Boss Daddy: Naughty Daddies Series Read online

  "I'm not scared for me," Lucas argued in a shaky voice. "I'm scared for you." He let loose of my hands and collapsed against me, nearly squeezing the life out of me with his arms around my middle. "I'm worried that you'll get hurt. I can't stand the thought of something bad happening to you."

  I guess I didn't understand. My heart swelled at the fact that my perfect boy was worried about me over himself, but I wanted to soothe his fears. I dropped a kiss to the top of his head and promised, "Nothing is going to happen to me. I can take care of myself, but Johnny and Sal will be with me too. Besides, nothing will keep me from coming home to you."

  I hadn't even left and I missed him already. I'd never felt like this about another person. All I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and pleasure his body; to talk to him and listen to his laugh. What I felt for Lucas seemed a lot like love, which both scared and excited me.

  "Just come home as fast as possible, okay?"

  I laughed and pulled him closer. "I promise. Now give Daddy a kiss." He tipped his head back and puckered his lips, and I wasted no time in claiming them. I kissed him deeply and slowly, pouring my affections into him and hoping he felt their strength.

  "Well, well, what do we have here?" sounded from the bedroom doorway behind Lucas, and I rolled my eyes when I opened them to find Sal and Johnny gawking at us with dumb grins on their faces. Lucas yelped and tucked himself into my side, only making my friends' smiles widen.

  "It's okay, rabbit," I told him quietly. "These are my friends. They've never learned to knock." I gave them an irritated glance, but they were unaffected.

  "First of all, you mispronounced family," Sal argued as he stepped closer, "And family never knocks." He held out his hand with another smile. "It's nice to meet you, rabbit."

  "No!" I barked, making Lucas flinch in my arms, and my friends' smiles vanish. "He's Lucas to you, and he's mine." I had exactly zero reasons to be jealous; Sal and Johnny were both straight and had no interest in my boy, but hearing his nickname from someone else's lips made my blood boil.

  "Sorry," Sal offered with an expression that was half surprise and half amusement. "It's good to meet you, Lucas. I'm Salvador, but everyone calls me Sal."

  I gave Lucas a pat on the back to let him know that it was okay before he shook Sal's outstretched hand.

  "It's nice to meet you too."

  "And I'm Johnny."

  Lucas shook his hand as well. "I've heard so much about you both." The two of them snapped their shocked gazes to me. "All good things," Lucas added quickly. "Daddy said that you've been friends since you were kids." I narrowed my eyes, warning my friends not to mention Lucas' name for me.

  Johnny said instead, "Really? You never tell your boys about us."

  Fuck. I was worried that Lucas would get his feelings hurt by Johnny's careless words. The truth was, I'd not had that many boys, and none of them compared to sweet Lucas.

  I'm not sure what Johnny saw on my face, but he immediately tried to back pedal. "But that's a good thing, right? That has to mean you're something special; not like all those other guys." He wasn't helping.

  I could actually feel my blood pressure rising. I stared Johnny down and mouthed Shut the fuck up! Finally, he closed his mouth and his face fell into a sheepish expression.

  Before I could explain anything to Lucas or calm any worries he might have, Sal cleared his throat. "We gotta get going, boss. Our target's in twenty minutes."

  I turned to Lucas and my insides squeezed at the sadness glistening in his eyes. I cupped his cheeks in my hands and reminded him, "You're my one and only." His lips tipped up into a tiny smile and he nodded. Thank fuck. Now for the rules. "Stay inside and keep the doors locked. No deliveries or visitors while I'm gone and if you need anything, ask Angelo."

  "Yes, Daddy."

  Because I wanted him to remember as much as I needed to hear it, I took his chin between my thumb and forefinger and requested, "Tell me who you belong to."

  His smile grew wider and his eyes sparkled when he answered, "You, Daddy."

  "Damn straight." I kissed him hard and fast before turning to my friends. "Let's do this."

  As soon as the three of us stepped out onto the porch, I slapped Johnny in the back of the head. What Sal said was right; we were family, which meant even if we were pissed and smacked each other around a bit, we still had love for one another.

