Page 83 of Damaged Beast
“Do you have to keep it from your boss?”
“I won’t be able to for long.”
“What happens if you go to him?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never fucked up so badly before.”
“Prime…” I close my eyes and lean into him. “It’s my fault.”
“Don’t do that.”
“We both know it’s true. If you didn't care about me, Carbone wouldn’t be able to use me against you. That’s why he visited at my parents’ house… he was preparing the trap.”
“It’s not important.”
“We’re going to find a way out of this.” I push back, my hands on his chest. His heart’s a steady rhythm under my fingers and it gives me more strength than I thought I had. “I mean it. You and me, no self-destruction, no suicidal murder schemes. We’re going to fix this.”
His smile doesn’t seem like he believes me, but he leans in and kisses the corner of my mouth. “If anyone can figure it out, it’ll be you. There’s a reason I let you run my businesses.”
“You finally admit it.” I kiss him hard, breathing in through my nose, more determined than I’ve been in a long time, and even if there’s no sunlight outside our window and no real chance there ever will be again, that won’t stop me from trying to fix this anyway.
CHAPTER 30
PRIME
Two-thirty in the afternoon. I’m sweating through my work shirt. There are only a few cars parked in this far-flung lot at the very edge of my parking empire. Deanna’s sitting on a pylon rapping a pen against her clipboard, one heel banging a steady beat like she’s got a song in her head.
I could watch her for hours.
Everything’s grim. It all feels wrong. The only reason I’m here without a gun is her. I hate it, this cage I’ve wrapped around myself, but I need to learn patience.
A truck comes rumbling down the street. It slows and makes a wide turn toward us.
Deanna looks up. She clicks her pen and slips it behind her ear. “Bigger than I expected.”
“Much bigger,” I agree, a knot of frustration in my chest. “Are you sure I can’t kill them?”
She comes to stand by my side. Her hand slips into mine and she hangs against me. “Another time, okay?”
“You ruin my fun.”
“That’s not what you were saying last night.”
“I wasn’t saying anything. You were sitting on my fucking face.”
“Hey!” She bites my shoulder playfully. “I wasn’t saying anything either. I had a big dick in my mouth.”
I kiss her fiercely, not caring who can see.
The truck stops nearby. Its gears grind and brake pressure releases in a sharp hiss. The door opens and Marco Carbone climbs down followed by three more Fontana outfit thugs, all of them openly carrying weapons.
“I wasn’t sure I’d see you,” Carbone says, stopping a few feet away. The rig continues to idle as one of his men goes around to open the back.
“What the fuck is that?” I gesture at the trailer. “We agreed to a small first shipment.”
“Plans changed. We need a full drop today.” Carbone’s eyes narrow. “Will that be a problem?”
I want to kill him. Rage flows through me like lava. I could do it too—I have a gun against the small of my back and I’d bet my life I’m faster than Carbone’s men.
