Up to Me (6 page)

CHAPTER NINE- Olivia

Plastering on a smile, I’m fighting to keep my disposition light for my customers. I hear what sounds like a battle cry from the other end of the bar and I glance down to see Taryn happily celebrating…something.  When she turns to change the music, I know by the first few notes what’s going on.  Someone is getting a body shot.

Most of the crowd is familiar enough with Dual to know what the song means and what a body shot is, so they quickly scramble to Taryn’s end of the bar to watch the entertainment.  I think the only more effective way to clear out space in the room would be to start screaming, “Fight!” and point toward the door.  The place would empty in four seconds flat.

The girl who will be receiving the body shot looks like the type that volunteers for them.  A lot.  I would be willing to bet she is made of eighty percent recyclable materials and that her clothes belong to her much smaller sister.  The mass of white-blond hair atop her head completes the picture of a bimbo. 

She wiggles and jiggles before she lies back onto the bar.  I find it amusing that no one has to adjust her clothing at all for the shot.  An ample amount of her stomach is already exposed by her outfit.

Taryn limes and salts her belly, and goes one step further by pouring the tequila into her navel, which only works for people with a fairly deep one. 

Oh boy!  Some guy is gonna love sucking that out!

I look into the drooling crowd for salivating idiot number one.  He’s easy to spot.  He’s all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the thought of licking something off this girl’s body.  All his friends are clapping him on the back and he’s actually rubbing his hands together in anticipation. 

Try to hold it together there, quick shooter.

I giggle at my thoughts.  He’s not so bad, but some of his friends look like they could be poster children for premature ejaculation.  My bet is that a couple of them run off to the restrooms after they watch this little show.

 
Ack!

Since my customers are otherwise occupied, I use the time to wipe down my station, doing anything and everything I can to keep my mind on work.  Periodically, I glance down at the commotion on Taryn’s end.  The crowd goes wild when the guy starts licking the salt off the girl’s stomach. I shake my head and smile.  It really doesn’t take much to get this group fired up.

Just as my eyes are moving back to the task at hand, I see a shadow move in the sliver of light coming from Cash’s office.  My senses are attuned to that corner of the room, no matter what I’m doing or how hard I try to ignore it.

Cash is leaning up against the door jamb, watching me.  Even across the distance, I see the heat in his eyes. I
feel
it.  He doesn’t have to tell me what he’s thinking. I know it as certainly as I can see it in the back of my mind.  He’s remembering the night this music played for us.

Like instant replay, the scene—the smells, the sights, the sounds, the feelings—unfolds in my mind with perfect clarity.  A slow burn starts low in my belly as I think of Cash draped over me.  It spreads like fire as I relive his lips and tongue traveling over my stomach, dipping into my navel and teasing the edge of my shirt. 

I feel my pulse pick up when I remember the look in his eyes when he took the lime from my mouth.  It’s the same look I’ve seen there more than a dozen times since then.  That’s the way they look when he watches me come. It’s the way they look when he’s watching me undress.  It’s the way they look now.  It’s a hungry look that says he wants me.  Right this minute, with nothing between us but hot breath and damp skin, he wants me.  Now.

And there’s no denying that I want him, too. Just as badly. 

The crowd between us cheers, but I don’t look to see what’s happening. I can’t tear my eyes away from Cash.  He’s like the sun that my world revolves around—no matter how much I try to gravitate away from him, to set my heart and my body free of him, he draws me.  Compellingly.  Inexplicably.  Undeniably.

He arches one brow and I feel desire shoot through me.  It almost takes my breath. 

Oh God how I want him!

I’ve never wanted someone this way. So deeply.  So completely.  So desperately.

But that’s the part that gets me into trouble. It’s the part that scares me.

A group of guys moves away from the action, coming between us and breaking Cash’s very disconcerting eye contact. 

The moment is gone. 

But not the effects. 

Every day, every hour, every minute I spend in his presence, Cash is getting further and further, deeper and deeper under my skin.

“You must be Olivia,” a lightly accented voice says, drawing my attention away from the door.

When my eyes make their way to the owner of the voice, I know my mouth drops open.  If the earth holds anyone that ranks anywhere close to Cash in good looks, it would have to be this guy.

Holy furry crap balls!  He’s gorgeous!

A thick patch of jet black hair—cut close and styled like Tom Cruise’s hair in
Top Gun—
sits above a very tan face that is the picture of classic good looks.  Wide brow, high cheekbones, straight nose, chiseled mouth, strong jaw—he’s just a man’s man. That’s all there is to it.  But it’s his great smile and twinkling ocean blue eyes that turn him from great looking into gorgeous.

