Sinful Hearts: Chapter 20

When I pull up outside the Jamaican grocery store where I’m having my meeting with Jayden, I actually have to stay in the car measuring my breaths for another ten minutes.

You can’t exactly waltz into the closing of a lucrative business deal sporting a raging hard-on.

Also, blue balls are a real thing, and between my swollen balls and my rock-hard cock, the discomfort in my slacks still has me gritting my teeth a full hour after leaving Elsa’s office.

At the same time, though…

, that was good.

Too good.

Way too good.

too good, too much, and the way my body craves hers, like a drug I can’t find anywhere else is almost scary.

It’s a very new concept for me.

It’s been a month since that night at Club Venom.

I haven’t been with a since.

But that creates a “which came first”, chicken/egg situation. Am I disturbingly obsessed with and utterly hooked on Elsa because I haven’t let myself drown in my usual ocean of hedonistic, meaningless sex that typically leaves me feeling empty inside? Or have I chosen to forgo my usual self-medication with strangers I don’t give a shit about, and who don’t give a shit about me as anything more than a fun story to tell later, because I’m obsessed with Elsa?

I scowl, glaring through the windshield into the middle distance as I replay what just went down in her office. It’s not even anything I planned, either. I walked in there today, at Ares’ request, to talk to her in her capacity of our family’s attorney—to have her give one last look at the contract sitting on the passenger seat next to me.

I told myself it was fine. That despite what’s been going on—and —between us, we’re adults. And we’re capable of discussing normal, grownup things without it devolving into carnal chaos fueled by pure, unbridled lust.

Or not.

Because the second I laid eyes on her when I walked into the Crown and Black offices, that shit went right out the window. One. Fucking. Look at that tight blonde bun, and her even tighter ass in that gray skirt, and I knew I had to devour her whole.

I don’t do repeats. Ever. And yet somehow, unbelievably, I’ve been with her four times at Club Venom, twice in my car, and once in her office an hour ago.

Groaning, I glance at my watch, and then down to the bulging erection tenting my slacks.

. I have to stop thinking about any of this shit, or I’m going to miss my meeting with Jayden and I won’t close this deal.

I inhale, switching my mind to that and away from the vivid thoughts of watching Elsa’s pink, pretty pussy swallow my cock whole.

Jayden Robinson is the uncle of Lamar, the one I tore into at boxing the other night, and the head of a relatively low-key Jamaican crime syndicate in Queens. And the deal with him is one we’ve been hammering out for two months. It’s also kind of a precursor, a trial run if you like, for the Albanian acquisition. Even though we’re technically buying part of a criminal operation from Jayden, like us, he’s got things hidden behind legit fronts. And it’s those legit fronts that we’ll be purchasing through Thermopylae Acquisitions, to the tune of three million dollars.

It’s not Albanian acquisition money, nor is it redeveloping the parking garage at nine-fifty-two Lincoln Place money. But hey, three mil is still three mil. And it’s a solid deal for both parties. Jayden gets to walk away from a property he doesn’t really have the manpower to run, or even the interest in keeping anymore. And we get another waterfront storage facility to run things out of.

I glance down again.

. My dick has decided to sit down and be quiet. Thank you.

Seizing my opportunity, I grab the contract, jump out of the car, and walk around to the back entrance of the store. The smell of oxtail, rundun, and curried goat makes my stomach rumble as I knock on the back door.

A huge dude with dreads and a face like a mountain opens it a crack with a icy look. But when he sees who I am, he nods, flashing a warm, welcoming grin.

“Hades, how you doin’?”

“Can’t complain, Danny.”

He smirks, opening the door wide to let me in. “Heard you tuned up Lavar pretty good the other night.”

I wince. “How’s he doing?”

“Talking in tongues, brother.”

I frown. Danny cracks another grin.

“I’m just fucking with you, man. He’s fine. Probably looking for a rematch. But hey, come on in. You’re here for Mr. Robinson, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I wave the contract in my hand. “He’s expecting me.”

Jayden’s big bodyguard chuckles. “It’s all business all day long in here today, I guess.”

“Oh?”

Danny shrugs, leading me through the back of the market, past huge open barrels of spices and curry leaves, and then up the stairs to Jayden’s office.

“Yeah, brother. The big guy’s got his boss-man hat on today, I’m telling you. Didn’t even come out for lunch.. We had the Italians in here this morning, a couple of mean-lookin’ Russians an hour ago, now you—”

“Did you say Russians?”

Jayden’s family and mine go pretty far back. Our grandfathers did business together here in New York, back in the day. But even so, there were precautions in place when we first sat down to make this deal. Namely, precautions to keep it .

This was a good deal for both of us, and neither party wanted or needed anyone else coming in and trying to fuck things up with a bidding war. Or doing anything else that would put too much scrutiny on the deal, the warehouse, or either of our shell companies involved in the process.

On Jayden’s side, he was nervous about the Haitians seeing the deal as sign of weakness, or of him getting ready to step down as head of the organization.

On our end? Well, . Namely, the Reznikov Bratva. We didn’t want them to even hear a whisper about this deal, because Gavan is a smart motherfucker. And he’d see this for exactly what it is: a test run for something bigger.

Like Serj Mirzoyan’s empire.

So, yeah. Damned straight I tense the fuck up when Danny mentions Russians.

He shrugs. “I don’t know, man. I’m just security. But yeah, they were Russian.” He frowns. “I think. Maybe Ukrainian? Or Polish?”

I relax a little. As much as I like Danny, it’s like he says: he isn’t exactly part of the inner circle. Who knows who the hell Jayden was talking to earlier. It could’ve been Lithuanian grain importers, for all I know.

At the door to the office, Danny knocks a staccato rhythm that I’m sure is code. A little window slides open all the same, with dark eyes glaring out before the face nods. The window shuts, the door unlocks, and then it swings open.

