Page 8 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
If I felt guilty for anything, it was the fact that Evan felt like he was the consolation prize. He wasn’t, though it hadn’t been love at first sight either. I was dick dazzled by the other guys, and I dared any woman to spend five minutes with those three and not be. But there was something about the steady strength of Evan, and the fact he had an ass like an actual rock didn’t hurt either. Cheeks like that definitely made a girl come around to his way of thinking.
Or maybe just come.
Chapter5
Otto
Ipulled Sampson’s things out of his closet and folded them neatly into suitcases. “Don’t you think this is a little extreme?”
Sampson just shrugged, placing the few things he’d accrued over the years into a box. “They wouldn’t give me bail without a fixed address. So I got a fixed address.”
I huffed, because that was horseshit. “You could have just moved in with me. Instead, you decided to flip off the entire judicial system and buy a goddamn Parkside mansion.” If there was a fuck you to the idea of a two-million-dollar bail, it was turning around and buying a twenty-million-dollar penthouse on Central Park West just to get a permanent address to put on the bail application. He was a realtor’s delight.
“Hendrick needed an address too. Needed a home. It was time.”
My hands stilled where I was packing up his shirts. Holy shit. This was new. Sampson was normally… wild. He didn’t get tied down by people or things. I’d always theorized that his need to move around was a leftover from his PTSD.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just hummed my agreement. “At least the removalist doesn’t have far to go.” Or much to take. “I can’t believe you got the seller to agree to immediate habitation. These things normally take time.”
He gave me a disgruntled smile. “Money smoothes over all that bureaucratic bullshit, you know that. Are the beds being delivered?”
I nodded. “Yep.” I paused. “Why did you get six bedrooms though? Seems like a lot, considering it has a library, study and theater room. Not like you need the extra space.”
Was it for her? That was what I really wanted to ask. Instead, I waited for the non-answer I knew I was going to get.
“Good investment.”
Yeah, sure it was. Twenty million was basically loose change. Rolling my eyes, I zipped up the suitcase. Still, the idea that perhaps he was planning for something more in the future gave me hope.
There was a knock at the door, and I frowned. One of the security guards immediately appeared from nowhere and went to answer it. Unlike before, where Evan would just stay in a room off Sampson’s, these guys were stationed in the apartment. The threat to us all was more real now that we’d pissed off Papa Kenley.
“Look, get out of the way. I have a meeting with my client,” I heard Tobias Lecter order, in a tone that always made me feel about two feet tall.
But it was the softer voice murmuring something afterwards that made us both freeze. My eyes flew up to meet Sampson’s. “He wouldn’t?”
“He fucking would.Goddammit.”
Sampson spun on his heel, striding out of the bedroom, and I was right behind him. Hendrick was still asleep in the second room, and I resisted the urge to go and wake him to tell him.
Aviva was back.
“Tobias!” Sampson yelled, and bless the lawyer, he seemed totally unfazed by the roar. “What the fuck are you thinking? I told you not to call them, and last time I checked, I was your goddamn boss.”
“Obviously, I was thinking about keeping you out of jail. I was thinking that instead of going through a very public, damaging criminal trial to exonerate you of some trumped-up fucking charge, we just produce the solution to the cops. Respectfully,Boss,” Tobias added, entirely disrespectfully.
I snorted and dodged them, not stopping until I had Aviva in my arms. God, I’d missed her, and when she wrapped her legs and arms around my body, I felt like she’d missed me too. I buried my nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. The scent of her had haunted me, and I couldn’t get enough.
“Fuck, I missed you,” I whispered into her neck.
“Missed you too, Otto.”
I looked over her shoulder at Evan, who was standing in the entryway looking awkward. Gah, that hurt my heart, but nothing could be really bad when Aviva was in my arms.
I finally lowered her to the ground, kissing her hard. I was meant to be setting her free, but every noble thought had flown out of my brain when she appeared.
“Calm down, Otto. It’s been like a week.”
I gave Sampson the finger. “It was a long week.”
