THIRTY-FOUR - ROMAN #2
Elliott had documents and a hard drive that, if in the wrong hands, would end his entire business despite having law enforcement and city leaders in his back pocket, and he hadn’t had the chance to get them from his office.
Not to mention the files that River inadvertently accessed during his search for Elliott that were, no doubt, not meant for anyone else’s eyes.
Even more obscure than the ones I had access to.
So we agreed to blow the place up and get rid of as much of the evidence as possible since Elliott / Jameson’s office sat just above the convention center.
We all knew after this night there was no way the rest of the force wouldn’t get involved and launch a full-blown investigation on Emerald Haze.
They’d raid the place, taking every single shred of dust as evidence, and we didn’t have time to do a sweep.
“I’m still mad at you,” Jameson said to me.
Her hair was a tangled mess, half-up, half-down, and one hundred percent looked like it’d been combed with a stick of lit dynamite.
Despite her wild hair, smudged makeup, and mud-covered face and arms, torn dress, she still looked just as beautiful as ever.
“Me?” I asked in a sarcastic, shocked tone. “What’d I do?”
She reared her head back. “You fucking shot me, for starters! Was that necessary?”
I sighed. “Okay, fair enough, but that wasn’t just my idea.”
“So what? What if you’d missed? You’d feel like shit right now. I feel like shit now, no thanks to you!”
“First of all, I have excellent marksmanship. Second, I’m really, really sorry. Regardless.” I leaned over as best I could despite the burning pain in my side and kissed her temple. “But it won’t happen again. Promise.”
“I appreciate that. But how did you know Kane would for sure be here?”
“We honestly didn’t. Not for a fact, but given Kane’s track record and River’s investigation skills, we rolled the dice. We were right. Plus, River spotted him at the fundraiser. That was all the green light I needed.”
She sunk back, leaning against the light pole. “How did he even get in?”
I just gave her a look. “You picked a masquerade ball as a theme. That and we let him.”
“Anyone looking for me?” River finally showed up.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
He grinned. “Accidentally blew up my escape route. I had to devise a new plan. Then—” He reached into his shirt and pulled out…a kitten? “—I found this thing walking along the back of the event center. I couldn’t leave him there knowing it was about to cease to exist.”
“Oh my god!” Jameson practically cried. Hell, she probably needed to after the night she’d just had. “Another one?” She held up the kitten she already had in her hands.
“Cute. Here.” River bent down and handed her the second kitten. “Have another one. Hey,” River said to me, “you’re bleeding…a lot.”
“No shit, Captain Obvious. Where the hell were you back there? I almost got my ass whooped, and I most definitely got stabbed. That squirrely motherfucker could have killed me.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry, baby bro. I had some technical difficulties. You want me to grab a medic?”
“No. I’m fine. I’ll see one in a minute.”
“You blew up my—my dad’s casino?” James practically screeched.
He shrugged. “Had to. But I had a slight wiring issue in the beginning.”
We all looked at the building as it fell half off its foundation.
“Yeah, well, one of your bombs went off at the time you were supposed to be having my back.”
“Faulty circuit.”
“So, I almost died because of a faulty circuit?”
“I mean, I’m usually the guy behind the screen, not the one in the field putting shit together.” He mouthed the word sorry just as Chris and Kelly walked up.
“Kitties!” Kelly squealed, taking a seat next to Jameson and grabbing one of the kittens.
“Everyone okay?” Chris asked.
Secretly, I’d hoped he hadn’t made it out.
We all gave a half-assed collective “yeah, we’re good, I’m okay, glad it’s over” answer.
I carefully stood up so I could be at eye level with everyone else.
“You got a mean hook on you,” Chris said to me.
“Indeed. I guess I should officially apologize for that?”
He shrugged. “It’s all good.”
“You’re not gonna press charges, are you?” I knew he wouldn’t; he knew he wouldn’t.
He laughed. “Nah. We’ll just call it even.”
I didn’t laugh. Instead, I asked if I could have a word with him away from the group. “So, is sleeping with your boss part of your job description?” I asked when we were out of earshot from everyone else.
He flicked his gaze to the crowd behind me. “No, but can we keep that between us?”
“If you disappear on your own.”
“Deal.”
We shook hands, and then he waved bye to everyone. I knew that would be the last time I’d see him. I didn’t technically have the power to fire him, but I didn’t think he gave a shit at that point.
I rejoined what few people we had left in our group.
Jameson came over and stood beside me. “What were the two of you talking about?”
“Nothing much. Just saying our goodbyes.”
“Is he leaving?”
“Yeah…for good.”
She jerked her head back. “For good? Why?”
“Because I told him to.”
“Roman! That’s my GM! You can’t just fire my people.”
“Yeah, I can. It just means you’ll be demoted into his position now that Elliott’s back. I’m sure he’ll want to take over.”
“We’ll see.” She shook her head, then pointed at my brother, who, not surprisingly, had found his way to Kelly. “Looks like those two are getting cozy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Typical.”
“Well, I’m glad I finally got to meet the man, myth, and legend. I’ve only ever heard you talk about him occasionally in passing. I was beginning to think he wasn’t real.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me yet, but you’re about to find out.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that I want to make you my wife.” I reached into my front pocket and pulled out the ring that I had been fighting for my life not to lose. I didn’t have some fancy speech prepared or some crazy romantic proposal planned out—though anything would have been better than this.
But this? This was us.
Jameson’s eyes went as wide as a deer in headlights when I grabbed her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.
She looked down at her hand with tears in her eyes. “It’s—this is my mom’s ring. How did you…?”
I smiled. “I have my connections.”
Elliott stood off to the side just behind with Josephine who was grinning from ear to ear, clutching onto his arm for dear life.
“You can’t be serious. Do you really think we need to get married? We’ve never even talked about it.”
“Here’s the deal, Jameson. If you want me in your life, to start over, you’re going to have to marry me. Be my wife.”
“Why? So you can hold that title over my head and spend the rest of your life telling me what to do? I don’t think—”
“No. Because I fucking love you. There isn’t a single soul on this Earth who I’d rather tolerate on a daily basis, no one who knows more about me or who I’d rather spend the rest of my life with, however long that might be. Plus, I think we both know by now I can’t tell you what to do.”
Tears finally fell down her cheeks, washing away that dust and dirt in long streaks. “What happens if I say no?”
I blew out a slow and controlled breath because my side was on fucking fire. I was also nervous as hell she was going to say no.
“Then I guess I leave. Start a new life again.” The thought of that was comical, but the thought of her declining my proposal gutted me.
“Really? You’d leave?”
“Not if you say yes.”
She looked up at me. Her tear-filled eyes searched mine. There was doubt, fear, love.
Fuck, say something.
“Okay,” she finally breathed. “Yes.”