Page 40 of Crush's Hope
Brianna and I had officially moved in together. We lived in the house I kept secret from King. I never thought I would say this, but it was nice to have a woman—I get to see her every day, fuck her every night, and then some. And Brianna had really turned the safehouse into a home, at least for now.
Brianna turned in her notice at the hospital. The shift she had this morning was the last one, at least until we settled in and things died down. I waited by the emergency room entrance for every shift and throughout the entire thing, and even Ash and Brock had come up on occasion to help guard the place. With everything that was going on with King, I didn’t want her to be so vulnerable and prey to the men that were still loyal. She had agreed wholeheartedly, and the prospect of moving to Phoenix or somewhere else was more than enough reason as it was to resign.
And of course, there was all the paperwork that came with changing her name.
The ceremony was at the courthouse a few days before and we kept the company to a minimum. She wore a plain white dress that hugged her in all the right places and had her hair done in an easy braid. I wore a button-down shirt for the second time in my life and my classic black jeans. Only Prince, Ash, and Callie were there with us, just to be witnesses. But it was absolutely perfect.
She was my wife now, and that meant a lot.Doctor Brianna Jackson, M.D., I thought. I couldn’t wait until she received her updated license with that title. And not to mention, all the protection that came with it. But one thing was for certain, I had definitely married up.
I stood in the lofty room at Planet Hollywood, looking through a pair of binoculars. Next to me were Lane and Cole, also with their own binoculars. Brock was standing guard by the door, and Satan sat on the couch. No one said a word, the only noise in the room was whatever stupid game that Satan was obsessed with playing on his phone. But it was recommended by the doctor or whatever for his fine motor function and stuff, so we all had to shut up and put up with it.
Their women were with Brianna at the cabin, just in case King got wise in the past twenty-four hours. Which was good for everyone, and Brianna got to have a bachelorette party of sorts at the house. And they helped her renovate the office into a usable space, and something about cleaning and dusting andHoly fuck Crush do you own a vacuum?that they were planning on doing. I gave Brianna my credit card, and I didn’t want to look at the statement when she was done shopping.
“It looks pretty tense in there,” Cole said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
He stepped away from the windows, and I brought my binoculars down. My eyes were dry from having been so focused on what was going on at the Bellagio right now. I turned to face Cole, watching as he paced and thought the whole plan through. Lane stood at the windows, eyes on the target, just in case. His mouth was set into a frown.
Prince was in the Bellagio penthouse with his father. It was a last-ditch effort on Prince’s behalf to put his father straight. But by the looks of what I saw through the binoculars, it wasn’t going that way at all. In fact, Prince looked pretty pissed off. Mad enough to kill, almost. But he had made it very clear that he decided the terms on what constituted reason enough for King to die.
“Do you think the kid has the balls?” Satan asked, not looking up from his phone.
“Honestly,” Lane sighed, putting down the binoculars. “I have no clue. Their relationship is fucked up as all get out, but I know that Prince cares a bit for the old man. It will depend on how far King pushes him.”
“I bet he does,” Cole shrugged nonchalantly. “Remember that time, Lane? With the pedal bikes when we were all kids?”
“True,” Lane shrugged, a knowing glance passing between the two Black Reapers. “When the time comes, yeah, he’ll pull the trigger.”
It struck me just then: the rumor that Prince used to be friends with the Black Reapers. I always thought there was a little grain of truth to it, but nothing extending to childhood. And given what I knew about Prince, he was always in need of a few loyal friends. If Lane and Cole thought he was man enough, it was reassuring to know that I wasn’t alone.
I always believed in Prince.
I put the binoculars back up to my eyes, watching Prince and King interact. There were some aggressive hand gestures and obvious screaming. As if he had a radar built into his skull, King looked right over to our window in Planet Hollywood. His eyes landed on me, and I’ll admit chills went down my spine. But there was a distance to his stare, like he wasn’t really seeing anything specific.
I smiled a bit, seeing what I had done. There was a long gash down King’s eye, the wound not having healed. And with his top surgeon having been a little preoccupied in bed all week, it was a little tough to get it fixed. There were some bandages to help the skin close, but I took pride in knowing that it was going to take a while to heal.
King, seeming not to have seen us, turned around and back to the conversation with his son.If I had a sniper right now, I thought. But I didn’t, and it wasn’t my cross to bear anymore. Prince had made that very clear last night. I could see King curl his hands into fists. And then suddenly, there was a flurry of motion.
It was almost impossible to track the motion. King swung a fist at Prince, catching his son right in the jaw. As Prince fell to the ground, King jumped on the opportunity. But not for long. Prince took the upper hand, and King was launched across the room. One of the prized paintings fell off the wall and onto King.
Prince stood up and wiped blood from his lip. Just like his father had done, Prince turned to the window and was staring right at us from across the way. But I knew he was looking at us on purpose. You wouldn’t need binoculars to see his expression and the way his body shook with rage.
There was murder in his eyes.
“Oh shit,” Lane and Cole said simultaneously.
“What shit?” Satan asked, suddenly curious.
Putting away his phone, Satan stood up and walked up to the windows. He gestured to me, holding his hand out for the binoculars. I handed the pair to him, feeling awkward to be the only one at the windows without binoculars. My hands found a home in the pockets of my jeans.
Satan put the binoculars up to his eyes, looking at the scene for himself. There was a drawn-out silence, the room and everyone completely in it completely still. Not one to get to involved in the details, when Satan concerned himself with something like this, it wasn’t a matter to be taken lightly. The man was hell on wheels, but there was always a cold fury about him.
Based on the off-hand comments he had been making all day, Satan had hoped for a special place in hell for King. People that beat their children, according to him, weremore worthless pieces of shit than what comes out of my dog’s ass. And there was the ever-eloquentfucking scum of the Earthscattered in the tirade as well.
Satan said nothing as he continued to look out the window. Even I was a tad intimidated right now, and for all intents and purposes, I was on his side. I wasn’t a member of the Black Reapers, not until after all the chips had landed. I was loyal to myself and Brianna more than anyone else, but I didn’t want to turn my back on Prince like that.
After what felt like infinity, Satan stepped away from the windows and handed me the binoculars again. Without a word, he went back to the couch, picked up his phone with an almost clumsy grace, and all but flopped down onto the cushions of the couch. We were all watching him expectantly. Soon the beeping noise of the game started back up again, and his fingers flew across the screen.
“You may yet have a chance.”
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