Motown Breakdown (Motown Down #4) (35 page)

Opening my eyes, I recognize him as the guy who nudged me after the race. However, Shade explained early on his men were off limits and they understood that worked both ways, unless I was in danger. So outside of my Mac transforming into a killer dildo and fucking me to death, I was safe and wasn’t supposed to speak to him.

“Hello…” I prompt him.

“Razor,” he smiles showing his teeth. The guy was inked from his ear lobes to his fingertips. Some men had muscle. Razor had muscles for his muscles. He wasn’t tall but he was a tank. Apparently he was a risk taker too.

“You can thank the car for that, Razor,” I smile. “I was just along for the ride.”

“Wasn’t talking about the race,” he says leaning back in his chair. “I was talking about how you handled the guy after. Shade doesn’t like his women being marked.”

Women as in plural, I didn’t like that. “Yeah well, he didn’t get the chance to mark me. Plus, I woke up this morning and he didn’t so, I win.”

“Heard about your deal,” he says popping a grape in his mouth. Razor looked pretty comfy so I would assume Shade did invite him inside per his absence and decided to be polite. “That brand on your wrist ain’t no joke.” Losing his smile, he leans forward to rest his arms on the table. “If he told you when your time is up you can leave, he lied.” At my pointed look he throws his hands up. “Come on, female. You think you can come in here and tell him what to do? He’s going to tell you whatever you want to hear except, the truth. You ain’t leaving.”

“And you know this because?”

“No one leaves,” he says grinning. “Alive.”

“Bullshit,” I argue. “I watched Veronica leave when we turned her down.”

“You see where she went?” he asks smugly.

“If you’re asking me if I followed her home, no I didn’t see where she went.”

“But I did,” he grins knowingly. “And let’s just say Veronica didn’t go home.”

“How do you know that?” I counter.

“Because on Shade’s order, I handled it.”

He didn’t have to say killed or possibly misplaced or sold, I already knew. “Ah,” he says smiling. “Now you understand the man you’re fucking. The one who literally
owns you
. He tell you about Marco?”

“Yes,” I admit freely because I wanted more information and it was clear Razor wanted to give it to me. I just had to ask the right questions.

“That surprises me,” he says. “You gonna tell him I was in here talking to you?”

“Depends,” I say leaning in. “Are you going to finish what you came in here to say?”

“I like you,” he grins again and this time it was with confidence. “Shade ain’t like other guys but you know that. Hell, I think you like it. A guy touches you, he dies no questions asked, remember that. Shade likes death, but you know that too. What you don’t know is when words gets around that he’s got you, you become a target. A lot of people want to see him fall, them same people got no issue killing you to do it. That book you’re writin? Ain’t never gonna happen either, no fucking chance. A female like you digs some danger, I respect that but you don’t belong here. This life ain’t for you, not long term. You got hopes and dreams, I can see it. Shade will crush them and
you
unless you find a way out.”

“And what if I don’t want a way out?”

Rolling his eyes, he stands and says, “You will,” before walking away.

Razor risked Shade’s wrath to warn me and though I should at least consider what he was saying, I knew I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t because I saw something in Shade no one else did and I liked what I saw.

Securing transport across the border was done. Money and promises were exchanged, business would be handled, and everyone made money. I’ve only been away half the day but every few minutes I was checking my phone to see if she’d called or texted, she hadn’t. She was probably writing, getting lost in her art. No matter the situation, she was spinning it into a story. Even though I could never allow it to be published, I was curious about it.

Hell, I’d been a fan for years. Sun had a way with words, sucking you into her world. One minute you were booing the villain and the next, rooting for him. Her view on life was much like mine. We were realists, cynical, yet foolishly hopeful. And that was a fucked up way to look at things.

Waiting on border patrol to clear us, I get a call from one of my men. It was quick, to the point, and put me in a foul mood. Razor not only came into the house, he sought her out and took it upon himself to speak with her. There’s a reason my men were never to speak with her. It started with Luna back when she was a kid. From the day she was born the girl was a talker, wanting to be friends with everyone. She trusted easily and when men were tempted with money and power, they used Luna as a bargaining chip. Yes, they all died but had one of them succeeded, she’d be dead too. Those betrayals fucked with Luna’s head. Back then it broke her fucking heart thinking these men were her friends. They weren’t and she nearly died because of it. Razor would be handled the second I parked in the garage. Last night I saw him watch her, looking interested, envious. Sun belonged to me and Razor knew that. Which meant he was up to something.

Twenty minutes later, we’re parked and I send him a message to meet me in the garage. Walking in, he crosses his arms over his chest knowing what’s coming. “She didn’t nark me out,” he says leaning against the wall. “Who did? Yankee?”

“No, she didn’t,” I say approaching him. “Who did, matters little. You have one opportunity to give me full disclosure on what was said. I’m going to speak with her about this and if the stories don’t match up, you die.”

