Assumption (Underground Kings 1)

“I’m not letting you in.” He looks at Link then back at me and swallows.

“You can either open the door and we’ll talk about this shit inside, or you don’t open the door and I call the cops, tell them what I know, and we can see what they think. What do you think they’ll say when I tell them you deposited thirty grand cash into your account? Do you think they will wonder how a bouncer at a club was able to get that kind of dough?” I ask, creeping closer to him, watching him swallow thickly again. “Link, you’re cool with the local PD, right?” I ask, looking over my shoulder at him.

“I have a few friends on the force,” he replies, pulling out his phone.

“We can talk inside,” Mick mumbles, pulling out his key and opening the door.

As soon as we get inside, I notice that everything is new, from his couch to his kitchen appliances.

“Nice place,” Link voices loud enough for me to hear.

“Can we get this over with?” Mick says, walking into the kitchen. He grabs a beer from the fridge, holds one out to me, and then offers one towards Link.

I shake my head, and Link does the same.

“Let’s talk about how you got thirty thousand dollars,” I say to start.

“I won at the casino.” He shrugs, looking away.

“You don’t want to lie to me.” I take a step towards him while blocking the kitchen exit. “Now tell me how you got the thirty grand.”

“I can’t tell you that.” He retreats as I take another step towards him. “You don’t understand, man.” His head drops forward, his hand going through his hair. “These dudes are fucking scary… A lot fucking scarier than you. They’ll kill me.”

“You’re right. They will, but they’ll probably do that anyways.” I lean back slightly and pull out my phone from my back pocket so I can bring up the message from Justin. “The men you’re protecting are part of Lacamo, one of the biggest crime families in the United States. You mean nothing to them.” I show him the email with a sketch of the suspect along with a picture of one of the most notorious Mob hit men, who matches the sketch perfectly. “I’m guessing you have no real understanding of what you’ve done.”

“I didn’t know what was going to happen.” His face pales as he looks over the pictures.

“Have you told them about Autumn?”

He shakes his head, but his eyes don’t come back to me. Fury fills my veins as I realize the kind of danger my woman’s in now.

“You piece of shit,” I growl, shoving him into the counter. My hand goes around his neck and I can feel his pulse beating against my fingertips. I know that, if I squeeze his throat a little tighter, one less asshole will be breathing. “You’re gonna tell me exactly what you told them and how you get in contact with them.”

“I only told them her name,” he chokes out, my hand going tighter. “I never told them anything else about her, I swear.” His nails claw against my hand and his feet skid against the floor, trying to get leverage.

Link’s hand on my arm is the only thing that stops me from killing the fucker where we stand. I take a step back while shoving him away. I run a hand through my hair, trying to compose myself enough to think of my next move.

“Call in your friend from the local PD and tell them to pick up this piece of shit,” I say, looking over at Link.

“I told you what you wanted to know. Please don’t call the cops,” Mick whines.

I tur

n my head in his direction and he lowers his eyes. “As much as I want to leave you here and let you get what you deserve, you may be the only one who can stop these sick fucks, so that means I need to keep your punk ass safe until this shit’s taken care of.” I scrub a hand over my mouth as Link makes a call to his friend.

It takes two hours to get everything settled with the cops and Mick to be taken into custody. When we leave the local precinct, we make a plan to go to Autumn’s condo to have a look around. Once inside, I can tell that the person who broke in wasn’t looking for shit to pawn. Everything that has any value is still here. The only things gone through are papers, which tells me that whoever broke in was looking for information.

“Nothing here will point them to Tennessee,” Link says, shoving a stack of papers into the desk.

“True, but she needs to change her number and stop using her e-mail. I don’t want whoever this is to have any way to track her down.”

“You gonna tell her what’s going on?” he asks quietly.

“I don’t have a choice.” I look around again before walking over and opening her balcony door.

The sun is just starting to set over the mountains, causing an orange-and-red glow to fill the horizon. After taking a seat in one of her deck chairs, I pull out my phone and send a text to Justin, telling him the latest development. Then I send a message to Autumn, letting her know what time my flight would arrive so she would be dressed and ready to go out. I also tell her to make sure to wear the red lipstick she wore to the club.

Just thinking about how she looked that night causes my cock to jump. I need to see how fucking long it would take to kiss that red off her mouth. Looking out at the sunset again, I can’t help but smile. I’m not buying a new bed for my room until she’s willing to help me pick it out and share it with me. Until I can convince her to move into my room, we will be staying in hers. I look down at my phone when it beeps.

Justin: Autumn is safe in bed. I’m running a cross-check on the names you sent. As soon as I know anything, I’ll send you the info.