“Okay,” I replied. “Do you talk to anyone about it?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Anything else?”
I wondered who he talked to about it if he wasn’t ready to answer me. An ex? His brother or family? If the day came that he wanted to tell me I’d listen, but I was certain that wouldn’t be anytime soon. Regardless, he’d answered most of my questions. It was just not the most important thing which was why he felt and behaved the way he did.
“No. You’ve been fair. A jerk about it, but fair.”
He sighed, still tense and tilted his head to stare into my eyes. “Your turn.”
I chewed on my lip thinking about everything I needed to say. Unlike him, I’d come to terms with things in my life. It seemed like a reality I couldn’t escape.
Chapter Seven
Mick
Staring down into her blue eyes as I hugged her tight against my body, I wondered what kind of creature she was. So damn beautiful and yet so utterly trusting that I wouldn’t ruin her.
I knew deep down that I might not meet her expectations. She had to have them. All women did. I warred with the knowledge that I could send her into a tailspin with a word or something I could say one day.
Cold didn’t even begin to describe me. I could be clinical, detached, closed off to things that mattered. Her feelings would one day dwindle into bitterness no matter how much she thought she wanted to stay right now.
She’d tasted so sweet in my mouth. So much innocence and purity that it nearly killed me to leave her on the bed. I wanted to sink into her and forget everything, have her wipe away my murky past with her honeyed scent and sweetness.
But it would only be for a moment, before I laid down and the demons tormented me again. Before I was back to drowning in my own mind with the things I’d seen. Her velvety touch would have wiped it away for a little while, though. I craved for that, for her. But I wasn’t sure if I could handle what might happen afterward. She deserved a man that wouldn’t slip back into the darkness. It would be like taking a small piece of who she was for what I needed, and not something that benefitted her.
I could try, for her. But if I had her, I knew I’d never want to let go.
What I’d told her was the truth. I was a dick sometimes. I wondered what the good old doctor would say about that admission of guilt to this woman. I wasn’t sure if it was progress or just another need to warn her that what lay in wait on the fringes had swallowed me whole.
“You know the Kings.”
“Everyone does,” I replied.
“Well a refresher then, since you haven’t known them the way I know them.”
I settled back on the bed against the headboard keeping her in my lap.
She let out a huge sigh. “They’re one of the most corrupt families I’ve ever known. Not that I know many people, but they aren’t the normal.”
“No family is normal,” I said.
“Well they’re not like my family. I think it really hit me when I was about thirteen or fourteen. Alex was away at college by then. I mean, I knew I wasn’t looked at as anything more than someone who would marry well.”
“No one should ever be looked at that way, no matter who you are.”
She nodded. “I know, but it doesn’t mean it’s not the reality of growing up as a King. My dad is the District Attorney. It’s ironic in some ways how Alex became a defense lawyer given my dad’s chosen career. They’re on opposite sides of the courtroom, but I wonder sometimes if my dad didn’t plan it that way.”
“How so? What would be the advantage?” I asked.
“If you think about it, say a criminal case comes up for someone like a family member. Several have over the years. My dad might assign the case to his weakest attorney in the office, then pressure Alex to defend it. There’s no law that says he can’t defend a family member if they hire him.”
Thinking through that, it stood true that there were many instances where a defense attorney represented a family member in court. I’d been witness to it several times when asked to testify on either side.
“Okay, so he defends them. That’s legal.”
She looked annoyed for a minute. “Glad you agree. I did look it up.”
I smirked. “Sorry, continue.”
“Okay, so, what if I told you my dad paid for the defense. And it’s happened more than once.”
“That would be a conflict of interest and illegal.”
“That’s the thing. Would it be illegal if my father gifted the money to another family member and that money just happened to end up in the hands of the defendant?”
“Yes,” I said flatly. “But it’s hard to prove collusion in that aspect.”
And would warrant an FBI investigation, but I wasn’t going to mention it.
“Right. I know. It was a rhetorical question.”
I gave her a look. “Please, continue. I’ll stop talking.”
“No, you won’t. Anyway, I overheard a conversation between one of my uncles and my dad one day. I didn’t really think about what I heard at the time. Didn’t really know what was going on. There were a lot of people that came over, it was an everyday event.”
I smoothed the hair away from her face. “Did they see you?”
“I’ve always been invisible to my dad. Always. There was never any affection there. Not like with Alex. My mother, when she was still semi with it in the world, told me that my place was to marry a nice businessman. Someone of worth in the city. That I should only look for the best and brightest. That’s what my reality was.”
I nodded and wondered if she knew that she’d found the worst if she decided to stay with me. I was no catch. Not anymore.
“So, you might not remember, there was a case involving one of my cousins. He was twenty-three and accused of raping a woman after a burglary and killing her. Or so I heard.”
“Definitely a criminal case. Possibility of death sentence in Texas.”
“Right. You’re talking again.”
I chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.
“So, one night I overheard a conversation. He never paid any attention to me and didn’t know I was there. Or ignoring me, whatever. We have a lot of family in a lot of businesses here. This particular uncle is or was the superintendent for the school district. Obviously, it was bad press for him and his son. But he couldn’t, from what I gathered, afford a good defense lawyer.”
