Letting go of my hand, she enters, and I wait a beat before doing so myself. I’m not going to stand out here forever. If they figure it out, then they figure it out.
Ten heads turn to look at me. “Made it!” I throw my hands up.
Bones stands, leaning up against the counter to the far right with his tatted arms crossed over his chest. Titan stands next to him, legs spread while Emilee stands between them with her back to his front. His arms around her shoulders. Grave sits on the black leather table, his legs dangling over the edge in nothing but a pair of black shorts that reads KINGDOM in gold letters on the waistband. April stands next to him. Alexa is beside her. She avoids looking at me directly while pretending to read something on her phone. A thought crosses my mind that it’s that fucker, Mitch. I have yet to ask her about him. I’m afraid she’d take it the wrong way because women always overthink shit. And when you start asking about exes, they think you’re considering a future with them. Case in point—what just happened on the elevator.
Jasmine sits on the counter next to Bones, and Nite stands leaning up against the far wall. Luca and his wife, Haven, stand to the left of him. All conversations come to an abrupt stop, making me feel like I interrupted something. I’ll ask Alexa later if they did the same thing when she entered.
“About time,” Titan announces.
“Yeah, well, I was a little busy.”
Grave snorts. “I hope you weren’t fucking that assistant of yours.”
Alexa’s head snaps up, and her eyes land on mine. I don’t say anything to that, but I do see that Titan notices Alexa’s gaze burning a hole in me, confirming what he was already guessing. We haven’t had the Rachel speech. She’s never asked, and I’ve never offered any information on her.
“Your assistant at Tit for Tat?” Emilee is the one who speaks. “She was very rude to me that one time I was looking for you.” She crosses her arms over her chest at that memory when she was trying to find the Palace suite. “She acted like I was going to fuck you right then and there in your shop when I just needed help finding Titan.”
I watch Jasmine tense. She and April both know about Alexa and me. So, they think I’m fucking both of them. Why do I want to correct them? Biting my tongue, I decide now is not the time. I need to tell Grave first and not in front of everyone. After his fight, I’ll get him alone and fill him in.
Grave adds, “Yeah, Rachel’s had a thing for him ever since Cross hired her.” He shakes his head with a laugh. “I told him not to fuck her, but he couldn’t resist.”
Fuck!
Titan’s eyes go back and forth between Alexa and me, but she’s no longer looking at me. Her eyes are back down on her cell, and she’s typing away. It better not be to fucking Mitch.
“Grave …” April stands in front of him, patting his legs. “It’s none of our business who Cross gets with.”
He just laughs as she tries to divert the conversation.
“I’m not sleeping with her,” I add quickly, watching to see how Alexa reacts. Nothing. Her eyes stayed glued to her phone.
“Maybe not right this very second.” Grave snorts.
Emilee smiles. “I hope you fired her then.”
Nope. But it’s on my list of things to do now. She’s been acting weird ever since I told her I didn’t give a fuck who she slept with. And then add the fact that she saw me with Alexa. Rachel has left me alone, but she still seems to linger around the shop after her shift is over. The other day, I caught her standing behind me, silently reading my text over my shoulder. I think she thought she’d get a glimpse of a text between Alexa and me, but I was talking to Titan. Should have fired her right then and there, but I was in a hurry to get out of there to meet up with Alexa. I was running late.
The door behind me opens, and a man speaks. “You’ve got five minutes, Grave.”
April pats his thigh. “We’re going to go take our seats. Be careful, okay?”
He reaches out, sliding his hand into her purple hair, and leans forward, kissing her. “Always,” he tells her when he pulls away.
ALEXA
I WALK OUT of the room with the girls while the guys stay behind to be with Grave before he fights. I try to smooth my hair without the girls noticing that Cross’s hands were in it just minutes ago. My legs still shake, and my thong is now wet. I didn’t get a chance to clean up, and I hate that. I’m going to have to sneak away to the restroom shortly.
My hand tightens on the railing as I try to walk down the stairs in my heels. The place is crawling with people. Kingdom has one of the largest convention centers in Las Vegas with over ten thousand seats, and it’s a packed house tonight. They currently have the lights turned down low, making it already hard to see while “New Kings” by Sleeping Wolf blares through the speakers.
April is walking in front of me. She slows to meet my pace and whispers in my ear, “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.” I dismiss her. Cross can sleep with whoever he wants. We never said it was exclusive. Hell, it was never supposed to be more than once. By the way that Rachel acted the first time I saw her at Tit for Tat, I knew they had something going on. Maybe not right then, but they definitely had a past.
“Hey.” She brings me to a stop, and the rest of the girls keep walking. “I know you, and you don’t do one-night stands. You don’t do hookups.”
I place my hands on her shoulders. “Thanks for worrying about me, April. But I’m fine. I promise. Cross and I are just hooking up. There is nothing else there.” I shrug. “If he wants to fuck someone else, then I can too.” I can’t say I’m lying, but the thought of him also fucking Rachel makes me sick to my stomach. Just because of who she is.
She bites her purple-painted lip and then wraps her arms around my shoulder before we descend the rest of the stairs.
I didn’t expect Cross to be a virgin, but I do expect honesty. So, maybe we just need to sit down and go over some guidelines. If we decide to continue this.
The girls and I make it down to our front row seats and sit right behind the ring card girls. The lights shut off completely, bathing us in darkness. So much for using the restroom. It’ll just have to wait. The lights start blinking, making it hard to focus on anything. The crowd is whooping and hollering as “King of the World” by WAR HALL begins to play.
They announce Grave’s opponent, and everyone boos him. When Grave starts coming down the aisle, the crowd’s noise is so loud, you can’t hear yourself think. I lift my hands, placing them over my ears. He enters the ring as the rest of the Kings stand next to it, watching and coaching him on.
The girls and I jump to our feet, watching intently. Jasmine stands to my right, her elbow linked through mine. I can feel pins and needles on my skin as I watch Grave block a hit and serve his own. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous. April stands to my left. I feel her hand curl around my forearm, and her nails dig into my skin.
“He’s going to be okay!” I shout over the crowd, trying to calm her even though I know it won’t do any good.
Grave gets hit and stumbles back a few feet. Her nails dig even deeper, and I hiss in a breath. “April, he’s …” I look over at her, and my breath catches. She’s bent over. Her dark purple hair shielding her face from me, but I know something’s wrong. “April?” I shout, bending over as well. The process pulls my arm free from Jasmine. “April? You okay?” I ask, pulling her hair away from her face.