
They are an odd bunch; only a few of them are actually human, but their loyalty is unquestionable, and they know how to do their jobs.
I search for Aiden and find him sitting alone at one of the far tables, practically shaking with fury.
One hand is clenched in a fist on the table, and the other grips a six-inch dagger.
With a grimace, he draws the blade across the top of his thigh in a quick slice.
The sudden scent of blood doesn’t cover the smell of arousal, though.
What the fuck is turning him on? Unless. . . Nope, I’m not going there. I don’t want to know what goes through his head when his brother is fucking someone.
“Am I going to have to take that knife from you?” Zeke’s monotone voice has the group falling silent. I turn away from Enzo and his exaggerated retelling of a misadventure to give the resident sociopath a knowing look.
“Give me the knife, Aiden, and get out of here. You don’t need to put yourself through this,” Lirael says gently, walking towards the other man. Aiden snarls at him, his eyes practically shooting sparks. Lirael approaches slowly, hands held up as if Aiden were some wild animal caught in a trap.
Aiden has always had a hair trigger. A wild card in the group that only seems to cool when he’s in contact with his brother. I personally don’t understand why Vincent allows him to stick around with how psychotic he can get, but he does his job well when he’s not flying off the handle.
But whatever is happening right now, it’s new.
I glance over at Zeke, who’s busy cleaning his weapons. I’m not stupid, though. I can tell that he’s paying attention to what’s going on between his boss and his psychotic co-worker.
“What the hell is his issue this time? Is it because Roan is fucking someone?” I whisper. It’s so quiet right now that talking louder than that is bound to draw unwanted attention my way.
“Yeah, one of Terry’s girls,” Zeke informs me.
I suck in a sharp breath. No wonder Aiden is about to explode.
The co-dependency between him and his brother is well-known in our group.
I have yet to figure it out, but it’s borderline creepy.
Aiden is possessive to the extreme, and it’s not uncommon for him to go out of his way to ruin any relationship Roan might have.
Why Roan thinks it’s a good idea to fuck a sex worker with his brother right here is anyone’s guess.
I personally think the kid has a death wish.
Thirty minutes later, the situation with Aiden is resolved, Zeke having to escort the man out of the warehouse before he decides to grab the knife and stab someone with it.
After that tense moment, I’m ready to book it out of there, damn near vibrating with excitement to be able lay eyes on Seth again.
It’s ridiculous, this feeling I get every time I think of the young man.
And I haven’t even had a full conversation with him.
Parking in my regular spot on the corner, I get out and walk to the corner bakery. Their scones are amazing, though their coffee tastes like tar. But I sip on it anyway. So long as I eat what I purchase, the manager lets me stay.
Settling into my chair, I get comfortable, relishing my view of Hex and Haunted. My seat is at the perfect angle to see into the shop, but the reflection of the sunlight prevents Seth or his coworkers from getting a good look into the bakery.
I log into my phone, pulling up one of my camera apps. It was stupidly easy to break into Seth’s workplace to plant the cameras, which gives me unfettered access to him during his work hours.
Huh.
I frown down at my phone. Specifically, the app that controls the cameras that I have placed throughout the building. Most of the cameras show nothing but blackness, but a few also have a blinking error message across them stating they are no longer transmitting.
These are top of the line cameras that I spent a lot of out-of-pocket money on. And I highly doubt my IT guys would fuck me over with subpar equipment, which means somehow, my cameras were taken down.
The bell above the shop door sounds, but I’m too busy trying to reboot the cameras to bother looking up. Until someone clears their throat behind me. It’s then that I catch the barest trace of ozone.
“Why the fuck are you following me?”