Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One

by Vester, Jennifer

  Other people’s opinions, though? Even without knowing much about Mick or Mason, apparently some people had good instincts. What worried me, was wondering if they’d constantly be threatened by people wanting to be just as frightening.

  “And Jack? No one wants to go near him since he’s a complete mystery. And again, he has that thing about him. Your brother…”

  I frowned. “What about Alex?”

  She shrugged. “I mean, I know he’s a King, but hanging out with those guys and being just as scary, he’s kind of respected too. Maybe not scary but, intimidating…forget it. I know he…I know what he does, and people have said some things.”

  “Like what?” I asked, wondering why she was having so much trouble talking about Alex.

  “That he can be vicious in a courtroom, but he defends people sometimes without charging them much. He doesn’t try to gouge his clients and people respect that.”

  “I’m starting to wonder what people you hang out with.”

  She laughed. “I don’t. You just hear a lot of things when you’re serving drinks and live in certain neighborhoods.”

  “And me?”

  She smirked. “You could make any one of them do something if you wanted. Everyone loves you. And to be honest, that’s kind of scary too.”

  It was my turn to scrunch my nose. “Ridiculous. I’m nobody, just me.”

  “And that’s why people love you. Not to mention the seriously hot and scary guys you hang out with.”

  Rolling my eyes, I nudged her backward in the stall. “Try the skirts on. We’ll have a girly night and you can wear one. And it won’t be to the stupid club.”

  “Alisa, straight up, they’re out of my price range. I’ll try them on then we’ll do something else.”

  She looked embarrassed by the admission, and I didn’t blame her. Had it not been for Mick, I wouldn’t have been shopping in this particular store either. But I did love that he hadn’t pressured me into spending his money, although he’d offered. The only thing he’d requested, was that I spend mine on whatever I wanted, rather than worry about any bills.

  It was mostly a win.

  I made a mental note to get her a gift card to the store sometime between friends. Nothing crazy, just something she could spend to buy some pretty skirts with ruffles if she wanted to.

  “How do those fit?” I asked through the door.

  “Really, really good. They fit perfectly. Ugh. I love the red one, but I don’t like it with my hair.”

  “So, dye your hair a different color. I’ll be back, I’m going to get these.”

  I stopped by the rack with the red skirt she was talking about, picked out a black one and went to check out. The lady behind the counter took the skirt, as instructed and wrapped it in a box.

  “Hey, Alisa, how are you?” Heather's sickly, sweet voice asked from beside me.

  Turning toward her, she grabbed my shoulders and did a weird air kiss thing that I absolutely hated.

  “Heather,” I responded between my gritted teeth. “How are you? What brings you here?”

  She shrugged. “Shopping of course. I needed some retail therapy. Better question is why are you here? Something for you or for the man?”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Hmm,” she said, then pursed her lips as she looked through the store. “Ran into Monica the other day and she said she hadn’t heard from you in weeks. I think she’s a little lonely. Especially after, you know, her dad.”

  “Uhm, I guess,” I replied. “What happened?”

  “Oh, Alex didn’t tell you? I’m surprised, he seems to tell you everything. Well, word is, that he’s getting a divorce and remarrying. Something about her mom not being able to have any more kids, and apparently the new girlfriend is already pregnant.”

  “Really?” I asked with some surprise. Divorces were unheard of in our family. Affairs? Plenty. But rarely divorce. “When did that happen?”

  “They’re already finalizing everything this week. Lawyers work fast if you’re a King, I guess. Alex and I may have some good news. We’re talking about some long-term plans. I don’t know yet, but I think I’m pregnant.”

  My stomach dropped. My first instinct was to grimace, which I held back by some miracle. My second instinct was to laugh rudely and tell her she was a bitch. My brother wouldn’t torture me with this woman for a lifetime. No way. He would have gotten fixed or had military grade anti-Heather pregnancy condoms on and that was a fact.

  “Oh, well, congrats. He forgot to mention that too.”

