Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Naomi
A little before nine in the evening, I entered my apartment at the Knossos Las Vegas. Dropping my shoulder bag and purse on the couch, I made a direct beeline to the stocked bar in the large living room overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard or, as the world knew it, the Strip.
After pouring myself a healthy serving of Firewater, I downed the contents and closed my eyes as the elderflower-infused whiskey heated my insides.
I’d moved to Vegas for a fresh start, to clear my mind, and to get over the asshole. Not for him to follow me here.
I refilled my glass, grabbed my phone, and went to the doors leading to the wraparound balcony.
If I called Tarak, he’d help me calm down enough to get my head on straight. No, that was a bad idea. Mia spent all her time with him, now that everyone knew about her and Tarak, and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with Mia and the million questions.
Maybe some fresh air would clear this foul mood from my mind.
I glanced down at the whiskey in my hand and sighed. The way I currently felt, I’d need a whole fifth of Penny’s expensive-ass spirit to keep me from opening the connecting wall separating my suite from Cassius’s and punching him for complicating my life.
I stepped onto the balcony, took a healthy swallow of my drink, and lifted my face into the warm Nevada breeze.
I could handle this. I’d kicked ass in a field everyone and their dog had told me to reconsider pursuing. Dealing with Cassius would only make me stronger.
When he’d said the crap about me being the mother of his children, it was as if he’d thrown down a gauntlet.
Well, if he wanted a challenge, I’d give him one. The last thing I planned was to make myself vulnerable to him again.
Now physically—no, I could resist him no matter what he believed.
Who was I kidding?
The man possessed this ability to force my body to betray me with a simple look or the slightest graze of his fingers.
Asshole.
At that moment, my phone rang with an incoming call.
“What are the plans for tonight?” I asked instead of saying hello, knowing Akari Otta was on the other end of the line.
“Judging by your cranky tone, I think the day got worse after you left me that insane voicemail.”
“That’s an understatement. The crazy part is that you don’t even know half of what happened before I called you. God, I think I’ve got a headache.” I set my tumbler on a table by a terrace chair and then pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Why don’t you give me a rundown.”
“Let me take off these damn shoes, and I’ll give you a fucking rundown.”
“Just put me on speaker so you can multitask.”
“You’re so damn bossy.”
“Pot meet kettle.”
“Whatever,” I muttered as I set my phone next to my whiskey glass, pressed the speaker button, and then sat on the lounger. “Do you know what pisses me off the most?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“He said I’m a liar like him, so we’re perfect for each other.” I pulled at the strap of my heeled sandals as the irritation from earlier surged forward again. “The nerve of that man.”
“Umm. Rewind a little. What did you lie about?”
I sighed and said, “Exactly what you do. We keep the truth from everyone, letting them believe what they want so we can live our lives.”
Akari came from as conservative a background as I did. Plus, excessive amounts of money and an unbelievably notorious family lineage.
Her family held very traditionalistic Japanese cultural views, especially when it came to being the only daughter born into the family in three generations.
In addition to having an old-school family, they were directly linked to one of the ruling clans of the Yakuza, the organized crime syndicate that ran the underworld of Japan.
Her brother Travis led the Stateside family under the guise of a shipping empire.
“I’m not siding with him, but it’s a fact you kept him a secret for three years. And you and Tarak went the safe route instead of laying it out for your parents and saying you were just friends.”
The number of times I’d almost told Papa and Mum, but something had kept me from doing it. Maybe it was the fear of letting them down when I always seemed to be the one who never fit the mold.
“What does it matter now? He lied about who he was. Even if I’d told them, it would have been for nothing.” A wave of sadness washed over me.
“Okay, time to change the subject. Soto wants a chance to win back his car.”
It still shocked me that Akari had married into a family just like the one she’d grown up in and had sworn never to join.
A mob family. And not only had she stayed in the syndicate world, but she’d hitched herself to the new head of one of the largest organized crime families on the west coast of the United States.
“How is it possible that in the few months since I saw you, you married the very man you swore you hated?”
“He caught me at a weak moment and then fucked my brains out. A girl does what she has to for good dick.” The dry way she answered had me laughing.
“He’s sitting next to you, isn’t he?”
“Yep.”
“Tell him I’ll give him the car back if he pays me for the plans his wife made me design for his new house.”
“That’s extortion. Keep the car.” Then, Akari said something I couldn’t understand to someone I assumed was Soto. “Sorry, he’s sulking now.”
Only Akari could make a man known for being ruthless and cold-blooded sulk.
“On that note, I want to go out. Make it happen.”
“You’re so cranky. I should get you laid instead.”
At that moment, I heard a muttered “The hell she will” from Cassius’s side of the balcony.
How long had he been listening to our conversation?
I tried to think back to all we’d talked about.
Shit. I had to answer Akari.
“Umm, Akari. I said I wanted to go out. Not cause a brawl.”
