Grave (Dark Kingdom, #3) — Chapter no 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

GRAVE

I LIE IN April’s bed. She’s passed out facing me. An arm across my chest and a leg across both of mine.

I kiss her forehead and close my eyes just as I hear my cell vibrate.

Sliding out from underneath her, I crawl off the bed. I grab my jeans off the floor and remove my cell from my pocket. I see it’s a video from Lucy.

Deciding to watch it, I walk into her bathroom and flip on the light but turn the volume all the way down. I don’t want it to wake up April.

It shows Lucy still at the Airport. She’s in the private room sitting at the round table. A mirror in the middle with a razor blade and a bag of cocaine.

She then flips the camera to herself and blows me a kiss. Her mouth is moving, but I can’t hear what she is saying or make out the words. Ending it before it’s done, I delete it and place my cell on the counter. Turning on the faucet, I splash my face with some water. The need that I would normally have for the drugs not really there.

I turn off the water, grab my cell, and flip off the light. Walking back into her bedroom, I pull my jeans on and make my way downstairs to get a glass of milk. It just sounds good right now, but I stop when I get to the last step.

I see a figure in the entryway, so I reach over and flip on the light.

“Shit!” Ethan all but shouts, jumping back from the front door.

“Keep it down. Your sister is asleep,” I tell him.

He runs a hand over his mop of hair. I swear the kid never brushes it.

“About time you two stopped fucking,” he says with disgust.

I take a step toward him and he throws up his hands like I’m about to punch his lights out. He’s not far off.

“I’m leaving,” he rushes out. “I was on my way out.”

“Where the fuck you going this late?” I ask.

He squares his shoulders, shoving his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. Why the fuck is he wearing that? It’s not even cold outside. “Just because you’re fucking my sister, doesn’t mean I have to tell you shit.” He spins around, yanks open the front door and slams it shut.

_______________

“BABE?” I SAY, running my knuckles down the side of her face.

“Hmm?” she mumbles, her eyes opening and then closing again.

“I’m leaving,” I say, straightening and placing my watch on my wrist.

I’m already fucking late for work. Like I am every fucking day. I didn’t set my alarm last night.

“It’s Saturday.” She stretches under the covers.

“I know.” Kingdom never sleeps. It’s why we choose to live there rather than our homes that we built.

“Stay with me.” Her eyes open fully, and she reaches out to me.

“I can’t.” Even though I want nothing more in this world than to crawl back in bed with her.

She sits up, the covers falling to her waist, exposing her bare chest to me.

She arches a brow and licks her lips. “Are you sure?” Her hands reach out and grab my dick through my jeans.

I growl and jump onto the bed, pinning her down to it as I hover above.

“I have to go, but I’m free tonight.”

“Early enough to do dinner?”

I lower my head and kiss her neck. “As long as you promise to be my dessert.”

“Promise?” She pants, arching her hips to meet mine.

I groan and push mine into hers so she can feel how hard I am. I’ve never known what struggle was until I met her. “Promise.” I pull away and crawl off her. “Now go back to sleep.” I kiss her forehead, and she rolls over, giving me her back with a sigh.

I grab my cell off her nightstand and exit her room, closing the door behind me. I make my way down the steps and to the front door. I see my bag still lying in the entryway where April dropped it last night. I pick it up and walk out to my car. Throwing it into my passenger seat, I pause before I start my car and look over at it.

This is the first time in a long time that I haven’t woken up feeling like shit. Hungover or still high. I unzip the side pocket of the bag and reach inside to remove the pill bottle.

“What the …?” I bring it onto my lap and look inside it. It’s empty. I had a pill bottle there last night, and it was full. Where the fuck did it go?

I had it upstairs at the Airport, and then when I showered … someone was in my bag. The question is, who the fuck was it? It was there when I left. I had checked it. Then I came to April’s. She never got into it. We had sex, and her drunk ass passed out. Then Lucy messaged me. I went downstairs … Ethan. It had to have been him. He was standing in the entryway and was spooked when I turned on the lights. His hands in the pockets of his hoodie. He was hiding my pills from me so I wouldn’t catch him. He was leaving so he could go take them.

Motherfucker!

APRIL

I STAND BEHIND the counter, going through emails on my phone. Roses opens in two days but after Grave left my house this morning, I decided to get up and do a few last-minute things up here. The bell rings, signaling a customer has entered, and I look up in a panic that I forget to lock the door behind me.

“We’re closed.” I exit out of my email and open my call history, my finger hovering over Grave’s name.

“Hi.” The man waves as he steps inside, letting the door shut behind him.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed,” I repeat, my thumb ready to call him. The guy is dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a white T-shirt that has a red Corvette on the front. His dark eyes look around, and he nods in approval when he gets to the vases on the shelves.

