“That’s all you called to discuss?” I could hear the laugh in his voice and it incensed me.
“Of course, Cane. I can’t think of anything else I need to discuss with you. Words are so overrated, you know. It’s actions that really speak.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, I take that back. My recent conversation with Simon was interesting.” I smiled into the phone as I heard him tense through the line. “He made an offer on Solomon Place. I need one document signed by you before we can do that.”
I was met with silence.
“Cane?” I asked again, my voice shaking a little.
“Solomon Place is no longer for sale,” he snarled.
“Excuse me? It’s not for sale? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
Silence reigned again. I could feel him boiling through the phone and I wasn’t sure why. I knew he didn’t like Simon for some reason, but to pull the property off the market so he wouldn’t buy it? That was extreme, even for Cane.
“I have no idea what is going on right now. You want us to remove the property from the market?”
“Let me ask you a question. Is my property the only connection you have with Powers?”
“What?”
I heard his chair squeak through the phone. “Is my property the only one you have associated with Powers?”
“Yes. He was interested in another one in Gila Bend, but my dad had someone else show him that.” I squeezed my temples. “You’re losing me here, Cane.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” His voice was quiet, just above a whisper.
“Excuse me?”
“That property, all of my properties actually, are unavailable for purchase by Simon Powers. I don’t care what offer you submit on his behalf, Jada, I will reject it. I will make it impossible. So please, save yourself the trouble.”
“That’s insanity, Cane.”
“Probably.”
I stared into space, trying to find something I understood in the mayhem.
“I don’t care if it ever sells. What I do care about is that you don’t see Powers again.”
Confusion riddled me.
“Do you hear what I’m saying, Jada? Stay away from Simon Powers.” His voice was cool, lethal, and it caught me off guard.
“You’re joking, right?” I realized I was holding my breath, but I couldn’t help it. The entire situation was getting out of control.
“Does it sound like I’m fucking kidding?”
“Why, Cane?”
“Can’t you just trust me?”
“I trust me,” I replied softly. “And the more I go through life, the more I see the value in that motto.”
“Jada.” Cane’s voice wavered slightly as he said my name. “If this is about me going to Payson—”
“It isn’t. Not really. This is going just how I expected it would and it’s fine.”
He let out a strained breath. “Look. Simon Powers is very bad news, Jada. I need you to do what I say.”
This is stupid! Don’t let him feel sorry for me! He is just another fish in the sea and if this is how he rolls—and I know it is!—then I don’t want anything else from him. Especially his pity!
“If I have someone else take over the sale from our side, will you still sell the property?” I asked him, turning the conversation back to business.
“And you will have no contact with Powers?”
“I’m not promising you anything, Cane. But I haven’t had any conversations with him that weren’t centered around real estate, so the odds are in your favor.”
He sighed, his aggression beginning to wane. “Yes. I would go along with that.”
“I’ll let my father know. Nice talking to you, Mr. Alexander.”
CANE
She hung up on me. A grin slid across my face.
I sat holding the phone in my hand, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened.
That did not go according to plan.
Realizing that she had just managed to do something that people tried to do all the time, and failed miserably at, made the grin grow wider. She had just won a battle, albeit a small one, over me.
It was sexy as hell.
Damn her, anyway.
I shook my head and leaned back into my chair.
The last few days had been a clusterfuck. I should have listened to Max and stayed calm when he told me Jada had been with Simon, but calm wasn’t something I was great at. The thought of her with that low life son-of-a-bitch infuriated me.
Why couldn’t she just fucking listen?
The bits and pieces Max and I were able to put together about Simon looked worse and worse. I had honestly thought that he would just disappear, but now I wasn’t so sure. And if he was going to keep contacting her, I was going to have to clue her in without panicking her. I was going to do that the night she had dinner with him, but she was so fucking mad at me and my plan got put on the back burner.
There has never been a better back burner.
Thoughts of her wrapped around me, my cock buried inside her, made me want to go get her from work and take her home with me.