Page 8 of Kiss of Death
“A restaurant in the city. They wanted to show me off to some Russian guy who skeeved me out.” Eve let out a shaky breath, and it was on the tip of Ivy’s tongue to ask if they touched her, but she knew even if they did, her sister would lie to her.
“We’re getting ready to move soon. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Ivy. I love you.” Eve quickly hung up the phone before Ivy could respond and she cursed.
Ivy threw the phone back in her bag. Her resolve in what needed to happen turned her blood to iron. She needed to get her sister as far away from this life as possible and at any cost. If it meant she would end up trading her life for her sister’s, then so be it. At least one of them would get a chance at freedom.
OTTO PULLED UP TOTRES, exhausted. They decided to stop at Wolf’s casino instead of calling to see how the renovations were going. The fact that Wolf’s was almost up and fully operational after the shoot-out a month ago impressed Otto. He knew Sofia had money, but he didn’t realize it was enough to get the results she wanted in a timely manner. They’d be ready for a grand reopening by the end of the month if things kept up this way.
As soon as Otto stepped out of the car, he saw Ivy standing by the door of Tres. The club had closed a little less than an hour ago, and her shift should have ended an hour before that.
Had she stuck around for me?
The thought filtered through his head and left him with a deep male satisfaction until he realized how egotistical and illogical that thought was. They met briefly for maybe ten minutes. They would be working in the same club for the foreseeable future; she had no reason to wait around for him.
Unless she wanted to see him as much as he hoped she would still be here when he got back.
Otto scrubbed a hand down his face trying to silence his own thoughts. He went years without letting a woman get under his skin; he wasn’t about to break now, even if he could feel his body humming in anticipation of being close to her again.
Sofia and Dom stepped out of the car and headed for Tres with Otto not far behind. The door to the club swung open, startling Ivy. She let out a gasp as she sidestepped to avoid being hit, and the small sound wrapped around Otto’s rapid heartbeat.
He found himself growing annoyed with each step he took. He hated that he was having these reactions towards her. He’d been violently turned on watching her dance earlier tonight, and he almost chased down a woman he thought was her just so he could look at her again. He wasn’t one for love at first sight, and even before he got burned by his ex, he didn’t put too much stock in the notion of love and that there was a counterpart to you somewhere floating around in the world.
His sisters had been the romantics. He was a little more cynical, even more so after he’d gotten burned by his ex. But that couldn’t stop his body from responding to the temptation that Ivy was becoming. He enjoyed the way her eyes watched him—sizing him up like she was hungry for a taste of him.
Otto stopped in front of Ivy and had to ball his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her. “You’re still here?” he questioned, his eyes taking her in from head to toe. She’d thrown on sweatpants and an oversized hoodie that seemed to dwarf her already small frame. He could smell a faint hint of coconut oil, and it made him think of summer and his mouth watered. The need to find out if she tasted as good as she smelled and looked overwhelmed him as much as it pissed him off.
“Yeah, I was waiting—” her words were cut off by a feminine giggle. Otto turned to see Smoke walking out of Tres with his arms wrapped around Desiree, one of the girls who worked at the club.
Otto shook his head. This asshole never knew how to follow rules. “Smoke.” Otto practically snarled, and the shithead didn’t even bother to look like he was in the wrong.
“What up, O?” His gaze bounced between Otto and Ivy before his smile widened. “I’d save your holier-than-thou bullshit tonight. You about to dive down that rabbit hole yourself. You know that saying about glass houses and shit.” He kissed Desiree on her neck.
“Smoke.” Sofia said his name in warning, but Otto could see the smile teasing her lips. For reasons that Otto couldn’t understand, Sofia found Smoke’s antics endearing and entertaining.
“Don’t start, boss lady.” He blew her a kiss. “You won’t give me a chance, so I need to keep myself busy somehow.”
Sofia laughed as Dom stepped closer to her with a scowl on his face. “Stop being a dick, Smoke,” Dom growled, and it made Otto chuckle. As much as Sofia didn’t mind the Unhinged Brothers hanging around, he didn’t think Smoke was going to make it much longer if he didn’t keep himself in check around Dom and Sofia.
Otto focused his attention back to Ivy who was watching the interaction with avid attention. “He is…”
“A schmuck.” Otto finished for her, and she laughed with a shake of her head. “You waiting for a ride?”
“I was, but she’s late and my phone is dead, so I can’t call a cab.”
“I can take you home.” Otto’s mouth moved faster than he could get his brain to send the signal to tell him it was a bad idea.
He could lie to himself and think that he was offering her a ride to be polite, but that wasn’t the case. He wanted to spend time alone with her, away from Smoke’s knowing gaze, which he felt hot on the back of his neck. He wanted to be away from the fancy lights and sounds of the club that were put in place to trick the mind and body to think about sex. He wanted her alone, away from all the noise and the props to see if she still had the power to pull those same reactions out of him that happened when she walked across that stage in Tres.
“You don’t have to. I can just borrow a phone and call a cab. My apartment is all the way in Queens.”
“Queens? That’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. It’s no trouble.” He grabbed the bag she’d been holding and wrapped his hand around her arm and paused a second waiting to see if he felt anything similar to what he felt when he watched her dance.
When nothing happened, he felt himself relax, thinking his reaction to her earlier had just been a by-product of his surroundings. “Come on. You’ll get home a lot faster and cheaper.”
She nodded, and he was walking her toward his car when Sofia called his name. He turned around, but Sofia didn’t say anything. Her gaze was on Ivy, and he knew what she saw. It was the same face they ran into at Bocca Felice. “We’ll talk tomorrow,” Sofia murmured, never taking her eyes off of Ivy, who fidgeted under her weighted stare.
Otto nodded, making a mental note to ask Ivy if she had any siblings, because the more he thought about that woman at Bocca Felice, the heavier the pit in his stomach sat. A sense of foreboding crept its way up his spine and permeated the air around him. He tried to brush it off as him just being on guard for the war that was coming with Bruno and Boris, but that didn’t feel right. The worry he felt didn’t seem to be coming from the impending doom of his and the Council’s enemies.
Otto helped Ivy into his car and looked down at her for a second before closing the door behind her. Maybe what he was feeling was coming from her. His mind understood the dangers of getting involved with someone again, especially someone he employed. Maybe this was his mind’s way of keeping his dick in check.
