I made a mistake when I said Jericho could move in because my feelings for him were growing more complicated by the day. Soon, I feared I wouldn’t want to leave once Mom was gone. I worried I wouldn’t be able to run away from all of this. I’d trampled in his quicksand, and now I couldn’t get out. Struggling only made it worse.
“Hold out your hands like this.” Jericho wrapped his arms around mine, his hard body pressed up behind me. I had his nine millimeter in my hand, earmuffs on my head, and a target twenty yards in front of me. “Take a deep breath.” I did. “Pull the trigger as you let it out.”
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The kick shocked me, and my shoulders jerked back against Jericho, his stable weight keeping me safe and secure.
I’d never shot a gun before, so having him here with me made it less nerve-racking. The power in his presence and the strength in wielding a weapon like this turned me on in a big way. Honestly, everything about him turned me on.
Which led me back to problem number one.
I liked Jericho. A lot. So much that this was starting to feel like something it shouldn’t. And that scared me.
I should end this now before it hurts too much.
How could I tell him that if it went on much longer, I would never be able to break it off when the time came. He didn’t want me tied with the MC, and I didn’t intend to stay when I had nothing holding me here.
I couldn’t live in the place where she raised me, see all the things we used to do together, and know I’d never be able to do them with her again.
Despite my feelings for Jericho, that would hurt the most.
I had to go.
“I love the way your ass hits when you shoot,” he murmured, grabbing my butt and giving it a hard squeeze. I practically turned to goo.
When would it stop? This wanting, this yearning for him.
“Gives me lots of gunplay ideas.” He held me tighter. “Want me to fuck you with my nine?” My cheeks burned imagining it, and when I didn’t immediately say no, he threw his head back to laugh. “Just when I think you can’t fucking surprise me anymore.”
After the range, Jericho drove me around on his bike, which was another thing I’d miss when I left. Because who didn’t love a hundred pounds of vibrating combustion between their legs?
Jericho fucked me hard and rough that night. Marking me. Biting me. Scratching and paddling me. I did the same to him, and when we collapsed in the bed next to each other, gasping and panting down our high, we talked.
“Why do they call you KC?” I finally asked.
He sighed and shook his head. “It stands for Killer Cock.”
My eyebrows went halfway up my head, and I laughed hysterically as he told me the story.
“It’s actually kind of sad,” he said. “She was a nice lady.”
“Jesus, Jer,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes. “That’s horrible.” But I couldn’t stop chuckling.
He told me about the club and the run he had to do the next day and how it terrified and exhilarated him at the same time. The Steel Roses and the Caputi family were enemies, and they had a lot of bad blood between them. Benito Caputi had killed his parents, his aunt, and his grandparents.
“A lot of our people have gone down protecting this town from those pieces of shit.” He shook his head. “They’re not good people. And Benito? He’s the worst one. He’s decapitated Roses, dismembered them, and sent us their parts.”
My stomach rolled. “Really?”
“He’s been on a rampage against us since the eighties.”
“Forty years?” I raised my eyebrows. “How old is this guy?”
Jericho shrugged. “In his sixties, I guess. He’s been the head of the DC mob scene longer than I’ve been alive. Longer than Crow.” He sighed. “I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.”
“Why are you?”
“I had a tail the other day,” he said. “They followed us on our date. They were following me on my run last weekend.”
My heart pounded as an alarm rattling through my brain. A tail? What did that mean? “Was it him?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “You need to be prepared.” He grabbed my hand and brought my knuckles to his lips, giving each one a tender kiss. “That’s why I took you shooting tonight. You brought me into your world, but Alba, I brought you into mine, too. I warned you I wasn’t a good guy.”
I nodded, understanding what he wasn’t saying. I’d been seen with him, and now, I might have a target on my back because of it.
“We can stop this… if you want.”
Startled, I met his gaze. “What?”
He furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his jaw. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want that at all, and the suggestion made my eyes burn.
Christ, how would I ever be able to leave him when the time came?
“I’m asking a lot of you,” he said. “I’ll ask more before it’s over.” He shifted closer to me, lowering his voice like he was afraid to speak the next words out loud. “But if you tell me to go, I’ll go. I’ll never contact you again. You’ll be safe.”
Never contact me again? No, I didn’t like that, either. Not one fucking bit. Of course, what did I think would happen at the end of this? Wasn’t he suggesting the very thing I planned to do once Mom was gone?
“Why would I want you to do that? You said you’d protect me.”
“I can’t be here all the time.”
“We’ve got the security set up. The garage is two seconds away.” I wrapped his hands tighter in mine.
