Page 12 of Only The Strong

During lunch,Callum had gotten a text about where we were meeting his ‘club associate’ and told me we needed to buy me something nice to wear tonight. Apparently, this Alessandro guy has expensive tastes because Callum even stops in and buys a nice button-up for the dinner meeting. When I walk out of the bathroom wearing a white cropped tank, high-waisted gold glitter mini skirt, and nude platform stilettos, Callum’s gaze slowly slides down my body; lingering on my tan legs that look longer due to the short skirt and tall heels. He’s standing in front of the window with his leather over a deep blue button-up shirt rolled up and tucked into black jeans with his motorcycle boots. The shirt shows off his muscled arms and tattooed forearm. The moment seems to stretch on forever, with us both staring at each other and I move my hands up to fluff my red curls to break the tension.

Callum clears his throat and turns around to grab his phone and wallet off of the desk next to him. “Finn’s waiting for us at the bar downstairs.” I turn around and walk to the door, swinging my hips a little more in the heels. I hear quiet mumbles behind me and turn my head to look at Callum, his eyes quickly meet mine from where they were watching my ass in my skirt. I’ve never had this effect on a guy, they've never watched me walk away, or told me all of the dirty things they wanted to do to me. My life has always been boring, and I've always felt like I blended into the background. The grin doesn’t leave my face the entire way down to the bar.

11

CALLUM

We meetFinn in the hotel bar. The big fucker is scowling over his beer watching a game on the TV in front of him. He always has a resting bitch face, but when he sees us his entire face lights up. I chuckle under my breath and Reese turns to look at me with her head cocked, I just shake my head to say that it was nothing. Finn is the biggest sap in the world when it comes to his family, everyone else gets the big scary biker with the scarred knuckles and glares. He tosses cash onto the bar and the bartender grabs the money without making eye contact. He pushes the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and walks over to us. I told him the restaurant had a dress code tonight, not that he’s in some fucking suit, he’s wearing his cut and a black long sleeve tee shirt with black jeans and a less scuffed up pair of biker boots. Finn is a good few inches taller than me and almost double my size, putting him around 6 and a half feet. The dude is a hulking mass of muscles and tattoos. His black hair is slicked back on top and shaved on the sides, tattoos cover his neck and the shaved sides of his head and they continue all the way down to his fingers; basically, the only thing he doesn't have tattooed is his clean shaven face. Reese tenses next to me and takes a slight step closer to my side, watching Finn stalk over to us, even smiling like a goon he still intimidates her.

Finn pulls me into his chest and thumps my back with his big hand, when he releases me he looks down at Reese, his cool eyes run over her in a calculating way. “I’m Finn, you ready for tonight?” He holds out his hand to shake hers. Finn doesn’t trust people easily; he’s always cold to people he doesn't know, but props to Reese for not running the other way from his judging stare, a lot of people don't have the backbone to withstand Finn’s glare.

Reese shakes his hand, keeping eye contact even though she’s still tense. “I’m Reese, and I'm not sure. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.” She looks between us.

Before I can answer, Finn cuts in. “Just sit there and look pretty darling.” She scoffs and Finn waves his hand laughing. “Not in a sexist way, we’re just gonna be talking business and there really isn't anything else for you to do.”

I shake my head laughing. Attempting to pull my brother's foot out of his mouth, I cover for him. “Just enjoy your drink, Red.”

Outside we each get into our vehicles, my Raptor and Finn’s Hellcat, and head to the upscale restaurant in the Bay Area of Seattle. The cars are a lot safer and easier in the city traffic compared to the bikes. Finn is a gearhead, if his owning a body shop and garage wasn't evident enough; He’s a fan of muscle cars, old and new.

We walk along the water to the restaurant, on the other side of the bay the Space Needle shines like a beacon. When we walk into the restaurant it’s empty, with only minimal staff walking around.

A hostess steps forward. “Mr. Moran, Mr. Evans. Mr. Valenti and Mr. Segreto are waiting for you. Follow me please.” She gestures us forward and Finn and I exchange a confused glance, who the fuck is Mr. Segreto? We follow her along the empty water-front restaurant, past vacant tables with white table cloths and low lighting, to a big round table in the back sitting in front of a large floor-to-ceiling window. Alessandro is sitting on the back side of the large table with two other Italian guys seated next to him and four large goons standing behind them. Alessandro stands to shake our hands, an expensive suit tailored to fit his frame perfectly. He gestures to his guests as they stand. “Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Sebastian and Nico Segreto of Sicily.Oh shit. Sebastian Segreto is the Don for the Cosa Nostra with Nico being his second in charge. What the fuck!I’m pretty sure Finn’s head explodes at the same time that mine does. Although we’ve never done business with Alessandro Valenti, we’ve met the head of the Valenti mafia in New York a few times.

