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“Vegan?”
“They’re good, I promise.” I take his hand and lead him to the kitchen. God, I like this. Way too much.
“Where’s Bennett?” he asks.
“Upstairs. He said something about reading some business book you recommended to him. I think he’s in love with you, he kept telling me what a great man you are,” I tell him.
“That’s funny, he spent most of the day telling me how amazingyouare,” West murmurs, as we walk into the kitchen.
“I guess he loves us both. Let’s adopt him.”
“Yeah, well I wish I could,” West says, as I let go of his hand to grab the food. I point at the stool in front of the breakfast bar and he sits. He looks beat.
“Why?” I ask. “Did something happen?” I moisten some paper towels and wrap them around six of the tamales and slide them into the microwave for a quick steam.
“Nah, I just don’t like the way Vin’s digging his claws into him.”
I look at him. I don’t like the sound of that either. “He is?”
“He agreed to put him through college. Getting him internships. A job at the end of it all. But he’s not doing it from the goodness of his heart.”
“But Bennett’s his family.”
West clears his throat as I pour him a glass of wine. “I know. That’s probably why he’s actually putting the effort into him. He can use somebody close to help build his empire.”
“His dodgy empire?” I ask.
“I guess.”
The microwave beeps and I take the plate out. “I don’t get why you let him invest, if you don’t like him.” I pass him the tamales, and he lifts one to his lips and takes a bite, letting out a groan as he swallows it down.
“That’s so good. Are you sure there’s no meat?”
I bite down a smile. “Maybe we’ll convert you to the dark side yet.”
He takes a long drink of wine, like he’s considering my question from a moment ago. “Project management is ninety-nine percent trying to figure out how to pay everybody and when,” he murmurs when he puts his glass down. “You must know this. There are contingencies, schedules of releasing money, and the banks nowadays don’t screw around. They pretty much only want to loan you money when the jobis completed. I needed Vin’s money to pay contractors and suppliers before the bank loans come in. Once they come in, I pay him back.”
“With interest?” I ask.
“Oh yeah, a whole lot of it. And in the meantime, because he’s an investor, he thinks he can call the shots. I seem to be his pet project.”
I pull my lip between my teeth, because my next question is more loaded. “Doesn’t it feel… dirty, knowing where the money comes from?”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “I’m used to feeling dirty.”
The way he says it, almost resigned, makes my heart clench. Like he doesn’t like it, but it’s a necessary evil.
“I thought you were known as the cleaner. Isn’t that what you used to do, clean L.A. up?”
“I got a lot of clients out of their problems, yes. But at the end of the day, I was still wallowing in the muck with them. That’s why I want to leave it behind.”
“But you haven’t, have you?” I say, trying to understand. “Not if you’ve gotten into bed with Vin.”
He lifts a brow as well as another tamale to his mouth. “Well that sounds like my idea of hell.”
I laugh softly. “You really think Bennett will end up working for Vin?” I ask.
“It’s that or he ends up in jail,” West murmurs, looking more concerned than I expected him to be. “I’m not sure which is worse.”
