Текст книги "All or Nothing "

Автор книги: C. C. Wood

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

Chapter Thirteen

‡

Despite my resolve not to give King another thought, I tossed and turned most of the night because, ironically, he was all I could think about. When I finally did get to sleep, he haunted my dreams.

The next morning, I was determined to put King Sloan out of my mind. He’d had enough of my headspace for too long. I texted my address to Eric and told him I was looking forward to seeing him again. And I was. Last night, I’d been able to relax around him in a way I hadn’t with other men.

I went into the office and got down to work. I wasn’t swamped but I had a full load. When my cell phone buzzed on my desk, I glanced at the screen but ignored it when I saw it was King calling. I was in no mood to talk to him at nine in the morning.

Just before lunch, I looked up at the brisk knock on my door.

Marilyn was standing there, grinning at me. “I’ve got a new client for you, Jena. He asked for you specifically.”

I stood, smoothing down my blouse. “Really? Did he mention who referred him?” I was still new to the firm, so this was the first time a new client asked for me.

My feet froze, as did my face, when King’s deep voice answered my question. “A mutual friend.”

The room suddenly felt as though it were closing in on me. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to show up at my job. I managed to recover quickly and refrain from hurling my empty coffee cup at his head.

“Hello, Alaric,” I greeted him levelly.

Though I knew he hated the name, King smiled, rocking back on his heels. “Hello, Jena.”

“Mr. Sloan needs someone to take over the accounting for his businesses,” Marilyn injected.

I narrowed my eyes. “What happened to Albert?”

“He retired,” King returned easily.

Marilyn’s eyes were bouncing back and forth between us. My boss was a smart woman and I knew she was quickly catching on to the tension in the room.

So, I pasted a smile on my face. “Well, then I guess that makes me a lucky girl.”

It was the wrong choice of words because King’s answering grin was downright satanic.

“Okay, well, I’ll let you two get down to business,” Marilyn murmured, leaving my office and shutting the door behind her.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at King. “What in the hell, King?”

Smirking, he made his way over to the chair opposite my desk and slouched down in it. For the first time I noticed what he wore. A black suit, shirt, and tie, all well cut and, by the sheen on the fabric, obviously expensive.

He gave every physical indication that he was a well-respected businessman, which was a complete falsehood.

He also looked too damn good in that suit for my peace of mind.

“We needed to talk,” he insisted, “and I warned you last night that if it wasn’t at your apartment, it would be at a time and place of my choosing. This is it. I knew this would be the one place you wouldn’t cause a scene.”

I glowered at him, because he was mostly right. I didn’t want to cause a scene at work but I would if he pushed me too hard.

“If I agree to give you five minutes, do you promise to leave?”

He nodded in agreement.

With a sigh, I dropped back down in my chair. “So talk.”

King eyed me, propping his elbows on the arms of the chair. “It’s time for me to clear up some of your misconceptions about Justin.”

My back went rigid. “Do not say his name to me,” I whispered. “You have no right to talk to me about him.”

“Jena,” King snapped, his hands slamming down on my desk. “There are things you don’t know about him and it’s been nearly two and a half years since he died, so you’re gonna fuckin’ listen to me!”

For once I didn’t meet his temper with my own. “Fine, say whatever it is you want to say and leave.” I wanted him gone and I was willing to feign interest in whatever it was he thought he had to tell me.

He pressed a palm to his forehead, eyes shut tight. Finally, he looked at me. “I sent Justin to you,” he stated harshly. “He was the honey trap and you were the fly.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

“You used to do Clarence Peretti’s books,” he threw in randomly.

Confused, I asked, “So?”

“I sent Justin to you. We needed someone on the inside. A way to get information. He was supposed to turn you, get the shit he needed, then burn you.”

“Information? Burn me?” I asked, completely lost.

“Larry Peretti isn’t a good guy. At first, I thought you knew. It wasn’t until later that I realized you were completely clueless.”

“Not completely,” I muttered. “I’d heard him…screaming at some of his male employees before. I didn’t like it, but he was always nice to me.” I blinked at him. “How is he ‘not a good guy’?” I asked.

“Organized crime, babe. He’s got his fingers in a lot of pies and they’re all rotten to the core.”

“So, how would Justin have burned me after I provided you with the information you wanted?”

King stared at me blankly for a moment. “He would have cut ties with you. He wouldn’t have said anything to Larry, but it wouldn’t have been hard for him to figure out that the info had to have come from you.”