“I saw you at the Airport last night.” His dark eyes meet mine.

My body tenses. I knew I should have left after what Jasmine told me.

“Who are you?” I ask.

He gives me a warm smile. “I’m Jimmy. Jimmy Trust. I’m good friends with Grave.”

“Oh.” My shoulders relax a bit. “Are you looking for him? Because he’s not here.”

He shakes his head. “No. I just wanted to come by and place an order for someone.” Ducking his head, he looks up at me shyly through his lashes.

“For a special someone.”

I set my cell down. “Well, as long as you don’t need it today or tomorrow, I can help you out with that.”

“I won’t need them until next week.”

Opening the top drawer, I pull out my pad and a pen and slide it across the counter. “Just fill this out for me.”

He comes up to the counter, closing the distance between us, and starts writing down all the info. When he’s finished, he places the pen down.

“Thanks so much. I want my girl to know just how special she is.” Then he exits without another word.

I look down at the paper and frown when I see Lucy Mason written out.

Picking up my cell, I call up Grave.

“Hey, babe,” he answers immediately.

I bite my lip to hide my smile as if he can see me. “Hey.”

“Everything okay?” he asks.

I love that he asks me that. “Yeah.” My eyes drop to the piece of paper on the counter and I chicken out. “I know you said we could do dinner tonight, but I was just wondering if you’d like me to bring you lunch today.” I’ll ask him tonight about Lucy. Obviously, they’re not exclusive. Or if they were, they’re not now. I saw how he avoided her last night and he didn’t even know I was watching him at that point.

“Why don’t you come up here for lunch and we’ll eat here together,” he

offers.

“Sounds good.”

“Pull around the back of Kingdom and enter the private entrance. A man by the name of Nigel will be at the desk and will escort you up to my office.”

I remember that guy. I saw him when Titan took me kicking and screaming to Bones’s office after my shop was destroyed because of the money my brother owed. “Any particular time?”

“I’ll clear my schedule whenever you arrive.”

I smile at that. “See you soon.”

_______________

“HERE YOU ARE.” Nigel says, opening the glass door for me to enter the

Kings office.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, ma’am.” He nods. “His office is the last one on the left.”

I walk down the dark gray hallway and pass the first door on the left; Cross is in gold letters. I take a look in to see he’s not in there. The next door on the left reads Titan. He too isn’t in there. But I didn’t expect him to be. Emilee told us that they were going to be in New York for the weekend.

I come up to the end of the hall. The door on the left has Grave on it. I know the one on the right is Bones.

I softly knock on Grave’s door. “Come in,” he calls out.

I enter and come to a stop when I see him sitting at his desk with a phone to his ear. Cross sits in the chair across from it. He turns to look at me over his shoulder, flipping a Zippo in his right hand. “Hey,” I say lamely.

“I have to go …” Grave says into the phone. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it done.” Then he hangs up. “Even when he’s in New York, he’s up my ass.”

He growls, standing and walking around his desk over to me.

My heart picks up. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about being here.

Maybe because this is his element. This is his domain. I’m used to being in my bed with him naked.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. When he pulls away, he gives me a gentle kiss on my forehead that causes butterflies in my stomach. “How’s your day?”

“Good.” I walk over and sit down next to Cross and push my hair behind my ear. “Yours?”

He sighs and sits down at his desk. “The usual.”

I’m not sure what that means because we never talk about Kingdom. I don’t push him to share information regarding him and the Kings. What they do here is none of my business. And after what Derek told me, I think I’d rather not know. I don’t expect Grave to be a saint. All I expect from a guy is that he treats me right and respects me. The rest can always be worked on.

A cell phone rings and Grave picks his up from his desk. He lets out a growl and looks at me. “Give me a second.”

“Yes, of course.” I say stupidly like he asked for permission. I sit up straighter in the comfortable black leather chair. My ass sinks into it. It’s exactly what I would expect for a King.

Grave exits the room and a silence falls over it. I don’t know Cross very well. I don’t know any of the Kings actually. I’ve only ever met them once and I was having a bad day. I did see Cross once before in Roses, but there was very minimal interaction between the two of us.

His green eyes meet mine. He flips the Zippo open. The flame burns before he slams it shut. “It’s a reminder.” He says when he catches me staring.

I could lie. Pretend I wasn’t wondering what the fuck he’s doing. But instead I ask, “Of what?”

He flips it open again, tilts his head to the side, and watches the flame dance at the tip of his tatted fingers. Then his eyes slide to mine, the green darkening to black and sending a chill down my spine. “That if I wanted to, I could burn the motherfucking world down.”

He takes a cigarette from behind his ear and places it between his lips, then raises the lighter. But I speak, making him pause, “You know smoking will kill you.” My grandfather died of lung cancer. Smoked his entire life.

