Arranged love

TITAN

We all stand in the room, watching the door slam shut as Jasmine chases Emilee out. Bones looks at me, and I arch a brow, silently daring him to ask me what the fuck that was about and why his old fuck was here tonight working. And why her phone is in my pocket.

He says nothing. Instead, he looks at his brother. “Get ready. We have business to take care of.” Then he exits as well.

Cross looks at me. “What the hell was that about, man?”

“Long story,” I answer.

Grave runs a hand through his sweaty hair. “I really thought she was deaf.” He frowns, clearly disappointed that she wasn’t. “And I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her.” Maybe if he’d lay off the drugs, he’d have a clearer head.

“It took me a second to figure out who she was.” Cross nods to himself. “It’s been a long time.”

“Let’s go,” I say, clapping my hands. “You heard Bones. We got work to do.”

I don’t have time for Emilee York to consume my thoughts tonight. Even if I wanted to rip off what little clothes she wore and throw her on this table. The Kings be damned. I’m not shy. If they want to watch, I’d let them.

EMILEE

JASMINE DROPS ME off, and I enter my parents’ house and storm up to my room, slamming my door. “How fucking dare them …?”

“Miss York?” I hear a knock on my door.

It’s Liv, my mother’s night nurse. I open the door. “Is my mother okay?” I ask. It’s after midnight. Why else would she be knocking on my door?

Her eyes widen as they scan my mostly exposed body and caked-on makeup. “Uh, … yes, ma’am.” Her eyes meet mine, and she clears her throat. “Mr. Wilton is expecting you.”

My jaw tightens. “Tell him to go fuck himself,” I snap.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

She sucks in a breath at my foul language.

I run a hand through my hair. It has more hairspray than a toddler in a tiara contestant. Taking in a deep breath, I weigh my options. He still has control. He’s probably been blowing up my phone that I don’t have. “Is he in my father’s office?”

“No. He went home to his house for the evening. He said you know where it is.” She bites her bottom lip and drops her eyes to her feet.

I roll mine. “And?”

“And he said that he’s been trying to contact you all day.”

I fist my hands. What in the fuck has he been texting me? Titan could be reading them. If I’m lucky, he shut the thing off or it died.

“He said that you need to keep up your end of the deal.”

I slam the door in her face and hear her shriek on the other side. “Sorry son of a bitch,” I hiss. We didn’t make a deal. He blackmailed me. But he’s right. If I want what’s best for my mother, I need to give him what he wants. Fuck, I hate my life.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I decide to change my clothes, but I’m leaving my makeup on and my hair the way it is. I’m not going to take the time to fix myself for him. I need a drink, but I can’t if I have to drive … “Shit!” I throw my head back and close my eyes. I need to get my tire fixed. I had it towed to Jasmine’s house. Thankfully, I made enough tonight for that, but that doesn’t help me right now. “Fuck it,” I say, pulling on a T-shirt. I’ll go downstairs and call a taxi. I’ll never make it through George touching me if I’m sober.

TITAN

An hour later, I pull up to a driveway and turn off my candy apple red Maserati. Bones sits in the passenger seat. Silent. He hasn’t said a single word to me since we saw Emilee at Kingdom. A flat black Zenvo ST1 stops behind me. I exit and watch Grave get out of his car.

“What’s the plan?” he asks me.

“Collect what we’re owed,” I answer.

“And if he doesn’t have it?” Cross asks, exiting the passenger side of the Zenvo.

“Then you get to burn something,” Bones answers, slamming my passenger door shut. He’s in a mood, and it’s not a good one.

All four of us make our way up the concrete steps and knock on the big wooden doors.

They don’t keep us waiting long. A little Mexican woman answers the door. Her black hair is up in a tight bun, and she wears a traditional black and white uniform that allows her to scrub his piss off the floor when he’s too hammered to make it to the toilet.

“May I help you?” Her eyes widen as they run over the black ink that curls around my neck.

I lean forward, and she stiffens but doesn’t back away. “Run,” I whisper.

She sucks in a breath, and I grab her shirt by the collar and yank her through the door. She gasps as I shove her away from us. We enter the house and slam the door shut. Bones locks the door, keeping her out.

“Margarita, who was at the door …?” The man who comes to look over the railing trails off when he sees the four of us standing in his house. “Shit,” he whispers under his breath.

“George, nice place,” Grave says, smiling as he looks around at the expensive wall art hanging and the glass sculptures on the shelves. He walks over to the round glass table that sits in the middle of the foyer and picks up the glass vase that has a red rose painted on it. He removes the flowers, lies them on the table, and then drops the vase to his feet. It shatters to a million fucking pieces.