“Ahh, so he goes to your dad for money to pay one?”
“Yeah, that was the basic conversation. They pleaded it down and he got some ridiculous fine and jail time that was less than half of what it should have been.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled.
“Of course, I didn’t know what the verdict was going to be at the time. I just overheard something about money and a defense case. I didn’t know what it was about, specifically. Later, I figured it out.”
“So, tell me what happened.”
“Well, he caught me listening. And it wasn’t like I was really listening on purpose. Anyway, he used a belt on me. I’ll never forget it. He dragged me into his office by my hair. Surrounded by fancy furniture and walls lined with references on law, and beat me. It was the first time he struck me in anger and my uncle sat and watched. Six swats across my back with a belt.”
My hands clenched as my jaw tightened. Imagining a child being punished in such a way made my stomach churn.
She sighed. “After that I tried not to be around much. At least not when he was there. But there were always run-ins here and there. You’ve seen my back.”
“Yeah,” I replied simply, trying to tamp down my anger.
“So, when I say that the King family is corrupt, I mean it. They’ve got a monopoly in this city that reaches into everything. They’re even in the police force. I know that from things I’ve heard, and when I tell you that I don’t want you to call the police about my back, it’s because it won’t matter. There is no law higher than King law. They’re everywhere.”
“Poli
tics,” I mumbled, thinking of my father and the dead body over the weekend. “What happened tonight?”
She frowned. “I went home, and my father was there. He’s usually not home until really late. I think he’s having an affair. He’s always drunk when he comes in and I make myself scarce enough. But he was on a tirade about something tonight. Screaming into the phone. I tried to just go to my room.”
My gut clenched thinking about Alisa facing down the man. I wanted to drive to their house and show him what a real opponent would be like instead of a defenseless woman.
“He was angry, and I wasn’t quick enough. He started screaming at me about something that happened before I left for college and then accused me of living off their money. Useless, worthless, whatever. The best way to deal with all his bullshit is not to react at all. When he was just an attorney, he was so good at dressing witnesses down in a courtroom, that it’s never good to show him any kind of weakness.”
Betting he was a functioning sociopath, I kept my mouth shut, but made a mental note to hurt the man one day.
“I turned to leave when I thought he was done but didn’t hear the belt come off. He caught me with the end of it. I ran upstairs, bandaged my back and left.”
“You should have called me. I would have come to get you, or met you somewhere. We didn’t have to meet at a restaurant.”
She shrugged. “To be honest, I just wanted a normal date. I wanted to see you and pretend nothing happened for a while. I thought about calling Alex, but I didn’t want to tell him after he’d already helped me today.”
“So, he’s unaware of what happened tonight.”
“He doesn’t know. Alex is the only one I trust in the family.”
“I saw him over the weekend.”
She looked up at me with surprise. “Are you in trouble?”
I chuckled and kissed her cheek. “No. My brother just got his P.I. license and he’s basically on retainer to do some work for your brother. Help find things, records, follow people. I’m assuming to help the defendants he represents.”
“He’s a good man.”
My jaw clenched again. I didn’t want to tell her my personal opinion now that she’d told me about her home life. If he’d been any brother at all, he wouldn’t have allowed her to stay in a house with an abuser.
Anger grew toward Alex and his supposed ethics. He’d talked well enough about them when we’d spoken in his office. He was trying to sell me on something that sounded interesting, but now rankled with the stink of corruption.
Mason bought it well enough. Jack was wary, but then again, Jack was wary about everything it seemed. I should have paid more attention to what the man was saying rather than staying so focused on his damn teeth marks in pens.
“I should call my brother,” Alisa whispered.
“It’s late, we can call him tomorrow or stop by for a chat.”
“I could just crash at his house tonight. It wouldn’t be a big deal.”
“No,” I said flatly. “You’re staying here. You’re not going to another King household for a while.”
She leaned back and gave me a confused stare. “Alex’s house is safe.”
“Mason will be here soon,” I said, changing the subject.
“Mick…”
“You’re staying here. Just do this for me. I need you here, otherwise I’m going to worry.”
Or kill her fucking family. I wasn’t half as pissed off earlier as I was now, and I was ready to beat someone to a pulp earlier. At least if she was here I’d have a reason not to go on a killing spree. She was the incentive. To crawl into bed with her and sleep. She might even keep the nightmares away.
Hearing the front door slam, I rubbed her arms. “Get in bed, baby. Sleep for a little bit. I need to talk to Mason about something.”
She slid off my lap and started peeling off her skirt. Seeing her gorgeous mound and hips come into view again made me fantasize about every dirty thing I wanted to do to her. Laying her down to suck at those wet folds of hers again was the highest on the list for the moment.
I pulled the covers over her body all the way to her shoulders as she rolled over. Her blonde hair spread across my gray pillow.
She fit there. In my bed, with me beside her. The thought made my fucking chest hurt. I knew she wouldn’t be there forever. I knew it was just a night, perhaps two until we figured things out, but if there was a way to keep her there for a little while, I wanted to make it happen.
