Kingpin: An Enemies to Lovers College Romance (Court University Book 2)

by Eden O'Neill

  I sighed, my lungs full of steam in the shower. My hands scrubbed lather across my stomach and lower, thoughts of LJ still sending a tingle between my legs. We were like oil and water, undying heat and harsh cold. Whatever those differences, we still burned. And as much as I tried to put him in the same asshole category as my ex, I found myself hard-pressed. LJ may have set up the chess pieces, but Sinclair had acted on his own. That in itself put Sinclair in a completely other asshole ballgame, and though it didn’t let LJ off the hook for the role he’d played, I couldn’t deny some of the moments we’d had together. Those raw moments of all-consuming and undying heat. That passion and attraction I knew had definitely been lacking when I’d been in a relationship with my ex-boyfriend. I’d loved Sinclair, really had, but there’d always been something missing between us. A part of it was obviously him and other details he had going on in his life, but there was also me. We never held the kind of fire I held with LJ the second he kissed me. A fire I felt from day one and every moment since. Being with LJ was an adventure. It was exciting, freeing and something akin to free falling.

  Somewhere along the way, I guess I’d just forgotten to put my parachute on.

  A noise crashed, and I jumped in the shower, immediately turning the water off. Ripping the curtain away, I forced my head out. “Hello?”

  No one should be here but me. I was still in the old house until the first. I’d only stopped by my new apartment last week because my super allowed me to bring some stuff over to make the move easier prior to the first.

  With caution, I put my toes out, well aware I was naked and had no weapons. Making do, I grabbed my loofah with the hard handle. It was the best I could do under the circumstances.

  “Sinclair?” I called, hoping to God he wasn’t trying to test me by breaking into my house again. I guessed he technically hadn’t broken in the first time, but he had come in uninvited. I grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my body. Pushing open the bathroom door, I called again. “Sinclair, is that you?”

  Still nothing, but I knew I’d heard something. I padded lightly, immediately heading toward the bedroom. I had my phone charging in there, but in my frantic escape across the hall, I clipped one of the moving boxes.

  Pain shot though my toe almost instantly, and losing my footing, I tumbled toward the ground the same time a set of strong hands grabbed me.

  Niko frowned above my head, freaking Niko, and after slapping my way out of his arms, he let go of me.

  “What the hell, Niko?” I growled, hobbling on the floor. I stubbed my toe pretty damn good, the thing pulsing.

  A wide chuckle and Niko shrugged an arm against one of my boxes. This hall was wide enough, but he was so big he filled nearly all of it. His eyebrows jumped. “Nice to see you, Your Majesty,” he said, his gaze raking over my half-naked body. “Nice look. That just for me?”

  Groaning, I threw my loofah at him, making him chuckle again. I stomped down the hallway and into my bedroom, getting on a shirt, sports bra, and a pair of bed shorts before returning to the living room. When I came in, Niko had made himself at home, now filling half my couch with his entire frame.

  He frowned. “Why were you calling for that douche canoe before? He still bothering you?”

  No, but he was. I hugged my arms. “Why are you here? How are you here? How’d you get in my—”

  He held up a key, his dark eyebrows wiggling. “Jay said you had one under the mailbox. Though I did knock first. You didn’t answer.”

  Yeah, totally needed to find a new place for that. Leaning forward, Niko placed that key on the table, but when he sat back, he grabbed his side. Discomfort etched deeply into his face when he leaned back, and I frowned. “What’s your deal?”

  “Eh, uh nothing,” he said, but it didn’t look like nothing. He even had to breathe out when he relaxed. “Just a little accident I had last week.”

  “What kind of accident?”

  He passed it off with a grin. “Seriously, nothing. It only hurts when I breathe.”

  My eyes twitching wide, I started to prod again when his attention fell on some of my moving boxes. His smiled faded. “So you really are moving?”

  Obviously, LJ had told him, and really, I hadn’t seen either of them coming or going since that day I’d seen LJ. At least, for the last week anyway. Honestly, I’d been so relieved by the fact I hadn’t thought much about it.

