Cross (Dark Kingdom, #4) — Chapter no 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

CROSS

I TURN TO look down at the jackass who almost ruined my best friend’s life. I don’t know much about the kid, but he can’t even be twenty-one yet.

He cost Grave fifty grand months back when the Mason brothers were after him. Grave paid them off, and he was to pay Grave back. I’m not sure how that’s been going. I haven’t asked. Maybe I should have. “Come on.” I grab his upper arm and yank him to his feet. “Let’s go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” He tries to pull away from me, but I

keep hold of him.

“Yeah, I’m taking you to rehab.”

“Fuck that!” he shouts, starting to fight me harder, but he’s still too weak.

I picked him up off the floor at the Airport. He had two fights tonight and got his ass kicked both times. Trey Mason, the youngest of the three brothers, had to help me get Ethan to my car. “You never stopped him from doing drugs.”

I grip his face with my free hand. “Your sister has been through enough.”

“She made her choices,” he spits out.

I’m going to fucking kill this kid.

Bones pulls me away from him and shoves his back in the front door.

“Get the fuck away from here. I don’t care if you go to rehab or go get fucked up. But stay the fuck away from April and Grave, or I’ll kill you myself.”

He shrugs off him, turns around, and slams the front door shut on his way

out.

“He needed rehab,” I bark at Bones.

“You can’t force someone to choose sobriety, Cross,” he snaps. “You of all people should know that.”

I do, but … “She just lost her child. How do you think she’ll feel if she loses a brother to an overdose?”

He shrugs. “Looks like she’ll be better off.”

Alexa gasps at his words, but I’m not surprised that’s how Bones feels.

And I can’t say that I disagree. But I’m also thinking of Grave here. April is his everything. What will he do if she leaves him? If she loses a child and a brother? How will that affect her? And then their relationship? I’m trying to make sure I do my part to keep all sides together. I hate to admit it, but I was never there for Grave like he needed me to be. I enabled him. I’m trying to do better. Be a better friend for him now. And I’ll be damned if I let myself fail.

“How did you know it was Ethan?” Jasmine asks me.

I look up at her, and a conversation I had with Grave comes to mind.

“You lost them again?” I ask Grave as I stand in his bedroom up in our Royal Suite at Kingdom.

“I had them in a bag,” he growls, shuffling through his closet.

I’m not sure what he’s looking for exactly. I fall on the end of his bed.

“And you didn’t take them?” How do you lose a bottle of pills?

He snorts. “I would know if I had taken an entire bottle of pills last night.”

I shrug, flipping my Zippo open and closed. “Maybe April took them.” I reach, trying to think of the options. I don’t know anything about this woman. Maybe she does drugs. He does them all the time with his go-to fuck—Lucy.

Grave shakes his head. “One, she didn’t know they were there, and two, she wouldn’t have had the chance. She sucked my dick on the way to her house, and the moment we arrived, we went upstairs to her room. After we were done, she passed out and never left. It had to have been her brother.”

What was in the pill bottle wasn’t what Grave used to keep in there. It’s obvious that Ethan had finished off the pills he stole and then refilled it with whatever he wanted, keeping the bottle.

“Cross?” Alexa speaks, reminding me that Jasmine asked me a question, but I ignore them. Instead, I kick the jackass’s bag across the foyer that he left behind and turn to the door. Yanking it open and slamming it shut behind me, I head to my house. I’m tired and need a shower. We have a compound here in a cul-de-sac right outside of Las Vegas. It’s been a while

since I’ve stayed at my house, but right now, I don’t want to take the time to go to Kingdom.

“Cross?” I hear Alexa call out behind me, running down Grave’s stairs.

“Not now,” I say, not wanting her around. I want to be alone for the

night. “Go home, Alexa.”

“Cross!” she shouts.

I enter my house and slam that door as well, but it instantly swings open behind me. I should have locked it, but since we live in a gated community that only we Kings have access to, I never do.

“I’m fucking talking to you!” she shouts.

I spin around to face her. “And I told you to go home!”

She crosses her arms over her chest. Things got intense, and my blood pressure is still rising. My anger is far from faded. How long would Grave had let April think he was using again? She would have left him. All because he wanted to spare the truth of her brother. Pitiful. What the fuck was he thinking? I yank off my jacket and turn, walking down the hallway to my master suite at the back of the house.

“We need to discuss this,” she states.

I snort. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

“That is her brother.”

“Bones was right,” I say, entering the bedroom.

“Did you do that to Grave? Huh?” she demands, causing me to pause and turn to face her. “Did you leave him to overdose?”

“You have no idea what the fuck has happened!” I shout. “What he went through. What I allowed to happen. None of us could have stopped him!” I believe in my heart that April was the only one to make Grave want to sober up. “What do you expect from me?”

