She giggled. “You do.”
A loud banging from the other room arrested my hand from sliding over her clit. Growling, I kissed at her neck as my hips pressed into the soft mounds of her ass.
“Who is that?”
“Ignore it,” I mumbled as my mouth found her ear.
The loud banging continued.
Sighing, I retreated with a kiss on her shoulder. “For fuck’s sake. I swear to God, I’m going to shoot someone. Get on the bed, I want to taste you when I get back. And you better not be too attached to those panties. They’re coming off.”
Stalking through the house, I winced once and let out a quick breath. She might have to ride me for the afternoon, after I killed whoever was at the door.
I adjusted myself and flung the door open.
“This better be a fucking emergency,” I barked.
Three sets of eyes met mine. Alex, Mason and Jack stared back at me. Only Mason smirked. Fucker could probably tell why I was pissed. He had a nose for my moods.
“We stopped by to talk,” Alex said as he went past me into the living room. “We have some things to go over that you missed while you were in the hospital. Where’s Alisa?”
“Taking a nap,” I snapped.
Mason chuckled. “Right. Well, I’m sure she won’t miss your ugly mug for a while.”
Shaking my head, I stalked into the kitchen, my mind on her, as usual, rather than the three assholes invading my house. I wasn’t completely unaware of how I looked at the moment with the bruises, but Alisa hadn’t seemed to mind it at all given her little surprise in the bedroom.
“Fuck off, Mason,” I mumbled as I grabbed a water out of the refrigerator. “What do you guys need? Make it quick.”
Mason followed me out of the circular kitchen to the living room where Jack and Alex sat on the sofa. Alex looked distracted and Jack looked as non-emotional as ever.
Alex held up a thumb-drive and set it on the coffee table. I recognized it from the club and assumed it was the recording of what happened in the office a week ago.
“And?” I said frowning at Alex.
“I reviewed it. It has everything on there that we need, the problem is it would be circumstantial according to your dad and based on some research I did this week. I hate to say it, but it’s useless. The only thing that it would do is stir the hornet’s nest, and prove that Heather was a crazed lunatic. Paul isn’t facing any charges based on Holly’s statement to the police. They both claimed it was self-defense and your dad shut it down pretty quickly.”
“My dad…” I mumbled. “Well, that’s another one we owe him.”
Mason crossed his arms over his chest and looked annoyed. “You’ve got to get over it, Mick. He’d do anything for us if that isn’t proof enough. He’s not the same man, just like you aren’t the same man. People change.”
“Okay,” I said in a resigned tone as I shot Mason an annoyed look. “So, other than it being useless, which I don’t think it is, what are you suggesting?”
“Your dad said something about using it at the right time against him. But not through court or police interaction I’m assuming.”
“The right time,” I said to myself, thinking about what he might have meant. “Hmm, I’ll think about it. I’m sure we can figure that one out without running to his office to ask. Probably did it on purpose. Cryptic bastard.”
Mason let out a sigh beside me. “Okay, so forget about dad for a second. What about Denny and the rest of those assholes? Sorry, Alex but your family sucks.”
Alex shrugged. “The problem is, they’re all in very public high-profile positions. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make life difficult for them. Again, I’ll restate that gathering information and making it public to the press would be bad enough.”
“Doesn’t seem like enough,” Jack said. “The shit I saw some days, the way they treat people.”
“Were there any associates in your department, Jack?” I asked.
“They were there, but it was also the deals they made. We were told to look the other way if any of our investigations turned up something that might be questionable for that family.”
I shook my head. “Of course. I say we hit them where we can. This isn’t going to end tomorrow. It’s not even close to being done. Denny learned a lesson if nothing else, but I doubt that’ll stop him. We’ll figure out what to do.”
“Ben and Eli,” Mason said.
“What about them?”
“Paul has been working with them. Says they’re good. They’ve got connections with the gang that operates in the area. He said that they don’t have any love for the Kings. They’ve seen some of their henchmen bullying the families in the area. They know the Kings are trying to squeeze these families for personal gain.”
“But why, is the question.”
“Ben said something interesting the other day. They get the feeling that if the King family keeps the population on this side of the city poor, and unable to fight them as a whole, then they’ve effectively tamped down half the city. They've made them afraid to speak out or report what they’re doing so they’ll continue to have power.”
Alex chimed in. “Basically, divide the city in other words. Make it so hard, as they struggle to make ends meet, that they don’t care what happens in the long term. Divide and conquer.”
Mason nodded. “Maybe they can ask their brother…”
Holding up a hand to interrupt. “As much as I’d love to see Denny’s house torn to shreds, we have an obligation to both Alex and Alisa to tread carefully. Their mother is still there for the time being. I’m not saying they can’t cause a few problems, but I have no idea what their brother would do because I don’t know him well. We’ve had a couple of conversations, as odd as that was, but not enough to get a feel for him.”
“I’m sure they’d be willing.”
