for math class.”
Mal laughed. “I’m on the home stretch,” he reminded him. He paused before continuing. “Can I come home this summer?”
Kwami swallowed, his gut twisting into a ball. “We talked about this. You’re better off taking some summer courses and keeping your job. You’ll graduate quicker. Find a good job quicker.” Besides, he didn’t know how long he’d be dealing with little miss witness and he wanted Mal as far away as possible.
“You’ve got a good job and you didn’t graduate college. Maybe when I graduate and start work, you can go back to school,” Mal suggested softly.
“We’ll talk about it when the time comes.” Kwami sometimes wondered if he’d live to see the day that Mal graduated. He’d had a few too many close calls lately. Working for Facinetti’s operation had decimated his personal code of honor, but the money paid for Mal’s education so he couldn’t back out now.
“You always say that and I think it’s just a bunch of bullshit.” The bite in his tone cut through Kwami. “I’ll talk to you later.” The connection went dead.
“Fuck.” Kwami threw his empty beer bottle in the sink and it cracked into four chunks. The last thing he needed was to have Mal pissed at him. Maybe if he handled this situation quickly enough, Mal could come home for a week or two this summer.
Kwami paced the room, needing a plan. That chick got a look at both him and Damon, and he couldn’t afford to be identified. He’d never intended to murder anybody. Douche bag Damon had screwed him big time by killing Berman.
Now he really would have to make someone disappear and he didn’t see a choice. No way in hell would he let Mal end up the way he had. He’d do anything to keep his little brother in school, anything to protect him, and that meant staying out of prison.
“Bye, Mr. Frost! Have a good day,” the production assistant chirped with a shy wave from behind her cluttered desk. Her straight blond hair hung down her back in shiny waves and her surgically enhanced breasts pushed out high and full against her snug white T-shirt.
“Now…” He didn’t remember her name so he skipped it. “What did I tell you when I got here?” he asked, his signature smile in place.
“ Leo ,” she said, flushing. “Have a good day, Leo .” Her blush brightened. It wasn’t every girl in town who got to be on a first name basis with one of America’s biggest action movie heroes.
“You know it. You, too, babe.”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing your new film,” she added. Was she hoping for an invitation to the premiere party? Not a chance in hell of that happening. He was done with her type.
Still, he had a reputation to uphold, so he winked at her and opened the double doors as the rising sun blazed into his eyes. “Hope you like it!” He set his sunglasses in place as he strolled to Stella, his black Boxster S Porsche and the only female who understood him. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked the screen. His pulse stuttered.
The Marion Institute.
Megan.
The last thing he expected this morning was to hear from the East Coast. A wave of heat rolled beneath his skin as he quickly punched the acceptbutton. The Institute rarely called and when they did, he panicked. It meant something had happened to Megan. He moved quicker to his car for privacy. Cameras could show up from out of nowhere.
The woman spoke so fast he barely heard her. But a few words definitely stuck out as he opened Stella’s door and eased into the soft leather driver’s seat, like, checks , bounced and debt collection .
“Wait. Slow down. That’s not possible,” Leo told the accounting department representative. They’d spoken last month as well. The fact that he’d been awake since O-dark hundred to promote his new movie on L.A.’s top-ranked morning show seriously limited his comprehension. “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”
“Tanya Brubaker.”
“Right.
Editors Of Reader's Digest