Rolling my body to a standing position, I spin around and grab the pole high while wrapping my legs around it and hanging upside down. I know I’m being watched by the audience, but I can feel my skin burning as if it’s being branded from a heated gaze.
My eyes snap forward and land right on the man who I am positive is the one causing my body to react this way. I continue to dance and make my way through the audience, occasionally teasing some patrons to keep them entertained.
I know this man looks familiar and I’m not sure why. I stroll up to him, swaying my hips from side to side and straddle his lap slowly.
He has one hell of a poker face. I'll give him that. The only reason I know I am affecting him is the trail of goosebumps on his arm I have left behind. I lean up and whisper in his ear.
“What’s your name?”
“Giovanni. What’s your name, doll? I assume you go by something other than the Queen of Reign?”
That voice. A deep, smoky, but sweet as sin, sound that sends a heated pulse straight to my core.
I look into his eyes and realize that this is where Piero was sitting. He was speaking with this gentleman who has some of the same facial features as himself and who’s name starts with a G, which is what Devin had called his brother.
Looking down at his lips, I bite my own as I run my gaze down the rest of his muscular body. My eyes snap up to his as I grind my core into his lap and feel his length growing hard beneath me.
I lean forward and kiss him gently on the corner of his mouth, and again directly on his full lips, roughly biting down on his lower lip. Drawing blood, I continue to suck the blood off of him. I can feel his breath turning ragged and l quietly speak to him.
“I go by another name or two. Six being one of them. But you may know me better as The Crimson Queen.”
His eyes go wide, but he quickly schools his features and his face turns to stone, not wanting me to see his reaction. But there’s one thing he cannot hide from me. The fact that his dick has gone from hard to solid as a rock pressing against me from below.
I laugh and shake my head. As I make my way back to the stage the song and customers applaud my performance while they make cat calls as I leave the stage.
Turning the corner, I see Kat with her arms crossed, a brow raised, and a smirk growing on her face.
“What the hell was that?”
“It was a dance, Kat.”
She knows I’m dodging her question, and she is a persistent little Kit Kat, so I know she’s not letting this go.
“Not the dance. The kiss. The hot as fuck, soaked my panties, and need a cigarette after, kiss!” I giggle, then take a deep breath, looking up.
“That’s Pop’s other son, Giovanni.”
Her eyes go round and she begins biting her lower lip, something she often does when she’s concerned. I know what she’s thinking. He’s never met me. Most likely he knew nothing about me, if the look on his face when I told him said anything..
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call Pops tomorrow and tell him what happened.”
I notice Kat visibly relaxes her shoulders and I give her a hug. I know she’s worried that Piero would not have wanted Giovanni and me to meet. But he knew I was coming out to perform, and he left his son here alone with a smile on his face as he left. If he was expecting something else, he sure had a funny way of showing it.
There’s no point in me thinking too hard on this. It’s not like anything is going to happen between Gio and me.
Wait. Since when did I give him a nickname like I knew him or something? Fuck. Shit. Fucking shit. Deep breaths. Counting. Ten, nine, eight... If there’s anything I remember from years of therapy, it’s counting backwards to help calm me down.
Nothing is going to happen between us. We barely even spoke, other than the sexual chemistry that spoke for itself. Besides, he knows I’m a killer and given his family history and him being here tonight; I know he’s one too. But what would he think about my need for killing and the satisfaction I get from it? Or the blood lust I get when my emotions run high?
It’s best if I just get him out of my head altogether tonight and deal with Piero tomorrow.
Sitting at the bar as we close up, I catch Damon’s attention at the other end of the bar. He doesn’t look too pleased. I’m going to assume it’s due to the attention I gave Giovanni tonight. But he knows better than to mention anything like that to me. It wouldn’t end well for either of us.
Damon and I, while he is head of my security, have known each other for almost as long as Kat and I have. We have an unspoken agreement that I believe benefits us both.
For years, Damon and I have hooked up occasionally. I’ve never been in a relationship before, even though he has off and on. I’ve made it clear to him I have no interest in playing house, and he’s clarified that he can only tolerate so much of my crazy ass at a time. So using each other is really a win-win for everyone involved.
I wink at him and head out front where Kat’s waiting for me with the valet. Before I walk out of the door I nod for Damon to come with me and he follows shortly thereafter. Problem solved. Damon will be my distraction for tonight. Everything else will be a problem for another day.
Chapter 7
Giovanni
It’s been a little over a week since my brother left this world, which means it’s been a little over a week since I met the infamous Crimson Queen, Six.
I tried to ask my father a few things about her without sounding too interested, but he was quick to shut me down. He said that’s her story to tell and I can respect that.
She’s piqued my interest, I’ll give her that. The way she bit my lip rough enough to make me bleed and then continued to suck and lick the blood from me had my dick so hard I could barely stand when I got up to leave that night. I took a long cold shower when I got home.