I turned off the light and closed the door when I left. Stalking toward the kitchen, I found my brother drinking out of a milk carton in front of the fridge.
“Dude. I like cereal sometimes without your backwash. Do you mind?”
He shrugged and placed it back in the fridge. I made a mental note to mark that one later as the backwash milk.
“What the fuck was so urgent that I left a blonde at the bar?” he asked.
Sitting down at the kitchen table, he joined me.
“What do you know about the King family?”
He leaned back in his chair and whistled under his breath. “Wow. Left a blonde to talk about the fucking King family. Thought you said this was an emergency.”
I tapped my fingers on the table. “It is. Alisa showed up for our date.”
“Admitting it’s a date is the first step in recovery.”
“Mason, goddammit. Just fucking listen. Alisa showed up, we’re headed out and I see blood on her back. Looked at it, we get back here and she dumps a lot of shit about the Kings in my lap. She’s Alisa King. Sister to your part-time employer.”
Mason leaned forward, a surprised look on his face. “Holy fuck. The untouchables and you’re dating one of them.”
I pointed at him. “Don’t fuck with me. You had her cousin in your bed over the weekend.”
“Yeah, to screw and lose. Not date. That shit doesn’t happen. You have to have money or know someone, who knows someone, and that ain’t us, bro.”
“Fuck that. And it’s not like that.”
Mason chuckled. “Man, I can smell it on you, don’t lie to me. You’ve been in there playing hide the weasel with one of the King princesses. I have a nose for pussy and that shit’s sweet.”
I looked up at the ceiling briefly, praying for patience, before meeting his eyes again. “You’ve become the most vulgar person I know. You don’t smell shit. There’s a psychological condition called “fucknut” and you’re about to meet my boot up your ass.”
He laughed. “Alright, alright. Just messing with you. Okay, so what are we talking about. What shit did she lay on you that was such an emergency?”
“Her dad laid a belt on her back and the clasp caught. Not the first time.”
“Motherfucker,” Mason growled.
My sentiments exactly. I knew Mason would side with me about bringing her home. He might be the biggest prick on the planet when it came to sleeping with women, but he hated abusers. The thing that most people didn’t get was that my brother loved women. He was addicted to them. There wasn’t a woman alive that he wouldn’t do something major for, he just preferred keeping it casual out of simplicity.
“So, what I’m asking is, how far is their reach? She said the police. Didn’t want to call them.”
“You know how this goes, Mick, you’ve lived here. It’s a corrupt city and the King family is at the burnt and bloodied heart of it. The first and only rule in Kingston is you don’t mess with the Kings. Behind every shady event, they’re there. Greed, murder, politics. They’re a dynasty, an organization that in public seems so legitimate. They have position and power that can sway an entire city. But at the core, they make all the right decisions to help each other.”
“Even law enforcement?”
“It’s screwed up, I’ll tell you that much. Kingston’s finest has a lot of cops on the take. I just stayed the hell away. But every once in a while, they’d test your loyalty and do something shitty. You just didn’t say anything about it. Like dad always says, it’s
all political.”
Scratching my beard, I considered that news. “So, if I called them about the abuse…”
“You’d probably end up accused of it.”
“Fuck. Even with Dad’s influence?”
“Mick, Dad’s not on the take. But, man, he knows how the wind blows here. And he plays with the political shit every day. They’d fire his ass if he even tried standing up against it. That’s if they didn’t try to do something worse. There are a ton of ways to break a cop and everyone on the force knows that. Shit, you should know.”
“Yeah,” I replied. I didn’t like my dad, but I wasn’t vengeful.
“Look, I’d never admit it to Dad, but I think you’ll get it. I saw some things going on. There were some guys that strong armed a decent family for some kickbacks once at a restaurant. I was riding with them, didn’t like it, said something. One of them was a King cousin. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, but they were terrorizing those people, and the wife was getting it the worst. The next thing I know I’m facing charges for roughing up a suspect while in custody.”
“You never said anything,” I replied, shocked at his story. “Why didn’t you tell me? I might have been able to pull some strings.”
He shook his head. “Nah, and get you fucked up, too? You had great a career, were going places. I never went anywhere. But I worked my ass off, saving what I could, and I’ve still got some money, even after the lawyer fees. So, I don’t have to go back and never will. But since you asked, let me just spell it out. Everything is dirty in Kingston.”
“What about Alex? You work for the guy for fuck’s sake. Aren’t you a little worried?”
Mason started pulling on his beard. “See, I would have said yes before that whole thing happened. But then I met Jack. He knows what goes down in this city. Did some undercover stuff, saw a lot of shit. He doesn’t trust anyone. Hell, that guy probably doesn’t even trust you or me, but he works for Alex. I may not know Alex very well, but if Jack signed off on him, then he must be better than most Kings. Make sense?”
“Well, I may not kill Alex, then. I just can’t justify in my head why her brother would let her stay with her parents if Daddy’s been using a belt on his sister for years.”
Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One Page 8
