Page 60 of Creole Kingpin
“There was a guy, once upon a time. He was a gangster. Wanted to be a kingpin. I was young and stupid, and I fell hard.” I slide my rook across the board.
“No shit.” Rhodes sits up in his seat, worrying his bottom lip as he studies the game, and then makes his next move. “What happened?”
I go with the CliffsNotes version to spare myself. “He couldn’t stay. I couldn’t leave. He promised he’d come back. He didn’t.”
“When was this?”
I clear my thick throat. “Fifteen years ago.”
Rhodes’s eyes widen. “And you’re justnowgetting pissed about it?”
My arms cross over my chest. “No. Damn motherfucking man just showed back up, and now he wants to make it right and fucking marry me or some shit. Like that’s gonna happen—”
“Whoa. Hold up.” Rhodes leans an elbow on the table and rubs his chin. “He came back after fifteen years with no word and now he wants to marry you?”
“Yeah. Fucking ridiculous. He even put a man on my house. Pretty sure he tailed me here.” I shake my head, and the sheer fuckery of all of it rattles around inside. “What kind of man shows back up after fifteen years ofno wordand then just drops shit like this on a person?”
Rhodes is on his feet before I realize he’s even moving. “His man tailed you here? Fuck, Magnolia.”
“So what?” My hand slices dismissively through the air. “He can’t get past the gate. It’s not like I give a fuck if the guy sits there all night. I’m sure I’ll fucking hear about it tomorrow, though. The man is impossible.”
I might be buzzed, because my opinions are shifting around like a load in the back of a U-Haul. Actually, saying all this shit makes me wonder if I should believe Moses, but how the fuck do I believe someone who said they’d come back for me andnever did?
“Goddamn it, woman.” Rhodes stalks to the table where his bag sits and pulls out a gun.
“What the fuck is that for?” I push back my chair and bolt to my feet, luckily without swaying too much.
“You just told me some kingpin motherfucker came back to town tomarry you,and now you’re at a sex club with another man. If you really think a gate is going to keep him out ... Fucking hell, Magnolia. You know men better than that. You think he’snotgonna find a way in?”
There’s a light knock on the door. Both Rhodes and I turn just in time to see it burst open, and Moses’s big body fills the doorway.
Shit. I picked a bad day to be wrong.
Thirty-Six
Moses
What was I expecting to find when I stepped around Desiree and shoved the door open?
Fuck, I don’t even want to think about it, but this sure as shit wasn’t it.
It might have been easier to walk in on Magnolia fucking someone, because then I would have just killed him. But this ... this is a complete goddamned shock. The kidney-punch kind where you piss blood for a week.
“I take it this is the guy?” The question comes from the man standing a few feet from Magnolia—and the motherfucking chess game they were clearly playing together.
The anger I felt before morphs into something totally different. Something I didnotexpect to feel tonight. But, goddamn it, seeing a chessboard set up between them is like a knife through my fucking ribs.
That was ours. And she gave it to someone else.
I force the feeling down and bring the anger back to the forefront, because that I can defuse and turn into ice-cold rage.
Stepping forward, I reach for Magnolia, but the dude moves too, putting himself between us. That’s when I spot the Glock in his hand.
“So it’s like that,” I say, staring him down.
He shrugs. “Depends on your next move, brother.”
“Rhodes! What the hell are you doing?” Magnolia sayshis fucking nameas she tries to come around him, but he throws an arm out to block her.
