CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Cane

 

The stakes were fucking high. I wished I had pulled my head out of my ass long ago and taken a good look at what Karl was doing. Taking him down without having to worry about Tony and the rest of my club brothers would have been so much easier.

I hated that Tony spent his days in Karl’s penthouse. Even when he was painting Shika I worried about him. I often felt like he didn’t take Karl seriously enough. Tony was such a contrast. In appearance, he looked like a curly-haired angel, beautiful and innocent, but the man was a tiger, especially in bed. I got hard just thinking about it. He acted similarly when facing off with my cousin, a man who could have him killed on a whim. But there was also a softer, vulnerable side of Tony that brought out all my protective instincts. I’d die rather than allow him to get hurt.

I lay in the bed where we’d just had hot, sweaty sex, watching Tony pulling on his clothes, my hand moving on my hardening cock. He had a beautiful ass, and my eyes were riveted to it until he’d completely covered it up with his clothes.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled at me, and my heart turned over. “You just going to lie in bed the rest of the day and jerk off?”

I smiled, my hand continuing to move slowly up and down my shaft as I remembered how I’d drilled him with my cock.

“I wish,” I said, letting go with a sigh and sitting up, the covers pooling on my thighs. “I have a lot to do this afternoon. Karl has very specific things he wants done today. Things any of his lackeys could do, yet he insists it be me.”

“Getting someone else to do it wouldn’t allow him to lord it over you,” Tony said. “He knows you’re better than he is, Cane, and it drives him crazy.”

I got out of bed and walked over to him, tipping up his chin so I could kiss those delicious lips.

“You think very highly of me.”

Tony nodded. “Yes, I do. And you should too.”

“I’m just a simple guy from Montana trying not to get burned while working for the devil.”

Tony cocked his head to the side, regarding me speculatively. “What do you think of the legit business? Do you hate it too?”

“Depends on what I’m doing. I guess I’ve just never felt like a real part of it, although my uncle tried to draw me in when I worked in the offices. I was always afraid.”

Tony placed his hands on my hips and stepped a little closer to me, gripping my bare ass. “Afraid of what?”

I couldn’t believe I’d admitted that to him, but now that I had, he wasn’t going to let me drop it.

“Afraid that I’d like what I was doing, that I’d become embroiled in it. Become like them.”

Tony’s face softened, and he drew me into a long kiss, our tongues rubbing against one another until my cock stood hard between us.

“Let me help you with that,” Tony said, batting his lashes at me. He wrapped his fingers around my erection and began to stroke, slowly and snugly, just the way I liked it, until I was on my toes with every swipe, precum dribbling onto his fingers.

When Tony bent and took me in his mouth, my head spun. He sucked the head sweetly until I came, and then he shared the taste with me.

“That was great.” I kissed his nose and pressed my forehead to his. “I really need to get going though.” Reluctantly, I pulled away and started dressing.

“That’s okay. I need to go get some real lunch.” He smiled lopsidedly at me, and I laughed and pulled him in for a deep kiss. “I’ll return the favor later,” I whispered in his ear before letting him go with a swat to his perfect ass. “I’ll just have to gag you so the others won’t hear.”

When he was gone and I was dressed, I looked at my cell phone and saw that I’d missed a call from Karl. I dialed him back.

“Where the hell are you?” he snapped.

I went with the closest thing to the truth. “In my suite. I was tired and lay down for a while.”

“Taking a fucking nap in the middle of the day? What the hell, Cane! Just because we’re family doesn’t mean you can take advantage of me like that.”

“It’s not taking advantage considering you have me working late tonight. Besides, aren’t you always complaining about my not using my suite?”

Karl was silent a moment. I think I’d taken him by surprise.

“Get up here,” he finally growled and hung up on me.

I took a moment to wipe up the bed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cleaning staff reported to my cousin. I couldn’t hold back a smile at the ridiculous idea of a maid telling Karl that she’d found cum stains on my sheets.

I stepped off the elevator into the penthouse to find Karl on his back on the floor, naked from the waist up, lifting weights.

“Took you long enough. Decide to take another nap?” he grouched.

I ignored him and sat down on the couch. Outside, flurries disappeared into the East River. So much for the early spring weather we’d recently experienced.

“Report,” Karl grunted from the floor, muscles straining under the twenty-five-pound weights.

I consulted my notes in my phone. “Everything is ready. The director had no problem with where you wanted our booth placed, particularly after the monetary incentive I gave him. B-Natural will be the first booth everyone sees when they walk into the room, and we’ll have a small one set up at the end too with the products we sell exclusively.”

Karl grunted again as he raised and lowered the weights, a fine sheen a sweat developing on his chest. If I was waiting for him to tell me I’d done a good job, I’d be waiting forever. I sat watching him until he finished his count and put down the weights. Rolling to his knees, he grabbed a towel and wiped off his face and chest.

“How come you don’t go to the gym downstairs?” I asked. I knew my cousin used exercise to deal with stress.

Karl looked at me funny, probably because I didn’t normally make conversation with him.

“I do go there. I just grabbed these up to clear my head while I waited for you.” He got to his feet with a grunt. “The other thing I want you to do is to head down to After Hours for me. I have a craving.”

I swore he chose me to do this because he knew how much I hated it, so I tried to hide my annoyance. “What are you looking for?” I refused to say craving.

“Young. Pretty. Male. Swimmer’s physique. Maybe a nice head of curly blond hair if you can find it. Oh! And innocent blue eyes.”

I stilled, anger burning low in my belly. He was describing Tony. Keeping my eyes on my phone, I pretended to make notes.

“Anything else?” I finally looked up when he didn’t immediately reply.

Karl’s smile was carnal. “Yeah, make sure he’s good for a hard pounding. And I want him up here ASAP.”