“How about a little human decency?” she screams in my face. “Some compassion. He needed help, not to be kicked out of the house and left on his own on the streets. He’ll just go find more drugs.”

I laugh at that, and it just fuels her hate for me at the moment.

“You Kings say that you’re all brothers. But you allowed Grave to get high. What if he had overdosed? Huh? Then what …?”

“Don’t act like you know what happened, Alexa. Because I promise you, you don’t know shit.” I step into her, glaring down my nose into her green

eyes. “This is the last time I’m going to say this. Get the fuck out of my house.”

Her jaw sharpens, her nostrils flare, and I think she’s going to slap me, but instead, she spins around and marches out of my room, slamming the

front door on her way out.

“FUCK!”

ALEXA

I DIDN’T SLEEP at all last night. After arguing with Cross, I stormed out of his house and had Jasmine take me home since I had arrived with her because Cross and I had to “pretend” we weren’t seeing each other—if they didn’t already know, they do now after the way I followed him out of Grave and April’s house—I showered, then laid in bed while I tossed and turned until my alarm went off this morning. I wanted to call April so bad, but I refrained. She already had so much going on, and I wanted her to spend that time with Grave. They had a lot to talk about.

Jasmine came and picked me up, and we met Bones at a private hangar.

We boarded what I’m guessing was Bones’s jet. The plane ride was silent.

Bones was on his phone the whole time, either emailing or texting someone. Jasmine didn’t even try to talk to me. Usually, she’s the first one to try to cheer me up, but we were all still reeling from last night. I found myself falling asleep here and there during the flight.

A Cadillac Escalade is waiting for us at the private hangar once we touch down in New York. Jasmine and I get in the back, and Bones drives us to our hotel. I rest my forehead against the window and take in all the tall buildings. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was looking forward to seeing the city, but now not so much. It just doesn’t feel right.

He brings the car to a stop in front of the hotel. “I’ll pick you girls up here at midnight.” Bones finally speaks.

I look down at my watch to see it’s a little after four. I’m actually glad we have some time because I’d like to get some sleep before we go out tonight.

I’m exhausted.

“You’re not coming up?” Jasmine asks.

He shakes his head. “No. I have some business to take care of while in town.”

She nods before she and I get out of the car. A couple of guys grab our bags for us and help us into the hotel. It’s exactly what I expected a classy and expensive hotel to be in Times Square. It’s open, allowing you to look up and see all the floors from the inside. It’s so tall that I have to lean my head all the way back to see the top. Everything is pristine—white with gold trimming. The floor a white and black marble design. There are white leather couches to the right and a bar to the left. Looking inside of it, I can see TVs on the wall and people sitting at round booths. A massive chandelier hangs five stories tall, the crystals wrapped in a circle making it look like it’s raining down on the guests.

The guys help us onto an elevator, and my stomach rises in my throat as we climb, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows while the lobby gets farther and farther away.

It finally comes to a stop, and we enter the door of the Presidential Suite.

We thank the guys and tip them.

I look around in awe. My shoes sink into the rich carpet. There’s nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing Times Square. “This is amazing,”

I whisper, wishing that April was here to see this with me.

“Right?” Jasmine agrees, walking over to the bar area.

I sit down at the piano in the middle of the living room and wish my mom would have made me commit to my lessons when I was younger just so I could say I played the piano in our hotel while visiting New York.

“I’m going to take a nap,” Jasmine informs me.

“Okay,” I wave her off, knowing I won’t be long behind her.

My cell vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, hoping it’s Cross. But I’m disappointed when I see it’s none other than my ex.

CUNT: Alexa, quit fucking ignoring me! I need to talk to you!

While I’m reading over it, my cell begins to ring, and it’s him. Pressing decline, I pocket my cell and decide to go lie down for that nap.

I wake up, and it’s dark outside. The clock on the nightstand reads nine o’clock. I yawn and stretch out my heavy limbs before checking my cell.

Thankfully, there’s nothing from Mitch, but sadly nothing from Cross either. Not sure what I expected. Cross and I are just fucking. It was nothing serious, and I don’t see him as the apology type. I’m sure as hell not ready to swallow my pride and apologize for what I said. In a way, he was right. I don’t know what has gone on between the Kings over the years, so I should

have just kept my mouth shut. Rolling off the side of the bed, I make my way to the adjoining bathroom.

I jump back, screaming when I flip on the light and find Jasmine in the bathtub. She and I are sharing a suite. Bones got his own.

“Come on in.” She waves a bubble-covered hand. “Can’t see anything.

