by Tillie Cole
Eric gritted his teeth. “When your old man woke up, Freddie knew he could get you alone. Luckily for him, Alfie waking up coincided with the trap he’d left for us at the dock. Suddenly, he had a way to get you, Ches and him alone in the house—Gene being here was just a fortunate opportunity. He realised he could get to you while the rest of us were at the docks dealing with the shitshow they had staged.” Eric inhaled. “He killed your old man of his own accord.”
Arthur tensed beneath me. I took his hand and brought it to my mouth. I kissed the back of his palm and felt him relax, exhaling slowly through his nose.
Vinnie came barrelling down the hallway and hurtled into the living room, all rage and fury. His eyes were wide and his hair was in more disarray than normal. “She’s gone,” he said frantically. “Pearl,” he said, his hands shaking. “I can’t find her. She’s fucking gone.” The hallucination. The spectre of Pearl that kept him grounded, kept him somewhat sane. “She’s fucking gone!” Vinnie stilled. “The video. The bird on the video. She’s taken her away from me.” He stopped dead, then, hands balling into fists, yelled, “That fucking imposter bitch has taken my Pearl away!”
Charlie got to his feet, palms up. “Calm down, Vinnie,” he said, approaching Vinnie as if he were a wild animal. “We’ll get her back,” he said softly. “I swear to you, we’ll bring her back to you.” Vinnie breathed out, panting as though he’d been holding his breath for days.
“You promise?” he said to Charlie, holding on to Charlie’s words as if they were an anchor to what little sanity he had left.
“Have I ever lied to you before?”
Vinnie shook his head. “No. No, you’ve never lied to me before.”
“Let’s get you a cup of tea. Everything’s going to be okay.” Charlie ushered Vinnie out of the room, leaving deathly silence in their wake.
“Ron?” Arthur said, breaking the tension Vinnie’s outburst had brought.
Ronnie took a deep breath, readying to relay the information on Pearl she’d managed to find after we returned home. “It’s true. It’s all true. Pearl is alive and goes by the name Annie Lawson.” Ronnie shook her head. “I don’t know why she doesn’t remember you, or her real family, but it’s clear something happened to make her forget everything.” Vera nodded at Ronnie to continue. “For all intents and purposes, Ollie was her big brother.” Arthur stilled. “They took her to Switzerland, to get her away from this family. And there she was raised, schooled, still lives. Ollie visited her all the time. Pearl runs their drug business in Switzerland.”
“Who the fuck are they?” Arthur asked, his voice rough like cut glass.
“The Sidel Group,” Ronnie said. Arthur sucked in a short breath.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Eric said.
I looked to Arthur for an explanation. His expression was stone, but his blue gaze burned with fire. “Our biggest rivals in Europe,” Arthur said.
“Your sister runs the rival European business?”
“I—we—had never heard of her by name before,” Vera said. “They kept her hidden—obviously. But she’s the boss of the Sidels now. No doubt about it. Took over when their—Ollie’s—dad died last year. We have no idea if she knows it was Ollie that killed him. We just know it’s her.”
Arthur laughed, but there was no humour in it. “My little sister is our rival. She fucking hates us and, according to Lawson, will have a fucking bounty on our heads for his death.”
“We’ll sort this,” Betsy said to Arthur. Eric nodded at Betsy in agreement. “Pearl’s safe … even though she doesn’t know us as her family anymore. She’s safe over there in Switzerland, and she’s alive. At least we can take comfort in that.” Betsy downed her drink. “We’ll get her back. Somehow, Arthur, we’ll bring her back to us. To Vinnie … to you.”
Arthur exhaled, and I could hear exhaustion in his heavy breath. I put my hand on his cheek and turned his face to me. “Let’s go to bed. Let’s get you cleaned up, and let’s get some sleep. We can come back to this another time. We won. We’re all safe. Now it’s time to rest a little.”
“She’s right,” Vera said, tiredly getting to her feet. “I’m bloody knackered. We all are. I haven’t got bags under my eyes, I have fucking suitcases.” She took Ronnie’s hand, holding on to it like she might never let go. “We’re going to get some sleep too.”
