Chapter 13 Machine
THIRTEEN
MACHINE
Three weeks had passed since Badger had gotten the news about her sister.
It was driving me nuts not knowing all of the truth, so I’d made it my mission to see her every day at the gym.
Some would say my behavior was borderline stalkerish.
I, however, called it intuition. There was something about Jessica that told me she had a lot buried under her badass facade, and that was something I could relate to.
I was working on a set of shoulder presses next to the ring where Badger was beating the ever-living shit out of one of her students.
She looked downright edible with her tight yellow shorts and gray sports bra.
I wanted to run my tongue over every inch of her until she was coming undone by my touch.
I adjusted myself, not wanting to show off my hardening dick to everyone in the gym.
I placed the weights back on the rack, knowing it was almost time for me to get in the ring with Badger for our scheduled one-on-one training.
Was it a desperate move? Maybe. I didn’t care, though.
I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to peel back all her layers and know what was hiding underneath.
“Tool, you coming?”
“Yes, Bunny dearest!” I called back, making her roll her eyes.
“Good job today, Edith! You’ll be kicking my ass in no time,” Badger said, patting the girl she had been training on the back. Edith gave her a tired nod and started limping out of the ring.
Jessica folded her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up. I wanted to lick them, suck them.
“Are you done eye-fucking me now so we can get to work?” she asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I gave her a sultry smirk and climbed into the ring before walking up to her and whispering in her ear. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it when I look at you like that, because we both know you are getting wet just thinking about what I would do to you.”
Badger let out a gasp before executing a move that sent me on my ass. I wheezed from the impact of hitting the ground while Jessica put me in a headlock. My hands wrapped around her slender arms, trying to break her hold, only for her to tighten her grip.
“Might want to stop Bunny, I like choking,” I wheezed.
Badger growled in annoyance and let me go as if I had burned her. “Get up and shut up, Hammer.”
I let out a chuckle, loving that I riled her up. Standing, I got into a defensive position. I wasn’t about to let her get the upper hand on me again.
“As you wish,” I responded, miming zipping my lips and throwing away the key.
We spent the next twenty minutes working on simple maneuvers, Badger correcting my form. I knew the proper way to do them. However, I enjoyed the little touches I was getting and didn’t want them to stop. We took a break to get some water when I got a notification from Kade.
Boss:
Get to RSS now! Ricci is here.
I knew something had to be seriously wrong if he was texting me and not calling me. I looked at Badger before turning around.
“I gotta go, Bunny, this has been fun,” I called over my shoulder.
Before she could respond, I was hustling to the locker room to grab my bag. I was in Machine mode now, and if my best friend needed me, I was there.
I strode into RSS and took the elevator up to the floor where the Hive was. I froze when I heard Ricci’s raised voice.
“Everyone leave,” I commanded the Hive team.
They obliged and filed out of the room. Lennie gave me a worried look and squeezed my hand to let me know that we would talk later.
“It’s quite simple, Ghost, you have managed to let the one person who I wanted to keep out of my files have access.” Ricci pointed to Evelyn. “Kade, meet Evelyn Myers, aka my stepdaughter.” A cruel smile spread on his lips. “Tell me, Evelyn, how’s mother dearest doing?”
Evelyn lunged at him, but was intercepted by Kade’s arm around her waist.
Ricci laughed. “So, I take it you’ve heard the news then.”
I wasn’t sure what he was referring to. But based on the look on Evelyn’s face, it wasn’t a stretch to think that something had happened to someone close to her.
Before things could escalate, I walked over to Ricci and put my hand on his shoulder, signaling him that it was time to leave. I guided Ricci out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, I could hear brief yells through the door. This was not good. Not good at all.
“Make sure he takes care of this shitshow, Machine, or so help me God—” Ricci began.
“It would be in your best interest not to threaten me,” I warned. “I have a tendency not to take threats well.”
Ricci scoffed and walked to the elevator, heading down to the basement.
As soon as I turned back toward the door, Kade opened it, gripping onto Evelyn and shoving her toward me. She looked absolutely terrified. As she should. Burning rage shot through me at the thought of her betraying my best friend.
“Take her to the interrogation room,” Kade ordered.
Evelyn cried in protest before I hoisted her over my shoulder and took the elevator to the basement. She squirmed and hit her fists against my back, but couldn’t escape my grip.
Familiar stale air wafted into my nose. I shoved her into the interrogation seat and bound her more roughly than necessary. I couldn’t even look at her. Kade walked into the room and stood behind the chair.
“Do you know who I am, Evelyn? Do you know who you just made an enemy of?” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “I am Ghost. The motherfucking king of the Mafia.”
As Kade began to talk, I walked over to the far wall and leaned on it. I needed to know why Evelyn would lie to us.