Wed to the Bad Boy (4 page)

Greyson

I sat down at the picnic table and looked at her, double dipped cone in hand. She was giggling at me. Actually giggling.

“What?” I asked as I looked her over.

“Just, you,” she said as she pointed at me. I’d taken off my suit coat and was sitting there scowling. “You’re wearing, what, a thousand dollar suit, eating drippy ice cream.”

The suit cost me more than that, but she had a point.

“It’s good. My favorite place in town to get this.”

She nodded. “My mom used to take us here on special occasions. Said it was where her parents took her.” Anne’s Dairy Creme had been around for years and years, and it was a staple of the area.  She dug into her strawberry sundae. “I’ve always loved it, though. Best ice cream, ever.”

The way her eyes lit up sent a rush of something else through me, not lust. Something different. It was like she experienced everything for the first time, her reactions so intense. I liked that about her. It made me… feel.

Looking at her made me feel other things. I fought my rising cock as I stared at her. I didn’t want to get hard here, now. I wanted to take her back to my place and fuck her good. I wasn’t sure it would get her out of my mind, but I knew that it would at least give me a little fix.

I could almost taste her, the memory of her overwhelming my mind. I wanted her again yesterday, but I held back. Had to make it look like I wasn’t as strung out as I was. Had to try to convince myself I didn’t need it.

But I did.

“Why do you work for your dad? Why not do something else?” she asked the question and brought me up out of my fantasies.

“I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, Jo.” What the hell could I tell her? That if I tried to leave the family, I’d be killed. I cleared my throat and looked away.

“So, what do you have planned for us next?” she asked, cautiously. She got the hint. I appreciated the fact that she wasn’t going to push the topic.

There it was. My opening. And my phone took it away in an instant with its infernal buzzing.

“One second,” I said as I stood up and walked away from her, towards my car.

Fuck, it was my father.

The last person I wanted to talk to right now. If I didn’t answer it, he’d grill me. And if I did, I knew playtime was over.

He only called me when he wanted to summon me. So I did what any good son would do, I picked up the damn phone.

“Yeah?” I asked. I never bothered to greet him. We both knew he wanted something.

“Get your ass down to Warehouse B. I got some business I want you to take care of.”

“Can it wait, I have an appointment.”

“No, it cannot wait. Get Janson to reschedule. I’ve got some things for you to take care of.”

“Alright. I’ll be there.” I hung up the phone and turned towards Jo, who was finishing her sundae, sitting there looking as beautiful as ever. My good time was already ruined, but at least I could be a gentleman and take her back to her place.

“Sorry about that, got called into work. I was dealing with an issue with some of the equipment. Too hot for the workers, but not for me.” I shrugged as I threw my cone in the trash.

“You want anything for the road? I’ll drop you off at your place on my way.”

She shook her head. “No, I think I’m good.”

The spell lifted, and she saw me again, the real me. The one she was afraid of.

The entire car ride was silent, she didn’t talk, I didn’t put music on to lessen the tension. I needed this. It taught me a valuable lesson. Girls like her would never want guys like me. Not really.

Especially if they knew what we were involved in. That’s why one night was the best I could do. The best I could give anyone. It’s why I shouldn’t have come calling today.

But I couldn’t stay away.

“Listen, Jo. I have an event I have to attend next Friday night up in the inner-harbor. It’s a dinner for Representative Cruise, and I need to bring someone. I’d like you to come with me. I’ll knock some of the time owed off your sentence.” There, I made it a business deal, and she can’t say no. That way I could keep denying what I was feeling. That way I could see her again.

She looked at me, considering, her eyes calculating. She looked at me, considering, her eyes calculating. “How much time?”

“Consider your debts forgiven.” I’d work it out with my father later.

“I’ll do it.” She swallowed. “Thank you for today, I needed that.”

“Okay. I’ll pick you up around seven.” It didn’t matter to me that she was doing it for the release of debt. It didn’t matter that I might take another beating for negotiating it without my father’s approval. I didn’t care.

I wanted her.

She was already making me reckless.

As soon as she was out of the car I took off. I needed time to separate her from whatever my father wanted me to do. It wasn’t going to be good, it never was.

Instead of clearing my head I grabbed my phone and dialed Janson.

“What is it, boss?” he asked.

“Jo. What do you know about her?”