“And what would Larry have done?” I asked softly.

He shrugged. “I can’t say, darlin’. Since you weren’t in on everything, I’m not sure. I think Larry kept you around to give his businesses the illusion of being clean. I also think that he kept a second set of books you had no idea existed.”

“What normally happens to people who snitch on the mob?” My voice was thick with sarcasm and anger as I pressed him to admit what I already knew.

King just shook his head, refusing to play the game.

“They get whacked, King!”

He smirked again and I lost my temper.

“I could have been killed! It’s not fucking funny.”

He shook his head, the little grin fading. “No, it isn’t.”

“So Justin wouldn’t do it? Burn me?” I asked hopefully.

The look on King’s face was answer enough. “No, Justin was ready to go. I called him off.”

“I don’t understand,” I mumbled. “This makes no sense.”

“I told him to back off. Told him to break up with you and that we’d find another way to get to Larry. Then the fucker died before that happened.”

He had to be calling Justin a fucker because Larry was still very much alive as far as I knew.

“You’re lying,” I snarled. “I don’t know why, but you’re lying to me.”

King stood, reaching in his pocket. “I knew you’d say that. Justin was good at what he did.” He pulled out a flash drive and tossed it on my desk. “Watch that at home, not here. Call me when you’re done. I’m sure you’ll have more questions.”

With that, he turned and sauntered toward the door. Before he opened it, he looked back at me. “If you don’t call me, darlin’, I’m comin’ back here and hauling your ass out so I can tell you what you need to know. Understood?”

Numbly, I nodded, all the sass and attitude drained out of me. Everything he told me sounded like some kind of crazy crime novel or movie. Organized crime? Using the single woman who worked for the bad guy? It was nuts.

King studied me, jerked his chin up, and left, the door clicking shut softly when it closed behind him.

*     *     *

Later that night, I was sitting on the floor by my coffee table, a glass of wine in one hand and my laptop open in front of me. I had the flash drive King had given me in my palm and I was studying it closely. My instincts told me that I really didn’t want to know what was on it, but I knew I was going to watch anyway. I’d been waging this internal debate all evening, through two glasses of wine and my take-out sushi dinner. Now I’d made my decision, even though I knew I would probably regret it.

Taking a deep breath, I plugged the drive into the USB port. As the window opened on my screen, there were four files listed, all titled by date. My heart started pounding as I clicked the first one, which was dated a couple months after I met Justin.

A black and white video came onscreen. After a few seconds I realized it was King’s office. King was sitting behind his desk and Justin was pacing the floor on the other side.

It hurt to look at them together, two men who had turned my life upside down in completely different ways.

“King, man, we gotta make our move soon. My woman, she’s getting antsy, ready for me to be done with this shit.”

My brows lowered. What was he talking about?

In the video, King leaned back in his chair, steepling his hands and staring at Justin. “Not yet, Jay. You may think you’re in there, but you’re not. This woman isn’t just going to blindly hand you the info you want, she’s too fucking smart for that.”

“King-”

“Not yet, Jay,” he stated firmly. “You have to gain Jena’s trust completely. She’s not going to roll over just because you have a pretty face and you’re a good lay. Even if she does know what Larry is into, it’ll take a lot of work to get her to the point where she’ll share that shit with you. If she does, you’ll have to make her fall in love with you, man. That would be the only way to get her to give up what we need.”

Justin threw himself on the couch and sighed in disgust. “Man, she’s a fuckin’ ballbuster. Take-no-prisoners, take-no-shit.”

King chuckled, but didn’t respond.

“I know you get off on that kinda stuff,” Justin continued, “but I don’t like it. Every time she calls me out over some stupid bullshit, I have to bite my fucking tongue to keep from tellin’ her to go fuck herself.”

My pounding heart stopped beating altogether. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“Stick it out for another couple of months, Jay. Take her some purple irises, take her out to dinner, court her.”

“Purple irises? Court her?” Justin asked incredulously. “What the fuck, King? Are we in the fuckin’ eighteen hundreds now?”

King’s chair squeaked as he leaned forward. “They’re her favorite. Don’t you listen to anything she says?”

Well, that answered my questions about King. Clearly he’d been watching me with Justin, listening to our conversations.

My stomach knotted and twisted, the dinner I’d finished an hour ago roiling and threatening to come up. I drank some more wine to help swallow the bitterness down.

