Page 35 of KingPin
Mason
Something in the back of my mind is telling me to hurry up. Everything in my body is telling me something is fucked up and it all has to do with what’s going on here.
My senses are heightened as I run through the hospital to get to my car. Lucian knew how pivotal this meeting with Raul is. She was the one that got it all set up through Ralf. Why would she now try to get me to come back? Something doesn’t make sense.
It also doesn’t make sense about Paul. What the fuck happened to make him turn his recovery around like this? Have I been living under a rock this whole time and not paid attention to anything?
Has my thing with Lucian made me less human?
“Where are you runnin’ off to?” A voice calls to me.
I stop dead in my tracks. I know that voice as the same voice who used to tell me when it was time to drive.
“What are you doing here?” I ask without turning around. I know I shouldn’t be afraid of him, but I am. The man is a fucking killer.
“I should ask you the same thing. I guess you’re as stupid as you look. Did you go see your friend? How’s he doing? How’s Lucian?”
I reach to the back of my jeans to grab the gun I have lodged in my belt. I feel something sharp swipe at my hand to stop me from grabbing it.
“What the fuck?” I growl. I would like to think I’m smarter than I give myself credit for. However, in this moment, I realize what happened. “What did you do to Paul?” I demand.
He chuckles. “I’m asking the questions now. But, I’ll answer your question. Paul was a loose end that needed to be tied up. Why did Lucian pick you to take over her group?”
He just admitted my friend died and now he’s hassling me? This guy is a fucking trip. I hope he gets the shit kicked out of him by Lucian.
I shake my head. “You killed my friend? Are you fucking insane?”
“Don’t be asking questions you already know the answers to. We don’t have time for stupid ass questions. Where’s Lucian?”
“Dude, I don’t know shit about shit. You need to back up off me. I was just about to come see you.”
He chuckles from behind me. “Time’s up. I came to find you.”
Spinning in the middle of the hospital corridor, I come face to face with Raul. He looks rougher than normal. His eyes are dark rimmed and his beard is thicker than before. He looks as if he hasn’t slept in a long time.
“What happened to you?” I blurt. Fuck. He’s a real-life gangster and I’m just a chef who’s pretending to be a gangster.
He smirks. “Lucian happened to me. That woman had me all twisted up and now she’s fuckin’ with me. I know she’s alive. You’re going to take me to her. If you don’t, I’m gonna kill her.”
My heart races a little in my chest. I have no doubt in my mind he would do that.
However, I stick to the plan. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answer blandly.
Raul’s not having it. I feel him jab something into my back as he pushes me through the corridor of the hospital into the parking garage.
The parking garage is loud with people alarming and unalarming their cars. Doors slam and trunks open and close in the distance. Everyone is moving on with their lives as I fight for mine.
“You’re going to give me my drugs and my money. Then we are going to Lucian’s and ending this shit. You got me?” He seethes in my ear.
Something clicks inside of my head as he threatens me. I have never been filled with so much rage before and not know how to direct it.
Raul threatening me is one thing. He can have the drugs and the money. But he’s threatening Lucian. The woman I have grown to care about. The sexy woman who’s smile makes my dick hard. The sexy woman whose smell is enough to make me beg. Everything about her is all I need.
And this asshole wants to take her away from me. Now that I have her where I want her, I don’t want to let her go. There’s no way in hell I can let her go.
“You can have the drugs and the money. But Lucian’s dead.”
Raul chuckles sardonically. “You’re a terrible liar. The word on the street is she’s still calling the shots from her apartment above The Venetian.”
