Lake's Reign

by A. E. D

  [I warned you, Mason] I type in.

  Send.

  Now all there is left to do is wait. But I don’t have to wait long before I see it’s been received and opened.

  With Mason out of the way for now, I can focus on myself. The adrenaline coursing through my body has only just started to leave my system, calming down my beating heart. One that shouldn’t be beating at all.

  Tomorrow is a new day.

  But everything can change in a matter of hours.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Looking at my reflection in the mirror, the deep blue bruise shines brightly across my cheek, spreading to my eye with a slight puffiness to it that will only get worse. That kick did some damage for sure. My cheek bone is probably even cracked. Every hour that goes by the blueness of the bruise deepens. A dark shade of purple follows swiftly behind. It’s going to take weeks for this bruise to fade. The new scar on my forehead has only just healed.

  With a groan I get the painkillers out of the vanity cupboard. The killer headache pounding through my head is loud enough to wake the dead. Popping two in my mouth, I strip down and step into the shower. Temperature on the hottest setting, the heat relieves the tension in my muscles that I received from my onslaught tonight. The heat massages my tense muscles making me feel like I can breathe again.

  ✧✧✧

  Drying myself off from that heavenly shower, I walk into the bedroom tiredly, not even bothering to get dressed and face plant the bed. Big mistake. My cheek screams at me, pain piercing through the right side of my face instantly makes me fly onto my back. Lightly touching my cheek, a sting burns through. This wound was not supposed to happen.

  Sighing, I turn my head to the side checking the clock sitting beside the bed.

  12 am.

  I’ve been home for a few hours now and I’m only just able to sleep. First, I had to deal with Mason, then the aftermath of the events of tonight, then the killer headache. Spreading my arms and legs like I’m making a snow angel, I let the cool air lull me into a comfortable sleep.

  One hour later.

  That’s how much sleep I got before I was disturbed. My phone blaring through the silence rips me out of my much-needed sleep. Peering up at the screen I see Keenan’s ID pop up. Why is he calling me this late? He’d never calls me if he had a nightmare or anything. He’d just walk in.

  “Keenan?” Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, my ears register the distinctive thumping noise of a night club. Instantly sitting up in bed I become alarmed. What is a sixteen-year-old doing in a nightclub in New York city. A gruff voice replies angering me.

  “No. Come get this piece of shit. He’s underage. You’re lucky he’s not dead by now.” Wrong person to speak to about him like that. This person just added himself on my list. A list nobody wants to be on.

  “How about telling me the name of the club, smart one?” Holding my phone between my ear and shoulder, I race to my wardrobe quickly throwing on a pair of lace panties. Pulling on a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a white crop top, I forget the bra. Hurriedly putting on two socks before slipping my feet into a pair of black high-top converses. Leaving my hair out and hanging down my back, the asshole’s voice rages through the phone.

  “Listen bitch, be careful who you talk to. This club ain’t for kids. You never know when something might happen.” His threat lingers in the air. My demons bristle, wanting to take this asshole out now but not before we get Keenan.

  Fuck it.

  Hanging up, I quickly trace his phone to an address deep in the city. Grabbing the first set of car keys I can find, I get to the elevator as quick as I can. The elevator stops on the second last floor when a couple decide to enter. Seeing the couple pull multiple suitcases towards the elevator, I decide to use the stairs. I race down stairs to the garage before getting into my car and speeding off towards the address. What have you done Keenan?

  ✧✧✧

  Arriving at the overly busy club, I get out, heading towards the valet. Handing him a hundred-dollar bill, I tell him to keep the car out front, I won’t be long. Not bothering to check the name of the club, I walk straight up to the bouncer guarding the door. He gives me a once overlooking unimpressed. Clearly, I’m way too underdressed for this club. I’m sure if I was dressed like a skank, like many of the woman here, then he would let me in straight away. But I don’t have time tonight.