  “What’s going on? Why did you sneak into my house?”

  He moved slowly to angle his body in my direction, and each shift flashed a clear sign of discomfort across his face. Again, he had to breathe just to move, and I eased in. “Niko… are you okay? Can I get you something—”

  “No.” His bite shot me back, and seeing that, he sighed. He lifted a hand. “I mean, I’m good. But yeah, I’m here for something. I need a favor.”

  “What kind?” I took up the seat beside him, being slow and more than careful. Obviously, he was in some kind of pain here, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

  Another sigh and he was moving that silky dark hair around. “It’s for Jay,” he stated, my breath instantly stalled in my throat. “He’s about to walk into some trouble, trouble for me, and I need your help getting him out of it.”

  That breath didn’t do anything to move, the lack thereof racing my heart. “Trouble?”

  “Yeah, the major kind. The life-threatening kind, and it’s all my fault.”

  “What do you mean? What—”

  “He’s going to a crime family called the Marvellis for me,” he stated, making my brow jump high. He shook his head. “I owe these guys a lot of money, and Jay’s going over there tonight to settle the debt. The thing is, they won’t let him walk out of that bitch. That’s not how this works.”

  “Wait. Back up.” I was still trying to get over the fact he was asking me for help about LJ. That we were even talking about LJ. And then this? “You’re saying you owe these people money.”

  “Yes, a lot. I fucked up.” He was breathing into his hands now, worry etched all over his face. “I took out a loan from the Marvellis. Remember how I told you my mom was sick?”

  “Yeah, she has cancer.”

  “Well, I’ve never been good with money. Not like Jay. I didn’t have all my ducks in a row, so when those bills starting getting bigger, I didn’t have the cash. But my mom got so sick… she had to keep doing those clinical trials or she’d die, Billie.”

  “Okay, so you took out a loan.”

  “Uh-huh.” A hard swallow, but when I offered him water, he waved a hand. “A big one, but I was working it off for them. Things were going fine, but then this job I took last week went sour. The police shot the whole place up.”

  He lifted his shirt then, revealing a large bandage across the side of his abdomen.

  My mouth parted. “Are you saying they shot you?”

  “Yeah, nearly clean through.” He lowered his shirt. “Jay took care of me. Had his friend get me a doctor to fix me up so I didn’t have to go to a hospital. I’ve been hiding out ever since.”

  “What the hell, Niko?”

  “I know.” A nod and his head sagged. “I didn’t ask, but fucking Jay… He doesn’t stop. He took care of me. He’s still taking care of me. Even now.”

  “What do you mean, Niko?” I asked, and when he shook his head, I touched his arm. “You said he’s going to settle your debt. You mean, he’s paying them?”

  “It ain’t that simple, Billie.” His words sobered me up, chilled me to the bone. He drew fingers down his mouth. “That debt was my responsibility. I have to work it off. They won’t just let him go in there and walk.”

  “So why don’t you take care of it?”

  “Jay.” He raised and dropped a hand. “The Marvellis called me while I was laid out about working another job, and he freaked. He urged me to go to the cops. Maybe work with them, you know, but I wouldn’t budge. I have a family, a sick mom, and I can’t risk going away. I mean, I’m their fucking livelihood. Anyway, we had
a huge fight about it. He wasn’t happy, but I thought that was the end of it.”

  “It wasn’t?”

  His head shook. “I woke up this morning, and he was gone, Billie. Picked up to take care of it himself. He left me nothing but a text message about what he was doing, but he can’t. It’s my debt, and I have to pay it. He said in his message everything would be fine, but I’m scared out of my fucking wits he’s not going to come back.”

  “Well, what can we do? We can do something, right?” Panic shook my very limbs, my swallow hard. “Tell me we can do something. The cops?”

  His hands gathered mine. “There is something you can do. That’s why I’m here. I need your help.”

  “What? Anything.”

  A long breath. “I told you Jay wanted me to cooperate with the police, and that’s what I want to do, but I need you to reach out to your father. He’s got a history with the Marvellis. Fuck, he’s responsible for putting half the crime family behind bars. I could go to the police, but if I had him…”

  My hands left his. “How do you know about my dad?”

