He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other.
“Anyway, back to the story now. While Roger, Lucius, and Damian blew their money on hookers and drugs, I saved it. I saved everything I could. I became friends with everyone I knew would last long and gave surface attention to those I knew wouldn’t. I slowly built an empire. Bit by bit. Relationship by relationship.”
He chuckled again. God, King loved himself some King.
“The funny thing about building an empire like this is that you can work on it for ten years, and you feel like you’re doing nothing, and then in the span of ten days, everything crumbles, and you’re left as…King.”
He shrugged and smiled.
“See, in that ten-day period, the three of them had a falling out. Hard. Not like you see where men fight and shake hands after. Even I don’t know what the falling out was over, though I suspect it had something to do with spoils and responsibilities and the usual shit men lose their cool over. In any case, Roger and Lucius took their fight to California. Damian remained. I requested to be made co-president. When he refused, I bluffed. I told him I had the means to take him down. I postured enough that he believed me and came down to Phoenix. In reality, I wasn’t ready, but times have changed, especially when you let an entire generation of men cycle through.”
He stroked his chin, got a shit-eating grin, and stared right at the two of us, one after the other.
“With Damian out of the way, I was able to grow without restraint in Las Vegas. And the thing about growth is that you don’t do it the way the Reapers or the Patriots have done it. You do it with goodwill, political capital, and relationships. And now, I control an array of forces far beyond the MCs.”
“And what the fuck does this have to do with Sam or Corey?” Hailey said, shaking.
“Ah, right, that,” King said. “You see, Sam is the son of Damian. Corey is Sam’s sergeant-at-arms. Put in simple terms, he’s the right-hand killer of Sam. You don’t need such a role if your goal is simply to exist in the town of Phoenix. You need that role if you’re planning on inflicting mayhem. It was only a matter of time before the Patriots started to inflict harm—the Reapers certainly already have.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“Look up ‘Black Reapers Springsville’ on your phone. Go ahead. You can try and text the guys while you do that, but it’s not like you won’t reveal any information already.”
I refused to do that. Hailey wasn’t quite as stubborn, though, and judging by the look on her face, I could see her concern.
But I could also see her concern melting away. If anyone understood the risks of being misrepresented in media, it was her. She knew the games played, the angles taken, the actual news thrown out in favor of money and attention. If she believed the Reapers and Patriots were good guys—as I certainly did with Corey now—then I did too.
“You see, I knew that Roger and Lucius would eventually kill each other, though I have to admit I didn’t foresee Roger’s kids rising up and killing Lucius. I definitely didn’t foresee them going to fucking New Mexico and building a new club there.”
It was the first time in the entire “conversation” that I’d heard King crack. He said “fucking” like the swear that it was.
“And so now a new generation of trouble has arisen. One that is not that far behind me, but one that nevertheless threatens order and control in the Southwest. Look at you two. You have fallen for men that cannot control themselves and will inflict heartache upon the world.”
And then he looked right at me, no longer just casually bouncing his gaze between the two of us.
“As a matter of fact, Melissa, I believe that has already happened to you. What happened, in your own words, when you told Corey it was off?”
“That’s none of your business, and even if it was, he’s a changed man.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” King said with a smirk. “If he was a changed man, don’t you think you wouldn’t have complained bitterly about him before I showed up?”
It was so fucking unsettling how he kneweverything.Like, I couldn’t think of anything he’d overlooked. If anything, we were learning from him.
“Perhaps you two will find love ever after. Perhaps I will be wrong. I certainly did not expect the offspring of Roger and Lucius to find love, and I certainly didn’t expect the son of Damian to get married and then fall in love with a journalist. Perhaps, if I had a weakness, I could say it is love. Though that has certainly not precluded me from having a son that will someday be even stronger and better than me.”
A gunshot went off just outside the door. Hailey and I instinctively hit the floor. When I glanced up, King had not even flinched. He looked like he’d expected this moment this whole time; the noise startled him as much as a dog’s bark from a neighbor who’d had the same pet for a decade.
“Well, as enjoyable as this has been, the time has come for me to depart,” he said.
He turned around, blew a fucking kiss at the corner of the apartment where the camera presumably was, and turned around to us.
“Don’t try and remove what’s there unless you’re prepared to have security there all the time,” he said.
It was the second time he sounded angry in the meeting. I obviously only saw a glimmer of it, but I got enough of a hint of it that I didn’t want to see his full anger. I suspected he acted so cool and calm precisely because if he got angry, there was nothing that could keep it on track, nothing that could keep it in place.
“And for your own safety, I wouldn’t leave this apartment until I return,” he said. “Corey and Sam will be here eventually. The only question is if you’ll see them alive or dead.”
He raised his eyebrows, chuckled, and walked outside into the gunfire like it was nothing. Which to him, maybe it was.
But to us, we were now left alone with nothing but our anxiety and fear at what the fuck had just happened.