“I’m sick of dealing with her after nearly two months, and now you’re telling me I’m stuck with the bitch for another few? No King, I don’t really listen to her and I don’t want to.”

“Fuck, Jay. Pay attention. Whether you like her or not, you have a job to do, so do it.”

Justin hauled himself off the couch. “Fine. The only good thing about this shit is she is fuckin’ fantastic in bed, man. When she’s not using that mouth to rip me a new on, it’s goddamn amazing.”

My skin crawled at his words as I watched him leave King’s office. The video kept playing and my finger hovered over the track pad on my laptop to stop it. I hesitated as King moved, picking up a paperweight on his desk. He stared at it for a second, rolling it over in his hand.

Suddenly his arm flew out to the side and he flung it against the wall in a sidearm throw. I heard the loud crack of it hitting the sheetrock, leaving a huge dent before it fell to the floor. King placed both palms of both hands against the desk and, shoulders heaving, bowed his head. The video ended a few seconds later.

My heart ached as I watched the next video, dated three weeks later. It was along the same vein; Justin bitched about me and King demanded that he get his shit together.

I didn’t want to see the last two, but I forced myself to do it. King hadn’t been lying to me. Justin never cared for me and King…King was using me in some sort of twisted, fucked up plot against my ex-boss, Larry.

The third video was grainy and listed as New Year’s Eve. My eyes widened as the shaky footage, obviously shot on a phone, showed Justin making out with another woman. A woman who was definitely not me. And they were going at it, hands everywhere, mouths open, and moans filling the air.

I recognized the suit he was wearing. He’d dressed up for my New Year’s Eve party that year. The woman was wearing a short, tight black dress that verged on slutty. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. It was obvious he’d hooked up with someone after my party.

A sharp pain shot through my chest. Hearing Justin say he had a woman hurt, but actually seeing it was like being stabbed in the heart. The knife in my chest twisted brutally when he pulled back just far enough for me to see the woman’s face. Katie’s face.

“No,” I whispered.

I didn’t even bother to watch the last fifteen seconds of the film. I didn’t need to see more. My best friend had fucked my boyfriend. That’s all I needed to know.

I almost shut my computer then. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more. Still, I found my finger moving the pointer to the link dated two weeks later, just days before Justin died, and clicking on it. Once again, the screen was filled with the image of King’s office, King behind his desk. I heard a knock before Justin came into frame.

“You wanted to see me, boss.”

Boss. Like what Jack and Chad called him. Boss. King wasn’t even Justin’s friend. He was his boss. I wondered if they had actually known each other all their lives or if that was a lie too.

“Yeah, sit down.”

Justin did as he said. “What’s up?”

King stood and walked around his desk, leaning a hip against it and crossing his arms over his chest. “You need to break it off with Jena.”

“The fuck you say!” Justin yelled, jumping to his feet.

“Cool it, man!” King barked. “And sit your ass back down.”

For a tense second, I thought Justin was going to haul off and punch King in the face, but he didn’t. He took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, and collapsed back on the cushions.

“Why?” he asked angrily. “Six fuckin’ months I’ve been dealing with this ballbusting bitch and now you’re telling me it’s over?”

King’s back looked tight. “I’m pullin’ you. I’ve already cleared it with Wick. You’re off her. We’ll find another way at Peretti.”

“No offense, King, but I’ve put months into this and my girl won’t be fuckin’ happy if she finds out I did all this shit for nothin’.”

“You mean your new girl, Katie?” King asked sharply. “Jena’s best friend.”

“What the fuck does it matter?” Justin asked.

I couldn’t breathe. The hits were coming too fast and hard.

“I’m just sick of you using your women as an excuse during this job when you’ve had three over the last six months.”

Jesus Christ. After three months and both of us getting tested, I’d gone on the Pill and Justin and I had ditched the condoms. I wondered how many women he’d slept with in that time. Just the three? Or maybe more?

Suddenly, the sick feeling in my stomach overtook me and I shot to my feet, running to the bathroom, and crouching over the toilet. Once my gut was empty and the heaves stopped, I closed my eyes and focused on breathing.

It was amazing how badly this betrayal hurt, even after two and a half years.

Stiffly, I got to my feet, rinsed out my mouth and washed my face with cold water. Then I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some sparkling water, hoping it would settle my stomach.

I carried it back into the living room and sat back in front of the computer. The screen was black. I bumped the track pad and the last frame of the video came up. I rewound it back to the point where I got sick and started it again.