Weighing that option, I glanced at Alex. “That’s your call. If you want to move against your dad one of these days, then maybe you can work a deal with the gang. Or we can on your behalf.”
Alex nodded, looking distracted for a moment. “We’ll see. I think I’d like a turn at him again before that. The problem with not acting, now that we know what he’s done, courtesy of Heather, is that he may continue to try and kill Alisa just out of spite.”
I glanced at the closed bedroom door thinking of the beautiful woman beyond. “That’s unacceptable. We’ll make it clear enough that if he lays one finger on her again, he’ll get one last visit. Where is he?”
“Barbados. However, he’s telling people he’s in Iowa for health reasons or some garbage. I didn’t pay much attention to it.”
“Start paying attention, Alex. You know the ins and outs of how your family operates. You’re the only one they don’t really question right now.”
“I don’t know about that. My father…”
“Won’t say a damn thing, just like you said. It’s all in how he wants to be perceived. If he’d said anything to anyone, you’d be facing that loan issue with Warren. Speaking of which, how’s Heather’s father?”
“He was terse but polite.”
“Likely due to your family’s influence. Play it. It’s a roll. We know how you honestly feel and that’s not going to change. We need you, but you have to be careful.”
He looked annoyed for a moment. “I can take care of myself. Just take care of Alisa.”
I rolled my eyes. I had to admire his love for his sister, but he seriously pissed me off when he got in protective mode with her.
“Speaking of…I need all of you to leave so I can go check on her. She’s been stressed and she’s carrying my kid. Get out.”
Mason smirked before he ambled toward the door as Jack followed. Alex approached me with an expression that was thoughtful.
“Are you putting another bodyguard on her?” he asked. “I don’t trust Denny.”
“We’ll both have one now, but I’ll be adding to that at some point. If she goes out without me, she’ll have two. Alex, you
might want to think about hiring your own. I know he won’t say anything publicly about what happened, but it doesn’t mean he won’t come after you privately just to settle the score.”
“He’s more likely to hit me financially just to bend to his whims. We’ll see. Jack comes in often enough.”
“Jack seems like a good man, but there’s going to be a day when he’s not there. You need to cover your ass and the people around you. It’s going to get a lot uglier before it gets better and I don’t want to see Alisa in pain, if something happens to you.”
Alex chuckled. “I’ll think about it. We’ve already started a war here, Mick. To call it anything else would be pure stupidity. I’m fully aware that I’m in the middle of it too.”
I shook my head slowly. “No, you’re not.”
“What do you mean?” he responded with a frown.
“Other than your father, no one knows that you’re really involved.”
“The club,” he responded. “Half the police force saw me there. They know I killed Heather.”
“Doesn’t matter, you were there for Alisa. You heard the official statement. Brother shows up after call from sister, or whatever shit my father said. They don’t really know. I’m not saying they won’t figure it out eventually, but right now you have one golden opportunity to play their game at their level. Take it, mingle, dig. Go make some friends in their realm that’ll work with us. The one thing we lack is the same kind of limitless funding.”
“I can tell you how to get that, but you’re not going to like it.”
I sighed deeply. “I don’t see myself crossing certain lines here yet. I may never. Are we talking drugs, prostitution?”
“It might get to that. That local gang you have running around isn’t the only muscle in town.”
“How do you know that?”
He tipped his head to the side and smirked. “Defense attorney. I’ve seen them all.”
Laughing, I led him out of the apartment, nodding at Paul, who was in the hallway talking with Mason. When they loaded on the elevator and the doors closed, I turned to Paul.
“No more visitors or people die.”
“Got it, boss,” he replied.
“Tell Eli, we need him at the loft on full rotation for both of us, starting today. Ben is still on Mason.”
He nodded before I shut the door and leaned against it. We were fighting a war with the Kings. Alex couldn’t have put it any better. My eyes drifted to the living room then the bedroom beyond.
I’d fight any war for her, because of her, with her. But I was beginning to think that I was also fighting for a lot of other people too. We all were. Somehow all of this had gone from pure protectiveness, to revenge, and now holding our own against a foe who was far more experienced in how this game worked.
We’d done things for the right reasons. We’d just gone about it in such a way that none of us could ever go back.
And now we were…
A thought formed in my head as I glanced at the couch we’d just been sitting on. Whether we wanted to admit it or not we were criminals. An organized group of criminals. Which meant we were much like the Kings.
The bitterness of that conclusion stuck in my mouth for a moment. I wondered if the other men around me, the ones I would trust with my life, had formed the same conclusion yet.
Pushing myself off the wall, I walked toward the bedroom in the mood to be surrounded by her scent.
She was on her side, curled halfway into a ball, stockings still on, but panties missing. I grinned as I undressed, then crawled in beside her. Facing her, I listened to the faint sounds of her sleeping as I ran a hand over her bare hip. Sliding down softly, my fingers lingered over her stomach.
My baby. My woman.
When I finally closed my eyes, I dreamt of them.
