Chapter 15

I woke up with a headache. Three days had passed since I'd spoken to Brett and for some reason I hadn't slept right since. Depression was sinking in because of the situation I was stuck in. The only thing that seemed to be able to boost my mood was Ellie.

Quietly, I pushed myself up from the bed and went into the shower, letting the spray try to alleviate some of the tension from my body as I closed my eyes and willed the three months to go quickly.

"Jamie? Your cell phone's ringing, want me to answer it?" Ellie called from the other room.

"No! I'm coming," I replied quickly. I didn't mind her answering my phone but I didn't want Brett or anyone like that anywhere near her.

I sighed and switched off the water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist as I walked back to the bedroom. Ellie was laying on the bed, her arm over her eyes as the phone vibrated on the bedside cabinet next to her head. I grabbed it and answered it without looking at the name on the screen.

"Hey, Kid."

Inwardly I groaned. Brett. This call could only mean one thing - my first duty. "Hey, Brett. How's it going?" I asked politely.

"Good. Listen, I need you to do a job for me today. Just accompany me to a deal and show your face a little. I'm slowly spreading the word that you're back on my team but it'll be a lot quicker if people saw you for themselves. We'd get more orders that way," he requested.

Ellie moved her arm away from her face and smiled up at me, her eyes still half closed with sleep. I smiled back and her hand reached out, hooking in the knot at the front of the towel I had at my waist, pulling me closer to her with a wicked glint to her eye.

I caught her hand, holding the towel closed as I answered Brett. "What time? I have work today." I really didn't want to start flaking out of my job at the scrap yard; I loved that job and didn't want to lose it for three months of working for Brett. I was hoping that I'd be able to do both and then when Brett's time was up I could go back to my normal life. Maybe that was going to be harder than I thought.

"Be here in an hour," Brett answered casually.

I frowned but reluctantly agreed, I couldn't exactly say no to him. Ellie had got to her knees on the bed now; the sheets had fallen away from her naked body making the muscles in my stomach tighten as my eyes raked over every inch of her. I honestly didn't think I'd ever get used to her perfection even if I had a million years to worship it.

"So, come to the warehouse and we'll go from there. Don't be late, kid."

"I won't be late," I agreed. He disconnected the call and I looked at Ellie sternly which made her giggle and chew on her lip. "You are a bad girl," I scolded playfully.

She shrugged unashamedly as she slid her hands up my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck, one of her hands tangled into the back of my wet hair. "Maybe you should try to tone down the sexiness a little and then I'll be able to leave you alone," she suggested, smirking at me.

Sexiness, yeah, right. "Ellie, I have no idea how I got a girl like you," I admitted.

She grinned and pulled me down on top of her, her legs wrapping around my waist. "I know, you deserve much better than me. It must have been my lucky day the day I met you," she purred, guiding my mouth to hers. I smiled against her lips, knowing that statement was the total opposite of the truth. She would always be the one that deserved better than me, but while she was passing out the attention, I'd take what I could get.

By the time I got to the warehouse I was in a seriously bad mood. The reason for that was the guy that was following me around, he wasn't even bothering to be discreet about it either. As I'd walked out of my apartment with Ellie I'd spotted him immediately. He was leaning on his car outside my place. I'd watched as he followed two cars behind me, pulling up at the curb outside her school as I dropped her off. I recognised him as one of the two that I'd seen at Tony Grier's office. He was keeping tabs on me already and I hadn't even missed a payment. I hated this situation and wanted nothing more than to slam my fist into this guy's chest and watch as he struggled to keep his heart under control.

He pulled up in the space next to me at Brett's warehouse and smiled at me. I growled in frustration and pushed the door open to my truck. I was seriously considering forcing it all the way open so that it slammed into his car and left a nice dent in his silver Mercedes. I thought better of it though, I didn't want this guy pissed off with me.

I made a show of locking my truck before I walked around to the driver's side of his car, knocking on the window.

He smiled at me wickedly as his window slid down. "What the f**k are you following me for?" I asked, trying to keep my anger under control.

He tipped his head to the side. "Just learning a little more about you. Your first payment is due in a couple of days. I was just scoping out to see your day to day life. Pretty little girlfriend you have there. And she's still in school, huh? She's probably a little young for me but if you step out of line maybe I'll take your payment from her ass," he purred, shrugging nonchalantly.

I felt my body stiffen and before I knew what I was doing I'd reached in through his window and had my hand around his throat. "If you ever even look at her then I'm going to kill you," I growled. I couldn't rein in my anger; I already wanted to kill him for even mentioning Ellie in front of me.

He laughed, until my hand tightened on his throat which made the laugh turn into a strangled yelp as his eyes went wide. I leaned in close to him, my face inches from his. "I'm warning you right now that if you so much as breathe too heavily in her direction then I'm going to bring down so much shit on you that you'll wish your whore of a mother had aborted when she found out she was pregnant," I hissed. My jaw was hurting where I was clenching it so tightly. "You tell Tony that's she's off limits. Better yet, don't even tell him I have a girlfriend, because if anything happens to her then I'm hunting you first."