“And that’s a good reason to never rely on one woman, J.  Relationships aren’t for me.”

He chuckled.  “One day, brother.  One day you’re gonna fall and I can’t fucking wait to see it.”

I ignored him and moved on to discuss Indigo business.  J had lined up more manager interviews for next week; we were desperate to find someone for the job so we could spend less time fucking about with the day to day running of the joint.  When Storm bought Indigo, it was purely as an investment opportunity; there was a manager in place and we wanted nothing to do with running it.  We just wanted to collect the cash at the end of each month.  Now it had turned into one gigantic headache.

We finished cooking the meat and I carried it over to the table where Madison had set the food up.  Stoney was deep in conversation with the three chicks he’d brought with him, although one of them was distracted by Nash and Harlow who were still standing inside talking.

“Nash, time to get your ass out here and eat,” J called out to him.  Harlow turned her head and surprise crossed her face when she saw me.  She quickly gave her attention back to Nash but after saying something to him, they both looked at me.  I decided to join their conversation.

Walking towards them, I said, “How do you know Madison, Harlow?”  I slid the door open and took a moment to appreciate the curves that Harlow was made of.

“My eyes are up here,” she said.  I ignored the tone she took with me.

Meeting her eyes, I said, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“That’s because I like to look someone in the eye when I’m speaking to them.  Madison is a customer at my Mum’s café.  She loves the coffee.  So does her brother.”

What the fuck?  “I’m her brother, sweetheart.”  I hadn’t realised that Madison and Blade were spending that amount of time together.  “Blade’s our half brother.”

She looked like she was connecting dots in her mind.  “So you’re the brother who owns restaurants and is best mates with J.  Yes?”

“Shit, let me guess, you know our entire family history too.”  Why did women feel it necessary to share so much with each other?

Nash chuckled.  “Madison likes to talk, brother.”

“No, I don’t know your family history.  What’s wrong with knowing a couple of things about a friend’s family?”  She was peeved.

“I just don’t understand why women talk so much about private shit.”

“It’s because we like to get to know each other.  I don’t understand why men don’t talk at all.”  She folder her arms across her chest and I dropped my gaze to take in the cleavage on display.

“We do; we just don’t waste breath on bullshit.”

Her face was ablaze with annoyance.  It was hot, and it fucking turned me on.

“Are you always this much of an asshole?”

“Oh, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Nash snickered.

“No actually, I think I’ve seen enough.”  Her voice was coated in ice.  She gave me one last dirty look before pushing past me to go outside to Madison.  I zeroed in on her ass as she walked away, imagining what it would look like without that skirt covering it.

“Fuck, I’ve never seen a woman dismiss you like that before.  She either hates you or totally wants to fuck you.  I’m going with the hates you option because I’m betting she actually wants to fuck me, not you,” Nash surmised.

His words faded into the background as I continued to track Harlow’s movements.  Nash was right; women didn’t fucking walk away from me.  But more to the point; I didn’t chase them, so I diverted my gaze away from her and looked at Nash.  He was watching me with a smirk on his face.

“What?” I demanded.

“Like I said, I’ve never seen a chick walk away from you, but I’ve also never seen you make the effort to check one out.  You got a hard on for that one?”

Scowling, I said, “Highly fucking unlikely.  She’s got a hot ass but there’s plenty of hot asses out there for the taking.”

He laughed.  “Whatever you say, brother.  Whatever you say.”

I ignored him and looked at J who was motioning for us to come and eat.  “Let’s go and eat and get this over with.  The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.”

***

“Madison told me you’re still dealing with that cat and Michelle,” J said midway through lunch.

“Yeah, the bitch is high all the time and has no idea what’s going on with her daughter or her cat.”

Madison leant over to Harlow who was sitting next to her.  “That’s the cat he brought into your work.”  We’d worked out the connection between us all, but Harlow still looked confused.  She was sitting across from me and was eyeing me strangely.  It looked like she had something to say but wasn’t sure how to say it.

“Spit it out,” I said gruffly.

“Spit what out.”

“Whatever the fuck is running through your mind right now.  Looks to me like you’ve got something to say.”  Jesus, she’d been shooting me filthy looks all lunch and my patience was wearing thin.  I lived my life one way; if you’ve got something to say, then fucking say it.