Page 9 of Up in a Blaze (Polished P & P #4)

CHAPTER NINE

HENRI

L eaning forward, I looked around Gun and asked, “Can I ask what you are doing in here?”

“ Da .”

I glanced to Gun. “What?” I knew what “da” meant, but saying yes wasn’t an answer.

Gun shrugged.

“You may ask what I am doing here,” Adrick said, like that explained it all.

“Then why?” I questioned. When he swung his hard gaze my way, I ducked back behind Gun, who chuckled. Adrick was scary. I wasn’t sure what it was about the man, but he put the fear in me with one look.

“Why are you hiding? I did nothing.”

Gun sighed. “Where’s West?”

West was the sweetest man I had met. No wait, that was Lucas. West was also sweet, but I often wondered about his sanity when it came to being married to an ex-mafia Russian man who could kill with a flick of his wrist.

Okay, and maybe my man could do that, too, but the Russian was scarier.

I hadn’t been around at the time, but I’d heard the story of Adrick snapping West’s father’s neck for torturing Adrick lover.

I was sure that if Adrick hadn’t done it, someone in the brotherhood would have.

Even I would have given it a go after West told me the full story, and I was more a lover than a fighter.

“He is working at Death’s security place.”

“And you left him alone?” Gun asked.

“You think me a fool? No. He is guarded, and they know to kill anyone who upsets West.”

“Then tell us why you strolled in here and pulled up a seat.”

“Country didn’t inform you?” he asked, flicking lint off his slacks.

“Non.”

There was a knock, and the door to Saint’s office opened.

Country stuck his head through. “You found them. Forgot to call, but Adrick is willing to advertise the Playhouse in all his casinos and clubs. He just wants to be involved in return for the free advertising.” He waved with two fingers and shut the door again.

Merde.

That explained why the scary man was here.

“I am good at reading people and decorating. I will assist on the decor of the warehouse.”

“You can help , but I have final say. Saint promised me this,” I warned.

“Da. Good to see you have backbone.”

“And they have to accept our offer first on the warehouse,” I said. We had made our proposal earlier to the agent and were waiting on a call back.

Gun snorted. “They will. I saw the fear Blaze put in the agent with that look.”

I smiled. “This is true.”

“You fear me and yet you are married to a fierce yeti. I do not understand,” Adrick commented.

“I don’t fear you,” I lied.

He leaned forward, and I quickly looked away while saying, “When will Saint get here?”

Gun chuckled. “Any second and then we can start the interviews.”

Thankfully, the door opened, and Saint walked in. “It’s crowded out there,” he commented as he made his way over. He leaned down and kissed Gun before he took the spare seat beside his man. “Boo, you remember the time I interviewed you?”

“No,” Gun shouted, jolting to sit straighter. “Zip it, Zion.”

“Aww, but it was the best night of my life.”

“I want to know,” I said.

“They are talking about when Gun proved to Saint that he was a master at giving blow jobs to men.”

I gasped, then cackled. “Really? Is that how you two started dating?”

Gun groaned and buried his face into his hands. “I’m going to kill West for tellin’ you.”

“You will not,” Adrick warned.

“We didn’t start datin’ right away. I had to woo my man for a while.” Saint leaned over and kissed Gun’s flaming cheek.

“Let’s get on with the interviews,” Gun demanded.

“I would like to hear the whole story. It sounds thrilling.” I smiled.

Gun stood and went to the door. Opening it, he called in our first interview.

* * *

Hours later, we had been through twenty applicants from Polished, who were interested in a position, and all seemed promising.

With one more to go, it seemed not only would Polished need to take on new employees, but the Playhouse would too.

We’d need as many as we could to make sure we had enough dancers for shift changes and such.

Then there were employees just for waitressing.

Apparently Quake loved the idea of his next pub in a strip club, which was wonderful since he’d oversee that area, and we wouldn’t have to worry about bar staff when opening.

“Carnal, tell Pixie to come in when you go out,” Saint said.

“You got it, boss.” Carnal wanted a position, but he also wished to stay working at Polished P they wouldn’t have been swayed by any offer to walk away.

“He’ll be fuckin’ dealt with,” Country stated.

Saint drew in a deep breath through his nose before he carried on.

“It was lucky the silent alarms went off after the body scan identified a weapon. We just watched the camera footage of the man walkin’ right up to the front desk, wantin’ to rebook an appointment with Sawyer.

Elle was there, and she told him the only available time was in two weeks.

Blaze, Tech, and other security members rushed the area.

He panicked and reached around the counter to grab Elle, pulling her out by her hair.

He demanded to see Sawyer.” Saint met Sawyer’s gaze.

“He wanted to talk to you. Needed you to go with him.”

“Why?” Sawyer whispered.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Country said, moving into the room.

“Can’t you ask him?” Sawyer suggested.

The room silenced for a moment.

Until Country started to say, “He shot two men?—”

“My men,” Adrick snarled, waving his phone around. Someone must have alerted him by text about who had been harmed.

Sawyer made a strangled noise. Loyal moved closer to him, his fingers tightening a little around Sawyer’s neck while he glared at Adrick.

“We had to get control of the situation right away,” Loyal said.

Blaze straightened. “I shot him. He won’t answer anything because he’s dead.”

Quickly facing him, I placed my hands on his chest. “Mon amour?—”

“I’d do it again too.” He was serious; I could see it in his eyes.

I nodded, silently telling him I understood. He’d been scared, and I had little doubt he had pictured me in that situation.

My big, beautiful, protective beast.