Tacet a Mortuis (The Elite King's Club 3)

“I believe you’re right,” Hunter agreed. “About him not wanting to hurt you, but Madison, he’s not always Daemon.”

That hit home for me. Was it going to be possible for me to have a relationship with my twin brother? Or was he just too sick to even know? My heart snapped a little in my chest.

“Anyway, tell me about your parents.”

Hunter snorted. “Well, I wish I could tell you that they were amazing parents and would welcome you with open arms, but, Dad is always away for business and my mom is sick.”

“Sick?” I asked, my head tilting.

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, she only has a few years to live.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, realizing that me and these guys have so much more in common than any of us would ever care to admit.

He shrugged. “It’s life. Jase and I have been doing this shit since we were little. Well, Jase was the one who raised me—mostly. My dad just provided the funds.”

“So these Kings, they all grow old and just—stop giving a shit? I see a pattern here.”

He chuckled. “Probably. Not sure where the disconnect is, but yeah, I’d say you were mostly right. Except for Hector.”

“Hector?” I quirked an eyebrow. “He’s a good dad?”

“The best. He may be a scary fucker, but there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his son. It’s something we could all do with.” Once again, I’m wanting to ask about Nate’s dad, but that would make me a shitty person if I took Hunter’s good deed for granted by using this. Nate would tell me when he was ready. Or until I fought it out of him eventually.

“Which brings me to my next thing,” Hunter announced, standing from the bed and reaching for my hand. “There’s something you probably want to see right now. But, I’m going to say that you won’t like it, but, I’m sorry. Bishop does want you there and as much as I’ve loved our little bonding chat, he’s my loyalty.” These damn boys and their loyalty.

I followed him out of the room and down the long hallway. The crowds of people had died down a little to what they were earlier, so it was a lot easier to surf through. Hunter took a hard left turn, pushing open another set of doors, these ones tarnished wood, and when they opened, the smell of rubber mixed with sweat shot up my nostrils. My eyes went straight to the crowd of people who were bunched in the middle, cheering, yelling, and screaming with their hands flying over their head with cups grasped in their hands.

“What’s going on?” I asked skeptically, my eyes staying on the crowd.

“This is Bishop’s basketball court room, but tonight, it’s also a fighting ring.”

“Oh no,” I muttered, barely above a whisper.

“Oh, yes,” Hunter announced, taking my hand.

“Who?” I asked as we made our way to the crowd, who were now spreading out. It was making it a lot easier for us to step through the bodies.

“Brantley and Nate against Bishop.”

“What!” I screeched, my feet picking up speed.

“Chill, baby sis, they had to be held accountable for their actions.”

“But Nate fights as a sport! And there’s two of them.” Just as I was babbling off, the crowd parted more, and the scene played out in front of me. Bishop reared his fist back and slammed it right into Nate’s, a loud crush vibrating through the air, and then he roundhouse kicked Brantley in the stomach. I swore I heard the crunching of his ribs from here. I wanted to interrupt, I wanted to scream and stop it, but another part of me knew that this wasn’t my place. These boys had rules and rituals. Even if I may not understand them, it didn’t mean that they didn’t exist. And besides, I had a feeling this had everything to do with me.

“They’ll kill each other,” I whispered to Hunter, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the fight, even when Nate’s blood sprayed through the air. Right before he tried to attack Bishop with a left hook, it got blocked by a massive hand, and then Bishop laid into him one more time. A loud, yet silent, “oh…” sounded out through the crowd, and I froze, the blood pulsing through my veins turning to frost.

“Nawww,” Hunter grinned. “They’ll just play around for a bit.” Then his eyes came to mine. “Hope you weren’t hoping for your stepbrother to be all jiffy with you again.” Then he returned his attention back to the died down brawl. “Because he just got a huge wakeup call.”

I couldn’t watch anymore, so I sunk into the crowd and backed toward the way I came, spinning around and pressing through the doors. The silence that broke through from being in that loud room made my ears bleed. There was no one out here now, I guessed everyone was in that room watching Bishop as if he was a lion in a circus. This was his circus and those were his monkeys, and Bishop Vincent Hayes was most definitely the ringleader. This place was far more extravagant than I would have ever thought. I knew Bishop had money, and his family had money, but this was extreme—even for him. Making a beeline for the elevator, I press the button anxiously and then press it a few more times. If it could not decide to come slow today, that would be great. Where the hell was Tate, too? She just disappeared.