Page 47 of Hartley

“Sir?” Reghan asked as I walked to the elevator. My home was quiet with my men working and Ava at school.

“Yes?” I hit the button for the elevator. Tahoe whimpered where he sat in the living room. “You can come with me.” I patted my leg, and he trotted over. Maybe having Tahoe with me would be a good thing. He could keep me from slitting Sheldon’s and Oleander’s throats while I yelled at them.

“Barrett reached out.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“He heard there’s another boss in the city and wanted to know if you had anything to do with it.” I knew that fucker would come here. He had little money and was desperate as hell for what I had.

“Good.” With Barrett hearing things, that meant I had more eyes on my men. More people to watch out for them and make sure they weren’t hurt. “Let him know they’re a dangerous rival, and I’d appreciate information about movement in exchange for dinner at my steakhouse.”

“That’s generous, sir.”

“Yes, well, you’re not biting my head off with news of Barrett, so something has finally snapped between you two or you’ve scratched that itch and feel better.”

“Neither,” he was quick to say.

I hummed and stepped into the elevator with Tahoe and Reghan, then hit the button for the floor Sheldon lived on. He’d snuck in during the night. Barry let me know and said Sheldon didn’t do his usual pacing the hallways shit. He knew his ass was in trouble.

“Whatever it is,” I began, “I don’t care who you fuck, as long as your lips stay closed, unless your mouth is busy doing other things. No talking. No nothing. Fuck and flee, Reghan. If you see it going further, come to me. I’m trying to be… reasonable.”

“Yes, sir.”

Reasonable. When the fuck did that happen? I knew, but I didn’t want to admit to it out loud. It happened when I started softening. Soon I’d have a detective fucking one of my best guards. There was no doubt in my mind there would be a trail of destruction from the two of them. Yet, there were these voices in my head that sounded a lot like Hartley and Vail telling me Reghan deserved to find happiness too.

“Nothing interferes with what you do for me,” I added.

“Of course not. I take my job seriously.”

“Good.”

Reghan and Raiden were my personal detail, but they also covered Vail and Hartley when we were together or if they were needed as extra security. They’d lay their lives down for my men. With all this fucking love inside me, apparently, I wanted others to be happy too.

Bullshit. That was what it was. Fucking bullshit.

We stepped off the elevator and walked toward Sheldon’s door. Vail was in the building working on his kitchen, so Oleander was here, leaning against the wall, knowing damn well I’d come for his ass too. Tahoe didn’t want to move this morning when Vail left, or he would have gone with him. The dog lived the good life here.

I looked Oleander in the eye while I pounded my fist on Sheldon’s door. It opened slowly, very like Sheldon not to hurry to do everything. It was calm and with precision.

My eyes met Sheldon’s next. “Inside. You too, Oleander.” He was lucky I didn’t last name him like a father did with their children.

We stepped into Sheldon’s home, Tahoe rushing ahead to put his nose to the floor and sniff every inch of the space. He’d been here before, so it wasn’t new to him. Sheldon left nothing out Tahoe could get into.

Reghan took his position in the hall by the door and closed it behind us.

“Sit,” I told them. I would stand, towering over them. I couldn’t hurt them, didn’t really want to. Except I did.

Turning away from them, I paced down the hall and back again. Sheldon had deep brown, wide planks of wood for his floor. The walls were light beige in the hallway, giving thearea a warm feel. Photos of himself and Oleander hung on the walls, as well as a photo of his mother. In the living room, the walls were a soft baby blue, a serene color that went with the man who lived here. There were no photos here, but there were other things that were personal to him. Items from trips he’d gone on or gifts others had given him. I noticed a baseball from a game he and Oleander went to. Sheldon had caught a foul ball.

I spun, averting my eyes of the shit that made me have more feelings, that made Sheldon a real person and not the guard who protected me and the men I loved. Stopping in front of them, I peered down. “You two fucked up,” I bit out. “You put Hartley’s and Forest’s lives in danger. What the fuck were you thinking? And before you answer, don’t. I don’t really give a shit what you have to say because I already know. Jesus, I’m so fucking pissed at you two right now.”

Pacing away, I had to move to keep from throttling them. I wanted to wrap my hands around their necks but resisted. Hartley and Vail’s voices were in my head. Vail telling me how much he cared about them and what good friends they’d become. Hartley threatening to leave me.

Whirling, I paced back. “Do you know what Hartley fucking said to me yesterday?” I seethed. “He threatened to walk away from me if I fired you two. Do you know what that did to me? How it almost put me into an early fucking grave? You’re lucky my men like you or you’d be the ones digging where you’d spend eternity, because I’d fucking kill you both.”

I took a deep breath, then another. That icy dread rushed through my veins again, like at any moment I'd get a call Hartley was leaving. I couldn’t bear to watch them walk away. I wouldn’t fucking survive it.

Placing one hand on the arm of the couch and the other onthe back near Sheldon’s shoulder, I leaned forward, putting my face in his. “If you ever do something that stupid again, you better get on that bike of yours and hit max speed on the way out of Dremest because if I catch you, I’ll shoot you in the head. You’ll look right at me when I end your life. Is that fucking clear?”

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