My mother begged me and Ethan not to ever smoke. That it wasn’t worth it in the end.

He removes the unlit cigarette from his lips and smirks at me. “So will falling in love with a man who has a death wish.” My eyes widen. “And I don’t see you putting an end to that.” He replaces it between his lips and lights the cigarette then flips the Zippo shut. “Guess we’ll both die due to our own stupidity.” He blows the smoke out.

The door opens, and Grave re-enters. Cross stands and exits without another word. “Sorry, I’m ready for lunch now.” He drops into his desk chair.

Cross thinks I love him. Jasmine thinks I love him. Do I? Am I doing something that everyone else sees but me? Am I being too clingy? Too obvious? Do I need to take a step back and look at it from a different angle?

What if Grave thinks this too? Will it push him away?

“April?”

“Hmm?” My eyes snap up to Grave’s. He gives me that smile that makes my heart pick up. “You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, just been a long week,” I lie, not wanting to make him question anything. I came here to see him and I’m not going to let Cross’s words fuck that up. I get up and walk around. Pushing his chair back, I climb into his lap, straddling him.

He leans back, placing his hands behind his head, showing off his muscular arms with a cocky smile.

“A friend of yours stopped by Roses today.” I do have feelings for Grave, but I need to know where I stand before I allow myself to feel anymore.

The smile drops off his face, and he tilts his head to the side. “Who?”

“He said his name was Jimmy. Think the last name was Trust?”

He snorts. “He’s not a friend.” He drops his arms and grips my hips.

I frown. “I told him we were closed twice, but he insisted on ordering flowers.”

His jaw sharpens. “I’m installing a security camera system at the shop

this week.”

“You don’t have to …”

“I’ve already ordered the equipment. It’ll be here tomorrow.”

I arch a brow. “Wanna keep an eye on me?”

“Always.” He winks.

Shit, this guy makes my underwear soaked in the worst way. But I have to know. “Well, Jimmy was there to send flowers to Lucy. Lucy Mason.” I watch his facial expression to see if he gets jealous, but nothing changes.

“Don’t you find that odd?” I dig.

“Why would I find that odd? I told you he’s not my friend.”

I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, dropping my eyes to his black Kingdom shirt to stare at his chest and try to keep my voice even. “She’s your ex.”

He lifts his hands and tangles them in my hair, lifting my face so I have to stare down at him. “Lucy Mason is not my ex.”

“Fuck buddy.” I correct my previous statement.

“Did Jimmy tell you that?” he asks.

“He didn’t have to.” I pull away from him and get up off his lap. I’m not

going to rat the girls out.

“We were, yes. But I haven’t …”

“I’ve seen her call you several times when we’re together,” I interrupt him.

He snorts. “I can’t help when she calls me, but I promise you that I ignore them every time.”

“Maybe that’s the problem, you haven’t told her that you’re with me.” He may ignore her while he’s with me but what happens after he leaves?

“It’s complicated.”

I give a rough laugh. “How is your ex, fuck buddy, whatever a complication? You either still want to fuck her or you don’t.”

His jaw sharpens and he runs a hand through his hair.

I go on, “Plus, I saw her last night at the Airport. She was all over you.”

Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration but the bitch was thirsty. And she would have jumped his bones if he would have let her. Even Jasmine said that Lucy would take him however she could have him.

He stands from his chair. “Did you see me blow her off too?” he asks, walking over to me and pushing my ass up against the side of his desk. He reaches out and gently pushes my hair off my shoulders and runs his knuckles up my neck, pushing my head back in the process.

“She wants you.” I fill the silence, my breathing picking up. Not wanting to let him distract me from the conversation. “And if that’s what you want, tell me now. Don’t string me along.”

Gripping my hair, I cry out when he jerks my head to where I’m forced to look up at him. “Let’s clear something up then.” He licks his lips. “You’re fucking mine, April. I don’t want Lucy. Not anymore.” His blue eyes roam my face. “I haven’t touched her nor anyone else since I’ve been with you.”

I swallow at his confession.

“All I think about is you.” He lowers his lips to my neck and kisses his way up to my ear. “I only want to fuck you.” My breath hitches when he begins to nibble on my ear. “The only woman I want to be with is you.”

My arms wrap around his neck. “Be with?” As in girlfriend? We haven’t said it out loud just yet.

“The question is, am I the only one you want?” He presses his hips into mine, pinning me to the desk and I can feel how hard he is.

“Yes,” I breathe.

He pulls away and my heavy eyes look up at him. “I promise that I’m all yours, April. Are you all mine?”

I nod my head, licking my lips. “Of course, …”

His lips land on mine and he lifts me off my feet, slamming my ass down on the desk before he rips my shirt up and over my head.