Page 73 of Memphis

“Hmm, Bo wouldn’t have hired a drug addict. Somebody was done with him, so they disposed of him.”

“Looks like it.”

I blew out a breath. “I take it he has no connections to any of the Pierce family?”

“No overt connections, but I’ll keep digging.”

“Okay, thanks. Be sure to pass this along to Jerryn. He’ll fill Ray in.”

“Already done!”

42

After a week, he was weaned off the ventilator again, and when I walked into the room to see him during the next visiting time, he was alert, greeting me with a wide grin.

If I was a crier, I would’ve dissolved into a puddle of tears right then and there. Instead, I rushed to his bedside and rained kisses all over his face.

“You look so much better! I could suck the skin off your dick right now,” I whisper-screamed.

He softly chuckled, “I’d rather you sat that pussy of yours on my face.”

43

Iwas finally moved to a regular room a few days after they took that damn tube out of my throat, and my first request was to meet with the team Memphis had assembled—Ray and Jerryn with Montana on the phone—after Jerryn swept the room for bugs, of course. Memphis didn’t contact the Italian likeI asked her to, so I did, and he was posted outside my door since it would be easier to access me on this unit.

Memphis and her team filled me in on what they’d found, which was nothing, and I could sense their shared frustration.

“My family ain’t no slobs. It doesn’t surprise me that they would cover their tracks. Iama little fucked up about the rogue security nigga. I had all kinds of checks done on him, on all of them,” I said, my hand on my wife’s thigh as she sat beside me on the bed.

“Yeah, Montana found all that fake background stuff for his alias. She said it was top tier work,” Jerryn shared.

“And my folks are top tier. How the fuck did they miss this?” I mused aloud.

“Montana is a cut above the rest,” Memphis informed me. “Not too many folks can touch her skills.”

“Well, shit…she need to be on my payroll, then,” I said.

“Facts,” Ray agreed.

Memphis’s phone buzzed and she groaned. “Umber’s on her way up. We better wrap this up.”

“No prob,” Jerryn said. “I’ll be in touch.”

As he left the room, Memphis followed him, saying, “Let me run to the restroom. Be right back, Bo!”

“Okay, baby,” I replied.

That left me and Ray, who held his seat, his eyes fixed on me.

“Damn, you look like you wanna finish the job,” I pointed out.

He slowly nodded. “Oh, I do, but out of respect for your wife and mine, I won’t.”

“Okay…I can appreciate that. I also appreciate you helping her figure this shit out.”

He shrugged. “She’s family, was long before I married her sister. Most days, I can’t stand her, but she’s good people. Youand your family just did to her what you’ve done to a lot of good folks.”

I smirked. “You included, huh?”