  "Sorry," he said without even having to ask what the slap was for. "But how was I supposed to know? You usually don’t give two shits about your playthings.”

  “Lucas is different,” I insisted in a growl.

  "You care about this boy," Sal surmised, and I nodded.

  "How could I not? He's sweet and innocent and he cares about me too."

  Johnny scoffed. "Good god. If you break into song, we can't be friends anymore." He was apparently in need of another head slap.

  "So who is this guy?" Sal chimed in. "We were just with you last night and you didn’t mention him.”

  “I met him last night.” I gave a quick rundown of Lucas’ situation as we climbed into Johnny’s SUV.

  “Wait, you gave him a choice?” Johnny asked in surprise.

  “I told you he was different.”

  “So that’s why you told me to find this Bones character,” Sal figured out. During my day out with Lucas, I texted Sal with instructions to use his contacts/informants to find Bones so that I could pay off my boy’s debt.

  “Exactly. And I trust you found him?”

  “Apparently, there’s no direct route to him. The only contact I had with any information told me to go to 3rd and Broadway to find some guy named Crazy Steve.”

  “Well that sounds promising,” I replied with an eyeroll.

  “We’ll find him,” Sal promised. We had no other choice; after tonight, my boy's deadline was up, and Bones would come looking for him. I couldn't put him in harm's way. I couldn't fail him.

  But we had another job that we had to take care of first; a client lost a chunk of money in bad investments and was having trouble covering the payments to his Lexus. Instead of his car getting repossessed which would harm his credit, I gave him another option; my team could swipe and destroy his ride, which was fully insured. The client only had about a year left on payments, so the insurance check would cover what he owed, pay our fee, and buy him a reliable but less flashy car. Everyone came out a winner.

  Johnny parked along the curb, once again a few blocks from our target. I checked my watch - 9:45PM. Go time. “Is the client in position?”

  Sal held his phone out for me to inspect, and I found a picture of a delicious-looking steak on a plate. “He’s at the restaurant and posting about how he’s had to send his steak back twice already because it wasn’t cooked properly.” I rolled my eyes; I told the client to make his presence at the restaurant obvious; not to be a total douche to the wait staff. Hopefully they spit in his food.

  “Let’s go.”

  We walked nonchalantly towards the valet lot for Ricco’s; I chose this particular restaurant because I’d done my research and knew that it had the only valet parking lot in town with no security cameras. It was well lit, but that didn’t bother me; especially when I had Sal and Johnny on my team.

  I slipped on a pair of leather gloves and jerked my head, motioning for my guys to get into position. Sal took the west side of the perimeter and Johnny took the east. They’d watch for valet drivers pulling cars around, but hopefully the late hour ensured there wouldn’t be many people arriving to eat.

  Even if there were, I knew Sal and Johnny would stall the valet drivers. They’d jump in front of a moving car if they had to, the crazy bastards. I trusted them to guarantee that the job ran smoothly. And to file an injury claim if they did run out in front of a vehicle.

  I waded through the parked cars until I found what I was looking for; a Lexus convertible painted in a sort of pea-green shade. I hated the color, but it was a nice vehicle. Plus, it came with about a one hundred thousand dollar p
rice tag, so it meant a tidy payday for my team; especially for twenty minutes of work.

  The job was pretty straightforward. My client had proof that he was in the dining area, and the valet had the key to his vehicle, so the insurance company couldn’t argue that the incident was due to carelessness of my client leaving his key in his car. Little did they know that he made me a copy last week. Sure, I could hotwire the car; I taught myself how to do that decades ago, but why work harder than I had to?

  I slipped the key into the door and attempted to sit behind the steering wheel, but either the client or the valet was a fucking hobbit, so I had to push the seat back to allow room for my legs. Once I was folded inside, I started the engine and smiled at its purr.

  I quickly pulled out of the lot and sped down the street, leaving my team behind. It was too risky to pick them up or wait for them. Besides, they knew where to meet me.

  I drove to the end of town that people avoided unless they were up to no good. Drug dealers and prostitutes speckled the corners and screams could be heard in the distance. In all honesty, I could park this car anywhere in the area and it’d be stolen or destroyed within minutes, but I always finished a job.

