Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(63)

“How the fuck should I know?” he explodes in response to whatever the person said. “That’s not my job to know this shit. All I’m saying is, it’s suspicious. Maybe the suppliers want to cut out the middle man or some fucking gang wants to get in my way because they don’t like that I’m cornering the market on this shit. I don’t trust anyone involved in this shit as far as I can throw them!”

That’s even better. He thinks the sabotage, if there is any, is coming from someone involved with the cocaine selling in the city. He doesn’t seem to suspect River or the rest of us at all.

I smirk, pleased. That’s just what we were hoping for, especially given the fact that Cyrus’s death was carried out by someone other than us, and there are plenty of witnesses to that. We’ve managed to keep the suspicion off us the whole time, and I have to hand it to Gage. He’s always right about when to go subtle and play the game the right way.

But Julian is obviously starting to feel the pressure of shit going wrong. He’s not all smarmy and smug now, and he looks like he’s a step away from tearing out his hair in frustration. I grin savagely. Karma’s a bitch, and her name is River.

“Shut the fuck up!” Julian snarls. “Just shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear anything else about that. I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you work for me. You got that? You do what the fuck I say. If I say jump, you ask me how high and if I want you to do it in a fun little costume. You don’t talk back to me. I know there’s something going on. Shit’s been going wrong left and right, and it’s not just accidents. It’s volatile fucking drug dealers and suppliers being shitty. I know what the fuck I’m talking about, do you hear me?”

He doesn’t give the other person time to respond before he hangs up the call and stands in the middle of the room, breathing hard. He looks pissed, hands clenched so tight it looks like he might crush his phone.

Eventually he lets out a long, slow breath and then drags his fingers through his hair. He’s crumbling a little, and I love to see it.

Another car pulls up to the house, and I don’t recognize it, but I do recognize the bitch who gets out. Natalie. I almost gag at the sight of her. I hate this frigid bitch so much.

She lets herself in, and Julian’s agitation is pretty obvious.

“What happened?” I hear her ask him.

“You know what happened,” he tells her. “And now I’ve got people trying to tell me it’s all just bad luck. Just accidents happening, and it’s no one’s fault and out of our control.”

“Julian,” she says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You have to breathe. You look like you’re about to explode.”

“What do you expect me to look like?” he demands, jerking out of her hold. “You know what’s happening. You know how bad this is. Cyrus was our biggest buyer, and now he’s fucking dead because he couldn’t stop Apollo from charging into his club and blowing his brains out. Where the fuck was his security? Who the hell just lets that happen?”

“That’s not on us,” Natalie says, but Julian cuts her off before she can finish her sentence.

“I know it’s not fucking on us, but it affects us. It affects the business. How the fuck do we make up for losing him? And for losing so much goddamn product in that ‘accident’.” He makes vicious air quotes, and Natalie sighs.

“We find new buyers. It’s not like it will be hard in this city. Everyone here wants to get high on something. We’ll make up for what we lost.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Julian mutters.

“I’m keeping my head about this,” she fires back. “Unlike you.”

His eyes are furious when he looks at her, and he takes a step toward her like he’s going to hit her or something. Instead, he backs her against the wall, practically shoving her into it hard.

“Shut the fuck up,” he says, and it’s almost too quiet for me to hear it. “You don’t know how hard this is. You don’t have the weight of this shit on your shoulders.”

“The fuck I don’t!” she shoots back. “I’m involved in this too, Julian. It’s not just your—”

Whatever she was going to say is cut off by Julian slamming his lips against hers in a heated kiss.

Natalie claws at his back, and it’s pretty obvious she’s grinding against him and not squirming to try to get away.

“Fucking disgusting,” I mutter under my breath, but angle the drone to catch footage of them going at it, getting the audio as well.

And they do fucking go at it.

Julian starts ripping her clothes off, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Natalie cusses him out about how much the dress cost, and he says he doesn’t give a fuck and spins her around so she’s facing the wall. He slaps her ass hard and fumbles at his fly to get his dick out.

He leans forward and mutters something into her ear that I can’t hear, but judging from the way Natalie moans like a whore, she liked whatever he said.

It doesn’t take long before Julian thrusts into her, fucking her hard and fast against the wall, slapping her ass every now and then. They go at it like that for a bit, and then Julian pulls out and shoves her over to the couch.

“Don’t push me!” Natalie snaps.