The King's Pawn: The Complete King Crime Family Duet

by J. L. Beck

  “Never. I mean, never lie to me. Tell me whatever it is that you have to, but never lie to me. Dishonesty will get you killed faster than anything in this world. Even if it hurts to tell the truth, say it anyway because at least you said it.”

  My eyes dart over her succulent lips, and the thought of taking her tongue into my mouth is sending my thoughts to all the wrong places.

  “Now, tell me what he did.” I try to hide the need from my voice and the fact that I want to take her against the wall right this second and forget about all the shit in our lives. The problems will still be here when I get done with her, right?

  Her eyes gaze down and away from mine as if she is ashamed to speak. My heart starts beating out of my chest. If she has been with him, I don’t know what I will do. Will I kill her right here? Right now? That is the ultimate betrayal.

  Her lip quivers, and I swear I see tears swimming in her eyes before she blinks them away.

  “He got a little grabby and rough with me. I don’t like him, and given the chance, I would stab him in the heart. Better yet, I might just shoot him.” She sounds vicious and sexy as hell when she is angry.

  “When did he touch you?” I ask, withholding my rage. There is no point in showing her my anger. It wasn’t her fault. What am I supposed to do, though? I need Eli, especially now. I have to find a way out of this, but he is one of my main guys.

  “That night he got me out of the basement, the night you came home with that girl,” Amara replies. Fire builds in her eyes when she says that girl. I want to tell her who Alessandra is, but I need to figure this whole Eli thing out first.

  “What did he do to you?” I clench my teeth, not wanting to hear what he did. Her eyes glaze over, and it is as if she is reliving the whole scene. Her body shakes as a single tear escapes her eye. Had I been that dark and uncaring that I hadn’t noticed someone who is mine, and mine alone, had been violated?

  “He just wouldn’t leave me alone. He touched me and pushed me down on the stairs in the basement. He told me I was a distraction for you…” She sounds hurt as if she wants me to contradict what Eli said. Except he is right, she is a distraction. She wove herself deep under my skin and somehow made her way into my black heart, causing it to beat again.

  “Did he…?” I can’t even say it. If he touched her like that, my patience for anything would be gone. I will kill him. I will rip him to shreds, detach his limbs, and feed him his dick, no matter how much I need him, I won’t stand for that.

  She shakes her head no, her dark hair cascading into her face. My heartbeat stops, and I suck a breath in between my teeth.

  “I’ll make him pay… I promise. The second I’m done with needing him, he will die,” I say softly, placing a kiss against her warm skin. In this crazy ass shit hole, she is the one thing holding me together. Without her here, I would shed more blood. I would be bathing in my enemy’s blood.

  “Why do we need him?” she squeaks out, my lips still against her skin. I peer down at her.

  “He is one of my best men. Always gets the job done,” I mumble.

  “Can’t we just run?” she asks.

  “No. Running is for the weak. We will hide, and when the time is right, I will strike, killing every single one of them.” The need for vengeance can be heard in my voice, and I don’t even care if it scares Amara. What they have done to me is something they will pay for.

  “So, we hide until the time is right, and then you kill them all?” she inquires, tipping her head sideways. I release her head and sink back onto the bed.

  “The only option is death, Amara. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but that’s how things are paid for. If they can so easily attempt to kill me, they should die for trying. It has always worked this way.” Frustration fills my body to the brim. How badly I wish I didn’t have someone whom I care about.

  “You act like I don’t get it…” she whispers, getting up from the bed. Does she get it? I am not sure she understands the danger that she put herself in. Saving me should’ve been the last thing she ever did. She should’ve run when she got the chance.

  “Saving me put you here. If you didn’t want this, then you should’ve run when you had the chance.” I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but she has to know what will come from this.

  She stops dead in her tracks just inside the bathroom door and turns to face me, her face a pure mask of anger.