  She smiled, showing off her perfect teeth. “It’ll be great, we can go shopping together anytime.”

  I blinked as I smiled, unsure of what the polite thing was to say.

  “Oh, yeah, guess we’ll see. Well, I’ve got to go, looks like my friend is ready,” I said as Holly made a beeline for me.

  “Sure, see you soon,” she replied with another dreaded air kiss.

  As I walked away, Holly joined me, and Paul appeared, trailing behind us, but not so close that he’d hear anything or look too obvious.

  Holly chattered about the things I’d purchased with a smile on her face while I stewed over Heather’s news.

  Pregnant. Surely Alex wouldn’t be so careless.

  I felt like a hypocrite for thinking it, since I was waiting on my own body to give me news. I’d been equally as careless with Mick. I was late and that wasn’t normal for me. I was like a finely tuned clock when it came to my monthly cycle.

  Although I was on birth control, I’d skipped a couple of pills over the last month with my residence change. Luckily, Melanie had been able to retrieve them while organizing my things to move. But those few days I’d skipped them, then my hospital stay, and everything that had come afterward, might have made a difference.

  Right now, I was more concerned with Alex and the mega bitch.

  I tried dialing his number, but it went to voicemail. The same with Mick.

  Hopefully their visit with my mother had gone well. I could remember a time when I was a child that she hadn’t been like she was now. She’d been distant, but affectionate at one point, before my father started his abuse. She wasn’t the best mom in the world, but certainly not the worst. It was that memory that really made my mind up about helping her. I wasn’t sure if my father was lying. If there was any shred of truth to what he said, though, I wondered if she’d truly accepted her fate or was just resigned to it. Maybe a little of both.

  Turning to Paul I asked, “Hey, can we go by the pharmacy before we head back to the club? I’m not sure where Mick is at right now, but we were supposed to have a late lunch.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” he replied.

  “Right,” I replied. “Still, if he’s not answering then I’d like to run one last errand.”

  “You can have lunch with me if he’s not there when we get back,” Holly said.

  “I’d love to. We can order some takeout or something. There’s a deli downtown we can pick something up at, or just eat there.”

  As Paul drove us, Holly asked, “So who was the bimbo in the store? You’ve had a frown on your face ever since we left.”

  I grimaced. “Alex’s girlfriend. She’s a bitch and I need to talk to him about it. I can’t even believe they’re still dating at this point.”

  Holly nodded, but didn’t say anything as she chewed on her lip.

  Stopping by the pharmacy, Paul followed me until I got to the aisle I needed while Holly stayed in the car. I picked up two tests from the shelf and walked back down the aisle while I read the directions.

  “Hell,” Paul muttered.

  When I glanced up at him he was eyeing the tests.

  “I…”

  “We should go back to the club, Alisa. Mick’s gonna lose his shit.”

  Shaking the boxes, I gestured toward the door. “They aren’t for me, they’re for Holly.”

  “Right,” he said slowly in his baritone voice. “Why do I get the feeling that M
ick’s going to be about ten times scarier if it’s positive?”

  I frowned as I paid for the pregnancy tests. “What do you mean?”

  He shook his head. “He’ll get a bodyguard for the baby.”

  “That’s ridiculous and insane.”

  “You’re the one marrying him. You should know.”

  We climbed in the car and I threw the bag under my feet. Holly watched through the window quietly as we made our way downtown.

  I saw the box with the skirt I’d bought her in the retail bag, slid it out and nudged her with it.

  She looked down, distracted and in mid thought about something. “What’s that?”

  “A gift,” I said and pursed my lips. “Just for letting me hang out with you today.”

  “Alisa…”

  “I’m not taking it back,” I said as I watched her bite her lip. She was a softy, despite her reputation.

  She opened it and her mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”

  “Well, we’re going out on girl’s night. You need a skirt.”

  She smirked at me, the whispered, “Thank you.”

