Page 35 of Love Him Like Water

“Nothing, boss,” he said.

I knew he was lying through his fucking teeth. But I couldn’t question him in front of everyone else.

So I opened the door, letting everyone spill inside.

Lore was nowhere to be seen, but I never actually did find her in the common areas of the apartment. She was always in the bed.

But, yeah, I really only came home late, so I guess that made sense. Surely, she moved around the apartment during the day.

Another thing I didn’t know about her.

I shook that thought off as soon as it formed, not wanting it to take root.

“Boss,” Cinna called, making me turn to find her standing there, her long hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing an all black outfit of skinny jeans, a tee, and a nice-looking leather bomber jacket. “Got what you asked for,” she said, reaching into her pocket, and sliding a box across the island toward me.

I snatched it up, shoving it in my pocket.

“What?” I asked, feeling her look at me, something unreadable in her gaze.

If there was one person in my organization that I didn’t want to play cards with because they had a fucking wicked poker face, it was Cinna.

I guess when you were a woman in any male-dominated field—let alone one as violent and unpredictable as organized crime—you had to lock your thoughts and feelings down tight.

“Is this some Costa hatred shit still?” I asked, already getting tired of that narrative.

It was done.

We were allies.

They had to fucking accept it.

“No,” Cinna finally said, the word clipped and hard. “No, it’s not about the Costas. Not all of them,” she added, giving me a hard fucking look that I couldn’t suss out before turning and walking away.

The fuck was that about?

“What’d you say to sweet Cinna?” Dav asked, coming up to the island, passing me a drink I fucking sorely needed after this frustrating-ass day.

“Sweet Cinna?” I balked, snorting at him. “There’s nothing sweet about Cinna. I’m pretty sure she’d rip your balls off for suggesting that.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure there’s at least one thing really sweet about Cinna,” Dav said with a wicked smirk.

I didn’t see Cinna that way.

She was a capo, like any of my other capos.

Not the subject of some sexual fantasy.

Clearly, though, that wasn’t something felt across all the capos and soldiers in the organization. Dav wasn’t the only one who would happily take the woman to bed if she offered.

But she never did.

I didn’t know who Cinna fucked, but it wasn’t any of my men.

I guess that made sense.

As much as I liked to think my crew wasn’t sexist and backward like other organizations, I could understand that Cinna would think that men in the crew would lose respect for her if she fucked them.

“That woman is immune to your charm, Dav,” I said, sipping my drink.

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