by Amo Jones
“The Circle is full of shit, and what the fuck do you want?”
“I was coming to say hi and to see if you were ok. You haven’t been home—”
“When do you leave?” My eyebrows rose.
“Um, well—”
“She’s not,” Dad interrupted, walking down the steps with his hands in his pockets.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s not?” I threw my head back.
His arm rested on her shoulders as he pulled her into him. “She’s staying, son.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking shitting me,” I deadpanned, and then grinned. “You’re getting more senile with old age. You don’t buy her shit, do you? And what about Mom?”
“Son, you know deep down that your mother and I haven’t exactly been together for some time, and you’re grown. Swallow the fucking pill so we can move on.”
My eyes flew to Khales before they went back to my dad. “Huh.” I stared off into the distance, and then smirked, looking back to Khales. “And how do I taste? Since she’s licked my balls more than once…”
Dad chuckled, pulling out a cigar and lighting it up. “About the same as I do, apparently.”
I shook my head in disgust.
He blew out a cloud of smoke. “Now back to business, get in the office so we can talk.”
I looked at Khales one last time, and she watched me in worry, but her shoulders were relaxed under Dad’s handle. She wasn’t faking it. I knew this girl inside and out, and she seemed to genuinely love my dad. My eyes slid to him, but there was no use in me trying to analyze him. He hid his emotions better than me. I can decipher and read any human walking this earth, but not him. He trained me to be like that. I think the only person who could read him was my mom.
I shot Khales an evil glare and shoulder barged past her. I didn’t give a fuck that she had moved on with my dad, but I gave a fuck that she was now going to be around a lot more than I ever wanted her to. I saved her all those years ago because she was a friend. As much as I hated her now, I wouldn’t pretend that I hated her back then, because I didn’t. I didn’t love her, but I didn’t hate her. She was just there, and I cared about her, so I saved her. Now I wish I hadn’t. Now that I see what’s going on between her and Dad, though, I’m thinking there’s a lot more that he isn’t telling me either.
I sunk into one of the leather chairs in Dad’s office as he watched me from behind his heavy mahogany desk. “What happened?”
I leaned back. “Well, a fucking lot, but first I need to ask you if you knew about the underground tunnels on Perdita?”
“Yes.” He nodded, leaning forward to flick off his ash in the ashtray. “Of course I knew.”
“And you used them?” I shot back, watching his reaction.
His eyes squinted from the smoke. “Yes.”
“What for?”
“Why all the questions?” His eyebrow quirked.
“Why all the secrets?” I shot back.
He sighed and ran the palm of his hand over his slicked-back salt and pepper hair. “There are no secrets.” He flicked his ash again, and I watched as his suit jacket rode up to display the edge of his sleeve tattoo. He had swagger for his age, I’d give him that, and girls—of all ages, apparently, gravitated toward him. The smart ones ran after sex, the dumb ones like Khales stayed and thought they could tame him. He could never be tamed. Before him, was my pops. He rode a Harley until the day he died and ruled the underworld just as my dad does and as I will when he passes. Some days I miss my pops though. He was the only one who really understood the shit that I felt. He was still hard like Dad but wasn’t cold like him. He had a heart when it came to family, but was ruthless with everyone else—my dad wasn’t like that. He was just flat out ruthless to everyone, fuck family.
“That underground pathway is used for a lot of things. Weapons, bodies, and anything else there may be.”
“Drugs?” I asked flat out because I needed a straight answer from him. I’d never known the Kings to be in drugs, and Pops would turn in his grave, but the way my dad was, one could never be too sure.
“No. You know that.” So money, trafficking woman, and other “things,” I thought to myself. I wasn’t going to press the issue anymore, so I continued with the conversation at hand. “Katsia got away.”
“I see that, but why was she running?” he asked, tilting his head. “She’s sacred, son, you can’t go around killing everyone who threatens Madison.”
“It had more to do with Nate.”
Dad sucked in more smoke. “What of Nathaniel?”
