Chapter 20
Needing to stretch my legs, I headed downstairs. The last month had been exhausting. I knew a shipment had come in earlier and was just sitting in the storage room. Gavriel had to take off for something family related, and the bartenders wouldn’t be here for hours yet.
As I stepped into the storage room, it smelled of dust and stale beer as it always did. Pulling one of the crates over, I started rotating and restocking the shelves. I moved methodically, and when I was about halfway done, I heard Gavriel and Harley come into the bar area.
“Three kilos.” Gavriel’s voice was low, but they were practically right next to the door.
Carefully, I wedged myself between the stack of boxes and crouched down. One of the floorboards creaked under my foot, but they were too wrapped up in their own conversation to hear.
“Only three?” Harley’s intake of breath was sharp. “Are you sure? The report said they were supposed to bring five.”
There was silence for a moment, and I swore I could hear the sound of my own heart beating and could almost picture Gavriel leaning on the bar top. “Sure as shit. This is purer. They are calling it Seraphina.”
“A new strain of heroin called Seraphina? This shit better be worth the reduction of product.”
What the fuck?
“Juarez says that they are getting triple the street value. If that’s true, it’s a goldmine.” Gavriel chuckled. “If he comes through on this, we will outsell Wetmore.”
“Wetmore is more concerned about his arms dealings anyways. He’s been having issues with his contacts. He won’t even notice until it’s too late.”
“What did your father say?”
Gavriel was silent for a moment. “Don’t let the feds get wind of it. There are only four of us who know about this, so if something happens, we know it will be Wallace or Doughtery. Focus on the delivery. Make sure everything goes smoothly.”
“Of course.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I rushed to pull my phone out, fumbling with it in my haste.
After sending a quick text off to my contact, I pulled my headphones out of my pocket and stuck them in my ears, turning the music up loud as I rose to my feet and went back to moving stock around.
After a moment, I purposefully hit one of the crates with glass bottles so it would clang.
Faster than I expected, Harley had me pressed against the wall. On instinct, my elbow shot up, hitting his jaw before my gaze met his and he immediately released me. Gavriel rubbed his face, saying something I couldn’t hear through the thundering bass in my ears, but Harley let me go.
I pulled my headphones out and glared at Harley. “What the fuck was that for?”
“How long have you been back here?” Gavriel’s voice was heavy with a sigh.
I shifted my attention to Gavriel and said, “An hour. Needed to stretch, knew you had headed out and the staff wasn’t going to be here for hours. Figured I could help out at least.”
There was an almost imperceptible swallow of his throat as he asked, “What did you hear?”
I turned my phone around and showed him my playlist. I had intentionally picked a song that was three-quarters of the way down so it would be obvious I’d been listening for a while.
“Nothing but a lot of bass. Like I said, I needed to stop looking at numbers and paper for a while.” Deciding to turn the tables on him, I narrowed my eyes.
“Is there something wrong with working in my own fucking club, Mr. Azzaro? Helping my staff get caught up?”
Harley’s back went straight, but he didn’t say a thing. Gavriel’s jaw was tight as he growled out, “No. Of course not.”
“Then what is your fucking problem?” Putting my hand on my hip and popping it out slightly, I continued, “Other than the fact that Dad gave me half of the bar? I seriously thought we had gotten over that.” I sighed dramatically and shook my head, turning my back on him deliberately.
“Elin . . .” His voice almost sounded sad. Harley’s face was just in my peripheral vision, and I saw the confusion there.
Turning quickly, I put a finger up and poked his chest. “Seriously. I thought we had at least gotten to a place where even if you didn’t like me, you would respect my place as your partner.
It’s the one fucking thing I expect of you.
Fucking respect. Then you come in here accusing me of god knows what, and I was just helping out to make things a little easier on our bartenders. ”
He grabbed me by the wrist and pushed me against the wall, pinning my hands above my head. His thigh went between mine. Automatically, my thighs squeezed his as I saw a flicker of that heat I loved so much from him. “Harley, you have orders. Go handle it. I’ll sort this out.”
Gavriel stood there holding my gaze until Harley left. When the main door shut, his hands released my wrists, slowly slid down my arms, and rested on my hips as he went to his knees. “I am sorry, Goddess.”
I lifted my chin as his attention stayed focused on me and his hands stayed cupping my calves. “What for?”
“For making you think I would question your place as my business partner. We were conducting family business, and Harley was concerned that you overheard.”
“Only Harley?”
He let out a sigh. “No. I was concerned, too, but even I could hear the music blasting through the headphones.”
“Okay.”
“Forgiven, Goddess?”
I nodded as he stood, but I reached my hand out and gripped his balls. I smiled as I felt the cage still in place. “You’ve been a good boy. Now, go. Do what you need to do. I’m going to finish stocking the shelves and then go back to my office.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, pulling me against him. When he pulled back, he whispered, “As you wish, Goddess.”
As he walked out, I stared after him.
What the fuck just happened?