Page 55 of Creole Kingpin
Ten hours later, Ho-It-All has me almost reconsidering my plan.Now isn’t the time to play games. Just shoot straight with Moses. Tell him how you feel.
But I can’t do that. I can’t take the risk. Not with him. Not after all this time. Because if I let my guard down, and then if he leaves again after seeing the real me, I’ll fall apart. So it’s better to test him now. Trial by fire. Can he take it—take me and my life—or will he walk away?
From my bedroom, I stare down at the street as Rocco and his crew drive away from my place for the last time. I start to turn, eager to walk through my house now that it’s completely finished, but I notice the SUV parked across the street didn’t move. It’s still exactly where it’s been since I got out of the shower.
Fuck. A cop? A Fed?
I squint, trying to see if it looks like Cavender’s face. But as soon as I get a look at the man in the driver’s seat, I know it’s not a cop or a Fed. It’s Moses’s man, Jules. The guy who drove us home last night in the Rolls.
My mind drifts to what happened after the restaurant, back to when I could have gotten myself off on Moses’s lap. All those damn emotions I’ve managed to keep locked away all day bubble up to the surface again.
Fucking hell.I need to put him out of my mind or I’m going to flip the fuck out.
Why would he have someone watch me after I told him to leave me alone? To protect me?
My heart starts to tingle at the thought, but I fight it.Don’t let him sneak in there, Mags. You’ll fall for him so damn fast. And remember what happened last time. He could be gone tomorrow. You don’t know.
No. No. No. I’mnotfalling for him again.I refuse to put my heart on the line like I did before.
If I was wavering about going to the club tonight, the decision has officially been made.
I reach for my dress and find lingerie to wear beneath it.
Fuck this nonsense. It’s time for Moses to sweat.
Thirty-Four
Moses
“She just got into a black car. She’s wearing a dress. You want me to follow her, right?”
My hand aches from being so tightly balled up in a fist. “Of course I want you to fucking follow her. Wherever she goes, you go.”
“Just making sure, boss. I’ll let you know where we end up.”
Jules ends the call, and Trey stares at me from across the room. “You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?”
The man might be a wizard when you hand him a computer, but human behavior isn’t usually his forte. It’s mine.Usually.
“Your strengths are ones and zeros, but if you’ve got some relationship wisdom to impart, go right ahead.”
Trey chuckles. “You know I’m shit with women, but even I could’ve told you that you can’t leave someone with a promise you’ll come back, and not expect her to be pissed when you don’t make good on it for over a decade. I’m pretty sure that’s not what she thought you meant.”
“You know why I couldn’t.”
He pulls his glasses off and cleans the lenses with his shirttail. “Iknow, butshedoesn’t. When are you going to tell her the truth? All of it. Not just the shit you want her to know.”
Trey’s question brings the conversation I had with Mount back to the forefront of my mind—and the promise he extracted from me. At this rate, I may not get the chance to keep my word, and the consequences of not making good on a deal with him aren’t pretty. But, fuck. He’s right. I need to tell Magnolia the truth—and not just because I gave my word that I would.
I force myself back to Trey’s comment as I drop onto the couch and let my head fall back against the cushion. “When she’s ready for the truth, I’ll tell her. And since she’ll barely have a conversation with me, I don’t know when that’s gonna be.”
Trey starts to say something else, but when his computer dings, he forgets about the conversation immediately and his fingers fly across the keyboard. I know better than to ask him what he’s doing, because he wouldn’t stop and ignore me like this if it wasn’t important. I wait a solid five minutes while his brows knit together and he types so fast, you’d think the keyboard would be smoking.
Finally, he looks up. “I knew I was right!” He pops out of his seat and pumps his fist in the air.
“About what?”
He taps on the table in front of him with his index finger. “That someone erased our wannabe killer, and I was fucking right!”
