Page 27 of The Vow

Colt thumped his back hard and swung himself up off the bench. “That’s the spirit, brother. Dane’s here anyway, so the pain of the needle will bring you back down to earth with a bump in a moment.”

Carmelo had momentarily forgotten. He watched the quiet, pale tattoo artist slink into the bar and set up various bits of equipment on one of the big tables in the bar area. Carmelo hung his head and repeated what Colt had said. “Sure, smile and hold her hand and say a few words, oh and get a permanent tattoo on some painful part of my body of a illegal motorcycle gang-”

But Colt was already gone.

Carmelo

Carmelo stood in the lobby of that fucking hotel in Sacramento and wished the ground would swallow him up.

It was the day of the tasting party, it was late afternoon and they were all assembled in the lobby, checking into their hotel rooms. Colt, April, and a smattering of MC members.

And at that very moment the Zakarian entourage had just arrived, too. Jovan, in a suit looking belligerent as ever. Camilla, in heels, keeping her sunglasses on inside, a fancy cashmere cardigan draped over her shoulders. Kavan, smirking with a curled lip, and a heap of other suited bodies, carrying the most ridiculous amount of matching luggage cases Carmelo had ever seen for one night.

Arpina, Lena’s younger sister, flouncing in with a harassed looking Ardian in tow. “Ardian, I’m going to need the wi-fi code for the hotel,” Arpina commanded without looking up at him, her eyes glued to the screen of her phone.

Ardian blinked but didn’t move.

Her eyes came up to him. “Now,” she said rudely. She looked like a smaller, younger, more flyaway version of Lena but acted like their mother and had inherited more than enough of her father’s pugnaciousness.

Ardian’s jaw flexed but he turned and went to the desk.

And then Lena came in, like a breath of fresh air into the lobby behind everyone else, and Carmelo felt an unexpected kick of relief.

“Why is the whole MC here?” Jovan frowned.

The two groups were all looking each other up and down, sizing each other up. Ardian squared up to Nix, Kavan did a mocking teeth-kiss at one of the prospects, who cracked their knuckles in return. Camilla let out a derisive snort at April’s post pregnancy travel outfit, a loose fitting dress and sneakers.

Of course, April wasn’t bothered by that though, she held her head high as if she was wearing Gucci and ignored Camilla. The other MC boys held their ground, too. But Carmelo saw the superiority the Zakarian’s carried with them, like too fucking much perfume, and felt the blood pumping in his ears, hot and loud.

“It isn’t the whole MC, anyway, these MC members are my guests, they are with me,” Carmelo ground out through gritted teeth.

Jovan raised his eyebrows. “Your family isn’t here, your father? I will need to meet them all before the occasion-”

Lena’s phone rang at that moment. She snatched it out of her little designer handbag.

“Yes?” she snapped. A male voice on the other end of the phone began speaking quickly down the line to her.

“Move the money,” she said decisively, after listening with narrowed eyes for a moment. The man on the other end of the line spoke quickly again.

Lena flashed a look to her father, who watched on, a contemplative, proud look on his face. His features relaxed for once.

“Yes, listen, it will be fine, stop fucking about, Moose, and get behind the wheel of that truck and just drive it back-.”

The man kept talking, panicked.

“I… there’s nothing I can do about Heathkins getting himself shot. Put him in the back along with the money. No blood on the cash, drive back to the factory… that’s your problem, get it done,” Lena said coldly, and hung up.

Carmelo took a breath but Lena immediately dialed the phone again.

“Artum? Yes, one of our spotters is getting too big for his boots… he’s jeopardizing the Eureka operation… yeah, it’s Moose, he’s jittery as hell, I don’t trust him. The guy he was on the drop off with somehow got shot… make sure the money makes it back. You know the drill,” Lena said, business-like, efficient. Competent. Cold.

“Nice,” Carmelo muttered under his breath.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Some of us have to actually earn some money, you know-”

“Oh yeah, but be careful you don’t get any blood on the notes! Fucking hell.”

Jovan smiled. “If the benjamin’s get bloody, Sergeant, you can clean them. Lena will show you how.”

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