  “There’s a line love, unless your names on the list, then I suggest you get to the back of the line.” I know that voice. That’s the asshole who called me.

  “So, I’m love now? What happened to bitch?” Recognition flashes across his face. Now we’re all caught up.

  “Oh, it’s YOU.” His calm face gets replaced by one of annoyance and disgust. I stare up at the six foot something brute. Not bothering to reply, we lock into a staring contest, one that he will not win. After a minute he grunts and lifts the rope, allowing my entry. I give him a bit of a love tap on his cheek before slipping past him. I hide the smile that fights to be free when veins start popping out on his forehead. Clearly not one to take orders from a woman, let alone be touched by one.

  Smirking, I make my way through the entryway before coming out into the open space on the dance floor. A bar sits straight ahead on the far back wall. Little booths and tables line the left and right sides. Like the clubs I usually go to, this one had a second and third level. Except the third level looked almost like a private hidden office. Reflective glass lined the whole third level. Looking around I see a set of stairs that lead up to a hidden door. Too everyone else, it just looks like the mirrored walls are for reflecting the strobe lights. But for someone who sees everything, I know there’s a room beyond it. The roof of the club has the same mirrored walls, so if you were dancing and looked up, you could see yourself. This club is very well designed. Coming from someone like me, that says a lot. I’m not easily impressed.

  While I was admiring the hidden third level, my eyes caught a scuffle on the second. I zone in on the group to see Keenan being dragged down the stairs from the second level by another security guard. Quickly walking over to meet them at the bottom of the stairs, Keenan's eyes instantly find mine.

  “Lakeey, you came!” My anger rises. He’s drunk! How did he even get in here?!

  “What the fuck, Keenan!” It’s getting harder to contain my anger. As if I have no luck today, the culprits appear. Keenan's older drug dealing friends appear beside him, all smiles, finding this situation he’s in highly amusing. Walking up to the one that had the bag of coke at the party, I swing my fist out, striking him straight in the face, landing a hard hit across his jaw. He flies backwards into the stairs, landing roughly on his ass.

  “You! Leave him the fuck out of your business. I’m not going to tell you again.” Fury flies through me. I didn’t even notice the guard had let go of Keenan to watch with amusement. With his bulky arms crossed against his wide chest.

  His friend spits out blood from his mouth at my feet. Standing up while puffing his chest out further while looking down at me with an equally furious face. He takes a menacing step towards me, stepping so close I have to look up at him with him being a head taller than me.

  “Jake! Don’t!” Keenan yells. Clearly seeing the look on my face, he knows what’s going to happen. Jakes hand flies out and clamps around my throat in a vice like grip. The guard goes to step in but stops almost immediately as his eyes flick up to the third floor before shooting back down to the scene in front of him. Jakes grip tightens when he sees no reaction from me. My lip raises in disgust.

  No one touches me.

  My left hand raises up, nails quickly latching onto the skin on the underside of his bicep where the skin is most sensitive. I dig my nails in hard drawing blood as my rage continues to boil over from his blatant disrespect. When I feel his hold waiver, my right fist shoots out, punching him in the throat and making him let go as he gags. While he’s momentarily distracted, I grab the same arm that was choking me. Holding his wr
ist tightly with my right hand, I hold his arm out straight, locking it in place. Rearing my left hand back in a tight fist I punch his elbow with a force so hard the bone in his arm snaps and bends inwards. His blood curdling scream fills the club drawing a crowd around us as the deep beats of the music blurs out his screams from the outer crowd. Dropping his arm, I give him one last word of warning.

  “Bring Keenan into your shit again, and expect the next time we meet to be much, much more painful and keep your fucking hands to yourself.” Turning my angry eyes on Keenan, his head drops as I grab his upper arm, pulling him out of the club.

