17. Khadri “Moros” Weston

17

KHADRI "MOROS" WESTON

The plan was to let Paul leave the country. Sloan was doing a very good job staying hidden and we all figured Paul showing up again would be what we needed to flush him out.

Facial recognition wasn't picking him up and no matter how many of his people Pasha and Boss shook down, they all knew better than to talk.

As much as I hated to admit it, Paul was the only connection we really had—and he was just pissed off enough to lead us right to Sloan.

With promises of returning, I handed over keeping Morgana and Theodore safe to the JDF team and Zero and we tailed Paul back to Canada.

The weather was humid as hell—a different kind of heat than Jamaica. Still, we wandered off the plane and across the hanger to where Pasha awaited us, dressed like a movie star with designer shades over her brown eyes.

We hugged.

"Phi, what you brung meh? " Pasha question like a teenager.

"Me." I replied.

"Ugh…I don't want it, Phi." She pouted. "Take it back."

Ryanne laughed. "The audacity, right?"

"See? This is why I like her." Pasha wrapped an arm across Ryanne's shoulder.

Shaking my head, I waited until Pasha hugged Ryanne.

I opened the door and accepted a chaste kiss of thanks from Ryanne then climbed into the passenger side of the car.

"Is this new?" I asked Pasha.

"Oh!" Pasha chortled. "This old thing?"

"That's code for yes, right?" Ryanne asked from the backseat.

"Um." Pasha giggled. "It's an early Christmas present."

"Christmas is like six months away." I told her.

"Five. But who's counting." Ryanne muttered.

I grunted.

It seemed Ryanne is a Christmas person too.

"Fine—It's an early, early, Christmas present." Pasha amended.

I knew her and Pasha were going to be the best of friends. And that was going to be great and bad all at the same time.

We rolled out the gates of the private hanger and turned left at the fork in the road. While I didn't like being driven around, I relaxed in the leather seat, adjusted the A/C and shifted in my seat to look at Ryanne.

She hadn't once complained but I could tell by the way she lounged in the seat that she was exhausted. Going to Jamaica for most people was supposed to be fun and restful. The only thing she did was run for her life, worried about me, got a sunburn on chest and developed more questions.

Reaching back between the seats, I tapped her knee.

"When we go home, you can get a nice long bath." I promised.

She moaned.

Retrieving my hand, I noticed Pasha kept glancing at me.

I said nothing about that.

"Did you get the stuff I asked you to?" I asked her instead.

"Every, single thing." She cheered. "I was surprised when you messaged me. But I made sure everything was picked up and ready to go."

"Good."

By the time we made it through lunch traffic and arrived at the house, I felt as if a million moons were sitting on my shoulders. That weight caused a tightness in them that burned instead of hurting. Still, I kissed Pasha's cheek and escorted Ryanne into the house, dropped our bags in the laundry room then led her up the stairs.

The luxury bags sat on my bed telling me that not only had Pasha gotten me what I asked, she'd gone overboard. There was a neon pink bag that I knew didn't come from any of the stores I'd asked her to go to. It was sealed and Ryanne's name was written in big, emphatic letters on the side facing us.

Ryanne glanced back at me.

I'd stopped at the door, folded my arms across my chest and leaned against the frame.

"Khadri—what?—"

She peered into one bag and pulled out a pair of jeans. Ryanne held it up to her body then turned to face me.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"We won't have time to take you home just yet." I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat. "You've gone so many weeks just being sad. You know I have no clue what makes a woman happy, and I was hoping?—"

I'd never been this shy—a woman had never made me feel this nervous.

I couldn't remember ever blushing.

"You make me happy." She met my gaze. "These are just things. I'm grateful for all of this. I'm not one of those women who don't appreciate the sweet things."

Ryanne approached me—she was so close, her breasts were pressed against me.

"But if you want a certifiable way of making me happy."

I blinked excitedly at her, needing this clue.

"I'll take one of your hugs that seem to be able to scrape me back together," she said. "A kiss."

Ryanne paused to unfold my arms and lifted one of my palms to her warm cheek.

"Touch me." She continued.

She then used that same hand to slide down her body to a breast.

"Feel me up."

I grinned, my cheeks growing hotter and hotter.

They became so hot, I had to break our eye contact or combust.

Ryanne used a finger to turn my face back so she could keep looking into my eyes.

"Or bring me food." She pushed to her tiptoes to drop a kiss to my mouth before going back to the bed.

