Her voice dropped. “Do I have to?”
In any other circumstances, this would make him smile. It could not be lost on anyone, no matter their gender, that Branch Dillinger was a superior specimen of male.
And Susan, even happily married and entrenched firmly in building a family, had not lost her skills as a connoisseur in this area.
However, Dillinger might be the Operating Manager of Aryas’s clubs, but he used to be something else entirely. The exact definition of that very few people knew, and Stellan was not one of those people. Further, he suspected even Evangeline, Dillinger’s lover, didn’t fully know.
That was the kind of man Dillinger was.
He was obviously and almost aggressively good-looking.
He was also stone-cold and exuded danger so palpably a normal man might catch himself flinching simply in the man’s presence.
The only warmth Stellan had ever seen from him was toward Evangeline. And it was steady, true, without fail the polar opposite of his normal demeanor.
She was the only one who received that, bar none. He might be able to rein in his menace to show respect or regard, but Evangeline was the only being for which Dillinger showed emotion.
And for her, there was a good deal of it.
Though, rather shockingly, Leenie had shared he was enamored with their little dog.
That Stellan would have to see to believe.
“You do,” he told Susan.
“Damn,” she muttered, and he heard the click that shared she’d closed communications.
Stellan got up from his desk and was halfway across his office when Susan opened his door, ushering Dillinger through.
It was rumored he was good friends with Amélie’s Olly, something else Stellan would have to see to believe.
But the two men couldn’t be more different.
Olly was enormous, had a football linesman’s body, dark blond hair and a boy-next-door handsomeness.
Dillinger was tall and viciously lean, not to the point he was slim, to the point the definition of the muscles in his body shared he had the power to perpetrate vicious things. He had black hair. And he had ice-blue eyes that Stellan had experienced nothing coming from but chilling cold and even more chillingly astute assessment.
Susan was giving his back view a top-to-toe before she caught Stellan’s gaze—and his look—gave him a cheeky grin, and shut the door.
“Lange,” Dillinger greeted as they stopped at each other.
Stellan offered his hand to the man. “Dillinger.”
They shook and separated.
“Would you like a seat?” he asked.
Dillinger barely spared a glance at the two backless chairs in front of Stellan’s desk before his attention came back to Stellan.
“I’m not sure I’ll be here that long,” he answered.
Interesting response.
“Obviously, this is a surprise,” Stellan noted.
“Yeah,” Dillinger muttered, and Stellan watched with fascination as he lifted his hand, bowed his head, wrapped his fingers around the back of his neck and appeared to give it an uneasy squeeze before he dropped his hand and looked back at Stellan. “I shoulda called. I’ve got your number. But I didn’t know how to play this, so I asked Angie and she said face-to-face was the way to go.”
Angie.
What he called Evangeline.
He was the only one who called her that.
That in and of itself, with the man he gave the world, shared just how deeply his feelings went for his woman.
And their current meeting was full of surprises considering whatever he was there to discuss, he’d first asked Leenie’s advice.
“Perhaps you should just get on with it,” Stellan invited.
Dillinger looked direct into his eyes, and Stellan fought a shiver.
“It’s rampant, you’re with Sixx,” he declared.
“This is true,” Stellan confirmed.
“Right,” he muttered, drew breath in through his nose and kept direct eye contact. “What’s not rampant is that you shut down her extracurricular activities. But that’s been brought to my attention.”
Stellan, not entirely relaxed, felt his body string taut.
“You two tight?” Dillinger queried quietly.
“Unbreakable,” Stellan said with firm determination.
“Okay then, not my business, but you shutting down those activities, with what they were and her rep out there, that says to me she doesn’t know you made that play. Who she is, if she wanted to end that, she’d not get her boyfriend to do it for her.”
Stellan didn’t reply.
Dillinger didn’t need one.
“I get why you made that play. The company she keeps isn’t good, and she’s got a sweet gig with that law firm. They get wind of that shit, could fuck that up for her. She gets a job that goes bad, other worse shit can get fucked up.”
“These are all things I know,” Stellan said low.
“She know you went that way?”
Stellan remained silent, though that was an answer, and Dillinger read it correctly.
“None of my business, but man to man, when she finds out, that might not go good for you.”
Stellan again didn’t reply.
But this, he feared, was the other shoe that was going to drop.
He needed to talk to her about it. He needed to get them through that important part of how her life needed to change.
He hadn’t because he was concerned she was too fragile after all she’d given him on Sunday. He wanted her to feel safe. To have time to enjoy the calm that had settled in after that storm.
But perhaps he should reconsider waiting.
Dillinger nodded brusquely. “Right, what you don’t know is that she just took a job lookin’ into something going down at the Bolt. She spent yesterday recruiting informants to keep an eye on the activities of one of the three partners. Word travels, this word is so far relatively tight, but it still traveled to me.”
Stellan drew in breath, turned his head, and looked out his wall of windows.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Dillinger continued. “I don’t have a lot of time on my hands to poke around either. Which sucks since one of the other three partners is a buddy of mine. And if I had to make a blind take on what’s happening, I know which of the other two partners is doing fucked-up shit. I know with the kind of guy he is that it’s probably seriously fucked up. And I know he’s not gonna take kindly to someone, especially, Lange, it’s important to say, some woman sticking her nose in.”
I’ve got a job on tonight, but since Ami and Naya aren’t set to start until ten thirty, I think I’ll be good. I might have to meet you at the Honey though.
He did not tell her about all of his business.
They had, of course, only been together for three and a half weeks, very together for only two and a half of those, but all of those weeks had been enlightening and eventful.
That said, she had not shared the job she had on was extracurricular to her paid employment.
It could be read she was keeping that from him.
He’d give her the benefit of the doubt that they simply had just not yet gone there as they were learning about each other and there were other, far more important issues to tackle that took precedence.
However, it was disappointing. He wished they had more time to settle in. But it seemed his earlier thoughts were correct.
It was time to go there.
“I didn’t think this was something I should get into on the phone,” Dillinger carried on, and Stellan looked back at him. “And it’s uncool I blindsided you with it. But I only found out an hour ago, and after talking with Angie, we both thought I shouldn’t sit on it and should tell you straight away.”
“It’s appreciated,” Stellan replied. “And speaking of Leenie, does she know to keep this quiet?”
Dillinger nodded. “Yeah. Though I really can’t keep shit that might or might not be goin’ down in Barclay’s club from him, Lange. He’s my next visit. And I’ve already started wheels in motion to find out what’s happening, and if it turns out to be a situation, sort it.”