Page 115 of Devious Corruption
“That hot guy with all the muscles and tattoos thatmakes my mouth, and my panties wet? Yeah. He’s still up there.” She fans herself. “He’s not talking to them, though, so I don’t think he knows them. They’re twins, though.”
“Twins?” I wipe my hands on my pants, my heart racing. “My brothers!”
I hurry through the store to the front where both of them are flipping through the newest fashion magazine together.
“Keith! Joey!” I don’t even bother to control my volume, I’m too relieved and happy to see them.
They’re barely turned toward me before I wrap my arms around them, pulling them both into me. Keith is the first to react, pushing me back from him.
“Max, control yourself. Damn.” He retreats a step, rubbing his hand down the suit jacket he’s wearing.
They’re both in suits.
Nice ones, too. They look tailored and expensive. Their even wearing ties, and their shoes are polished.
“Why are you dressed up?” I ask, giving them some space.
“A man needs to look his best.” Keith tugs on the lapels of his jacket. “Man, if that old bat, Ingles, could see us. She’d shit a brick.”
“Yeah.” I glance over my shoulder. Dmitri’s drinking a coffee, scrolling through his phone in the same corner he hangs out in every day. He can see the whole store from there, he says.
“Where have you guys been? I mean, I know where you were, but why were you in Italy?”
“How do you know we were in Italy?” Keith’s eye narrow.
“You’ve been gone for weeks. Lev pulled some strings and found out your passports were used there.” It’s a simplification, but enough for now.
“Lev? The Bratva guy is looking for us?” Paranoia underlines Keith’s question.
“No, I was worried. He was doing me a favor.”
“A favor?” Keith repeats. “And what are you doing for him in return for these favors?”
“Keith, shut up. Don’t say things like that.”
“What? We should know if she’s fucking a mobster, right?”
“Keith, stop.” I frown. “I was worried. I went to your apartment and found another of those guns, and then I was arrested, and then there were the creepy men staring in my windows. He was only helping me.”
Even when he had no real reason to step in. I was nothing to him. A girl who was friendly with his sister. It’s not like I was best friends with Nicolette for years. They barely knew me, and he took me in. Protected me.
And then lied to me about my brothers.
The anger at his keeping things from me reignites.
“Creepy men?” Keith questions.
“Nothing.” I wave a hand. “It doesn’t matter. You’re back, and looking like you’ve taken new jobs?”
“We’re working, yeah.” Joey answers with a nod, lifting his chin with pride.
“For?”
“What?”
“What company are you working for?”
“Not a company.” Joey smiles. “It’s okay, Max. It’s going to be good, this thing we got going.”