I got up from the chair and, keeping my hand in his, led Arthur from the living room and straight through our bedroom into our bathroom. I stripped off his clothes. Arthur watched me silently, heat burning in his gaze. I turned on the shower and took off my clothes too. I stepped into the shower with him and began cleaning him of the blood that still clung to his skin. Arthur didn’t take his eyes off me the entire time. It was as though he couldn’t believe I was here with him. As though he didn’t want to close his eyes in case I disappeared.
When the water ran from red to clear, I switched off the shower and gently towelled us both off. I led him to the bed. Standing beside it, I placed my hands on Arthur’s face and kissed him. Arthur didn’t hesitate in pushing his tongue into my mouth, sliding it against mine. His hands wrapped around me, an iron cage, bringing me to his chest, his hardness pressing against my stomach.
I moaned at the feel of him, and Arthur lowered me to the mattress. My back pressed into the soft duvet, and he broke from my mouth and kissed my neck, forcing the awful events of last night from my mind, instead bringing me nothing but pleasure and heat and love.
He kissed down my stomach and to my hips. I rolled my hips as he widened my legs, wanting him, needing him inside me. His blue eyes caught mine as he wrenched my thighs apart and then licked along my pussy. I cried out as he sucked on my clit, as he pushed his fingers inside me and fought for me to forget tonight and just be with him. The man I loved. The one who came for me, the one who’d saved me.
Over and over again.
I had fallen for him at age thirteen, and now I was with him. In his home, a part of his family, standing proudly by his side.
“Arthur …” I moaned, threading my hands through his hair. Arthur snarled as I pulled on the strands, and he licked me harder and faster until I was a panting mess on the bed, my eyes shutting as my orgasm closed in. Arthur pushed me and pushed me until I cried out, my trembling thighs trying to close around him, the cresting pleasure too much to stand.
Not giving me a moment’s reprieve, Arthur crawled above me, his powerful, muscled body smothering mine. Framing my head with his arms, he pushed inside me, filing me so full I almost lost my mind. He thrust into me hard and fast, his gaze never straying from mine.
“I love you,” I said, and he groaned, crushing his lips to mine. He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, until I had to rip my mouth away from his lips to suck in much-needed air.
But Arthur’s mouth never left my skin, tasting every inch. We were damp from the shower and the rising heat between us. I raked at his back, and he dropped his forehead to mine as he pistoned into me. My eyes rolled back, and the familiar pleasure built and built until all I could smell and feel and taste was Arthur. Until he was inside me, within me, his soul melding with mine.
“Arthur.” I came, my breasts pressing against his chest as I held him tightly to me. Arthur groaned, then, slamming into me one last time, he stilled, roaring out his release.
I clung to him. I held on to him as he caught his breath, beads of sweat forming on his dark brow. Arthur kissed me softly, kissed me and kissed me, until he drew back his head and, making sure he held my gaze, rasped, “Love you, princess. Fucking love you.”
My heart leapt to my throat on hearing those words slip easily from his lips. On seeing the sincerity on Arthur’s beautiful face as he spoke those three words, deep affection in his gravelled voice.
“I love you too,” I whispered back, putting my shaking hand on his cheek. Arthur kissed my palm, then rolled onto his back, taking me with him. He wrapped his arm around me as he splayed me over his chest.
; After a few minutes, our laboured breathing returned to normal and Arthur lit a cigarette. I looked up at his face, shifting so he could see me and I could see him. I pushed a fallen strand of black hair away from the frames of his glasses. “You came for me.”
He held my gaze. “I’d go into fucking hell for you, princess.”
Smiling, I traced my finger along his abdominal muscles. “You’re the devil, aren’t you? Hell is your domain. You could just walk right in.”
Arthur’s nostrils flared, and I saw the tug of amusement on his lips. “Then you have nothing to worry about,” he said. “No one fucks with the devil.” He leaned forward and took hold of my jaw. He opened my lips, then blew smoke into my mouth. I closed my eyes and inhaled the nicotine, feeling it rush through my blood.