“Kings,” the man says, swallowing hard. His big eyes go to Bones. “I was gonna call you-”

“Good thing we decided to come see you then,” Grave interrupts him. That stupid grin still plastered on his face.

His hands grip the banister, knuckles turning white. “Have Margarita show you to my office.”

“She won’t be joining us,” I state.

He takes a deep breath. His eyes shoot to the right, and I quickly look at Bones. He gives me a curt nod, silently informing me he caught that too.

“Give me ten …”

“You have three,” I say.

Glass shatters to my right, and I hear Grave giggle like a fucking schoolgirl at destroying shit.

George pushes away from the banister and disappears.

“He could be getting a gun,” Cross states, looking at us.

“He’ll only have time to shoot one of us,” Bones says.

Another sound of glass breaking and Bones sighs but makes no move to stop his brother. Grave is the little kid who destroys every-fucking-thing he touches. The kid who lies down in the middle of a grocery store and throws a fit ’cause his mother won’t buy him ice cream. And Bones is that parent who walks away from him, pretending he’s someone else’s problem.

“Two,” Cross calls out.

We hear a door open, and George comes back into view. He walks briskly down the stairs but keeps looking over his shoulder.

“Let’s go,” I order, gesturing for him to show us the way.

“Grave,” Bones calls out as we begin to walk. He doesn’t follow.

We enter a door, and the man goes to sit behind the desk, but Bones grabs the back of his collar and yanks him back before sitting behind his desk himself. I shove George into a chair across from the desk.

“I have checks … my checkbook is in the drawer.”

Bones places his inked forearms on the brown surface. “We don’t accept checks as a form of payment.”

George swallows, nodding quickly. “I have cash.”

“Where?” I ask.

“It’s not here.”

“Where is it?” Cross growls.

“I can have it tomorrow.”

“Not good enough,” Bones states, leaning back in the seat. He looks up at Cross. “Go ahead …”

“No. No. No,” George says, jumping to his feet. “I can get it. I just need time …”

“You’re out of it.” I grab his arm and pull him down onto the rectangular coffee table that sits in the center of the room. He screams as he fights me, but I manage to get the rope out of my pocket and wrap it around his wrists. Then I yank them back and tie them to the legs of the table. He kicks his legs out, but there’s nowhere for him to go as he lies on his back with his wrists tied above his head to underneath the table.

“Please … please …” he begs. “I have it …”

“You’re three months behind,” Bones says, slowly standing and coming around to lean back against the desk.

George flinches. “Something fell into my lap. It cost more-”

“Not our problem,” he interrupts him.

We all turn to look at the office door fly open, and Grave enters. He has his right hand wrapped around the back of a neck. He shoves the girl into the room. “Look at who I found.”

She stands up straight, shoving her dark hair from her face, and her eyes land on mine. They widen in recognition. “Titan,” she breathes my name.

Grave laughs, shutting the door and leaning up against it so she can’t exit. “Twice in one night. Must be our lucky day.”

I look at Bones, and he has the same question in his eyes. What in the fuck is Emilee doing here?

“No,” George snaps. “She’s not a part of this!” He yanks on the rope that ties him to the table.

She looks down and notices him. “What the hell …?”

“He owes us money,” Bones states.

Her entire body stiffens when her eyes meet his. Her feet falter, and she stumbles into Bones, swallowing nervously. He stares at her like he did earlier, with no emotion, but I notice the tic in his jaw.

“She has nothing to do with this. Get her out of here,” George barks.

Bones looks away from her and at him. “She stays.” Then his eyes meet mine, and he nods.

I reach out, grab her upper arm, and yank her back to my front.

“What the fuck are you doing? Titan!” she snaps, fighting in my arms.

Leaning down, I whisper, “Just watch.”

She struggles some more in my vise grip, and her ass rubs against my cock in the sweetest way. She’s changed clothes since earlier, but she still has her makeup on and hair fixed. She smells like fucking candy. Sweet and edible. “You’re turning me on, Em.”

She stiffens, her breath picking up.

Cross reaches into his shirt, pulling the silver cross that hangs on a thin chain, and removes it from his neck.

“What are you doing?” George snaps.

Cross reaches down and yanks on the man’s button-down. The buttons go flying as his hairy chest is exposed.

“Are you going to kill him?” she growls.

I frown at her tone. It sounded more like a request than a question. Why is she here at three in the morning? Was she here to talk business with him? Her father just passed. Maybe he left her his half. With George dead, she’d get a hundred percent of it. Killing him would be doing her a favor.

We had a deal, and you’re not keeping up your end. Is what her text from him had read. I still haven’t told the Kings about what I found on her phone.