Page 64 of Hexed
I’ve nevernotwanted to see Uncle T before.
He gives me a look. “I don’t pay you to think about life.”
You don’t really pay me much at all.
“I disagree.” I pick at the invisible lint on the arm of the chair. “Youfrequentlypay me to think about life.”
“Actually, he pays you to think about death,” Bastien retorts. “If we’re being technical.”
“We’re not,” I say blandly.
“I was.” Bas grins cheekily.
“Youbothdo whatever I tell you,” Uncle T interrupts.
I lean back in the chair, rubbing my thumb against my ring finger. “Can’t argue with that. So what’s up? Got a big bad man not wanting to play by your rules and you need me to go burn their whole house down?” I grin, excitement filling me at the thought. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do something like that.”
Bastien laughs and shakes his head.
I glare over at him. “What iswithyou today?”
“Me?” His brows rise. “What’s withyou?”
Uncle T cuts in: “Actually, we’ve got a gun drop with the Atlantis MC in a couple of days, and I need you to handle it.”
I sit up straighter and try to school my expression because while I don’t mind doing whatever it is he needs me to do, I cannot stand working with the local MC chapter. Especially after having recently taken the president’s brother-in-law out of commission.
“So the warning worked, I take it?” I ask.
Uncle T nods, brushing his hand over his beard. “Of course it did. That’s why I had you do it.”
I’m nervous about it because I’m not naive enough to think the president of the MC, Johnston Miller, doesn’t at least suspect I was the one behind his brother-in-law’s recent loss of faculties, but if Uncle T thinks it will be okay, then I trust him.
He’s always looked out for me.
Uncle T takes a sip of coffee from a mug on his desk that says#1 Boss, which was a gag gift Bas and I bought him for his forty-fifth birthday, and then he leans back, interlocking his thick fingers and crossing them over his slightly bulging belly. “So how’d it go with my future son-in-law?”
Images of “how it went” with Enzo flash behind my eyes and send shots of arousal through my system, followed quickly by guilt and a rare lack of something to say.
But whatcanI say?
I shrug. “Fine.”
Uncle T’s brow quirks, and he leans forward, his elbows coming to rest on the edge of his desk, and a deep, hearty chuckle pours out of him. “That’s it?”
Bastien laughs and reaches over, pressing the back of his big hand against my forehead. “You feeling all right, V? Modesty isn’t your strong suit.”
I smack his hand away.
Uncle T laughs. “Well, whatever you did, I’m proud of you.”
Warmth infuses my chest, and I sit up straighter.He’s proud?I don’t think he’s ever said those words to me before. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure anyone has ever said those words to me before, and the way they make me feel is a brand-new sensation.
Like I’m floating above the earth and nothing can bring me down.
He’sproudof me.
“Thanks.” I clear my throat because the word comes out choppy. “Thank you.”
