Page 28 of His Queen

“Great. I’ll start. What the actual fuck?”

“Nicoli, what our brother does in his personal life has nothing to do with us.”

“When he’s smearing war paint on his face, wears khakis, and imitates a lion’s mating call in the middle of the goddamn night, pouncing on pussy, I think it kinda is.”

Alexius squeezes the bridge of his nose. “As long as he’s not hurting anyone, or putting this family at risk, let the man be.”

I roll my eyes and scoff. “We should have kicked his ass more when we were kids. Maybe picked a little less on Isaia.”

“You’re the last person to criticize others when it comes to…sexual tastes.”

“What?”

Alexius raises a dark brow. “Everyone saw the cuts on Paula’s body back when you two were together. It was hard to miss while she paraded around in her bikini on the weekends. And you think we wouldn’t notice the marks you left on the girls around here?”

“Alexius. Nicoli.” Vera walks up to us wearing nothing but a see-through lace nightgown, teasing a view of her pert nipples.

“Speaking of,” Alexius whispers, followed by a smile her way.

“I haven’t seen you two around here for a while.” Her plump lips pull up at the corners, her eyes sparkling too much under the dim light. “Does this mean the twins are back to play?”

“We’re just here for a drink or two.” Alexius grunts, his eyes darting away from Vera’s undressing him with her intense gaze.

Vera pouts, the movement drawing my attention to her mouth. That’s when I spot a shimmer of white powder just below her nose. She’s about to stroll back to the private lounge she came out of when I grab her arm. “What is that?”

“What is what?”

“Tell me that’s not nose candy on your face.” I pull her close, leveling her with a glare, sudden annoyance causing me to grip her arm tighter.

She wipes at her nose. “Of course not.”

“Don’t lie to me, Vera.”

“I’m not lying.” She tries to jerk free, but I only bite my fingers deeper into her flesh.

“You know the rules around here. No drugs.”

“Yes, I know that. I’m not using drugs, Nicoli,” she snaps. “It’s Yulie’s birthday today, and we had cake earlier. It’s probably just some frosting. Jesus, lighten up.”

Alexius plants his palm on her shoulder, pushing her back against the wall. His fingers dig into her skin through the thin layer of material separating them. She flinches and tenses but doesn’t move away from him.

“You’d be wise to watch your tone, Vera. My brother and I might not be fucking you anymore, but we still take care of you. Piss us off, step out of lineonce,and you’re on the streets. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” she mutters shakily. “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.”

“Good. Get out of here.” He lets go of her, and she scurries off back to the room she came from without sparing a glance our way.

I slip my hands into my pants pockets. “I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I.”

“Nunzio controls the drug trade in this city. If there’s drugs in our club, he’s behind it.”

“The girls all know the rules. No drugs in this club.” Alexius turns to face me. “We might have to co-exist with the Ferreros, but we sure as shit don’t have to feed their bank account.”

“It makes sense, though,” I say. “I mean, it’s what I would do if I were him. He couldn’t recruit our girls and put us out of business, so his next move would be to destroy us from the inside by getting our girls hooked and dragging our club’s reputation through the fucking toilet.”

“Christ. The last thing we need is drugs between these walls.”

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