“Fuck you!” he shouts.

My mouth falls open as I gasp. He has never spoken to me like this before. “Are you on something right now?” I demand. “Is that why you’re acting like such a dick?”

He shakes his head, his hands gripping his dark hair as he lets out a curse. “You’re such a little ….”

“Stop.” Savannah interrupts him as she walks out of their master bathroom. A towel wrapped around her chest. Her blond hair looking darker, due to it being wet.  “You guys quit fighting. We need to stick together. What if they didn’t find what they’re looking for?” She walks over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “What if they return?”

He wraps his arms around her and releases a long breath. “I told you both once, but I’ll tell you again. I’m gonna take care of it.” His voice has softened.

“Sorry if I have trouble believing that.” With that statement, I turn around and go to my room, slamming the door behind me.

CHAPTER FIVE

 

CASE

I sit at my desk in my office at the club when a knock comes on my door. “Come in,” I say loudly, knowing that it is Blane.

“Case?”

I look up to see him walking in and closing the door behind him. “What is so important?” I ask, leaning back in my seat. He looks like shit! He looks like he has been wearing the same black t-shirt for a few days now and his jeans look as if they could stand to be washed. His blue eyes are puffy, and his face is tight with stress.

He makes his way to the seat in front of me and sighs heavily. “Someone broke into my house last night.” My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline in surprise. “And Taylor got a glimpse of the guy.”

“Taylor, your sister?” I pretend I don’t really know her. That she wasn’t just in my office a week ago begging me to let him off the hook. I sit up straighter. “Do you live with her?” No one has mentioned that part. There’s so much that I don’t know about them. How could I let his sister get in the way of doing my job? I need to know everything about the situation in which I have found myself.

He nods. “And she thinks that it was you. I tried to tell her there is no way it was you, but she won’t drop it.”

“Why does she think it was me?” This could be bad, very bad. First thing, the fact that anyone broke into their house is a cause for concern. That fact that she suspects I did it ... is worse. How long will she be able to keep her mouth shut about the threat that I made?

“She said the guy she saw was wearing all black, and you were wearing all black the other night when she saw you.” He rolls his eyes at that thought.

I smirk. “I can see the comparison,” I muse. Of course, I know it’s because of my threat. What are the odds someone breaks in just a week after I threaten her?

He narrows his eyes at me. “She called the cops.”

“Blane ...”

He holds up his hand. “I did whatever I had to do. I busted down her bathroom door and took her phone from her,” he growls. “I called her a bitch, and I threw some stuff around myself. Hell, I even told her I had illegal drugs in the house, and if she called them, then I would go to jail.” He hangs his head in shame. “It was awful. And now she refuses to talk to me.”

“Was anything stolen? Was there something in particular they were looking for? Have you pissed anyone off lately?” I ask the most important question that comes to mind trying to ignore the fact I can’t help but feel sorry for Taylor. She is truly lost at the moment. I can only imagine what she must think of me right now. I was already planning to redeem myself, but I guess it’s gonna have to be sooner rather than later. How am I going to do that?

“Yes, they stole some money from Taylor that she had saved in her nightstand. I don’t know if they were going for anything particular. And no, the only person I have pissed off is my sister.”

“They stole from her?” I wonder out loud.

“Over five hundred dollars.”

I tilt my head to the side. “And nothing else?”

“No. Not that I can find.”

“Does she have a boyfriend?” I’ve been wondering this. If she does, it will make it even harder for me to get close to her. “Maybe it was someone who was stealing from her. Maybe it had nothing to do with you,” I offer. It would be better if it had nothing to do with him. If it’s a problem with her, well, I can fix that with no problem.

He laughs, tossing his head back. “You should call and tell her that. And let her bite your head off.” Then his face hardness once again. “But no, they destroyed everything in almost every room. It was as if they were just destroying shit for the fun of it and maybe just got lucky and came across her cash.”

I sigh heavily as I think of this situation. I didn’t miss the fact he didn’t answer my question about her having a boyfriend or not. “This could be bad, Blane. We don’t need extra attention brought to you.”

“I know,” he growls.

“Do I need to offer you security?” I have several guys who work for me here at the club. You can never have enough security when you run a business where over fifty percent of your customers are not only intoxicated but also possibly high.

“No.” He snorts. “It’s nothing I can’t handle myself,” he sneers as if that offer was absurd.

“And your sister? How are you going to handle her?” I ask truly concerned for her. He may have kept her from going to the cops for now, but what will happen when he’s not around? I’m not worried about her giving them my name; they wouldn’t touch me anyway. I have a reputation, and they know it very well. You fuck up enough cops, and they tend to stay out of your way. Plus, I’m very careful how I run my business. That’s why I have men like Blane—an errand boy. They’ve tried before but can’t pin anything on me. I’m just concerned about what that would do for Blane. He’s no use to me if word gets out on the street he’s working for me.

He looks up at me, head tilted to the side. “That sounded as if it was a question, but I have a feeling you’re gonna handle her for me.”

I feel a smirk grow across my face.

TAYLOR

I softly knock on the door to my boss’s office in the back of the coffee shop. “What?” he growls.

“Mr. Binsen?” I ask, opening up the door to peek my head in. “May I speak with you?”

He doesn’t look up at me but lifts his hand and motions for me to enter. I push the door open just enough to enter. I look around and frown at all the stuff he has stacked in his office. Even more than what he had last time I was in here. He has an addiction to buying junk off the internet. Amazon, Craigslist, or eBay—it doesn’t matter where it comes from, he has to buy it. I once asked him why he stores it all in his office at the coffee shop, and he had said, ‘My wife won’t let me put any more in our house, and our storage is full,’ and then shrugged. If I were his wife, I would suggest he quit buying junk and spend his money on therapy for his addiction.

“What do you need, Taylor?” he asks without looking up from his computer. “Make it quick. I have an auction ending in less than two minutes, and I can’t miss this once in a lifetime chance at this luggage set.” He rubs his hands together excitedly.

Luggage? The man never travels, and his wife is afraid of flying. But that’s not why I’m here. I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Okay …” I clap my hands together to get his attention, at least to get him to look up at me. He doesn’t. “Well, remember how I took off the last few weeks of school to get ready for finals?” He nods once, but I’m not sure he heard what I asked. “I was wondering if I could do the opposite now.”

“Which is?” he questions impatiently. His dark brown eyes scan his computer screen quickly.

“I want to add more shifts to my schedule. Maybe doubles on the weekend? I’ve been picking up every shift I can for the last week, but I wanna be on the schedule, not just take the ones that need to be filled.” He starts to shake his head, and I speak again. “I will take whatever you will give me.” When he just continues to stare at his computer, I start to ramble. “My house got broken into last night, and I had some money stolen. Almost everything in the house is gonna have to be replaced …” His computer makes a beeping noise, and he lifts his hand to quiet me.