Sitting in my dad's office, I hear the doorbell chiming throughout the house. Knowing the staff will answer the door, we continue our conversation.
A few minutes later there’s a knock at the door and my father tells whoever it is to come in. I’m sitting in the chair across from my dad’s desk with my back to the door when I hear footsteps coming towards us and then the sound of a familiar voice meets my ears.
Walking around the desk and giving my father a firm handshake is none other than my new infatuation.
“Hey Pops. This has been long overdue,” Six says to my father as they release their grip.
“That it has. I thought it was time for you and Giovanni to meet. Officially.”
“Pops?” I ask as if I’ve entered another world where my father smiles. That’s something the men in our family rarely do.
They both look at me and laugh as if I’m missing out on an inside joke. My father, laughing. You don’t see that often these days.
“Son, this is Six. But I believe you’ve already met.” I can see the amusement in his eyes.
“We have.” I smirk and shake her hand. She returns it with a tight grip, causing me to feel her calloused hands in my palm.
“He’s like another dad to me and I know calling him Pops annoys the fuck out of him so I can’t resist.” Six gives a sly grin to my father. I can see that they have a close relationship. I put the pieces together.
“So she’s the girl you used to spend time with and train?”
“Yes. But she didn’t need much training.” My father replies proudly, as if she’s like a daughter to him.
This makes so much more sense now. He didn’t speak much of the girl he once took under his wing. Only that she was a natural and she just needed a little guidance from time to time.
He told us he never introduced her because she really didn’t care for people and said maybe one day we would work together. I’m wondering if that’s why she’s here.
I take in her appearance. She’s wearing black leather pants, black combat boots, a short black cutoff top that exposes her taut stomach, and a fitted black leather jacket. Her hair is long
and white, which she’s wearing half up, half down, showing off her beautiful gray eyes, and then there’s her pale porcelain skin.
She’s blindingly beautiful, and I have no doubt in my mind that she knows it.
She has multiple ear piercings along with a piercing in her eyebrow, nose, above and on her lip. When I saw her the other night, you could see she had several tattoos covering her body along with a full sleeve tattoo on her arm. I can’t help but wonder what other piercings and tattoos lie underneath her clothing. Her body is like a present that I’m dying to unwrap.
I look deep into her eyes. She may wear a smile at the moment, but I don’t miss the shadows behind her eyes. I can see they hold plenty of secrets and even more sadness.
I’m not one to judge. I’ve got my own issues. But I can see she has them, too. It seems we both have our own demons.
My father clears his throat, and it’s only then I realize that I’m staring at her like an asshole. Great. She’s used to it as she stands there looking straight at me with her face void of emotion.
Her beauty may enamor me at the moment, but I don’t want to give off the wrong impression. I’m not some lovesick fool, and I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m the furthest thing from relationship material you can get.
I see my father slip back into business mode as he speaks to us both. “Another reason I called you here today is to inform you we’ve had a few problems lately, and I’d like for the two of you to work together on this one.”
Okay. It’s one thing to meet her and find her interesting. But I work alone. I love killing. Period. It’s something I want to do alone. My father knows this, so why the hell he wants us to work together is beyond me.
She must notice that I’m not too keen on the idea as I see her lips press further into a firm line and her eyes narrow. Interesting. It appears she doesn’t want to work with me either.
My father continues to speak. “We’ve received a threat against you, Six.”
This was not making any sense to me. I only just found out that Six and my father had known each other for years. So why was someone sending my father threats against her?
“What the fuck do you mean you’ve received a threat against me,” she asks with a raised voice and a pointed stare straight at my father.
“Shit. Sorry about that.”
“I understand.”
I watch them go back and forth, wondering what the fuck is going on. My father doesn’t tolerate anyone raising their voice to him. And the Crimson Queen herself has just apologized. Once again, I’m missing something, which irritates the hell out of me because I can usually read people and I’m having an off day. Six has made her way into my head. With her in my mind, dancing around, I’ll be having plenty of off days for now.
Chapter 8
Six
I’m really not sure who thinks threatening me is a good idea. It won’t end well for them, surely they know that.
I can feel the rage starting to consume me as I imagine painting the walls red with the blood of my enemies. Feeling my body shake from pure anger, I look to both of them as I grind my teeth and whisper, “If you have a target, just give me the names and they’re as good as dead.”
Piero knows what I’m about to do. He understands when I’m upset I need to kill, and he knows about my list. “Go ahead, Six. I can handle it from here. Do what you need to do. Call me tomorrow and we’ll go from there.” I look at him and as calm as I can I thank him and turn to leave.
Exiting the room, I don’t spare a glance at Gio because I’m blinded by my blood lust. But I can hear him talking to his father as I leave.
“I recognize that look.”
“You should, Giovanni. You get the same one from time to time.”
That’s an interesting statement, but I can’t focus on that right now. Right now I need to focus all of my rage into the one thing that has calmed me for years now, stalking my prey.
