Chapter 8

*Thank you all so much for the love! We meet an old friend of Rio's in this chapter! Who could it be? Vote, follow and add! Thank you! XoXo

Chapter 8

I woke up the following morning and sleepily hung an arm on Rio's side of the bed. It was empty. I opened my eyes and stretched my arms out wide. I checked my phone, and I had slept until ten a.m. which was sleeping in for me. I got up and went pee, then brushed my teeth. I headed down to the kitchen, and Rio was pouring himself a cup of coffee. He turned to me and smirked.

"Mornin'." He said.

"Morning," I said, in the middle of a yawn.

"I gotta leave here in a minute, but there is somethin' I need from you today." He said, leaning against the countertop. I walked over and poured myself some coffee.

"Yeah?" I asked. I was actually excited. Whether it was a criminal activity or not, I was a work-a-holic.

"Yeah. I need you to pick up a friend of mine from the airport at one. I told him what you drive. He'll be outside the main terminal. Maybe keep an eye on him today. Don't let him out of your sight type of deal." He said, putting his cup down and standing in front of me. I eyed him.

"Babysitting again huh?" I said as I set my cup down. "You aren't utilizing me as you should, Rio," I said. He smirked, then stepped forward to wrap his long arms around my waist.

"Oh, I am definitely utilizing you like I should be, darlin'." He said before pressing his lips to mine. He pulled away and moved my dark hair out of my face. "He is gonna crash with us for a week or two. He's a good dude." He says, tightening his grip on me. "Then I'm gonna need you to watch the girls for me. I need Mick and Tony tonight. Good for that?" He asked.

"Yeah, I got you," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Yeah, you do." He said, crashing his lips to mine again. He ran his tongue along my lip, and I smiled. He pulled away from me and lightly slapped my ass before heading out the door. I finished my coffee and jumped in the shower. Once I had dried my hair and hung up my towel, I went into our giant closet. I smiled at Rio's crazy organization and headed into my side. I got out a pair of black skinny jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt. I shoved on my Gucci Ace sneakers and my Michael Kors black hooded bomber jacket. I completed my look with my fingerless faux leather gloves and looked at the clock. It was only eleven. I still had time to kill. I put on my sunglasses and headed over to the town spa to get my nails done. I had decided on short stiletto-shaped crimson nails. They looked amazing, so I tipped really well. I headed over to the airport and parked in the pick-up zone. I saw a dude who looked overly tired walking towards my car. He had messy brown hair and beautiful eyes. He bent down to get level with my passenger window.

"You Andy?" He asked.

"In the flesh," I said, putting my sunglasses on top of my head. He shoved his backpack in the back seat and got into the passenger side.

"Yo, thanks for pickin' me up. Appreciate it." He said, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, no problem. You and I are gonna be hanging out today. You cool with running an errand with me tonight?" I asked.

"Sure." He said, looking on his phone. "So you're Rio's new girl, huh?" He asked.

"What?" I asked nervously. Was he telling people I was his girl? Not that I minded, I guess. I just didn't really know what exactly this was yet.

"His new logistics girl." He clarified.

"Oh, yeah, that's me," I said, relaxing a little. "I'm sorry, dude, I didn't catch your name," I said, turning onto the highway.

"Oh my bad, I'm Eddie." He said, leaning his head on the window sill.

I learned that Eddie had previously worked for Rio, got questioned by the FBI, got tortured by Rio and his boys to ensure his loyalty. Rio felt bad for wrongfully torturing him and sent him on a three-month-long vacation to Costa Rica. Damn.

"Rio's cool, though. At the end of the day, I got it ya know?" Eddie said.

"Yeah. I get it. I am a former FBI, I was supposed to infiltrate Rio and his crew, but I couldn't do it. I...I couldn't betray him like that." I said.

"FBI huh? That shits crazy. Couldn't betray him...that short for you were lettin' him hit it?" Eddie asked. I laughed slightly. I didn't take offense. It was true.

"Yeah. Guess you could say that." I said as I pulled into a spot on the street. We headed up to the apartment, and I showed Eddie around. "We got a guest room down here, so this is where you'll be," I said, showing Eddie the small room under our loft. Eddie had passed out on his bed for a few hours. Then he came out as I was watching tv.

"My bad, I guess I was tired." He said, zipping up his hoodie.

"No worries, man," I said just as Rio and Mick came walking through the door. Rio sees Eddie and comes up to give him a bro hug.

"Glad to have you home, man," Rio says to Eddie, their hands in a chest shake.

"Yeah, bro. Thanks for lettin' me crash." Eddie says. Rio nods and looks over at me, and released Eddie. Mick hugs Eddie and starts a conversation while Rio comes over and leans over me as I sit on the couch. He holds himself up by putting his hands on the back of the couch and gives me a deep kiss. I had to admit. I was actually surprised he would kiss me like that in front of his crew.

"Thank you." He says, leaning his forehead against mine.

"Of course," I said as he kissed me one more time. Just then, I got a text from Beth saying that the Paper Porcupine was shutting down early, so they were going to be done printing in an hour or so. "Alright, well, I'm probably gonna head over there now. Will I see you later?" I asked as I stood up, straightening my shirt.

"No doubt," Rio said as he looked away from his phone to give me a sweet smile.

"Alright, you want him with me still?" I asked. Rio looked over at Eddie and sighed.

