Chapter 30 King
King
Agun shot wakes me. I leap out of bed and shove my legs into my jeans and reach for my gun.
Dizziness hits me and I shake it off. The space beside mine on the bed is empty and I know this has something to do with crazy tits.
She’s either shot the prospect or Warren or one of them has shot her.
Any scenario isn’t good. Running down the stairs, I stop short and my heart sinks into my stomach.
The scent of blood fills the air as well as the sound of Victoria’s quiet sobs. She’s not meant to be here. She wasn’t here when I went to bed a few hours ago.
She is sat beside Annabel’s dead body. Is she wearing Victoria’s clothes? My president’s old lady’s face is bruised, and her left eye is swollen. She has teeth marks on her shoulder. Kneeling beside her, I cup her cheek. “What the fuck happened?”
She sobs, then tells me, “We came back early, I found her snooping in my room. She came at me, and we fought. I managed to run but she chased me, and then I managed to get Luca’s gun from behind the bar.”
Luca. Fuck. He’s going to fucking kill me. No, he’s going to torture me then kill me. He sliced out a guy’s guts for putting his wife in danger. What the fuck is he going to do to me.
Glancing at the body, I stare at the placement of the bullet hole.
“You got her straight in the heart.”
“I don’t know if it was luck or because my dad and grandpa taught me when I was a kid.”
She hangs her head in her hands and cries.
Standing, I look down over Annabel. This isn’t good for any of us.
She’s the Mayor’s daughter. She is going to be missed.
There will be an investigation, not that I need to worry about that, Luca will kill me as soon as he returns.
I had one job and that was to keep Annabel away from Victoria.
She starts to freak out and I can’t think. I pace the bar, I have to think of something.
“What the fuck went on here?”
Victoria looks up and tells Warren, “I need Luca.” As if she has remembered something, she pats herself down and finds her phone. She has his number up and the phone to her ear in no time.
“Babe, I need you to come home now,” she sobs.
I needed to be the one to call him. “Something bad has happened.” She doesn’t stay quiet for long, then goes on to say, “She tried to kill me, was in our room, then, she ran, and came at me, I tried getting to the bathroom then I had to come down to the bar…” she trails off into more sobs. She drops the phone, and I pick it up.
“Prez, it’s King.”
“Since my old lady ain’t making no fuckin’ sense, tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“I’m not sure myself, apart from Annabel’s dead and Victoria shot her.”
The line is silent for less than twenty seconds before he instructs, “Bleach the place down, get rid of the body, and King?”
“Yeah?”
“If one more hair is harmed on my wife’s head, I chop yours off with a blunt knife, ya hear me?”
Swallowing, I say, “Loud and clear.”
“I’m on my way now.”
The line cuts off. Rudi runs down the stairs and while she checks over Victoria, Warren calls the prospect back and we set to work wrapping the body.
“Where’s Princess?” Victoria asks quietly, looking around.
“He was with me last night,” I tell her.
Leaving Warren to fill buckets with hot water, I run up the stairs and dart into my room.
Lying at the bottom of my bed, Princess is out for the count.
It dawns on me that he would have heard the fight and would have gone to protect his owner.
Come to think of it, why didn’t I wake to the fight and screams?
Victoria is still sat on the floor with Rudi at her side when I jog back down to the bar.
“He’s asleep in my room.”
Rudi snorts. “He would have heard… actually, how didn’t that wake you up?”
I shrug.
“Did you get drunk last night?” she inquires.
“Hardly. I had two or three beers.”
She disappears into the kitchen and then returns with a small case.
“Sit,” she orders.
I drop my ass onto the nearest chair, and my body feels heavy.
“Whoa, what’s that for?” I ask when she pulls out a needle and tourniquet.
“If you weren’t drunk, I’m guessing someone caused you to crash out, and the dog. I want to check your blood.”
If she drugged me, she’s lucky she’s dead.
“You have a soft touch,” I tell her.
She smiles but it drops fast. “Luca’s won’t be. You want to hope I find something that will justify you not coming to help Victoria.”
She keeps her voice low, and I nod.
Warren shoves a mop at me, then pours half a bottle of bleach into the buckets. Victoria doesn’t move, I don’t think she can. We set to work and clean every inch of the bar, emptying the buckets every five minutes.
“Who’s blood are we cleaning?” the prospect asks.
I look up from the stains splattered across the front of the bar and tell him, “Annabel’s.”
He finally takes in everyone who is in the bar and quickly works out who killed her.
He darts into the kitchen and returns with a bunch of cloths and more bleach.
All we can hear is Victoria’s whimpers and Rudi softly soothing her while we clean.
I’m sweating by the time we’re done. I walk behind the bar and pour myself a shot of vodka, I throw it back and pour another.
I take it over to Victoria, she numbly takes it and shoots it down in one.
I take the glass from her and pour myself another.
Warren and the prospect deal with the body and I fill the bucket with fresh hot water and pour more bleach in. I swear I can still smell the blood. I mop the floor and wash down the bar twice more when I watch Leo arrive on the security camera screen.