  I pulled into a dark alleyway and killed the engine, tucking the key into my pocket; I couldn’t leave it behind. I’d chuck it in a dumpster on the way home and no one would find it.

  As soon as I climbed out of the car, Johnny’s SUV pulled in behind me and my friends jumped out. Johnny put his hand over his heart as he inspected the convertible.

  “Oh come on, do we really have to destroy this thing? It’s beautiful!”

  “Yeah, if you like baby shit green,” Sal replied with a curled lip. I snorted and nodded my agreement while Johnny just rolled his eyes.

  “Whatever. Can we just get this done before my car gets jacked?”

  “With pleasure.” I pulled my elbow back and rammed it through the driver’s side window, making glass rain over the asphalt and car seat. Sal took out the back windows with swift kicks from his heavy boots while Johnny removed the hubcaps, which he stored in his trunk. We’d toss them later too, but we had to make it look good.

  “And now for the pièce de résistance,” Johnny said in a crap French accent as he returned with a bottle of vodka.

  “Now that’s a shame to destroy.” I took the vodka from his hands, cracked the seal and swallowed a big gulp. “That’s delicious. Why the hell did you buy the expensive shit for this?”

  “Excuse you, I always buy the expensive shit.” He stole back the bottle and took a long drink of his own. Then another.

  “That’s enough.” I ripped the bottle from his hands. “You’re driving and I promised Lucas I’d get home safely.”

  Johnny rolled his eyes and grumbled, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I slapped his head again and he just laughed.

  Apparently tired of our bullshit, Sal grabbed the bottle and groaned, “Give me that.” He took a drink as well before pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and stuffing half of it into the neck of the bottle. He held it out to me, I lit the end of the fabric with my lighter, and he tossed it through the broken window of the convertible.

  We watched the fire burn brighter as it travelled down the cloth. “Almost...” Johnny drawled, and we all took a step back. “Almost…” A loud boom pierced the air as the fire hit the alcohol and exploded, completely engulfing the car in flames. “Damn, I’ll never get tired of that; it’s so satisfying.”

  “Agreed, but let’s get out of here before anyone comes to investigate the noise.” We followed Sal’s advice and piled into Johnny’s SUV. His tires squealed as he backed down the alley and zoomed down the side streets. We all let out a collective breath when we were in the clear.

  “Okay, so how close is this ‘Crazy Steve’ asshole?” I asked as I looked for a nearby street sign. “And what the hell kind of name is that?”

  “A fucking stupid one,” Sal shrugged as he tapped at his phone. “Okay, we’re coming up on Broadway. Park on 4th Street and we’ll walk over. We don’t want to be too far from the car in case we need a quick getaway.”

  Johnny sighed. “Fine, but swear to god, Vinny, if my car gets messed up, you’re buying me a new one.”

  “Will you shut up about your car? My boy’s life is on the line here.”

  After a moment of silence, he sighed again. “I know. You’re right.”

  Guilt bubbled in my gut; I was scared for Lucas and taking it out on my friend. Dammit. I reached up from the backseat and patted Johnny’s shoulder. “If your car gets fucked up, I’ll buy you one that’s showroom new.” He smiled and winked at me in the rearview mirror. We gave ‘dysfunctional’ a whole new meaning, but we looked out for each other.

  “There,” Sal instructed, pointing to an empty curb along the mouth of an alley. Johnny pulled into the spot and killed the engine.

  It didn’t bode well for me that Bones lived (or at least worked) in this end of town. I knew by reputation that he was willing to do anything for a buck, and his location only confirmed that. But we marched on, down the alley to the intersection of 3rd and Broadway, where I saw a man pacing beneath a streetlight.

  He looked crazy alright; he was muttering to himself and picking at his arms as he walked a tight line back and forth. The three of us gave each other subtle nods before approaching the man.

  “Are you...Crazy Steve?” I asked, unsure what else to call him.

  In a blink, the man was toe to toe with me, clutching the sides of my jacket. He touched our noses together and stared at me with wild eyes. The stench of his breath hit my nostrils when he asked, “Who are you calling crazy?”

