Cross (Dark Kings 3)

He’ll die of strangulation, and afterward, we’ll bury his ass in the desert. It’s what we’ve been doing for years now. What we were taught. What we know. And thankfully, Las Vegas has plenty of space for us to hide our secrets.

To anyone that is visiting out of town, they come to Kingdom—our hotel and casino—to try their luck. The lights and glamor catch their attention, and they think they can come in and hit the jackpot on one of our machines or win big at the tables. But for those people who know the Kings, they know what we’re about and what we’re willing to do to keep things in order.

Nothing and no one will stop us! We own this town. We dominate the Strip. Bones, Titan, and I are only twenty-six, Grave twenty-five, and no one can compete with us. Even though our dads were the Three Wiseman, we still had to prove ourselves. Had to show Las Vegas we deserved what we were given. No matter the price.

The guy falls face-first on the floor, no longer struggling.

Titan bends down and checks for a pulse. “He’s gone.”

“Take care of him,” Bones orders and storms out, pissed we didn’t get the information we were looking for.

People pay us a lot of money to take care of their problems. Usually, the motherfuckers sing, telling us everything we need to know in hopes we’ll let them go. That’s never the case. You can’t afford to look weak.

“I’ll take him,” Titan offers, pulling out his cell from his back pocket. “Nigel is going to help me.”

“You sure?” I ask.

He nods, and I turn to Grave. He’s no longer texting on his cell. “I have to be at the Airport in twenty. I’ve got a fight tonight.”

Ah, now I understand why he was on his phone for so long. “I’ll drive you,” I offer.

“You guys stay out of trouble,” Titan warns. “I don’t want to spend my entire night digging.”

Titan tries to keep us all in line. It’s worse now that he’s married to Emilee. Bones lives and breathes Kingdom. I’m not sure when he last got drunk or even took a vacation, for that matter. He’s all business, all the time. Grave is a recovering addict with a pregnant girlfriend. And me? Well, I’m still trying to figure out who I am. Grave was my go-to party buddy. I could work all day here at Kingdom, then party all night—alcohol or drugs—and show up to work the following day just fine. Now that Grave is in a serious relationship, I have no one to go out with. It sucks, but I understand why he’s changing his life for the better.

“Let’s go, man. I can’t be late,” Grave says before exiting the room as well.

I go to leave but look at Titan. He’s now leaning back against the wall again, waiting on Nigel. “You sure you’re okay?” I double-check.

He nods. “Yeah.” His eyes go to the door and then back to me. “Keep an eye on him, will ya?”

“Of course.” Then I, too, turn and leave the room, knowing I may not be able to keep that promise, and the sad part is that Titan thinks I can.

ALEXA

“DO YOU COME here often?” I call out to my friend Jasmine as she drags me through a crowd of people.

“All the time!” She throws over her shoulder at me, her red hair slapping her face.

I look around nervously at the Airport. It’s not like any airport I’ve ever been to. No airplanes, no people traveling with luggage. Instead, it looks like a breeding ground for STDs and those gruesome murder scenes that you see on an unsolved murder mystery documentary.

You can tell that an airport once occupied this large facility, but it’s long been deserted and turned into what I can only assume is a playground for the scum of Las Vegas.

The Airport sits out in the middle of the desert, twenty miles from the Strip, but I’ve stayed away. Somehow, I let her drag me out here tonight. I needed new scenery, but I’m probably going to need a penicillin shot once we leave here.

From what little I know, Trey, Turner, and Tanner Mason own it. The three brothers obviously don’t give a shit about what goes on here. I’ve never met them, and I’m beginning to understand why. This just isn’t my thing.

A man bumps into me so hard it rips my hand from Jasmine’s. She spins around. “Hey, say excuse me, motherfucker!” she throws at the guy’s back.

He keeps on, not even bothering to look back. Thank God.

“Jasmine,” I hiss. I’m not one to back down, but I don’t know these people here. I’m kinda out of my element. I’ve lived in Sin City all my life, and I’ve never stepped foot in the Airport. I own a bar, and you hear chatter all the time, but I just thought the customers were exaggerating.