I was obviously a glutton for punishment.

I watched numbly as Justin’s fists clenched. “Fuck you, King. If you like the bitch so much, maybe you should step in. Get the job done right.”

“Do not push me, Justin,” King growled. “Break it off with Jena. Wick and I already have another plan to get to Peretti.”

“Fine,” Justin snapped, getting to his feet and stalking out of the office.

This time King didn’t throw anything at the wall. He just stared at the couch where Justin had been sitting. He rolled his head around as though his neck and shoulders were stiff and straightened from the desk. The video ended after that.

My mind whirling, I shut down my computer, removed the thumb drive from it, and carried it into my bedroom. I wanted to dump it down the kitchen sink and use the garbage disposal to grind it into pieces, but I didn’t. I went into the back of my closet, removed the small board in front of the stash space I’d created and pulled out a lockbox. I carried it to my bed and got the key from where I kept it taped beneath my nightstand drawer.

After I unlocked it, I dropped the thumb drive inside and closed the lid with a snap. Once I replaced the box, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed into my sleep shirt. Then I stretched out in bed with a sigh, wrapping my arms around my pillow. I was exhausted, ready for the oblivion that would come with sleep.

But it never did.

Chapter Fourteen

‡

The next day I dragged my ass into work, feeling like crap. I hadn’t slept a wink. I also hadn’t called or texted King. I couldn’t deal with him at the moment. I felt like I couldn’t deal with anything.

I moved through my morning work like a ghost, there but not completely. A little after ten, Marilyn stuck her head in my door. Whatever she was about to say never came out of her mouth. She frowned at me.

“Jena, hon, are you feeling okay?”

I knew my answering smile was wan, but I couldn’t muster up anything better. “Yeah, Marilyn, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” she stated firmly. “It’s Friday. Take the day off and make it a long weekend. You look like you need rest.”

“I’m okay, just tired.”

She shook her head at me. “No arguments. Home. Now. I’ll see you Monday and only if you’re feeling better.”

“Marilyn.”

“If you’re office isn’t empty within the next ten minutes, I’m going to write you up.” She pointed a finger at me, shook it then left.

With a sigh, I saved my work and shut down my computer. Once I gathered my things, I left the office. Though I told my boss I could stay, I was grateful that she was sending me home. I was exhausted and emotionally wrung out.

I got to my apartment and stripped out of my work clothes, not even bothering with a t-shirt, and crashed. Though my brain wanted to continue its awful whirl, I couldn’t stay awake any longer.

I slept hard and deep, a pillow stuffed beneath my head and another clutched in my arms. I don’t know how long I napped, but the sound of voices, specifically men’s voices, woke me.

With blurry eyes, I rolled over and looked at the clock on my nightstand. I frowned at it. It was after six. Had I really slept that long?

I heard the murmur of the voices rise.

“And where exactly is Jena?”

Holy shit, that was Eric! I jumped out of bed and ran toward the door. I was just about to open it when I realized I was wearing nothing but a pair of panties. Quickly, I moved to the end of my bed, grabbed my sleep shirt, and yanked it over my head. Throwing open the door, I hurried down the short hallway.

When I reached the living room, I skidded to a halt. King was standing by my sofa, dressed in a black tee, jeans, and socks. His arms were crossed over his chest. Although he was shoeless, he looked like he could break Eric in half.

Eric was standing by the front door, a bouquet of red roses in his hand. He looked handsome and polished, every inch the sophisticated businessman.

Since I hadn’t eaten all day, a sudden wave of dizziness hit me and I swayed on my feet. Putting a hand out, I bumped into the wall, resting a shoulder against it.

The men turned toward me. King’s black eyes glittered with anger and Eric’s pretty hazel ones were confused and annoyed until they landed on me, then they became worried.

“Jesus, Jena, are you okay?” he asked, taking a step forward.

King moved to the side, putting his body between Eric and I.

I shoved my tangled hair out of my face and smiled weakly at him. “I’ve been better,” I answered honestly. “I’m sorry I forgot to call you. I wasn’t feeling well this morning and came home early from work.”

His face gentled and I realized that he was truly a nice guy. “I’m sorry.” He tried to shift by King, but King wasn’t having any of it.

Eric glared down at him. In his shoes, he was a couple of inches taller than King. “Move out of my way.”

“I told you she was sick. You wanted to see her and you saw her. Now, it’s time to leave.”

Though my head was spinning, I was done with this shit. “Oh, just shut up, King,” I snapped.

