Page 63 of The Lost Kings
But one that had been growing wings powerful enough to lift from the ground with each passing day.
Chapter 25
Kingston
AGE 17
Ihadn’t stopped watching Presley any differently than I had before.
I was always aware of her presence in the manor. Even with it being massive enough to allow each of our families to disappear, I always managed to find her.
When she decided to skip her training and sneak over to the farm, I was aware of it. When she was in school, I haunted her every step. When she trained with Scotty, I observed just as I always had before. Gio was with me, and if he wasn’t, I knew he was equally as aware of her movement, like a second pair of eyes and ears.
But within the past three days since the incident in the car, there were new things I had started hyperfixating on. Like the way her mouth twisted into a sneer when Scotty pissed her off, or how her tits fit in that one black tank top she had that pushed them up in a way that showed anyone who was watching way too fucking much.
I noticed how sweat dripped down that little slit into her cleavage, and I was frustratingly aware of how enticing it was because after the incident in the car, I now knew what was possible.
I knew what could be if I simply let it happen.
“Kingston, did you hear me?” My dad gently gripped my shoulder to turn me away from the sparring ring. I was still in my shorts, sans a shirt, dripping with sweat.
“What?” How long had he been talking to me, and where the hell was my brother?
Dad’s jaw ticked, and I marginally felt guilty. “I asked if you were free this afternoon. I’d like you to come down to the soup kitchen in downtown Rake Forge. Your mother has been there this week with your grandmother, and they could use some extra hands.”
“I thought you had men for that.” It was a dick thing to say, but Hector’s stories had been increasing in flare. I had no idea how true they were, but this entity, El Peligro, was once something so influential it had the crime syndicate’s running in fear. How had he taken something so powerful and reduced it down to a soup kitchen?
“Men are free to leave El Peligro; no one is forcing them to stay,” was Dad’s quipped remark. Which told me he had more and more men leaving, which meant they weren’t loyal to him, but to the name and the original idea that my grandfather had. The memory of when I was a kid came back in glaring clarity. Dad had caught someone harming his community and killed the man for it. I’d resented him almost my entire life for that…until now.
My eyes flicked over to where Presley was training. She’d been kicking and punching for well over an hour. Her knuckles were torn the fuck up as per usual, because she didn’t bother wrapping them, and she never used gloves. She was being trained for a war that no one else was preparing to fight in. Scotty, Kyle and Dad were all seemingly fine with tossing her up on the chopping block, even when my father had access to something as powerful as El Peligro.
I shrugged his touch off, unsure why it suddenly bothered me so much. “Perhaps you should get back to your roots and see if you invoke some loyalty again.”
His jaw went slack, but I saw his fists clench tight. “You don’t know anything about the roots, Son. Not how twisted or poisonous they are.”
I’d heard enough though, and regardless of how deadly or toxic, Dad once wielded El Peligro. So well he’d doubled the pledges and maintained their loyalty for nearly eighteen years. That spoke of something larger than him, than my grandfather. That was a legacy, and it was one he was willingly trying to drown.
I knew it was a waste of my time to try and convince him. “Sorry. If you need help, I can head down there. But I wanted to shower first.”
Dad glanced over at Presley briefly before nodding. “Okay, can you take your brother when you go? I have to head there now, but I’ll see you both soon.”
I agreed but was still curious where my brother was. “Is Gio at home?”
Such a weird term to use while standing in the manor, but it was so fucking large, the only place that actually felt like home was our family wing.
Dad shook his head and then walked out of the gym.
Scotty was telling Presley to cool down and start medicating her knuckles. She’d rinse them, put on ointment and then wrap them. I decided to hang around while she went through the process. Mats were cleaned and equipment was shelved before Scotty glared at me, then exited the space just like my dad had, which left me alone with Presley.
I wound up my jump rope and wandered closer to her.
“You went pretty hard today.”
She glanced up at me and gave me exactly what I was hoping for. Something that told me she was still affected by what we did in the car. Something that showed that regardless of what we’d said, there was no way we’d just pretend it never happened.
Her cheeks flushed pink and then when her chin dipped, a smile crested and curved along her lips.
“You did too.”
