Page 3 of Creole Kingpin
Then he left and never came back. My heart has been black ever since.
Maybe Celeste is right. Maybe the devil is coming for me. Too bad it won’t be the one I still think about in my weakest moments.
Two
Magnolia
“I’m here for an appointment,” I tell the bartender as I check my watch. I’m still five minutes early, thank the good Lord.
The woman looks into the mirror hanging behind the bar and meets my gaze. With a tilt of her head, she motions for me to move toward the back of the room. A man approximately the size of a hundred-year-old sycamore stands between the scarred bar and a small doorway that leads into the office.
My pumps click on the concrete floor as I walk toward him.
“Appointment,” is all I say in greeting to the man.
He gestures with his massive head and turns around. With his bulky frame, he has to turn sideways slightly to fit through the doorway. He pushes open the first door on the right, which leads into what looks like the manager’s office, but I know better.
This ain’t my first go-round.
Honestly, it kind of grates on me that I have to go through this whole song and dance to meet with the king of this city when I’ve been to his goddamned house so many times to see Keira. But this is Mount’s way of reminding me that my friendship with her doesn’t always give me special privileges. I’d call him an asshole, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he could read my mind from here.
Mount is fucking scary. And yes, I knew thatbeforethey got together. But like I told Celeste, everything works out in the end.Right?A web of guilt winds its way around me for the choices I made that changed Keira’s life. I may never shake that off completely.
Once inside the office, I pause while Señor Sycamore pats me down. “Gun and knife are in my purse,” I tell him, holding the bag out in front of me.
He nods as he takes it and sets it on the desk. “It’ll be here when he’s done with you.”
“You can keep the gun and knife, but I’d like my bag back.”
Señor Sycamore shakes his head. “You don’t need it.”
I roll my eyes before I can think better of it. That’s when the bookcase slides to the side, revealing a set of dimly lit stairs.
When I don’t move immediately, he points a thick, branch-like index finger at it. “Don’t keep him waiting.”
“I’m going. I’m going.” I shoot him a final glance before walking through the previously hidden doorway. I used to think this shit was cool, but now it’s tedious.
When I’m halfway up the stairs, the bookcase slides shut, leaving me alone in pools of light coming from the sconces on the wood-paneled walls.
No escort? That’s new.
Then again, what concern would Mount have about me doing a damn thing to cause trouble? He knows where my loyalty lies.
I reach the top of the stairs and study the row of doors along the side.
“Now where’s he at?” I mumble as I keep walking.
Mount changes it up, and I don’t know if he’s behind door number one, two, or three.
Before I have to guess and start trying knobs, the one at the very end of the hall opens and the tall, dark, and dangerous man I’ve come here to meet stands there in a suit.
“I appreciate you coming.”
I smile in response, rather than saying what I’m thinking.Like I had any choice after I got the summons.
When Mount waves his arm into the room, I stride forward and enter his infamous library. As soon as he shuts the door behind us, the room practically vibrates with the waves of power rolling off the man.
From past experience, I recall the big fireplace in the middle of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves spins around, leading to a maze of hallways that eventually connects to Mount and Keira’s private apartments, but I have a feeling that’s not where we’re going.
