“Look, the guy may be legit, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a dick. If you want to talk to him, then you know I have your back. Doesn’t mean shit to me.”
“Yeah, except for your job with him.”
Shrugging, he smirked. “Fuck that. Job is a job. Brothers for life.”
I nodded and glanced back at the hallway where Alisa was sleeping.
“I can’t keep her here forever. We can take her with us tomorrow. If he wants proof, he can take a look. I need to see his face, Mason. He can’t hide it from me if he lies.”
Mason nodded. “Tomorrow then. What are you going to do if he does?”
“Murder someone.”
Mason chuckled. “C’mon, man. That shit’s not funny but I get it. I’m headed to bed.”
“Me, too,” I replied as I got up from the table.
“I bet,” he smirked.
“Fuck off.”
He laughed as I stalked to the bedroom. I slipped inside the dark room and made my way to the sleeping figure under the sheets. She was a deep sleeper, with little breaths coming out of her mouth as I moved the hair off her neck.
Tomorrow she’d either flip out or decide to have some faith in someone other than her brother. I just hoped that I deserved it if she gave it to me.
Chapter Eight
Alisa
I woke up in Mick’s dark room not understanding what was happening. There was a noise beside me that didn’t sound right. A muffled groan, movement, a louder moan.
The room was so dark that only the light from a small digital clock illuminated anything. It threw a red haze over the bed but only within a few feet.
I smelled Mick before I felt him jerk beside me.
Turning over, I saw him on his back, one hand across his chest, flexing. His mouth was partially open and small sounds of pain were coming from him. His whole body jerked, his hand clenched.
He was trapped in some nightmare that wasn’t letting him go.
“Mick,” I whispered.
He jerked again.
“Mick, wake up,” I said a little louder.
He made a whimpering sound.
I touched his arm this time and rubbed while I gently nudged him.
“Mick. Wake up right now. Wake up. I need you.”
His body gave one last jerk and he nearly sat completely up. His breathing was coming out in gasps as he fought to escape whatever darkness he’d left behind in his dream.
I rubbed his shoulder slowly trying to comfort him.
“Alisa,” he whispered in the dark, then eased back onto the bed and continued to sleep.
Watching him, I kept my hand on his arm for a while, rubbing it gently to let him know that I was there, even in his sleeping state.
There was something to him other than his bravado and dirty mouth. Something that ate at him daily. It was in the way he talked about himself. He could flirt and talk about a lot of different things. He was incredibly smart and tender at times.
It was what he said when he didn’t have some flippant remark. It was between the sometimes witty and astute lines. It was somewhere behind his eyes when he was seducing me.
He was a lonely, haunted man. And I knew that man needed me no matter what he said to try and scare me.
His hand covered mine eventually. I wasn’t entirely sure how long I’d laid there watching him. When his long fingers slid over mine, I stopped rubbing and eyed him to see if he was still sleeping.
“Alisa?” he asked. “Are you awake?”
I let out a sleepy yawn. “Yeah, woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Hmm,” he mumbled as he rolled toward me. “Did I wake you up?”
“Just happens sometimes.”
He grimaced. “I have nightmares. I’m sorry.”
“What about?”
“Old ghosts. Things that won’t ever leave me.”
Nodding I whispered, “Me too, sometimes.”
“What time is it?” he asked, as his head craned around to look at the clock. “Six? Jesus.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just haven’t been up this early in a while.”
“Hmm,” I responded, wondering what his normal routine was like. I didn’t even know if he had a job he went to every day. “My normal time. Do you have eggs or cereal?”
“Yeah, but I’m smelling coffee which means Mason’s up already. He’s an egg guy.”
“And what are you?”
“Anything that has meat in it. Don’t drink the milk in the door. Mason had a swig from it last night.”
I giggled. “Gotcha, thanks for the warning.”
His hand gently caressed my arm before retreating again. “Your laugh. Are you a morning person?”
“Sometimes, depends on how I sleep.”
“Same. Which is pretty shitty most of the time.”
I didn’t comment about it, knowing he probably wouldn’t share why. He was wrapped around something that he kept close to him and he had no reason to trust me with it.
“I’m going to take a shower, but…”
“What?”
I rolled my eyes in the dark, embarrassed about what I was going to say. “I think I probably need a bra. The camisole on your living room floor, was kind of it.”
He sat up suddenly. “Fuck. Yeah, you do. Mason doesn’t need to see any of that. If he takes one look at you, I’ll rip his damn head off.”
I smirked at his response. Regardless of the push and pull I felt half the time with him, he was reacting like the pull, the protective part that I’d seen glimpses of, was the thing that affected him most. I wondered if he knew it, but decided that he probably wasn’t even aware. Maybe it was in his nature to react to things with a surly stubbornness that forced even the small sliver of good in his life away from him.
That was something to consider about him if he wanted me around. If there was a possibility of things going further, how much was I willing to let him do it and for how long?
“I’ll figure something out, we need to go some places today.”