“Uh, not too much. Working to pay off father’s debt, or something like that.” The hesitation in his voice let me know he wasn’t telling me everything.

“What do you know, Janson?”

“I-”

“Fine. Get the information.”

“I will,” he said.

“We’ll talk about it later, right now I have to do something for my dad.” I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the image in front of me. I didn’t have time to be talking to Janson; I needed to focus on what was right there. My father.

I pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse, and he was there. Waiting for me. I hung up the phone without another word to Janson

“What took you so long?” he asked as I stepped out of the car.

“Had to make a few calls, finish up with my client, and then head your way.” I squared my shoulders, made sure I was standing tall and looked at him without a hint of what I was really doing in my eyes. It was the truth- sort of.

He nodded. I’d learned not to apologize to him, not to let him see any sign of weakness. Not ever.  James Fitzgerald was a mean son of a bitch, and he expected his son to be the spitting image of him. Mean, unforgiving, cruel when necessary. But far.

And a Fitzgerald never apologized for his actions, but he did take responsibility. I did exactly what he wanted, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was pleased.

“Son, I’m glad you made it. I’ve got a couple of people who’ve… failed us. I wanted you to help me take care of it.”

I winced. I hated this part of it. I didn’t want anything to do with it, but if I showed weakness, he would only make it worse.

“Don’t we have people to do that?” I asked, “I’m really busy-“

“We do, but you know the deal. We have to take care of these things ourselves from time to time. Don’t want people to forget that we do enforce our own rules. Don’t want to get soft, either. This makes us hard. Makes us remember exactly who we are.”

We were monsters.

Chapter Four

Joanna

Seminar was finally over. Two and a half hours of searching through the book of the week, proving you read it with quotes, and trying hard to contradict the author without insulting them. It was a challenge, but it wasn’t a boring one. At least not to me.

I felt confident in the paper I submitted, and I felt good about school. Everything was going just the way I wanted it too. I was a little bit behind, sure, but everyone else was too. Graduate school was exactly what I wanted, and it was going well. I was happy. Content.

Until I saw my uncle’s private car pull up, along the street I was walking on.

Fuck.

“Get in the car, Jo.” Milo, my uncle’s driver, said. He waited, and I stood there.

“You can’t just come here to school,” I glared at the two of them. “You can’t ask me to do that here.”

“I can, and I will,” Uncle Dennis responded from the back of the car. I bent my head and opened the door, sliding into the seat across from him.

“What do you want?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“My dear, is that any way to talk to your dear old uncle? Especially when I find out that you are working for the enemy.”

Ice ran through my veins. “Do you know why?”

“Because your father can’t help draining the allowance I give him each month at the races,” he glared. “Oh well, better than putting it up his nose. Why didn’t you come to me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you, Uncle Den,” I said with all the sweetness I could muster. The man was usually very kind to me, but he had a dark side just like all the other men in the family. In both families.

“I know, my dear. I know. But, you see, this presents an interesting… opportunity. You, working for them. The Fitzgeralds.” He smiled at me. “I could give you the money, tell you to give it them, but I don’t want that. No, I like you where you are. Working for the other family. I have a proposition for you.”

I was working for the Fitzgeralds, sure, but I hadn’t been into work for them in almost a week. I hadn’t seen Greyson in days. Five to be exact. I was waiting for tomorrow to see him. At the dinner. I tried not to think about that night.

“Oh?” A proposition. I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was exactly like him to take advantage of any situation that presented itself; he’d just never done it to me before. A stupid, small, infinitesimal part of me thought that he wouldn’t. It was stupid; it was naïve.

I was a pawn first and foremost. Something to be used.

“What do you need, Uncle?”

“I need you to stay, to work for them. To learn everything that you can. They don’t know that I know, do they?”

I shook my head, “I don’t even know how many of them know who I am.”

“Oh, they all do. I am sure they all know who you are. But you, you are just a girl. A niece. They’ll underestimate you. Let them. Let them think you know nothing and report it all to me.”

“I only have so many hours that I have to work-” I started.

“You do, but you need a new car and a better apartment. Offer to stay on. It can’t be hard work, can it?”

I thought about it for a moment. So far all the job had been was just easy serving. Well, kind of easy. I had to deal with Greyson’s stares. And his mannerisms. He was so damn intimidating.

