Kingpin (Court University 2)

I hugged my body tight, shaking, and Niko immediately noticed.

Suddenly, his hand on my head went to my back. He tapped just lightly, as if to calm me, and definitely wasn’t smiling anymore. He lifted his chin. “I haven’t. But I’ll let her know you were here. That you were looking for her?”

A clear warning was in Niko’s voice, one I didn’t understand, and being under his hand now felt way safer than going out there and speaking to my ex.

“Okay,” Sinclair said, his voice sounding farther away. “I think I’ll wait for her. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

I internally groaned, closing my eyes, and I noticed Niko’s hand grip the wheel a little.

A quick nod, and he was rolling up his windows and before I knew it, he zoomed forward. The trip was quick, and when he pressed a button on the sun visor, I heard the garage door open up.

Niko slowed to a stop inside, and I let out a breath when he turned off the car, then closed the garage door.

I sat up. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said his smile returning as he unstrapped himself.

He came around the car, letting me out, and together, we went back inside the house that had left me mortified the last time I’d been there. He had entry through the garage, thank God, and I tried to erase my earlier visions of the place as I stepped inside.

The last time I’d been here, I’d been covered in beer and had to fight with people to make my way through. Now, the place glistened with the most beautiful sounds of quiet, the house truly lovely from both its modern decor to the masculine furnishings. The boys’ rental had a lair-like quality to it but only in the most handsome way, dark undertones with umber sconces and crystal chandeliers all throughout. Whatever these guys had their hands dipped in financially was obviously doing well for them, the place almost lavish to the extreme. I didn’t know about Niko’s year in school, but LJ was only a junior. Not many undergrads could even afford to live in such luxury.

I took a seat on the boys’ black leather couch, playing with my phone. Once Niko deposited his keys, he asked if I wanted a drink, and when I told him water, he came back with a bottle and had changed. He was out of his suit now and into a pair of sweatpants that hugged his muscular thighs and cuffed at his ankles, his feet bare and a tank stretching across his gargantuan chest. He really looked like LJ’s bodyguard, a demigod incarnate, and not only did he have the bottle for me, but some bedding he handed out underneath it. Taken aback, I lifted my hands. “I’m not staying.”

“The hell you aren’t. Not with stalker douche across the street.”

“He’s not stalking me. He’s just…” Seriously overstepping his boundaries and was now blowing up my phone. I had several texts asking where I was and when I was coming back and after silencing the thread, Niko smirked at me.

He ran his fingers through his ultra dark hair. “You’re staying. At least for the night. You’re not going back over there with that guy there. Jay would literally crucify my ass.”

“Right. Because he cares so much about me.” He’d said something similar before, and I lifted my eyes now like I had then.

Niko smirked. “Right. Anyway, you need anything else?”

Since I didn’t, I said no, but imagine my surprise when Niko plopped his gargantuan ass on the couch beside me. Getting the remote, he tossed an arm back behind the couch, hugging up on me real good when he turned on the TV. I frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Watching TV.”

“I see that, but why are you doing so down here?” They probably had like five TVs and I recalled one being in his room that night we walked in on the orgy.

“It’s my house, isn’t it?” he stated, dancing his eyebrows at me. After settling for reruns of Ninja Warrior, he relaxed back, cozying up to me like we were besties at a pajama party. “After all, I gotta make sure you don’t go crawling back to that house and the douche canoe.”

“Douche canoe? Really?”

“Really.” He eyed me like this conversation was very serious. “He cheated on you, didn’t he? Very openly, I might add. The whole party heard about that shit. The guy is a douche canoe. Look it up in the dictionary, and you’ll see his mug.”

I mean, he wasn’t wrong, and I had assumed people heard about what happened. I’d basically been screaming at him that night as he chased after me.

He lowered the remote. “Where I’m from that’s what that guy is. Sorry, but real talk.”

I didn’t know where he was from, but since that logic was the same from where I was from too, I sat back. Niko smelled nice so that made it easy. He’d also saved me tonight, and I guessed I could be around worse company.

And less attractive.

Jesus, he was gorgeous, almost as good-looking as LJ with his chiseled jaw and grin for days. Niko had eyes as dark and fine as a buck’s fur and noticing me staring, he danced his eyebrows again. “Stare any longer, Queenie, and I’ll be charging for the peepshow.”

Rolling my eyes, I snatched the remote from him, changing the channel to a movie on Showtime. It was one of those rom-coms, but Niko didn’t complain. I settled into the couch. “Where are you from anyway?”

“Chicago. South Side,” he said, then smiled. “Very different from here.”