“He confirmed what my other sources have told me. King’s been slowly turning control over to Ice, although Desmond Hart will be the one in charge as a silent partner. He’s even transferring ownership of his strip club to Henry. He’s getting out of the business, Shade.”
He took a drink of whiskey, hearing a tone in her voice he didn’t like.
“Then what’s wrong?” Shade asked.
“There’s a deal going down which could go bad. I have to see how it ends to know if he can walk away clean.”
He didn’t say anything. She was defending King to him, which meant Evie had become close to King in the two months she had been in Queens City.
“Shade, he’s not involved in the deal. Someone’s trying to piss on his doorstep.”
“If he cared about Lily, he’d let them piss then hose the door down after they left.”
“Give him a chance. He’s trying.”
“Evie...”
“Please, Shade?”
“What do you care?” Shade probed.
She didn’t say anything for a minute. “I don’t want to see Lily hurt, either, and losing her dad would hurt her, Shade.”
“Let me know when the deal goes down and what happens. Do you need me to send a couple of brothers down as backup?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I’m good, I swear. If there’s any trouble, I’ll call.”
“Okay, you better. I won’t be happy if you get hurt,” Shade warned.
“I won’t.”
“Later.”
“Bye, Shade.” Evie disconnected the call.
Shade finished his whiskey then set his glass down on the counter. He climbed the stairs to the bedroom, opening and closing the door quietly behind him before walking silently to the bed. He looked down at his wife who lay on the bed with a red scarf tied around her eyes and her hands cuffed to the hooks at the bottom of his headboard.#p#分页标题#e#
He reached up, letting the tips of his fingers brush her flesh from her ankle to her pussy, finding her wet.
“Did I keep my woman waiting long?” he crooned seductively.
“Shade, I need you,” Lily moaned.
“I know, angel. I’m going to make it up to you. I was gone six minutes, and that’s exactly how long you’re going to come for me.”
* * *
“You left your tackle box on the porch.” Lily handed him the small box.
Shade took it from Lily, placing it in the back of the truck before turning back to her.
“I didn’t forget. I was going to come back and get it. I wanted to say goodbye in private.” He curled his hand across the back of her neck.
“I guess I missed out.” Lily rolled her eyes at him.
Shade let a small smile touch his lips. He had taken an hour to say goodbye before he had started carrying his things to the truck. He didn’t want his inquisitive wife snooping through his things.
“How long are you going to be gone?” she asked, placing her hands on his chest as he started propelling her backward, leading her into the shadows of the factory building.
“A week,” Shade reminded her. “If the fish aren’t biting, maybe more.” He brushed his lips across her check before catching her mouth in a kiss which would have her missing him five minutes after he left.
“Remember what I told you?”
“Yes, Shade. How could I forget when you’ve reminded me a million times? Stay home, let Rachel handle the church store until you get back, and tell Razer or Viper if I need anything. If I don’t want to tell them, ask Beth.” Lily playfully smacked his chest. “I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.”
Shade didn’t want to leave, but there were things which needed to be done. While he took care of that, he wanted Lily away from the church store so she didn’t have a run-in with Brooke. So far, that had been successful. However, he wasn’t taking any chances of that happening when he was out of town. He had confided other worries to Rachel who, knowing Lily’s past, had promised to hold down the store until he got back.
“No, you can’t,” Shade disagreed, enjoying the light-hearted teasing.
“Can, too.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously on him.
“Did you or did you not give all your cash to Anna Barr the other day in the grocery store?”
“I had my debit card,” she argued.
“Which didn’t have a cent in the account. When were you going to tell me you gave Lark Jackson money to pay his back-rent plus enough for the next two months?”
“How did you find out? I was going to tell you.”
Shade just shook his head at her.