Page 16 of Owen (Storm Enterprises)

He balks, and I want to reach down the phone and wring the little shit’s neck. “Reece,” I warn in a tone that would normally make a grown man piss themselves.

He chuckles. “Lighten up, man.”

Lighten up? Is he fucking serious? My girl is knocked up with another man’s child and married to the fucker.

My head throbs, and I rub over the vein protruding along my neck. “For fuck’s sake,” I grunt as despair washes through me at how difficult Reece can be to work with.

He sighs heavily. “I’ll have him call you later.”

Surprise floods me, but before I can thank him, he hangs up, leaving me staring at the phone and asking myself if it was really as easy as that?

As relief filters through my body and my plan slips into place, I sit back in my chair, contemplating what I discovered on Laya’s Pinterest account and all the work I have to do to help her realize this is for the best.

She will have everything she’s ever wanted.

And me?

I will finally have her.

My office door is thrown open, and my thoughts are interrupted. Mase, Tate, and Shaw stroll in and throw themselves onto the chairs.

It’s Friday, the day we have our meetings to establish all the shit we’ve dealt with during the week and what needs to be done within the business to prepare for Monday.

“So, thirsty Thursday is pointless now, right?” Tate asks as I turn my head in his direction.

When my best friends started this dumb bet to see who could get a blowjob every Thursday night, I never imagined the lengths I would have to go through to make it seem like I was actually participating. The truth of the matter is, my cock refuses to get hard for anyone but her, and imagining someone as her is not even an option. I simply don’t want to. The fact I’ve been celibate since I took her virginity is my penance.

I lift a shoulder, not acknowledging his statement.

“Well, me and Shaw are off the market. Mase doesn’t get any, so it’s between you and Reed. Pretty sure Reed is winning.” He grins toward me, and I smirk back. Happy to let him believeI’m out of the equation. We all know Reed needs more than one woman to satisfy him, whereas Mase, who is married, has been trying for years to have sex with his wife despite her openly cheating on him. Poor dude realizes they need to divorce, but she keeps on trying to win him over because he’s worth a fortune. The bitch has tried to get with me multiple times, Tate and Shaw too. She probably realizes she wouldn’t be enough for Reed, so he assures us she’s never attempted him.

“Can we cut the crap? I need to get home early,” Shaw grunts out. Since the self-proclaimed playboy married the Mafia princess because of knocking her up, he’s obsessed with playing house, and who could blame him? I intend on doing just that with Laya.

“I’ve reached out to a contact in LA. I’m thinking we should be expanding and creating another branch there,” Mase throws out, but I don’t so much as blink.

My home is here.

And hers will be too.

“We should?” Shaw leans forward with eagerness in his eyes. “I mean, it sounds great. Perfect excuse to get away from Luca.” His brother-in-law, Luca Varros of the Varros Mafia, would never let his little sister move away, but I don’t voice my opinion. Poor guy needs some hope in his marriage.

“How’s things on your end?” Tate scans my face.

None of my best friends have anything to do with my side of the business, and I choose to keep them and their questions at bay. It’s not their expertise. I simply needed the backers to make the security business work. STORM Enterprises created the perfect cover for me. They know that as well as I do.

“Fine.” I shrug.

“No news?” He’s referring to Laya, and when I stare back at him, hope flickers in his eyes that I’m about to extinguish.

I swallow. “Not yet.”

His shoulders sag, and I hate the defeat behind the action, but I don’t have time to think on it because the door swings open and in strolls Reed, a beaming smile on his face that has our eyes darting to one another in question.

Our normally impassive, stoic-faced friend has been replaced with someone who looks like he swallowed a rainbow and shit out a unicorn.

His smile only grows wider when he lets out a heavy sigh as he takes his seat.

A gold unicorn, for sure.

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