He swung off the bed and turned on a lamp. My eyes blinked rapidly with the intrusion of light. When I glanced at him, he was staring down at me with an enigmatic look on his face. His eyes swept over the thin sheets covering half of my body, then to the leg and hip that wasn’t.
He was still wearing a pair of sweats that hid absolutely nothing of his physique, not even the bulge that was becoming more pronounced. He was a toned god, lean muscles, broad chest. A beautiful man.
“Fuck, I should have slept on the couch,” he growled under his breath.
And there was the push. Too bad for him, I was starting to figure this out.
I yawned and rolled over on my stomach like I hadn’t heard him, letting the sheet slip off completely. My nudity from the backside was in full view.
He stared at me then growled again, grabbed his clothing off the dresser, and stormed toward the bathroom. Shutting the door, he used a little too much force to hide what he was feeling.
I giggled into the pillow, then sat up and found my panties on the floor. I wasn’t going to fan those flames any more this morning. This afternoon was a whole new ballgame.
By the time he stepped out, he had his usual unreadable mask back on. Dressed in his shirt, that hung to the tops on my thighs, I eyed him as he quickly exited.
Humming a tune, I made my way to the shower. Halfway through it, the door opened to the bathroom. I froze and listened.
“Alisa, I hate to say this, but Mason apparently had a bra in his room. I have no idea whose it was, but until we get to the store, will it do? He says he accidentally washed it with his clothes the other day and he hadn’t trashed it yet. God knows with him. I’m not even sure what size the damn thing is.”
I peeked around the shower curtain, spotting him as he held it up with a grimace on his face. He glanced up at me, the grimace deepening, as he set the bra on the counter, and quickly left.
The smile tha
t crept over my face lasted until I got dressed. The bra was snug, which pushed my breasts up a little more than I was used to. But it worked this morning. Tying the end of his shirt around my waist, and donning the skirt from the night before, I made my way to the kitchen.
The interior of the house looked a little different today. A mash of well used furniture and coloring that screamed either retro or nineteen-sixties, depending on how positive a spin they wanted to put on it. But the early morning light coming through the windows made it look less depressing and more like a space that might house normal humans.
Not that Mason and Mick qualified. They weren’t normal by any stretch of the imagination. They were men that seemed on the edge. Of what, I couldn’t guess. Societal restrictions maybe. Both gave me the impression that they didn’t care what people thought of them.
My nose led me toward the coffee in the kitchen. Passing by the brothers, who were sitting at the table, I ignored them and went straight to my addiction.
“Eggs are on the stove,” Mason called out.
“Let me get them,” Mick said behind me. “Mason hasn’t fed a woman breakfast in his life.”
“Thank you,” I replied, trying to suppress my amusement.
I turned with my coffee cup and smiled at Mason’s reaction. He rolled his eyes and flipped Mick off.
Humming another tune, I made my way to the table.
Mason observed me, then slid his eyes to Mick to give him a questioning glance.
Mick set the plate in front of me, then scowled at Mason and shook his head.
“So how are you this morning, Alisa?” Mason asked while smiling at me.
“Good,” I said, around a mouthful of eggs. “A little tired, woke up too early and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Hmm,” Mason replied, and gave his brother a smirk. “Must have had something to do with waking up next to that ugly guy in your bed.”
“Mason,” Mick said, with a definite undertone of warning.
“Nope,” I said while taking another bite. “Didn’t even notice he was there.”
Mason turned back to me, looking innocent. “If that’s the case, you can have my room next time you sleep over. You won’t even know I’m there.”
Mick shoved his chair back so violently it nearly toppled over. The glare he was giving Mason was deadly. “Fuck off, Mason. We have shit to do today.”
He all but threw his plate in the sink, still staring daggers at Mason as he stormed out of the room.
“Interesting,” Mason said, as his gaze followed Mick.
I chewed my eggs and took a sip of coffee. “I’ll say. But at least it’s something other than the usual.”
Mason looked me over with renewed curiosity and I smiled at him sweetly. A moment hung between us. His detached demeanor toward me suddenly shifted into a smile, then a chuckle.
“Fucking-A. You get it.”
I shrugged, finishing my breakfast.
Mason took the plate to the sink for me about the time Mick walked back in, wearing a grey Henley, jeans that sat low on his hips, and carrying a bag.
“Ready?” he asked as he slung it over his shoulder.
A few minutes later, we were all seated in his car as we drove away from his house. Situated in a sparse neighborhood on the edge of the city, I studied the road as we passed by.
The morning light had been deceiving in the house. The sky looked like it was brewing up something nasty on the horizon and the clouds were beginning to darken.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we passed through the neighborhoods and drove into the commercial area of the city.
The buildings and streets looked semi-neglected in this area. Not a place I normally ventured. The neighborhood we’d come from, made more sense now. It was in what was called “old Kingston.” It’d been a thriving part of the city a decade ago until new businesses and new corporations spied more prosperous places to build. Along with that, came new houses and new money built on the complete opposite end of Kingston.
