Romar shook his head after the door slammed shut.“This is why you don’t mix business with pleasure.”
Ashari chuckled, bumping his shoulder with hers.“I’m a grown woman.Who I have sex with has nothing to do with you.And I don’t want a relationship; Lyssa knows that.”
Romar opened his mouth to respond, slamming it shut as a noise from outside the door startled them.They looked in that direction to see Lyssa.Her eyes were wide, her grip tight around the phone she waved in the air.
“A shootout happened!”Lyssa exclaimed.
Ashari sat upright.“Who?”
Lyssa kicked the door shut as she walked further into the room.“Tsai checked the plates.It’s Jed’s car.”
Ashari froze.
A chill ran down her spine.
“He’s dead?”she forced out while Romar sucked in a breath.Anger coursed through her veins at the possibility that Jediah would die a simple death instead of rotting away in prison for the rest of his menacing life.
“I don’t know,” Lyssa’s words rushed out as she stared at the screen of the phone.“Waiting on her to get back to m— He’s not dead,” she said, and Ashari along with Romar exhaled a big breath.Grinning, Lyssa dropped herself beside Ashari and laid her head on her shoulder.
Romar glanced between them before saying he would see them later.A moment after he left, a knock came on the door.It was Ashari’s coworker, Charlie, who held a tray of baked treats in her chubby hands.
“Hey!”Charlie said as she entered the house.“Long time wi don’ hang out after work, so I thought to come over!”
Ashari smiled.“You always a carry only sugary things come fi fat me up.”
Charlie chuckled.“We can be fat together.”
Pushing her phone into her back pocket, Lyssa approached the door.“Unu have fun.Me a go do… other stuff.”
Ashari didn’t comment, causing Lyssa to sigh before exiting.Ashari closed the door while smiling at Charlie, who was plating slices of chocolate cake.“Me glad yu come still.Me need a distraction, and you’re perfect.”
Charlie chuckled.“How?”
Ashari smiled.“You’re sweet and cute.Always wearing your little bows,” Ashari said, tugging at a bow hanging at the end of Charlie’s big braid.“Me know me say this every day, but I’m glad you became my friend after I moved here.”
Charlie smiled and tugged Ashari into a big hug.“I’m happy I met you, too!”
Jediah burst through the door, angry as a bull.Women, who were dressed in only bras and panties while they packaged drugs, jumped out of his way, scared of the big boss.The men who were cleaning money, looked up at him with a worried gulp.An angry Jediah was never good.Watching him charge through the rows of workers in the warehouse, they knew not to so much as breathe too hard and let him hear.So, they dragged their eyes from him and went back to their work.
Approaching another door, Jediah grunted at the men guarding the door with assault rifles.They moved out of his way while his three most trusted men followed behind him with an extra large storage bag After entering the room, they dropped the bag on the floor.A muffled grunt came from within it.
Annoyed by the sound, Jediah hissed, “Shut him up.”
Dimitri delivered a hard kick to the middle of the bag.A crack rang out, paired with a soft groan.
The man sitting before a wall of computer monitors jumped from his chair when a tap came on his shoulder.He grabbed the pistol off the table and snapped around, his gun cocked and ready.Jediah looked down at the barrel and raised a brow as he met the younger man’s apologetic eyes.
“Sorry,” Tyre rushed out.He flicked on the safety before placing the gun beside the keyboard.He moved his headphones from his ears to his neck.“Wa yu need?”
Jediah motioned his head at the bag on the floor.“Mi have somewhere fi be in a hour, so mi caan’ have fun with him.Run his fingerprint.”
Tyre nodded, spinning the chair around to face the state-of-the-art computer.He had a tech whiz’s wildest dream — from the latest core processors to equipment only government agencies should have.
Dimitri and Cameron yanked the bloody man from the bag, hauling him toward the scanner Tyre pointed at.The battered man struggled against them, hindering their task.Dimitri hissed before removing his swiss knife from his pocket and making a clean cut across the man’s index finger.
“Ahh!”the hitman released a piercing scream.
Gasping, Tyre stopped typing to look at Dimitri.His eyes widened at the blood spraying from the hitman’s finger.“Please don’t let it touch the equipment.R—”