Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Penn
Four days after the blast I was outside mowing the lawn, much to the displeasure of Gideon and the landscaper—what could I say? I liked manual labor—when an unexpected visitor arrived.
“Sir!” Raff shouted.
I shut the mower off and looked over at the man. “What?”
“There’s someone here.”
I glanced toward the gate, but all I saw was a black Escalade. “Who?”
“Benito Calvern.”
Motherfucker. “Did you tell Gideon?”
“He’s on a call in his office; I texted. What should I do?”
“Fuck.” I jumped off the tractor and signaled to the landscaper to continue mowing. “Let him through.”
Raff spoke into his earpiece, and I watched the gate open and the SUV drive up. What did this douchefucker want now?
I wiped the sweat that was dripping into my eyes away and met the vehicle at the front. Two men exited before Benito, who was grinning at me.
“Is money so tight, you need to cut the grass yourself?”
“I like staying physical,” I responded flatly.
“I see.”
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to speak with Gideon and I suppose you.”
“Mhm, well, Gideon is a busy man. You can’t just pop in anytime you want to.”
“Now, that’s not very neighborly.” The grin remained on his face.
“From my understanding, you don’t have a home anymore?”
He snorted. “I’ll rebuild, I suppose. Either way, the plot of land is mine.” His smile dropped. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Unfortunate,” I deadpanned.
The door opened, and Gideon strode out. The clear disdain he had for Benito was apparent, and I was sure he didn’t care to hide it.
“Why are you on my property?”
“Ah, there you are. Not so busy after all.” That shitty smirk was back on his face again.
“You have two minutes, Calvern.”
“Perhaps we could go inside, have a seat, a drink…I am rather parched.”
“Tick-fucking-tock,” Gideon growled.
“Fine, fine. As you know, my newly purchased home was the victim of a gas leak.”
“I’d heard.”
Benito laughed softly. “Right. Unfortunately, I won’t be moving in as planned, but I explained to Pennsylvania here that since I purchased the land as well, I will rebuild.”
“All news you could have sent to me in an email, Calvern.”
“Well, thing is. I’ll likely be moving into the governor’s mansion after I win the election, and I do still own my current house. I really wanted to stop by out of respect, because it will be quite noisy over there, and I guess offer a pre-apology.”
Gideon didn’t say a word. He glared at Benito so hard, I thought the man would combust.
“Get off my property, Calvern.”
Benito took a step closer to Gideon. Raff, Danny, Alex, and I stepped up as did Calvern’s men.
“I know you were behind this, Hendrix. You don’t realize how big of a mistake it was that you destroyed my home, but you will.” He glanced at me. “I will make you feel every speck of my anger.”
“Don’t threaten me, Benny-boy, or you’ll taste my claws.”
Benito chuffed. “You know, in the two years I’ve watched you regrow your business, I thought you were a smart man. At times I even admired you. Now I realize how wrong I was. You’re a thug, Gideon. A stain on this world that I will look forward to scrubbing out.”
“Keep talking.” Gideon sneered.
Benito eyed his watch. “Unfortunately, I have to go. I have a very important meeting.” He was all teeth when he smiled. “I’m sure you’re eager to get your family home from their vacation. I’m sure they had fun sailing along the Atlantic Ocean.”
Gideon moved to strike, but I intercepted. “He wants you to hit him, Gid. Don’t.”
“Get the fuck off my property, now!” Gideon roared.
Benito shrugged and turned to get into the SUV but before he got in, he left us with some parting words.
“I see, hear, and know everything, Hendrix. My reach is far, and I don’t take kindly to people who interfere with my plans. You’d be wise to remember that.”
Gideon was seething. We watched as the SUV drove off, and the whole time I held him back from racing after it like a lunatic.
“I’ll kill him.”
“You can’t just kill a gubernatorial candidate, babe.”
“Fuck!” he yelled, spun on his heel, and stormed into the house.
I looked at Raff and Danny. “Get in touch with security on the yacht. I want them more vigilant, and double up at the port at pickup this weekend.”
“You got it.” Danny and Raff left, and I followed a very angry Gideon.
I found him in the kitchen slamming cabinets. A cold bottle of vodka stood open, and he held a very full glass in his hand.
“You’re letting him rile you up.”
He turned and stared at me as he chugged his drink. He swallowed but was no calmer. “He keeps threatening my family. Remember what happened the last time someone did that?”
I smirked. “Yes, I was there.” Of course, we were referring to the time I’d run into the house that was on fire to rescue Olivia, Owen, and Matteo when Lorcan had tried to kill them.
“Smartass.”
I rotated my hips to look at my butt. “You think it’s smart?”
Gideon snorted right while he was sipping, causing the vodka to spurt in his face.
“Careful.” I moved closer to him slowly. “Don’t want you choking on that…I do have something else you can choke on, though.”
He placed his tumbler on the counter, encircled my waist with his arm, and gripped my ass. “Mmm, you smell like the sun.”
“Wanna role-play?”
He quirked a brow. “Role-play?”
“Yeah, you be Icarus, I’ll be the sun, and I’ll make you burn, baby.”
His head flew back, and he laughed so hard he had to hold on to me. “Oh, shit. Penn, that was so bad.”
I beamed. “You loved it.”
He wiped his eyes, face red, and all anger washed away. “I did. And for some strange reason, I love you.”
I pressed my hand to my chest. “Excuse me? Strange reason?”
He chuckled and held me so close, not an inch of me wasn’t touching him. We stood there in silence for a beat before Gideon spoke.
“I can’t just sit on my hands and wait to see what he does.”
“I know, but speaking of Icarus, let’s not be like him. Don’t let your pride turn you reckless, Gid.”
He sighed, his breath washing over my neck. “I won’t.”
I pulled away and looked him in the eyes. “I have an idea.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, let’s worry about Benito a little later and right now, come with me to shower and you can fuck my face into oblivion.”
“Have I told you that you have the best plans?”
I chuckled. “Well, I do have a smart ass, so there’s that.”
He smacked my butt and I ran, laughing the whole time as he chased me into the shower.