by Aiden Bates
“We survived, didn’t we?” I smiled up at him, relishing the feel of his fingertips against my scalp. “Cleared your name. Have a baby on the way. Hell—if it wasn’t for the rich and powerful people we’re about to take down constantly sending their goons after us…it’d be damn near perfect, don’t you think?”
“Mm. Even with all the goons. Still pretty perfect. You know…” The car jerked forward as Rusty went zooming out of the hospital parking lot, all speed and not a lick of caution. Derek held onto me tight, laughing at the way Rusty took the speed bumps—like the suspension in Ernesto’s car was made of the strongest stuff on earth.
“I know what?” I asked when we finally made it out onto the highway.
Derek blushed, looking away. “I was just thinking when we get back…I might be kind of curious to see that ring you were telling me about…”
“Yeah?” I grinned like an idiot—the luckiest damn idiot in the entire universe. “That…could be arranged.”
31
Derek
It took about a week to get Kaleb walking from room to room back at Harper and Nick’s—although if Kaleb had been given any say in the matter, it would have been much sooner. We’d already made one additional trip to Arlington General since returning to Fort Greene to get a sling for Kaleb’s arm and a new set of stitches put in. His insistence on doing everything for himself was as obnoxious as it was endearing.
Even at his most beaten, broken and bruised, you couldn’t keep a man like Kaleb down for long. His injuries hadn’t caused his interest in the investigation to wane yet. If anything, he was even more determined than ever to pin down every last detail of this conspiracy—because now, it was more than just personal. Twice now, armed gunmen had come after the King boys and their Omegas—not to mention the circumstances surrounding Josh’s murder. We were on the radar of the people who had orchestrated this entire affair in a big way. We had every reason to believe that now more than ever, stopping them was a matter of life and death.
For all of us.
Unfortunately, the two men the police had taken into custody that night at Randy Argent’s house hadn’t talked—at least, as far as we knew. We hadn’t heard anything about Randy either, except for a tip from Ernesto’s Reno contact that suggested he’d been moved. Ernesto figured it was probably the Feds who’d taken him somewhere safe. We could only hope that was the truth.
I came out into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying a massive pot of chili while Nick followed me in with bowls and spoons. As Kaleb caught my eye, I beamed with pride. It was my first official solo cooking endeavor—and in my less-than-expert opinion, it’d turned out pretty good. With a little guidance from Nick and some questionable suggestions from Harper and Rusty, I was finding that cooking didn’t have to be all that difficult. I probably wasn’t going to go trying to open the dark beer that I’d deglazed the pot with using my teeth like Rusty had—or add in any Carolina Reapers like Harper had wanted—but Nick’s seasoning recipe had proved to be too good to fail.
“So. We’ve got a list of congresspeople who’ve been lobbied by Bicroft Pharmaceuticals and who were also supported by AFF,” Harper announced, beaming with pride and wrapping his arm around Nick as he passed.
Harper’s mood seemed to have picked up ever since Kaleb had arrived back from Reno wounded as well, as ridiculous as that was. Normally, I’d raise an eyebrow at how pleased Harper seemed to be that his brother had been injured too, but now I was beginning to suspect that his grumpiness might have had something to do with pride. The King boys were insane like that—fiercely competitive, even when it came to who’d ended up with worse gunshot wounds.
“That’s not all that long of a list,” Rusty said, glancing over the paper Harper had laid out onto the table. Kaleb and I had given him as good of a rundown on the case so far as we could during the ride back—when we weren’t making out in the back seat, anyway. Harper and Nick had filled in the rest as soon as we brought our bags inside. He’d taken to the case quicker than any of us had expected—especially Harper, who was always the first to remind Rusty that just a few months ago, Rusty hadn’t wanted to touch this thing for all the money in the world.
“Six whole names.” Kaleb whistled. “One or all of them could be behind this. Christ—one of them’s even been suspected of murder before.”
“Politicians,” Nick said with an eye roll, setting the table around the King men as I placed the pot in the table’s center. “It’s a wonder that most of them haven’t been charged with murder, given some of the shit they try to pass through congress.”
Kaleb’s comment left Rusty’s brow knitted in thought, though.
“Let me see that again,” he said, grabbing the list up in his hands and reading over it again. “Who’s the murder guy? Brent Rasner?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” Harper reached for the chili ladle, heaping his bowl to the brim. “This looks great, Derek. Smells incredible, too.”
“I’m not complaining,” Kaleb agreed, shooting me a proud smile. “Thank god for you and your new cooking chops, sunshine. Was pretty sure that if I kept ruining Nick’s and Ernesto’s cookware, they were both going to ban me from their premises for good.”
But Rusty was still staring at the list, the furrow in his brow deepening by the minute. He rubbed his jaw, then placed the paper back down on the table. “Well, shit.”
“Something wrong, Rust?” Kaleb asked.
“Ah, it’s just…I had a close call with Rasner several years back then, I guess.”
Harper snorted. “Didn’t realize Congressman Rasner was into MMA. He try to KO you or something?”
“Jesus—I wish it had been in the ring. But if he’s capable of murder—and I’d believe it—I’m probably lucky I’ve still got my kneecaps and the back of my skull.”
Nick raised an eyebrow. “I guess pissing off powerful public figures is something of a King family trait at this point, huh?”
“Maybe so,” Rusty allowed. “But if we wanted to get some dirt on him…I might have a connection we could leverage.”
“Really?” Kaleb reached across the table to serve himself some chili, looking surprised. “Who’ve you been rubbing elbows with in Rasner’s court, Rust? Call ‘em up. Let’s hear what they’ve got to say.”
“Ah…well, it’s gonna be kinda tough to get them to cooperate, honestly. They’re not exactly a fan of Rasner either, but…”
“Oh, come on, Rusty, who’s your source? We’re all dyin’ over here. Spill.”
Rusty rubbed the back of his neck, looking bashful for the first time since I’d met him. “I, uh, might’ve had a bit of a fling with Rasner’s Omega son, Daniel, a while back. Didn’t exactly go well.”
“Big surprise there,” Harper mumbled under his breath.
“Brent finally ended up running me off and, well, long story short…” Rusty sighed. “I ever mention to any of you that I’ve got a son?”
Kaleb and Harper, both having taken mouthfuls of chili at exactly the wrong time, choked simultaneously.
“You what?” Harper coughed.
“A son?”
“Congressman Rasner’s grandson, actually,” Rusty said, grabbing for the chili ladle and avoiding meeting anyone’s eyes. “So, uh, there’s that.”
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Heated Conspiracies
Kings Of Fort Greene: Book 2
Aiden Bates
© 2019
Disclaimer
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bsp; All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are all fictitious for the reader’s pleasure. Any similarities to real people, places, events, living or dead are all coincidental.
This book contains sexually explicit content that is intended for ADULTS ONLY (+18).