He smiled, resolution and adoration radiating out of his baby blues. It seemed like he could see right down into my soul. Who knew, maybe he could. I’d like to think whatever he saw there matched what existed inside him.
“It’ll be okay, moonbeam,” I added, hoping my optimism relaxed him.
The nickname made him laugh, and he rolled so he was on top of me and in between my legs again. I couldn’t stop fucking him. I was addicted, and I didn’t care anymore.
The next morning, a knock at the door interrupted our breakfast.
Castor and Ru stood on the other side, a look of annoyance on his face and a big, excited grin on hers. “Hi, sorry to interrupt.”
I remembered Ru from the party. The VP’s daughter, the one who looked so familiar.
“What’s up?” I invited them inside and both took a look at my mother before following me into the dining room.
“Mom, you remember Castor. This is Ru.” I gestured to my companions. “This is my mom, Penny.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mom said, but when she looked at Ru, something flicked behind her eyes. I ignored it, convinced I’d imagined it, and sat them at the dining room table. Jericho came in from the kitchen, naked from the waist up with sweatpants on and an apron around his waist.
“Morning, gorgeous,” Castor said.
“Morning, beautiful.” Jericho laughed. “What do you two want?”
“I have a business proposition for you.” Ru held out a binder with laminated pages and clearly marked dividers along the side.
“What is this?” I took it and flipped through it, my eyebrows furrowing at a business plan for a website. For my website.
“Castor told me what you were doing,” she said.
I gasped and looked at her accomplice.
“No,” Castor said. “She conned it out of me. I didn’t tell her anything.”
“Nuance.” Ru waved him away. “Look, I won’t spill your secret. Unlike some people, I can keep my mouth shut. I can help you.” She nodded to the binder. “I’m in marketing, but I also do video editing and Photoshop on the side.”
I looked at Jericho, who pursed his lips, raised his eyebrows, and went back to making French toast. Ru ran through her idea. She’d edit the videos and diversify our income streams in exchange for a small cut of the profit.
“I can increase your speed and turnaround time by fifty percent, freeing you up for more content creation.” Ru straightened and cleared her throat. “Plus, I can use the experience as an internship, and I won’t have to apply to some stupid marketing firm.”
“Jesus, Ru.” Jericho shook his head and came to stand behind me, looking over my shoulder at some of her estimates.
“You put a lot of thought into this.” I couldn’t believe the figures she’d put together. This was more than I needed, more than I wanted. But… who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
“Fuck the patriarchy,” she said, holding up her fist in an epic Gloria Steinem power move. “They want me to get a job slaving away for the man. I’d rather help my local hometown ho.”
I snorted, and my mother clapped. “Praise be, little Don Draper. Praise be.”
“Wait,” Jericho cut in. “I’m not sure how I feel about you watching the videos I’m in. You’re basically my sister.”
“I’m not your sister,” Ru said. “And you’re going to act like I haven’t seen you naked a hundred times?”
“That’s when we were kids,” Jericho cut in. “You haven’t seen me naked since my balls dropped.”
“I’m sure your balls still look the same,” Ru cut in, her eyes narrowed. “Besides, do you really think I came to the meeting without having done my research? I’ve already seen your videos, dumbass.” Ru put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue, like she’d been doing it her entire life. Judging by his grumpy expression, I’d say she had.
My mother laughed. “She’s got you there, Jer.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Penny.” He rubbed his hands over his face and threw more bread in the egg mixture now that it appeared Castor and Ru might be joining us.
“You’d really do this?” I was so confused. Why were these people helping me? I barely knew them. I barely knew Jericho.
“Yeah,” she said. “Wait, are you considering hiring me?”
“Yeah.”
“What?” Jer called from the kitchen. “Really? Aris is gonna fucking kill me.”
“No one is going to tell him, right?” Ru looked at Castor, who narrowed his eyes before he nodded. “RIGHT?” Ru called to Jericho.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed and sat next to Castor. “Can you keep your mouth shut around Crow?”
“I’ll make sure he does,” Ru said.
Jericho shook his head. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Maybe not, but I liked Ru. I trusted her when she said she could help me. Between her and Jericho, we could do this if we played our cards right.
I caught my mother’s eye in the living room and she smiled wider, still proud of me despite the nature of my work. It reminded me this would be over soon. I’d be gone. I’d pull my website down. I’d move on. Would these people still want me after I didn’t have any income to offer? What would I do then?
I pretended not to care, refusing to let thoughts like that ruin the present. I’d deal with them when the time came. I just had to enjoy what little I had left.