Cousins: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(30)

The old man is no fool either. If I keep avoiding the house for too much longer he's going to know something is up. He's paid well to know shit before other people do. To sense shit. If he really starts paying any serious attention to my behavior around Elizabeth or rather my inability to be around Elizabeth, he will immediately see right through me, and he won't like it. The only thing keeping the nosy bastard off my case is the fact that he's preoccupied with the Mendez job. A baseball steroids case. It pays a shit load of money if we can get to any potential witnesses, and pay them to say exactly what we want them to say during his hearing with Major League Baseball. Joseph hasn't asked for my help on it yet, which is fine by me. I've got my hands full with a million other things.

In my lame effort to avoid all things Elizabeth this week, I slept with a bank manager named Louise. What a head case. She's been full blown phone stalking me for the last twenty-four hours, and I have no one to blame but myself. I have always forgotten the last woman with the next, but this time the shit isn't working. Instead all I've created for myself is a huge headache. So rather than getting some meaningless head tonight from another possible crazy woman, I've decided to drink myself senseless with the fun snatcher–Camden. Getting trashed with someone more miserable than me is a lot simpler than trolling for pussy.

"Pass me an egg roll."

"Take all of them. I don't want to eat anymore of this shit." I gripe.

"Are you on your period? You are acting like a real bitch."

"And you aren't?"

Camden has been my friend for over ten years. We met our junior year of high school when we got into a fight in gym class over a girl named Samantha Minta. Pretty smile and a fat ass but not worth the weeks detention we both received for fighting on school property. We've been cool ever since.

"I have to keep an eye on my cousin, and I don't feel like it." I lamely explain.

"That's why you're so pissy? Fuck it, I'll do it. Is she hot?"

Just the question alone made me want to kick Camden straight in the teeth. It wasn't his fault though. I haven't told him anything about Elizabeth. He has no idea that I'm lusting after my own damn cousin, but there's no way in hell that I'd tell him. I mean if he told me something like that, I'd probably beat his ass just because.

"Drop it Cam."

"Why? Is she a wildebeest?"

"You've been watching National Geographic again?" I smirk.

"What's wrong with her asshole?"

"Nothing's wrong with her."

"Protective are we?"

"Not really," I try to say nonchalantly. "I just don't want you trying to fuck her. She's family."

"Why don't you just send Jade over there then? Make her take her out or something."

"It's more complicated then taking her out. She's in some sort of trouble. Joseph wants me to handle it."

"Well that's even easier then. It's a babysitting job with a purpose."

By purpose, I bet he doesn't mean me plotting and planning on how many ways I'm going to make Elizabeth call out my name in agonizing bliss.

"Yeah I guess." I mutter.

Camden squirts a little duck sauce on his egg roll and takes a bite.

"So what does Joseph plan on doing with the club?"

"I don't know. I just know he's tasked me with the job of whipping the motherfucker back into shape, after we planned its self destruction so perfectly."

"That's what we do." Camden says somewhat sarcastically. "We've done it a hundred times. We did it with that club on Second Street and we're going to have to do it with The Lotus. What else is new. I just wish I knew what he wants with a couple of local night spots. He probably will make triple what those clubs would make in a year just by handling the Mendez job. It makes no sense."

I can hear the doubt in Camden's voice. I'm not judging. He's probably right to question Joseph's motives. I just need to know where my friend's head is at. I don't need any Joseph/Camden shit blowing up in my face.

"What the hell is your real problem with the old man? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing man. Just talking out loud." He brushes the topic off. "So this cousin of yours. She's over twenty-one right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Juliette mentioned that she was twenty-three."

I'm such a fucking joke right now. Juliette didn't tell me shit, because she didn't have to. I already know my cousin's age and just about every other thing that's on public record for one Miss Elizabeth Hill from Penn-Washington, Pa. She's never had a parking ticket, she has zero student loans, but she's up to her eyeballs in credit card debt. She has a few social media accounts that she isn't really active on unless she's talking about college debt or some gibberish. She also has a rather large medical bill on record, seeing as though she was hospitalized recently for a head concussion and minor lacerations. An incident I won't tell Joseph anything about until I know more.