Page 60 of Dangerous Contract: Part 1

Raz smiled. That sounded a lot like Monique. “That’s women for you,” Raz drawled before taking a sip of his drink. “They don’t like being told what to do. Even if what you’re telling them is what’s best for them.”

“Right!” Bryce agreed. “I’m telling her shit that’s good for her. But she keeps threatening to cut me or other things that a woman shouldn’t even consider doing to someone they love.”

“Are you sure she loves you?” Cas asked.

Ignoring him, Raz and Bryceson continued their discussion.

“At least she only threatened you,” Raz said, feeling a bit tipsy. “At least she didn’t try to kill you with a pen. Your pen!”

“Whoa,” Bryce placed his hand on Raz’s shoulder. “Your lady did that?”

Raz nodded. “My lady did that.”

Again, Cas laughed and took a drink himself before saying, “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“That’s not right,” Bryce told Raz, still ignoring Cas. “You’re not supposed to hurt the people you love.”

“Are you sure she loves him?” Cas asked but was ignored yet again.

“Don’t tellmethat. I already know the rules. Tellherthat,” Raz said. “I’m trying to be good to her. I’m far better than her ex. Yet, all she wants to do is leave me or kill me. But...” Raz sighed and stared down at his drink. “I can see why she wants me dead. I should’ve handled things differently.”

Bryce nodded and let out a sigh of his own. “Yeah. Me too. Tatianna just frustrates me so much, and it makes me do stupid shit. I just want to be good to her. But she makes it so hard. Like damn, just let me love you. Why do you gotta keep saying shit like,don’t breathe near me or your cologne makes me want to puke.I wear expensive ass cologne, Raz. You know I do.”

“I know you do,” Raz admitted.

“Maybe,” Cas said. “What you guysthinkis good for them isn’t whattheythink is good for them. Have you ever thought of that?”

Bryce and Raz glared at Cas. Cas raised his hands.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Cas said. “I’m just trying to help. I’ll try to break this down for you two in a way you should understand. If one of our goons kept doing shit that he thought would help us, but we didn’t like his methods, we’d tell him to stop and tell him to just do the shit our way. Right?”

“Right,” Raz said as Bryce nodded.

“If he continued doing shit his own way, we’d put a bullet in him and then pay off his family. We don’t have time to keep telling motherfuckers how to do shit. Right?”

“Right,” Raz agreed. Again, Bryce just nodded.

“The same applies to women. If your way of wooing them isn’t the way they want to be wooed, they’ll do one or two things. They’ll reject you if they don’t like you at all. If they like you, but don’t like the way you’re wooing them, they’ll tell you, and...”

“Stop right there,” Bryce yelled. “No, they won’t. This proves you don’t know shit about women. They never tell you what they want, only what they don’t want. You know why? Becausetheydon’t even know what they want.”

“I agree.” Raz nodded.

“Even so, that doesn’t mean you can kidnap them or boss them around at work,” Cas told them. “What woman, no, whatpersonwould like that? I may not know much about love and shit like that, but I do know about partnership. In our family business, the first rule is to respect each other. If we do that, then everything else tends to work itself out. When we don’t respect each other, shit falls apart. Do you two respect these women you’re obsessing about?”

“Yes,” Bryce and Raz said.

“Dotheyfeel respected?”

Both men opened their mouths, but no sound emerged.

“Close your mouths before flies fly in them,” Cas joked.

Raz grabbed his glass and started to take a sip. But the glass was empty. Was he swaying, or was the bar moving?

Cas laughed again. “If I was a woman, I’d want to kill you two also. Here’s one last drink. Sleep off the liquor, then figure out what your women want. It’s not about whatyouwant. It’s about whattheywant. I can’t believe I’m having to tell two grown-ass men this.”

Raz brought his glass to his lips. What did Rosa want? Love, maybe. Trevor hadn’t loved her properly. Could Raz do that? Could he love her properly? Could he love someone outside of his family at all?

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