“How about…” he says, pondering. “Now?” he questions with an eyebrow raised.
“Whenever you want, Mr. King.” I giggle. Leaning real close into my face, his nose brushing against mine. “I just need to change clothes.”
He looks down at my jogging pants and shirt. “You look fine.”
“I’m not going out like this.” I shake my head, pushing up from the couch.
Enzo follows me into the bedroom, where I strip out of my loungewear to slip into a pair of jeans. I can feel his eyes burning on my skin, and when I turn around, my feeling is confirmed.
“You better stop looking at me like this before we end up in bed and miss our date night, king.”
He smirks, his eyes continue to lick every inch of my body. “If I’m the king, then you’re the queen.”
The very words left me breathless, reminding me of why I love him. He might be a monster, but he is my monster.
12
Mack
“When are they going to come out of hiding? They can’t fucking hide forever,” I yell, throwing my phone against the mattress. I’ve been hiding out in this drab fucking cabin instead of the lavish mansion soon to be mine.
If it wasn’t for all the deathtraps around the house, making this place safe, I’d already be somewhere else.
“I’m not sure they’re alone. That’s all I know, sir,” Miller adds like he’s some smart shit or something. He needs to keep his mouth shut before I lose my cool.
“No fucking way. Did you want a prize for stating the obvious?” I growl, reaching across the table for his throat. I’m angry and impatient, and I’m really itching to kill something… someone.
If blood isn’t shed soon... I’ll start killing my own men and do the job myself.
“Sir…” Miller sounds scared. Pussy. Not that he doesn’t have a reason to be, but still, he should grow a pair.
“Miller…” I yell, anger radiating from me.
“Calm down, Mack.” Eli’s bored voice vibrates through my mind. “We need him, at least to bring us food, so don’t kill him just yet.”
“Do you have any new info?” I turn my aggression to him. The fucker is sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the table like he owns the place. He better have some fucking intel soon.”
“I think I have an idea of where they’re staying. I’m going to go scope it out this evening.” His voice never wavers, and his eyes stay on the laptop in his lap while his fingers type in some shit on the keyboard.
“Good, and you best bring back something to tell me. I’m going crazy sitting here waiting.”
“Sir, we could be shooting or throwing knives…” Miller adds.
“Ahhh, yes, we could.” A Texas-size grin forms on my face. “You’re right, we could. Get my knives,” I order.
Miller, the dumbass, gets up and grabs my knives from my bedroom. When he gets back, I grin at the excitement on his face.
“Now go stand over there for me,” I tell him as I grab the knives. “Right against the wall.”
His face falls, excitement turning into fear in a blink of an eye.
“Go!” I yell when he doesn’t move. He jerks away, then scurries away to take his position against the wall.
I have some aggression I need to work out, and Miller is going to help me with just that.
“You know, while I worked for Lorenzo, he was very keen on making sure nothing, and I do mean nothing, scared the men who worked for him.”
Miller nods, acknowledging what I’ve said. The sweat forming on his forehead, and the faraway look in his eyes tells me he is listening intently.
“Do you have any fears, Miller?” I ask, my voice menacing.
Miller looks like he is about to piss himself. What a pussy! He is shaking like a leaf in the wind. Where had John found these men?
“No, sir.” He sounds determined, but one look at him says he is lying.
“We’re going to test this theory out.”
I look down at the knife in my hand. It’s lightweight and the blade glistens in the light. Suddenly, the need to sink it into flesh is overwhelming. I can just imagine the blood dripping from the blade as I sink it repeated into flesh.
“Mack,” Eli calls, concern clearly found in his voice.
“What?” I question with raised eyebrows.
“What are you doing?”
“Never question me, or it will be you who is on the receiving end of this knife. We may have worked side by side once, but here I’m the boss.” My words aren’t a threat—they’re a promise.
Eli says nothing, simply giving me an unapproved look. Fuck him.
Gripping the end of the knife with so much anger, I am certain I’ll break it, I turn my attention back to the coward. I narrow my eyes with precision, scanning his body. Where would he bleed the most?
My mind drifts back to the very first time Enzo ever asked me that question.
“Mack! When I tell you to do something, you do it. There is no reason to fear these small things. Death is always following these people.” He all but yelled at me. I was only nineteen. He had been killing for years, and this... this was my very first time.
I hadn’t landed the knife right, so the person was struggling. Their death would be painful.
“He’s hurting though,” I tried to say. I wasn’t a child, but watching someone bleed to death… It did something to your heart. It pulled the strings tight and made it beat fast.
“What’s your point? He deserved to die. What are you scared of?” Was it a trick question?
“Nothing, sir,” I immediately answered him. I didn’t want to be the next one with a knife in my neck.
“Good, because being scared is a weakness. You’re to be afraid of nothing, not a fucking thing, when you’re in my kingdom. Do you understand?” he questioned. I nodded my head as I watched him lift his foot. What was he doing?
Then I heard the crunching of bones, the splatter of brain matter, and blood against the ground.
“This is what we do to people who are weak… scared,” he snarled, staring down at what was left of the man’s body. I never even got the man’s name.
Pulling myself back to the present, I stare at the man before me. He is weak. Scared. Useless.
With complete control, I arch my arm back and throw the knife. It flies through the air, barreling toward Miller. His eyes grow large, and I can practically hear his heartbeat from where I’m standing. With a low thud, the knife sinks into the wood directly above his head. He isn’t just a coward—he is a liar, too. He is fucking terrified.
“You’re a liar,” I spit the words with venom. “You said you were scared of nothing, but it is clear to me as I watch you shake in your fucking skin, you are, in fact, scared of something…” I smile because I’m a fucker like that. Nothing gets me harder than making people pay for what they did wrong.
“Give him a break. He just started with us—” Eli is trying to reason with me again.
“Breaks are for the fucking weak.” Taking a deep breath, I smile before throwing the next knife. It lands just millimeters from his throat. Hmmm…. his throat… yes, that’s where the next one will land.