Page 6 of Royal's Reign
Not a goddamn thing. Unless I want to be on the receiving end of Grinders wrath by admitting that I wouldn’t mind fucking his sister either. I need to keep my mouth shut, train my line of thoughts to other things and Google drugs that will suppress my sexual urges, because let’s be honest, it’s not like I’ll be having any of the club chicks deal with Gio as a house guest.
Not only that, but when Grinder slapped a strict hands-off rule on his sister, my uncle Horse, our president at the time, had fully agreed. As the current president, I needed to honor that. Not only out of respect for my predecessor, but also out of respect for my best friend.
“Come on, Prez, you know it’s the only way we can ensure her safety, under our roof. At least until we nail the fuckers who’s behind this.”
“Okay, okay.” I can’t quite believe I’m agreeing to this, but my back is up against the wall. “Then I wantthis done quickly. We need to put all possible resources onto this because I want this threat neutralized, like yesterday, so we can get back to fucking normal.”
“Sure thing, Prez. Believe me, I hate this too. You know I’ve always kept Gio and my life at the club separate, so this is fucking with my head”. He turns to make his way back into my office. His hand comes to the door handle. “I'll talk to her, let her know that she’ll be staying here for now, until we’re sure that it’s safe to go back to her apartment”.
“You do that. I’ll go and see if Forger has managed to come up with anything yet.”
I turn abruptly and head back down the hallway and out into the communal area. Thankfully, no one questions me when I grab a bottle of bourbon from behind the bar, and stomp my way towards the door that leads out to the back of the building, and push out into the coolnight air.
“Holy fucking shit,” I curse under my breath before popping the cap off the bottle in my hand and taking a long, hard pull of the dark liquor. How the fuck am I going to keep my control when Gio is going to be invading my space? Living in such close proximity is going to be torture.
Out of sight, out of mind has worked for me over the past years. Not that she’s been totally absent from my thought. The temptation back then had been real, so keeping my distance from her was what I’d needed to do to save my sanity. Now that the situation haschanged, all chance of control taken away, what the hell can I do?
I need to keep her safe, and if that means keeping my dick in my pants and my mind out of the gutter, then so be it.
I take another deep pull from the bottle before going back inside and taking a seat at the bar.
Rolling my shoulders, shaking out my arms, mentally getting my shit together, just in time for when Grinder and Gio come walking towards me.
“Any updates?” My V.P. asks as he gets closer.
“I have no idea. I was taking a minute to process, so I’ve yet to speak to Forger.”
“Leave that with me, Prez.” He turns towards his sister. “Royal will show you where you’ll be staying for now. It’s the best gaff and the safest place, so try not to worry. I’ll swing past your apartment and pack you a bag.”
“If there’s anything else you need, I’ll get one of the club ladies on it. Whatever you need, just ask,” I reassure her.
“What about Mum?” she asks, her eyes quickly flicking between both mine and Grinder’s. “What if they turn up at her house?”
“Don’t worry.” I place my hand on her shoulder. Instantly my fingers tingle at the touch, but this time I relish the sensation. “We’ve already got that covered. She’ll be booked on a flight out in a couple of hours. One of our guys is going to escort her safely to the airport.A little time visiting your aunt is going to keep her well out of harm’s way.”
“How long will I be staying here?” Gio asks. She still has an air of nervousness, but I’m not surprised. Except for the time her brother quickly ejected her from the club, she has never been here before. Having no clue what debauchery and corruption can play out under this roof is a concern for me, and no doubt her brother. Besides the traumatic experience tonight, which clearly frightened her, her day-to-day life has also been upended.
I hate to see that fear etched on her pretty face, and I vow to myself that as soon as possible, I’ll make sure that her world is righted once again without the need to keep looking over her shoulder.
With Grinder off totrack down Forger and hopefully a lead for us to work on, I guide Giorgia towards the door at the bottom of the stairway that leads to my personal living space. The door has a coded lock, so I push in the numbers needed to disengage the heavy-duty locking system before swinging it open. I flick the light switch, and the stairway becomes illuminated in a soft yellow glow.
“The code for this door and the one at the top of the stairs are the same. 5464,” I offer. “The only otherperson who knows that is your brother, so you can be sure of no sudden surprises. Follow me.”
We get to the top of the steps, and once again I punch in the number on the second keypad.
“King,” she mumbles.
“Yeah?” I turn my head at the use of my surname.
“The numbers for the lock,” she says with a gentle nod of her head. “It spells out King, your surname. Not very inventive.”
“True, but nobody here relates to me by that name or is stupid enough to come up here without my permission, anyway.” Pushing open the door, I hold it open for her to slide in past me. Her shoulder brushes my chest, causing my skin to prickle. I hold my breath for a few seconds to regain control.
“There would be consequences?” she asks. I avoid answering as I watch her walk further into the main living area. Her dress is still damp and sticks to her round ass. I enjoy it for a beat before snapping my eyes away.
“As you can see, everything is here that you’ll require. Kitchen, living area.”
“It’s bigger that I thought it would be.” Spinning around on her heels, she walks towards the counter that separates the two main living areas and runs her fingers over the marble top. “Far from the bachelor pad one would expect. It’s so clean and everything is so… organized.”
