Double Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

toward Smoke who stood in front of them with a slight frown.
    “Our dinner invitations were rescinded, that’s what the person said on the phone. You know about that?”
    Smoke snagged a chair and sat slowly. “No…nope, I had no idea.”
    “What does it mean, though?” Red asked, wondering if he and Ross were on a shit list or something.
    “I don’t know. Julio and I are friends, but he doesn’t tell me everything,” Smoke snapped.
    No one spoke.
    Red couldn’t help but feel responsible, if he hadn’t talked to Ross about his own fears, they probably wouldn’t be in this mess.
    “Well, I am going to talk to Cherise tonight and come clean. Once she meets Pam and they become friends, maybe we’ll be on the next dinner invitation list. I’ll offer my apologies to him in person then.” Ross sat back in his chair, his gaze briefly touching Red’s before moving on to Smoke.
    “I bet Vianca already talked to Denise, but I’ll state my case, listen to her rants for a minute, and then hope for another shot to make this up to him.” He paused. “Unless…unless I have Denise buy a wedding gift and we send it to them with a good wishes card, or something like that.” He liked the sound of that. All brides enjoyed gifts, right? His wife certainly had.
    “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll talk to Cherise.”
    “Just so you know, Vianca is trying to talk Pam into having a small wedding reception here since she and Julio didn’t have a wedding ceremony. From what my lady’s been telling me, between the pressure from Julio’s mom and Pam’s aunt, she’s leaning toward the idea.”
    “Julio wants to have a wedding reception? Wouldn’t that draw attention?” Red asked, wondering why the man would do that.
    “Attention?” Smoke laughed. “Julio now owns Kolaris.”
    Ross straightened, his eyes narrowed. “The real estate developing company that builds shopping malls and office buildings?”
    Smoke nodded. “Yeah, and you would know that if you had taken a moment to contact him and congratulate him on his marriage.” He shook his head. “His attitude toward our company could make or break us in the coming years. Trust me every politician and public official will try to get invitations to that reception if they have it. Julio has a legit business and it’s well-funded.”
    Red couldn’t speak or process what Smoke said. On one level, he knew organized crime covered their tracks with legitimate businesses, but he couldn’t fathom how owning a development company played into that. “I thought his wife was a nurse.”
    “She is,” Smoke said, meeting his gaze.
    “Why didn’t he get a business in that field?” Red asked.
    Smoke shrugged. “Like I said, she’s the nurse. Julio is into building things, always has been. He’s looking into some big projects which could’ve kept our guys busy for the next few years at least. It’ll be interesting watching this play out.”
    “Has he talked to you about starting a separate construction company?” Ross asked, watching Smoke.
    Red hadn’t thought of that, it would be a smart move on Julio’s part.
    “No. He knows I wouldn’t do that. We boys and that would be a bullshit move.” Smoke paused and tapped the table before continuing. “He’s offended. You should’ve been the first to reach out to him, you didn’t. It never occurred to me that he’d be this pissed about it, you guys were never close. And if not for Pam, I don’t think he’d give a damn. But a wife…a man looks at things differently when his woman is involved.”
    “That’s true. I would be pissed if I thought someone disrespected my wife. I owe the man an apology and will be sure to do so at the first opportunity,” Ross said, sitting back in his chair.
    Red nodded as he stood. “Me too.”
    Smoke looked at each of them and shook his head. “Handle this with a quickness, fellas. Something tells me we need a man like Julio on our good side. Money is king out here and as long