"You're saying you're easy."

Ryanne giggled.

"Precisely."

I laughed.

When she lifted the neon pink bag on a pinky and faced me, I shook my head.

"Um—Pasha didn't adhere to my list." I licked my lips. "Take a shower and get some rest. I'll order in and make sure there's food when you're ready."

"Khadri, wait."

She ran over, held my hips and lifted her face. Without thinking, I drew her into my chest and kissed her.

I kissed her how I'd been aching to since our talk on the plane and she'd fallen asleep in my arms. Watching her sleep always soothed me.

It was the thought I knew where she was and that she was safe.

Lifting my mouth, I tapped her lips with a finger, kissed her again and left her alone in my bedroom.

I thought back to the list of things I'd sent Pasha—in one of the bags should be a new cell phone.

The fact her old one died so quickly, didn't sit right with me.

And with the kind of woman I was beginning to know Ryanne as, she was going to fight me about the phone.

If she truly didn't want it, she could give it back to me once she found a new job and bought a new one.

If she still refused, I would put one of Tex's tracking devices on her.

…I didn't want to have to do that.

"So?" Pasha asked as I went through the food delivery app.

"So, what?"

"Did she like what we got her?"

"I'm not sure." I replied. "She didn't take my head off though. She just told me the next time I think she needs cheering up, food or my body will do the trick."

Pasha purred and scratched the air toward me.

"Rawr!" She blushed.

"Stop that!" I told her, trying to hide my smile. "I'm terrified of falling in love with her, Pash. What am I supposed to do?"

"Fall in love with her."

"Why do I bother talking to you?"

"Because I have more sense than Boss?" Pasha asked. "There is nothing wrong with falling in love with a woman. And a woman who doesn't want your money even though she doesn't have any of her own—I mean she might that we've found her father's will."

I grunted.

"But she never wanted anything from you." Pasha continued. "Well, nothing except that ass of yours."

I muttered a profanity.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care." Pasha told me. "Ask your woman."

I grinned and jogged up the stairs.

At my bedroom, I knocked.

"Um—come in!" Ryanne called.

When I stepped in, she was wrapped in a towel. She saw me ands cocked a hip.

"Why are you knocking?" She wanted to know.

"You could have been naked." I told her, softly.

Ryanne signed dramatically, dropped her towel and turned to go through the bag she always had at the house.

But I couldn't focus on what she was doing.

All I could focus on was the slope of her back, her ass—the way it jiggled with each step.

I sighed and turned my back.

"Um—oh, sorry." Ryanne's voice cracked.

Without speaking, I set my phone on the bedside table, turned her and brought one of her hands down to the front of my pants.

"This is why I turned away." I explained. "We don't have time to feed this beast right now. I'm trying to behave."

"Boo to that."

"What do you want for dinner?" I released her hand.

She didn't pulled her hand away. Instead, she massaged then squeezed and my eyes crossed.

"God, Ryanne Larwick."

Sighing dramatically, she stopped to pull on the panties she'd taken from her overnight bag. She then popped the tag off a bra and stuck her arms in through the straps.

"Be a good boy, Moros and hook this for me."

Ryanne turned her back to me, pressed her ass into my crotch and rolled her hips.

"Woman—"

She giggled as I hooked her bra and ended it all with a gentle kiss to her shoulder.

"Can we get Thai?" She asked while pulling on a sundress. "I've always wanted to try—never had enough money in the budget."

"Okay, baby." I paused to remove the bags from the bed and set them under the window on the floor.

"Once you order food, could you come back and lay down with me for a few minutes?" Ryanne asked me, shyly.

"Shorty?"

"Mm."

"If you want my attention, tell me you want my attention." I told her. "Where's the woman who got on her knees for me? The woman who wanted me to teach her—to tell her what to do to me?"

"I'm not myself when you touch me—when I know you're about to touch me."

I moaned and stepped in close to wrap an arm around her waist.

"I want you to be that woman—always." I bowed my head to meet her gaze. "I want her. So, try again."

"Try again?"

"You want me to come back after I order dinner."

Ryanne nodded.

"So, tell me."

Ryanne stared up at me.

It was the kind of look that wondered if I was tricking her. Eventually, she licked her lips and jabbed me playfully at the center of my chest with a finger.

"I'd like to spend some quiet time with you." Ryanne smiled up at me. "Once you've ordered dinner, I need you to come back to me."