“He has a kid.”
He faltered, only slightly. “And?”
“And it’s a girl.”
His eyes closed, his nostrils flaring. “Jesus. Who’s the mother?”
“Tillie.”
Dad sighed and leaned forward. “I can’t be hiding any more Swans, son. It’s going to make me look weak. Something has to give. Right now? We have a war brewing because Katsia wants retaliation on you lot, and she wants to expose the Kings and The Circle. Generations of hard work is about to crumble.”
I leaned in my chair and tilted my head. “Then we kill her before she can.”
“She’s sacred, son. We can’t.”
“Sacred to who? She’s the shit on the bottom of my shoe as far as I’m concerned.”
Dad massaged his temples then put out his cigar. “Bishop, not everything is black and white. We can’t touch her because of her lineage. If we end her, we would end her family line, and we can’t be held responsible for that.”
“But she’s fucking testing both the Kings and The Circle.”
“The Circle isn’t our business, son. They will handle her accordingly, as we will.”
“Alright.” I pulled out a smoke and lit up. Dad narrowed his eyes at it and I smirked, edging him to tell me to throw it away, but he didn’t. His features relaxed. I blew out a thick cloud of smoke. “So what are you thinking, then. Because I know you have a plan.”
“I do.” He nodded. “But first, where is Madison and Tillie?”
I chuckled, flicking off the ash. “Guess.”
He shrugged, his attention drifting to the side like he didn’t give a shit. “I don’t know, holed up in a hotel somewhere?”
My grin deepened. “Wrong. Try again.”
“Bishop, riddles are your thing, not mine. Cut the shit.”
“One more guess. Come on, entertain me…”
“How about I’ll buy you some strippers to entertain you and you hurry up with whatever you’re getting to.”
A laugh shot out of me, my head tilting back. “Alright, old man.” Then I pressed my lips around the end of my smoke with a smirk. “With Mom.”
“What!” he snapped, his eyes shooting directly to me. “What do you mean with mom?”
“They’re with her, Tatum too and the kid.”
Dad seemed to mull over what I had just told him, then realization set over his features as they softened. “Well, shit, I would never guess that. It’s no secret how much your mother hates all your girls. She takes every chance she gets to mention it in every magazine interview she does.”
I snickered. “Exactly why they’re with her, and it never scared girls off.”
He snorted. “You’re my kid, that’s why.”
Dad and I hadn’t thrown around banter in a while, and it felt good to pull out the verbal boxing gloves with him. “Khales…” I went on. His face fell. “I’m just saying… she’s young.”
“Don’t get into it with her.”
I shrugged. “As long as you know what you’re doing. Just means I’ll be in the city full time come this war being over.”
“You can be wherever you need to be. For now, back to the plan.” I noticed he didn’t say college. It was because he didn’t want me to go. He had plans to have me under him full-time and learning the depth of the family businesses and how they’re run. My mom, on the other hand, was all for college. She never wanted this life for me
. She didn’t realize how much she didn’t want it for me until I was much older. Little do they know, I’d already decided what I wanted to do. This was my life, I’d take over after my old man. I don’t know what the dynamic is between my mom and dad, but I’m almost certain she wouldn’t be cool with Khales banging her husband in her house.
“What’s the plan?”
“Katsia is still in Perdita, which is good. We don’t need this drama spilling out on our turf, which means we can fly there with all of the Kings who are willing, and settle this as it is.”
“Or?” I asked, skipping past the part where he said he’d have all the Kings on the same island.
“We will cross that when we get there.” He stood from his chair. “We can plan to leave for Friday, that way we have a couple of days to organize everyone.” The Kings before our generation were my cousin Spyder, Jase, and Saint’s crew. A few of the others who rolled with them scattered all over the place. All though I know Jase kept in contact with them, they had pretty much moved on to live their life, having fulfilled their duty.
“You can talk with Jase and make sure he can gather his Kings, and I’ll get to the rest.”
