Page 21 of Cognac Secrets

“Like a lovesick puppy dog,” Louis cracked.

“Shut up. I do fucking not.” I kicked the back of his seat, and he ducked his head and shut up. He was still in that freshly minted state of being fully patched even almost a year or more on. He was a prospect awhile, and maybe we were too hard on him sometimes. Either that or the kid was so fuckin’ abused as a kid this was just how it was gonna be. He needed to toughen up some. Then again, blowing your own mamma’s head to hell and gone was tough enough. Tougher than me. Even if my mother had been a raging alcoholic bitch, I don’t know that I could have done what he did. Then again, there was LaCroix, and he was a cold piece. An utter savage as compared to some of the rest of us.

We sometimes looked to Hex to be his conscience and Hex, more often than not, delivered on that front… which wasn’t always saying much. Hex didn’t necessarily feel like most citizens did. He was too calculating for that. He was too smart. I could, most of the time, see the plays as they were unfolding on the proverbial board. I liked to think I was pretty close to Hex in the smarts department – however, by the same token, I was smart enough to know that Hex was indeed smarter than me. There were times he saw the play even beyond me, surprising me, and that was saying something. Surprising me was a hard thing to do.

The guys leaned in to giving me more shit over Sandrine, and I turned her name over in my mind. She didn’t feel like a Sandy in my head. She felt like a Sandrine. Sandy was too simple for her and she wasn’t a simple creature. No, there were deep feeling undercurrents and undertows to Sandrine. I wanted to know more, even as I wanted to distance myself from her at the same time.

I felt like Icarus where she was concerned, and like she was the sun. It was a strange feeling. A weird sort of schism in my psyche. On the one hand, being near her felt like flying, like I had a taste of it, and I wanted more, but she was also the sun and I didn’t want to fly too high, too fast, because plummeting didnotsound like fun times. At all. I certainly didn’t want to hurther, but I was undeniablyfascinatedby her and half wanted to see where things would or could go.

I mulled all these thoughts and more over as we drove through back roads and through weird gates at a part of the fuckin’ airport that I’d never seen or been to. We were lost in a maze of gates and roads, looking for some specific warehouse thing. Finally, after getting stopped by a security truck with some rent-a-pigs behind the wheel asking for IDs and demanding we state our business, they got us sorted and led us in the right direction.

They were actually pretty chill about it and said this shit happened all the time.

They even stood by in case we needed help unloading the big bronze broad from the back of the truck, but we honestly lucked the fuck out that the loading dock came out with a forklift. After wrestling with the forks to get them as close together as possible, we just had to climb up, tip the crate enough for the forks to get underneath it, and the rest was history.

“Right, then,” Hex declared. “Let’s get you back to your ol’ lady.”

“Motherfucker, she ain’t even my girlfriend let alone my ol’ lady. You wanna give that shit a rest?” I demanded as he closed the gate and I jumped down over the side of the truck.

“Hell no. It’s fun watching you get all lathered up,” he declared.

I laughed and hung my head, shaking it.

“Would I hit that? In a heartbeat,” I said. “But I’m not even sure she wants anything, and I damn sure know I don’t want a relationship.”

“Pretty sure she at least wants to get to know you,” Louie observed and I looked to him.

“Oh yeah, and how do you know that? You checking out one of the crystal balls back at the shop?” I asked.

Louie shrugged. “She called you, didn’t she?”

Hex huffed a laugh as I stopped short. “Kid’s got you there,” he said.

“Touché, motherfuckers,” I declared, hoisting myself back up into the back seat of the truck, tossing my cut onto the seat on the other side. I got in and Hex handed his back to me, and Louie handed me his.

“For real, though, if you decide no, can I have a chance?” Louis asked.

“If he decides ‘no,’ she’s probably fuckin’ crazy,” Hex declared, shutting the driver’s door, and hitting the button to start the truck. Louis settled into the front passenger seat of the truck and sighed.

“Yeah, and we don’t stick our dicks in crazy,” he said and sounded a little glum.

“It’s generally a good practice not to,” I said dryly.

“She’s pretty as hell,” he said. “You fuckers have all the luck.”

“He ain’t lucky, yet,” Hex said.

I silently disagreed. I thought I was damn lucky to have at least met her.

I kept my mouth shut, though. I didn’t need any more shit off ‘em, and they seemed fuckin’ full of it today.

CHAPTERSIX

Sandrine…

“That was quick,” I said, smiling, when Bennie came back through the door. He put his sunglasses up on top of his head and fixed those sexy, mysterious, liquid dark eyes on me. I felt my mouth grow dry and other areas grow decidedly… dare I say it…moist.

I shuddered at the thought. I hated that word, even as a descriptor for cake, but in the moment, it definitely fit the bill.

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