  “I saved you because it was the right thing to do. I saved you because, even though you’re a ruthless killer who has threatened to kill me on more than one occasion, I have grown to want you. I have grown to feel for you. Now, saving your ass by killing that fucker has put an X on my back too.”

  As her words assault me and her eyes hold a fire so deep, I feel like reaching out and touching it to see if it really will burn me, and it hits me. She made the choice, she made the decision. Running wasn’t even a thought to her when she pulled the trigger.

  I smile smugly. I may be a ruthless killer who is deadly with his hands, but I’m also someone who can bring my piccolo pleasure repeatedly. She allows my deadly hands to touch her body. She sees the good in me, even when the bad overpowers it. She accepts me the way I am.

  “You saved me even after everything,” I whisper, not really meaning to say it out loud. I know she hears it, though, the minute her eyes darken with lust, and she smiles. She is ready for me again, I’m sure.

  This is dangerous—she is dangerous. Even if I don’t want to admit it, she causes my heart to beat harder and faster, and suddenly my thoughts turn to taking her against the wall again.

  21

  Enzo

  I keep gazing out the window, pulling back the shades as I wait for Mack and Eli to show the fuck up already. Mack said they would be here soon. Obviously, his soon and my soon aren’t the same.

  “You never told me about your family,” Amara says, so I turn around to face her. She has on one of my shirts and a cup of tea in her hands. She let me fuck her two more times before saying she needed to shower. Then I climbed in and took her a third time. She is addictive—like my own personal brand of heroin.

  “No siblings who I know of. My father and mother are both dead.” Saying it always makes it seem real again, which hurts far more than the bullet wound in my shoulder. I never talk about my parents to anyone, so I don’t know why I’m spilling my guts to her.

  “No siblings for me either. My mom got sick not long after I was born. She beat cancer once back then, but when it came back last year, it was much worse.” She sounds defeated as she talks about her mom. I knew when her father came for money what his story was. His wife had died from cancer, so he was alone with a daughter and needed to find a way to make ends meet.

  “What type of cancer did she have?” I ask, wanting to take the focus off myself, even if only for a short amount of time. There is a pause as she takes a drink from her cup. Once her lips leave the rim of the mug, she seems to be lost in memories.

  “Ovarian cancer the first time around. They did a full hysterectomy, so that’s why there was no sibling. They did it to save her life… but then she got breast cancer. It was very aggressive. Spread quickly.”

  I know nothing about cancer. It has claimed many people in this world, but I have never taken the time to learn more about any of it. Not that I had ever met anyone with cancer. We didn’t hang around death. We simply killed and went on our way.

  “I’m sorry,” I offer sincerely. I am not sure what else to say. What is someone like me, who has more blood on his hands than anyone, to say to a person who has lost a parent to cancer? Even worse, is that I was going to take her father, her last living relative. I know exactly why she gave herself up. I understand.

  “Don’t be.” She hiccups, a small tear streaming down her cheek. Her doe eyes smile at me as her lips shake. What the fuck? Why the hell did I bring this up?

  “I am, though.” I move closer to her. I may be hateful and so very fucked up, but my heart breaks
for Amara. It breaks because I know what it is like to be alone in a world full of people. I know how quiet it is, even in a crowded room.

  My hands wrap around her, wanting nothing more than to shield her from the pain. How can that even be possible when I am the only person in the room who can bring her pain?

  “What about your parents?” she asks, smiling. My arms drop from her sides instantly. Can I talk about this with her?

  I feel the coldness seeping into my bones, the walls coming back up. Can I do this to her? Can I make her tell me her secrets without revealing my own?

  “I…my…” I’m stumbling over my words. I’m actually, for the first time in my fucking life, left speechless.

  “My mom was killed,” I state in such an obvious manner. I sigh, taking a step back to sit on the oversized chair. I am actually going to tell her the story. Memories assault me—the crying, the screams of my mom, the fear I felt in her words.

