by Sam Crescent
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2019 Sam Crescent
ISBN: 978-0-3695-0000-7
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
EASTON
Four Kings Empire, 2
Serenity Snow
Copyright © 2019
Chapter One
The bottle of whiskey was almost empty, and Easton Long couldn’t stop the constant thoughts and memories from plaguing him. Curled up in his office, he stared at the ceiling. There was a time he’d be passed out by now, but the more he drank, the more tolerant to it he was becoming.
Now, he was onto his second bottle of whiskey, and if he kept on going, he’d probably need his stomach pumped again.
Running a hand down his face, he knew he should drive himself off a cliff, or do something else constructive. It’s not like he’d done anything worthwhile sitting around here. Axton, Karson, and Romeo were all better off without him. The Four Kings Empire didn’t need him, not anymore, not when they had Paul, and he could go and end it, like he should have done years ago.
The truth was out, and he and his friends weren’t going to pay the price for their parents’ bullshit anymore. They were all free.
Easton had hoped it would give him some freedom from this pain, but instead it just made him even more useless.
No one needed him around. His father always said he was a waste of space, and after getting Carla pregnant, it had pretty much cemented his uselessness. His own father, Nial Long, had taken care of the problem. Killed her so he wouldn’t be able to run away with her and live his life without the riches.
For years, Nial had told him he’d never be able to hack it broke. Wealth was what defined them all. When Easton had made a bet with his friends, he hadn’t expected to fall for her. He just wanted to pop her cherry and move on. Not to fall for her, or to want a future with her.
Carla showed him that being poor didn’t mean anything. She had been one of the poorest girls in King’s Ridge. Even though he wanted her to fall in love with him, and have sex with her, it didn’t mean he intended to get her pregnant. He’d fucked up big time with her, and she had paid the price for his asshole ways.
“You’ve got to stop thinking about Carla. You can’t bring her back,” he said.
“And you’ve got to stop being in this office, drinking yourself to death.”
He lifted his hand up to see Axton and Taylor, staring down at him.
“My humiliation is now complete. Thanks for that,” he said. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Why? Because you’re the only one that owns this place? I had to work late.”
“On something I know nothing about, I’m sure.”
He glanced down at Taylor’s stomach. “You know what it is yet?”
Taylor put a hand on her growing belly and shook her head. “No, not yet. We’re not sure we want to know, you know, extend the surprise maybe.”
“That’s nice.” His and Carla’s kid would be just over ten years old by now, if she’d lived long enough.
He would have loved to have been a father. “You’re the first one of all of us to have a kid. Congratulations, Axton. You always did get everything first.”
“Is he always like this?” Taylor asked.
“No. It’s worse on the anniversary.”
“Fuck you,” Easton said. He sat up, feeling the world spin but not enough to make him sit down. “You think you know me? You think you know what true pain is all about? At least you’re getting to see your child born. Me? I didn’t get to do anything about it. That pleasure was torn from me because of my father.” He got up, and if Axton didn’t grab him when he did, he’d be on his ass.
The alcohol must clearly be having an effect.
“So don’t try to tell me that you even understand what I’m doing!”
“You’re drinking yourself into oblivion because of guilt, Easton. I’m not going to pretend it’s anything else, because it’s not. You feel guilty over what happened, and you’ve got other reasons. Reasons you’re not even ready to tell any of us.”
“Fuck you!” He growled the words as he tried to hit Axton, but it didn’t work.
Axton merely let him go, and he collapsed to the floor.
Karson and Romeo finally stepped into his office.
“Why don’t you just leave him to pass out?” Romeo asked.
“I’m not going to leave him alone here. He’s got an apartment and a life, and he needs to get back to it,” Axton said. “We’re all in this together.”
“Yeah, but one of us right now is a fucking bum. I’m tired of dragging his drunk ass all over the place,” Karson said.
Easton rolled onto his back. “I didn’t ask any of you here. I was quite happy not dealing with any of you fuckers, so leave me alone.” His stomach started to turn.
He didn’t roll over fast enough before he began to vomit.
At first, he choked, but then his friends didn’t give him a chance to help himself before they were holding him and making him throw up on the carpet.
“This is gross,” Taylor said.
“Then get the fuck out. Why don’t you do something useful and plot our deaths, or maybe, I don’t know, learn how to spread your legs properly and keep your man out of my office?”
He wanted them to hate him, for them all to despise him.
He wasn’t good enough to stand by their side.
This was all just a waste of time.
“You know what, I’ve put up with your bullshit for long enough, but no more. Your ass is going to rehab, and I’ve already picked out the perfect one.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You can’t make me.”
