Page 43 of Hard Ruck

“Not just movies.” Gianni picked up his drink, toasted me and took a sip.

Dallas frowned. “What the fuck?” He stared at Chelsea, the cogs and wheels almost visibly turning in his mind. “Are you saying this is some kind of mafia place?”

“Basically,” she said simply. “The people in this room run Dusk Bay.”

“We run the country,” Mina said quietly. “Most of it anyway.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered. This went way beyond strangling one woman.

I’d had a sense ofsomethingthe moment I walked in the room. Now I knew what it was. It was a hum of power. It drew me like a magnet. Grabbed me in a stranglehold and held me with possibilities I never considered before.

“Are we a part of that now?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dallas demanded. “You’re some kind of mafia princess?” His hazel eyes were wide. He only blinked every once in a while, trying to get his head around what he was hearing.

“I wouldn’t exactly describe myself that way, but yes,” Chelsea said.

“Me too,” Daze said with a smile. “Mina is more like a mafia queen. One of her boyfriends is the head of all of this.” She gestured around the room.

Mina inclined her head.

“That makes me a queen too,” Gianni said cheerfully. “Or a king. I’ll happily own both of those.”

“I don’t—” Dallas shook his head. “The mafia are criminals. They launder money, bribe people, threaten and all that shit.”

“Give the boy a gold star,” Gianni said. “We do all of those things and a lot more. In return, we get to live like this.” He raised his drink again, his tattooed fingers curled around the base of the glass.

“Sign me the fuck up,” I said softly. I was already in this up to my eyeballs, but the more they talked about it, the more involved I wanted to be. How far could this go? I had no illusions about becoming a mob boss, but the connections I could make would be a game changer.

I glanced over at Storm. He looked thoughtful, maybe resistant, but he nodded.

“Me too,” he said finally. His gaze held caution, but he wasn’t going to be left behind. Knowing him, he was already trying to figure out how to elbow people like Gianni out of the way. Fortunately, I knew he wouldn’t be rash and get himself killed. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t. That would suck.

All of our eyes turned to Dallas.

His attention was on Chelsea. “You’re okay with this?”

“It doesn’t matter whether I am or whether I’m not,” she said. “This is the reality of Dusk Bay.” One she’d clearly had a long time to get used to. One that seemed intent on sucking her back in, even though she didn’t want to get involved.

Dallas glanced over to me and Storm. “You knew?”

“Only recently,” I said. “We agreed you should know as soon as possible.”

“Right.” He frowned and turned back to Chelsea. “Whatever you’re into, I’m into. Even if it is as fucked up as it sounds.” He wasn’t completely convinced, but it didn’t matter. If the option was walking away from her, he’d stick around and let her drag him into anything. That look in his eyes wasn’t just obsession. He was head over heels in love with her. She could have asked him to walk into the ocean and he would have. He was absolutely gone.

“He says fucked up like it’s a bad thing,” Gianni remarked.

Daze grinned. “It takes some getting used to, but we could always use three more big, muscly guys like you. Right, Mina?”

“Possibly,” she said. “Only if they’re an asset.”

“You sound like Caleb,” Daze teased.

Whoever Caleb was, Mina looked unimpressed at the comparison.

Daze was completely undeterred. “Are there any more like these three?”

“You have three boyfriends already,” Chelsea said flatly.

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