Page 30 of Burning for You

Levi

“You sleep there.” I point at the sofa when Jesse puts his bag inside my room, I’m sure he’s about to claim my bed.

“Fine!” He heads out to the living room.

I loosen my tie and take off my shirt.

“I hate you when you’re showing off,” Jesse says, staring at my torso, and my tattooed arms.

“You hate me whenever.”

“True,” he says, bum-jumping on my plush sofa. “So, what’s our plan?”

I sit next to him.

“We’re going after Carolyn Meyer.” With that statement, I feel a three-hundred-pound dumbbell dropped on my shoulders. It’s surreal, but Jesse’s presence reminds me that we are going to do this.

“Who the hell is that?”

“Josh Bright’s fiancée.” I show him an article about her plan to take over Brilliance and the documents I found about Random Valley, with her signature.

“Fucking whore!” Jesse says, almost punching my phone screen, but I stop his fist. “So what are we gonna do?”

“We’ll take her.”

“What do you know about her?”

“She doesn’t have a bodyguard, she takes public transport, and she seems to be liked by the Brilliance staff,” I say, to which Jesse sneers. “And she’s afraid of the dark.”

“Bitch is afraid of the dark,” he murmurs.

“Let’s talk about how we go about it later. I need a friggin’ shower.”

Jesse stretches. “Can I borrow your laptop?”

“Use your phone if you’re looking for a dealer.”

He shrugs.

Of course, he has no phone.

“No drugs here, okay? And don’t destroy my laptop, whatever it is that you’re looking for.”

I pull open a drawer.

I shouldn’t have.

“Jeans?” Jesse’s jaw drops as he checks a stack of bills inside an envelope next to my laptop. “This is like five grand!”

“Jesse…”

“Come on, man. If you deal, you can tell me. Dad isn’t here. You don’t have to pretend you’re the good one anymore.”

I gulp. My day has just gone from worse to disastrous.

“Jesse, I worked as an escort. My girl and I broke up because she found out.” I eyeball the money envelope.

“Fuck me, Jeans!” he says in amusement.