Even while I’m thinking this, while I’m cataloging his attributes, I’m aware of a lack of any flicker of excitement, any glimmer of attraction.  He’s handsome, very pleasant to look at, seems to be a nice enough guy, but he’s just not Cash.  Plain and simple.  My guess is there’s only one guy for me. I just hope I’m the girl for him.

The guy I’ve been examining raises his eyebrows in question and I remember what he said.

“Why must I be Olivia?” I ask agreeably.  His grin widens. It’s contagious and puts me instantly at ease.

“Well, for starters Olivia is a pretty-girl name.  And you’re a pretty girl.  Secondly, you’re the only employee I haven’t met here, which means you must be Olivia.  Now,” he says leaning in and looking at me from the corner of his eye.  “Be honest. You’re impressed by my extraordinary powers of deduction, aren’t you?”

His eyes are full of mischief and I find myself laughing before I can even reason out what he’s saying.

“Okay, you caught me.  I won’t lie.  I’m terribly impressed by your extraordinary powers of deduction.”

He nods.  “As I suspected. I’m irresistible that way.”  Abruptly, he straightens and sticks his hand across the bar.  “I’m Gavin.  Gavin Gibson.  I help Cash with the bar.”

“Gavin Gibson?  That sounds like the real identity of a super hero.  You packin’ a cape somewhere under that shirt?” I ask.

“Nah, I stow my only super power in my pants.”

He winks and I grin. 

“Do you flirt like this with all the employees here, Mr. Gibson?”

“Mr. Gibson?” His expression shows he’s clearly appalled.  “Mr. Gibson is my father.”

“Sorry,
Gavin.”

“Much better.  And no, I don’t.  It’s very unprofessional for one thing.  But, far more importantly, none of the other employees look like you.  If they did, I might have a problem on my hands.”

“I never figured you for the sexual harassment type, Gavin,” Cash says, coming to a stop at the bar beside Gavin.

Although his tone is light and playful, Cash’s expression is anything but.  Gavin leans an elbow on the bar and turns to Cash.

“You’ve never had an employee worth harassing before,” he teases, looking over to wink at me.  “But this one might be worth losing my job over.”

“Oh, you’d lose more than your job if you ever laid a hand on her.  Trust me.”

Gavin’s still smiling as he looks back at Cash.  I see it slowly fade as he takes in Cash’s very serious expression.  Gavin straightens and his head turns from Cash to me and back again.

He nods and claps Cash on the shoulder with one big hand.  They’re pretty close to the same size, but Cash is still a touch bigger.

“Got it, mate.  No harm intended.”  He turns to me and gives me another charming smile.  “Olivia it’s been a pleasure. If you’ll excuse me, we have some business to discuss.”

Cash doesn’t move until Gavin has already left the bar and is heading in the direction of the office.  He looks at me, his eyes deep, fathomless pools of ink, then he turns and follows Gavin, leaving me baffled as to what just happened.

CHAPTER TEN- Cash

It’s all I can do not to slam the office door behind me as I follow Gavin inside.  I’m seething.  And Gavin knows me well enough to know it.

“I didn’t know you were seeing her, bro.  I meant no offense.”

I know he didn’t.  But that does nothing to appease my anger.  Watching Olivia smile like that for someone else was…was…

“You can’t act like that around employees, Gavin.  Do you know the kind of legal shit storm you could cause?”

He holds up his hands in surrender.  “My bad, Cash. It won’t happen again.  I just wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t let it happen again.  I mean it.”

“It won’t,” he assures me solemnly.  After a few seconds of silence, he makes mistake number two.  “But damn that’s one hot sheila!”

His accent seems more pronounced, which only makes me angrier.  It’s like he’s slipped into some mode where he’s trying to be more appealing to the women.

“That’s enough!” I snap.

Gavin grins and nods slowly, like he’s discovered something.

“Ahh, so you
are
seeing her.”

“I didn’t—”

“You didn’t have to.  Don’t forget that I know you, mate. For a while now.  I’ve seen you with your flavor of the month before and you’ve never given a shit if I flirt with them or not.”

“You’ve never—”

“The hell I haven’t!  You’ve just never noticed before.”

I can’t even clear my mind enough to think back and determine whether it’s true or not.  But I decide it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that he keeps his hands off Olivia.  His eyes, too.

“Olivia’s…she’s…it’s just…”

“Say no more.  From now on, she’s my little sister.”

I look at him.  Really look at him.  In his eyes, I see my best friend.  My business partner.  One of the few people on the planet I actually trust.  And I know he’s telling the truth.

I nod, too.  “Good enough.”

Gavin sinks down in his chair a little, propping one ankle on his knee and lacing his fingers together behind his head.  He’s back to his old comfortable self.

“So, what’s going on?  From what I’m gathering, it must be pretty important.”

I’m sure he’s referring to my short temper.  At least partly.  Gavin is a very perceptive guy.  His father was military and they moved around a lot.  The family was stationed in Australia for several years when Gavin was young, which is where the trace of an accent comes from. 

