A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(86)

Wait. “Reports? What are you talking about?”

He bit out another growl. “Listen to me, where are you right now?”

“I’m in a closet so I could talk to you.”

“Stay there. Ashton’s closer than me. He’s on his way to you.”

“Ashton? What is going on?”

“It’s too much to explain. I’ve been trying to keep you out of it because of your job, but you’re in danger.”

“I am?” I reached for the door. “If I am, then Kelly is. My other friends.”

“No. They aren’t. You are.”

“That makes no sense. I’m going.” I was already out the door and hanging up.

“Wait! Je—” I heard that much and paused, but if Kelly or Molly or Justin were in danger, I had to go. It was who I was, what I did.

I was shoving back through the crowd when I spotted them at the booth.

Molly was in a far corner, half hiding behind Kelly.

Justin was standing in front of Kelly, but his stance was different. Half protecting, half shielding, but trying not to appear he was doing any of that at the same time. It was confusing, and the two guys were standing side by side. Hands in their pockets. One guy was all in, talking to Justin. Laughing, but his eyes kept darting to Kelly behind him.

The other guy was standing there, but his attention was fully on Molly. A suggestive sneer was in place, and she was trying to pretend she wasn’t noticing, but she was noticing.

I started forward until I felt a hand on my arm. “Wha—” I started to swing on whoever was restraining me, but saw it was Ashton and pulled my arm free at the last second. “Do not ever grab me like that again.”

He didn’t care. He had turned his back to the booth, and was in front of me, herding me backward. “You need to listen to me. You are officially past the ‘messing around’ phase. If you’re with Trace, you have to decide, because those two guys back there are not friendly with us. They find out about you, they won’t hesitate to kill. They’ll do anything to hurt us. Do you hear me?”

“Wait.” I’d let him move me back, farther out of eyesight, but put on the brakes. I noticed three other guys going around us, both descending on the booth. I went to try and watch, but Ashton went with me, blocking me. I shoved away from him. “I have a gun on me. Don’t think I won’t use it if I’m feeling in danger.”

“I’m aware,” he lashed back, his eyes blazing. “You’ve been cleared to enter here with your weapon.”

“Cleared? By who?”

“By us. We’re on friendly terms with Cole Mauricio. This is his club, and his staff is very aware of who you are. They’re the ones who alerted us about who else is here with you.”

“Wait.” Jesus. I couldn’t keep up. “Who are you talking about?”

“The Mauricio family.”

“I know who Cole Mauricio is. His family is not active here. They’re active in Chicago.”

“No, they’re not, but they still have business here, and this is our area. We’ve had an understanding with them for a very long time, but they do not have an understanding with the Worthing family.”

Worthing.

I moved back another full step.

Justin Worthing.

“What are you talking about?”

“This,” he ground out. “This is why you and Trace need to stop messing around. You’re either with him or you’re not. None of this in-between bullshit. If you’re not, you need to get the fuck out of our lives. Your friend back there is related to the family that’s trying to move in on our territory. The gunshots that article talked about? It was from them.”

“Wait a minute.” What did this all mean? Panic was rising in me. Kelly. Justin. “Justin’s involved?”

“No. We vetted Justin before we hired him. Or I did. Trace approved. Justin is innocent, caught between family members he’s related to. That’s all. We didn’t realize the Worthing family would move into our city.”

“What side of his family is Mafia? I thought he had a wealthy side and a blue side?”

“There are members of the wealthy side that are in the business.”

“The side you’re friends with?”

“No, but yes. They have distant cousins in the business. I wasn’t fully aware of how powerful they’d grown until the party. They showed up when I was there, and it didn’t go well. Trace was already gone, or it would’ve been bad. Very bad.”

“Justin’s brother is a detective.”

“We’re aware.”

“Is he involved?”

Ashton didn’t answer that, and that was an answer by itself.

“I thought you had cops on your payroll.”

“We do, and the longer you stand here talking to me, the higher the probability that your name will get on a list that you do not want it to be on. So.” His eyes flashed again, and he leaned in. “To further save everyone’s energy and potential lives, you need to choose. Either be with Trace—and I mean it, let it be known—or leave him the fuck alone. You got me?”

I understood, but I was concerned about other matters right now. I moved to the side, looking for our booth and finding everyone’s attention right on us. Guess we hadn’t moved far enough out of their eyesight.