When I exhaled the smoke and opened my eyes, he said, “And no one, from this day out, will dare fuck with my dark queen again, or I’ll bring the wrath of a million bloodthirsty demons to their motherfucking door.” I believed him. I had seen the look on his face when I had been dragged from the back room, hands tied and face beaten. If fury had a physical body, it would have been Arthur in that moment.
Arthur stroked my cheek with his thumb. “You okay, princess?” I knew he was referring to my dad and Hugo. I thought of them. I shook my head, but the emotions I knew were within me were numbed right now, padlocked away in a familiar cage. Held back to keep me from falling apart. “No,” I confessed. “But I will be.” I smiled at him and kissed his chest, right over his heart. “Now I’m with you, I will be.”
Arthur put the cigarette in his mouth and pulled me up his chest so my face hovered before his. It was my favourite move of his. It was as if I weighed nothing at all.
“You killed Lawson.” Arthur searched my face. “You fucking killed Lawson.”
“He deserved it,” I said. Pride flashed across Arthur’s concerned expression. I meant it. There wasn’t a part of me that regretted taking Ollie’s life. He’d had his gun to Arthur’s head after ripping a hole through his heart about his sister. And I couldn’t stand it. I’d had to act. Ollie had brought so much pain and death to too many people’s lives. I couldn’t regret ending the life of someone who would only hurt more and more people if he survived.
And no one hurt my Arthur.
“My queen,” Arthur said, his words singing to my soul. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to his chest. “My fucking dark, corrupted queen. The most important piece on my board,” he whispered. “The most fucking important piece in my bastard life.” My chest burst with warmth, his words healing any severed nerves I had within me, attaching me further to his soul.
A while later, Arthur’s breathing evened out. I lifted my head and, smiling, took the still-burning cigarette from between his lips and stubbed it out on the ashtray beside him. Then I laid my head on Arthur’s chest and closed my eyes too.
My life had brought me darkness and pain, but I couldn’t resent it when that darkness spoke to the darkness inside him. Together we would rise, and together we would live happily in our dark kingdom. We would find Pearl and bring her back to us. Somehow, we would bring her home at last.
Until then, I had him and he had me.
My lord of London Town, and I his lady, who stood by him, proud to embrace the dark.
Epilogue
ARTHUR
One month later
We walked into the pits, every fucker staring at us as we passed them. My arm was around Cheska’s shoulders, and her head was high as the wankers all gaped. I took a drag of my cig, passing by the bare-knuckle fights and heading toward the killing pits.
Cheska was dressed in all black, those fucking leather trousers she loved showcasing her arse to perfection. I glared at anyone who tried to look at my bird, death in my eyes for anyone who dared get a fucking hard-on at her presence.
When we reached our seats at the main pit, I turned Chelsea Girl to face me and smashed my lips to hers. Cheska groaned into my mouth and ran her hand down my stomach, cupping my cock and making me lose my fucking mind. Growling, I pulled away, promising with my blazing glare that I was going to fuck her later. Right here, in the pits, up against the wall.
“Well, that was a fucking entrance,” Royal said, coming behind me and slapping me on the shoulder. I turned and smirked. “Careful, brother, you almost cracked a smile. It was fucking disturbing,” he said.
“Your boy ready?” I asked, nudging my chin at Rudge’s younger cousin.
“He’s pissed off tonight, so I’d throw a few grand on him if you want to be quids in by the end of the night. Always fights better when he’s in a fucking mood.”
“Five grand on the Hangman,” Cheska said to our bookie, clearly hearing what Royal had said. Shaking his head in amusement, Royal went back to his boys, and I took my seat beside Cheska.
I lifted her off her seat and put her on my lap, where she fucking belonged. Her arm looped around my neck, and my arm around her waist told every bastard in these pits, in the entire fucking London underworld, that she was mine. That she was my fucking dark queen and none of these twats was to touch a bloody hair on her head, or they’d face my fucking wrath.
“My turn,” Eric said when the current champion in the pit smashed through the skull of his opponent, killing him in one blow. Eric got up from his seat. He moved toward the edge of the pit and looked back at Betsy, a grin on his face. “I win this, and tonight, I’m taking you up the arse.”