  “Jay,” he said, like it was obvious. His throat worked. “I could talk until I’m blue in the face to the cops, but at the end of the day, I’m still some snot-nosed kid from the South Side of Chicago. A kid with a crime history. They won’t listen to me, and by the time they did get their heads out their fucking asses enough to help Jay… Jay…”

  His emotion came back, and mine did too, all over my body to the point where my vision clouded. He was most likely right. No one would listen to him, not like they’d listen to me.

  Not like my dad would listen to me.

  Niko touched my hands. “Your dad’s the DA. He can just make a few calls, Billie. A few calls to the right people…”

  “My dad and I don’t talk, Niko.” I raised my head, tears actually blinking down now. “We… We haven’t physically spoken in forever.”

  “But you have to,” he pleaded. “I honestly don’t know how much time Jay has. He might already be there. He’d need to get the money together, but after, he’d go right to them.”

  Goosebumps covered my arms.

  “Please, Billie,” he said, urged. “I don’t know what will happen if we don’t do anything.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  LJ

  I dropped the black leather bag filled with cash on the table in the downtown warehouse, one of Alexi Marvelli’s places. Guys in work coveralls pushed all kinds of the hard stuff around me, crack cocaine, crystal meth, and other shit Niko or I had never touched. We had to draw the line somewhere, and that was it; the stuff we did was enough for us. That’d always been okay for Alexi since every facet of his business had to be attended to. We stayed on our side of the yard, doing our thing, and as long as he got his cut, he was good.

  A wave and Alexi himself had one of his suited gorillas check the bag. I didn’t recognize this guy, tall and maybe even a new one. Then again, Alexi had all kinds of people around him all the time, and he had a lot of people here today. Where there weren’t guys in coveralls, there were armed guards, dressed to the nines in the finest, but they didn’t fool me. They were here for Alexi, his men, and I minded my P’s and Q’s. I was here for one purpose and one purpose only, to get one of my best friends off the hook, and then I planned on walking the fuck out of here. I hadn’t even come armed, a sign of trust, and Alexi’s guys had understood that when they’d checked me at the door.

  After the new guy basically fondled my cash bag, he shoved it over to Alexi, his hand catching it. This deal today would cut a sizable chunk out of the savings I’d put aside for a rainy day, but if it got my buddy off the hook, then it was worth it. I figured money talked, and in this situation, I hoped I was right. Alexi smiled. “We have love, don’t we, Jay? We’re family?”

  I nodded. “Of course, Alexi. I’ve always had a soft spot for you and your family.”

  “But do we have love?” A wave of the hand, and the new goon took the cash, standing at my side. The guy got hella close, basically shoulder to shoulder, but I stood my ground. I had to. Alexi frowned. “This bag is awfully light to settle your friend’s debt.”

  I dampened my lips. “I’m in the process of moving some money around.” Niko owed a lot, and I wasn’t able to draw it all today. I lifted my chin. “You’ll have the rest first thing tomorrow. I’m good for it, and you know that.”

  After all, he was the one who paid me. Of course, I took my own cut, but he knew what was coming and going from Niko and I. He provided the goods, always had.

  Sitting down, Alexi pretended not to notice all the activity around him, guys on forklifts and rolling dollies filled with so much coke a crackhead would shoot his load off. This was just a day in the life for him, a complex and complicated life. How many times had he tried to rope my buddy and me in? Become a part of this life with the glitz and glam on the outside. He always said he could make us very rich men, and though I’d always been tempted, I kept my head in the books and thinking about the women in my life in Maywood Heights. They were where my loyalties lied, and as much as I considered Alexi family, at the end of the day, I only had one.

  They were a pretty good one too.

  “Yes, I know you’re good for it.” He set a hand on the table. “I just don’t understand why we have no love. Where we lost it?”

  The goon beside me, the new one, moved. He pressed up against me again, and my hands curled behind me.

  Very slowly, Alexi got up from his chair, the frown hard on his face. He touched a hand to his chest. “You pain me, Jay. You really do. I thought we really did have love.”

