“Son of a bitch.” Grave growls, shoving the door open and stepping into the hallway outside of the Mason brother’s office.
“Who is he talking about?” I ask, following him. Nite is on my ass as well.
“Fucking Ethan,” he snaps over his shoulder before coming to a stop and turning to face Nite and me. “Can I ride with you?” he asks Nite. “I need to run by somewhere.”
Nite nods once and pulls his keys out of his pocket.
“I can take you,” I offer.
Grave waves me off, and I look at Nite. “Text me if you need me.”
Nite walks off, trying to keep up with Grave when I hang back and pull out my cell to check it. Still nothing from Alexa. Deciding I’ll make my move, I pocket my phone and head toward the parking garage. I’m almost to my car when I hear my name being called out behind me.
“Cross?”
I turn around and let out a sigh when I see Rachel running after me. Giving her my back, I say, “I have somewhere to be.”
“Hey?” She grabs my shoulder and spins me around to face her. “That was nothing. He’s nothing,” she rushes out, licking her lips. Her once dark red lipstick now rubbed off due to her kissing Mitch back in Mason’s office.
I’m not sure why she cares what I saw. It doesn’t change anything between us. “It’s fine. You can fuck whoever you want.”
She flinches and lets out a deep breath from running to catch up with me. “I just wanted you to know that … he …”
“Mitch.” I say his name, and her light brown eyes widen as if I wouldn’t know him. A part of being a King is knowing everyone.
She crosses her arms over her small chest. “I just want you to know that this won’t affect my ability at the shop.”
I nod. Ah, I get it. She doesn’t want to get fired. Rachel here works for me at my tattoo shop inside of Kingdom. I started fucking her not long after I hired her. “You’re fine.” I dismiss her and get into my car, having somewhere to be too.
ALEXA
A LITTLE AFTERone a.m., I’m standing behind the register, closing out a tab, when I look up to see Cross sitting at the bar.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” I ask, looking around to see if he’s alone, which he is. No other King in sight.
“Came to see you.” His green eyes drop to my chest, and he licks his lips.
My thighs tighten, and my heart instantly picks up. I look away from him, biting my lip. “And why would you do that?” I haven’t messaged him today because I didn’t want him to think that I thought last night was more than it was. I’m a big girl and understand what a one-night stand is. Last night wasn’t my first rodeo in that department. I’m twenty-two, not sixteen.
“I think you can guess why,” he replies.
My eyes snap back to his, and he leans forward. Placing his tatted forearms on the bar top, I remind him, “We said one night.” I lie because I’m not really sure what all was said last night, but it’s worth a try.
He slowly shakes his head, the corner of his lips turning up into a soft yet very heart-stopping smile. “I don’t remember making that promise.”
My wet pussy reminds me that it wants a replay while my mind says back the fuck up and say hell no. A King is the last thing I need to get addicted to. Especially one who promised his best friend he wouldn’t. “Well, we did.” I close the register and walk over to the other end, placing Jake’s change in front of him. “Do you need me to call you an Uber?” I ask the old man.
Lucky’s isn’t a hip bar, if you know what I mean. I took it over last year. Lucky was a friend of my mother’s, and when he passed, he left it to me. He had no kids and no siblings. I had my first job here when I was sixteen. It was just my brother and me with my mother, and we fell on hard times. He hired me and paid me cash under the table—because of my age—to pick up after everyone. I had dreams to go to college and do something else with my life, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love what I do now.
“No, I’m good,” he answers through a cough. “My friend is coming to get me.”
I smile at him. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Then I lift the bar at the end and walk down the hallway to my office. I instantly spin around when I hear someone enter behind me. Cross is shutting the door. “What are you doing?”
“You,” he says matter-of-factly.
“I’m working,” I answer, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach and give him my back. I don’t have time to become Cross’s little fuck toy, no matter how much I want that. This is the very reason I avoided messaging him today. What was I going to say? Hey, let’s fuck? Or hey, thanks for last night? It was going to be awkward no matter what I chose to say. So, I just didn’t. I never thought he’d show up here.