Epilogue
Mick
Four months later…
I watched the amber liquid in my glass as I listened to Ben and Eli talk about their brother. He was now dead, killed by an unknown assailant in an alley.
They sat across from me, fidgeting in their seats the way they normally did when they both came to see me. They weren’t much younger than I was, but for some reason they acted like they were intimidated. I could name a few reasons why they should be, but it seemed out of place considering their family was associated with a gang.
For months they’d been telling me about the escalation of some violence in the area, worried that something critical might happen. The bank had foreclosed on several houses in the neighborhood putting families out of places to live and causing a small migration of people to flee to different areas. If I read the situation right, which I’d like to think that I was, the King family was moving people out in order to broker a deal for what they were terming a “revitalization” of the older part of Kingston.
On the surface, it looked like a step to bring new businesses to the area, but underneath it all, it was just a ploy to displace who they considered unsavory and move them to areas where they deemed fit.
The plans they set in motion, started shortly after Denny King had gotten back from an extended leave due to health issues. I read it clear enough. He was pissed, and he was calling in his family to put pressure on the businesses and people who now looked up to us in the area.
A better play on his part would have been to ingratiate the people who lived and worked in this part of the city. They might have idolized his family as visionaries. Put more clinics and shelters in, created more jobs. Instead they were doing exactly what they always did. Being pretentious fucks, who cared very little about people with minimal means at their disposal.
So, we did what we could to counteract it. Helped local businesses with small loans from time to time that they paid us back for. Offered free advertising on occasion at the club and helped with the very same things that the Kings refused to do, which was support a struggling community being crippled by their long reach.
In the last month alone, Ben and Eli’s brother had caught several people in the middle of crimes against the locals. Through pressure under interrogation, they’d admitted eagerly that they’d been hired by one King family member or another to commit crimes. Arson, assault, theft, mayhem and murder. The list of crimes in the neighborhood had doubled for a while.
Until we started sending Denny a finger or two.
The old building that Alex bought out from his partners in his firm, worked well for a number of reasons. It was a legitimate business during the day, in which Jack and Mason could work out of without question. Alex had decided not to put his name on the door, and from what I understood, had buried his ownership of the building somehow.
They’d all gone with something rather simple on the door. The Mack Agency was officially open for business, of which there was very little, but it served as a good front for Mason and Jack, and had provided a private environment in the basement for nice long chats with our criminal friends.
My eyes drifted up to Mason who was leaning up against the far wall with his arms over his chest. He was listening to the brothers as they explained what happened.
“He was just caught out in the open. I don’t know why he didn’t have anyone with him. He’s not stupid,” Eli said.
Ben sat with a blank stare for a moment then gave me a quick glance. “The gang is in disarray. They’re fighting over who succeeds. It’s not as easy as you think.”
“And do they want one of you to do it? You were his brothers. Your brother is dead. Family succession?”
Ben and Eli glanced at each other and fidgeted again.
When I looked back at Mason, he shrugged.
The pair in front of me was nervous for some reason. Eli rarely popped his knuckles unless he had something on his mind, and Ben tended to pull on his left ear when he was thinking about something more than women and alcohol. Something I had to repeatedly remind him not to do, as it messed with his earpiece and could emit high-pitched feedback in the rest of our bodyguard’s earp
ieces. I needed to ask Reid if there was a different solution, but I hated talking to the man.
“Guys, I understand if that’s how it has to go. I don’t want to lose either one of you. You’re family to us as far as I’m concerned, but it’s the way it is. It makes sense for one or both of you to take over the gang.”
“That’s not it,” Ben, the older of the two, replied. “It’s not us that they want.”
Frowning, I tilted my head and waited.
“They want you and Mason.”
My eyebrows arched. “We’re not gang members, though. We’ve never crossed paths with them other than a few conversations with your brother, and a few of his friends about the people who live around here.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Eli responded. “They respect both of you. They think you might legitimize the group, make it more organized.”
I blew a long breath out and sat back in my chair. “This is something coming from the whole group or just some?”
“It was voted on,” Ben responded. “There was a big meeting and we were invited. It kind of surprised us, since we’ve been kept out of the loop for a while now. But nearly the entire group was there.”
“Minus how many?”
He shrugged. “Maybe ten who were working.”
“I still don’t understand the connection.”
Ben was pensive for a moment. “It’s like this, they know you. They also know what you and Mason are trying to do. They see it, we see it. You’re trying to help this community. We have families here too and we see what’s happening more than most. They don’t have a leader right now and they don’t want to break up and war with each other in the end because that’s not going to help. Most of us grew up in the streets and we know what can happen. And while you two are fighting a war for us, we don’t want to fight each other.”
The implications of this kind of mentality wasn’t lost on me. The gang members had been operating in the area, according to Jack, for a few years. They’d grown in reputation, but were still considered a smaller group in terms of the amount of members. His estimate was about sixty or so, give or take. His assessment of them was somewhat positive, given his background in dealing with organized criminals when he was working on the force, but he still considered them lethal.
Mick_Kingston Corruption Book One Page 25
