GRAVE
ISTAND INSIDE Roses the morning after the fight at Kingdom. The purple-haired girl is stationed behind the counter, dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a shirt that readsprick mewith a rose graphic, its stem bristling with thorns.It’s adorable.
“I hope you like it,” she says nervously.
“I have no doubt.”
She gives me a small smile before she slips through the side door behind the front counter. While I wait for her to return, I head back to the office. I smirk when I see the kid exiting the office. He sees me and immediately turns his back to me, ready to run away.
“Come here,” I order him.
He stops and turns to face me with a look of annoyance on his face.
“Does she know?”
He shakes his head before dropping his gaze to his feet.
“I don’t want to see you there again.”
That gets his attention. “But I?—”
“I don’t give a fuck! If I see you at Kingdom again, I will throw you out on your ass.AfterI beat the shit out of it.” Kingdom is no place for young kids like him. It was built for adults, for men with more money than God and nothing better to do than burn it. He doesn’t fit those qualifications in any way.
Sure, we have our customers who get a room for the night, but our hotel is just a front. The real money flows through our event center and the Queens service that Titan runs. Nothing good will come from him hanging around up there.
He opens his mouth to argue again, but April walks out of the cooler. With a roll of his eyes, he zips into the office before she sees him. I’m not sure who he is to her. He could be a brother, or she could be doing charity work by giving him a job here. Doesn’t matter. He was there to fight last night, but he won’t be doing it again.
“Here you go.”
I take the arrangement from her hands. “Wow,” I say, looking it over. The pretty butterfly vase holds five varieties of flowers in multiple colors.
“I hope she likes it,” she says to me, and I swallow nervously.
What the fuck are you doing, Grave?“She’s going to love it,” I tell her, hoping she doesn’t notice my forced smile.
Her ice-blue eyes peer up at me. They’re lined in black again today. Her purple hair has one braid down the middle, and it’s all pulled up into one big messy bun at the top of her head. Around her delicate neck, she wears two chokers—a black one with a silver heart in the middle and a solid purple one. She looks like a walking, talking wet dream that I want to drown in.
My gaze drops to her lips, lined in the color that matches her hair, as the bell above the door announces someone has entered.
“Grave,” Cross’s voice snaps. “What is taking so fucking long?”
He comes up beside me and looks down at her. “Oh,” he says as a smile slides across his face. “Now I understand.”
I elbow him in the ribs, and he makes anoofnoise before extending his right hand to her. “Cross. Nice to meet you.”
She smiles and shakes his hand. “April.”
It just became my favorite month of the year.
He turns to face me with a stupid grin on his face. “We need to go, man. Your brother is blowing up my phone.” His eyes drop to the flowers in my hand. “Who are those for?”
“They’re for his mother’s birthday,” she answers for me.
Cross’s brows raise to his hairline, and he looks from her to me with confusion.
“I’ll be right out,” I say tightly, silently telling him to fucking leave.
He gives me a look that I don’t care to decipher, then pats the countertop. “Nice to meet you.” Then he exits.
