PLAYLIST

♩ West Coast - Lana Del Rey

♩ Cutthroat - Imagine Dragons

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That woman will be the death of me.

I can barely stop myself from turning around and fucking her brains out on top of that bar. She has an incredible talent for completely enveloping my mind in her being whenever I see her. The way her body moved on that dancefloor, her bouncy chocolate curls begging me to pull them while her full lips envelop my cock, and her eyes, such a light green they're almost gray, look up at me pleading. Her perfect tits and ass, her dripping pussy, her smooth, tan skin, her voice like smoke, fit for a pornstar. And her fucking teasing. The way she knows exactly what to do to make my heart race a thousand miles a minute and my cock to harden like a fucking rock. The way she aimed that gun at me and how she nonchalantly paid the rabble off. Everything she does, even the way she breathes, makes me weak. She makes me weak. No wonder I lost control back there.

I don't regret it.

I still taste her in my mouth, the salt and iron in her blood like wine to the mouth-watering grapes that are her lips and tongue. I don't even want to clean my bloody lip and ruin her handiwork, I want everything I get from her to last as long as it can.

My two bodyguards follow me out and flank me as we get to my Maserati around the corner. As we drive back to HQ, I roll down my window and light a Parliament to cool my head. Digging out my phone, I text the boys to let them know I'm on my way. The look on Gage's face when I tell him what I just did comes to mind and I laugh to myself as I exhale the smoke. That one's always been a jealous bastard when it comes to Sienna, though he thinks we can't tell.

Think of the devil and he shall call. My phone lights up with Gage's name, so I finish my cigarette and roll up the window before putting the phone to my ear.

"Miss me already?" I tease.

He ignores that, "Change of plans. Meet me at the Blackout."

"Why? Looking to relive your glory days?"

"I need you two to meet with someone," Elijah's voice sounds from afar accompanied by wet sounds of hacking and sawing, "my hands are full at the moment."

"Are you having fun without me?" I raise my eyebrows.

"I needed–" a sound of tearing flesh roars through my ear, "–to blow off some steam. Gage will give you the details."

"Hm," this is curious.

I lean forward and tell Trevor the new destination and he takes the appropriate exit.

"So, what's going on?" I ask Gage.

"You left quite a mess is what," An elevator dings in the background. His voice is closer now, so I'm assuming I'm off speaker phone and he left Elijah to himself. "Someone had to clean up, and he's in a mood today."

"Any particular reason?"

"Fuck if I know," I can almost hear him shrug, "you know how he gets sometimes."

"Right," I sigh. One of these days the bastard will lose control and the whole fucking city will pay for it. We just have to have enough of a chokehold on it by then, I suppose.

"So, what are we doing?" I happily change the subject.

"Meeting some underlings. They have insider information, apparently."

"You don't sound convinced."

"I'm convinced they believe it. More likely they're being played or used to switch sides. Either way, Elijah thinks it's worth entertaining. How many guys you got?"

"Two."

"We'll have four. See you at the spot."

"Wait until you hear about my–" he hangs up.

I chuckle to myself as we round the corner of the Blackout's street. Gage's reaction and a potential interrogation? This day just keeps getting better.

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He arrives shortly after me with his two men. One stops by our private booth and stands guard, the other goes toward the backdoor. I have one of my guys close to the front entrance and the other on the floor, watching the crowd. Gage nods in greeting and sits beside me, leaving the spot across for our friends.

"Hello, brother," I smirk at him.

He gestures to his lip, "What's with your face?"

"What? This?" I touch my cut, widening my smirk, "just a gift from our little knife."

He pauses a second before snorting and laughing, "Damn, you really pissed her off, huh?"

"I kissed her," I watch as his laughter abruptly stops, "tongue and all."

He tries and fails so hard to keep his face neutral that, to everyone else, he looks like he's about to rip my head off. But to me, he just looks like he's very painfully constipated.

"You piece of shit," he says under his breath.

"What's that, brother? Are you jealous?"

"Shut the fuck up," he turns away from me and drinks from a glass of iced water on the table.

"Come on," I nudge his shoulder, "admit it, you wish it were you."

"We're not doing this, Kaen."

"No, we're not, you know why?" he turns his head slightly towards me and raises an eyebrow, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

"Because you'll get her, too. One of us will never be enough for her and we both know it."

He can't help but return my smirk. I clap him on the shoulder and laugh.

"They got anything stronger here these days?" Gage asks as he cranes his neck to the bar.

"Not now, brother," I say, nodding at four men stepping through the doors and looking lost, "we've got work to do."

I beckon them forward. Two of them are ours, newly made men in their early twenties with a lot of muscle and ambition but little experience. The other two are unfamiliar to me. They're tall and slim, but look like they can more than hold their own.

"Who are your friends?" Gage asks our guys.

"Their old man works under Pegleg Peter," one of them says, "he's second in command to–"

"We know Pegleg," I say impatiently, "what of him?"

"They got information," the second one shrugs, "they're the source."