Leaving Piero’s home, I call Kat and fill her in on the situation. She knows how my emotions run when I get angry, but this is a whole new level. I’ve had people try to take me out in the past but never actively threaten me through someone else. Especially people I care about, knowing those are few.
That they even know I have a relationship with the Moretti family sets off alarms. Piero and I have always been cautious of where we meet up, never being seen in the public eye together. Well, until we were at Reign. Fuck.
I call Damon and have him pull footage of the club from that night and send it to me so I can run facial recognition. I make a mental note to do this later on tonight.
When I reach my house, I go straight to my weapons room and stock up on weapons I’ll need for tonight and continue to research my potential kills. I have a top twenty kill list for when my rage takes over and I lose myself to the need to take a life. It’s filled with names of people that would make the world a better place if they weren’t in it.
As I walk back into the living room, I see Kat sitting on the couch with a concerned look in her eyes. “Please be careful tonight and call if you need anything.” I attempt to calm her.
“You know I will, Kat.” I give her a tight hug for reassurance and then leave for the night.
Standing in the dark alley with a bloody corpse at my feet, I look around in disappointment. I mumble to myself as I tilt my head, examining the body. “Well, this is rather anticlimactic.” The first person on my list for tonight has already been taken out and their face has been covered in blood. While I’m glad the piece of shit is dead, I can’t help the disappointment that sets in.
The alley is quiet, but I can still hear the echoes of sound from the bustling city streets only a few yards away. Returning to my car, I feel like going old school and put on “Last Resort” by Papa Roach and crank the speakers up. With every thump of the bass, I can feel my body vibrating and fueling my rage from earlier today. I’m not going home without at least three kills tonight.
Four hours later, I’ve finally calmed down. As I walk in the door to the house, Kat jumps up and is about to throw her arms around me when she suddenly realizes I’m covered in blood, yet again.
“Please tell me you clean your car out regularly.”
I look at her with a sarcastic smirk and reply. “Obviously.”
“So, you’re feeling better?”
“Much. It was weird though. Someone had already taken out the first hit on my list by the time I got there. It looked like someone smeared blood across his face. I’m guessing it’s their signature. Asshole’s taking my kills and it’s pissing me off.”
Kat smiles, then replies. “Are you telling me you have some competition?”
I sigh. “Competition? No. A pest problem? Yes.”
We say goodnight to each other and I make my way to my bedroom, take a shower to clean the blood off, then set up the facial recognition software to run on the footage from the club through the night.
As I lay in bed, I’m having trouble falling asleep. I haven’t been able to get Gio out of my head since the first time I saw him. I was hoping to get to know him better when we were at Piero’s but the conversation quickly escalated when Piero told us about the threats.
Piero knew I needed to calm down. Otherwise, I’m sure he would have given us more information about what exactly it says in these messages. Hell, I didn’t even ask what the message was or how it was sent. Between picturing Gio’s lips on mine and finding out this other news, my head is all over the place. I’ve never been so distracted before.
I finally doze off when I hear the ping on my computer letting me know it’s found something. I get up and make my way to the desk. Looking through the results, I see two familiar faces, but I’ve never dealt with them personally. I’m sure the Moretti’s have most likely worked with them before in one way or another.
I copy the files onto a thumb drive to take to Piero tomorrow and glance at the live security feed footage of the club, deciding to make a couple phone calls to one of my co
ntacts to get more information on the two men that appeared in my search results before laying back down, falling into an easy slumber.
Chapter 9
Giovanni
It’s been hours since my father told me and Six about the threats someone made against her, and I’m still pissed off. Not to mention the fact I’m mad I care.
Twice I’ve met the girl, and twice I’ve pictured her in several compromising positions while in her presence.
Unable to get my mind off of her, I gave my friend Chance a call and made plans to meet up with him later tonight to grab a drink. In the meantime, I made a few stops to work out some of my stress, then returned home to shower and change into jeans and a plain white cotton, V-neck shirt.
Walking in, I got a few curious looks from people that were most likely here the last time I was, because the fucker insisted on meeting at Reign, obviously not knowing I was here not too long ago to handle other business.
I didn’t want to tell him about the little vixen that’s been occupying my mind over the phone. Six is someone you need a good size glass of whiskey to talk about. I can say with certainty and I barely know the woman.
As I slide into the booth across from Chance, I can’t help but notice this is the same one I sat in the last time I was here. When the gods blessed me with the close encounter with the queen herself.
I noticed Chance staring at me with a questioning look.
“All right start talking. It’s not every day I see you looking… well I won’t say happy. How about less pissed off?”
I narrow my eyes at him as he lets out a boisterous laugh. Rolling my eyes, I turn to the waitress and order my drink.
Taking a deep breath, I talk in a low voice. “So, there’s this girl.”
Chance leans forward. “What? I can’t hear you.”
I clear my throat and repeat myself, talking louder. “There’s this girl.”
Her Crimson Reign Page 3