  Shoving Keenan into the passenger seat, I slam the door shut behind him. Stomping my way around to the driver's side, I yank the door open, only to slam it shut behind me. Revving the car I take off down the road. With one last look in the rear-view mirror at the club, I thought I saw Mason standing out the front, but he wouldn’t be at any club unless it was his own. It dawns on me just as my heart starts beating rapidly. I slam on the breaks, bringing the car to a sudden stop. Whipping my head around to look out the back windshield at the club name.

  I feel myself pale.

  Kings Club Nightlife.

  Fuck! It was Mason.

  It was his fucking club. I push my foot down on the accelerator speeding my way home. First, I need this little shit to sober up, then I need to figure out what the hell happened tonight. How the hell did a sixteen-year-old get into a club like that. More importantly, what the hell am I going to do with Mason now?

  Chapter Thirty

  MASON

  Today has been my lucky day.

  Firstly, I got to see my queen again. She didn’t know I was there but once I got home I realized she knew the whole time. Begging Monty to search up the new information I came across, I was finally starting to get somewhere. She’s gone to extreme measures to make sure her life stays hidden.

  But not for long, not now after I’ve come so far.

  Just as we started searching a message popped up. It was from her. Instantly I clicked on it wondering what she could say. We didn’t get far before Monty shot up off the couch, sprinting down the hallway to his room and taking his laptop with him. Running after him and yelling at him to stop fucking running, only to stop myself from the scene in front of me. The laptop sat on top of bathroom sink, smoking while Monty had the bathtub slowly filling up. He ran out the room only to come back in with a bucket. Turing the shower on, he quickly filled the bucket up to the top before throwing the water in the tub, filling it up faster. After a few seconds he grabbed the laptop, swearing along the way and throws it into the tub.

  The water instantly bubbles up before slowly fizzling down.

  “What the fuck?” I have no idea what exactly I just witnessed. Watching Monty slowly blow on his fingertips as he looks up at me and squints his eyes accusingly.

  “That bitch tried to blow us up, MASON. I’m done trying to help your stupid ass. You’re just going to get me killed. Plus, my arm still fucking hurts, asshole! And it’s gonna scar!” He stares me down, crossing his arms across his chest dramatically.

  “Okay first of all, what do you mean blow us up? Secondly, everyone loves scars so I’m sure the guys would love it.” Winking at him, I see him trying to stop a smile from gracing his face. With a breathy laugh he finally calms down.

  “That message you so eagerly accepted from her was a bug. It wiped my hard drive and sent it into overheat. Which means, she literally sent us a bomb. The laptop was two seconds away from blowing the fuck up. Seriously Mase, you need to stop whatever this is your doing. For real, I’m done.” With that he left the eerily quiet room leaving me standing there feeling for the first time, defeated.

  ✧✧✧

  After our ‘near death experience’ I headed to my club. In desperate need of a strong drink and a night with the dancers. Anything to get my mind off her. The one that’s captivated my mind for months now.

  It didn’t take long for a headache to arrive. Jake, one of my teen sellers arrived with his posse in tow. Standing by the windows looking down at the sea of people in my club, I keep my eyes on them. Though he’s young, he’s still trouble. The power going straight to his head most of the time.

  My mind wandered back to today's events. Everything went completely wrong, but oh so right. I feel like I took one step in the right direction for once, finally learning something about her had my blood pumping.

  Getting pulled out of my thoughts by Gage, my third-floor security guard, I wait for him to speak.

  “Boss, we’ve got an underage kid here, he’s drunk.” He states. Normally I wouldn’t care, but for some reason tonight I did. A gut feeling was telling me to get this kid the fuck out of here.

  “Just get the kid out. Tell him to ring someone, I don’t know. Just get him out.” Flicking my fingers up to the bartender they immediately get my regular drink ready.