  “Back off, fruit loop,” Sal said, pushing the man away from me. Steve (I’m assuming) chewed his lip aggressively as his head twitched, but he said nothing.

  Doubting this guy could help us but still desperate, I told him, “We’re looking for Bones.”

  “Don’t know no Bones.” He picked harder at his arms, drawing blood from the scabs there.

  “This is a waste of time,” Johnny grumbled. He turned around to leave, but I stopped him with a hand to his chest. I had one more idea.

  I peeled a hundred dollar bill from my pocket and held it up for Steve to see. “Are you sure you don’t know where he is?”

  He ran his tongue across his lips. “Bones? Might know a Bones.” Now we’re getting somewhere. I took out another Benjamin. “I’m starting to remember,” he said in a more discernible voice. He was also starting to act less crazy; he stood still and dropped his arms to his sides.

  When I lifted a third bill, he looked around for onlookers before telling us in a quiet voice, “Follow the next street to the dead end. You’ll see a red door; knock twice and slide five of these bad boys beneath the crack.” He pointed to the money in my hand. “When someone answers, tell them ‘The raven’s beauty is unmatched, and he gives me wings’.” He plucked the bills from my fingers and stuffed them into his own pocket with a wicked smile. “Good luck.”

  When he disappeared between two brick buildings, Sal blinked wide eyes. “The fuck was that?”

  “Bones’ lookout,” I replied. “I’m sure he’s getting a phone call right now about us coming to find him.”

  “Okay, but why the bat shit crazy routine?”

  I shrugged. Maybe it was to appear incompetent if cops came around, or maybe it was to blend in with the rough scene of the neighborhood. Maybe he really was a little touched in the head, or maybe he just liked to fuck with people; it was anyone’s guess.

  “Who knows, but listen; if we do find Bones, keep your eyes open and stay alert. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

  “Aw, you do love us,” Johnny teased. I flipped him off and he snorted a laugh.

  We kept steady eyes on our surroundings as we tread down the alley as Steve had instructed. Just like he said, there was a red door on the last building before a cement wall created a dead end. I looked to both of my friends and received nods before we approached.<
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  I pounded two heavy knocks on the door, retrieved five hundred dollars from my wallet, slipped it through the narrow crack beneath the wood, and waited. It felt like an hour passed in silence, though it was surely only a minute or two before the door cracked open.

  I cleared my throat and recited, “The raven’s beauty is unmatched, and he gives me wings,” and was answered with laughter.

  “Cash and poetry? The money would have been enough.” I narrowed my eyes in confusion until the door opened the rest of the way, revealing a tall, thin man with pin-straight black hair that fell past his shoulders. Around his neck was a chain, from which dangled slender bones of various lengths.

  “That’s just like my Stevey to send sweet messages,” he said with a sigh. “Such a romantic.” This night just keeps getting weirder. Bones’ expression hardened as he looked us over with cold eyes. “So what do you want?”

  “I’m here to settle a debt,” I replied firmly.

  Bones traced a finger in the air between Sal and Johnny. “So why are these two with you? Not that I blame you for wanting them around.” He gave them each a very obvious once over.

  “Just take the fucking money,” Sal grumbled, and Bones curled his lip.

  “Ew, too sassy for my liking.” He looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. “What’s the name?”

  “Lucas Birch.”

  “Hmm, Lucas, Lucas…” Bones repeated as he tapped his chin. “Oh, I remember Lucas; the boy with the beautiful blue eyes. Mm, he was a tasty little morsel.”

  “Shut your goddamn mouth.”

  Bones’ smile grew wide. “He’s yours, isn’t he? You should consider yourself lucky that Stevey refuses to share, or Lucas would have been mine. I bet those pouty lips of his would feel so good around my dick.”

  Never before had I wanted to put a bullet between someone’s eyes so badly. But I knew that if I shot Bones, there was a good chance that his soldiers would take me down, along with Sal and Johnny. I couldn’t risk it, and I couldn’t do that to Lucas; he needed me.

  Instead, I pulled an envelope filled with thirteen grand from my inside jacket pocket and tossed it at Bones’ feet. “Here’s the money he owes you. Now leave him the fuck alone.”