Cruel Temptation (Underground Kings 1)

I knew that making the decision to walk out that door meant a part of me believed Jaxon. He knew that too. I crossed the threshold to the door and looked left and right. I had no idea where to go. The hallway reminded me of a hospital, an expensive hospital, but that was the vibe I got. It was empty, nothing on the walls, just lights and a floor that disappeared into darkness on the other side.

“Take a right,” he said from behind me, and I jumped. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I wished he would stop doing that, touching me. I couldn’t think when he touched me. I hardly had a clear mind when he was in the same room as me. He brainwashed me, in a completely different way than Brian, but Jaxon dove into my mind and was rearranging all the parts inside my head for his advantage.

He made it impossible to think.

We walked side by side in silence. Our arm’s brushed along the way, and I was shocked with myself that I didn’t pull away. Every time our skin touched, butterflies floated in my stomach, and my heart leaped in my chest. I felt like a schoolgirl, waiting for her crush to take her hand. We were past that though, weren’t we? Did adults even hold hands? Holdings hands was for the lovestruck fools that hadn’t had a dose of reality.

Jaxon and I, we were reality. Nothing ever worked out the way someone wanted it to. In my dreams, we would be married right now, with three kids and a dog. Our home would be large, like this house he lived in, and open. I would have bitched at him for extra rooms for more kids, and he would have given them to me— the rooms too.

I’d be a stay at home mom, and he would be an architect. He was so good at designing, anything, and everything. He could do it. I wondered if he still did. It would be a shame for a talent like that to go to waste.

“So,” he broke the awkward silence. “The house has seventeen bedrooms and fifteen bathrooms. There is a basement, a hospital wing, living room, kitchen, swimming pool, and all that. I’ll make sure you get the full tour.”

“Brian is in the hospital wing?”

The sound of his name had Jaxon’s jaw clenching. “Yeah, he’s there.”

“Not in the dungeon?”

“This entire place is a dungeon,” he said right as the hallway ended and opened to the kitchen.

Well, that was reassuring.

He chuckled. “The entire house is a safe room. I don’t have dungeons with chains and torture devices. Maybe I should.”

Was that a joke?

“Well, I was beginning to think you weren’t real,” Heaven said, his lips swollen from Jaxon’s punch the other day. Before I could say anything, he wrapped me up in a tight hug, and a deep rumble sounded behind me, but Heaven ignored it. “I’m Asher; everyone calls me Heaven.” He finally let me go, and Jaxon’s arm wrapped around my shoulder protectively for one second before dropping it to his side again. Why did that make me unhappy?

“I’m Quinn. I would say it is nice to meet you, but I really don’t know how I feel about any of you.”

“Honest. I like that in a woman,” Heaven said, his blue eyes twinkling with mischievous light. He was young. He had a naïve innocence about him, but I doubted he was naïve at all. If all these men have criminal backgrounds, they knew more about the cruelty of the world than I did.

“Shut up, Heaven.” Jaxon tugged me back by the hem of my shirt, getting me away from the flirt.

“I’m Grayson,” a man with brown hair held out his hand for a proper introduction. I knew it was the kind thing to do, but all I imagined is him carrying a bleeding Brian away from the church. He dropped it and lowered his head, scratching the back of his neck as he let out an ironic chuckle. “I suppose you wouldn’t want anything to do with me since I carried your boyfriend—”

“—Husband.”

“Boyfriend,” Jaxon corrected. “You didn’t finish getting married. I objected, remember?” He messed with the French press to get my coffee ready, and I scowled at him.

“You should be thanking us, really,” Owen, the grumpy mean one said as he licked cream cheese off his fingers from the bagel he ate. “That guy is a real asshole. He really had been lying to a sweet thing like you.”

“How do you know?” I asked, steeling my shoulders as I waited for his answer. His jaw flexed every time he chewed, and if I thought Jaxon’s jaw was defined, it didn’t compare to this guy’s. It was square, with sharp divots as the jaw went up to each ear. It made him look like a villain.

“Because of me,” another guy said. He had black hair and bright blue eyes. The bluest eyes I had ever seen. “I’m Sebastian,” he greeted. “I’m the tech guy. I have all the information on your boyfriend. From his first arrest to the donut he bought two weeks ago. Whatever you want to know, I’m your guy.”

“Paperwork can be altered for anyone to believe anything.”

“So can a man’s tongue,” Jaxon uttered, pressing down the stick of the French press. Steam rose from the carafe, and the rich aroma of coffee filled the air. I already felt more awake, and I hadn’t even had a sip.

I had nothing to say to Jaxon, but I knew I couldn’t argue proof and fact for much longer. Hearing from the horse’s mouth was the best way to get the truth.

“He hasn’t admitted to killing Tracy, even after I paralyzed him with the medication,” Owen said.

“You did what?” I screamed, absolutely horrified that these men would do something like that. “How dare you.”