I swallow and close my eyes. He and I were always close. Him and the Kings are only one year older than me, but he’s always been my big brother. When our father wouldn’t teach me to play baseball because he wanted Dillan to be the star, Dillan taught me. When it came time for me to drive, Dillan taught me how to in his car. He gave me my first beer. First cigarette. He was the one who showed me how to be a man.
“I want you to get help,” he adds, filling the silence.
I straighten my shoulders, not bothering to turn to face him. “And I want you to stay out of my business.”
“Kyle?” He sighs, and I swallow the lump that forms in my throat. “Mom’s been gone for eight years.”
My entire body goes rigid. He never mentions her. “Your point?” I snap.
“Now Dad is gone.”
I spin around on him with my face scrunched in anger. “So you didn’t feel shit when Mom passed, but now that that son of a bitch is dead, you’re gonna feel something?”
“That’s not what this is,” he growls, his blue eyes narrowing on me.
“Then what the fuck is it? ’Cause that’s how it sounds.”
He looks away from me, and I see the tic in his jawline right where his neck tattoo comes to a stop. He took me to get my first tattoo when I turned eighteen. It was actually on my birthday. He already had his first one. I remember the next day when I saw Dad, and he was pissed at me. Said I was trying to be like Dillan and he didn’t raise sheep. I shouldn’t do something just because my brother did. I told him to go to hell and immediately went and got another one.
“You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop,” he finally says, avoiding my previous question about our parents.
I snort. “Yeah, because you’re so cautious with your life.”
“It’s different,” he growls.
“How is it any fucking different?”
“I’m not feeding myself full of drugs,” he snaps, pushing off the desk.
“No. Instead, you’re too busy killing people and fucking your best friend’s woman.” I turn toward the door.
“Grave?” he demands.
“Fuck you, Dillan!” I throw over my shoulder as I go to walk out of his office door, but he yanks me back by my shirt and slams my back into the wall. Both of his hands grip the collar of my shirt, and his blue eyes are glaring into mine. He’s pissed. I’ve always known what buttons to push when it comes to my brother. I like the fight, and as much as he hates to admit it, he does too. This is one of his vices. We’re the same—he and I—I just don’t choose to hide it.
“Say that to my face,” he growls as his nostrils flare.
I lick my lips, lift my chin, and smirk. “Fuck you …”
He yanks me from the wall and shoves me away. My feet get caught up in his rug, and I find myself once again on the floor. I roll onto my back and close my eyes. Fuck, I should have stayed in bed with Lucy.
“Get the fuck up!” he shouts. “Go home and get some sleep. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”
I sit up and rub the back of my neck. I need something for the pain because my head is pounding. “Where are we going?” I couldn’t care less.
“To Rio,” he growls.
I start shaking my head. “I’m not going.”
He walks over to me, standing at my feet, staring down at me still on the floor. “Yes, you are. We’re going to go identify our father’s body and then we’re going to lay him to rest.” With that, he storms out of his office, slamming his door shut.
I fall back down onto his floor and let out a long sigh. Fuck my life.
Getting up off his floor, I walk down the hall and see Titan standing in his office with his back to the glass on his cell phone. Probably talking to Emilee. Cross stands at the receptionist desk, leaning over it and looking down her white silk blouse.
When he sees me, he straightens and walks away from her while she’s midsentence. “Where are you going?” he asks me.
“Out,” I answer and punch on the elevator. If I’m going to be stuck with my brother for a few days while we take an eighteen-hour trip to Rio, I’m going to get fucked up.
It opens immediately. I enter, and he follows me.
“Wanna go to Glass? They’re serving breakfast,” he offers.
The best thing about strip clubs in a town that never sleeps means they never close. I open my mouth to say yes but pause. “What happened to you the other night?”
“I left with Mandi. Then I was gonna come back, but when I called, you were already in the car with Bones. He came and got you.”
I lean my head back against the mirrored wall. “Did you take my pill bottle?” I ask.
He shakes his head, pulling out his Zippo and flipping it open and closed.
“Then it had to have been Bones.” Fucker!
“Not surprised. They’re worried about you.”
I snort. “Not you too?”
He gives me a smile. “I said they.”
That makes me laugh. Cross and I are a lot alike. We just don’t give a shit about a lot of things. Titan and Bones are the serious ones, always crunching numbers and wanting to chase down men and demand payment in blood.
Kingdom doesn’t deal with minor shit. From the outside, we look like a legit hotel and casino with hundreds of attractions, but on the inside, we’re as dark as the fucking world can go.
We deal with drug lords, celebrities, heirs to billionaires. My brother even deals with the mafia. To him, money is money. Doesn’t matter whose hand it comes from. That’s our dad in him.
Titan is the same fucking way. That’s how he got Emilee, and the bastard just so happened to fall in love with her.
The elevator dings, and the doors slide open. I push off the mirrored wall and walk into the underground garage. This elevator is for the four Kings only.
I unlock my car, and the lights blink. “Glass?” Cross asks.
I almost forgot he was with me. I look down at my Patek Phillippe watch and nod. “Sure. I could use some food.” Maybe it will get rid of this fucking headache. “Then we can make another stop afterward.”
He nods.
“Get in. I’ll drive us.” I pull my cell out and send Luca a quick message.
Me: Change of plans, I’m coming to you.
Luca owns the other half of Glass. His silent partner is my brother. Might as well get my shit from him there instead of him having to make a trip to Kingdom where Bones can see the exchange.
Luca: Sounds good. I’m here.
APRIL
“What are you doing, Princess?”
I plop down on the barstool and look up at my best friend working the bar. She has her bleach blond hair up in her usual high ponytail and a smile on her face, but her green eyes look tired. Running two businesses will do that to you.
“Needing a drink,” I answer. It’s been a long day.
She frowns. “You mean you didn’t come just to see me?”
I chuckle. “Afraid not.”
“Sis, we both know that she only comes here to see me.” Derek walks out of the fridge behind the bar, closing the door behind him. “How are you doing, sexy?” he asks, and I don’t miss the way his dark eyes fall to my chest.