Page 18 of Riding My Dragons

“We’ll know in a minute,” I whispered back, mentally adding to myself that it didn’t sound good.

Meanwhile, Cade finished the call, sighing with resignation and a very annoyed look.“All right, all right.Yeah, I’ll be right over.”He hit the glass with his thumb, ending the call, and growled at it, “And this had better be as important as what you’re saying, after what I have to give up right now.”

“Was that for work?” Jenna asked him.

Frowning hard from the annoyance, Cade said, “Yeah, it’s a cousin of mine.He says he’s got a job for me, and it can’t wait.Damnit, the last thing I want to do is leave here, now.”He stuffed his glass back in his trousers and started to put the leather pants back on.“There ought to be a rule that nobody can call you away from doing what we’ve been doing tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jenna as Cade’s cock disappeared into his pants and he sealed them up.

He replied with an irritated little laugh, “You’re sorry.Shit.”He reached for his shirt as Jenna made a sympathetic tsk sound.

“We’ll miss you,” Jenna said.

With his shirt open, Cade scratched his head, raked his eyes over Jenna’s inviting nakedness, and half-grumbled, “Yeah, you know what I’ll miss.”

“So it’s really so important that you have to pull yourself away from this?” Byron asked.

“My cousin says it is.He says it can’t wait.Damnit,” replied Cade as he went for his boots and sat down in a chair to pull them on.“You’d think he’d understand there are somethings that a guy doesn’t want to walk out on.”And he glanced over again at Jenna lying between Byron and me.

“It’s okay,” Jenna said.“You can catch up with us when you’re finished with your job, whatever it is.”

With his boots on, Cade stood back up and fastened the seals on his shirt.“After the money I made tonight thanks to Elliot, I should have just told my cousin, ‘No, find somebody else for this one.’But he insisted.Like I’m the only one in the family who can do this.I’m telling you, this had better be damn good.”

“Well, take care of it, whatever it is, and then call us,” I said.“You can pick up where you left off when we’re done.”

Smirking, Cade said, “Yeah, save my place.”He came back over and climbed back on the bed and leaned his face into the cleft between Jenna’s boobs.“Or my places.”Jenna laughed as he kissed her there in her bosom, then put a peck on her lips.“The things a guy gives up…”

“It’s okay,” said Jenna.“Hurry back.”

Cade hauled himself off the bed again and left the bedroom and the penthouse.We watched him go and were sorry for what he’d have to be missing, at least for the time being.

“To be just pulled away by his family,” said Jenna thoughtfully.“Byron, what did you guys say was his family’s business again?”

A silence fell over Byron and me.What were we supposed to tell her?Truth to tell, we didn’t entirely know what the Taisce family did, only that some of it was shady and sketchy.What were we supposed to tell Jenna and how worried would she be?

“He said they were service providers for businesses,” Jenna recalled, “and they helped businesses close deals with each other.So, what clients would need them now and why would they call Cade away at this hour?What do the Taisce’s actually do, anyway?

Byron and I traded an awkward, clumsy sort of look, and I offered, “Well, there are some things they do that aren’t exactly…”

“...not exactly in what you’d call an official capacity,” Byron picked up, using some of his diplomatic skills.”

“What does that mean?” Jenna asked.“What’s ‘unofficial’ about it?”Suddenly her eyes widened for a second and she looked back and forth between us, realizing something.“By ‘unofficial,’ you mean…illegal?”She clutched at those beautiful breasts a bit and pulled up and tightened her legs.“Oh no!They’re not crooks, are they?”She lowered her voice anxiously.“They’re not gangsters!Please tell me I haven’t been in bed with…”

I touched her on her knee, trying to calm her.“No, no, no, nothing like that.There’s nothing like that to worry about.Cade is our friend.We know him and he’s not a crook.You’re not getting laid by a gangster.”

The worry was still in her eyes.“You’re really sure?”

“We’d know if he was a gangster,” I said.“He’s not.He just does errands for his family, that’s all.Right, Byron?”

“Right,” my other friend agreed.“Listen, Jenna.There are some businesses that have one part that’s out in the open, above board.And then there’s another part of their business that’s…let’s say, not on the record.Or not on the main records, more like something off the books.”

“Or in a different book,” I said.

“Things that aren’t public,” Byron said.“Not necessarily illegal, mind you, but only for certain customers.Certain patrons.”

Jenna, like a scientist, was skeptical.She may have been a virgin just a short time ago, but she wasn’t naive.“But not against the law?Really?”

I looked helplessly at Byron.There was only so much we could tell her because there were limits to what we knew.We were aware that some members of Cade’s family had been in trouble with the law, but Cade himself had not–at least not so far.

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