Gage and I turn to the other two, giving them an opening to speak.

"Sir," the first one looks at me and swallows, "he's been... uh... doing favors for this lawyer."

"Not just a lawyer, bozo," the second snaps, "it's one of them, what do you call them? The real important ones. They're, like, the biggest in the state."

Gage quirks an eyebrow, "Boy, are you talking about the attorney fucking general of the fucking state?"

"Sure am," he bobs his head enthusiastically, "that's what they're called. Thank you, sir."

My eyebrows climb up to my forehead and I exchange a look with my brother.

"What kind of favors?" I ask them.

"He'd send him kids, sir," the first one says, "Dad made us help move some of them."

"We're tired of this shit," the other one declares, "I mean, I get loyalty as much as the next guy, but this is too fucked up, sir. This ain't the way to do things."

I cross my arms and lean back in my seat. "That's a big accusation, got any proof?"

They exchange a quick nervous glance when the second one produces a brown envelope and slides it across the table.

Gage catches it and pulls out the photos.

Little children, all naked. Some are forced into suggestive poses, others stand straight by a measurement stick, tear streaks marking their faces. A few are covered in cuts, bruises, and burn marks, and all are around the age of five or so.

"Fucking monsters," one of our guys whispers under his breath.

I can almost feel my blood boiling in my veins. Turning away from the pictures, I clench my jaw so hard my teeth hurt, and my fists close down on my arms like I'm about to rip them out.

"I know that girl with the burn marks," the one who spoke first says.

Gage and I snap our eyes to him. He's looking at his hands, voice taught with unshed tears.

"Used to bring her breakfast when her 'ma nodded off in the mornings," he continues, "she OD'd the other day and the girl was shipped off."

"He made us help," the other one says, "then we've had enough."

Gage puts the photos back and pockets the envelope, "There any copies?"

"We got rid of everything else, but that lawyer guy already got the originals."

Gage nods. "Can you identify any of the other kids?"

They both shake their heads.

"We'll take care of it, then," he gives a small, sad smile, "you did the right thing."

The two boys sigh in relief.

"Thank you, sir," the first one says. Then, as if just remembering, "Sir, we can't go back. They'll know what we did. Or they'll make us do it again."

Gage raises an eyebrow, "You knew that coming here."

"Yes, sir," the second one says, "so we wanted to... um... how do you say it?... humbly request. Yeah, that's it. We want to humbly request to join you. We're made men in the Macheras, but we can do associate business here. Anything but going back there."

The silence stretches for nearly half a minute before Gage nods to our guys.

"Screen them, initiate them if they pass. Contact me after."

One of them asks, "Do we let the chief know?"

His gaze blackens, "What did I just say?"

"Come to you," the other guy says, glaring at the first one, "we got it, boss."

"Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," one of the boys, the first one who spoke, says before they leave.

Gage waits for them to exit before leaning back into his seat.

I feel like disemboweling someone.

"You okay?" He puts a hand on my shoulder.

I jerk my head toward him, and the look I give him must be something, because it makes him slowly remove it.

My lungs feel like they're being squeezed by a hydraulic press. The booth I'm sitting in becomes a coffin, my breath quickens as I feel like I'm suffocating. My red vision goes black at the edges as my heart pounds in my ears and my stomach turns like I'm about to vomit.

Finding myself bursting out of the back door into the fresh night air, I lean over a bike railing to steady my shaking hands. Invisible walls still close in on me, I take off my jacket and toss it to the ground, wishing I could take off my skin so I can breathe. I open my pack of Parliaments and put one in my mouth. I can't light it with my shaking hands, though.

"Fucking cunt," I mutter as I try over and over, sparks the only thing I can manage, "come on, come on, you piece of–"

A lighter flicks beside my hand and I immediately put my cigarette to its flame. I close my eyes and inhale deeply, lifting my head and exhaling as I count backwards in my mind. The smoke brushing past my face, eyelashes, and hair is like a mother's caress. I take another drag and another deep exhale, feeling my body steady itself. I open my eyes and see Gage, watching me and smoking a cigarette of his own.

"Thanks," I mutter to him, taking another drag.

He nods.

We stand there in silence for a while, letting it say all that needs to be said, Gage letting his presence be my comfort. I finish my cigarette and light another, hands much steadier. A slight breeze brushes against my skin and I bask in how it cools me. I'm almost calm.

"Do you think she knows?" I say as I exhale.

"Of course not," Gage puts out his cigarette and doesn't light another, "she wouldn't stand by it."

"Maybe she doesn't have a choice," I say, unconvinced.

"There's always a choice."

I nod, taking another drag.

"I'll kill them all," I say. It comes out very matter-of-fact.

"You won't," Gage steps closer to me.

When I glare at him, he smiles and says, "we will. You're not alone in this anymore, Kaen."

Unable to face him any longer, I look down at my cigarette and take another drag.

"Besides," Gage smirks, "it's a reason for her to ditch Daddy Dearest."

I snort at that, "Good point."