“I know someone who does,” Alex said as he strolled across the office.
“Holly, make sure Alex isn’t on the list,” I said as I eyed her notes. She scrunched up her face at me and didn’t write it down.
“Tech gear?” I asked as I rubbed my temple and looked at Alex.
“Reid,” he said as he watched Holly stand nervously, gathering her folders. “Sit back down, Holly. I don’t need the seat.”
“Uhm, no, I’ll just be going,” she said as she gave me a tight smile. “I’ve got your lists and they’ll be in my office. Don’t fuck with my lists, gentlemen, I’ll murder you both if you go in there again. You need something just ask. Let me know about this Reid guy. Do you want me to call him?”
“No,” Alex answered quickly. “I’ll call him. He’s not a great person.”
“Oh,” she said with her eyebrows raised, backing out of the office. “Okay.”
I frowned at her retreating back once she made it to the door. She shut it behind her with some force.
Mason and I turned to Alex. “What was that about?”
He shrugged and slid into her seat.
“Are you fucking her?” Mason asked as he leaned toward Alex.
“No. I have no idea what that was about. I have a girlfriend.”
“I want to fuck her. Think she’d say yes?”
I rolled my eyes. Mason didn’t want to do anything of the sort. He and Holly fought like siblings with absolutely no attraction to each other.
Alex’s jaw clenched for a moment. “Do whatever you want, Mason, it’s none of my business. Heather and I have been dating for a few months so I’m not on the market.”
Thinking of Heather made me cringe. Alex was backed against a wall by his father with that one. According to Alisa, she’d been up to the office a couple of times this week and I wondered if Alex’s plan to ignore her as much as possible was truly working or backfiring. He was attracted to Holly, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind about it, but Alex would play their game if it meant flying under the radar with his family. It made me feel sorry for him in a way, but he made his own bed and it wasn’t my problem.
Alex threw Mason one last look before turning to me. “Reid has your tech, Mick. He sells a lot of it, it’s how he made his money.”
“Cameras in alleys?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Something like that. I need your help,” he told me, changing the subject.
“What’s that?”
“Alisa and I had a talk about my mother. I’m assuming you know about the conversation she had. She and I both want her out of that house and put into rehab. Might be a bit tricky since she has to be willing, but at this point we wanted to offer it to her.”
“She didn’t say anything about it.”
He shrugged. “We had a talk at work yesterday and she was going to give it some thought. Regardless, I’d like to move ahead anyway.”
“Okay, so what can I do? I don’t see how I can help.”
“I’d like you to go over there with me.”
Mason whistled. “That’s going to go over well. You remember the “I’ll shoot his hands off” conversation, right?”
Alex frowned. “I realize it won’t be the most comfortable situation, however, I also think it would be a good opportunity for Mick to draw a line for my father. Spell it out in plain terms that he needs to leave Alisa alone, or face a united front from his son as well.”
I smirked. “Sure you want to do that? He’ll probably disown you.”
“He won’t. I’m his only heir if nothing else. He won’t want the fallout.”
“I’m not there to get his approval. And to be honest, I’m not sure I can keep my temper in check. Although we can’t prove it, he’s the most likely person pulling the strings on these threats against Alisa.”
Alex nodded. “I thought that too, but why would he want her home under his roof, ripe for marriage, if he wanted her dead?”
“The mentality of a madman.”
“You’d know more about that then I would. I’m asking, your choice but I thought you should know that Alisa was also concerned about it. Neither of us hold much affection for her, but she’s been through enough and neither of us want her to suffer any more than she already has. He may not even be there.”
Alisa walked in chattering with Holly and I sat up straighter. She was beautiful in her pencil skirt and blue blouse that matched her eyes. Something I thought every day when I got home or saw her after more than a few minutes. Days like today when we’d both been at work were torturous for me. I craved her company.
I glanced at Alex, annoyed that his errand made sense and even more annoyed that I wouldn't be able to repeat an office interlude with Alisa, unless we kicked everyone out and made it quick.
I smirked at the image that played out in my mind.
Standing as she made her way around my desk, I kissed her quickly making her smile.
“Hey,” she said. “Uhm, can I cancel lunch? For now? Holly and I want to stop by the mall really quick.”
Frowning, I studied Holly, who looked like a child with the pleading smile on her face. They were about the same age, and Alisa didn’t have any friends, so it wasn’t completely surprising that they’d be drawn to each other. I didn’t know about Holly’s personal life, but if the amount of time spent at work was any clue, I’d assume she didn’t have many friends either.
“Sure, baby. But no blue hair. Or any other color hair. I like your hair. I'm headed out with your brother anyway.”
The smile she gave me was worth skipping the plans I had for her on the couch. I always had later.
She eyed Alex, who was in deep but quiet conversation across the room with Mason. He looked pissed and I could only guess at the subject.
“Oh, my mom?” she asked as she looked down.
My finger slid under her chin tipping it up until I could look at those blue eyes of hers.
“You know you could have told me. I would have listened.”
“It’s just embarrassing, and I needed to think about it.”