He stops and parks right out front of the club, behind Victoria’s car, and storms inside.
My heart pounds in my chest. There’s no way Luca would have sent him to kill me, he’ll want that for himself. It doesn’t mean he won’t beat me and prime me up for his brother.
He sets his sights on Victoria and goes over to her. Rudi moves to her side and Leo kneels in front of her. He gently grips her chin and assesses her injuries. Her eye has nearly swollen shut and the bruise is an angry purple. I didn’t notice before but her lip has been split open too.
She blinks. It’s like she has finally noticed who is in front of her.
“Leo? What are you doing here?” Her voice trembles and makes me feel a shit ton worse.
“Luca called. He’s still a day out, I’m only a few hours away, shorter when I break all the speed limits.” He smiles and she begins to relax. It’s short lived when she tells him, “I killed her, Leo.”
“Self-defence, sweetheart. You did what you had to do.” He cups her cheek. “How much of this blood is yours?”
River’s cries float down to the bar. Leo tells Rudi, “Can you go get my nephew?”
She disappears upstairs and Leo asks Victoria, “Are you hurt anywhere we can’t see?”
She shakes her head and asks, “When will Luca be home?”
“If he’s riding like I did, he’ll be here soon. I’ll stay with you until he gets back.”
Rudi comes down with River and Leo stands and takes him from her. “Can you help her get showered. She needs to scrub her hands, cut her nails as short as you can. Yeah?”
Rudi nods and takes hold of Victoria’s hand. Once they’re up the stairs, Leo turns to me. He can’t do much with his nephew in his arms.
“I’m telling you now, when Luca takes one look at her, he’s going to lose his shit.”
“I know, fuck, do I know. She was in Willow’s Peak. It was only crazy tits and me here. How was I meant to know she’d come back during the night?”
“That’s the thing with my brother, he expects you to know everything.”
Don’t I know it.
“Tell me what you know,” Leo orders.
It doesn’t take long since I don’t know much. “So my brother gave you one order to keep the Mayor’s daughter away from his old lady and tonight my sister-in-law had to kill her in self-defence?”
“That’s about it, yeah. Fuck! Luca’s gonna kill me.”
“Nah, he won’t, but he’s gonna hurt you and you’re gonna wish he would.”
Again, Fuck!
Leo slumps down on a chair and takes out his phone while keeping River in one arm. No guesses as to who he is calling.
As Luca’s riding, it takes him a beat to answer.
“Yeah, I’m here. Keep your head on the road,” Leo says.
He glances at me, no doubt Luca asking shit I’ll have to pay for later. “I won’t play it down, she’s a little banged up. Her eye’s swollen, busted lip, a couple of bruises, and the bitch bit her on the shoulder.”
Even I hear Luca’s rage from Leo’s end of the call.
“She’s alive, I’m here, she’ll be okay.”
Leo’s encouragement to calm him down goes unheard and he turns his back on me, lowering his voice as he speaks.
Warren looks at me like I’m already dead and the prospect shrugs it off like he couldn’t give a shit.
The call ends and Leo ignores me as he walks around the bar and grabs himself a bottle of beer.
“Where’s the body?” he asks.
“Out back in the van,” I tell him.
He nods. “Prospect, Warren…” he pauses and looks around until he finds a pen and a piece of paper.
He scribbles something down and then passes it to Warren.
“This is where you’re gonna take the body.
You’re gonna dig so fuckin’ deep, you’ll need a ladder to climb back out.
You’re gonna pull all her teeth out. You’re gonna light her on fire and wait till the smoke is gone. Yeah?”
“You got it.”
“Not that it’s likely, but if she’s ever found, nothing can come back on Victoria. Nothing.”
They both nod and leave through the kitchen, leaving me alone with Leo Jackson. I pour the last of the dirty water out and dump the cloths and mop head in the fire pit out back. I set it alight and watch the flames burn the last of the evidence.
“Rudi just informed me that she’s drawn your blood, she thinks you were drugged.” I turn as Leo joins me. “She says the dog is still out, he’s breathing, but totally out for the count.”
“If I was drugged, it’s still not gonna save me, is it? It’s one of the first things Luca told us when we all rocked up, protect his old lady like it was our own lives.”
“Most people believe my brother doesn’t think before he acts. To be fair, he’s given them reason to a few times, but he’s already thought of everything before he’s even thinking of shit.”
“He’s got plenty of time to think of what to do to me on the ride back.”
Leo snorts. “Nah, believe it or not, he won’t give you a seconds thought until he’s seen Victoria with his own eyes. He’ll be obsessing over her until he’s here. Once he’s seen her, held her, you’ll have his entire focus. If you were drugged, it will save your life.”
I swallow thickly and he laughs. “He’s doing something right if you fear him this much.”
“It’s alright for you, you’re not the reason his old lady had to kill someone.”
He slaps me on the back as the flames die out. I add more fuel and stand back as the flames shoot up toward the sky.
“Ride it out, you’ll be fine. Maybe.”