“With the wealth we’ve got, we can make you do whatever we want. We’re even going to make sure you stay in until you complete a total detox program. Your place will always be here, by us,” Axton said.
“You think he needs to do that?” Taylor asked.
“He’s going to do that if he likes it or not. He’s one of the Four Kings, and we have a reputation to uphold. We’ve all been really fucking lenient with him, and I’m done.”
“Fuck you!” Easton curled up on his side and burst out laughing. He really didn’t give a shit what his friends wanted. They had their own lives, and he didn’t need to worry about them needing him.
This was his life, and if he wanted to fuck up, he could do that.
“You want me to fuck off?” Axton asked, getting right up into his face.
“Yeah, why don’t you take your woman and fuck her properly rather than worry about me?” He saw Axton’s hand clench.
“He’s wanting you to lose control,” Romeo said.
“I know. Easton, you think we don’t know you, but we do. We all know what is going on here, and we all know what you’re doing.”
He glared up at his friends, hating them even more than ever before.
“Get out!” He wanted them gone, but Axton shook his head.
“Not happening.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re going to—”
He didn’t get to finish as Axton hit him, and everything turned black.
****
“What the hell was that?” Taylor asked.
Axton shrugged. “There was only going to be one way of getting him to the clinic. This was it.”
“By hitting him?”
“Believe me, he’ll thank us for it,” Karson said.
“I don’t think he’s going to thank you for doing this to him.”
“He’s killing himself, Taylor. I know you wanted to take time and all that shit, but with Easton we don’t have time. He’s dying inside, and at this rate, he’s going to drink himself to death.” Axton nodded at the two empty bottles of whiskey.
Easton’s drinking had been a problem long before now, but Axton had always found some reason not to complain or be annoyed, or even upset by it. Now he felt so fucking stupid. Karson and Romeo had each come to him with concerns about Easton. Even Paul, their new business associate, had voiced his own worries. Everywhere he turned Easton was fucking up, and they were all carrying him, which wasn’t a problem.
He was their best friend and had been by their side for as long as Axton could remember.
There was no way he could turn his back on his best friend; none of them could.
Moving toward Easton’s desk, he opened the top drawer, and seeing the small bag of white powder made him even more angry.
Drinking, he could handle.
Even drinking to excess, he could handle.
Lateness was something else he could deal with.
The constant women and the blackmail for extorting money, he didn’t even mind. There was no reason to even be alarmed by that. There was nothing Easton had done that made Axton want to kill, but the drugs, that was one step too far.
He didn’t know if Easton had already taken any, or if this was just the next step in waiting.
Grabbing a piece of paper, he used it like a glove to pick out the bag for Romeo and Karson to see.
“Now do you think I’m overreacting?” he asked, glaring at Taylor.
“I don’t need to be here for this.”
He watched as Taylor walked out of the office and closed the door behind them.
“Let’s get him to my car,” Axton said, dropping the bag back into the drawer.
“Let me take care of that,” Karson said. “We don’t need an overzealous cleaner who thinks they’re doing us a favor.”
“We can pay anyone off.”
“Right now, I don’t want anyone looking too closely at us,” Karson said.
Axton wasn’t going to complain. Since the truth had come out about their families’ manipulation and blackmail, the police had been making their presence known, which was fine, but none of them wanted to draw too much attention to themselves.
With a baby on the way, Axton didn’t want Taylor stressed. He’d already upset her tonight with this thing with Easton. He would make it up to her. For now, she had to wait while he dealt with his friend’s guilt.
“You think he’s got any idea why he’s behaving this way?” Karson asked.
“Nope. It’s Easton. He believes he doesn’t have to have a reason. This is who he is, and he really does like to play the martyr. Give him a reason to throw himself down on his sword.” Axton helped to lift Easton. With the alcohol and the punch, Easton would be out for long enough for them to get him to the rehabilitation clinic.
They had all been warned there was only so much the doctors could do. The true test would be on Easton, if he could survive without the booze or drugs.
He hoped Easton wasn’t on drugs. He really didn’t want his best friend to be going down that path.
Axton got it, to a point. Over ten years ago, Easton had gotten a girl pregnant, only for that girl to end up murdered by Easton’s father. From what he remembered, Easton was willing to sacrifice a life of wealth to be with her. Carla, Taylor’s best friend, had been poor. At first Easton was only having a bit of fun, but it had soon changed. Carla had been the girl to change everything for all of them. She’d been the girl Easton truly believed he was in love with, and to anyone who didn’t know Easton would have believed it too.
Karson, Romeo, and himself knew the truth.
The guilt eating away at Easton wasn’t because he was missing Carla, or that he wanted her back.
No, he was feeling guilty because the truth was, he wasn’t in love with her, had never been in love with her. He’d knocked her up and was doing the right thing, and what made it even worse was Easton was thankful he didn’t have to do the right thing.