Both men looked at me, King’s brows lifted and Eric looked surprised too.

I stumbled to the couch and sat down.

To my surprise, King relented. “I’ll order a pizza,” he muttered, turning away from Eric and stalking into the kitchen.

Eric came over to the couch and sat down next to me, holding out the bouquet.

“Thanks.” I accepted the flowers and set them on the coffee table. “They’re beautiful.”

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” he asked. His eyes flickered toward the kitchen. “With, uh, this King guy?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Um, I hate to ask since you’re obviously not well, but who is he exactly?”

“You mean is he my boyfriend?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I knew then that Eric and I were never meant to be. Though he was direct, he was clearly a nice man, but too nice. As Justin so frankly put it in those videos, I was a ballbuster. I would chew him up and spit him out. It might take months, even years, but eventually Eric McCall would realize that I was too much for him to handle.

“We used to have…something, but that ended about six months ago.”

Understanding filled his features. “When we had dinner the other night, you saw him at the restaurant.”

I sighed and nodded.

“I see.”

“Well, I’m glad you do, because I seriously don’t,” I muttered.

Eric chuckled. “That’s because you’re not a guy.” He patted my arm and I knew that he recognized what I already had; this wasn’t going to happen. “I think it’s time for me to leave.”

“I understand. I really am sorry that I didn’t call you.”

He stood. “Bye, Jena.”

“Bye, Eric.”

I watched as he walked out of my apartment, and knew that I might see him at the office from time to time but that would be it.

When the door shut behind him, King came out of the kitchen and tossed his cell on the side table. “Pizza’ll be here in a half hour.”

Now that Eric was gone, I turned to him, my eyes burning. “How in the hell did you get in here?” I asked, my voice shaking with fury.

King shrugged but said nothing.

“King!” I snapped.

“Look, you weren’t answering your phone. I told you we were going to talk after you watched those videos. I assumed I’d hear from you last night. When I didn’t, I decided we should have another chat in your office.”

He stopped speaking, so I prompted him. “And?”

“And Marilyn told me you weren’t feeling well so I decided to check on you here. I knocked on the door for five minutes. I finally picked the lock because I was afraid your neighbors would call the cops if I stayed out there for much longer.”

I continued to stare at him. “As you can see, I’m fine, if a little hungry. As for our talk, we’ll have to do it another time. I can’t deal with you right now.”

“Jena-”

“King, seriously. I just found out last night that the man I thought was the love of my life fucked other women while we were together. Oh, and we were only together because you planned it. So, essentially, the two of you both fucked me in every way possible.”

He scowled fiercely at my words, but I didn’t care. I was angry and, goddammit, I was hurt. King and Justin had played with my life and my heart in an unforgivable way.

My voice soft, I stated, “Believe me, we’ll talk. I have things to say to you and questions to ask. You will answer them or so help me I’ll make your life hell.”

“Darlin’.” King’s eyes were intense as he looked at me, yet gentle.

“King, I can’t do it tonight,” I whispered. “It’s too much and I’m hanging on by a thread here.”

“Then we won’t talk about it tonight,” he stated. “We’ll eat pizza, drink some beer, and go to sleep. Tomorrow is Saturday. We’ll get up and have breakfast, then we’ll talk.”

“We?” I asked archly.

He shrugged in response.

“Listen, King, what you and Justin did to me…” I trailed off. Could I even come up with the words to describe it? “I can’t forgive you for that. You don’t deserve forgiveness.”

He leaned back on my couch and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t have to.”

I stared at him, momentarily speechless. When I found my voice, I asked, “What?”

One of his eyebrows quirked. I hated it when he did that because he looked smug. “You don’t have to.”

“Then why are you here?” My voice was low, dangerously so.

“There are things happening that you need to be aware of.”

I shook my head vehemently. “No, there’s nothing I need to be aware of. You made sure of that. Justin is dead. I don’t understand why you felt like I needed to know about why he was with me.”

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door. I watched as he answered the summons and paid the pizza delivery guy. He brought the boxes to the coffee table in front of me.

I started to get up, but he pointed at me. “Sit. I’ll get what we need.”

To my surprise, he not only returned with two beers but with plates and napkins. Our conversation might have been tense, but I was so hungry that nothing could put me off pizza. Not even the fact that I was still seriously pissed off at him.

Between bites, I asked him, “So why did you tell me? Really?”

