Page 11 of Volatile Obsessions

Lines were blurring, and at this rate, they were going to get messy soon, too, if I didn’t get a grip on it.

“Then act like it,” I finally countered, relaxing my stance.

“I do act like it, L.” He fell back in his seat with another sigh. “Shit’s just…”

“Shit’s just what? Spit it out.”

“It’s Ramos. He’s making moves,” he blurted out.

Really now?

“I see.” I mirrored his posture, melting into my throne. “What kind of moves?”

“He’s got eyes on the runners and Roscoe caught a few across the street scoping the lot.”

My blood boiled. Apparently, Hector hadn’t learned his lesson the last time he tried to move in on my territory. Unfortunately for him, there would be no lesson to learn this time.

“Kill him,” I gritted out, my eyes tearing to the computer screen as a new email from Isabella pinged my inbox. “I don’t care how you do it, just kill him. Chop him up into little pieces and feed him to the sharks if you have to. No one threatens me twice and gets away with it.”

* * *

“That Ramos blokemust be one vapid motherfucker,” Suki laughed as I pulled the cork free from the wine bottle and refilled our glasses.

“Clearly. The last time he tried that shit, I carved a jagged line from his eyebrow to his jawline. You think he’d learn.”

Suki hummed and swirled the merlot a few rounds, taking an ample sip that practically drained her glass. Again.

Figures it’d be a two-bottle kinda night.

“Rams, refill?” I asked Ramsey, who was curled on my couch with her nose glued to a book.

As per usual.

Without a word or a glance spared my way, she reached over her feet to grab the emptied glass on the coffee table and held it up for me to see.

I rolled my eyes.

Did I look like a fucking waitress?

“Rams…refill?” I queried again, with clear, irate emphasis coloring my words.

Big hazel eyes snapped up to where I stood behind the island. Jerking her shoulders up to her ears, she jiggled the glass in response and went right back to the words holding her hostage. As if I wasn’t in enough of a ruffled stated already, her detached presence only served to piss me off all the more.

“Are you mute tonight?” I snapped.

“No.” She shot me a testy glare. “I’m reading.”

“Then why bother showing up?” Suki chimed in, swiveling her stool to face Ramsey directly. The wavy, bleach-blonde tresses of her hair swayed with the motion. “We’re not here to watch you swoon over Mr. Darcy for the millionth time.”

I smirked. Forever my main bitch, always down to back me up. They both were, truthfully, but Suki was my ride or die. Deranged as I was, if not more so, where as Ramsey was our voice of reason. Always the rational one; quiet. Tamed.

Ramsey puckered her crimson lips and slammed her book shut, tossing it on the cushion beside her. “Don’t start with me, Suk.”

“Or what, Raggedy Ann?” Suki fired back, a devious grin darkening her expression.

Ramsey rolled her eyes in an unamused fashion and flipped her the bird as she trudged toward us, plopping down on the vacant stool to Suki’s left. “Hit me,” she grumbled, sliding her glass across the dark glittering granite.

“Anywaaay, you were saying,” Suki drawled, circling her arms around Ramsey in a deadlock before licking her face.

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