“I told her she handled herself well after the race. Told her you don’t like guys touching her that they wake up dead if they do. Pointed out that being with you makes her a target and to watch her back. Also said that if she thinks she’s leaving, she ain’t. Be pissed,” he says laughing at my defensive posture. “But it’s all true and you know it. That female has no idea what that brand means, what her future looks like cuz you don’t tell her shit. You risked her life putting her in that car and for what? The fucking Nissan you’ll never drive? Showing her off is gonna do two things and both them things don’t look good for
her
. When Luna was around you treated her like a fucking baby, like she couldn’t handle what we do. Now she’s here and you parade her around like a show piece? You let her kill a cop, Shade. Who the fuck does that? You made the rules only to break ‘em. I broke one, yeah so kill me for it. But you know what? That female is even more fucked up than you are cuz when I told her she should find a way out, know what she said?”

“Enlighten me,” I tell him wondering if I should kill him now or later.

“She said, what if I don’t want a way out? You spent them years with Luna keeping her under foot, but she ain’t like her. Keeping her is a fucking mistake and you know it. Lie to yourself that she gets you, but she don’t because you ain’t shown her
you
yet. When she sees, she’ll run and when she does you need to let her.”

“You’re concerned for her? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Shade,” he laughs. “I’m concerned for
me
. When word gets out, and it will once Armand starts talking about the shit you pulled, it blows back on all of us. You ain’t just risking her and I’m selfish enough to admit it. When I signed up with Marco I took women, that was my job. I fucking took them, screaming and crying didn’t matter. I got nothing outside of this place. She’s a threat to what I know because my loyalty is to this business, to you. Now it extends to her and she doesn’t even know it. So yeah, I talked to her. Someone had to.”

Standing in front of him, I make my intentions clear one time only. “If you ever think to meddle in my business again, I’ll slit your throat; your mother’s and that of the son you neglect. She, like Luna, is none of your concern now or in the future. Should you even glance in her direction, I will follow through.”

When he looks beyond me and smiles in victory, I turn to see Sun standing there looking beautiful and confused. “You’re dismissed,” I tell him and when he leaves he was smart enough not to look at her.

“Shade?” she asks from the door. “Who is Luna?”

And just like that, I turned cold.

Since I didn’t want to be one of those clingy run-to-the-door kind of women, I waited in the kitchen for ten minutes before boredom took over. Fine, I was clingy but not in a bad way. This was new, I missed him and wanted to hear about his day. I wanted to share with him the twists and turns of my story and see what he thought. Mostly, I just wanted to touch him.

Opening the door that led to the garage, Shade had Razor backed into a corner and hadn’t noticed me standing there. The plan was to make my presence known until I caught the conversation. Shade was pissed Razor had approached me. Obviously, he wasn’t supposed to be inside with me and was being reprimanded. That I didn’t have issue with, it was the mention of Luna and how he was different with her.

Was Razor right? Had Shade being acting with me? If so, why? Hearing this confused me. The man was a killer, this wasn’t news. But if he was holding back who he really was did I have a right to know? We were more than a business arrangement or so I thought. I’ve known him days, did I have the right to ask questions? Did he? Business deal or not, we both had feelings involved, that much I knew. So when he dismissed Razor, I asked him, “Who is Luna?”

His shoulder tensing didn’t go unnoticed. And when he hesitated in answering me, I knew the words that came out next were likely to be false. My suspicions were confirmed when he faced me. Because the man that gave me a Mustang and made me breakfast was gone, if he ever existed in the first place.

“I’ve explained her to you, she is Marco’s daughter.” Grabbing his brief case out of the car he moves past me to go inside leaving me standing in the garage. Following him in, I cut him off and show him I mean business by putting my hands on my hips.

“Yes, you did mention that but Razor made her sound like
more
.”

“Do not,” he says low. “Speak his name in front of me again.”

“You’re pissed at me?”

“Did I not make it clear my men did not come indoors unless I authorized it?”

“Yes, I remember the chat.”

“Yet you didn’t think to contact me?”

“What should I have done?” I counter. “Excuse myself to run and grab my phone so I can tattle?”

“A smart woman would have.”

“Is that what Luna would have done?”

“You don’t speak of her either,” he says getting really angry. “But yes, Luna, unlike
you,
was obedient.” At this moment, I would have rather been slapped physically than feel like I was emotionally. Clearly, this Luna was a better woman than I.

“Obedience is overrated,” he hurt me with his words so I wanted to hurt him back. “If you miss your
yes bitch
, tell me I’m dismissed and have her fill in.”

“I do not owe you an explanation,” he growls.

“True,” I say checking my nails. “Which means I don’t owe you shit either.”

“She is with the man she loves,” he says clenching his fists. “And if you dare refer to her with anything less than respect again, your ass will be out at the curb with the rest of the trash.”