He’d started to beat the shit out of the man beneath him who was still conscious and doing his best to fend off Rook’s fist but he wasn’t doing too much.
Another bodyguard ran up and I hit him too, the two of us circling each other while two other guards grabbed Rook and jerked him back. I scanned the room quickly. I saw Knight and King heading toward us and shit seemed to move in slow motion when the dude Rook had been fighting reached back for his gun. I went to reach back for mine and slipped my safety off as I drew it but a shot went off before I could even aim for real.
One shot to the head sent the man back to the ground and screaming echoed throughout the mansion. Everybody took off running. The guard near me headed toward the newly dead body and I rushed toward my twin, grabbed him by his shoulder and spun him around.
King and Knight had headed away from us and were shielding Xavia, their bodyguards shielding them.
I slipped through the crowd with Rook right behind me for only a few steps before I felt him shift and I looked back and paused. He’d been snatched back and was on the ground, rolled on his back. A man in all black pulled a gun and I aimed my own at his head.
“Drop it,” I instructed. “Right now.”
“You’re not in any position to make demands.” The man answered me without taking his eyes off Rook.
“Bishop!” Rook yelled my name but was a second too slow.
I felt the barrel of a gun get pressed to the back of my head and clenched my jaw. I closed my eyes and did my best to run through every possibility I needed to. I didn’t move to lower my gun though. I stayed perfectly still.
All around us people were still rushing for the exit. It didn’t take long for the place to clear out.
Once it did, a few other men gathered around us. They got Rook to his feet and King, Xavia, and Knight were led over to us at gunpoint, our security right behind them, their own guns in their hands in case shit went left. I knew that King must have given them the order to stand down until further notice and that shit made it clear that there wouldn’t be a shootout.
I yanked my eyes from the guard I’d been aiming at when I heard someone closing in on us and I was shocked when it was a woman, a tall one with locs that went midway down her back in a floor length white dress that was hugging her body. She was accompanied by another woman, just as tall and in a knee-length black dress and tall ass heels.
The two of them walked over and sized Rook up.
It was obvious the one in white was the person whose wedding party we’d just ruined and she walked over and slapped the taste out of Rook’s mouth.
He clenched his jaw and chuckled darkly.
I looked around quickly for an exit strategy in case it came down to it.
“You killed my fucking husband!” The woman screamed and I looked over at her.
“So, what? You want to be paid off? You want to go to war? You want a life for a life? What do you want?” King asked.
The woman scoffed. “I want my fucking husband back.”
“Look, your husband stepped to me, not the other way around, and I did what I had to do. He reached for his gun and I laid him down. You know how this shit goes. Don’t reach for itunless you’re ready to use it. That’s the rule. That’s what I based my choice off of. If it was his life or mine, I’m gon’ pick me every time,” Rook said simply.
“He wouldn’t do that.” The bride sniffed.
“Pull the cameras and call the head of his family. We’ll wait,” King instructed.
“You’ll wait?” The woman beside the bride looked King up and down. “You didn’t have a choice.”
He chuckled. “I always have a choice. I promise you that.” King walked forward to the women like there weren’t guns aimed at our fucking heads. “King Barron,” he offered and stuck his hand out.
“Flora,” the woman introduced herself and shook King’s hand. “This is my younger sister, Winnie.” She gestured to the woman in the wedding dress. “It’s her husband that you just killed on their wedding day.”
“Condolences.”
“You don’t really sound sorry,” Winnie snapped.
“And you don’t actually sound sad.” King placed a smile on his face.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know that the cameras haven’t been pulled and your husband’s next of kin isn’t present. If you don’t want to have a sit down and negotiate what you think your husband’s life was worth, tell me what you already have in mind.”
