Page 17 of Mine to Keep

Chapter Eleven

Rob stopped beatingJay the moment he realized the younger man wasn’t fighting back. Well… Rob stopped punching him a few seconds after he realized Jay wasn’t fighting him, remembering the look on Veronica’s face after Jay had asked how much Rob was paying her for sex. The hurt and devastation in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. He knew he screwed up by attacking Jay instead of going to her and helping her through the hurt. But he’d never had to deal with these types of feelings before. Never cared enough to want to help a woman in emotional distress. The only way he knew how to deal was by beating the shit out of the source of the problem.

He turned back to Jay, fire leaping into his eyes and a growl on his lips. “What the fuck is your problem, man?”

Jay was doing his best not to double over in pain from the blows he’d taken to his jaw and torso. Rob hadn’t been messing around. He knew how to floor a guy in seconds. Fortunately, Jay knew how to take a hit. He grew up on the streets, learning how to defend himself from the cradle. He groaned and sat gingerly in the leather chair behind his desk, running a hand over his jaw and flexing it.

“Allison,” he finally said, his voice low, “it’s always been Allison.”

“What about her?” Rob asked angrily, surprised by the flare of protective heat rising in his chest. Allison was important to Veronica so she was important to him. He realized that he wanted the right to defend both women.

Jay eyed him speculatively and then sighed, shifting in his seat. “She’s doing something I don’t agree with, something that could get her hurt one day. Veronica thinks she should be allowed to do whatever she wants; that Allie should have the choices she was denied in life. She can’t see past her own scars.”

Rob nodded and then asked, “Can you?”

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Annoyance spiked in Jay’s voice. He yanked open a drawer in the desk and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Lighting one, he sat back in the chair and indulged in a rarely-used habit.

“You’ve seen and done some fucked up shit over the years, Jay,” Rob said, righting a chair he knocked over when he attacked Jay and dropping his heavy frame into it. “Maybe you can’t let this girl go because every time you think about it you see the blood on your hands. You know exactly what could happen. But, friend, she could get hit by a drunk driver on the way to the bank. You can’t take out every shit variable that comes along.”

Jay flinched, every muscle in his body tensing. “I can’t let her go. I love her more than anything else in this worthless fucking world. She’s the only reason I do what I do. So that I can build an empire, a city that’s perfect and safe, for her. A place she can come home to one day.”

Rob nodded. He’d known of Jay’s obsession for the girl, but not how deep his feelings ran. He hoped Jay wasn’t going to up and shoot him for his next words, because they needed to be said. “Then let her go… for now.”

Jay tensed, his fingers tightening around the cigarette. His eyes narrowed through the smoke, but he was listening. He’d discarded his jacket revealing his holster and gun. He looked every bit the young mobster he was. Which is why Rob needed to get through to him, for Veronica and for Allison.

“We live dangerous lives, Jay. You, me and Veronica. We didn’t sign up for this life, but somewhere along the way, we all embraced the darkness. Allison never had that choice. When you sent her away, you chose to keep her away from this life. You made the right fucking choice for once in your miserable life,” Rob said, letting Jay hear a note of pride in his voice. “Now you can make another good choice on her behalf. You can choose not to drag her back into your shit. You’re in the process of taking over this city. A dangerous prospect on a good day. We both know people are going to die and some of those deaths are going to be on your payroll. There’s always blood and bones on the way to a crown, Jay, and this is the life you’ve chosen.”

Jay’s fist slammed into the desk, but Rob didn’t flinch. He held Le Croix’s menacing gaze, daring him to contradict his words. They both knew a war was brewing in the city. It was why Jay had taken steps to ensure Veronica’s protection, essentially selling her to the mercenary head of security, knowing Rob would want her as soon as he saw her.

“You want your queen by your side?” Rob asked.

Jay nodded, his steel grey eyes never leaving Rob’s.

“Then you fucking let her go until this war is over. You let her be happy, have a career… let her fall in love if that’s what she wants.” Rob thought Jay would launch himself across the desk, but he held himself strictly in check. He kept talking, hoping he could make the younger man relinquish his iron hold on the girl. “She deserves a life, Jay. You know this. Set her free and collect her when the time is right. You hear me?”

Jay slammed his fist into the desk again and then stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray. Finally, he jerked his head in a nod. Then he did something Rob would swear no one except maybe Veronica ever saw him do, he looked vulnerable. Just for a second. He glanced up, his forehead wrinkled.

He asked, “What if… what if she does fall in love with someone else?”

Rob’s eyebrow arched and he had to stifle a laugh. He knew what he’d do if Veronica fancied herself in love with another man. Break every bone in the guy’s body, then get rid of the body, then pretend he had no idea what happened to the missing dude.

“Are we really having this conversation?” Rob asked with a skeptical frown. When Jay’s mobster glare started to come back he held his hands up and cleared his throat. “Okay… yes, I imagine she might, uh, fall in love out there all by herself. Seems likely, given her age. Jay, man… it’s going to be hard, but my advice is to just let her have her way. Does she love you?”

Jay closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them they were blazing with certainty. He nodded. “When I sent Allie away, she begged me not to. She wanted to stay with me. I never told Veronica, but she told me she loved me over and over. It was the hardest damn thing I ever did, putting her on that plane and making her go. For months, she wrote me letters and called every day. It was so fucking hard to hold out against that kind of devotion, to turn my back and be a cold bastard while I knew she was hurting inside.”

Rob grinned. “That kind of love doesn’t just go away, man. It lies dormant. She’ll be yours, when you’re ready to bring her home. Regardless of where her heart is at in that moment.”

Jay glared at him suspiciously. “How do you know shit like that? You’ve never been married before. This past week with Veronica is the longest relationship I’ve ever seen you have.”

Rob looked offended. “Hey, I’ve seen The Notebook. That’s some deep shit right there. Those two people weren’t going to let anything get in the way of their epic love story.”

Jay shook his head a smirk tilting the edge of his lips. “I can’t believe you watched that movie, you pussy.”

Rob shrugged, completely unconcerned with defending his manhood and replied, “I can’t believe you asked for woman advice. You’re a fucking psychopath when it comes to business and you need me to tell you how to handle a girl? Never thought I’d see the day.”

Jay barked in laughter and said, “At least my woman didn’t steal my Porsche and disappear in a city of two and a half million people.”

Rob closed his eyes for a second a broad grin splitting his lips. “Bet she looked smoking hot in that car.”

Jay snorted, “Yeah, she looked amazing grinding those gears all over the place and stalling the shit out of it. Woman hasn’t driven standard since I taught her over a decade ago and she walked away from her lessons vowing never to touch stick again.”

Rob’s eyes popped open in horror when he pictured his $120,000 baby in the hands of that woman. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and used the locator he’d put in her phone to track her. It was how he’d found her so quickly the day she’d gone running by herself. Jay’s laughter grew when he realized what Rob was doing. Rob arched a brow at him.

“You can’t tell me you don’t have eyes and ears on your girl at all times. Even halfway across the damn country,” he grumbled, returning to his phone.

Jay shrugged, conceding.

Rob frowned and then sighed heavily. “She’s in fucking Hastings again. Jesus, what’s it going to take to keep that woman safe? Driving a car like that in Hastings is just asking to get kidnapped. I’m going to have to move her out of this city by the weekend just to keep her away from that damn place.”

Jay stood and reached for his jacket. “Come on, I’ll drive. Got some groveling to do.”

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