“Oh, please. Don’t act coy,” I say when I walk up and grab his arm to guide him back around to the stairs that lead to his apartment. “We’re here for the four grand you owe.”
“Well, I still don’t have any money,” he replies as we go up the stairs to the second-floor landing.
“Then you better hope we can find at least a thousand dollars’ worth of electronics to steal or you’re gonna be hurting for real this time.”
I shove him through the front door Fiasco has already opened and then shut and lock up to frisk him. “Well, what do we have here?” I ask when I find a cell phone in his back pocket. “Last week you told us you don’t own a phone.”
“I didn’t. It’s new!”
“Save the bullshit,” I tell him. “What’s your password?” I ask.
“Guess.”
I grab the sides of his jaw in one hand and squeeze. “Fine! Four-four-eight-nine!” he mumbles.
I let his face go to try the code, and surprise, surprise, it actually works. I slip the device into my pocket. “Since you lied to us twice now, the phone is asshole tax and won’t count toward what you owe.”
“Oh come on!” he exclaims, throwing his arms in the air.
“Shut up and sit down,” I tell James. When he doesn’t immediately follow my order, I tell him, “Now,” while pulling out my gun from the back of my waistband and holding it on him. The firearm has his ass taking a seat on the sofa in the living room real fast. He moves so quickly a rush of air ruffles my hair, and for a split second, I swear I get a whiff of lavender and berries, reminding me of Jetta. I’m losing my goddamn mind over that girl. Shaking the thoughts away, I get my mind back on the job. “Fiasco, search the place for goods since he’s still claiming he’s broke. Look in every drawer, under beds, every inch of this place.”
“You’ve got it,” he agrees before he starts into the first bedroom.
“That’s not even my room; it’s my sister’s!” James mutters. “She doesn’t have anything of value.”
“Guess we’ll see,” I tell him as I stand in front of him to make sure he can’t run.
“How about we work something out?” he asks me. “I could set you boys up with my sister. She’s easy…”
Did he really just…
Clenching my fist tightly to make my thick silver rings really stand out, I haul back and then slam it right into the son of a bitch’s jaw.
“Ow! Fuck! What was that for?” James asks as he dabs at his lip that my knuckles busted as they soared past his loud mouth.
I squat down to get in his bleeding face. “That was for offering up your sister to solve your fucked-up problem.”
“Nothing in the first bedroom,” Fiasco announces when he starts for the second room down the hall, just as I hear the doorknob turn.
“Who the fuck is that?” I whisper to James as I stand up straight again.
“That’s her! That’s my sister. Wait until you see how hot she is; then you’ll want to take my deal.”
This fucker won’t learn. I hit him with an upper cut that makes his teeth rattle as his head rears back and he collapses limply into the chair.
“Fiasco, we’ve got company!” I warn him in concern. For all I know, this could actually be some of James’ buddies who want to brawl.
“Who is it?” Fiasco asks when he comes back to the living room with his gun out and ready, aiming it toward the door.
“Don’t know, so be ready,” I warn him.
“Dammit! It’s just my sister!” James protests weakly as I hear the key turn and the door behind me open. I keep my back to it so I can keep my gun leveled on James. I know Fiasco can be a dumbass, but he’s always going to have my back when it counts.
I hear a feminine shriek before Fiasco says, “Drop the purse then get in here, shut the door, and sit your ass down beside him.”
“Sean, what…what’s going on? What are you doing to my brother?” the girl exclaims. Fuck me, her voice sounds so familiar I have no choice but to take my eyes off James to look over my shoulder at her. And goddamn if the sexy blonde with her hair braided like a beautiful princess doesn’t look so familiar that I have to flip my hair out of my eyes to get a better look at her. Her face, those warm chocolate brown eyes…fucking hell I must be tripping, because she looks exactly like Jetta except for the purple hair.
This is what I get for obsessing over a girl for weeks. I’ve started seeing her and smelling her everywhere I go, even though I’ve been asking around and not a soul knows who she is or where I can find her.
The girl stares at me just as intensely with her forehead creasing and then gasps. “Devlin?”
Wait a second. She knows my name? Then that means it really is her!
“Jetta? Is that you?” I ask when I turn my back on James to see her better. And one look at her banging body, those killer curves in her cutoff denim shorts and amazing tits pushing against the front of her t-shirt and I know it is her. “Holy shit, baby.” I hold out my arms for her, expecting her to run right into them.
“How did you find me? What are you doing here?” she asks when she sidesteps me and goes over to kneel in front of James. “You’re bleeding! Did they do this to you?” she asks him.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing, just a little blood,” he replies while brushing the pad of his thumb over his leaking lip.
“A little blood? Sean, they’re holding you at gun point!” Jetta shouts as she jumps up and spins around to face me and Fiasco. “Are these the guys who took the TV last week?”
Uh-oh.
“Yeah,” Sean mutters. I wait for him to explain to her why we took the television, but he doesn’t cough up any of the details about his gambling debt that would make him look like the bad guy.
“Get the fuck out of here now before I call the cops!” Jetta, at least I think it’s her, yells at us, pointing her finger toward the door.
“What? No, baby. You don’t understand. Just let me explain,” I say when I lower my gun and stuff it down the back of my waistband.
“I don’t want you to explain anything! I just want you two…psychos to take your guns and get out!”
No. No fucking way. This is not how I wanted to see her again, the girl I haven’t been able to forget after three weeks, which is honestly like a new record for me. Now she hates me for slapping her brother around and won’t even give me a chance to tell her why. I don’t want her angry with me. If she’s angry, then there’s no way I’ll be able to convince her to let me get in her panties again, which is pretty much the only thing I want from this life before I die.
Before I can say anything else though, Fiasco beats me to it as he lowers his own gun to his side.
“Listen up, James. You better have at least a thousand for us next week or you’re going to be in a world of pain,” he warns Sean, making me wince because a threat to her brother was not exactly the last thing I wanted to leave Jetta on, but what choice do I have? I can’t give the asshole special treatment just because I banged his beautiful sister at a rock concert and want her again.