Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 5

5

“ Y ou need something to eat and to go to bed.” Regent threw the lettuce in the garbage before putting the grapes in the fridge.

Staring into the fridge, he sighed.

“Jillian?”

“Yes?”

He was the only person who called her Jillian, and when he did, he made it sound like she was in trouble.

Well, he has threatened to spank you several times tonight.

“Why is there no food in here?”

“There’s food.”

“Really? Where is it? Is it hiding? Invisible?”

“No. It’s there.” She pointed at the fridge. “I can see cheese. And hummus. And grapes. And there’s pickles.”

“None of which are suitable for dinner.”

“Of course it is. Hummus, pickles, and cheese on crackers. Yum. Yum.”

“That isn’t dinner. That’s a snack.”

She felt her lower lip drop out. “I have that all the time for dinner.”

He sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “Jilly.”

“Regent.” She gave him the same look back.

She braced herself for a scolding, but all he did was shake his head. Then he grabbed those things from the fridge.

“Where are the crackers?” he asked.

“Oh, they’re in the cupboard. But I can get them.” She stood, freezing as he shot her a look.

“Stay right where you are. You weren’t given permission to move.”

Oh heck.

Why did that make her insides quiver? And her clit throb?

“I have to be given permission to move?”

He pointed a finger at her. “Yes, you do when you’re so tired I can see dark shadows under your eyes. When your boss is bullying you, and you walk home carrying groceries late at night, then drop a can of rice pudding on your foot because you don’t notice a man standing in front of your house, then, yes, you absolutely need to have permission to move.”

“You were hiding! And you gave me a fright. Besides, none of my other friends are this bossy.” She sat, crossing her arms over her chest. “And they’d let me eat pudding for dinner.”

“Well, then, it’s just as well you have someone like me. Because it sounds like they let you do whatever you like, even if it’s bad for you.”

“Isn’t that what a friend is for? You can call them up and say you have a dead body in your bedroom, and they say they’ll be there in five minutes with a shovel.”

“First of all,” he said as he placed a plate full of crackers on the table, “you better not be talking from experience.”

Huh. She hadn’t even seen him get the crackers.

She reached for one, but he lightly slapped her hand. “Wait for the toppings.”

Yikes.

“No, I wasn’t talking from experience.”

“Good. Because if you ever come across a dead body, then the first and only person you call is me.”

“Is that because you know how to take care of dead bodies?”

His gaze grew cold and she swallowed heavily.

For fuck’s sake.

When are you going to think about what you say?

Dead. She was so dead.

“It is. I want your word on this, Jillian.”

Great. Back to Jillian again.

“I very much doubt that I’ll ever have to take care of a dead body.”

His gaze narrowed.

Warning. Warning.

“But if I do, you’re the first person I’ll call,” she added hastily.

“Good. And Jilly? I won’t be pleased if you don’t call me. And you don’t want to be around me when I’m not pleased. Now, eat.”

She flinched back as he pushed the plate closer to her, the crackers now slathered in toppings.

He paused and she took a deep breath. What was she doing? Regent wouldn’t hurt her.

Jilly couldn’t seem to tell her body that, though. She was trembling. Nervous. Upset with herself.

And she was waiting for him to snap at her. To start yelling. To her shock, he slowly moved around the table and sat in a chair. Again, moving slowly, he picked up a cracker and held it out to her.

How was she supposed to eat now?

But also, how could she not eat without insulting him? He’d prepared dinner for her. She didn’t know him well, but she was guessing that he didn’t usually do things like this. He likely had a chef and a housekeeper.

Their lives were very different. Jilly had to remember that. It would save her heartache when he stopped being interested in being her ‘friend.’

“I’m guessing that living with The Crane wasn’t that easy or pleasant.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” she said dryly before slamming her hand over her mouth. “ForgetIsaidthat.”

“Jilly.” Reaching up, he tugged her hand away from her mouth.

Then he clasped her small, hot hand between his larger, cool ones.

Oh God. Her hand was getting sweaty. This was terrible. He’d touched her sweaty feet, and now he was touching her clammy hands.

What was he going to think?

That you’ve got a gland problem?

Awesome. If she could, she’d face-palm herself.

“I don’t care what you say about your father. He’s gone. He’s not coming back. The same as my old man.”

“You didn’t get along with him?” she asked.

Not that she was surprised. His father had been just as scary as hers.

“I hated the cold, unfeeling bastard,” Regent told her fiercely.

Her eyes widened and she nearly shushed him. Too many years of her mother teaching her not to say anything negative about her father or the Malones were ingrained into her. Too many years of being trained to stay silent, unseen, and unheard.

“I’m sorry,” she told him.

“It’s not your fault.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “No. But I’m still sorry that you didn’t have a good relationship with him. My father . . . he wasn’t a very nice man. But I always had Mama.”

