Savage (Park Avenue Kings #1)

14. Lachlan

14

LACHLAN

A LOW, MISCHIEVOUS laugh echoed off the stone walls the second I crossed the threshold that led to the private Libertine headquarters.

“I leave for a few weeks and this is what I come back to?” The end of a clove cigarette—or kretek—sparked in the dark, and then the sweet and spicy smoke floated in my direction. Theodore “Theo” Rinaldi stepped out from the shadows, a smirk tilting his full lips. “Seems like you’ve been up to no good, Lachlan.”

“And let me guess—you approve?”

“Always.” He grinned and joined me to head into the meeting room. He offered me the kretek, and I took a drag before handing it back to him.

“You really should quit this shit. It’ll kill you.”

“I’d rather go out this way than by King’s hand. From what I hear, you may not last the night.”

“From what you hear? Let me guess, Benoit?”

“Your indiscretions reach far and wide, my friend.”

Great. Now not only did I have to deal with the fallout from bringing Cooper here, but now the rest of my brothers knew the extent to which I’d fucked up.

“So you came back from your royal duties just to rub this shit in my face?” I said.

“Would you blame me?” He took another drag, and then put the cigarette out against the stone wall. “But no, your activities aren’t a top priority for me. This is just a happy coincidence.”

“Lucky me.”

“If it helps, I brought you back a few bags of the Indonesian coffee you like.”

“That’s supposed to make up for the ball busting you’re all about to give me?”

As we came to the iron door, Theo winked at me under the flickering candles. “Come on, Lachlan. Ball busting is what you live for.”

I couldn’t deny that, not when I had Cooper stashed in one of the spare penthouses upstairs.

God, fucking Cooper. He’d gotten himself in more trouble than he even realized, and somehow the fuckers from that alley had tracked him down. It had to be the goddamn driver that got away from me, and that pissed me off to no end. I didn’t make mistakes, yet since the first night I’d seen Cooper, that was all I’d been doing, one fuck-up after another, and now I had to deal with the consequences. I couldn’t just leave him at his place, not when it was clear those fuckers hadn’t gotten what they came for and would be back. What the hell had he even been doing with their key card? Cooper thought he had questions? I wanted to pry him open and see what else he was hiding.

And I wasn’t even going to acknowledge the way my cock got hard knowing I was the reason he was safe right now.

Theo and I entered the chamber, the two of us making it a full house, as the rest of the men were already gathered at the carved-from-boulder round table that sat in the throne room. Conversation stopped and all eyes fell on me. There was displeasure in King’s and amusement in Benoit’s.

“I wasn’t away that long,” Theo said as he took his seat to the right of King. “No need to throw a party.”

I took the seat beside Alessio, as far away from King as possible.

“We’re just shocked to see you here.” Lucien Vale grinned, a devil-may-care gleam in his eyes. “The weather is much nicer in your part of the world than New York this time of year.”

“I would agree with you there, but since I consider everywhere my part of the world, I figured I should show my face if there was going to be some kind of disciplinary action taking place.”

“First of all, fuck you,” I said to the asshole laughing at my current predicament. “And second, the last time I checked, disciplinary action went out a couple centuries ago. We’re still free citizens down here.”

A low curse to King’s left had my eyes shifting to the last of our group, Shep. That wasn’t his full name but a nickname we’d bestowed on him because “Shepard O’Neil Winchester III” was such a fucking mouthful that no one could be bothered.

“You got something to say over there?” I snapped, my tone a little more hostile than it should be toward King’s second-in-command.

Shep straightened in his chair, the annoyance radiating off his tailored black suit almost on par with King’s, but I wasn’t looking in his direction yet. One obstacle at a time, and it seemed Shep was going to be the first.

“I said, fucking typical .”

“Meaning?”

“ Meaning that your impulsive behavior has once again landed us in a world of shit. You say we’re free citizens down here, but how long do you think that’s going to last when you’re hellbent on revealing all of your”—he looked around the table—“I’m sorry, our secrets to a fucking journalist ?”

My head whipped in Alessio’s direction, and before I could ream him a new one for going to King with the information I’d had him dig up on Cooper, he grimaced. “Sorry, man.”

I guessed I couldn’t blame him. Not really. Not when I’d been the one breaking rules. So I turned my attention back to Shep.

“I didn’t tell Cooper shit.”

“No? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t he currently sitting in one of the penthouse suites of this very building?”

My jaw tightened as I narrowed my eyes on the mouthy fucker. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I checked, I don’t answer to you.”

“That’s enough.” King’s voice was deadly calm as it reverberated across the space. “I thought I made it clear the last time we spoke that any kind of interaction with this man was to be wiped from existence.”

“You did, but?—”

“The word but in the middle of a sentence almost always means the first half of what you said is complete and utter bullshit.” King narrowed his eyes, and it was like a shot of ice through my veins. “So how about you start again, and this time try not to blow smoke up my ass first.”

It was a rare day that a meeting at this table was so quiet, but then again, I couldn’t remember the last time King had looked like he wanted to kill one of us.

Oh wait, yes I can, it was me…last week.

“He has one of Mick’s key cards.”

