Cleo

Jasmine

Edgar had left not long after, leaving a case of money and his snotty little girl behind. She didn’t speak to me after I agreed to keep her. Though I wasn’t some glorified babysitter, I would do what I needed to. I’d probably just pawn her off on one of the guys; make it one less problem I’d have to deal with.

Handling a nineteen year old was not something I wanted to do much, even if I had the time. Girls were just bags of complaining, prissy flesh. I liked having guys to surround me. They didn’t care too much about looks, they never bothered to fuss about drama, never took anything to heart. They were basically big walking brick walls.

Niall, Harry and Liam arrived not long after. Niall in a panic as he ran inside the house. “Who was here? What’d they want?” He came right up to me, his eyes moving over the exposed skin, waiting for an answer.

“It was a short notice business meeting, Ni.” His eyes fell upon the girl sitting at the kitchen table with me. “Jasmine, these are my boys. Boys, this is one of our new jobs.” I pulled my long mess of brown curls up into a ponytail and pushed a beer in her direction. “She’s worth a lot of money to us.” Jasmine wasn’t paying attention to me as she examined the bottle.

“A job? She’s a little girl, what kind of job could she be?” Harry asked, his eyes moving over her body slowly, taking in every detail. Niall wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

Sighing, I looked as Jasmine. “We’re getting paid, don’t ask questions.” I brushed Niall off and popped the beer in front of her. She eyed it cautiously and took a sip, fighting to swallow it. I smiled.

Harry took the beer and downed it, watching her as she looked at the table. “Should we make use of her?” He raised his eyebrows at me slightly and smiled.

“I can be helpful!” There was a slight hopeful spark in her blue eyes. She’d sat up straighter and looked around cheerfully.

“You fine with extreme laundry?” A smile came to my face as she nodded, pretending she knew what it meant. “Burn these out back.”

Harry nodded for Niall to hand her the bag he had placed at the corner of the kitchen. Niall smiled and presented the bag to her. He tried to keep a smile from breaking as all eyes fell on her. Slowly, she opened it, dropping it almost instantly. “Wha-who?” She rubbed her hands together and looked for any blood on them. Her face was filled with disgust.

“Belongs to some members of The Cobra’s.” Liam lifted the bag and sent her a quick wink. “We had a message to send.”

Jasmine looked at me quickly. I laughed, “Not for you. You’re not that special.” The boys sent me another questioning look. “Put the pieces together, idiots.”

Niall spoke up instantly. “Who’d she screw over?” He placed his hands on her shoulders. The look he gave me as he stood there was full of suspicion. All the boys knew how I stood on bringing strangers into my house. Jasmine sat there, scared and uncomfortable.

“Herself.” I licked my lips and shrugged, “Manny spared her father’s life for hers. She’s his property.”

Liam instantly grabbed my hand, knowing I couldn’t free myself. He was my teacher after all. He pulled me into his bedroom, my clothes still spread all over the far end of the room.

Memories of last night played through my head as he pushed me on the bed, towing over me. I wanted to rip all of his clothes off. Aggressive Liam was the sexiest Liam in my opinion. The way he looked at me. Angry sex was great as well. No one cared if the other hurt. It was just thoughtless fucking.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Cleo?” His face grew red as he tried to keep his voice down. It wasn’t like we were anywhere near the others. The house was big enough that you could be being murdered and no one would know. Which probably wasn’t the smartest choice in our line of work. “You are asking for more trouble! Manny is seriously trouble. Just sending a warning is stepping on thin ice. Are you asking for a war?”

I looped my pointer fingers through his belt loops, tugging lightly so he was between my legs. “I do what I need to.” I didn’t want to have this talk with him. I honestly just wanted to have him on top of me, pulling my hair, telling me what to do. I wanted to feel powerless with him.

“You felt for her. You compared yourself to her, didn’t you?” I pressed my hands to his lower abs and pushed him away. “I knew it. Stop feeling, Cleopatra. You don’t have that privilege anymore.”

He knew exactly what to say to me to piss me off. “I’m not a monster! You guys tried to make me one, but I still care to some extent. I’m not a heartless beast like you.”

Never had I seen Liam look so hurt in my life. The angry expression loosened to a straight line. He looked to the ground and didn’t speak. Of the years I’d known him, I’d never felt bad about a single word that come from my mouth.

Liam was the type that didn’t care when you yelled at him. He took any and all feeling in and used it to better his skills, get a job done. There was no time to be upset, he knew it. But this time was different and before I could apologize, he was walking out the door.

I stood, making my way back to the kitchen. Jasmine sat quietly in the seat I had left her in. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the boys making food. Hands and fists were flying as they messed around. When there wasn’t a need, there was never a serious moment. They were always laughing and joking.

I sat myself next to Jasmine and explained to her who was who. She watched me, trying to take in everything. I explained there were two more boys, but they were also on a job. I showed her to her room and left her to settle in. I needed to be alone anyway.