“Good luck in there, brother,” Danny pats me on the back. “Oh, hey, you didn’t bring any of that baklava again, did you?”

“Shit. Slipped my mind. Next time, for sure.”

He grins as I turn and stride into the office and close the door behind me. I nod at a couple of familiar faces around the room before I walk over to shake Jayden’s hand. At sixty-five, he’s put on some pounds around his middle, and his long dreads are gray. But he’s still a formidable guy.

Luckily, the Greeks and the Jamaicans have always gotten along pretty damn well in this city.

“Big day, Jay,” I grin, plopping into a chair and dropping the contract on the desk between us. “You ready to make this official and take my money?”

The room is completely quiet. And I’m suddenly aware that I’m the only fucker smiling in here. Jayden frowns, clearing his throat.

“First of all,” he smiles awkwardly at me, “I want to thank you for the interest in the property, Hades. I know our families go way back, and I appreciate the way you worked out a deal that was good for both of us.”

good? I don’t like how this is starting. At all.

“You want to tell me what’s going on, Jay?”

His brow furrows. “You, ahh, want a drink, Hades?”

“I want to know what’s up, actually,” I growl.

He sighs. “Look, there’s no easy way to say this, but I wanted to tell you face to face, like men.”

..

“You getting cold feet, Jay?”

“Shit, Hades, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I said no at first. But he just kept putting money on the table, brother. And at a certain point, it becomes impossible to keep saying no.”

My jaw grinds.

“

kept putting money on the table,” I growl.

Jayden sighs. “I’m sorry, Hades. I know this is going to look like a snub, and I didn’t mean for it to be. It’s just business—”

“

.”

He drags his fingers through his gray beard.

“Gavan Tsarenko.”

.

“He came in less than an hour ago, Hades. I never invited him, and I truly don’t even know how he knew it was for sale. But he did, and the more I told him it wasn’t for sale, the more he was telling me everything can be for sale at the right price, and throwing more money on the table.”

Jayden looks legitimately sorry, and a little scared as he shrugs and raises his arms in appeal. “I mean what was I supposed to do, brother? All respect to you and your family, Hades, it’s the fuckin’ Russian .”

I look away, my jaw grinding.

“How much.”

Jayden sucks his teeth. “Seven.”

Fucking. Hell.

“He dropped ?!”

Jay nods.

“That’s fucking insane.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Also…” Desmond, Jayden’s nephew and the next in line for the throne, gets up from one of the couches across the office. “Gavan rolled up with thirty big fuckin’ Russian dudes, who literally surrounded the place.” He shrugs. “I don’t think he was planning to start anything, but Gavan definitely meant to send a message.”

“Which I got loud and clear, you hear what I’m saying?” Jayden mutters.

“Yeah,” I growl. “I hear you.”

Except I don’t think the message was for him.

It was for and my family. Tsarenko comes by with thirty men, and then pays one hundred and thirty-three fucking percent over the current price?

Yeah, . That wasn’t a bidding war. That was a shot across my family’s fucking bow.

“Hades, I’m sorry, brother. I didn’t—”

“It’s fine.”

I stand, cracking my neck before I reach over and shake Jay’s hand.

“Hades, we go way back—”

“Which is why I’m only pissed, and not ,” I growl.

“We can make this right. I’ve got other—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

When Jay swallows nervously, I force a smile and pat his hand.

“Seriously, Jay, we’re good. Shit happens, you know? Like you said—it’s just business.”

I’m guessing this was the other part of Gavan’s little surprise attack: to get us pissed off at the Jamaicans for selling to him instead of us.

To divide us.

And that’s actually even concerning than him buying a fucking warehouse he doesn’t need just to “send a message”.

A more concerning.

Which is why making sure Jay knows we’re cool is really, really important.

“Seriously, we’re good,” I smile at him. “Listen, my sister’s opening this new bar in the West Village, and they’re doing this family and friends soft opening in a few weeks. Why don’t you and Desmond swing by?”

The concern around his eyes melts a little. “Yeah?”

“For sure. I’ll put you both on the guest list.”

“Stock up on the Red Stripe,” Desmond chuckles. “It’s all Uncle drinks.”

I grin through the darkness swirling inside of me. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“

.”

Ares turns to stab his gaze through the big windows of the Thermopylae Acquisitions conference room. I got our mother’s piercing icy-blue eyes. Ares got our father’s dark, brooding ones.

“You’re sure it wasn’t Jayden’s idea?”

I shake my head. “Positive. Never mind the history between our families, we’ve always been a bit bigger and more powerful than him anyway—and that was before we joined forces with the Kildares. No, he’s got too much respect for our history, and too much appreciation for the power dynamic to fuck that up.”

“Even for four fucking million over our price?”

I nod. “Even that. Jay’s not an actor, man. And he looked scared as shit when I walked in there. This was a shot across our bow, but it rattled Jay’s windows too.”

Ares shakes his head. “This deal was locked the fuck down. I mean the only people who knew were us, Neve’s family, and Jay’s crew. Maybe one of his guys let it slip? Or, fuck, I mean I know Cillian and Castle just brought on some new blood. Maybe—”

“Ares.” I drum my fingers on the conference table, glancing up at him when he turns back to me. “I think part of the reason Gavan did this was to make us suspicious of our allies. Same as how I’m betting he was hoping it would drive a wedge between us and the Jamaicans.”

His eyes narrow. “He’s trying to divide us.”

I nod.

“And sow discontent.”

“Yep.”

His jaw clenches. “In war or politics, those are both moves you make on your enemies before you ”

I nod slowly. “They sure are.”

“We need to find out how the Russians knew about this deal, Hades. And we need to find out yesterday.”