There, that was the truth. No bullshit. Alessio had done his part in finding out who the head of the snake was after ID’ing the dealers in the alley. Mick Shaughnessy. This also conveniently allowed me to leave out the part where I stalked and met Cooper as Lachlan last week and then had sex with him in my Libertine garb.

“Mick? The dealer we’re after? How?” King demanded, and I was close to telling him that I was about to find out before I was summoned down here. But considering the tension in the air, I held back.

“I don’t know yet. I’m assuming he picked it up that night in the alley.”

“That explains one thing.” King drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “But not how he ended up here.”

Fuck. Couldn’t he just let that part go?

“He called me.”

“Oh, this just gets better and better.” Benoit swiveled in his seat to face me, a cheeky smile curving his lips. “How did that come about?”

“A quick internet search?” Theo snorted, knowing full well it wasn’t easy to find our numbers. “What did he type in? Masked Manhattan Hero ?”

“He didn’t meet me in Manhattan, and I’m not a fucking hero.”

“Then how did he get your number?” King’s question was direct and left no room for me to skirt the edges this time.

“I gave it to him.” When King didn’t respond, I knew that was my cue to continue. Seemed I wasn’t getting out of this without confessing all my secrets. “I wanted to make sure he was okay after what happened?—”

“Since when?” Lucien said, shaking his head. “Aren’t you usually the one who says less is more when it comes to targets?”

“He wasn’t a target.”

“Okay, even worse. Some innocent guy stumbles onto a drug deal and now you’re, what? Feeling guilty about laying out those fuckers in front of him?”

“I didn’t say that.” Even though I’d been thinking it. It was obvious Cooper had been affected by what he saw. His paranoia was at an all-time high, but then again it was clear now that someone other than me was following him. “Look, he had a gun pointed at his head, saw things he shouldn’t have, and I wanted to make sure he didn’t do something stupid, like go to the cops.”

“And did he?” Shep asked.

“No. Because I gave him an alternative.”

“You.”

“That’s right. I’m in security, remember? The two guys that are assigned to trail you, they’re mine. But maybe I’ll have them look the other way if you keep acting like an uptight prick.”

King turned to his right, leveling Shep with a shut it look before turning his attention back to me. “Continue.”

“I found a way to introduce myself as Lachlan, told him I was in security, and that if he ever needed me to call.” I left out that I’d done it mostly to see him again rather than thinking he might actually need my skills. “Something that proved favorable, I’d say, since we now have this.”

I pulled the key card from my wallet and handed it to Alessio, who inspected it. If anyone could pull any kind info off that thing, it was him.

“One of Mick’s guys must’ve tossed Cooper’s place looking for this,” I said. “It’s got to be important.”

“I agree, but that doesn’t mean I like the way you went about it. You brought a journalist into our midst. To a place where all of our secrets are locked up tight. If that ever were to be breached?—”

“It won’t be.”

“—I don’t need to tell you how catastrophic that would be. There’s a reason your brothers are pissed off with you right now.”

I glanced around the table at the men staring me down. All of us were guarding secrets, and had vowed to keep those secrets and uphold the bonds that Libertine asked of us when we became heads of the organization. We’d essentially signed our lives over, and in return got to live the life of Kings.

By day, we ran with the elite, untouchable and more connected than anyone could ever imagine. But by night, we reveled in the darkness of our secrets, pulling strings that made the city bow to our whims.

As far as dressings-down went, guilt was always the most effective. Going on the attack would only put me on the defense. But guilt over betraying my fellow Kings—now that was something I felt remorse over.

“I understand,” I said. “I should’ve come to you all first. I get that.”

“Good.” King gestured for the key card and looked it over. “But since you have this, I think it’s smart to have Alessio look into it. Hopefully he can give us some insight to what it opens, and we can make a plan from there.”

I nodded. “I agree. That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”

King’s lips tightened. “I’m so glad that my plan lines up with yours.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He turned to Alessio, probably so he wouldn’t climb over the table and strangle me. I couldn’t blame him, either. I’d really been going out of my way to aggravate the situation.

“You think you can get something off this?”

“Depends on what it is,” Alessio said. “Might open a door. Might have some sort of encryption embedded on it. Either way, that symbol says it’s connected to Mick.”

“Then I’ll leave it with you.”

“Got it.”

“As for you”—King looked back at me—“you are to keep eyes on your little journalist at all times. That means you are to stay with him.”

I was a babysitter now? “But?—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Lachlan. You brought him here, you watch him. That means eyes on him at all times. ”

Benoit’s chuckle had me looking his way. “You think this is funny?”

“I think it’s…fate.”

“Fate my ass.”

“ Mon cher , isn’t this what you wanted?”

It was, but I wasn’t about to admit it.

“Now you can look at the man all you like. King just gave you permission.”

Huh—he did, didn’t he…

“Don’t even think about complicating this further,” King said. “I said keep your eyes on him. Not your hands, and definitely not your dick.”

But it was too late. The seed Benoit had planted was already taking root. The only question was, would Cooper be interested in passing the time with Lachlan? Or was he still too hung up on his masked stranger to give me a second glance?