Kingpin (Court University 2)

After the new guy basically fondled my cash bag, he shoved it over to Alexi, his hand catching it. This deal today would cut a sizable chunk out of the savings I’d put aside for a rainy day, but if it got my buddy off the hook, then it was worth it. I figured money talked, and in this situation, I hoped I was right. Alexi smiled. “We have love, don’t we, Jay? We’re family?”

I nodded. “Of course, Alexi. I’ve always had a soft spot for you and your family.”

“But do we have love?” A wave of the hand, and the new goon took the cash, standing at my side. The guy got hella close, basically shoulder to shoulder, but I stood my ground. I had to. Alexi frowned. “This bag is awfully light to settle your friend’s debt.”

I dampened my lips. “I’m in the process of moving some money around.” Niko owed a lot, and I wasn’t able to draw it all today. I lifted my chin. “You’ll have the rest first thing tomorrow. I’m good for it, and you know that.”

After all, he was the one who paid me. Of course, I took my own cut, but he knew what was coming and going from Niko and I. He provided the goods, always had.

Sitting down, Alexi pretended not to notice all the activity around him, guys on forklifts and rolling dollies filled with so much coke a crackhead would shoot his load off. This was just a day in the life for him, a complex and complicated life. How many times had he tried to rope my buddy and me in? Become a part of this life with the glitz and glam on the outside. He always said he could make us very rich men, and though I’d always been tempted, I kept my head in the books and thinking about the women in my life in Maywood Heights. They were where my loyalties lied, and as much as I considered Alexi family, at the end of the day, I only had one.

They were a pretty good one too.

“Yes, I know you’re good for it.” He set a hand on the table. “I just don’t understand why we have no love. Where we lost it?”

The goon beside me, the new one, moved. He pressed up against me again, and my hands curled behind me.

Very slowly, Alexi got up from his chair, the frown hard on his face. He touched a hand to his chest. “You pain me, Jay. You really do. I thought we really did have love.”

“We do.” I angled a look, our small party of Alexi and this new guy suddenly growing by five or six. Each one was in a suit, each one with their hands posted behind their backs. I faced Alexi. “We never lost that.”

“But didn’t we?” He flicked the bag’s leather strap. “You know, I suspected we may have lost love a little… but to do that to Niko. Your friend…” He tsked before looking at me. “There’s no honor in that. There’s no honor in betraying your friend or your family, me.”

“Alexi, I don’t understand.”

But then a photo was slid in front of me by one of Alexi’s goons. It was a picture of someone I knew, someone that made my fists squeeze behind my back even more, as I took in the photo of soft lips and vibrant red hair. He had a picture of Billie in front of me.

I just didn’t understand why.

“You know, when I first heard whispers you were seen with Dean Coventry’s kid, I figured maybe you just knew the girl. Especially since our business relationship ended on good terms. The girl was maybe an acquaintance to you. A quick fuck even—”

“Alexi—”

His hand lifted, and I stopped. His chin jerked up. “But then the raid. The cops knew exactly where I was conducting business that night with Niko. Why do you think that is, LJ?”

“I don’t know, Alexi.” My eyes fought a twitch when the goon beside me got even closer, his hand on my arm. I faced forward. “I don’t know how the cops knew—”

“You’re fucking the DA’s daughter.” His voice shook my insides, the sound ricocheting off the walls in my head. His hand touched the photo. “I know because we had you tailed. Your relationship with that little Coventry bitch has obviously jaded your judgment.”

It took all I had not to reach across this table and clock this motherfucker straight. But I did that and it was over. I did that and I wouldn’t be walking out of here, so instead, I ignored his goon’s hand on me.

I stared right at Alexi. “I do have a relationship with her. But I assure you, it’s nothing but pussy.”

A dry chuckle called me on my bluff, Alexi’s hand leaving the photo. “You take me for an idiot, Jay. A simple screw doesn’t have you seeing this girl as much as you have. Remember, I had you tailed.”

I shifted, but the hand on my arm squeezed, holding me back. I looked up at the guy, but he wasn’t looking at me, only Ale

xi. I huffed. “She’s nothing to me.”

“Nothing, huh?”

A click, a silencer twisting onto a gun. The goon beside Alexi himself had done it. The guy on his left already had his together.

They both lifted in my direction.

Alexi grinned. “Here’s to family.”

“Police! We have you surrounded!”