"Yeah. He's not ready to go back into the big leagues yet." Rio said. I nodded, I checked my handgun to ensure the safety was on, and I see Rio eying me. "Damn, woman. You look good when you're packin'." He said, licking his bottom lip.

"Later." I implied, giving him a grin. He shook his head, smiling.

"C'mon, man, let's get out there," I said, nodding at Eddie. He complied and nodded at Rio and Mick. We headed out towards the suburbs. "So, I don't know how much Rio filled you in. But we are keeping a close eye on our printers because one of them not only tried to muscle us out, but she shot Rio a few months back. Right around the time, you left." I said.

"Was it Annie? Or the one with the giant rack?" Eddie asked, sounding slightly amused. I laughed slightly.

"Beth. Annie wasn't there at the time." I said. Eddie nodded in relief. It seemed like. "Wait, do you know them?" I asked.

"Yeah. Met em' before I got picked up. Annie's cool. Cute too." He said.

"Yeah, she is," I said, smiling at Eddie. We pulled up to the Paper Porcupine at around ten p.m., and Beth let us in. Annie's eyes lit up.

"Eddie? Oh my god, I thought for sure they killed you." Annie said in surprise. Eddie walked over to her.

"Nah, I didn't rat. Just went on a little vacation." Eddie said. He and Annie started talking while I went over to Beth and Ruby. I looked at the counterfeit, and it looked perfect.

"Damn, ladies. You are geniuses." I said, looking at the paper in awe.

"Thanks," Beth said with a smile. She started shoving the prints in the duffle bag, and I looked over at Eddie and Annie.

"They still pickin' on your kid?" Eddie asked.

"No, he actually doesn't go to public school anymore. He's in a private school that his dad pays for. They are actually really accepting of Ben, so it all works out.

"Dope," Eddie said. I swear I saw them exchange numbers, but I wasn't fully paying attention.

"So, how is Stan doing?" I asked Ruby.

"He's...he's good. One of the dancers at the club keeps chasing after him. I trust him, but it gets old." She said.

"Want me to beat the shit out of her?" I asked. I was totally serious, but she chuckled.

"No. It will be okay." Ruby said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, before I forget, ladies, here are your cuts from the last drop," I said as I handed them each small paper bag. Annie checks the money.

"This is two grand more than normal," Annie said.

"Really? Hm. I guess Rio gave you gals a raise." I said, winking at Annie. Ruby and Beth smiled.

"Thank you, Andy. Our working relationship with our boss has significantly improved since you came along." Beth said.

"Don't mention it. Alright, well, we will take this load off of your hands." I said as I grabbed the duffle of counterfeit. "We will see you, ladies, next week," I said as we headed towards the door.

"Andy," Beth said as we walked outside. I turned around to acknowledge her.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. I nodded. There was no bad blood between Beth and me. You would think there would be. But I didn't feel that way.

When Eddie and I got back to the apartment, I saw a shirtless Rio sitting on one of the kitchen island's bar stools. Tony was patching him up. I gasped when I saw a huge gash on his ribs. He rolled his eyes when he saw my reaction.

"What the fuck happened to you?" I asked.

"Just a little misunderstanding. He barely got me." Rio said.

"Tony, you're like a pro," I said, watching him stitch Rio up strategically.

"Yeah. Combat med in the Army for six years." Tony said, shocking me even further.

"What happened to the guy? I'll fucking rip his head off," I said, my blood boiling. Rio smirked.

"I know you would, darlin'. But I took care of it." Rio said. I knew at that point that the guy was missing a limb or was dead.

"Damn, dude, he got you good," Eddie said, discrediting what Rio previously said.

"I'm going to bed," I said as I rubbed my eyes shut.

"Alright, girl. I'll be up in a minute." Rio said. I nodded and went upstairs. I changed into one of Rio's t-shirts and took my jeans off. I sat in his desk chair that was adjacent to the bed. I put my feet up on the desk and leaned back into the chair. I sighed in defeat. A lot of people were trying to kill Rio. I knew what the "life" meant, but he was doing something wrong if he was getting almost killed multiple times in one month. About fifteen minutes later, Rio comes up. He has a fifth of Jack in his hand. He takes a swig and starts to undo his pants. He slowly lets them slide off of his hips, and he winced slightly.

"That's twice in one month, Rio," I said.

"I'm aware." He said in a pissed-off tone.

"You need more eyes. Mick and Tony can only watch your back to a certain point. Let me start coming to these meetings. I have good aim. I have a mean right hook. Too many people want you dead. Let me help." I said, standing up from the chair.

"No." He growled after taking a swig of the Jack.

"Just like a man, stubborn asshole. Just listen to me." I said, folding my arms and leaning back against the desk.

"Bitch, I don't answer to you. I'm your boss. Just cause I'm fuckin' you doesn't mean I listen to you." He said, walking towards me menacingly. I wasn't afraid of him.

"Oh, okay. Do you think I am fucking scared of you, Rio? I'm not." I hissed. He suddenly had me by the throat. Not too tight, but I could tell his hand was flexing, trying to decide what he wanted to do. "Come on, badass. Do you want to hurt me? Go ahead. I'll hurt you back." I said. He hesitated for a moment, then crashed his lips to mine. He shoved his tongue into my mouth, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I bit down lightly on his lip, and he growled into me. He suddenly turned me around and bent me over. I felt him rip my panties off and pound into me. I moaned his name, and he ran his hands down my back.

I didn't know why, but anytime we argued, we ended up naked.