“Okay. Just make sure you clue me in, even if it’s just thinking about it. I hate to find out your brother knows something I don’t.”
She rolled her eyes and whispered, “Go with Alex, don’t be an asshole, and try not to hurt anyone.”
“Is that an order?” I asked, winking at her.
“Yes,” she responded. With a smile, she walked away with Holly and Paul following.
Shaking my head, I grabbed my keys. “Let’s go, Alex. I have things to do and I’m assuming you do too. Is there a plan here?”
He gave Mason one last dirty look and led the way to the cars. “We’ll see if my mother is there. If she is, then I’ll offer to take her today. Easy. If she doesn’t want to go then not so easy. My father may still be at the office. If he is, then we’ll wait. If not, then we need to go ahead and have this talk.”
I looked down at my clothing, wondering why I gave a damn what I showed up in. Slacks and a dress shirt today, no tie. Nothing fancy, but I thought it might set a standard at the club if the boss didn’t look like he just rolled out of bed every day. It was a business and we were slowly changing it.
We rode in Alex’s BMW to the nice part of Kingston, where golf courses and designer shops were far more prevalent. It was such a contrast to where’d we just been.
When we pulled up in front of a two-story, colonial home that looked like it could house half the state in sheer size, I shook my head. Alisa’s life, although shitty growing up in this hellish home, had been extremely different than the four-bedroom loft in a renovated industrial building overlooking downtown that we were now living in. I wondered if she would have preferred something a little more traditional.
Alex didn’t bother knocking as he entered the house. The door was unlocked indicating that at least one person was home. He made his was through a formal sitting room and down a long hallway toward the back of the house as I followed.
Gla
ncing around what appeared to be a sunroom, he frowned. “She might be upstairs, give me a moment.”
I strolled into the sunroom and gazed out onto the sprawling lawn and trees. It was peaceful for anyone who spent time in here. I could see the draw to it.
A door slammed somewhere in the house and made me flinch. There were a couple of muffled noises then nothing.
Alex approached me after a few minutes and shook his head. “Not here. She may be at the spa. Was worth a shot, I’ll go by there after I drop you off. Did you slam the door a moment ago?”
“No, I thought it was you,” I said as I glanced down the hall.
He frowned as I followed him toward the front of the house. The closer we got, the more noises we heard. The sound of a woman letting out several high-pitched squeals, reached our ears before we heard another voice.
“Oh, fuck,” the man’s deep voice flowed out from behind a door that was partially open by a few inches. “All of it. I know you want all of it.”
My eyebrows shot up as I looked at Alex. His face was a contorted mask of fury.
There were a few more groans before everything ceased, then the man spoke again. “Get the fuck out of here. Come back tomorrow.”
The distinct sound of heels clicking on the wood floor approached the door. When it opened, a very disheveled looking Heather was adjusting her skirt and scowling.
She froze as soon as she saw us. A look of surprise and panic slid across her face before she plastered on a forced smile.
“Alex! Wow, I didn’t expect to—”
“I bet you didn’t. Get the fuck out, like he said,” Alex growled as he pushed past her to enter what looked like an office.
He glanced over his shoulder at her and sneered. “By the way, Heather, we’re not dating anymore. Don’t fucking come near me again or you’ll regret it.”
Heather’s face fell, then she turned to me with a leering glance. I shifted away as she passed me and ambled to the entrance of the room. Leaning against the door frame, I crossed my hands over my chest and took in the scene.
Denny was zipping up his fly, and shooting Alex a hellish look from behind his huge mahogany desk. Two couches were on either side of the room and one chair sat in front. Hundreds of books lined the walls. The most interesting thing I noticed was a sculptured bust of the man himself, sitting on a pillar in the corner, in front of a painting of the same subject. He was an extremely vain man.
“What the fuck was that about? You’re fucking my girlfriend now?” Alex asked in a disgusted tone. “If you wanted to do that, then I wouldn’t have dated her in the first place.”
Denny smirked, barely taking any notice of me. “Yeah, son. I’ve been doing her for a while now. I’m getting done what you won’t.”
“What’s that exactly?”
“Getting her pregnant. Then you’re going to marry the bitch.”
Alex’s face was a mask of shock as his mouth dropped open. “What the fuck? I’m not marrying Heather, you sick bastard.”
Denny smiled and sank down into his office chair. The resemblance between father and son was unmistakable. Dark, almost black hair, strong jaw, patrician nose. They both had a wide chest and broad frame. The difference was age alone, and Denny hadn’t aged well.
He took out a box of cigars selected one, snipped it and lit it before he looked back up.
“When that whore announces to her family that she’s pregnant you’re going to do the right thing, Alex. If you don’t, you’ll be ostracized as a deadbeat and user in our circles. No family worth anything in this town will even look at you or come near you again. It’s politics, son.”
“Holy shit, you’re fucked up. When Alisa told me you’d taken a belt to her, that was enough, but this is just fucking off the charts insane. Let them think what they want. I’ll demand a paternity test and go public with a statement that’ll have you scrambling for those same friends.”
