Piracy

By L.P. Maxa

STEALING...

Saying Jett Matthews has it easy is an understatement. He loves being the youngest son of a rockstar. A day doesn't go by that Jett isn't working his Devil's Spawn status to the max. But Jett is more than he appears to be. He's co-owner of a huge company that grows and sells marijuana. It's all legit...well, it is now, but there's a hitch: he and his Spawn partner, Marley Connor, have been building the business right under their parents' noses, and they are none the wiser. When Jett and Marley have to come out from behind the shadows, it's Devin King who helps make the impossible happen, and that seals the deal on Jett's heart forever.

THE RICHEST TREASURE

Devin King is serious about her college education. She's at UT Austin on an academic scholarship, and she means to turn this opportunity into a serious career. When sexy, trash-talking, full of swagger, too gorgeous for his own good, Jett Matthews sits down next to her in Civics, her world turns on its side, and she can't say she minds all that much. Sure, she made him work for it, but everything worth having requires a little effort, especially for Jett. But the prize is so much sweeter after a little sweat equity, and Devin means to have it all, and for it to last a lifetime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948029551

L.P. Maxa

L.P. lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, daughter, three rescue dogs, and one adopted cat. The first group of chickens met with a sad and unexpected death. They have been replaced. The dwarf goats are a story for another day. And now there are ducks. Writer, business owner and office manager, L.P. says she loves to read as much as she loves to write. Reading a good book is her reward after writing one. In her spare time—ha!—she fosters puppies for a rescue organization based in Austin. Connect with L.P. – lpmaxa.wordpress.com facebook.com/pages/LP-Maxa/1442560722667127 twitter.com/lpmaxa instagram.com/lpmaxa

Book preview

Chapter One

Jett

My business partner finally fucking graduated high school. Do you guys have any idea how difficult it was to run a multimillion-dollar business when the brains of the operation had to be in school eight hours a day? Talk about burning the candle at both ends. And let it be known, I was too pretty to be that tired.

Marley and I stayed up well past three o’clock in the morning, more often than not. Thanks to her school schedule and our parents’ new overly involved take on raising children, we had to get the majority of our work done while everyone else was sleeping. I napped all day, much to my mother’s dismay, but Marley? Man, that girl was a fucking machine.

She ran on caffeine, a wing, and a prayer.

Maybe now that Marley is headed off to college, Jett will go too, my dad whispered to my Uncle Dash, and not all that well since I could clearly hear every word he was saying.

We were at the pool house on the compound. The family was having a party for Marley. Everyone had come home to celebrate. Katie, Cash, and Crue had flown in from California. They were all about to start their junior year in college, and Cash was damn close to getting drafted by MLB.

Do you really think Marley is the reason Jett hasn’t started school? Uncle Dash sounded suspicious. He was always concerned that Marley and I were sneaking around behind their backs. And we were, only not in the way that he was worried about.

I wasn’t banging her, I was doing business with her. Wait. That sounded dirty too. The point is, people, I wasn’t fucking my cousin.

I honestly don’t know, man. My dad shook his head sadly, like I was the cause of all his stress or something. Puh-lease. I didn’t move fifty states away. I didn’t make sex tapes…at least not ones that got broadcast around the world. As far as his sons went, I was seemingly perfect.

I’d had enough eavesdropping when he moved the conversation over to some new band he was interested in, so I stepped farther into the shadows. I leaned against the black metal fencing that surrounded the space. I took a sip of my drink and then glanced around, taking inventory of my overly large family.

Avory was home. She’d completed her freshman year at the University of Texas. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the girl. Normally, she was a happy upbeat little thing. Bubbly if you will. But being this close to Crue, her ex, really brought her down. Time heals all wounds was not working for those two. They looked like they wanted to slit their wrists every time they had to be in the same room together. It was depressing as fuck.

Nicky and Evie had driven down from Dallas. They’d been married for about a year now. We were all taking bets on when she’d announce that they were knocked up. I’d picked Thanksgiving, and lost. Marley had today, but I’d seen Evie have a cocktail last night at dinner. Emmie, Evie’s little sister and the youngest of the Devil’s Spawn, had money on September. That was when Nicky and Evie were supposed to move down to Austin.

Nick’s Uncle Waylon was retiring and wanted Nick to run the Austin branch of their tattoo parlor, Revival Ink, and let Nick’s best friend Bleu take over the Dallas location. Emmie’s guess made the most sense: better to have a baby when you were surrounded by aunts and grandmas who wanted nothing more than to kidnap your infant on the daily.

Now, Halen and Beau were in fact pregnant, and she was due the end of the summer. They’d told everyone over Christmas Eve dinner after Halen had taken a big swig of Crue’s drink thinking it was water. It was straight vodka and she’d spit it out all over the dinner table, soaking the turkey.

Landry and Brody had two kids now, and the way those two fucked there was no doubt a third in their future. Proof right there that weed does not always hinder sperm count. Well, not our weed anyway.