  “We do.” I angled a look, our small party of Alexi and this new guy suddenly growing by five or six. Each one was in a suit, each one with their hands posted behind their backs. I faced Alexi. “We never lost that.”

  “But didn’t we?” He flicked the bag’s leather strap. “You know, I suspected we may have lost love a little… but to do that to Niko. Your friend…” He tsked before looking at me. “There’s no honor in that. There’s no honor in betraying your friend or your family, me.”

  “Alexi, I don’t understand.”

  But then a photo was slid in front of me by one of Alexi’s goons. It was a picture of someone I knew, someone that made my fists squeeze behind my back even more, as I took in the photo of soft lips and vibrant red hair. He had a picture of Billie in front of me.

  I just didn’t understand why.

  “You know, when I first heard whispers you were seen with Dean Coventry’s kid, I figured maybe you just knew the girl. Especially since our business relationship ended on good terms. The girl was maybe an acquaintance to you. A quick fuck even—”

  “Alexi—”

  His hand lifted, and I stopped. His chin jerked up. “But then the raid. The cops knew exactly where I was conducting business that night with Niko. Why do you think that is, LJ?”

  “I don’t know, Alexi.” My eyes fought a twitch when the goon beside me got even closer, his hand on my arm. I faced forward. “I don’t know how the cops knew—”

  “You’re fucking the DA’s daughter.” His voice shook my insides, the sound ricocheting off the walls in my head. His hand touched the photo. “I know because we had you tailed. Your relationship with that little Coventry bitch has obviously jaded your judgment.”

  It took all I had not to reach across this table and clock this motherfucker straight. But I did that and it was over. I did that and I wouldn’t be walking out of here, so instead, I ignored his goon’s hand on me.

  I stared right at Alexi. “I do have a relationship with her. But I assure you, it’s nothing but pussy.”

  A dry chuckle called me on my bluff, Alexi’s hand leaving the photo. “You take me for an idiot, Jay. A simple screw doesn’t have you seeing this girl as much as you have. Remember, I had you tailed.”

  I shifted, but the hand on my arm squeezed, holding me back. I looked up at the guy, but he wasn’t looking at me, only Ale
xi. I huffed. “She’s nothing to me.”

  “Nothing, huh?”

  A click, a silencer twisting onto a gun. The goon beside Alexi himself had done it. The guy on his left already had his together.

  They both lifted in my direction.

  Alexi grinned. “Here’s to family.”

  “Police! We have you surrounded!”

  People in coveralls pulled out guns, nearly all of them flashing badges around us. They honed in on us, honed in on Alexi, and there were just as many as the suits suddenly surrounding us. The suits were Alexi’s guys, and in seconds, the silencers went in the direction of the guys with badges. Those first shots fired, and I jumped, suddenly jerked to the ground. I hit with a slam, gunshots ringing around me.

  “Stay down, kid!” came from my side, the new goon in a suit who, just seconds ago, I’d thought had been Alexi’s.

  He covered my whole body, clearly not Alexi’s. The guy had his hand on my head, his own gun out, but he wasn’t able to use it. Those shots popped off like fire crackers above us, bags of crack exploding like fucking sugar.

  I covered my own head, the pair of us just waiting this shit out while gun casings hit the floor around us. I closed my eyes, thinking about faces, and five hit my mind’s eye like nothing else. They’d been my mom and sisters, of course, but there’d also been Billie.

  Billie Coventry.

  I prayed I’d get out of this. I prayed I’d get to see my family again. I’d done some stupid things, but this, by far, had been the worst. Eventually, those gunshots silenced around us. Eventually, I could lower my arms and lift my head. I did, and I found a set of eyes. Alexi Marvelli was on the floor too.

  But he was pinned to the ground by a man in coveralls.

  One of the cops had gotten him down, and after he yelled, “He’s down!” the man on top of me slid off. Before I knew it, he jerked me to my feet, rushing me away and out of the fray. Those gunshots started again, and I covered my head, obviously all this shit not over yet.