Page 83 of The Lost Kings
She’d be mine and only mine.
I already prepared in my head what I’d say to her in the call I’d make tomorrow. I’d make sure she understood we’d be back, and this was only temporary.
Frustration burned under my chest, reminding me I had no other choice and that I could only hope she saw this the way we wanted her to. If she didn’t…then we’d ruined the best thing that ever happened to us.
Chapter 31
Presley
PRESENT
The manor felt different.
Each morning, I’d grown used to the quiet of the house that extended past my front door. I’d walk the empty halls, knowing the only sound to be heard would be the clicking of Reaper’s nails as he trailed behind me.
Otherwise, it was peaceful.
Tucking my favorite book under my arm, I walked through the illuminated room and curled up on one of the leather couches. My mind was full of confusing thoughts and worries about what the day would bring. I’d spoken to Adrian the night prior and had convinced him to come visit. There was a burden on my shoulders to ensure our families maintained peace, but something kept looping in my mind. The twins saying they’d had business with him…the way they’d found where Adrian lived.
The extra men they traveled with.
All of it was odd to me.
I had just cracked the binding open of my book when I heard people cheering from the home gym.
I snapped the book shut and tilted my head, curious why there’dbe so much commotion this early in the morning. It was only seven thirty, and while I knew most of Scotty’s men liked to run the property at this time, not many of them used the gym.
My curiosity won out as I clutched the book and wandered down the hall. The sound only grew louder as I took the stairs down to the gym and pushed through the doors.
Men and women I’d seen protect the perimeter all cheered for whomever was in the middle of the ring. Most were familiar faces, but I realized there were several new people that had arrived with the twins. I still assumed they were attached to El Peligro somehow, but I wasn’t exactly sure why they were here or how the boys had convinced them to travel with them.
Finding an opening in the people cluttered around the center, I finally saw who the focus of their cheering was.
A silent gasp escaped me as I watched the twins moving around the circle. It wasn’t even that they were using moves I’d only witnessed in advanced MMA fighters, but their chests were more defined than they were almost two years ago. They had definition in places I wasn’t even sure was possible; their abs had mini abs and over each ridge and groove was dark ink.
They’d gotten so many tattoos; my eyes jumped around, trying to land on where to start.
Gio had small text tattooed into his forearms, and across his chest were various symbols, images of a church, a cross, and…I narrowed my eyes on the black heart that dripped with ink… It was something similar I’d seen on Juan’s chest, except his heart wasn’t cut in half, and there were three smaller ones inked below his primary tattoo.
My gaze jumped to Kingston and sure enough his dripping black heart was also cut in half. They both had at least one marigold inked somewhere on their bodies. Gio had a few star systems I recognized, inked all along the expanse of his back, and Kingston had skulls with plants growing out of their heads. He had flowersdying inked all over his chest, but the marigold was alive. I found “Elvis” inked in cursive on Gio’s chest, under his heart.
I was so focused on their ink that I completely missed that their fighting had upgraded to include knives. Gio threw one at his brother and it landed swiftly in the mat underneath him, just barely missing his calf. The crowd roared and I jumped back as reality came rushing back in.
What the fuck were they doing?
Gio rushed forward with his own large, serrated knife, holding it sideways as if he were about to lunge at his twin, but Kingston quickly sidestepped him. Both boys had sweat dripping down their faces and along their arms. Seeing them like that, with their raven hair messy and cutting into their eyes, their gorgeous brown skin accented with the black ink and defined muscles, they were mesmerizing. It made a simmering heat begin to build and pool somewhere low in my belly. Gio caught on that I was watching first, if his smirk was any indication.
Kingston shifted and caught me as well, then bounced on the balls of his feet, swiping his arm across his face.
“Wanna join us,Elvis?”
The group around them glanced at me, which made that heat inside rise to my face.
“I think she’s too scared now that we’re on her level of training. She’s too nervous to face us,” Gio sneered, while tossing his knife from one hand to another.
Is that what they’d been doing with their time away? They’d been training like I had been? Their bodies certainly showed it, as well as their precision with the blade.
I wouldn’t be giving them the satisfaction of?—