And that led to Marley and me. We were exceedingly rich, and that was not including our trust funds. No, our fortune was all from hard work and good fucking grass. You see, back a few years ago we were sitting under the old oak tree between M’s and Uncle Jacks’s house thinking about our futures. You know, as one did when they were about to start high school. We’d decided that we were the smartest pairing in our family, in a completely platonic sort of way. She was brilliant and I was charming. We weren’t being conceited—we simply knew our strengths. We knew that if we put our heads and our attributes together, we’d be able to do about anything we wanted.

What Marley wanted was marijuana. Not to smoke it. She rarely sampled our product to this very day. No, my girl was more interested in the science behind it all. She wanted desperately to understand it, improve it, and make it heal all the ailing people on this planet and the next. Now, Marley may act like a real bitch ninety percent of the time, but the truth of the matter was she had a kind heart and she wanted to save the world.

Did you hear your dad? He thinks you’ll enroll in school now that I’m going. Marley strolled up, rolling her eyes as she took a sip from her lemonade. Marley didn’t drink alcohol often either. She said she didn’t have time for hangovers. "How they can have their heads shoved up our asses and still be this clueless is beyond me."

Well, only one of us can go to school, and you’re the one with the smarts. I threw my arm around her shoulders and rested my cheek on top of her head. Should I go let my dad down easy? Let him know that I have to stay on the compound and run day-to-day operations for MJ Botanicals? You know, our thriving cannabis company?

No, then they’ll want discounts like everyone else in this freaking family.

I shook my head like I was disgusted with the whole lot of them. Damn moochers.

Yep. Our family smoked our product, or they took our CBD oils for other health benefits, or ate our edibles. And our fathers? Well, I’ll have you know that we lovingly grew their absolute favorite strand of Satevia in the nation. About a year ago I’d stumbled upon my dad’s stash, and about pissed myself laughing when I saw that his vape pen had our label on it.

I’m hungry. You want me to make you a plate? Marley stepped out of my embrace and headed toward the large food spread in the pool house. They’d had her favorite restaurant cater Greek food.

Nah, I’m good. I raised my glass to her retreating back, indicating that I had a cold cocktail and I didn’t need much else in life.

I watched, eyes narrowed, as Talon followed her into the kitchen. Talon was in Clashing Swell, Brody’s band. He was always around for family holidays and stuff. He said it was because he was Wyatt’s godfather, but I thought differently. He’d been intrigued with my younger cousin since they’d met a few years ago. He’d never acted in a way that was overly flirty, which was good considering their age difference. But she was eighteen now, and I should probably start taking bets on when those two were going to end up horizontal.

Dude, Dad won’t shut up about you going with Marley to UT. Cash took a deep breath, letting it out in a way that led me to believe he was irritated. When are you going to tell him you’re skipping college?

Cash, my brother, and Beau, the oldest boy cousin in the Devil’s Spawn family menagerie, were on this huge fucking truth train. Which was damn hypocritical in my opinion. I’d kept their stupid secrets my whole life. I’d never mentioned that I’d seen Beau making out with Halen in every shadow on the compound. I’d never blabbed about Cash and Crue switching places all the damn time. Hell, I’d helped them lie to our parents since I was old enough to talk. But now, since all their crap had been forced out into the open, they had a new lease on life? A new perspective on how I should act? I don’t think so.

My parents could stay right where they were, in the fucking dark.

I’ll tell Dad when I’m ready to tell him. No point ruining Marley’s graduation party with an argument. I smiled tightly and clapped Cash on the back. Now, stop worrying about me, and go try to fix your other brother. Crue was still completely messed up over losing Avory, even though it’d been about two fucking years. And the whole breakup was entirely his fault. He’s bringing this whole place down with his puppy dog frown.

What’s the plan, Jett?

Oh, okay, I guess we’re still on me then. "The plan is, Marley goes to UT and gets her doctorate in biology. I stay here and run all the day-to-day shit it takes to make our company go ‘round. I started ticking off points on my fingers for added dramatics. Sales, distribution, quality control, marketing, social media…the list goes on and on."

Which only proves my fucking point. Cash was speaking through clenched teeth, but he lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. Don’t you think at some point in the not-too-distant future the parents are going to realize there is a tunnel under the red barn that leads to that new state-of-the-art growing operation across the street?

I snorted. No, I really don’t. And that was the honest truth.

MJ Botanicals had outgrown our little barn basement digs after about a year. So we’d bought the land across from our parents’ compound and started building our new facility. When we were supposed to be at a friend’s house or studying at the library, we were meeting with our contractors and signing checks with more zeros than most people would see in a lifetime. There were people working, literally under all the parents’ feet, constructing our tunnel system for months.

Did they notice? Nope.

This is all going to catch up to you one day, you know that, right? Cash closed his eyes like he was trying to gather the strength he needed to deal with me.

Everything we do is legal and by the book. Now anyway. I shrugged, taking another sip of my drink. So I don’t tell my parents what I do for a living. Who cares?

