ROME
“I’m riding with you,” Carson says as he walks into my office. I’ve just slipped two guns in their holsters under my jacket, and I’m putting throwing knives on my belt.
“Why?”
“Because I was in the neighborhood anyway, and I wanted a drink, so I stopped by the bar.”
“You mean, you were at your casino next door and decided to come over here to bum free liquor off me when you have plenty of your own bars to drink at?”
Carson owns King of Spades, and our buildings are connected via a sky bridge, which is convenient for our businesses.
“I paid for my whiskey, thank you very much. Cheap asshole.”
I grab my long-range rifle just in case I need it and turn to Carson. “Where are yourweapons?”
He holds his hands up and smirks. “Got everything I need right here.”
“Okay, badass, let’s go.”
Luke’s waiting outside the office for me along with Spider, Carson’s second-in-command, and they walk right behind us as we make our way through the back doors to the alleyway, where my SUV is waiting.
“So you have a sexy new bartender,” Carson says as he climbs into the back seat with me. “She’s …feisty.”
“I’ll kill you,” I say, and he bursts out laughing, but when I don’t smile back, he sobers.
“You interested in her?”
I turn to look at him and don’t reply.
“But you don’t hook up with employees,” he goes on, and I notice Luke flicks me a look in the rearview mirror. “What’s so special about this one?”
“A man can’t change his mind?”
“Youneverchange your mind.” Carson shakes his head. “You’ve got the hardest head out of all of us. So the pussy must be thermonuclear?—”
“Want a bullet to the brain?” I look at him again.
Carson sobers and then nods. “It’s like that.”
“It’s like that. Now what the fuck is happening in LA that requires our attention tonight?”
“I’m assuming Julian will let us in on that when we get on the plane.”
We never ask questions. If one of the four of us needs help, we simply go. Between us, we run this city. On the street, we’re called the Kings of Vegas. But among us, we’re simply brothers.
Not by DNA.
But absolutely by blood.
We’ve shed enough blood for each other, that we’ve bonded in ways that we can never get out of. Not that we’d ever want to.
We each have our own businesses. I have the sex club, but I also deal with dirty money. Julian is the diamond guy. Mateo runs drugs and guns. And Carson owns casinos, which is a great front for more money laundering and pretty much everything else he can get his hands on.
His preferred job? Carson is an assassin.
He’s a bad motherfucker. Then again, no one wants to cross any of us, so I’m interested to find out what’s going on tonight.
Luke and Spider climb out of the car first, and when they give the all clear, we follow suit and board the plane. Julian and Mateo, along with their men, are already here.
