Cross (Dark Kings 3)

Not going to lie. When I first heard she was sleeping with both of them, I choked on my popcorn that I was eating while up at Roses. It was one hell of a shock. I guess she dated Bones through high school and college. Not sure what the details on that were. But she didn’t get with Titan until last year.

“No.” Emilee shakes her head once. “It was fun. Actually, it was awesome, but I got married. And my body is for my husband. If I wanted to fuck multiple guys, I would have stayed single.” She goes on. “Plus, Bones will find a woman and settle down one day. It just wasn’t something that was meant for forever.”

Haven snorts. “Bones settle down? That’s hilarious. That man will never find someone to tie him down.”

“I don’t know. I believe there’s someone for everyone. It just takes time to find them,” Jasmine offers. “Not everyone marries the only person they’ve ever fucked.” She looks over at Haven.

“Wait a minute.” I hold up a finger. “You’ve only ever been with Luca?”

“Yeah.” She chews on a chip from the bowl that sits in the middle of the table. “I was young when we got together. We had a breakup after college, but I never got with anyone else. I’m glad I didn’t, although there was one time I hated him so much that I wish I had because he knew he was the only guy I had been with.”

“I wish Grave was my only,” April adds, sighing. “I mean, when you find your someone, the others never seem to have existed, ya know?”

“Not me.” Jasmine shakes her head. “I like sex too much to limit myself to one man.” She shudders at that thought, making us all laugh. “Plus, I’ve slept with some men who had no fucking clue what they were doing. I couldn’t imagine being stuck with either one of them forever. I’d never know what a good fuck really is.”

The woman does have a point.

CROSS

I SIT AT the Kings conference table, flipping my Zippo open and closed. Titan sits across from me, twirling his wedding band around his ring finger. Bones stands at the front of the room, arms crossed over his chest.

The glass double doors open, and Nigel shows Luca into the room along with the fire marshal.

“Find out anything?” I jump to my feet. I’ve had Jeffrey digging ever since he left our suite this morning.

He shakes his head, and I fall back into my seat. “No.” He pulls out the chair next to Titan and sits down. “No witnesses.”

“Then who called the police?” Bones wonders. “Whoever made the call saved it from burning to the ground.”

“A Derek Milner.”.

I sit up straighter. “Her brother?”

“Well, this changes things.” Bones sighs. “Maybe it wasn’t her ex after all.”

I run a hand through my hair. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“She did say that he had a key. Maybe he and Mitch were working together?” Bones offers.

“Or he did it on his own,” Titan adds.

Alexa did say that he quit Lucky’s. Mitch saw her at Crown. He could have told Derek, and it pissed him off even more.

“I’ve got some calls in,” Jeffrey says vaguely. “In the meantime, I need to keep the scene cleared.”

I run a hand down my face and let out a sigh of frustration. “How long?” The girls were already getting things ready for Kink and the remodel. This is going to set them back.

“At least a week.” He shrugs, clearly a fucking guess. “But I’ll keep in touch and let you know as soon as I do.”

I nod. “Thanks.”

He turns and exits the conference room. I lean back in my chair, fisting my hands.

“You really think her brother did it?” Luca asks, looking at me.

“Either her brother or her ex,” I explain. “Or maybe both of them. I’ll find out.”

“Looks like we need to make a visit tonight,” Bones offers. “Take care of them at the same time. I don’t know her brother, but we all know that Mitch is a little bitch. All we have to do is scare him, and he’ll tell us everything.”

The door opens, and Grave steps inside. He stops, looks around, and then turns, leaving just as quickly as he was entering.

“Grave?” I jump up from my chair and rush out of the room. “Grave?” I run to his office and throw his door open, but he’s not in there. Walking out, I go to head back toward the conference room but see him standing at the end of the hallway with his back to me looking out the floor-to-ceiling window. His hands in the front pockets of his jeans. Stance wide and body tense.

Running a hand through my hair, I swallow nervously. I hate that I’ve hurt him. “Grave, I …”

He turns around, glaring at me. “How long?” he asks.