  Not even a minute later a whiskey neat is placed in my hand. Turning my attention back to tonight's crowd, my vision gets lost in the sea of people. I don’t know how long time passed before a sudden entrance captures my eyes. A young woman in her early twenties walks in. Looking so out of place with her skinny jeans and converses. Her silky black hair looks like she rushed out of bed and her face free of makeup. But what made me drop the whiskey glass, shattering upon impact, was the fresh bruise that marred her face. It’s like I was glued to her. Something told me this was HER. My queen. My heart started beating rapidly. The waiters scatter around me, hurriedly cleaning up the glass as I step closer to the window. It’s her, I just know it. That bruise, it looks painful and incredibly black. I watch her walk towards Gage and the underage kid. Is this her brother? Cousin? No. I don’t think they’re related. There are too many differences between them.

  I watch in fascination as she scolds the kid. Clearly caring about his health and wellbeing which is strange. With the general murdery vibe she gives off I never would have imagined she actually cares for someone. Then I see Jake smirking behind the kid. She doesn’t appear to like that because the next minute he’s on his ass spitting out blood.

  It’s definitely her, I think.

  Then he stands, a head taller than her and advances on her, grabbing her neck in a tight grip. I tell Carter, the other guard up here with me to stop Gage from interfering. If this is truly my queen then she will have the ability to get out of this situation. A minute later another surprise comes. She snaps his arm in half, the bone bending inwards and breaking through the skin. I can’t help but laugh. More bloodshed.

  This girl loves blood.

  She grabs the drunk kid by the arm, furiously dragging him to the exit. I quickly run down the stairs and out the door, making it just in time to see her speed off. For someone so sexy, she sure drives such a sexy car. Not that I pictured her driving anything else, but I was expecting to see her on her bike again. As if she sees me standing here gawking at her, the cars brakes slam on. Smoke rises up from the burnt tires as I step back inside, quickly getting out of view.

  I’ve finally cracked it. I know how to find her now and when I do, I’m never letting her go.

  “JAKE!” I call for the young delinquent. He’s the key to everything. I find that kid, I find her. I start laughing like a maniac, heading back up to my private third floor. I can’t contain the excitement anymore. Taking the steps two at a time, I barge into the room immediately signaling for a round of shots for everyone in the room. Tonight, is a night to celebrate.

  ✧✧✧

  Half an hour later Jake walks in with his arm all casted up. His other hand holding bags of ice over half of his face. He looks a little pale but that should teach him not to raise a hand to a woman. Especially my woman.

  He slowly walks over to one of the black leather sofas and sits down. I hand him a shot, I know he’ll be needing something to take the edge off.

  “Tell me everything you know about that kid and the woman who did that.” I say pointing to his arm.

  He scof
fs.

  “You mean that crazy Russian bitch!” He grits his teeth in pain.

  After two minutes of hearing him moan and groan, I grow tired. How am I ever supposed to get what I need to know if the one person who holds the key is a whimpering, blubbering mess on my couch.

  “Gage! Get the kid some weed for fucks sake.” If there’s anything that will do the trick, a nice hit from a blunt will do it because at this point, the only thing I’m getting out of him is a damn headache.

  After ten minutes Jake is high as a kite. But every quick movement he makes, sobers him up just a little. Pain can only be dulled for so long.

  “Yeaah, so, Keenan is like a fun little dude to hang around, you know? But his neighbor is like, really mean.” So, this isn’t the first time he’s dealt with my lady.

  “And this neighbor, she’s the Russian bitch that broke your arm?” I ask eagerly. So that was the hint of accent I could hear when she spoke. Coming to stand right in front of him, I listen intently to everything he says, feeling like everything has finally starting coming together. Like I’ve found the missing piece of the puzzle.

  With blood pumping through my veins I have a need to see her, feel her, hear her sweet angelic voice that holds a razors edge to it. I want to run my hands through her black silky hair as I stare into those eyes I long to see. Even from the distance we were tonight, I know they are striking. I just wish to see them closer. Imprint them to memory. I want to see her golden skin that she hides behind her sexy latex suits and jeans. I want to kiss those lips that have haunted my dreams since the moment I met her.