Chapter Fifteen
Fifteen
Forge
It had been a couple of years since anyone had smoked a cigar in this room, but the faint scent still hung in the air.
I was sure that Luther still snuck one in from time to time inside the house, but I doubted he did it where Linc could smell it.
Once Linc had moved his wife and daughter into the house, all smoking inside had stopped.
Luther sat on the sofa with nothing but a glass of whiskey, Oz was busy looking over whatever papers Linc had given him, and Kash was texting on his phone.
Bane had landed at the private airstrip and was getting Halo and Hawks home safe before joining us.
The others were headed here now. Whatever news Linc had, it was for all of us, which I didn’t feel was a good sign.
“Is the girl settling in okay?” Linc asked.
Oz didn’t glance up but replied, “Yeah, I think so. Considering her situation.”
“If Forge doesn’t show her his cock again, she should be fine,” Kash added, and I shot him an annoyed glare.
“What?” Linc asked while Luther let out a chortle of laughter.
“Please, someone tell me about that,” Luther said.
“I didn’t see it, but from what Ransom said, he walked out into the hallway, naked, to greet her this morning,” Kash explained.
“Thatta boy,” Luther told me. “Give the girl a distraction.”
“Jesus,” Linc muttered.
“Did she see the metal?” Luther asked.
I nodded, smirking.
He chuckled again.
“Could you not encourage him?” Oz asked. “The last thing I need is for him to start fucking her. That won’t end well. We’re helping her out for our cousin.” He said the last part while looking at me. “Remember that.”
I shrugged. “I never felt we owed Calvin shit.” But I wasn’t mad we had taken her in.
Oz sighed wearily, then went back to the paper he had been reading.
The door opened, and Bane entered, followed by everyone else. We were all here. With the exception of Dad and Ransom.
Linc stood up from his perch on the edge of his desk. “Congrats on the win,” he told Bane.
“Thanks,” he replied, taking a seat in the chair across from Luther.
“Did your parents get to Houston okay?” Bane asked.
Oz looked up from the paper. “Yeah, they’re there.”
No more was said about it, and I was relieved. I didn’t want to talk about how Mom was doing. I’d done good this morning. Stayed out of the dark place. Elsie had had a lot to do with that.
“All right.” Linc spoke up. “Here is what we have: Blaise said that Telos is once again hidden from all contact.
As are his higher-up men, who are probably the ones that went in and murdered everyone.
Blaise has his word out there that he wants to talk to Telos and expects he will hear back from him soon enough.
“For the meantime, he said to keep Elsie on the property. Away from the gates. Which we already know. He’s getting a video of her parents’ funeral sent to us for her to watch when and if she wants to.
Until he has spoken to Telos, he doesn’t know if the bastard will come looking for her here or not.
We can’t know for sure if she was tracked.
That means we guard our own. We go in packs.
High alert. More than usual,” he said, then sat back down on the edge of his desk.
“Oz has some overdue collections to make. Bane, Luther, Locke, and Ransom will all go with him tonight. Forge, you handle the games. The governor has the literacy gala on Saturday night. Those who aren’t going to that need to be at home.
No strippers,” he added, cutting his eyes at me and Gathe.
“No one outside the family is to be brought home either.
Even those who have been previously cleared.
Bowens, that includes you too. Your bachelor pad is on lockdown. No women.
“Ransom and Than have a delivery to make to DC. They will both go, and Locke, Hale, and Mal will go with them. This might be a tad overboard, but Telos isn’t someone we want to underestimate.”
He turned to Oz. “And your cousin, are you sure he’s safe?”
Oz nodded. “Yeah. I don’t see why they’d go after him.”
I’d like Calvin to keep his ass in California. No need to house him too. I preferred it like it was.
“All right then, unless anyone else has something to say, we’re done.”
“Might as well take bets on who fucks the cousin’s girl first. You’re cutting off the clubs and women.
The horny bastards are gonna go after the only pussy available,” Luther drawled, then took a sip from his glass.
His eyes shifted from Gathe to me. “I’ll put a grand on Forge. Write that in your books, Oz.”
Oz’s bookie phone was lighting up already when he handed it to me.
Dammit, I hated this part of it. I preferred to monitor the action and adjust the odds. Not do all this shit. This was a two-man job. And Gathe was no help. Locke would have been, but he’d been sent to D.C.
I checked the bets for any large ones that might be an indicator of insider information before putting it on the coffee table.
“Handle the risk management and adjust odds better this time,” Oz told me.
“Always do,” I replied.
“No, last time, you were skating on the edge of threatening the books’ stability.”
Annoyed, I glared at him. “This is a two-person job. And Gathe is no fucking help. He can barely add and subtract.”
“Hey! That’s not true. It’s geometry that fucks me up,” he called out from the doorway, where he was entering, carrying a bowl of potato chips.
“I did it without help for several years. Stop whining and monitor it properly.”
“Yes, sir,” I growled, walking past him and heading to the kitchen before he pissed me off more.
“There are games on!” Oz called out after me.
“I need food and a beer!” I shouted back.
“Hurry!”
He just ensured I would take my sweet time. Jackass.
Elsie stepped around the corner and paused when she saw me. Like magic, my anger started to fade.
“Why don’t you join us in the great room, Pickles?”
She bit her lip, and her cheeks pinkened. I really hoped that was because she was thinking about my dick.
“I, uh, okay,” she stammered.
“Come get a snack first. Basketball requires fuel.”
She frowned. “Watching it does?”
I nodded. “Yes. At least for me. I have to work the entire time.”
“Work how?”
“Oz has business, so all the betting action is on me.”
She tilted her head to the side, causing the dark locks to slide over her shoulder. My fingers twitched, wanting to reach out and run them through it. Luther’s words earlier replayed in my head, so I didn’t act on that urge.
“What do you have to do exactly?”
My eyes went back up to meet hers. “Eh, you know, constantly update odds, adjust those odds to entice bets on one side—don’t want to have too much liability on one single outcome—watch the bets to make sure there aren’t any spikes that could mean insider info, fun shit like that.”
Her eyes brightened, which wasn’t what I’d expected. “So, it’s all a numbers thing.”
I nodded.
“I can help—I mean, if you need it. That’s kind of what I’m going to school for.”
She was going to school to be a bookie? Doubtful. You didn’t need a degree for that.
“What’s your major?”
“Finance,” she replied, then scrunched her nose as if that was embarrassing.
Fucking A. The corners of my mouth lifted slowly. “Well, damn. Yeah, you need a snack because you just got yourself a job tonight. Gathe can’t count his fingers. He’s no help.”
The flush of excitement in her expression made it appear as if she was damn happy about it. Huh. This might end up being a fun night.