“New negotiations on Enterprise Bargaining Agreements.”
“Fuck, if that goes through, it pushes the final cost up at least thirty percent.”
“Yeah,” Ben said.
Tension smashed through me. Phil fucking Deacon had been a thorn in my side for far too long. “It’s time to teach that motherfucker a lesson,” I declared.
I knew I’d made the right decision when both Ben and Merrick gave me their agreement without hesitation.
Pointing at Ben, I said, “Get the guys together. This shit goes down tonight. I’ll let you know the details.”
“Will do,” he agreed, and left Merrick and me to it.
“We should have dealt with Deacon years ago,” Merrick mused.
“Yeah, well, he’s about to wish he’d never fucked with me.”
“Good. I always thought you were too soft on him.”
He was right; I had let Phil get away with a fuck load more than other people. We’d had a good relationship once, and with loyalty being one of my strong points, I’d struggled to deal with him once he’d started pulling away from me.
“I have,” I agreed. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
My phone rang, interrupting our conversation, and Merrick left me alone to take the conversation.
Scott.
“Hi,” I answered it.
“I had a missed call from you.” He cut straight to the chase. Pure Scott.
“I know who Blue is.”
“Fuck. Who?”
“Your uncle.”
Silence. And then, “What the fuck?”
“Had a visit from your mother, and she mentioned his name during our chat. Blue is her brother. I got out of her that he has something over Marcus from years ago. He used that to blackmail Marcus into pulling Storm out of drugs, and then he left. Went into hiding from what I can make out.”
“Fuck,” Scott muttered. “Uncle Dan. Haven’t seen him in ten years.”
“How the hell did you not know he was Blue?”
“I never called him that growing up. Must be Mum’s nickname for him. Red hair and all.” He paused before adding, “Why are you telling me this? I heard you were out, brother.”
Brother.
“I was, but I’ve reconsidered.”
“Thank fuck, Blade. Shit’s going down in the club at the moment with divided loyalties. We need to expose Marcus and get that support back before we take him out.”
“Is he still spreading shit about you?”
“Yeah, but at least some of the guys have a fucking brain and can see through him. Just need to get the rest of them to see it.”
“What’s the split at the moment?”
“About sixty to forty, I’d say.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“We need to find Blue and get him to come back. I’ll protect him until we sort Marcus out.”
“I saw the results of your run-in with Marcus. Good job, brother, but thank fuck you stopped.”
We talked a bit more and then ended the call, and I contemplated what had been said.
It was the longest conversation I’d ever had with my brother.
***
At exactly five o’clock, I walked through the front door to Layla’s. She was at the bar serving customers. I looked around and realised she had about double the number of customers in here that she usually had. Narrowing my eyes on the far corner, I also took in the band she had playing. Live music.
As I walked to her, she looked up, and I caught her eye. I also caught the rapid rise of her chest when she saw me. And the bite of her lip.
I waited at the other end from where she was serving, and once she’d finished with her customers, she came to me. Leaning across the bar, she pressed a quick kiss to my lips.
I shook my head when she pulled away.
“What?” she asked.
“I didn’t come for a kiss,” I said, my eyes firmly on hers.
Her heated gaze told me she’d been waiting for five o’clock. “I know,” she breathed out, “but I’m too busy to leave the bar.”
She was right, but fuck, I was a greedy bastard. I needed to find her a lot more fucking staff members. “Go back to your customers. I’ll be waiting.”
“Do you want to wait upstairs?”
“Yeah.”
I pushed off from the bar and headed upstairs after one last look at her. She was wearing a short denim skirt tonight. I’d never seen her in a skirt, and fuck, I never wanted to see her in anything but a fucking skirt from now on.
I climbed the stairs slowly. Exhaustion still owned me, and my dreams still hadn’t left me alone. I intended to lie down on Layla’s bed to wait for her, but Annie smiled at me from the couch and I stopped to say hi. We hadn’t spoken much, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to spend time not only with Layla, but also with the people who meant something to her.
“Hi,” I murmured as I approached her.
“Hi Donovan.”
She spoke in such a timid voice. I fucking hated her father for what he’d done to her, and the fact Layla had taken to him with a knife pleased me to no fucking end.
That’s my girl.