I stood up. “Dad…” I called out, just as he was about to leave. “Does Mom know about you and Khales?”
“Son, she’s known for a long time, now.” Then he left. As quickly as he comes, he goes.
I stretched out my neck, annoyed at both my parents now, but sympathizing with my mom. It must’ve hurt her to some extent, surely. Aside from Dad’s words, he loved her once. She was his entire world, I knew this because I’d seen the photos and heard the stories. They were their era’s modern-day Bonnie and Clyde—mafia style. So whatever the hell was going on between him and Khales, there had to be something in it for him. I headed toward the pool-house, ready to fill in Nate and Daemon. Thank fuck this house was so large, it ran the risk of running into Khales less. I headed inside and shut the door. Both Daemon and Nate were on the sofa, speaking in Latin.
“We need to talk.” Then my eyes fell to Daemon before realizing I needed to switch to Latin.
Women. Some read that word and think beauty, assholes read it and think sandwiches, but those who bathe in intellect read that word and feel power. Our bodies, built in all different shapes and forms, all bared one thing in common; power. Without us, humanity would not exist. We bear our flesh and our bodies to create new humans, and then continue to nurture and care for them, that’s why when I’d see the word “women,” I thought of power. Despite my rocky relationship with my mother, and not knowing my birth mother, I was beginning to explore more of this mindset each and every day, and I think Bishop’s mom had a lot to do with that.
“Hi, honey.” Scarlet walked into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. She wrapped her light mesh throw around her slender waist. “Can I come in?”
“Of course!” I tucked some of my hair behind my ear and shut my nail polish. Sliding off the side, I tucked my hands under my thighs, slightly nervous about what our conversation could lead to.
She took a seat at the end of the bed and turned to face me front on. “I know we haven’t spoken much, but I want to always be completely transparent with you.” She cleared her throat and tied her short hair to a small bun at the nape of her neck. “I met Hector when I was around your age. I was new to town, and he was the born and bred rock star of The Hamptons,” she paused and sent me a small wink. “Like father like son. Anyway, I caught his attention pretty much instantly, which, like Bishop, was always hard to do. He, again like Bishop, only dabbled in slightly older women who were either models, actresses or singers. Just to clarify, the reason why they choose A-listers is because those people understood the dynamic of privacy. The Hayes men are taught at a very young age to keep their business out of drama and to eliminate that, they never messed with high school girls or college girls.” She paused, pulling her lip into her mouth. “I thought he loved me. He made me feel wanted and chased. I mean” —her face lit up like the Fourth of July— “obtaining the unattainable, sets off endorphins similar to running ten miles. So we fell in love. My parents struggled to like him. They knew there was something he was hiding, but I ignored all the warnings. I met his family and bonded greatly with his dad. He was everything Hector wasn’t.”
My eyebrows shot up. She shook her head, a horrified expression falling over her face.
“Oh! No! God no. I just respected him so much. If he were still here, he would have loved you.” Her eyes fell to her hands before coming back to me. “Anyway, I got my first acting gig on a small TV show, and Hector was supportive. There through it all. We have great memories together.” Her smile fell, and suddenly, the room felt smaller than what it was a moment ago. “Two years later was the first time he cheated on me, and I’m not telling you this because I think my son is the same, I’m telling you this because Bishop is a lot more like his grandfather than he can see. I thank the Lord every day that Bishop got twelve good years from his pops, because he planted the seed of good in his heart. Yes, Bishop is cold and calculated like his father, but I see the way he looks at you, and it’s not the way Hector used to look at me. It was how his pops looked at his gran.” She swiped away a stray tear and reached for my hand. I didn’t know what to say, I was rendered speechless.
“His pops may have planted the seed of good in Bishop’s heart, but you water it every single second that you’re in his life, and for that, I will always be on your side, Madison.”
Emotion caught in my throat and my tummy flipped inside. “Thank you,” I whispered harshly.
“No need to thank me!” She swatted at me playfully.