“I can manage it. But with school-” Graduate school really was a full-time job in and of itself. I was already slipping behind. Today was a victory, but a small one.

“You’ll manage.” He waved his hand and dismissed me. Like I was just another one of his lackeys. Because I was. I was nothing more than his pawn.

I always would be.

Greyson

Blood ran red under the streaming water, washing away all the terrible things I’d done.  Another day of acting as my father’s enforcer. He was making me do it more often, lately. Making me remember all the horrible things I’d seen. It was like this every time I had to clean up after. With me washing the blood off of my hands, my body shaking. With anger. With rage.

And even fear.

Jo. I wanted to see her. I wanted her. Not yet. Not until the dinner. I thought a few days would get her the fuck out of my mind, but it didn’t. The touch of her, the feel of her, it was all still there tormenting me and my cock. I’d never had so much fucking blue balls in all my life. I’d never turned down a woman to take care of them, either.

But I did this time.

I would never let her see me like this. I didn’t care about other women. Sometimes I went to them right after, anger and lust overwhelming me. I could fuck the hate. The pain, out of me. But not with her.

Yeah, I wanted to fuck her, make myself forget all of this, but I knew if I did I would hate myself in the morning. She would hate me. Before I wouldn’t give a shit, but after looking into her eyes, after seeing her smile. I did. It was a weakness I wasn’t expecting.

“Boss?” I heard Janson call me as he closed the door to my penthouse.

“In here,” I said as I turned off the tap and dried my hands. I’d changed and washed my hands. That would have to do. “What do you need, Janson?”

He looked at me, and then the scene in the sink and just nodded. He’d been there before.

Our old men were cut from the same cloth.

“I have the information you wanted, on Joanna.” He held up a manila envelope, “My dad had it all. Sent a PI out before we hired her. You’ll never guess who she is.”

“Who?”

“Dennis O’Brien’s niece. Turns out, dad owed money to us, didn’t want to go to his brother. She agreed to work it off.”

“I thought you said she was just some girl from Brooklyn Park?” I asked.

“I guess I was wrong.”

I swallowed. “So, you’re telling me that we have our rival’s niece working tables and serving drinks?” I asked, processing this information.

“He doesn’t seem to care too much about her. She’s not involved in the family at all. They don’t use her for anything. Dad made the deal to humiliate him, more than anything. If he found out. Didn’t want to put the squeeze on the brother that would be taking it too far.”

I could see the conundrum he must’ve been in.

Still, to think he would allow this to happen. To get this far. He didn’t want to protect her. But I did. I wanted her more than she knew.

“So, I take it you haven’t spent the night with her?” Janson asked, still holding that envelope. I reached for it, but he pulled it back.

We stared at each other. “Why do you say that?” I asked.

“You never seem to want a woman for more than one night. My sister was a pretty good damn example of that.”

“That shit got me into major trouble,” I said.

“Yeah, but your dad respected you for it. He was pissed, it caused derision, but he respected your masculinity. You are a cold, calculating son of a bitch. So what is it with her?”

“Well, she was just some hot piece of ass. Now, now she’s a damn piece on the chessboard.” I grabbed that envelope and opened it, leafing through the photos. Some at the University of Maryland, some at her apartment. Some with her father. With her uncle. A whole sheet on who she was, what she did. All the way to her college transcripts. How the hell did they get those? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t ask.

She was everything she said she was, a first-year Ph.D. student, a smart woman.  So why in the hell would she agree to this? She had to know that getting mixed up with the mob wasn’t going to end well for her.

She had to know what I’d do when I find out. Or maybe she thought I already knew? Maybe she thought that’s why I paid attention to her at all. No wonder she looked at me with such cold eyes.

“Boss? Where are you, you look a million miles away,” Janson stared at me, but I just shook my head and waved him away.

“Sorry, I was thinking. Thank you for bringing me this information,” though I suspected he’d known it all along. I could always tell when he was hiding something. I’d known him since first communion. We were best friends.

“Anytime, boss.” He hesitated. “Greyson?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“We need to talk. About David.”

My half-brother. Not right now. I didn’t want to talk about him. I didn’t want to think about him. I had too much other shit on my mind. “Later.”

“Fine. You still going to see her?”

“I think I am.” It didn’t matter who she was. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Just thinking about her made me hot and uncomfortable.

He swallowed and nodded. It was not what he wanted to hear.