“I’m glad you had Anne. She’s always been kind to me. I hope she’s living her best life.”

She managed a small smile. “She really is.”

“Good. She deserves it. You deserve to be happy, too, Jilly. The Crane isn’t here. He can’t hurt you anymore. And I won’t allow anyone else to.”

What? Really?

She didn’t know how to handle that. She wanted to wave it off as something someone said but didn’t really mean. After all, there was no way he could stop anyone from hurting her.

But he seemed so intense that she didn’t really want to brush his words away.

However, she knew she’d be hurt again in the future. It was inevitable. Because there were so many people out there that sucked.

“Did he used to hit you?” he asked in such a gentle voice that she had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

“Would you like a c-cracker?” She winced as her voice stuttered, her nerves showing.

He eyed her for a long moment before squeezing her hand and letting it go. “I know you’re not ready to trust me. That’s all right. Trust must be earned, and we haven’t spent enough time together lately for you to feel that way. Which will change.”

Would he start to fall for her? Would he want her?

Or would she be sidelined as a friend, watching as he found someone else to love?

Oh. That would suck.

At the same time, she knew that she wanted to spend more time with him. She was starting to think she was a masochist.

“Now, eat your dinner.”

His phone buzzed and he looked at it. “Stay right there.”

Again, with the orders.

Didn’t he know that telling her to do something made her want to do the opposite?

Hmm. She guessed that perhaps he was just too used to everyone in his life doing whatever he told them to.

When he left the room, she hastily ate a cracker.

Okay, she was hungrier than she thought she was. After eating another cracker, she realized that she could hear voices again.

Moving quietly, she tiptoed over to the doorway once more, peeking out to see . . . a man up a ladder at her front door.

And Regent was holding up a flashlight so he could . . . was he replacing the bulb in her security light?

Holy. Heck.

Was this what he meant by wanting to be her friend?

It felt more than that, right?

Jilly, don’t be an idiot.

Regent Malone is not for you.

Regent climbed into the backseat of his car with a frown.

He felt lighter, and yet like he’d accumulated a whole bunch more things to worry about.

All of them centered around Jilly.

After she’d eaten, she’d started swaying in her seat. So he’d insisted she go to bed.

Alone.

This attraction he felt toward her wasn’t a good thing. Especially since he’d just told Jilly that he would be keeping a closer eye on her.

She was so innocent. So sweet.

There was no way she could handle any of his needs and desires. He knew that.

Just as he knew, there was no place for someone like her in his life.

But finding out how reckless she was with her safety . . . well, that had ensured that he would definitely be checking in on her more often.

“Everything all right?” Jose asked from where he sat in the driver’s seat.

“Not exactly.”

“What is it?” he asked. “Is there something wrong with Ms. Crane?”

He’d noticed that she’d flinched earlier when he’d used her full name.

It made him wonder what The Crane had been like to live with. He’d assumed he was made from the same cloth as Regent’s father. But perhaps he hadn’t been.

Laurent Malone had never touched his children in anger. He’d never touched them with love either.

However, he wondered if the same could be said about Orlando Crane. Damn it. Wouldn’t he have noticed something like that? If he’d been physically abusive to his daughter?

Not that being emotionally abusive wasn’t bad enough.

Perhaps he’d missed something, though.

And he didn’t like missing things.

She was a loose thread he had to keep an eye on.

“Nothing that I can’t figure out. But I want her boss looked into. It sounds like she’s been bullying her.”

He’d gotten a bit more information out of Jilly. Her boss had kept her back to give her more training tonight. Although he had a feeling there was more that Jilly wasn’t telling him.

Something she was embarrassed about.

“Get someone in there undercover for a while. They can pretend to be a patron, get some books out, get a feel for what is going on.”

“Not sure we have anyone who is going to blend in,” Jose pointed out.

Fuck. He wasn’t wrong.

“But I do have an idea of who you could send in,” Jose added.

“Who?”

“What about Gracen?” Jose asked.

Was he fucking mad?

“Gracen? Not happening. Victor would lose it.”

“It’s not dangerous, though, right? It’s a library. Or is her boss threatening to harm Ms. Crane?” Jose asked.

Was she threatening her? Surely, Jilly would have told him that.

“I don’t think so.”

But he should know for sure. And it annoyed him that he didn’t.

“If it’s not dangerous, then why not ask Gracen to go in and have a look around? Ms. Crane hasn’t met her, right?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

Jose made a good point. It wasn’t a dangerous assignment. He just needed to know how Jilly’s boss was treating her. And sending in Gracen would be much easier than planting cameras and microphones.

He hadn’t ruled that out yet. But he needed to know if it was necessary.

Or if he was simply overreacting.