Smiling, I kissed her left cheek, then her right.

I stared into her eyes for a bit then pressed my lips to the center of her forehead.

"Give me a few minutes."

"Mhmm."

"Anything specific you want to eat?" I wanted to know. "Spring rolls? Green, red or massam curry?"

"Anything that's yummy. I only ask for a bowl of some sort of soup."

"Okay baby." I kissed her shoulder before leading her to the bed.

After pulling the streets back, I helped her in, pulled the sheets up to her shoulders and kissed her nose.

With eyes on Paul, I went by the land where Musk used to stand. The land was cleared of all signs of the previous building, and the construction company had started moving their equipment on site to start the new build.

It felt strange being there with nothing but an open lot.

And while the insurance company was footing the build for the rebuild, it still angered me this was a duplicate and not the original.

Still, I was thankful no one was hurt.

I was grateful the building had been empty and my staff had been safe.

Now, they were all scattered throughout the city, working at other places to make ends meet. While I gave them all a little extra something, hoping that will help them until they'd found a new gig, it still saddened me.

My team had been a good one.

They loved Musk almost as much as I did.

Boss said they loved it at Musk because I'd been a good boss. People worked there for years—through university. Others who had to leave for whatever reason, always came back if I was short-staffed and required a few extra hands.

And because Paul was a greedy bastard, that family was gone.

I was sick of losing people.

Walking over to the makeshift construction office, I met with the boss and after a conversation, I signed some paperwork and left.

On my way back home, I received a call from a private number. At first, I thought it was Tex, but knew better.

Tex tend to just pop up on the screens in my dashboard and smirk at me when I cussed. Pulling over, I sent Tex a message to start tracking the calls coming into my phone. Once he replied that he was on it, I answered.

"Yes?"

"I need you to back off." Torez Sloan spoke.

I smiled.

It was a shitty situation, but I couldn't help myself.

"It's the audacity for me," I said. "We're pass that, Torez. The day you lit my bar on fire—we fucking booked it pass the place where I would have backed off."

"Look, it's nothing personal." Torez screeched. "That's just business."

I smirked.

"I get it." I told him. "So, you won't feel anyways about what's about to happen. Because after all, it's just business."

"Why do you have to be such an asshole?"

I looked out the window and shook my head.

"You can make your life easy." I told him. "You and your boys can turn yourself in to Boss and I'll back off. If you don't, you know what's next. But the hard way—I can't guarantee your safety."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Then why the call."

Nothing.

"Look, you know what you need to do." I told him while keeping my eyes on the time. "The ball's in your court."

"You'll regret this."

I laughed and hung up.

Tex immediately called.

"He's trying to block his signal." Tex reported. "I didn't get an exact location—just a geographic area. From what I can see, it's rough, man."

"Where?"

"The Grotto."

"Shit." I swore.

"Are you familiar with that neighbourhood?"

"Unfortunately." I murmured. "It's like the ghettos of Brazil. If you aren't intimately familiar with that place, you won't make it out."

"What about Boss?"

"No—that's not his jurisdiction." I licked my lips, trying to figure what we were going to do next.

Torez was going to leave that place. He knew that I didn't know the area and I wouldn't willingly send my people in there. Even though I was from Toronto, I'd only been there once—I couldn't ask Barbie to come over to help me out—she was from Germany.

"I could get Wolf to spare a couple guys." Tex offered.

"No." I declined. "I don't want to put anyone in danger. Barbie is close by as well but even though she's amazing at distance shots, that place is covered. It's all tunnels and laneways. We have to get him to leave."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Right now, I want to light that bitch on fire—but innocent people would get hurt. I need to think about it."

"Alright—hit me up when you have an idea."

Agreeing, I hung up and rubbed my tired eyes.

I should shoot this mother-fucker just for breathing.

Exhaling, I massaged my temples. I could feel the slight pulsing of migraine coming and I knew I couldn't afford to be slowed down for that.

Torez was no feeling caged.

He was desperate.

That was why he'd called me. He wanted to know what I was thinking and that shouldn't really have been a surprised for him.

He's known me long enough to know when I was absolutely feral.

And it wasn't even for the fact he went after Ryanne. I didn't know her then. It was the fucking idea he had someone torch my joint—that alone deserved the death penalty.

But because of Boss, I was willing to have him arrested and handed over to the military system for his punishment. The crimes he'd done to Ryanne and others who he'd murdered for money may not go punished.