Sebastian eyes us all closely, his dark hair styled and his deep brown eyes focused, bending forward to shake our hands. “Callum Moran, Finn Evans. Thank you for meeting with me tonight, I was hoping that we could discuss some business.” He extends his hand to Reese. “Miss. Thomas, It’s very lovely to meet you, as Alessandro said, my name is Sebastian Segreto.” Her eyes go wide at him using her name.

She shakes his hand and stutters out. “It’s nice to meet you as well.” After shaking both Sebastian’s and Nico’s hands, I pull her into my side and sit her in between Finn and me.

I rest my hand on her leg to hopefully give her some reassurance because although she shouldn’t know the head of the Sicilian Mafia, it’s still weird for someone you don't know to know your name. “We’re not really operational in Sicily,” I say, not sure what we could do for him in Italy. Sebastian orders some expensive ass wine for the table, but Finn, Nico, and I order whiskey instead and leave the wine for Reese, Sebastian, and Alessandro. None of us wanted to sit around and wait for food so we decided tonight's meeting would just be over drinks.

Sebastian leans back in his chair, sizing me up. “I would be hiring you for a job in the states.” My eyebrows raise, but he looks away from me and tilts his head, and focuses on Reese. “Are you enjoying Seattle, Miss. Thomas?”

Reese takes a sip of her wine. “It’s nice, though we haven’t seen much of the city to be honest, and please call me Reese.”

Sebastian nods, his stare turning into a smile; but it looks evil on him, not welcoming. “Reese.” He pauses. “The name means fiery.”

Reese laughs, looking at a section of her red hair in her slender fingers. “I guess it fits me then.” Finn tries to cover his laughter on the other side of her and I glare at him.

Fire seems to dance in Sebastian’s eyes as he watches her. “Yes, I suppose it does. Anyway, I much prefer Sicily.”

Reese groans. “I've always wanted to go!” It’s kind of funny, her unknowingly making light conversation with a mafia boss.

Sebastian’s dark brown eyes bore into Reese’s green ones. “If you ever find yourself in Sicily, I’d be delighted to show you the island.” I’m starting to get irritated with the attention he’s paying to Reese, but this is also a fucking mafia Don and I can’t throw my weight around like back in Merill Hill; so I have to let this play out for a little longer. We came here for business, not so he could try to get his dick wet. “Reese, how did you find yourself in the company of The Devil’s Outlaws?” He looks down her body and back up to her face, well as much of her body that he can see while she’s sitting.

“Uh…” Reese pulls at the bottom of her skirt, obviously nervous.

Not liking the way Sebastian is looking at Reese and making her uncomfortable, I interrupt her. “She’s friends with the club.” My tone is harsh and Finn looks over to me, his eyes telling me to calm my shit, but I’ve had enough of his bullshit. “Is there a reason for this meeting?”

Sebastian finally stops staring at Reese and looks over at me. “Of course.” He adjusts the cufflinks on his dark suit. “The reason I asked to meet with you tonight is that I had a roofing job for the club.” Sebastian raises his wine glass and takes a drink. He’s talking in a code so that Reese doesn't know he's asking us to make him illegal bullets.

I lean onto the table, keeping one hand on Reese’s thigh. “We’re currently overbooked,” I say, thinking about how we’ve already started making bullets for the O’Connell Irish mob.

Nico looks over to his boss. “We’re aware of your job for the O’Connells.”

Sebastian interrupts him. “We’ll double their offer.”

My eyebrows raise to my hairline and Finn leans back in his chair, spreading his thighs wide and resting his arm across the back of Reese’s chair. He isn't touching her, he’s just trying to make it very obvious that Reese is protected by the club. “How big is the job? We’ll be redoing Killian’s entire compound, so the project would have to be equal in size for us to take your offer instead.” O’Connell said he was gearing up for something big and asked for regular shipments, normally we deliver to him on an as needed basis so his need this time is huge.

Sebastian clasps his hands together on the table. “What a coincidence, Alessandro’s family is also in need of all new roofs. I assure you the jobs would be equal in size, and as I said, I will pay double what Killian O’Connell is currently offering.”

---