By the time Gavin was a teenager, they were living in Ireland.  His father somehow got caught in the middle of two nasty groups of rebels and ended up getting himself, Gavin’s mom and Gavin’s older sister killed.  It wasn’t long after that when Gavin went on to serve in a different kind of military.  The kind that doesn’t go on resumes and people sometimes die after finding out about. 

He was a mercenary for several years.  He’s a few years older than me—around thirty, I think—but he’s got some of the best tactical skills I’ve ever seen.  He’s pretty bad ass and I’m glad he’s my friend and on my side. 

Aside from his keen intellect and…other experience, he’s a pilot.  He can fly virtually anything with wings, from Cessnas, to small jets, to helicopters.  In fact, now that he’s no longer a merc, that’s what he does when he’s not helping me with the club—he has a charter business for his chopper. 

We met through my father.  Dad used Gavin’s piloting services a few times when he first started getting things in order to break ties with the
Bratva
, the Russian mafia.  Gavin was competent and discreet, and Dad learned quickly that he was a man who could be trusted, especially when it came to doing the right thing, despite the consequences. 

Gavin kept in touch with Dad when he went to prison, so when the economy tanked and Gavin’s business started dropping off, Dad put him in touch with me for some extra work.  We hit it off instantly.  Since that day, Gavin has been my best friend and the closest thing to non-imprisoned family I’ve had for years.

And now I’m going to need his experience and his discretion more than ever before.

“How much did Dad tell you about what happened?”

Gavin relays what Dad told him and I fill in the blanks.  Well, most of them anyway.  I don’t tell him about Nash’s death, or that I’m living as both brothers and have been for seven years.  That’s information I’d like to keep to myself as long as possible.  That’s a level of trust I have in few people.  Actually, more like one person.

Olivia.

“So, you have no idea who’s gonna be showing up here in the next…”  Gavin looks at his watch.  “Twenty minutes or so?”

“Not a clue.  Dad must think or know that they either have some kind of information that can help me or that they have some way of getting us out of this without giving up valuable, one-of-a-kind leverage
or
somebody’s life.”

“Yeah, making a copy is out of the question.  That’s the kind of thing that really does get people killed.”

“My concern isn’t
only
with giving up the information that could get Dad off.  It’s as much about how these people work.  They don’t leave witnesses alive.  Ever.  I have to figure out some other way to make sure Olivia is safe.  Completely.  Permanently.  I either have to get rid of them or…I don’t know what.  But I have to do something.  I have to make sure she’s safe.”

Gavin rubs his chin.  “That could be tricky.  These are dangerous people to underestimate.  But you’re a great strategist.  One of the smartest guys I’ve ever met.  And that’s saying a lot. I’ve worked all over the world with all kinds of people. You’d have made an excellent merc.  You might not have much to go on now, but once your dad’s plan B person gets here, you’ll know more.  You’re a lot like Greg.  And, knowing what kind of guy your father is, this mystery person’s gonna be a game changer.”

I reach up to squeeze the bridge of my nose, hoping to stop the dull throb that’s beating just behind my eyes.  “I hope you’re right. If not, I’m gonna have to come up with something pretty damn fast.  I’ve only got until nine thirty in the morning.  They’re giving me thirty minutes after the bank opens to get in and get the books.  Then I’ll be meeting them.”

“But the books aren’t at the bank, right?”

“No, they’re not.”

I trust Gavin, but I still hesitate to show my hand.

“Did you tell them which bank?”

“No.  Why?’

“Well, that might play into it.  Might help you on your time. Plus, they won’t be able to meet you there.  Try to pull any of their typical tricks.”

“Yeah, the longer we have and the less they know, the better.”

“Always.”

Gavin and I spit ball back and forth while we wait.  It keeps me from pacing, which is what I feel like doing.  I don’t like waiting. I don’t like not having all the facts. I don’t like being the last to know.  And, most of all, I don’t like worrying about being able to keep Olivia safe.  There are too many unknowns, too many players, too many variables.  What I need is for Dad’s man or people to get here so I can regain some amount of control.

For a while after the accident, I was blood thirsty. All I could think about was getting revenge against the people who killed my mother and brother, and who framed my father for their deaths.  But, over time, the more I became Nash, the more I realized there was a legal way to go about it, a way that could free my father.  That alone would be worth going about it without bloodshed.  So that’s what I did.  I set about getting my law degree and learning as much as I could about similar cases, so that one day I could use the evidence that my dad sacrificed so much for to see justice served.

But now all that is in jeopardy. Unless the ace up Dad’s sleeve is a damned good one.

Forty-four minutes later, an hour before the club closes, an ace walks through my office door.  And holy hell what an ace it is!