Beckett took a step towards me. “If you haven’t already fallen for her, then why are you defending her?”
“I’m defending my practices,” I snarled. “Ourpractices.Myorders. Are we not taking pussy as payment anymore? Is that a new rule now that Jack and Greyson have married their fucking addictions? Because if so, maybe you should talk to your damn brother about how he runs us, seeing as howheordered this.”
Evelyn and Zo looked over at that, Evelyn’s brows lifted.“Please do not tell me we’re going to outlaw that. It’s the best part about this job.”
Becks watched her for a moment before turning back to me. “Drop her. Get rid of her.”
I straightened my spine, my hands clenched at my sides. “No. Not unless you can give me a good reason why you want her gone. Why her and not the dozen before her.”
A muscle in his jaw feathered, but he didn’t respond. He only looked fuming. Angry. Filled with rage.
“It’s because she’s going to die,” Azrael finally said, pulling every eye to him.
My brows furrowed at his confession. “What?”
He shrugged, toying with the tip of his cane, one ankle resting on his knee. “Times are changing, dear sweet mountain-boy,” he hummed. “People are growing hearts where once rested only stone, and it all started with the dear sweet little daffodil Jack-boy plucked from the field.”
Jack’s eyes hardened, but he didn’t say a word, he didn’t have to. Unlike Emily, Rae could hold her own just fine, and we all knew it. Taking cheap shots like that was a good way to get you on her bad list though, although, out of all of us, she and Azrael had always had a sort of comradery that just didn’t make sense to me.
“Now dear little Greyson is getting married to a prose of words wrapped in pleated plaid skirt, and you have found yourself a prickly rose. And while they have lasted longer in this life than I thought they would, your rose might be the first of them to die. But that’s not the only thing,” he went on, dropping his foot and standing, Poppy mirroring his movements exactly. “What the problem truly is lies in your plans for our future, dear heir. Beckett is right. How will you carry on in this life you live if we are all teaching, grooming, molding mini-me’s for the future?”
I frowned. I hadn’t wanted that to be talked about yet. Wecouldn’t ‘get it started’ without Malachi’s approval, and now wasn’t the time to go over it. I was going to wait years to bring it up. Years.
I rolled my eyes and straightened. “I don’t give a fuck what change of hearts you people had, the Kingsmen’s are mine and Malachi’s gig. If he doesn’t give a shit, neither do I.” My eyes found our so-called ‘father’.
Malachi continued to sit in silence, watching me carefully, his eyes filled with decisions, thoughts, ideas, that we would never know.
After a few seconds, he finally stood, dusted his hat off, and picked up his coat from the back of the couch, folding it over his arm. “This meeting was a waste of time. Carry on with your jobs, Everett, we shall talk about the future of this business in private at a later date. I’d like to know more about this college you wish to open up.”
Great.
I watched after him until he left the room before turning back to Beckett, who looked as if a dog just shit on his shoes. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to back off. There is a reason Malachi Kingsmen doesn’t have a brother.”
He shook his head, clear disappointment in his eyes. “It’s a mistake.” With that, he headed for the door.
I sneered, rolling my eyes. “Waste of my time,” I muttered, heading for the door myself. It was all bullshit. This was just another deal, another debt. Why was Olivia Lemont such a big deal to Beckett? Did he and her father do work together?
I didn’t know everything about his life, every deal he made, or secret he kept, but this? If it had to do with her, I felt I was owed an explanation. Dropping things without reason wasn’t in my genetic makeup. It never would be.
“What are you going to do, Ev?” Evelyn asked, joining my side.
I flexed my hands, my knuckles popping. “I need to let offsome steam. Find me a customer that hasn’t paid us. Now.”
“You’re not going to drop her?”
“She’s my toy, whether Beckett likes it or not. I’ll use her as I see fit. For however long I think is necessary.” My little writer would never escape me, not even in her nightmares. I would make sure of it.
~~~
I pushed open her bedroom door just before midnight, Lucy looking up from where she lay at the end of her bed.
I gestured for her to get off as I made my way over to the bed, taking in Olivia’s sleeping form.
She had kicked her blankets nearly all the way off, her hair in a messy bun, wild and unruly, her light pink tank-top had come away from her right tit, exposing her pebbled nipple to the light streaming in from the doorway.
I still had blood splattered across my clothes from the last customer Evelyn had brought in for me. Five since we leftThe Alibi. It still wasn’t enough. I was still angry, still frustrated with Beckett’s little meeting.
The only rational explanation I had for his actions was that he wanted her too. He wanted a taste of the pussy I had procured working as Everett Kingsmen. Too bad for him, this debt was mine. Even thinking about the fact that they wanted her made my blood boil. They had so many chances to take their payments in pussy too, they didn’t need to take mine.