****
Easton had a really bad headache. Opening his eyes, he felt the pounding behind his skull, and his mouth was incredibly dry.
He licked his lips and started to sit up, realizing immediately he was in some kind of hospital.
“What the fuck?”
“Water is by you,” Axton said.
He looked toward his best friend, who was sitting in a chair, looking way too calm and collected for his liking.
“What is going on?”
“No recollection of the past twenty-four hours?” Axton asked.
He remembered arriving into his office, doing some work, and around lunchtime, he got the bottle of whiskey and began to add little drops to his coffee, until most of his drink was the whiskey.
“Vaguely.”
“You remember buying drugs?” Axton asked.
Easton tensed up and waited.
“I will take that as a yes.”
Again, he didn’t say anything. He had bought the drugs a few weeks ago but hadn’t used them. He’d left them in his drawer for when he finally felt ready for that total oblivion the dealer had told him about.
The booze wasn’t helping. He’d hoped the drugs would.
It wasn’t perfect, but then, his life wasn’t perfect either and hadn’t been for a long time. He didn’t know why he was even trying any more.
“This has got to stop, Easton.”
He stared up at the ceiling, wondering if by some miracle it would collapse and he wouldn’t have to hear all the bullshit spilling from Axton’s mouth. That’s what he wanted.
“You’re going to be in here for a month.”
“A month? A fucking month! How is that even allowed? I can let myself out at any time. I’m not staying here.” He sat up.
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because of the Four Kings.”
“Oh, please, you guys don’t need me, and you’ve been running things pretty smoothly without me there. Don’t give me all that crap.”
“If you don’t do the month and stick to it, you lose your rights to your position and all of the assets. Not only that, you will be under the police radar as well,” Axton said.
Easton glared at his friend. “I had nothing to do with any of that shit. The police granted us full amnesty.”
“No, they granted the Four Kings full amnesty. You think they’re going to take into account wording now that you’re gone? I bet your dad told them everything. How you got her pregnant, were going to run away. You know what a piece of work Nial is. You think you can survive poverty, but can you hack it in prison? Pretty princess like you, they’d eat you for dinner.” Axton’s voice filled him with dread.
The truth was, he didn’t even think he could hack it without money. He’d spent so much time relying on being wealthy.
Of having the money as a fallback.
Prison.
He didn’t even know if he could hack it for an hour in a jail cell, let alone any stretch of time.
“Why do you care so much? I’m not hurting anyone.”
“Your drinking affects all of us, Easton. This isn’t you.”
This time he laughed. “You’re going to pretend that you know who I am and what I’m capable of. Good one.”
“I’m not bullshitting here, Easton. I mean it. This isn’t you. Whatever you’ve got going on is going to stop.”
“And you, fierce leader, are going to do it.”
“It’s not your fault that you didn’t love her, and even a little par
t of yourself is relieved she’s dead so you didn’t have to take responsibility.”
Easton stared at his friend. In that moment, he didn’t consider him a friend but the enemy.
“Get out. Go and fuck your woman or something.”
“You can hate me all you want, Easton. We know you had feelings for Carla, but it didn’t extend to love.”
“I bet you had a great time telling Taylor that.”
“I didn’t tell Taylor anything. She doesn’t need to hear it. You do. We all understand, and we get it. You’ve got to stop making this harder for yourself. Believe it or not, we all do love you.”
This time, Easton laughed.
“We do, otherwise we wouldn’t have made this arrangement. Get the help, and when you’re out, we can help you stay on track.”
Easton didn’t want to stay on track. “Get out.”
Axton got to his feet. “We do love you.”
He didn’t say anything.
Axton sighed. “Fine. You can hate me all you want. It’s not going to change anything. We’ve disposed of your problem, and you’re going to stay here. I’ve already informed the doctors you’re a flight risk. This is for your own good, Easton, and one day, I hope you can see that.”
Silence filled the room.
It felt amazing, wonderful, and at the same time, Easton was sick.
Running a hand down his face, he realized he needed a drink, badly.
Really fucking badly.
This wasn’t good for him.
All he did was drink. The drugs were the next step up and he didn’t take any of them, bought them with the intention of taking them.
Climbing out of his bed, he opened the second door in the room and found an en-suite bathroom, if anyone could call it that. It was so tiny.
He made it to the toilet, vomiting. He held onto the edge of the toilet as he threw up absolutely everything in his stomach, or what felt like it anyway.
When he was finished, he pulled down the flusher and pressed his face against the edge of the toilet.
Someone had sat their ass on this very toilet seat at one time, and he had his face to it. He was practically kissing another man or woman’s ass.
