Page 31 of A Kingpin's Weakness
“Noah,” I said, turning to him, “I’ll be right in the hall if you need me.”
“This boy ain’t gonna need you,” Jo threw in.
Noah leaned back against the pillows. “Stormi, I’m gonna take a nap. I’m tired. Go get some rest, you been up here a week. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“No, Noah. We need to talk.”
“And we will. Just not today.” He shut his eyes. Conversation over.
Jo walked off, muttering about having things to handle. That left me and Ronnie walking down the hall in silence.
“You got five minutes,” I told him.
“Stormi,” he said, shaking his head, “we really gotta fix that attitude.”
“Four.”
“I got a way to clear your brother’s debt.”
I stopped walking. “How?”
“Marry me,” he said. “Give me a baby.”
“Three.”
“You want Noah to live, right?”
My jaw clenched. “Noah’s gonna live regardless. Don’t you ever threaten my brother’s life again.”
He took a step closer. “Your brother didn’t deliver drugs to some dangerous men. Now they want their product. And I want my money.”
“None of that got anything to do with me.”
“But you want to save him. Or we can get it in blood.”
“So that whole fake concern lasted what? A week?” I asked. “These impatient men must be just like you.”
He smiled. “If you marry me and give me a child, I’ll pay Noah’s debt. I’ll start new supply for those men. Your brother works for me, becomes my right hand. I build my empire. You give me a son, I pass it down.”
I stared at him like he’d lost his goddamn mind. “I’m about to throw up. Give me a number. I’ll pay the debt myself. Have a nice fucking day.”
I turned to walk off, but he grabbed my arm. Twisted it.
“Ow! Let me the fuck go! You out your damn mind?”
I snatched my arm back. We locked eyes, but it wasn’t Ronnie I was looking at no more. It was the devil behind them.
What the hell had Noah gotten into? Worse, what the hell had he dragged me into?
“What the fuck’s going on here?”
I turned. Seth stood a few feet away with flowers in one hand and food in the other.
Ronnie straightened up. “Nothing. Just chopping it up with Stormi.”
Seth didn’t even look at him. Walked right to me, slid his arm around my waist. “Stormi. You good?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Ronnie was just leaving. Right, Ronnie?”