They will. He turned on his heel and stomped away. Probably to go find Katie so he could whine about all the mistakes Marley and I were making.

But from where I was sitting, we were doing just fucking fine.

Chapter Two

Jett

I was at home, eating leftovers while watching ancient reruns of Hamilton’s Pharmacopia on my computer. Man, things had come a long way in the last decade.

Marley threw open the front door, not bothering to knock since technically this was her house too. Oh, ew, are you watching porn in the living room?

I chuckled and moved my laptop to the side, showing that I didn’t have my dick in my hand. No, I do that in the kitchen like a real deviant.

We’d remodeled the old red barn on our parents’ compound a couple years ago. We’d worked hard, and paid people well, to turn the run-down relic into a modern badass pad. Marley had a room here but had chosen to live with her parents until she graduated high school.

Less questions that way, less push back.

We’d learned from all our cousins’ mistakes. We’d learned how to live under the radar on the Devil’s Share compound.

Marley pointed upstairs. All jacking off will be done in your room, behind locked doors, once I move in.

Which would be later this week and had taken us swearing on a stack of bibles and old Van Morrison records that we weren’t sleeping together. Our parents were a little gun-shy when it came to secret love affairs. Although they still had yet to figure out the whole Crue and Avory situation.

You cut out early. She plopped down beside me, stealing my fork and my last bite of rice. Thanks for leaving me at a party I didn’t want in the first place. Marley didn’t like the spotlight to be on her, ever.

I handed off my plate, kicking my feet up on the coffee table. Got tired of listening to Cash’s holier than thou, honesty is the best policy speech.

She scoffed. I love it when the guy who fucked chicks while pretending to be his twin acts like he knows best.

Word. I held my hand out and she slapped it. Plus, my dad cornered me with college talk. Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t like disappointing my parents. I loved them, and I wanted them to be proud of me.

Marley nodded but stayed silent while she polished off the rest of my food. I knew her brain was working on something. I could feel it coming. She and I were so close, sometimes I thought our connection was stronger than my twin brothers’.

You know what I’m looking forward to this fall?

The rigorous course load? I sent her a tight, toothless smile.

No. She backhanded my chest not so lightly, because if Marley was going to hit you, she was going to hit you. I’m looking forward to being anonymous. I won’t be anyone’s boss, I won’t be anyone’s anything. No Devil’s Share stigma, no RiffRaff Records recognition. I’ll be Marley, a college freshman with more real world knowledge than any botany professor in the state.

Yes, well, you do enjoy making people feel dumb.

She leaned her head on my shoulder, a rare show of affection. Marley wasn’t outwardly touchy-feely, not like me. If you want to go to school, Jett, we can make that happen.

Marley didn’t pry, and she didn’t coax. Which was the only reason I didn’t immediately shut her down. If she was taking the time to come talk to me about this, then I’d take the time to be real with her.

I mean, yeah, it’d be nice to get off the compound and out of the office. But school isn’t my thing, it’s yours. And I need to be here, one of us needs to be here.

She sat up straight, turning to face me. But we could alternate, you know? I’m not in class for eight hours a day anymore. We could work something out. She grinned. We have a shit-ton of employees who I’m sure are tired of being micromanaged by kids half their age.

I nodded. No. Doubt. Marley and I were involved in every single aspect of our business. Even though we had great employees, nothing happened at MJ Botanicals without our approval.

We’d built this business from the ground up, literally. It started with a few stolen seeds—thanks, Uncle Jacks—and the rich soil next to the tank on our property.

And wouldn’t it be nice to be just Jett for a few hours a day? I met her gaze, seeing the small, knowing smiling on her usually scowling face. I hated how right she was. I hated how alike we were. Plus, it’d get your parents off your back.

I sighed, throwing my hand out in the direction of the home office space off the living room. What would I even study? Business? We’ve already taught ourselves everything we need to know about how to run a successful company.

Marley and I had read anything we could get our hands on before we started MJ Botanicals. We’d taken online courses using Beau’s name and social security number. We’d studied business models, telling our parents it was a big extra-credit assignment. We were self-taught, and we were the best in Texas. Ha. Get it? Like the old truck commercials?

You could take whatever classes you wanted, whatever sounds interesting. You could get a degree in sociology, or even communications. That’s what Evie’s degree is in and her job is cake. The classes couldn’t have been that hard.

Evie was brilliant—don’t get me wrong. But her job was running the social media arm for RiffRaff Records as well as Revival Ink. She created content, which basically meant she made cool posts. Evie’s job isn’t a job, it’s a teenage girl’s hobby.

Marley laughed, her head tipping forward and her long dark hair following suit. Well, then a marketing degree. It would be nice to know more about marketing, right?

I guess. Marketing wouldn’t be so bad, although we had a marketing firm out in California that we used for MJ Botanicals. Bringing that division back home would actually save us some money in the long run. Trying to find excuses to go visit Crue and Cash so we could sit in on face-to-face meetings was getting difficult. Plus, at some point my