Even if you could, I wouldn’t care.” She winks at me. “It’s all the same.”

I laugh and enter because I really have to pee. “Why are you in the dark?” I ask, noticing that she has candles lit all over the room. The black shades above the large jacuzzi bathtub are pulled closed, hiding her from

the city.

“I prefer candles over bright lights.”

I notice one sitting by the sink and pick it up. It’s a dark purple candle in the shape of a … “Are these dicks?”

“Yes.” She smiles, rubbing bubbles on her upper chest and up her neck.

“I find it very therapeutic to set a dick on fire. Not as much as a real one”— she shrugs—“but it still makes me feel good.”

I laugh, shaking my head, and make my way to the toilet. “I’ll have to try that,” I mumble. The fake ones, of course.

_______________

THREE HOURS LATER, Bones pulls up to the back of a red brick building.

Exiting the car, I can hear music pounding from inside the club. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this is not it.

I start to walk to the right, but Bones goes left. Jasmine takes my hand and pulls me after him. A black door opens, and a man dressed in a three- piece suit steps out, holding it open. He lifts his right hand to his ear.

“They’re here, boss,” he speaks. Then smiles. “Bones!” He shakes his hand and pulls him in for a man shake/hug. “How’re you doing, man? It’s been a

while.”

“Busy. As usual,” Bones answers.

I frown, and Jasmine leans into my ear, whispering, “Bones is a member.”

My lips make an O shape. My eyes drop to his shiny Hermes shoes and run up over his black dress slacks and his dark gray button-up. He’s got the sleeves rolled up his tatted forearms. His shoulders are pulled back, and his

hands are tucked into his pockets. I can see Bones demanding total submission from a woman. He just seems like someone who has to be in charge all the time, of every aspect of his life.

“Well, he’s inside waiting for you.” The man steps to the side, keeping the door open for us.

Bones grabs Jasmine’s hand, and she continues to hold on to mine.

Bright, flashing lights momentarily blind me. I reach out my right hand and find a wall. It vibrates from the bass of “Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls.

Bones continues to pull us down a long hallway until we enter an opening.

Looking up, I see the crowd of people. I’m not surprised to see it’s packed.

But it looks like any other club. Nothing special or kinky to it. We walk past the bar and a dance floor to the other side of the club, down another long hallway. A man stands guard of a door at the end.

Bones reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. He holds up a card, and the guy looks it over, then to us. His eyes sweep over Jasmine and me in a way that makes me question why I even agreed to do this. But then he steps to the side and opens the door.

It’s a dimly lit staircase. We follow Bones down it, and he opens the door at the bottom. Fuck, it’s a maze. Is this the only way to enter? Or is this the only way they are allowing us to get in? We walk through the door, and my mouth drops while my eyes widen.

The lights remain dimmer down here than the flashing neon lights upstairs. Soft music plays, unlike the blaring noise above us.

Men and women are in the center of the room on a dance floor. Most are dressed in leather outfits. One man is crawling on his hands and knees while another leads him around by a leash. A guy walks by us dressed in what looks like a red latex one-piece.

Kink—makes total sense to me now. It’s like night and day compared to what I just saw upstairs. This place is hidden? But why?

“Bones!” A man dressed in a white three-piece suit approaches us, and Bones releases Jasmine’s hand to shake the guy who said his name.

“Ladies.” He nods to us, placing his hands behind his back. And I wonder why he didn’t shake ours.

Jasmine pulls her shoulders back, obviously noticing it too. “Hooke,” she acknowledges him.

His name is Hooke? That’s gotta be a fake name, right? Maybe a last name? He looks young. Maybe not my age, but late twenties, early thirties at the oldest.

“Bones, you’ve been here enough to know how it all works. But let me show you ladies around.” He turns, giving us his back.

Now that I know Bones is a member, I understand why Jasmine brought him in. He knows the ins and outs. But my concern is what kind of restrictions they have with a member buying in?

The man takes a right at the end of the dance floor, and we come to a hallway. Nothing but glass. You can see into the rooms on either side. You can see the people inside the rooms having sex. So many props. One that looks like a cross with a naked man strapped to it. Another that looks like a black leather bench—a woman bent over it.

One room we walk past has two men and a woman in it. She’s bent over a table, her hands tied behind her back, legs spread wide tied and restrained.

One man is behind her, the other in front of her.

“This is heaven,” Jasmine says excitedly.

He takes us into a room that has a black leather couch and two chairs. A coffee table sits in the middle with a stack of papers. Not a single window on the walls.

Jasmine still holds my hand so when she sits down on the couch, I plop down beside her. Bones takes the chair across from us, and Hooke unbuttons his suit jacket before sitting beside him in the other one. “I’m not going to lie; I was excited when you called me, Bones. I think Kink will be great for you. We’re honored to have a Vegas location.”

