Page 29 of Sweet Revenge
I stared at her for a long moment before silently nodding.
“I’ll take that as a no,” she muttered as she pressed a few buttons to dial. A moment later, her tone changed drastically into something flirty and fun. “Hey, there, Steve-O! How’s it hanging baby?”
Disgust filled me so much that I felt like I might throw up everywhere, practically choking on it as it rose up the back of my throat. Who the hell was Steve-O, and why was she talking to him like she was his girl?
“I’m good, I’m good. I was wondering, would you like to meet me at Grenada tonight? I’d love to see you while I’m in town. It’s been too long, baby. Way too long.” The way she spoke made it sound like she was talking about his dick, not an expanse of time. “Great, baby. I’ll see you there at nine.”
She hung up and turned to me, a goofy grin on her face, pleased with her performance.
“What the fuck?” was all I could manage to say.
“Relax. He’s a friend of Alex’s, that’s all. He’s been under the impression that I wanted his cock for the last several years, which couldn’t be further from the truth, but we can use this to our advantage.” She fluttered her eyelids at me innocently, but I still wasn’t sure.
“Tell me the plan.” It wasn’t a question.
Elisa went over everything with me, and I got the gist of what she was going to do. She just needed Steve-O’s help in making sure her brother was where we could nab him. When she’d finished, she smiled at me, and I felt much better.
“I’ll hack into the cameras at Grenada while you go get ready,” I suggested. We’d stopped at a store to buy more clothes on our drive, and she’d bought something provocative enough to work. While she was in the other room, I easily managed to hack the nightclub’s system. I needed to keep eyes on her at all times.
About an hour later, she walked out, looking sexy as hell, and I wanted to just forget about the mission and fuck her instead, but I couldn’t. I reminded myself that I was a professional mob boss and tried to stay focused. “So who is this guy?”
“Just one of Alex’s bros. They met at a party or club or some shit, I don’t know. He is aware of the family business, but he has no idea just how powerful my father is. He’s not involved at all.”
“All right. I hacked into the cameras, so I’ll be able to watch you, but keep your phone on, too. If you run into any trouble at all, I want to know about it before it goes down.” I took a deep breath, vanquishing the notion that this was a bad idea. It had to be done.
“What? You don’t think I can handle this?” she asked, and I couldn’t tell if she was kidding. While she’d managed to impress me a few times lately, that ugly swing with the lamp this morning had me less than convinced.
“Let’s just get this over with.” I motioned for her to follow me, and we headed out to the van.
Watching Elisa walk into that bar, knowing she was going to meet a total asshole who just wanted to get her short, tight skirt off her, was killing me. I bit down on my bottom lip and began monitoring both the call and the cameras from inside the club on the laptop I’d bought earlier in the day.
Elisa had just entered the club when some guy came over to her. At first, I assumed it was Steve-O, but she pushed this guy away and made a beeline for the bar. A guy in jeans so tight they might’ve been painted on came over to her and wrapped her up in a hug. She hugged him back and didn’t even knee him in the crotch when he grabbed her ass.
“How have you been, gorgeous?” he asked as they sat at the bar. He ordered her a drink I knew she wouldn’t like without even asking, and then they started in on the conversation.
Elisa spent several minutes making up stories about how great life was in Chicago, or maybe lifehadbeen great before I entered her life and ruined everything. Then, she asked him about himself, and he was brief, quickly asking her if she wanted to get out of there.
“Not just yet,” she said in a flirty tone. “I was hoping you could help me with something. Something super important.”
“What’s that, sweet thing? Getting this dick in you?” He laughed, and I was ready to charge in there and cut the thing off.
“Not yet,” she said again. “I wanted to ask for your help in getting my brother to a surprise party. You see, I want to throw him a big party for his birthday, which is coming up in a few days, you know.” The blockhead nodded, but it was clear he had no idea when his birthday was. “But I have to be super careful or he’ll know what’s going on.”
“You mean like a surprise party?” Steve-O asked, like the total imbecile he was.
“That’s right.” Elisa leaned over, and even from the shitty camera, I could see him looking down her shirt.
“He’ll hate that,” Steve-O pointed out. Laughing, he added, “How can I help?”
“Well, I think it’ll be easier to just throw the party at a club where he’s already hanging out. Where’s he been hanging out lately? Any ideas?” Elisa continued to lean toward him, making my skin crawl. If he touched her again, the jig was up, and I was storming that place.
“Yeah, yeah. Lately, he’s been spending every spare moment over at Silk and Lace, that nightclub next to where Palo used to be. It’s like a strip club but also a nightclub. One of those fancy places your brother likes to frequent.”
“Right, I know the place,” Elisa said with a convincing nod. I wondered if she actually did or if she was just a great liar.
“He’s been chasing after this stripper, Cassandra. He keeps making moves on her, but she’s playing hard to get. You know Alex. He won’t give up until he’s got her in his bed.” Steve-O chuckled and tossed back his drink. “Anywho, I bet you could find him there any night of the week.”
“That sounds perfect. Thanks so much, Steve-O.” Elisa was practically purring. Behind Steve, a few bikers let out a loud roar of laughter, and I almost didn’t hear what she said. They were loud, drunk, dressed in black leather, and no one to mess with. I managed to figure out that she’d said, “Thank you so much for all of your help, baby.”