  Paul pulled to the back of the club where the staff entrance was. Mick’s car was still parked in the same spot it’d been, and Alex’s car wasn’t present.

  “Looks like the guys aren’t back yet,” I observed. “Guess we’ll have to get some deli takeout.”

  Holly smiled as we entered the building and made our way down the long hallway to the main floor. “I’ll look up the menu. Do you know what you want?”

  “Yeah just call it in. Tell Heath that Alisa needs her sub sandwich. He’ll know what you mean. And send Paul to pick it up, it’s less than five blocks away. Or tell Heath if he wants to join us he can. He’s nice, you might like him. I’ll be right back.”

  Quickly heading up the stairs, I set my bag of naughty nighties on Mick’s desk and took my other package to the restroom. It seemed fairly straight forward and after doing my thing, I set the tests on the sink. Fidgeting, I waited on them without looking directly at them. I was nervous about the results. One result would be life changing.

  Hearing the door open and close in the office, I grimaced. I was hoping to have an answer by the time Mick arrived back at the club. If I wasn’t pregnant, then there was no need to mention it and life would continue as normal. As normal as it’d been anyway. If I was pregnant, then I wondered how he’d react. Either way I was happy just to spend my life with him.

  Footsteps approached the door and I swung it inward, blocking the tests.

  Heather stood at the entrance holding a gun.

  “Well, hello there again, Alisa. Funny how we keep running into each other today.”

  “Heather,” I said glancing down at her weapon. “What are you doing?”

  She leaned against the doorframe and smiled. “Collecting on a paycheck.”

  “How did you get in?” I asked nervously. “Where’s Holly?”

  “Well, your hired man, was kind enough to leave the building. I followed you over here to take care of what should have been an easy job, but apparently seems to be just a little too difficult for anyone to do. So, what’s a girl to do? Get it done herself.”

  “Holly? Where is she?”

  “Is that her name? She’s downstairs somewhere with a friend of mine. They’re getting acquainted,” she chuckled.

  I gasped. “God, Heather, don’t hurt her. Put the gun down.”

  “Shut up. You know, it’s cost me quite a bit to have you followed. But ever since you showed back up in Kingston, I knew it was fate telling me to get some things done right. I thought for sure that it would only take one drunken night out on the town to speed things along. But when you ended up here with Monica and that bumbling oaf I hired fucked it up, I had to think of something else.”

  “Put the gun down, Heather,” I responded with only a small quiver to my voice. “What are you talking about?”

  “Money,” she responded. “Is there really anything else worth talking about? See, I thought that maybe you’d just stay away after college. That maybe after a taste of freedom you’d fly away to whatever you were going to do and wouldn’t come back. And if you just happened to have an unfortunate accident one of these days, well, who would care?”

  She stepped further in the bathroom and I backed away.

  “Your brother and I would be married with children. And when you suddenly pop up missing or dead, he’d be the sole heir to your father’s fortune.”

  “He’s not that loaded.”

  She pursed her lips. “On the contrary, your dear old dad has made some extremely lucrative deals over the years. You were supposed to be one of them according to him. He gets drunk sometimes and spouts off about how you were going to be his golden goose when you married some foreign investor. No such luck, though, and I’m impatient.”

  “Denny sent you?”

  She sighed then smiled. “Yes and no. He tried it his way after I begged him. You wouldn’t believe the things I had to do for him to get him to agree. He knows I’m dedicated to ridding the world of a little mistake like you. But he couldn’t even get this right. There's been so many misses for him. I think the first time I knew he wasn’t going to be able to do it was the park. He'd hired some idiot to run you over, and that was a complete disaster, obviously.”

  She sighed and shook her head.

  I glanced at the gun and thought about the black BMW that had swerved to hit me that day. It’d been fortunate for me that I’d gotten out of the way, but I would have never guessed that it was an attempt on my life.