I’m not much of a fan of this Hooke guy already. Jasmine said we needed Bones, and the more he talks, the more I understand why. I hate sexist pigs.

“It was Jasmine’s idea.” Bones looks at her, giving her the credit. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass.”

“Yes …” He lets out a long breath. “Well, Kink is thrilled to have two women partnering.”

Liar. Even I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. Like someone is forcing him to let us in. I wonder if Bones is that person? It makes me want to do this even more.

“I’ve done some research,” I say, finally speaking. “And I find it interesting that you have twenty-five locations worldwide and not a single

woman owns a Kink. Why is that?”

Hooke lifts his right leg to place his ankle on his left knee and settles back into his seat. His eyes meet mine. “Look around Kink. Most of your dominant participants are male. Women choose to follow, not lead.”

Jackass.

“And then, of course, men are more reliable. More dominant in the business field …”

“Excuse me?” Jasmine asks, sitting up straighter. “What does that mean?”

He looks at her. His eyes drop to her cleavage before returning to hers. A smirk grows across his face as if he’s imagining tying her up in one of those rooms we just passed. “Women prefer the family life. Babies. They have responsibilities at home that keep them permanently tied there. Whereas men choose to devote their lives to their careers.” He reaches his hands out wide. “The statistics back up those facts.”

“That—”

“We’re getting off topic,” Bones interrupts Jasmine.

“Look …” Hooke places his foot on the floor. Adjusting his suit jacket, he obviously has more to say. “We’re thrilled to have you two joining Kink, but I’d be lying if I said I’d be sitting here with you ladies without Bones.”

Even though Jasmine had already told me we needed Bones, Hooke’s words still piss me off. How dare this motherfucker tell us what we can do with our lives? With our money. Women are capable of anything, but we’re looked at being weak because we carry a child for nine months.

A silence falls over the room. I can feel Jasmine’s stiff body next to mine. She wants to say something. Hell, I want to say more, but the look on Bones’s face is telling us both to shut the hell up. Maybe Hooke wants us to take his words personally and make a scene—then he’d have a reason to turn us down when we lash out at him. He’s probably recording us at this very moment.

I run a hand down my black dress. “How many members do you have?”

Screw this guy and what he thinks he knows of us. I’ll show him how committed I am. I’ve read the paperwork.

“A little over five hundred at the moment,” he states proudly.

I almost choke on fucking air. Five hundred? The contract said the member buy-in is fifty grand a person. Each year. At fifty thousand a pop,

it’s twenty-five million dollars. That’s insane.

“Are the memberships your only source of revenue?” I ask. The contract didn’t state anything other than the original buy-in for the members.

He shakes his head. “The fifty thousand per membership only gets them in the door. If they bring a date, it costs them. If they want bottle service, it costs them.” He gives a cruel smile. “If you want a room …” He holds his hands out wide. “Well, you get it. Everything costs you here.”

“Forgive me for being skeptical, but why would they pay for this?” I ask.

He looks at me. “Men like to show off what they have.”

“You mean to parade their sex slaves around,” I counter.

He chuckles softly. “If being a slave is your kink, then yes.”

“So, all of your members are men?” Jasmine asks.

“Not a hundred percent of them. But the majority, yes.”

“Why is that?” I go on.

He gives me a smile that makes my skin crawl. I wish men like him could be a woman for one day to know what it’s like. “A man will come five times a week and bring a different woman each time.”

“Getting his money’s worth,” I say with disgust.

He goes on as if I didn’t speak. “A woman will come ten times a year and bring the same man. So, it’s hard for a woman to justify that kind of … commitment.”

He means financially. He’s already said men make more money than women.

The door opens, and a woman enters dressed in black leather pants with a red crop top. She has her jet-black hair up in a tight bun. “Hooke, may I see you for a second?”

He stands and buttons his suit jacket. Bones stands as well and shakes his hand. “Thanks for taking the time to meet with us.”

“Of course.” He turns and nods to us just like before. “Ladies.” Then he exits the room. The door softly closing behind him.

I fall back onto the couch and let out a long sigh.

“Well, that actually went better than I thought it was going to,” Bones says, sitting back down.

“He’s a fucking prick,” Jasmine spits out and turns to face me, taking my hands in hers. “But it doesn’t change what I said, Alexa. Just give me the word, and we will show him how wrong he is.”

I search her green eyes. I trust Jasmine, and she trusts Bones. I have no doubt that she will devote her entire life to this club. She wants it to be a success. And I want that too.

Fuck Hooke and his view on women. We can be dominant and rule over men. “I’m in.”