Cross (Dark Kings 3)

My brother looks up at him, and his dark eyes narrow. He knows exactly who he is. My brother hates the Kings. He’s got all these conspiracy theories about them and talks about how evil they are. That’s the appeal.

“Cross, this is my brother. Derek, this is Cross.” I’m not going to pretend Derek is someone he’s not.

Neither one of them says anything to one another. Just an awkward silence follows. I push off the door and turn in Cross’s arms. “I need to close up.” It’s too late to deal with them right now.

He cups my face and leans his head down. “I’ll see you tomorrow, gorgeous.” Then he kisses my lips. It’s a slow and sensual kiss. I can still taste myself, and it makes me moan. When he’s done, he pulls away and slaps me on the ass before leaving the room, shouldering past my brother.

“What in the fuck are you doing, Alexa?” Derek doesn’t waste a second.

I exit the office as well and walk down the hallway back to the bar. Giving a quick look around, I see it’s empty, and he’s already started clearing off the tables.

“Who I fuck is none of your business,” I say and start picking up the empty glasses on the bar top.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snaps. “Your best friend fucks a King, so you have to as well?”

I spin around on him. “Don’t talk about April like that.” My brother used to have a thing for her. Hell, he probably still does. He’s a sore fucking loser that she didn’t pick him.

“You have no idea what kind of person he is.” He points at the front door.

“It’s just sex.” I shrug. “Like you’ve known every girl you’ve fucked.”

“I …” He lifts his arms, running both hands through his dark hair, giving a rough laugh. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” They drop to his sides. “He is evil. They are evil. The Kings …”

“You’re not a saint, Derek, so quit pretending you’re better than them,” I snap, getting extremely pissy. Why does he care who I hook up with? Or what they’ve done? As far as I know, they’ve never hurt him. Cross didn’t act like he knew him. He definitely didn’t know he was my brother; he thought he was a threat to his newest fuck buddy.

“I am better than them!” he shouts.

“Get the fuck out of my bar!” I scream at him.

Silence fills the empty space before he lets out a long breath. “So that’s how it is?” he asks, surprised.

“Yes!” I hiss. I’m not in the mood right now. I’m exhausted, and my body feels hungover. Is that a thing? Orgasm to the point you need to recover. I still have at least an hour here cleaning up the place.

“Fine!” He laughs like I’m stupid. Then he turns around and storms out the back, leaving me pissy.

CHAPTER SIX

CROSS

CLICK

I flip my Zippo open as Titan glares at me from across the conference table.

We always start our day off with a meeting, even if we don’t have anything to go over. We shoot the shit for a couple of minutes, then go on with our day, but I know what Bones will want to talk about today. He currently sits at the head of the table, staring down at his watch.

“Sorry I’m late.” Grave comes rushing in the double doors with a water in one hand and a KitKat in the other.

Bones sighs but sits up straighter, ready to get down to business. “Were you guys able to find out anything last night at the Airport?”

“No,” I answer. “But we spoke to Turner, and he’s got his eyes and ears open. If he sees or hears anything, he’ll let us know.”

“You believe that?” Bones asks.

Grave nods. “Yeah,” he says through a bite of his KitKat—breakfast of champions. “He has no reason to lie to us.”

“Except for the fact that he’s a Mason,” Bones argues.

Grave rolls his eyes but doesn’t comment. Instead, he continues to shove chocolate into his mouth like he hasn’t eaten in days.

“Well, then I guess that’s all we can hope for.” Bones slams his palms down on the table and stands, exiting. Obviously pissed off. That’s pretty much how Bones is most of the time.

“I rushed into work for that?” Grave snorts. “I could have slept in another hour.”

“Welcome to being a responsible adult,” Titan says, slapping Grave on the shoulder and getting up before leaving.

I close my Zippo and put it in my pocket before I stand. I would usually ask him if he wanted to go to Glass—the strip club to blow off some steam, get fucked up, and fuck strippers—but Grave doesn’t do that now, and for once, I’m not in the mood to go.

I wasn’t surprised to see Derek at Lucky’s last night. I knew who he was the moment I saw him. I’ve done my homework on Alexa. Father left when they were younger. Mother’s dead. Derek is all she has. And he hates me, as he should. I’m not good for her, but it doesn’t mean I’ll stop seeing her.