  She kept the gun steadily pointed at my chest as she spoke. “You’re causing a lot of ripples in the otherwise calm King family. Dating below your worth, dear God, the scandal. You could have had anyone. But, word is the Galloway brothers are making a name for themselves. Building their own little dynasty, gaining a reputation. I didn’t think they had it in them. Too bad I didn’t find one of the brothers first, I might have enjoyed fucking one of them. And look who’s sitting on a pedestal at the top now. You. So, I guess you won either way.”

  I backed up further when she came closer. Her eyes danced with mirth at my fear.

  “You really don’t know how much you’re worth, do you?” she hissed. “Marry a Galloway and reap the rewards, or marry your daddy’s pick and he reaps the rewards. He dies, you and Alex inherit.”

  I shook my head, trying not to make any sudden movements. “Heather, that’s just not true. I’m not worth anything to any…”

  “Shut up,” she hissed. She regarded me for a moment then her eyes slid to the counter. I knew what she was looking at, but couldn’t understand the laughter that suddenly exploded from her mouth.

  “You’re pregnant, dear. This is going to be the best set up for your precious Mick. The news might say that he got mad and killed you. Poor guy might get the death penalty after you’re gone.”

  The sound of someone moving in the hallway alerted her and she closed the door partially. She grabbed my hair and put the barrel of the gun to my face.

  I worried about whoever was making their way through the hall, thinking of Holly, but my worst fear was for Mick. If he found me dead, he’d break.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ~Mick~

  The afternoon would either cost us or help us, depending on what Alex’s father decided to do. After Alex had a go at him, I’d used the belt on his back a few times to show him how it felt. Vindication was sweet, and vengeance was mine for at least a few minutes. But like the bastard he was, Denny King had spewed threats along with the blood in his mouth as he promised retribution.

  He’d threatened Alisa again. The vile things he’d promised to deliver had me wanting to tear his limbs off one by one. But killing a D.A. wasn’t something my father could overlook, nor was it something that the city of Kingston would let go of easily. If he followed through on any of the things he’d promised, I’d revisit that thought and carry through without hesitation.

  Alex
had surprised me. The level of his fury wasn’t what I’d expected. It was one thing to be in a room with him and beat a threatening stranger to death in the basement of the club, but this had been very different.

  Eyeing him in the car, I knew how he felt in a way. He wasn't blind to how his family operated but facing a father whose sins against you made you question everything about your life, was not an easy pill to swallow.

  I’d known the feeling quite well with my own father after I’d found my mother with a black eye. Mason and I had been in high school by that point, but it made me realize just how awful he’d been without ever seeing evidence of it. He’d hit us a few times, and there were times when I felt like we deserved it. Our youth was spent destroying things around the house the way only two rambunctious boys could. But it was his drunken tirades, his verbal onslaught of abuse toward my mother, that I’d never gotten over.

  Mason might have been able to look past it, now that my father was clean and sober. But I’d seen my fair share of the demons that dwelled in the man to forget about it and move on. The worst part of it was that he’d been trying to mend things for a couple of years. As if, now that he’d come to his senses, he wanted to wipe the slate clean.

  Denny was a completely different person, however, and I felt for Alex now that the kick of adrenaline and anger was gone. I wondered how it would settle in him when he had a chance to reflect.

  Rolling my eyes at the thought of wanting to help him, I looked down the small bar we’d stopped at to have a drink. I had no idea when I’d started caring, if that was what this was, about how Alex might function beyond this point.

  Glancing at him, I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

  “Whatever you’re going to say, save it. I’m fine. He’s a piece of shit.”

  “I wasn’t going to ask.”

  He shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “He deserved it a long time ago and this was just karma coming around.”

  “How long before we’re arrested?”

  He looked over at me and laughed.

  “What?” I asked, a little surprised at his reaction.

  “He’s not going to report that shit. Are you kidding? Hundred bucks says he takes off on leave for some unnamed medical or family emergency until some of the bruising heals. Something I learned early on, thanks to my father, was that Kings never show weakness. Never.”