Lower the gun.

Hicks looked up at Gabby, trapped in those big arms. She didn’t say anything, but they both knew the playbook – play along for now. He safetied the gun and lowered it. The cool pressure of the gun retreated too, but glancing over his shoulder he saw it was still trained on him.

“Mikey,” Butcher beckoned the thug over to him, and the massive man slowly lowered Gabby to the ground, changing his grip to hold both of her slim wrists behind her in one of his great paws. He pushed her across the floor towards Butcher’s desk. “Now Rob, I’m giving you the chance of a lifetime here,” Butcher continued.

Hicks stepped forward cautiously, reassured as Gabby shot him a look that said – I’m okay. But he was still on edge. What were they going to do with her? He had a sick feeling, that only worsened as the massive Mikey turned Gabby to face him. The gun barrel was back at the base of his skull.

“Drop it,” the soft voice behind him said, and he did, kicking the gun away from himself too.

Butcher came up beside Gabby, and now he was leering over her gorgeous figure in the same way the thug at the entrance had.

“Y’see, nothing against women as crooks or bosses,” he began, “but this is more about breaking up one of those thick-as-thieves partnerships that gets you small time hoods all fired up with invincible self-belief. You two, talking yourself up to each other all the time, eventually you get this stupid idea to take a run at the throne. Only room for one person in every position of my organisation.” One of his big hands came up and Gabby, hands restrained behind her, flinched as he cupped and squeezed her left breast.

Rob could see the crime boss was being gentle at first, but then he was squeezing harder, then almost kneading his partner’s soft tit-flesh. Gabby’s eyes were closed, thank God she wasn’t making eye contact with him. He couldn’t imagine what was going on in her head – after all, what was coming next?

He only stopped when Gabby finally let out a gasp of pain. Then he reached behind her back, got her own small gun and threw it behind the desk. His hand returned to her rump though, and Hicks could tell by the way his friend’s hips were writhing that Butcher was mauling her ass just as he’d groped her tit.

“This really is a world class ass, Rob.” Butcher was looking at him now, and he had one hand on Gabby’s ass and one sliding slowly up under her t-shirt. Hicks couldn’t take his eyes from it, as the man’s big knuckles started to move under the thin fabric, squeezing and groping his partner's poor tit. “And that’s what I’m offering. I know you’ve probably developed all sorts of respect for Brandi here over the years, but really, what you needed to do all along was rewrite the relationship and put yourself at the top of the pyramid.”