“Jena, do we have to talk about this while we’re fuckin’ eating?”

I gave him a level look. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t invite you here, I’m only letting you stay because there’s pizza and I don’t think I could throw you out myself. So answer the damn question.”

He shook his head, but not in an angry way. It was almost as if he enjoyed it when I said stuff like that to him. “Larry found out what I was up to with you. He’s pissed as hell, wondering what you told us.”

“But I didn’t tell you anything,” I argued. “Plus, it’s been two and a half fucking years!”

King shook his head. “No, he’s thinking that you told me when we had our thing six months ago, and that’s why you found another job.”

My heart stopped. Now that made sense. I tossed my half eaten pizza in the box lid. “Okay, you’re right. We do need to talk. You can start by telling me exactly what Larry does.”

King’s black eyes leveled on me. “He runs guns, Jena. He also provides courier services for people who want to move shit that can’t be moved through legal channels.”

My eyes bugged out. “What?”

“The Laundromats are a way for him to make his money look legit. The sonuvabitch is ironic, I’ll give him that.”

I just shook my head and stared at him, even more confused.

“Laundromats to launder his money,” King stated.

I rolled my eyes then. “Oh, that’s cute.”

“He hired you because you were so clean you squeaked. He knew that having you in the office meant that, if the cops came sniffing around, they wouldn’t be able to leverage anything on you. Most of his office employees have no clue what goes on behind the scenes.”

“Okay, so what would it matter if you and I were close then? Until you told me, I had no idea what he was doing.”

“Yeah, but you worked there for a long time. You know about his habits and he can’t be sure what you might have overheard.”

King was right. When Larry was pissed, he got loud. He had employees that didn’t work in the offices with us, but they did come in regularly. All of them were men and he didn’t censor his language if they displeased him, berating them loudly for us all to hear.

“Okay, so how can I convince him that I really don’t know anything?”

“You can’t,” King answered. “But Wick and I can.”

“Wick?”

“My boss.”

“You have a boss?” I asked.

King’s lips turned up at the corners. “Yep.”

“But I thought you owned the bar?”

He nodded. “I do.”

He didn’t elaborate, so I prompted him, “And?”

“And I have other business ventures. In those, Wick is in charge.”

Sensing something I should know, my eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“Let’s just say that Wick and I share similar interests with Larry.”

“Guns?” I really hoped the answer to that was no.

“No. We deal in information and provide safe passage for people and things. Larry is hotheaded and runs his mouth a lot, so our business was doing well, because the people in need of our services want to know that discretion is first and foremost to us. A coupla years ago, right before you met Justin, Larry’d been dickin’ around, fuckin’ us over, and Wick and I decided it was time to take action, get him outta the game.”

Well, since Larry was still sitting in his office every day, that hadn’t happened. “What went wrong?” I asked.

King’s jaw went tight at my words. “We found a better way.”

“Justin didn’t seem too happy when you called it off.”

King shrugged. “It wasn’t his decision to make.”

I knew that wasn’t the whole story, but the why wasn’t important right now. We’d gotten off track. I needed to know why King was suddenly in my life again. “So tell me why Larry suddenly thinks that I fed you information?”

“Like I said, we found a better way to get what we needed, but it took more time. We made our move right around the time you quit your job with Larry and started at your new place. It made him suspicious.”

“Surely I could talk to him-” I started.

King shook his head. “If he sees you, you’re dead. He might question you first, then let his guys play with you, but you’ll end up dead. Larry doesn’t usually like for things to get bloody, but in this case he’s not just pissed, he’s furious. We’re not just taking his business away, we’re pushing him out of Dallas completely.”

Yikes, none of that stuff sounded like things I wanted to be involved in. “So how do you and Wick propose to take care of this issue, since you claim I can’t do anything to straighten it out?”

“We’re gonna have a meet with Larry, convince him it’s in his best interest to retire and move to Florida.”

“That’s not a euphemism for bumping him off, is it?”

King grinned. “Bumping him off?”

“Whacking him? Making him sleep with the fishes?”

King shook his head, chuckling to himself. “No. Wick wants a bloodless coup. We’re gonna make it worth his while to move on, but in a way he’ll like if he can get over that stupid macho bullshit he tries to pull.”

“He’ll like it?” I asked, shocked.

“Most people like money.”

“So you’re what, buying him out?”

He nodded. “Basically. There’ll be a little more to it than that, but it’ll be much easier on everyone if he takes the buyout.”