It was sad to see old storefronts with faded canopies and barely legible signs in the doors. Most of them were for sale or just so drab that it was hard to imagine that any business had managed to survive.
We passed through familiar territory eventually, and I realized our destination. When we pulled up in front of Alex’s office building I nearly wept. The need to see my brother was overwhelming for some reason, even though I felt completely safe with Mick watching over me for the night.
I scrunched up my nose. Maybe not watching the entire night. I felt sure that small detail of a mind-blowing orgasm wouldn’t be a topic of conversation.
Hopping out of the car, I waited on Mick. When he stood beside me, he gave me a tight smile. He was as guarded as the first time I met him.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll just…I guess I’ll see you soon.”
When he put his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the door, I was confused. I thought he’d take off immediately now that I was back in my brother’s care.
As he walked past me, Mason handed Mick’s bag to him. I gave Melanie a small smile, whose mouth was slightly ajar as Mick’s long stride headed to my brother’s office and entered without knocking.
My brother stopped typing on his computer and glared at Mick. There was a client in his office that was mid-sentence as we entered.
“Leave,” Mick growled at the man as he set his bag on Alex’s desk.
“But…” the man stammered out before Mick gave him an icy stare. He stood up and passed us as he left in a hurry. Mason shut the door with an audible click.
“What is this, Mick?” Alex asked before I stepped out from behind his back.
“Alisa,” Alex said with surprise.
When he stood up, Mick moved in front of me again, blocking my view.
“How much does it take to buy a defense attorney?”
“Mick?” I asked, as I slid around him again.
He glanced at me then back at Alex. “Alisa, stay where you’re at. How much does it take, Alex?”
“What the fuck is going on here? Mason?”
Mason had his arms crossed over his chest in front of the door. His steely gaze was aimed at my brother.
Mick responded by unzipping the bag. “How much does it take, Alex? Or should I just call you Mr. King, like the rest of your family?”
“Mick?” I repeated, an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.
Mick brought out a holster and straps that he angled over his shoulders. Two guns came out of the bag next.
I gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Just stay there, baby.”
“Baby?!” Alex yelled. “Alisa, come here. She’s nobody’s fucking baby, especially not yours!”
Mick and Alex were now openly glaring at each other. A mix of deadly intent on Mick’s face, anger from my brother.
Mick’s hand came out and moved me behind him again, then a strong arm pulled me back. I slapped at Mason’s arm as he manhandled me across the small office.
“I’ll ask again. How much?”
He reached in the bag and pulled out a stack of money that he threw on the desk. Then another. He kept piling money on my brother’s desk until he’d reached the bottom.
“There’s no amount of money in the world that’ll buy you a good defense if you hurt my sister,” Alex growled. “Let her go, right now and get the fuck out of here.”
“I’d never intentionally hurt your sister, you ass. But I also won’t let her go into another King household that abuses their own. I don’t care whether I have to drug her to leave this fucking city, but she’s not going home with you.”
“What?” he whispered. Emotions played across Alex’s face before his eyes met mine with pain evident in his gaze. “What’s he talking about?”
“Eyes on me, Alex, I’m the one with the guns,” Mick said icily. “How much did your fuckface father pay you to keep it quiet? Was it the price of an apartment? Just eno
ugh to shut her up and let it blow over? Or was it college, the job?”
Alex looked horrified. “Get the fuck out of my office. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before anyone buys me, including my father. If there’s something going on, then you need to tell me right now before I fucking wreck you. You don’t stand between Alisa and me.”
Mick glanced back at Mason, whose shoulders shrugged.
“Great, then I’ll need an attorney. I’m about to shoot your father’s hands off,” Mick replied as he turned around and started toward the door.
“Whoa, brother,” Mason said. “That’s not what we came here for. We came to talk to Alex about what's going on, and it looks like he’s telling the truth. Don’t do this.”
Mick shrugged and spoke under his breath. “He’s telling the truth. But that jackass put a belt to her back and I’m willing to sit in jail if it means he can’t use his hands for the rest of his life.”
Mason shook his head. “This isn’t the way to do it. I know why you’re angry, I get it, but this is insane. You have to calm down.”
I wiggled out of Mason’s hold and threw myself at Mick, pressing my hands against his chest.
“No, no, no, please, Mick. Please don’t do this,” I begged.
Alex’s voice reached us. “You know very well that I can’t defend you in court with prior knowledge. Tell me what the hell is going on before I call the police.”
“No,” I yelled at Alex. “Don’t do that.”
Mick’s eyes slid to mine. It broke my heart to see the dull gaze of a man I didn’t know. This wasn’t the Mick I liked, much less the man he’d been this morning. A switch had gone off somewhere and he wasn’t there. It was like seeing someone that was catatonic but functional. A repression of himself with only the look of pain and rage fueling him.
On instinct, I leaned into him and pressed my lips against his neck. “Please come back to me, Mick. I need you. My brother didn’t know. I never told him. Please.”
He shuddered after a moment, then shaky hands slid around my waist.
Mick_Kingston Corruption Book One Page 9