  “She was killed when I was a kid. I don’t know why, and I don’t know who did it. Luccio said the FBI, but I don’t know if I can believe that. Why would they? She was a good woman and was never involved with anything that my father had dealt with.”

  I watch Amara approach the side of the couch slowly before deciding it is safe enough to take a seat next to me.

  “I swore from that moment on that I would do whatever I could to find her killers, I would hunt them down and destroy them. Every member of their family would suffer for her loss. They owed me their lives, and I promised to collect.”

  My eyes stay trained on the floor. I can’t look at her.

  “So, you planned on avenging your mother’s death?” she asks, her voice so soft.

  “I didn’t just plan on avenging her death. I planned on ripping those people from their loved ones as they took my mother from me. She was the last thing I had when it came to a family. I was left with no one when she died. I’m the heir to the king of money and mafia crown.”

  A moment of silence passes, and I look up to see if she is still with me.

  “Killing people never brought her back, though, and it just ate at you, at your insides. I know it did because looking at who you are now and the person you were when I first met you, it seems like I have met two different people.”

  I close my eyes. This is the problem. I exhale a deep breath.

  “People get used to this side of me without knowing that I can change in a moment. I protect myself, and that’s it. Until you. I was so keen on getting my revenge through my family’s mafia that it never occurred to me what I was doing. I have killed hundreds of people, Amara. There is so much blood on my hands, sometimes it takes me to the darkest places in my mind if I think about it too long.”

  Setting her glass down on the table, she moves closer to me. Her hands find mine. “Killing people won’t bring her back. Doing what you do won’t bring her back. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

  My eyes pop open as I stare at her face. She feels sorry for me. She sees me as that young boy who lost his mom, who lost everything, and that’s not what I want. I don’t want pity for what I have done or gone through.

  “I don’t want your pity, Amara. I don’t want you to tell me what I can and can’t do, what will work and won’t work. We all have our own ways of working through things, and I get by just fine with what I do…” My voice is so full of anger that I have to clench my hands from lashing out at her.

  Why does what she says bother me so fucking much? Because she’s right, my mind whispers to me, which just makes me angrier, of course.

  Her mouth parts, and it looks as if she is going to say something. Then she closes it, only to open it again. “I don’t feel sorry for you. That’s the last fucking thing I feel for you. The blood on your hands is because of you, and there isn’t any type of pity or saying sorry that can make that shit go away. I just know what it’s like to lose a fucking parent, so I feel your pain.”

  Her words just make me angrier. She knows what pain feels like. Yes, she lost a parent, but she still has one, or at least something similar to one. I have nothing. I have me, myself, and I. Relying on anyone else would just lead to death.

  “Pain. You have no fucking clue what pain is…” I sneer. My muscles are clenching with the need to pound on something, and I know the moment Amara notices. She takes a step back, she is smart, too. I am a ticking time bomb…and she is right in the way of getting hit.

  “I do!” she shoots back. She may have backed up away from me, but her face says she couldn’t give a fuck about how angry I am. Either way, I have had enough of her defiance.

  Standing, I corner her. She thinks I’m evil and dark, she thinks I won’t hurt her. She thinks wrong.

  “Don’t touch me. I don’t know you when you’re like this…” Her cry is the one thing that causes me to gentle my touch as I grip her by the throat. My nose skims over her skin, settling just over her heartbeat. It’s fluttering so fast I am afraid it will burst from her neck.

  “You know me, as does your body,” I whisper, placing a soft kiss against her throat.

  “My body wants you, but that’s it,” she lies. She wants me for me.

  “You lie…” I growl, nipping at her skin with my teeth. “You want to be mine. All of you wants all of me. Don’t lie to yourself or me. You know I don’t like lies.”

  A deep moan escapes her lips. She is the worst fucking liar on the face of the earth. Using my other hand, I slip in between her legs. Evidence of her arousal and need for me is dripping from her leg. She is wet for me.

