“Derek …”
“He’s a King, Alexa,” he growls in my face. “Connected to the Mafia. He can’t be trusted. None of them can. Didn’t you learn your lesson when April started dating Grave?”
He doesn’t know that April lost their baby. I haven’t had a chance to tell him, and honestly, it’s none of his business. “You don’t know anything about them,” I point out.
“Neither do you,” he fires back. “They’re fucking criminals.”
I roll my eyes. “They’re not—”
“And not to mention druggies,” he interrupts me.
It just pisses me off that he judges them. “Oh, just like your friend Ethan.” Derek and I grew up with April and her brother. He was never as close to Ethan as I am April because Ethan was quite a bit younger than us. But they’re still friends.
He purses his lips. “No, he isn’t.”
Derek either doesn’t know Ethan like he thinks he does, or he’s a good liar. “Yes, he is. He was over at April and Grave’s the other night fucked up. Cross dragged him in. April was crying when she found out.”
He shakes his head, not believing it. “Well, if he is, Grave got him started. Hell, he’s probably his dealer. That piece of shit …”
I slap him across his face, cutting him off. He stands there glaring down at me stunned. “Don’t you accuse Grave of that. Ethan is responsible for his own actions!” I scream, my blood pressure rising with each second.
“You’re going to do this. Pick them over me?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“It’s business,” I snap. “Not a competition.” Derek has always been happy with where he’s at in life—single with no ambition—but I want more. I want what Jasmine strives to have. A career. A woman can do more than lie on her back and push out kids. We just have to work harder, and I’m not afraid to do that. Men like my brother and Ethan hold us back. They make it harder than it has to be.
“If you do this.” He points at the closed door of the cooler. “If you go into business with them, I quit,” he threatens.
No one will give me an ultimatum. “It’s a done deal, Derek.”
“Alexa …”
“The papers have been signed,” I clarify, letting him know it’s too late. Not like I’d change my mind anyway.
“Fine.” He spins around and storms out. I follow him, but he exits the bar just as fast as he did the cooler.
“Are you okay?” Jasmine asks me.
I nod my head, but my heart is heavy. I never can win with Derek. He’s always making my life about him. It’s a never-ending battle that I’m tired of fighting.
“Anything I can do?” Bones asks me.
My eyes meet his, surprised by that question. “You’re offering to help me do what exactly?” If he’s as bad as Derek seems to believe, then that could be endless possibilities. I’m not discrediting my brother’s concern for the Kings, but I trust Jasmine. If she says they’re okay, then I believe her. She’s known them all of her life while my brother only knows what he’s heard.
Bones crosses his tatted arms over his chest, lifting his chin just a bit. “I’m asking if there’s a problem that needs to be solved regarding the business.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I handled it. He quit.”
He nods, satisfied with that answer, and a silence falls over the bar before Bones speaks again. “You ready to close up?”
I nod. “Yeah. Everything is done for the night.”
He stands. “Come on. I’ll walk you ladies to your cars.”
I look at the front door my brother just stormed out of and think of my next step. It’s been on my mind ever since I signed the papers for Kink in New York. I want more, and I know what I must do in order to get it.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ALEXA