“No, I do,” I answered, fighting the tears. “Just before you walked in here, I was having an internal battle with myself. I loved my mom, and when I thought she died, I mourned her death every single day. I couldn’t imagine my life without her, but I dragged my feet through it every day, waiting for the ache to subside. Anyway.” I pulled myself away from the downer I was headed to. “When I found out I was adopted, she was alive, and that she had slept with Bishop, I lost it. I lost all and every single feeling I had for her. Now I can’t even stomach to be in the same room as her, let alone look at her. So just before you came in here, I was thinking about the word ‘Women’ and what that might mean to some people. I think of power every time I see it, and I don’t know why because the only mother I had ever known was a fraud and a skank, but I knew it when I looked at you.”
She smiled at me sweetly. “Well, thank you, but I’m not that strong.”
I snorted. “You’re married to Hector…”
“True!” She nodded. “About your mom, your adoptive one, when and if you want to learn about your birth mom, I’ll be here, but your adoptive mom… she’s a piece of work.”
I tucked my feet under my butt. “Tell me more.”
She laughed and got more comfortable. “Nothing too juicy. She was the mean girl at school. Everyone was scared of her—except me. I was her sworn enemy. She hated Elena too, and Elena is my best friend. She was the wild, crazy...” she paused and thought for a second. “Elena was my Tate.”
I chuckled, my hand coming to my mouth. “Did you have a Tillie?”
Her smile dropped. “I did.”
“Did?”
Her eyes flicked to the door. “Let’s just say that it didn’t end well, and it’s still not going well.”
“Sounds like a Tillie,” I smiled. “I don’t know what to do about her.”
Scarlet stood from my bed and patted my leg. “Everything will be revealed soon, I promise, but know this. Tillie loves you, Madison. She’s a good friend. She’s not like my Tillie. Maybe while we’re here you could spend some time with her? Hear what happened?”
“I’m that obvious, huh?”
She inched her fingers close. “Little bit.”
I sighed. “Ok. I’ll make the effort tomorrow.” She leaned down and kissed my head like a mom would kiss her child goodnight.
/> “Sweet dreams.” Then she walked out of the bedroom and left me to my thoughts. I didn’t think I was being that obvious about my reservations with Tillie. It wasn’t that I was even upset with her, well, maybe I was. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt hurt that she didn’t come to me, I guess. She should’ve known I would have done everything for her, but at the same time, she would do the same, I guess. If I was in her shoes and I knew telling her something would put her in danger, would I do it? No. Not at all. And with that thought bouncing around in my head, I tucked myself under the blankets and flicked off my light.
I opened my messages to see (0). Bishop still hadn’t replied to my text from earlier, but I sent him another one anyway.
Goodnight x
Then I tucked my phone under my pillow and let my mind sink into unconsciousness.
“This air BNB is nice. Why did I think those things were old and run down?” she asked around a spoonful of granola.
Tillie bounced Micaela on her lap softly, tossing her fruit around in her bowl.
“You ok?” I asked her, taking a small bite out of my pancake. Scarlet had to go to work early this morning so we ordered breakfast online. Buttermilk pancakes, fresh fruit, crème fraiche, and warm chocolate milk. Spiked with whiskey. I was starting to worry about Tate’s alcohol intake.
Tillie looked at me. “Not really. We haven’t talked much—”
“—I know, I’m sorry. There’s just so much going on.” I got to my feet and rounded the table. “God, she looks so much like Nate.”
Tillie chuckled, a small smile coming to her face making her deep dimple pop. “She does, right?”
“Can I hold her?”
“Of course!” Tillie turned and handed her to me.
“Wow! She’s heavier than she looks!”
“That, is like her mama,” Tillie chuckled back.
“Lies,” I whispered against her small head that smelled of milky soap suds.
I went back to my seat and continued to slowly rock her with one hand and pick my food with the other. “So when you want to tell me anything, you can, Tillie. We’re your friends. Ok?”