  Slipping a finger inside her, I growl when I feel her tightness. My other hand is still wrapped around her throat. I’m in control, and I want her to know that. We have shared something that I haven’t with anyone else, but I don’t want her to think she can pull the wool over my eyes. It will always be me who owns her. I, who loves her…

  Love? My attack stops as I pull away from her. My hands leave her, and I can tell it upsets her, but I don’t care. Did I love her? Love. Why would my mind even think that?

  I lift my face to her, a sinister smile showing. I don’t know if I love her, but if my mind tells me I do, then I must. My feelings for her are deep. Love is very possible, even if I don’t want to admit it out loud.

  Dropping my jeans to the ground, I sit back on the couch.

  “Ride me,” I growl. Her sweet face turns dark as she bites her bottom lip. God, I want to take that fucking lip into my mouth and bite it until I taste blood.

  She walks over to me slowly, her hips swaying back and forth. The body of a goddess stands before me.

  “Strip… Now…” I say louder than necessary. However, all she does is continue to sway her hips in front of me. My cock is growing harder and harder with every glimpse of her pussy from under my shirt. She wants to kill me. I always thought I would die from a wound, but I am certain it will be at the hands of this woman.

  She giggles as she pulls at the hem of the shirt until it is all the way off. She stands before me in all her glory. She doesn’t shy away as I stare at her body. She has seen things most will never understand.

  “Fuck me…” I say under my breath as I imagine palming her breast. Her tits are perky, and her nipples are pink.

  “At your command, King,” she says, softly stepping forward. My hands instinctively reach out and grip her hips hard. There will be bruises tomorrow, but I don’t care. That is just a sign of how intense our love is. Fuck, there is that word again—Love.

  “I think I love you…” I whisper against her chest as she sits on my lap, my cock slipping in between us.

  “What?” Her voice is a whisper and filled with surprise.

  “Ride me,” I demand instead of repeating myself.

  “Wait… Did you say you love me?” she asks, her voice high-pitched like she can’t believe it.

  “I’d love you more if you’d start to ride my dick.”

  “You love me? I don’t believe you.” Her eyes are eager to meet mine, and I know she will know
I’m telling her the truth when I look her in the eyes. So, I do just that—I look her straight in the eyes.

  22

  Amara

  Did he just say he loves me? Did Lorenzo King actually tell me that he loves me? Is he even capable of love?

  His eyes hold all the answers I will ever need. However, he isn’t giving any away. All I can tell is that he meant what he said. He loves me.

  “Shut that sassy ass mouth, Amara. Fuck me. Of course, I fucking love you. How can I not? You’re beautiful. You don’t take any shit from me. You killed someone for me, and you’re still dealing with my ass after all this… So, now will you please, pretty fucking please, ride my cock until I’m swelling, and my seed leaks out into you?”

  Though it isn’t the sweetest way to confess your love for someone, it is perfect for Enzo.

  “Fuck, yes, I will,” I say, kissing him fiercely.

  “That a girl…” he somehow mumbles while my lips are on his. My hands go into his hair, gripping at the softness of it. He is beautiful, even if he is lost and broken on the inside. I know if I could do anything, it would be to save him from himself.

  One of his hands finds its way onto my hip while the other slides in between my legs, honing in on my clit.

  He flicks at it softly, causing a swarm of butterflies to escape from my belly.

  “Ahhh…”

  “You feel that, baby? Do you fucking feel that? It’s like your soul is soaring while your body takes flight. Your chest fills with air while your mind is going a million miles an hour, but all you can focus on is the one thing that completes you—that’s what being with you is like.”

  Though he’s talking, the only thing I can focus on is him and the way his finger flicks back and forth, the way his hot breath feels against my skin, and the way his hand bites into my flesh, so painfully that I know he’s resisting the urge to slam into me.

  “Come for me, baby. Come so hard on my hand, harder than you ever have in your life.” At his command, I feel my walls clenching. The delicious sensation of flying zings through me, and I feel as if I’m on the verge of something different—something unseen, something never felt before.