Page 28 of King's Barber
Until she’d died, taken out by a team who’d been hired to kill her. Truths came out I’d never expected. I still went to do my training because that’s what I thought she’d have wanted, but then revenge become too irresistible.
I shook my head to clear the memories from it. The past didn’t matter right now. I’d avenged her death, and with it I’d started on a new career path.
“You’re talented from what I’ve seen.” He took another big swallow of his rum, nearly chugging the entire glass in one deep swig, and nodded at my empty glass. “You going to have any?”
“No.” I grabbed some rice and chicken on my fork and sent him a look. “You’re drinking enough for both of us. Is that all you Kings do? Drink and fuck?”
“And ride bikes, too,” he retorted with a wink. “I’m really good at riding.”
I snorted and took my bite of food. When I’d swallowed, I said, “I’m sure you are.”
“How do you know about the fucking anyway?” He raised his eyebrows curiously. “You been spying on us?”
KC’s eyes widened and he glanced at me with concern. I merely shrugged. “It’s not hard to guess what biker clubs do. You’re all the same. Drink, fuck, party, andride bikes.”
Luke threw his head back and laughed. His black ink looked stark under the lights, the roses on his neck darker than what I was used to seeing. I was also never this close to appreciate the detail in his tattoos. Paris Deiters, his club brother, had done an amazing job with it, and I was almost tempted to reach over and trace the intricate lines on his skin. I’d even become enamored with the nose ring.
“What made you want to be a biker?” I asked, grabbing the pitcher of ice water I’d put on the table earlier and filling my glass. Taking a drink, I hummed at the feel of the cold liquid sliding down my throat. No doubt I’d be driving Luke home because he wasn’t staying at my place again. I needed to be sober.
“I didn’t until I got to the big NG and met King.” He flounced back against the chair like a relaxed man on vacation and shrugged. “Came here to live with my uncle and didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do with my life. Just knew I needed to get away from the old man. I ran into King at the tattoo shop.” He pointed at the back of his hand where he had his rose tattoo. I assumed that meant he’d had that inked when he went there. “Anyway, King and I started bullshitting, and he told me about his club. I was… I don’t know, seventeen or eighteen at the time. It got me curious about bikes and shit. He invited me to come over to the clubhouse, and I did. I fucking loved it. He made me a prospect right then and there and gave me a secondhand bike they were going to sell. Never looked back since then.”
“What do you get out of it, though?” I grabbed my napkin and dabbed my mouth before I placed it on the empty plate. “The cops won’t leave you alone, people are afraid of you—”
“That’s the exciting part about it. I can be whoever the fuck I want.” He laughed. “A fucking King. People piss themselves when they see me. They get out of my way.”
“Okay.” I could understand that. Fear was a powerful motivator. I lived off the terror of others, too. Assassins and hitmen knew my name, and they knew to stay out of my way. No one was stupid enough to put a contract out on me, either.
“And then you moved next door.” He leaned his elbows on the table, and I cringed. I’d be scrubbing grease and dirt from my tablecloth after tonight because as much as he’d tried to clean up, I noticed the stained patches of black hidden in his tattoos. Grease was never an easy substance to get rid of, no matter how much soap was used. “And you come into my shop with your little flounce—”
“I do not flounce—”
“—and bitch at me about my garbage and music.” His grin was feral. “And you know what I wanted to do to you, Quain?”
I swallowed, glancing at KC, who cleared his throat and grabbed his phone, jamming earbuds in his ears.
He waved his hand at us. “I’m listening to music and not hearing this conversation,at all, because I don’t need to know what you wanted to do to him.”
Luke slapped KC on the shoulder and turned back to me, his eyes darker than normal. He made a production of licking his lips, and I felt thoroughly devoured without even a touch from him. “I wanted to bend you over my chair and fuck you until I could use you as music instead of the metal tunes.”
I let out a breath, my heart racing. It’d been too long since I’d had sex. My job had become my life. One-night stands happened when I was out of town, but it’d been a long time since I’d left New Gothenburg—since before this assignment with Luke started.
“You have a vivid imagination,” I drawled, attempting to appear unfazed. My skin tingled, though, and my cock twitched in my pants. I wasnotdoing this in front of my son.
“You been in many serious relationships?” he murmured with a smirk, a fiery expression in his eyes. “I’ve been a fuck-and-run type of guy—until I saw you. I could try things out with you.”
“Lovely.” I rolled my eyes, but heat spread throughout my body. “Yes, to be honest, I had a fiancé at one point.”
His expression sobered. “Really? What happened?”
I heaved a sigh and hooked my fingers into the chain on my neck, touching the ring attached to it. “He was murdered.”
“Shit.” He reached across the table and laid his hand on top of mine, and it was big enough to cover my own. The warmth of his skin ignited goose bumps along my arms. “I’m sorry.”
“It happened a while ago. I’m over it. I wasn’t messed-up as much as I should have been, and I realized maybe I didn’t love him.” Loving Dean had always been difficult, and until I was ordered to take him down for breaking the rules, I hadn’t recognized he meant so little to me. I let go of my chain. “And maybe it’s time for you to go home.”
Luke’s chuckle sent my nerves haywire, need prickling at me. “And I thought I was going to spend the night here.”
I snorted. “Now I know you have a really vivid imagination. You are not staying here again. Not after last time. You can’t seem to follow simple instructions, Luke.”
