Page 28 of Stay Toxic

Out of all my employees, he was the one that gave me the most trouble.

With anyone else it wouldn’t fly.

But Lev was blood. Distant blood, but still blood.

I’d give him a little more leeway than others because of that title alone.

My next call was to Alexi.

“Boss,” he said distractedly. “What can I do for you?”

“The Irish give you anything?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “But I’m showing them the error of their ways right now. They might give me something by the end of the night.”

“Don’t ruin any relationships,” I said. “Just rough ’em up a bit.”

“You don’t think kidnapping one of his soldiers isn’t going to piss him off?” Alexi asked.

I didn’t give a flying fuck what pissed him off. I wanted to find out who’d killed Paulo, Joaquin, and Cameron.

“No,” I said. “Now, stop asking questions you already know the answers to and get this done.”

Cayden McCloud and I had an understanding. You could almost say we were partners, in a way.

We weren’t “friends” per se, but we were associates. Known and trusted associates. We’d been bouncing ideas off of each other since we were both young and dumb. Our fathers had been the same way.

Now we were both running our own empires, both of our fathers having fallen and handed the reins to us way earlier than either one of us wanted.

We weren’t friends.

We were respected and trusted adversaries.

Sometimes his ideals aligned with mine. Other times they didn’t.

But he damn well knew why we were in Houston.

He wasn’t a part of it.

That I knew.

But he also wouldn’t help me find out who was unless it helped him in some way to do so.

“If you say so, boss,” Alexi drawled. “Thanks for dealing with Roslyn earlier.”

I grinned then, being reminded of Brecken.

“Let me know if you have any issues with your ex,” I said, hoping to have another reason to head to the school. “I’ll get her sorted out.”

Alexi laughed at that.

“Oh, I’m sure that you will,” he drawled. “I’ll also never hear the end of it if you have anything to do with handling her in any way.”

Alexi’s ex-wife, Kira, was once one of our friend group.

Alexi, Kira, and I had grown up together.

We’d been best friends.

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