As she’s pouring us both a shot, I send a quick text to Emilee.
CROSS
I’M SITTING BEHIND my desk the following morning when I hear a knock on the door. “Come in,” I growl, hoping it’s not Bones. I’m not in the mood to do shit today.
The door opens, and I look up to see Alexa is back. She softly closes the door behind her and comes to stand in front of my desk. I’m surprised to see her here. Again. After what was said yesterday. I’ve wanted to call her a hundred times but refrained. Not sure what to say or how to say it. “Have a seat,” I offer at her silence.
She steps forward and sits down in the empty chair across from my desk, crossing one leg over the other and pushing her hair behind her ear. She’s nervous.
“What do you need, Alexa?” I ask, my eyes falling to the manila envelope in her lap. Wonder what’s in it?
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for snapping at you yesterday.” She runs her hands over the envelope. “I heard rumors and figured there were some truths to them. I just hated that Derek was right.”
Derek was right? Just what does her brother know? I already don’t like the guy. He’s a punk-ass bitch if you ask me. But I won’t tell her that because I’m pretty sure she already knows. So, I just stare at her.
“Anyway, I wanted to come up here. I just spoke to Bones and quit Glass. Do you still have an opening at the club?”
“Of course.” I want to fist pump the air right now but refrain from looking like a jealous bitch. I wasn’t going to let her work at Glass, no matter what she said. But I’m glad she made that decision on her own. Things would have been awkward when I stepped in to destroy that job for her.
“Lucky’s is going to be open through Sunday and then shut down for the remodel. I’ll start here at Kingdom on Monday if that’s okay with you?”
I nod. “Absolutely.”
She stands, taking the envelope into her hands. “Thank you.” And without another word, she turns, and I let her walk out of my office, knowing that more needed to be said.
My door opens, and I smile, expecting it to be her coming back, but it falls when it’s just Titan. “What?”
He closes my door. “We’ve got a problem.”
Of course, we do. “What is it?”
“The man Bones carved open?” he questions.
“Yeah, what about him?” We didn’t find any more diamonds in his body or in his car parked at Glass. He only had six on him, meaning we are still missing six. We did, however, return the ones we found. The Mason brothers better hurry up and do their job, or we’ll own Kale’s business and share it with Luca and Nite. If they don’t produce on their end, we won’t hold up ours.
“Well, he worked for Kale.” He sits down in the chair.
I frown, tilting my head. “So, Kale fucked over our client. It wasn’t stolen or anything like that?” I question.
He shrugs. “As far as I know, no. But if that’s the case, why didn’t he have all of them?”
“Maybe they distributed the diamonds out?” I offer. “It’d be harder to find them if they’re scattered.”
“Or maybe that guy had all of them at some point but sold some.” He leans back in the chair, linking his fingers behind his head.
The guy didn’t have a cell phone on him or in his car. We found that odd. Who doesn’t have a cell these days? Especially if he’s buying and selling product. They have to communicate somehow. “Have you told Bones this?”
“Nope. I wanted to have more concrete evidence before I went to him.”
“Has Luca found the guy’s address?” His wallet was in the center console of his car, but it didn’t have a driver’s license, and the car wasn’t even registered to him. It was another dead end. No surprise there.
“He told me he’s got Nite working on it when I spoke to him an hour ago.”
I sigh. Well, there’s nothing else we can do other than wait and see who gets answers first.
ALEXA
I’M CLOSING DOWN the bar later that night when my door opens, and I see Jasmine enter. “Don’t you ever sleep?” I ask her.
“Sleep is for the weak. Only those willing to sacrifice will ever make it.” She sits down across from me. “I’ve always preferred the night over the day.”
“Well …” I slap the bar. “I’m actually glad you’re here because I have something for you.” Walking to the other end of the bar, I pull my purse out of the cubby and remove the paperwork that I picked up on the way to work earlier this evening. Bones and Cross weren’t the only two Kings I spoke to while at Kingdom this morning. I had messaged Emilee yesterday when I went to Jasmine’s house, asking her if Titan could help me out with something. Jasmine mentioning an NDA and an attorney gave me the little information I needed. I don’t know any attorneys, but Titan does. After I explained to Emilee what I needed one for, she told me Titan would meet with me this morning. “Here you go.” I slap it down in front of her.
“What’s this?”
“This is me paying you back.” I say the same thing she said to me when she showed up here with the papers for Kink.
True to his word, Titan called his attorney while I was sitting in his office this morning, I explained what I wanted, and he had the papers drawn up within an hour.
She frowns but opens it up and pulls out the contents. Her green eyes scan over it quickly. Then they snap up to glare at me. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope.” I shake my head with a smirk on my face. “One hundred percent. All in.”
She sets it down and sighs. “This is not what I meant …”
“I know. This is what I want to do.”
“Alexa …”
“You and me, Jasmine. I trusted you. Now you trust me.”
She drops her head, running her hand through her hair. Then she flips it back and stands with a big smile on her face. I added her to Lucky’s as a partner. I want her to know that I have as much faith in her as she does me.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALEXA
THE NIGHTCLUB AT Kingdom is more stressful than I thought it would be. I’ve run my small bar for one year now, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people in a week at my bar who are here in just one night.
Crown has three stories, two dance floors, four bars, and bottle service. The place is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I love it.
The rush. The demand. I like being on my toes. I’ve been working here for two weeks, and it never lets up. There are no slow nights. Just busy and busier. Plus, they stay open until four in the morning. I’ve always closed Lucky’s at two because it just doesn’t have the crowd to stay open the extra two hours. My schedule is thrown off, making me extremely tired.
“I’m going to use the restroom really quick!” I yell in the barback’s ear. I’ve held it for too long, waiting for it to slow down, but it’s not going to happen.
He nods his head and shouts, “Okay!”
I take off and rush out from behind the bar and down the left hallway. Thankfully, there’s not a long line. Once done, I wash my hands and step back out into the hallway just as the men’s door opens across from me, and I come face-to-face with my ex Mitch.