What he did to my team—well, he had the end he deserved waiting.

By the time I made it back home, Ryanne was on my laptop reworking her resume. She seemed tired but she made me a sandwich and had it waiting for me. I poured myself a drink, set my food on the table then knelt in front of her to rest my head on her lap.

She said nothing—instead, she caressed my head back then began massaging the back of my neck. Each time she did that, the stress evaporated slowly and after the headache began retreating.

"Want to talk about it?" She asked.

"Mm." I didn't move.

"Maybe I should take you to bed?"

I would have loved that, but the sooner we could talk, the sooner I figured we could get this over with.

Ryanne sat with me so I could eat.

"How's the hunt going?" I asked around a bite of my sandwich.

"Nothing out there for a washed-up waitress with no other experience or education to show for anything." Her voice was soft, sad. "I feel like right now, I'm just waiting to die. Soon, I'll be out of savings and then what I'm going to do?"

I said nothing.

Nothing I said in this situation would be good.

Nothing I was thinking to say in this situation would make her smile.

The alpha in me wanted to stand up and protect her—to pay for everything, to insist on doing that.

But I knew her—she would never be okay with that.

She would rather stab me for breathing rather than sat back and allow me to take care of her like that. She's proven repeatedly that all she wanted from me was my body and my heart.

Still, I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to make her life easy.

What was the use of having all this money and my woman was miserable?

My woman…

"What are you thinking?" Ryanne asked.

I shook my head.

"Pasha should have been here already." I told her instead of what I was really thinking. "Did she call the house?"

"You have a house phone?" Ryanne arched a brow.

"Um—yes. In the office and my bedroom—how'd you miss that?"

"Because the only thing I've done in your bedroom is sleep and—" She stopped and covered her mouth.

Grinning, I glanced around then was reaching for my phone to call Pasha when it began ringing—another unknown number.

I'm getting sick of this shit.

"Now I have something you want." Sloan told me. "You have someone I want—let's exchange."

My phone beeped and it was a picture of Pasha, bound and gagged. She looked as though she'd been in a fight.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and lifted the phone to my ear.

"If you hurt her?—"

"You'll what?" Torez demanded harshly.

I glanced over at Ryanne who was now kneeling in front of me, trying to ask me what was happening.

"You have the bitch I want dead," Torez said. "I have the slut you want to save."

"And there I go thinking you were all about self preservation." I told him. "But I was wrong, wasn't I? You'd rather die trying to get to Ryanne. That's some balls."

"Do we have a deal or not?"

I chuckled bitterly. "Oh, I think you already know the answer to that."'

"I'm not playing with you!" Torez screeched. "I will kill her!"

"You know what happens if she gets hurt. You already know what will happen because you've bruised her skin."

"So, no deal?"

Leaning over, I picked up the file we had on —You're about to find out."

I hung up and explained things to Ryanne while getting a hold of my guys. They descended on my place, all ready to fight.

"We can't send anyone into The Grotto." Boss spoke up. "That place is the seventh layer of hell."

"I know." I sighed. "I think I know of a way to get the people there to bring him to me."

"Khadri." Ryanne groaned.

"Hold on, baby." I told her.

I pulled out my phone and called Poke.

"I need a favour." I told him.

"Jesus, Christ Moros. Is this going to leave me dead or maimed?" He asked.

"You don't have to do much, just pass on a message."

"Okay." Poke replied.

"I need you to get it to your people in the Grotto." I glanced at Ryanne who was eyeing me intently. "I need you to tell them that I want them to bring me Torez Sloan. The woman with him shouldn't be harmed. I don't care what condition Sloan comes to me in. But they have twenty-four hours to bring him to where Musk used to be."

"Damn, Moros." Poke sighed.

"If they don't, I'll be bringing a construction crew, and we're going to level that bitch." I added. "Then we're going to light it on fire. It's up to them."

Poke agreed and after he was gone, I lounged into my chair.

"Do you think that will work?" Ryanne asked. "You're not really going to light that place on fire, right? There are innocent people there."

"If they do what I want, it'll be a non-issue." I stood and walked away.

As I exited the house, I could hear Ryanne speaking with Tex and Boss. I knew she would be questioning what my intentions were and what I was actually capable of. But this was the only way of doing this without getting any of my people hurt.

Right now, Pasha was safe—Torez knew he would lose more than his life if anything happened to her.