Page 111 of Between Desire and Denial

Dex: Dimitri? How about if I’m good with it? No fucking way.

Kee: Don’t be overprotective for no reason, Dex. It’s ridiculous.

Dex: It’s not ridiculous to think the Diamond Syndicate could be catastrophically dangerous to this family in that some of them are partnering with the Irish Mob.

Izzy: Only like three people. Out of thousands across the United States. Bill Monroe, Earl, and Jameson’s family have ties with the Irish Mob, but we’re working on pinpointing the ringleader, and if we make our own partnership soon, we can stop that alliance in their tracks.

Declan: It’s messy.

Evie: It’s logical.

Izzy: So smart.

Me: At the potential detriment of what? The family’s safety? Olive’s? No fucking way is right. I’m with Dex.

Kee: Pink swears that it’s the best move.

Me: The fact that you’re talking to Pink about a secret society alliance with the HEAT empire is a problem, Kee.

Dex: What Dimitri said. I’m done with this conversation.

Declan: If Dimitri and Dex aren’t on board, neither am I.

Dom: Guess the boys have spoken.

Clara: Dom, just because the guys have spoken doesn’t mean the decision has been made.

She was right in most cases, but in this instance, it was for the good of the family—for my nieces and nephews and everyone’s safety.

I watched Olive and Jameson on the camera that I shouldn’t have had operational. I saw how he offered to fix our porch, how he kissed her cheek, how she let him. I swung open the door just as I heard her say, “When will it blow over exactly? And what will that choice be?”

Jameson crossed his arms over his chest, and I swear his ass was trying to puff his chest up as he glared at me. “You know I’m only telling her to lay low.”

“Your two minutes are up.”

“Man, I’m warning you about that too. She’s my friend. And we’re always going to be friends. You understand that, right?”

Like I gave a damn. He was circling too close to my girl and he knew it. “And we’re always going to be together.”

The guy had the audacity to goad me by looking Olive up and down in the bed sheet before he smirked. “Sure?”

Motherfucker. “Sure as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. She’s mine, and I’m never leaving her.”

“What if she leaves you?”

I smirked. “Then I’ll follow her through whatever heaven and hell she dreams up for me on my damn knees, pleading with her until she takes me back.”

Chapter Forty-Two

OLIVE

I tried to listen.I tried to lay low and keep my mouth shut for the first night. Dimitri and I didn’t indulge in anything other than him holding me close and me snuggling against him as my thoughts turned and turned.

He was quiet next to me, like he knew now wasn’t the time to argue about what we’d kept from each other or talk about the large diamond elephant in the room.

He held me, like the unwavering rock of support that he was. Like the man I needed. Like my person. Like the love of my life.

I still woke the next morning feeling as if I hadn’t slept at all. My stomach was a mess with nerves, my body jittery from wanting to do something to help. I was trying to listen. I really was. Yet, this involved my family. My brother. I felt absolutely sick to my stomach that morning, so much so that I reached for my phone and texted him.