“You fucking wish,” she snapped, but she smiled to herself and looked away.
Charlie shook his head at them, then leaned in closer to Gene, resuming whatever conversation they were having. It was the kid’s first time here. And he seemed to be taking it better than I’d expected.
We’d waited to come back until Cheska had played the fucking game Charlie had planned for her and been “found” at Lawson’s flat. The entire fucking world now knew Lawson for the smarmy cunt he was. Cheska had broken from her family’s business, a silent board member only, and then moved her shit in with me at the church.
And she was never fucking leaving.
There’d been nothing from Pearl yet. But we knew her people were on the move. And heading to our fucking town. I’d be ready for her. Ready to remind her who the fuck she was. She was coming back to us—the easy way or the hard.
“Put me in,” Vinnie said, standing right in front on of me, top off and fists clenched. His eyes were bloodshot and crazed. Since Pearl had “disappeared” from his side a few weeks ago, he’d lost weight, he was pale.
My brother had lost his motherfucking mind.
I flicked my chin at the second pit behind us, and Vinnie tore off, no doubt to rip some fucker’s head off and toss it onto the sand.
Cheska didn’t move off me all night, Vera and Ronnie talking to her beside me. Then the pits cleared out, and the real fucking fun began.
I slapped Cheska on the arse, and she got off my lap; I stood, taking off my suit jacket, shirt and tie. The Hangmen, the Irish and the Romani stayed, as always. And my soldiers brought the table of weapons to the pit.
I jumped down onto the sand and cracked my neck from side to side. My soldier brought out the first wanker who had dared to fuck with my firm. The hessian hood was ripped off his head, and he practically shat himself when I stood before him. I sparked up my cig and took a long inhale, letting the smoke fill my lungs.
I swung my arms wide. “Welcome to the Adley Court. You are charged with being a traitor. An Adley’s word is his bond.” I pointed at his face. “A bond you have broken. And I am here to collect.” I spat on the sand in front of the cunt on the floor and flicked my head to the table of weapons. “Choose your weapon.” The tosser didn’t try to protest or beg for his life. He knew the fucking score.
He grabbed a crowbar and readied to fight. I glanced up to Cheska. “Get the fuck down here, princess.” Cheska rose from her seat like the fucking Adley queen she was.
She strutted down the stairs to the pit and st
ood right at my side. Her rose scent was driving me fucking barmy. Her eyes fixed on mine, and her fucking lips looked too perfect painted bright red. So I took her mouth, my bird moaning into my mouth and grabbing on to my naked chest as I pushed my tongue against hers, smearing her red lipstick.
I pulled back, hard as fuck for her pussy and the kill I was about to take. I wiped the red off my face and smudged my thumb over her lips, before she caught it in her mouth and bit down hard.
Cheska met my eyes as I hissed, her fucking head high, owning both me and everyone in this fucking pit. “Pick one,” I said to Cheska, pointing to the table of weapons.
Cheska walked to the table, brown hair swaying on her back and holding my black heart in her fucking hands. She reached for the spear and headed back to me.
Rising to her tiptoes, she kissed me on the mouth. Then, glaring at the traitorous fucker on the ground, she placed the spear in my waiting hand. “Baby?” she said, lip curled in disgust.
“Yeah, princess?”
“Make him scream.”
So I did.
THE END
Playlist
Take Me Back To London — Ed Sheeran, Stormzy
Come With Me Now — KONGOS
Bitter Sweet Symphony — The Verve
Fire — Kasabian
Broken — Jake Bugg
Do I Wanna Know — Arctic Monkeys
Got No Love — The Kooks
Hide and Seek — Imogen Heap
Mad World — Lily Allen
Devil Side — Foxes
Two Fingers — Jake Bugg
You’re in Love with a Psycho — Kasabian
Firestarter — The Prodigy
White Flag — Bishop Briggs
The Cave — Mumford & Sons
The Prayer — Bloc Party
Fire — Kasabian
Exile (feat. Bon Iver) — Taylor Swift, Bon Iver
I’m Kissing You — bshp
you broke me first — Tate McRae