Denny smirked then slid his gaze over me as he smoked his cigar. His eyes roamed for a minute, dismissed me, then slid back to Alex.
“I’ll counter that by stating your sister is a child of infidelity and you’re too much of a snob to take on a poor pregnant girlfriend and forgive her. Heather can play any part she wants with conviction if it means being a King. She gets what it takes and knows how to get there. Her child will be a King regardless of who got it done.”
Alex charged across the room and I unfolded my arms to shut the door behind me. He had his father on the floor behind the desk before I made my way across the room. He was red-faced and sputtering as Alex delivered several punches.
“Hey, Denny,” I said as I leaned over them and watched them struggle. Alex had the upper hand, but I was going to get mine today.
Denny’s face was turning red when he looked at me.
“I’m Mick Galloway, and I’m marrying your daughter. Came to talk, but I have to say, this is so much better than I expected.”
Pushing my sleeves up to my elbows, I bided my time as Alex wore himself out on his father’s ribs. I slid the belt out from my pants and wrapped it around my fist a few times.
I bared my teeth in a cold smile.
I was going to enjoy this.
Chapter Twenty
Alisa
Shopping with Holly was an experience. I’d never been to Las Vegas, but in my head, I imagined the old Las Vegas with women in boas, feathers, glitz, glamour, and a certain wildness to everything. That was Holly when shopping.
I didn’t expect her to be so frilly when it came to things she liked. Or maybe it was that she liked frilly things on me. She’d handed me no less than twelve nighties with see-through material, mostly in pink and several, if not too many, skirts that either had floral prints or ruffles.
The nighties were my request. I wanted to surprise Mick with them, but I was completely lost on what sort of stuff might be interesting to him. Holly seemed to have an idea of things but noted, to her credit, that just about anything would do.
Paul was trying to ignore the shop we were in but was failing miserably. For such a serious man, he’d turned a certain shade of red since we’d stepped in the store. After a few laughing fits from us, he’d surrendered to standing watch outside. Probably no less red, but at least he wasn’t having to try and hide it as much.
“I don’t think I need the skirts,” I said as I stepped out of the dressing room and checked the time on my phone. It was already late in the day, and we’d been gone longer than I expected. “We should get back soon. I can’t believe it’s been two hours.”
Holly scrunched up her nose. “Really? Feels like we just got here. Were the dresses too much? I can grab some others. Did you like any of the nighties?”
I held up my arm with three of them. “Yeah, I like these. I hope he does.”
“Alisa, I think you could wear a paper bag and he’d still think you were amazing. Too bad about the skirts though, they were cute.”
She eyed them for a moment before turning away.
“Put them on,” I said, holding the door wide.
She spun around and shook her head. “No, they’re really nice.”
“And?” I prompted.
The expression on her face changed a few times like she was wondering what to say. “They’re way too nice for me. I’d just get something on them and ruin them. Plus, I work at a bar, I don’t think they’d really be appropriate there, ya know?”
“Holly, just try them on. See if you like them. You don’t have to wear them to the club. Wait, there’s plenty of women that wear skirts there. Why would it matter?”
She hedged for a minute and I gave her an impatient look.
“Alisa, it’s different for you.”
“Why?” I asked frowning at the fact that she’d make a distinction.
She shrugged. “You have a guy. And he’s scary as fuck sometimes when he’s around you. He watches over you and people know you’re with him. They respect him, because again, he’s scary as fuck, and they respect
you since it’s pretty obvious who has who wrapped around their finger. Then there’s the fact that I work at a club where people get drunk and make assumptions even when I’m wearing jeans.”
I blinked at her a few times. Mick was scary, I knew this for a fact. When he was around me, he could go from deadly to playful. Regardless, that didn’t have anything to do with me and I wondered why she said it.
“What do you mean by respect for me?”
She moved in closer and leaned up against the stall. Her lips rolled between her teeth as she considered her next words. A small habit that I thought was really cute for Holly, since she seemed so self-assured when she spoke. It was like she got nervous occasionally and that seemed so out of character. There was a definite reason why her nickname was “Satan” at the club. She could bark orders to rival Mick and Mason put together any day.
“Well, look, it’s like this. Mick and Mason, they’re known around the neighborhood now. People like them, but they also know they’re not people you mess around with from what I hear. I don’t know why, but I can tell just by working for them that they have a thing. As in, something about them that you don’t want to mess with.”
Her statement worried me a little. If anyone ever knew just how scary they could be, they wouldn’t go near them again. Although I wasn’t afraid of either of them, there were plenty of reasons for other people to be nervous. After the assault, I’d struggled with it for a while. I felt safe with Mick and I accepted who he was, but there was always going to be that moment in the bathroom when I witnessed things that no one should ever have to see. He was the love of my life, but he also had the capacity to be brutal.
Mick and I were so deeply entwined that I could no longer identify a life before him. He was everything to me, and I to him. That would never change or be broken. I knew there were still things that he didn’t want to share with me about his past. It was something that I’d accepted afterward knowing that it might have had a profound impact on who he was now, but didn’t affect how I felt about him regardless.
Mick_Kingston Corruption Book One Page 21