“Afraid a newly appointed Greek Vegas deity will find out and lose his shit?”
Oh God, I couldn’t believe she’d said that.
I laughed. “Something like that. How the fuck did I end up here?”
“Well, you fucked, and then you fucked some more, then somewhere along the line, it all got mushed up.”
“Thanks for the recap. Remember, you’re the only one in Vegas who knows. None of it can get back to Anaya or Henna. Hell, it can’t get back to any of them.”
“I know how to keep a secret. Considering my family connections, I’d assume you’d understand this.”
“Don’t act all offended. You go out drinking with the Lykaios women, and I work for them. God, why did I call you and leave that message?”
“Because I’m the expert at this shit.”
“Yes, yes. The only girl in the family surrounded by thirty boys and hitching yourself to an underworld boss and all that jazz.”
“And you were losing your shit about the fling that wasn’t a fling that was a fling that showed up to your job and turned out to be your boss and said you’re going to have his little Greek-Russian-Indian babies.”
“I really hate you sometimes. How did we become friends?”
“You went up against me in an illegal poker tournament and won.”
“Damn, that sure was a fun night.” I smiled at the memory.
Eighteen months ago, I’d garnered an invitation to an exclusive poker tournament through a connection of mine.
While there, Akari and I ended up at a table with a total dick who thought Akari and I were just dumb eye candy.
Without using words, we played off each other and won against the asshole and everyone else at the table.
This, of course, led to some objections from the idiot, followed by the intervention of the evening’s host. Then, the infamous Draco Jackson, Soto’s grandfather and the original head of the Jackson syndicate, arrived to collect Akari, his future granddaughter-in-law.
The man sat somewhere in his nineties but looked at least twenty-five years younger and had confidence and attitude for miles.
I adored him.
Yeah, liking a man known for slicing a man’s throat for talking out of turn was nuts, but this was Vegas, and somehow all of my friends turned out to be criminals.
Fuck, my parents would lose their shit if they ever found out.
Pushing down my last thought, I asked, “Do you remember the look on Draco’s face as he lectured us about proper behavior for a lady and not drinking too much in public? I thought he’d lose it because we’d cleaned out all the guys in the club. Instead, he was mad that we were drunk while doing it.”
“That’s Ojiisan. He never reacts the way we expect. Besides, when you went head-to-head with Soto and beat him, you became one of Ojiisan’s granddaughters, like me. With so few girls in the family, he likes to adopt as many ‘smart ones’ as possible.”
“Hey, is that the night you and Soto hooked up?”
“We are not discussing my sex life. I’m planning yours.”
“Fine. You own three clubs and four bars. Pick one.”
“Only one? How about club-hopping?”
“Yes. Just get me out of here.”
“And getting you serviced? Can we add that to the list? I have some beautiful specimens to show you.”
I could almost see Cassius gritting his teeth.
Standing, I strolled over to the wall separating his side from mine and leaned against it.
“What is it with you and my sex life? I’m positive that until you hooked up with Soto, I had more sex than you did.”
See how she liked me bringing up her sex life with her husband sitting next to her.
Bitch.
“But you’ve been with one cock. Come on, don’t you want some variety? One dick for three years has to get boring.”
Fucking hell. The woman couldn’t care less if her husband was next to her. Then again, Soto had a reputation for playing the field, so Akari could just be pushing his buttons. Whatever it was, my plan backfired.
I resisted the urge to bang my head against the wall.
I might as well let Cassius know I’d caught him.
Leaning over the partition, my eyes connected with his surprised sapphire gaze as he leaned on his balcony railing.
The intense way he held the tumbler in his hands told me he hated the direction in which my conversation had turned.
He smirked, knowing he’d see the truth whichever way I answered.
Instead of giving him the satisfaction he wanted, I said, “I’m not going to answer that.”
“Fine. I’ll send a car to pick you up. You will dance with some hotties tonight. That’s an order.”
“Like I’d say no to that.” I lifted a brow and pivoted back into my space.
“Be ready in an hour.” The line went dead.
A few moments of silence filled the air, and an undercurrent of primal energy surged between us, making my heartbeat accelerate.
“Want to answer the question for me? Did the newly appointed Greek Vegas deity’s cock satisfy you enough for three years?”
“Who are you, again? I don’t believe we know each other well enough to have such an intimate discussion. And for the record, it is rude to listen to other people’s conversations, asshole.”
“If you don’t want someone to listen, I suggest refraining from using the speaker function on your phone or purchasing a set of wireless earbuds.”
Jackass.
I clenched my teeth, holding in the urge to cuss him out.
However, there was no reining in my irritation, and I shouted, “You know what? I may take Akari up on her offer to find me someone to fuck.”
Before I could even take a few steps to go back inside my penthouse, Cassius jumped over the edge of the partition wall onto my side, right in front of me.